← It Could Happen Here
It Could Happen Here
Executive Disorder: A Billion for Trump’s Ballroom Security, RIP Spirit Airlines, Iran Stalemate
01:03:13
Loading summary
Transcript326 lines
- [00:00]
Robert Evans
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Podcast Ad Voice
Guaranteed Human.
- [00:04]
Mood.com Advertiser
Let's be honest, Buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy or low quality. That's why I want to tell you about mood.com that's m o o d.com Mood ships federally legal cannabis straight to your door. No medical card, no hassle. And here's the kicker. The quality is better than anything you'll find at your local dispensary. Yeah, I said it. Whether you're into edibles, concentrates, flower, or just looking to explore, you'll find it all at Mood. And it's not just the variety that makes them stand out. Every product is sourced from small American owned family farms that care deeply about what they grow. It's cannabis you can trust, delivered discreetly and ready to elevate your mood. And because you're a listener, you get 20% off your first order. Just head to mood.com for that's mood.com to get started.
- [00:55]
Robert Smigel
Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter.
- [01:14]
Mia Wong
Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.
- [01:17]
Robert Smigel
Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:25]
Safeway/Albertsons Advertiser
Save on family essentials at Safeway and Albertsons this week at Safeway and Albertsons, fresh cut cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple or Melon Medley Bowls 24 ounces are $5 each and Wild Caught Lobster Tails are $4.99 each. Limit eight member price plus selected sizes and varieties of Doritos, Lays, Cheetos, sun chips and Kettle cook chips are $1.99 each. Limit for member price. Hurry in. These deals won't last. Visit safewayoralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save
- [01:58]
Robert Evans
Cool Zone Media. I enjoyed the new Devil Wears Prada movie. It was weirdly relevant. I did not expect Meryl Streep to deliver like a monologue about how AI is destroying independent Internet writers or comedy writers or whatnot. Any kind of independent Internet writer. But I guess that's what we got, so that's good.
- [02:25]
Garrison Davis
And Thinly Veiled Jeff Bezos Villain.
- [02:27]
Robert Evans
Thinly Veiled Jeff Bezos villain. Yeah.
- [02:29]
Garrison Davis
Yeah.
- [02:30]
Robert Evans
Well, this isn't our movie Review podcast. Because we don't have one of those. Because I would be bad at it. This is electile dis Order function.
- [02:39]
Garrison Davis
It could happen here.
- [02:39]
Robert Evans
What are we doing?
- [02:40]
Garrison Davis
Executive Disorder. Our weekly newscast covering what's happening.
- [02:43]
Robert Evans
Did I ruin your intro in the White House?
- [02:45]
Garrison Davis
No, it's fine. The crumbling world and what it means for you. I'm Karesta Davis. Today I'm joined by Robert Evans, James Stout, Mia Wong, and maybe Sophie Lichterman. This episode we are covering the week of April 30th to May 6th. I want to roll things back to just before we recorded because Sophie brought up the California gubernatorial debate that happened Tuesday night.
- [03:07]
Robert Evans
Gubernator Garrison. You got to make it sound silly.
- [03:10]
Garrison Davis
Which I tried watching as that kind of is my job, only to discover it was not streaming anywhere online and only available the CNN channel on television. Like, you know, like actual TV channels. Which prompted Sophie to ask the good question, who is this for? Why. Why is. Why does this even exist then? If only people watching cable can watch it. And then I realized the real reason this exists is to generate short video clips for social media. And that's, I guess, how most people are actually engaging with this debate in contextless 52nd. That's generous chunks of time.
- [03:48]
Robert Evans
Yeah.
- [03:49]
Garrison Davis
In which Steyer came off the best. Did not come off great, but came off okay.
- [03:55]
Robert Evans
Okay.
- [03:56]
Garrison Davis
He. He came off fine. He had this weird tick where he would be. He would ask a question and when he would respond, it would sound like he was deflecting the question even when he wasn't. But the sort of, like, defensiveness of his framing sounded like he was deflecting a lot of questions that actually he was giving kind of good answers to. Porter was. I don't know. Sophie, can you speak about Porter? I don't.
- [04:22]
Mia Wong
Porter.
- [04:23]
Robert Evans
I hardly know her.
- [04:23]
Sophie Lichterman
I don't have a mic, so I'll be really quick.
- [04:26]
Robert Evans
That was pretty good port.
- [04:28]
Sophie Lichterman
Porter kind of overcompensaty. Snarky remarks, but she's only pulling like 8 or 10% where Sultan and Stier are both pulling closer to 20. So. Also Steve Hilton. Ew.
- [04:43]
James Stout
Yeah. Short video content has not been kind to Katie Porter in the. In the last couple of years.
- [04:48]
Garrison Davis
It was interesting that earlier that morning, Katie Porter released an ad that ended with a joke about her abuse of her staff. It like, ended with, like, a reference to a line that she said that was in those articles. And, like, she had all these background extras. Laugh at the joke, referencing the abuse allegations against her to her staff. Interesting choice.
- [05:09]
Robert Evans
Crazy move.
- [05:10]
Sophie Lichterman
Who is that for. Who is that for?
- [05:14]
Robert Evans
I mean, you know what it is actually, it's her trying to be like Trump. Like the. One of the lessons that Trump has taught the political class is that if people come at you for like being corrupt or fucked up or evil or irresponsible, you just kind of barrel right through that. You don't acknowledge it. You don't like, acknowledge any validity in it. And you kind of make fun of it. You try to make it a selling point for yourself. And I'm not saying she's doing a good job of it, but I think that's what she's trying to do. I think that's the attempt.
- [05:47]
Garrison Davis
She's like, tough. No nonsense.
- [05:52]
James Stout
The amount of money being spent on anti styer attack ads is, I know, judging by the amount of them that get beamed into my home every night now, pretty significant. As a resident Californian, I didn't watch the debate because the choices we have make me very angry and upset and I didn't want to think about that.
- [06:13]
Garrison Davis
That's politics.
- [06:15]
Robert Evans
Yeah.
- [06:16]
Garrison Davis
James, do you want to start with a few of yours I see are at the top of the dock here?
- [06:23]
James Stout
Yeah. Well, let's begin with the biggest news of the week, which is that the White House Twitter has shared the Newcrest for. Nice.
- [06:31]
Garrison Davis
I gotta see this.
- [06:32]
James Stout
Oh yeah, click on that.
- [06:33]
Robert Evans
Oh, good. Thank God.
- [06:34]
James Stout
Share that screen. Garrison. I'm sorry, Garrison. You can't have a treat and not share with everybody.
- [06:43]
Garrison Davis
I'm getting, I'm getting. I've got to get.
- [06:44]
James Stout
There we go.
- [06:45]
Robert Evans
Okay.
- [06:47]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [06:47]
Robert Evans
That looks like shit.
- [06:48]
James Stout
Yeah, it does look.
- [06:50]
Robert Evans
It looks like lazily AI generated garbage. Yeah.
- [06:53]
James Stout
If you asked AI to generate a crest for a US law enforcement agency,
- [06:57]
Robert Evans
the most basic that could possibly be.
- [06:59]
James Stout
Yeah, yeah, sure.
- [07:01]
Garrison Davis
Oh, well.
- [07:02]
James Stout
National Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nice.
- [07:05]
Garrison Davis
Always good when you throw national in front of any. Any acronym. That's never. That's never turned out bad.
- [07:11]
James Stout
As many people have shared with me, several television shows had already come up with the idea of rebranding ICE as nice. I don't think this is going to stop them.
- [07:21]
Robert Evans
Moving on.
- [07:22]
James Stout
The DOJ said that it is suing Denver for infringing the second Amendment. This pertains to their assault weapon ban, which bans a lot of semi automatic rifles, including AR15s. Interesting kind of precedent for DOJ behavior in that obviously like lots of states have assault weapons bans and previously we have not seen the DOJ intervene against those. There are a few no cases about them on the way to Supreme Court, but Supreme Court hasn't shown any particular desire to urgently get to them.
- [07:55]
Robert Evans
Yeah. This has been an interesting thing for a while is that even as the Republican. The right has had control of the Supreme Court for years now, they have shown a distinct unwillingness to visit the matter of like assault weapons and like magazine capacity bans.
- [08:12]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [08:13]
Robert Evans
As well as. Cause there's definitely been some, some folks. This is less popular but some, some folks on the pro gun side who want them to look at like state level restrictions on like you have to like waiting periods and stuff. And it's just kind of been this detente that's existed where like they have not pushed too far in a certain direction to like limit what blue states can do with their gun control. And if, if they are. That's an interesting shift.
- [08:41]
James Stout
Yeah. It's interesting that this has gone after. It's a civil rights suit or it's through the civil rights division. Right. I guess they're using the Heller precedent. Right. Which was the last time. And it was Heller wasn't the last time. The previous one was Bruin.
- [08:54]
Robert Evans
Yeah, yeah, sorry. Yeah, yeah, Bruin.
- [08:56]
James Stout
The Bruin decision. Which was the last time that the Supreme Court really made a major change to national firearms rules. Right. It's interesting they're going after Denver and not like for instance California.
- [09:08]
Robert Evans
Well, Denver has a specific specifically banned VAR 15 as opposed to California doesn't ban any specific guns. They ban features on firearms. So like I suspect that would be. Why is that Denver is going. Colorado's going after this specific firearm. That. And the argument that's going to be made is that the AR15 is the most commonly available rifle. It's absolutely the equivalent of a musket in its day. Is the argument that they will be making because Clarence Thomas has made that argument before. So California never tried to ban AR15s. They just made it a giant pain in the ass to own them. And that's a lot I think safer from this sort of attack. Although I guess we'll see.
- [09:53]
James Stout
You know, Denver's assault weapons ban is not the same as California's, but nor does it ban AR15s by name. I'm just reading from the Denver municipal code, section 38 130. The the categories or the way it defines an assault weapon is a semi automatic center fire rifle with a detachable magazine capacity at 21 rounds or higher. That's subsequent legislation after that which further limits magazine capacity in Colorado. All semi automatic shotguns that can take more than six cartridges and or have a folding stock or a weapon which can be converted into one of those things. So that's actually a pretty. It's not the same as a California ban. It's interesting to see them picking this one. It's also pretty old. Denver started its assault weapons ban story. It's been through the courts quite a few times, but this begins in 1989. But yeah, it's an interesting sort of area that we'll keep tabs on.
- [10:58]
Robert Evans
Yeah, we'll keep tabs because there's a couple big gun things going in front of the Supreme Court this year. Right. Like earlier in March, the court heard arguments on The United States vs. Kimani, which was a case about the legality of basically if you're using a drug that is illegal, even if it's like a drug, even if it's marijuana and it's legal at the state level, if it's like federally illegal, you cannot possess own. You do anything with guns. Right. Yeah. And that's not really constitutional because the second amendment, like it or not, is like a civil right. Yeah. And the idea that like you lose a civil right because you're like ingested a substance at some point is like a wildly dangerous and ungodly way. Whatever. It's the kind of thing that just again, courts have refused to sort of take seriously even though everyone's known there's very thin precedents. So the fact that the supreme court is finally hearing arguments on this is really interesting. This is a case of a guy who had both marijuana and cocaine on him when he got busted. And yeah, so we'll, we'll, we'll also cover that case. But there's a lot of, gonna be a lot of interesting gun stuff happening this year. Not all of it bad because honestly, if the supreme court were to rule that like, no, you can't say someone can't own a gun just because they smoked pot. I would say that's a net win. But obviously there's a lot of violations of state's rights and whatnot. That's gonna be, I'm sure, a part of this too. It'll be a messy summer for that. But this is going to be some major stories this year.
- [12:28]
James Stout
Yeah, yeah. I think we'll certainly see some movement here. Border wall construction crews have destroyed an intaglio sacred to the Ottom people. The seven year old Las Playas intaglio sacred site is irreparably damaged despite being very well recorded and having been identified two construction crews by cultural monitors. Tornadum chairman Verlan Jose said, quote, this was a devastating and Entirely avoidable loss. There is nothing more important than our history, which is what makes us who we are. As Odham, the site was also an irreparable piece of the United States history, one none of us can ever get back. The nation's leaders have and will continue to meet with senior Department of Homeland Security officials to obtain more information and to communicate the nation's absolute insistence that this cannot happen again. And then finally from me, the United States State Department has approved the sale of JDAMs to Ukraine, which is a significant increase in their capacity. Right. Jdam, if people aren't familiar, stands for Joint Direct Attack Munition. Think big bomb. Like it's a guided bomb. It can either be a bomb that comes guided or you can change a different munition to make it become guided.
- [13:45]
Robert Evans
These are packages, right? Like these are kits that you take. So you have like a bomb of various sizes because they can range, and you basically apply this kit to them and it makes it into a guided munition. Right. So it's, it's a, you, you can have whatever kind of explosive package you want and you can convert it into a guided munition that you then, you know, drop or throw or whatever via, you know, whichever platform you happen to be using. Yeah.
- [14:12]
Mia Wong
These are like aircraft fired, right?
- [14:15]
James Stout
Yes, yes. In these case, they're extended range tail kits. It's not the, the bomb itself, but the thing that allows the bomb to be delivered to a target.
- [14:27]
Robert Evans
Right. Again, this is a package. You have a bomb that's a dumb explosive and this is the thing that you put onto it that allows it to be like a smart munition that is targeted. Like it's an air to surface munition. Generally they're like a thousand or two thousand pound warheads, I think for the most part.
- [14:45]
James Stout
Yeah. I guess in this case it would depend on whatever the warhead is. Right.
- [14:50]
Robert Evans
But like there's, there's 500 pound ones, like there's a, a variety of sizes.
- [14:56]
James Stout
Obviously the Ukrainians have used many of their long range assets. Right. To attack Russia, inside Russia. Previously this has been something the United States had kind of drawn a line at. That seems to no longer be the case. This will obviously also be a massive contract right there. The principal contractor here is going to be Boeing, who are located in St. Louis. And the, the estimated total cost is about a third of a billion dollars. So 373 million to be exact.
- [15:25]
Robert Evans
There's been like a big push in a couple of different states to increase munition production. And it has been very uneven in terms of how it's worked so far. They've encountered a lot of issues scaling up production to the level they need. I'm not convinced in our ability to actually, like, meet this at the time frame being proposed. But, but we'll see. That's, that's.
- [15:45]
Garrison Davis
We.
- [15:45]
Robert Evans
I've caught. We've been talking. I've been talking reporting on that a couple of times so far this year.
- [15:48]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [15:49]
Robert Evans
The munition shortage and our issues in scaling up production. I'll probably do something later this year, like a more detailed look at, like, what the pitfalls have been, but it's actually surprisingly hard. Just because they say we're putting this much money into, you know, creating these facilities or encouraging the production to scale up. It's not necessarily that easy to actually do that.
- [16:10]
James Stout
Of course, the State Department says there will be no adverse impact on US Defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.
- [16:16]
Robert Evans
I don't see why there would.
- [16:18]
James Stout
Yeah, that's what they're going to say.
- [16:19]
Robert Evans
These are standoff munitions. The US Military is not short on them for our purposes, but, like, the shit that we're getting cleaned out on primarily is, is. Is not. Like, this is not the main thing. I mean, we're definitely being stretched, but this is not the main thing. It's. It's sidewinders. It's like our cruise missiles and it's. Our, our interceptor missiles are like the big things that we're. We're straining on right now.
- [16:42]
Garrison Davis
Speaking of, on May 1st, President Trump quote, unquote, joked. That's how most people are referring to this. Joked that we will be, quote, unquote, taking over Cuba almost immediately.
- [16:55]
Robert Evans
Great.
- [16:56]
Garrison Davis
After finishing with Iran.
- [16:58]
Robert Evans
Sounds real.
- [16:58]
Garrison Davis
He has made previous comments to this effect the past few months.
- [17:02]
James Stout
Yeah. His joke was that Abraham Lincoln would stop on the way back from Iran. Right. And park off 100 yards off the coast of Cuba and they would immediately surrender.
- [17:12]
Robert Evans
Just kind of knock that out.
- [17:13]
James Stout
Yeah, I mean, we're going to get onto this, but this is not the only thing pointing towards Cuba right now.
- [17:19]
Robert Evans
I have trouble knowing how this is going to go because obviously, like, Venezuela was the best case scenario for them. Like, Maduro is not personally popular and he had us. He had like, the apparatus below him. Was more than happy to just kind of like everyone move up a step and be nicer to the U.S. yeah. On paper, like, whereas Iran. That's certainly not how anything has worked out because you had. This whole state has been built for the last 60 years to endure casualties without, like, losing operational capacity or its ability to resist.
- [17:52]
Robert Smigel
Yeah.
- [17:53]
Robert Evans
Cuba's not really quite like either government, and I don't know what's going to happen. You know, on one hand, it is a country that's exhausted by decades of sanctions and exhausted by, you know, what has become after Venezuela, since they're no longer sending fuel to Cuba, like, their fuel crisis is just devastating. I don't know. Maybe it is a case where the government would capitulate fairly quickly and then you just kind of have the, okay, what happens now? Question. Like the humanitarian issue, which I'm sure would be very. I'm sure you'd get a lot of, like, grifters getting flown into there by the Trump administration. It would not be a positive situation or, you know, is this a thing where there would be even as exhausted as people are immediate and, like, vicious resistance to any attempt by the US to assert its will politically over there? I have no idea.
- [18:45]
James Stout
And the other thing is that their military. It's more where Venezuela. Suzanne. Than were around. Suzanne. Right. Like, outdated, underfunded.
- [18:54]
Robert Evans
It was the Cuban military that we were fighting in Venezuela to an extent.
- [18:58]
James Stout
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [18:59]
Robert Evans
I don't know. I don't know. That said, like, it's also at the point at which those carrier groups are trying to do that in Cuba. They'll have been on almost twice as long as they're normally supposed to be out. And who knows, like, what is done in Iran look, like. What's that going to mean?
- [19:17]
Garrison Davis
Yeah, like that.
- [19:18]
Mia Wong
That war is not ending anytime soon. So, like, I mean, maybe he just tries to do it at the same time, but, like, it's.
- [19:25]
Robert Evans
Yeah, I don't know.
- [19:27]
Mia Wong
We're stuck in the mutual blockade right
- [19:28]
Robert Evans
now, so impossible to know what he's gonna do or what will happen as a result of it, other than I don't expect any of it's gonna go very well.
- [19:37]
Mia Wong
Nope, it's gonna be a nightmare.
- [19:39]
Garrison Davis
In some sadder news on Sunday, America's mayor Rudy Giuliani was sent to the hospital in critical condition. Giuliani is obviously a friend of the pod. We had him on a few years ago to discuss sending weapons to Ukraine. We would love to have him back to discuss this. This recent sale, but unfortunately, Giuliani developed pneumonia after coming back from a trip to Paris and was put on a ventilator this weekend.
- [20:05]
Robert Evans
It's always the young ones.
- [20:06]
Garrison Davis
Now, thankfully, he's been since we've taken off the ventilator. And spokesman Ted Goodman, who I do not like very much, announced that Giuliani's condition has stabilized and he is now breathing on his own. Last time we interacted with Goodman, it was specifically him pulling Giuliani away from us.
- [20:22]
Robert Evans
He sure was after speaking with him
- [20:25]
Garrison Davis
for about 20 minutes. So I really don't care for Goodman personally, but I mean, if Giuliani ever wants to discuss weapons sales to Ukraine on the show again, I'm sure we would love to have him.
- [20:36]
Robert Evans
Yeah. You know, Garrett, I saved a little vial of the spittle that flew off of his mouth when he and I were discussing weapons sales to Ukraine back at the rnc. And I keep it on me every day and I'm holding it now and I'm just thinking of you, Rudy. I'm just pulling for you, man. I'm pulling for you.
- [20:57]
Garrison Davis
We'll probably go on an ad break now.
- [21:07]
Podcast Ad Voice
If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Because as your life changes and your body changes, sleep number mattresses adapt and shift to give you personalized comfort night after night. And now everything's on sale during our Memorial Day event. Save up to twelve hundred dollars on mattresses for a limited time to experience a whole new world of comfort. Visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com sleep number to a good life sleep.
- [21:37]
Robert Smigel
Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guest SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. There's the worst singer in the group.
- [22:00]
Mia Wong
The worst.
- [22:00]
Robert Smigel
Yeah, me. Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge donation?
- [22:12]
Mia Wong
The Yardbirds, right?
- [22:13]
Robert Evans
That's the name.
- [22:14]
Robert Smigel
The Harvard Yard. But they're open.
- [22:15]
Garrison Davis
Do you have a name suggestion?
- [22:16]
Robert Evans
We're open.
- [22:17]
Robert Smigel
Since you guys are middle aged one erection, listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [22:31]
Robert Evans
Humor me.
- [22:33]
Mia Wong
I need some jokes to make me seem funny.
- [22:42]
Garrison Davis
Okay, we are back. Robert has just failed to execute a Simpsons themed audio bit.
- [22:48]
Robert Evans
I know. I wanted to play you Crusty the Clown saying the hantavirus because we're talking about the hantavirus.
- [22:54]
Garrison Davis
Well, that's good enough there your your impression.
- [22:56]
Robert Evans
I think services did that work.
- [22:59]
James Stout
It's beautiful.
- [23:00]
Robert Evans
Yeah, I'm still Sad.
- [23:01]
Garrison Davis
Eight people are suspected. At least eight people are suspected to be infected with A Hantavirus strain 5 confirmed. Capable of human to human transmission. This is stemming from an outbreak on a cruise ship. We gotta do something about the cruise ships.
- [23:17]
Robert Evans
Yeah, yeah. Now they're disease factories. First off, like, everyone knows this happens in cruise ships, which is why we shouldn't have them. We don't know exactly how this went down. We know there at least five people are confirmed to have gotten the hantavirus like they've done and another three are suspected from testing. Three people are dead?
- [23:36]
Garrison Davis
Yes.
- [23:36]
Robert Evans
And I think another couple are in serious condition still.
- [23:39]
Garrison Davis
Yes.
- [23:40]
Robert Evans
It's not known how they got it. It's possible that some of them were human to human transmission.
- [23:46]
Garrison Davis
Argentine officials believe that a Dutch couple contracted the virus while bird watching at a landfill where they may have been exposed to rat poop before boarding the cruise ship.
- [23:58]
Safeway/Albertsons Advertiser
What?
- [23:58]
Garrison Davis
A series hantavirus has been. Has been a problem in Argentina for the past year. This has been a known problem. Oh yeah, some human to human cases. There's multiple strains there now. So far, three people are suspected to have died from the virus, while three others have been evacuated to Europe from the cruise ship for treatment.
- [24:18]
Robert Evans
To be clear, it's not because. Because this is what I'd read. It's a strain that can be transmitted human to human, but they don't know how everyone who got it got it. Like, they don't know that everyone who got it was human to human or that they were. Didn't all just get exposed to the same droppings. But it's the Andes, the Andean strain, that can transfer human to human. It's, it's. It's a problem, but probably it'll be fine. Right, Garrison?
- [24:43]
Garrison Davis
Well, the World Health Organization's top epidemic expert, Maria Van Kirkhoff has cautioned, quote, this is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease. Most people will never be exposed to this, unquote. And Reuters included a statement from the World Health Organization in their reporting. They say that the risk to the public remains low and that the variant detected among passengers can be spread between humans only through close, prolonged contact, unquote. Now, there is contact tracing currently in effect by officials in South Africa and Switzerland, specifically, who are tracking a few people that departed the ship. Many others are still on the ship, which is set to land either at Spain or some of the Canary Islands around Spain in a few days. That's what. That's what we know. That's what we know so far.
- [25:37]
Mia Wong
Yeah.
- [25:37]
Garrison Davis
It's, it's, this is changing like literally by the hour. So it's possible by the time you listen to this there'll be a whole bunch of more information about what's happened. But that is the, the current, the current situation as of Wednesday afternoon.
- [25:51]
Mia Wong
Yeah. And I think we can also say definitively that if you want to avoid the hantavirus like the number one step you can take is not getting on a plague ship.
- [25:58]
James Stout
Yeah, avoiding.
- [26:00]
Garrison Davis
We're hanging out in a landfill.
- [26:01]
James Stout
Yeah, I was going to say landfill to cruise ship is a series.
- [26:05]
Mia Wong
Yeah, we can, we have the technology to avoid this.
- [26:11]
Garrison Davis
Speaking of rat poop, on Wednesday Ms. Now my favorite outlet reported that the FBI is investigating leaks to the the Atlantic journalist who published that story about Cash Patel's drinking habits and absences from his job. A story that the FBI has previously called false but now is launching a criminal leak investigation into. These investigations typically focus on leaking classified information which does not appear to be a factor in this Atlantic article. Patel is also suing the Atlantic for defamation for like $250 million. And now through this investigation the FBI may be able to seize the journalists digital records. The FBI has denied though that this investigation exists. And a few hours ago the Atlantic journalist published a follow up story which I wish I'd mentioned that Kash Patel has been giving away customized whiskey flasks like bottles full of whiskey.
- [27:17]
James Stout
It's Woodford Reserve is what it is. It's a Woodford Reserve bottle.
- [27:20]
Robert Evans
Yeah, he's bottle of Woodford Reserves.
- [27:23]
James Stout
Yeah, he's getting, he's getting what Costco has.
- [27:26]
Robert Evans
Yeah, he's getting like a thoroughly mediocre like middling bourbon with his name on it which is definitely something an alcoholic doesn't have. Like definitely a normal non alcoholic thing to do is to have like a $30 bottle of bourbon with your name on it that you hand out to strangers at work. That's the thing alcoholics don't do.
- [27:49]
James Stout
Yeah, it's not great. This is not a great revelation.
- [27:52]
Garrison Davis
This, this investigation if real, very, very dangerous. Right. Really, really bad should to happen to have this like clearly like personally motivated weaponization of the FBI against a journalist going through social media records, databases, digital records. Very worrying. But also Cash Patel. Funny.
- [28:15]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [28:16]
Robert Evans
But yeah, Cash Patel is this fascinating like well this is should certainly a legal, incredibly dangerous thing to have the FBI director doing and like what a ridiculous man. What just a fundamentally ridiculous guy. I don't know what else to say.
- [28:35]
Mia Wong
Meanwhile in the broad world of things falling apart, Spirit Airlines has fallen it is effectively no more rip.
- [28:45]
James Stout
Yeah. Pouring one out, specifically a personalized bottle of Woodford Reserve is what I'm pulling for Spirit Airlines.
- [28:52]
Mia Wong
So Spirit Airlines, I mean, has been in financial trouble for a bit, but it has now filed for bankruptcy. It has grounded all of its planes and fired everyone. So it is gone. And it is gone very, very suddenly. This is not something that was, you know, like, there had been long going negotiation, not long going, but there have been negotiations with the Trump administration to try to arrange a bailout, but they just kind of woke up one morning and sent everyone a letter that said, you're fired, and canceled all the planes, which left a whole bunch of people stranded.
- [29:26]
Robert Evans
Not ideal.
- [29:27]
Mia Wong
Yeah. And this is a real catastrophe for a lot of people because there are a bunch of routes that Spirit was doing that there just isn't really coverage of for anything else. And it's also one of the few of these, sort of. These budget airlines are getting just hammered by the increase in fuel prices for people who don't know aviation stuff. As much as airplane companies complain about, like, the cost of labor, as they, like, horrifically exploit flight attendants, the actual most expensive part of flying is fuel. And as fuel prices have skyrocketed, specifically jet fuel prices have skyrocketed, that is taking an absolutely enormous hit out of the bottom line of these companies. And companies that were sort of just barely getting along and operated on low margins are getting hit really badly. And this is something that's not just a Spirit Airlines thing. This is happening to airlines across the world. It's particularly intense in south and East Asia right now, where a huge number of their airlines are operating in this kind of, like, they call it, like, emergency management, where they've, like, significantly reduced the amount of flights that they're doing. The cases like Korean Air, their. Their routes from, you know, for example, like Seoul to New York are, like, are operating on 200% price increases. This has been going on for a while. Spirit is the first big American one to just go out completely. There are reports that Trump personally really wanted to save Spirit Airlines for kind of weird, personal reasons.
- [31:04]
Robert Evans
Yeah, I can see that.
- [31:05]
Mia Wong
Yeah.
- [31:06]
Robert Evans
But, I mean, it's Spirit also. A part of, like, why it has fallen apart is that it's been a victim of its own success. Like, Spirit introduced to the airline industry the idea of, like, no, everyone should be paying for a bag and for a drink and for every single thing, we should financialize every single aspect of the. Of the airline, of the flying process that we can. And as a Result, like, they stopped being particularly cheap and they stopped working any different from any of the other airlines. So there was not really much of a reason to go with Spirit as opposed to any of the slightly nicer airlines anymore. You know, like, so, I mean, I, I'm not surprised that they are falling. Definitely. Like, the fuel strike is what has. Has been the death blow to them. But they've been. They've been in trouble for a little while.
- [32:00]
Mia Wong
Yeah. And. And because, like, we've known that they've been in trouble. The, the Trump administration negotiations, apparently the stumbling block was that the, the U.S. plan was to give them, like, $500 million, but it would involve buying most of their stock. And the rest of the airline industry was like, absolutely not. Well, we're not, we're not doing a bailout for just one company if, like, instead of an industry wide one. And so they started putting pressure, and then Trump was apparently looking at, like, using the Defense Production act for this, but the Department of Defense finally found a Defense Production act thing that Trump wants to do that they were like, absolutely not. Like, we are simply not doing actual security. Like, we finally found. I've been talking about this in tariff episodes for a long time where we've been looking for the limit of the President's ability to go. This is a national security concern. And apparently the limit is buying Spirit airlines.
- [32:53]
James Stout
That's funny, because it is a time when the US Is flying a lot of stuff around the world. Like the airlift to Iran has been bonkers.
- [33:02]
Mia Wong
Yeah.
- [33:03]
James Stout
Would have been fun to see Spirit.
- [33:05]
Mia Wong
The one kind of final note I want to talk about is that there's been a lot of blaming of this from the administration. And, you know, there's even been some of this in places like Salon, where there's been a lot of blame on the Biden administration's antitrust unit. Because in 2022, there had been an attempt by Spirit Airlines to, like, merge with JetBlue, which is like, a slightly nicer airline. There's a lot of people going, oh, well, they wouldn't have gone out of business if they'd been allowed to do the merger. But the Biden administration antitrust people were like, this is obviously a competition issue. And that's maybe kind of true, but it's also, like, it's not clear to me that, like, a JetBlue Spirit airline wouldn't also be in really bad shape right now.
- [33:49]
Garrison Davis
Yeah, totally.
- [33:50]
Robert Evans
Yeah.
- [33:50]
Mia Wong
I think the thing about competition, right, is that sometimes you go out of business. And I know this is something that, like, business people absolutely despise and like, pro monopoly people absolutely despise. But, like, in theory, if you are a supporter of the free market, that means sometimes firms go under.
- [34:07]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [34:07]
Mia Wong
And they're all very mad about this.
- [34:09]
Robert Evans
We especially airlines. Lots of airlines die out. That's why Mad Men, you know, like. Yeah, look at all the dead airlines in Mad Men. Like it, like it. It's not an unheard of thing. It's a difficult business.
- [34:24]
James Stout
Yeah, yeah.
- [34:25]
Mia Wong
And it's like. And that's like, why you've gotten the degree of monopoly you already have in the airline industry is that these companies sort of bought up the carcasses and, like, you know, did all of these very monopolistic mergers. So now you just have this thing where like. Yeah, flying absolutely sucks because it's all just these like. Oh, God. There's some economics term for it that I'm forgetting right now, but it's all of these tests of monopolies that have, like, divided up the country into their own basically personal fiefdoms. And, yeah, that sucks.
- [34:49]
Robert Evans
And it's why.
- [34:49]
Mia Wong
It's why being on an airplane sucks. And opposing monopolies is not the reason that we're here. It's the, the, the main reason that we are here right now with Spirit Airlines dead is that the President of the United States unilaterally decided he was going to fight a war against Iran.
- [35:05]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [35:05]
Mia Wong
I guess, technically, bilaterally, because Bibi decided to Israelis. But, like, you know, the President, like the US Is mad dictator, decided to fight a war, and that's why this airline is gone. Yeah, but that's, that's, that's like the main thing. That's why it's gone, like now in this way.
- [35:21]
Robert Evans
Yeah. Somebody needs to Photoshop, like, Spirit Airlines in heaven with the Ayatollah Khomeini just, like, holding hands together. Two beautiful souls lost too early.
- [35:35]
Mia Wong
He's getting on, getting on one final, final flight.
- [35:38]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [35:39]
Robert Evans
See you later, space cowboy. God.
- [35:44]
Mia Wong
In other wonderful news, we are pivoting from spirits to ghosts. And we are pivoting to a very. A very interesting piece of reporting from cnn, who has obtained polling data that suggests that the President's new ballroom, which has expended significant political capital from an assassination attempt to attempt to get built, is polling in terms of, quote, Americans who support or believe in new White House ballroom, is pulling at 28%, which is lower than the percentage of Americans who believe in ghosts and 1% lower than the percentage of Americans who believe in telepathy.
- [36:24]
Garrison Davis
Americans Love believing in ghosts.
- [36:27]
Robert Evans
We do. We do love believing in ghosts.
- [36:31]
Mia Wong
Ghost being at 39%, I was expecting telepathy.
- [36:34]
Garrison Davis
Usually it's higher than that.
- [36:36]
Mia Wong
It could also be support ghosts. Right. Like, that could be throwing people off.
- [36:40]
Garrison Davis
Phrasing is unclear.
- [36:42]
James Stout
And when we say believe in the ballroom, like, do they believe it exactly exists? Like.
- [36:45]
Robert Evans
Like.
- [36:46]
James Stout
This is an odd.
- [36:49]
Robert Evans
I have a lot of questions of the methodology.
- [36:51]
James Stout
I'm a White House denier.
- [36:53]
Garrison Davis
Part of the frustration here is, I think, because this, this presentation is coming from noted enemy of the podcast Harry Eaton, CNN's discount version of Steve Kornacki, who is a. Is a noted, noted Kalshee supporter. Yeah, I do not like this man. And I think he manipulates data for entertainment.
- [37:13]
Mia Wong
Yeah, no, he's not good. It is also worth noting, though, that the opposition to the ballroom is also like 28. It's about 28%. Like, everyone hates it. It's somehow it's lower than his approval rating, which the star approval rating is like getting lower through the 30s and threatening to go below 30%. And somehow the ballroom approval rating is worse, which is just astonishing.
- [37:41]
Robert Evans
Yeah, I do want to talk to the people who still like him, but
- [37:44]
James Stout
they draw the line.
- [37:46]
Robert Evans
They really hate that ball.
- [37:47]
Garrison Davis
The people that support. The people that support the war on Iran but draw the line at the ballroom is a really disturbing character to me. Yeah, it's like.
- [37:56]
Mia Wong
Well, no, it's the converted never trump Republican.
- [37:59]
Robert Evans
Yeah, maybe. I don't know if I agree with that entirely, but yeah.
- [38:05]
Garrison Davis
Speaking of that ballroom, the Senate GOP has released a 72 billion reconciliation package to fund ICE and Border Patrol after their funding was removed from the long fought after DHS funding package, which finally passed last week.
- [38:24]
Robert Evans
Yay.
- [38:24]
Garrison Davis
The Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee each released proposed bills, and this package can pass the Senate with a simple majority rather than 60 votes. There's also a small provision here for the ballroom, which I'll get to. But let's. Let's start with talking about the other funding. These bills appropriate over $22.5 billion for U.S. customs and Border Protection until September 30, 2029, for hiring, paying, training, equipping agents and necessary support staff, plus other necessary expenses for mission support, operations and maintenance. I'll draw attention to an extra 3.5 billion allotted for, quote, procurement and integration of new non intrusive inspection equipment, unquote, which they specify as AI tools to combat drug smuggling at ports of entry.
- [39:20]
James Stout
Yeah, they've been on that one for a while. I'm guessing it will be the. That continued facial recognition or pattern recognition stuff that's listed.
- [39:31]
Garrison Davis
Also in addition to this AI drug detection inspection tool, because they also have this 3.5 billion going towards, quote, upgrades and procurement of border surveillance technologies and the deployment of technology relating to the biometric entry and exit system, unquote. $38 billion is appropriated for ICE for, quote, hiring, paying, training and equipping personnel, including officers, agents, investigators, attorneys and support staff to carry out immigration enforcement activities, unquote. This funding also covers transportation costs, information technology, facility and fleet maintenance, and expanding coordination with local and state officials. Both the DHS and the DOJ each get a few extra billion for various uses in these bills. But at the end of the Judiciary bill, it allocates $1 billion of taxpayer dollars for security enhancements to the new White House ballroom. This money would go to Secret Service, quote, for the purposes of security adjustments and upgrades, including within the perimeter fence of the White House compound, including above ground and below ground security features, unquote. Now, Trump has touted the ballroom as being entirely funded by private donors, originally costing 200 million, but ballooning to 400 million this year, which means that these security funds are greater than the total previously estimated cost of construction, $1 billion versus $400 million. Now, these security funds do have a stated limitation. Quote, none of the funds made available under this section may be used for non security elements of the East Wing modernization project, which is what they call the ballroom. But what qualifies as security or non security elements is not clear. Like is bulletproof glass or reinforced walls a security element? Does paying contractors to make adjustments or enhancements to the building count as security elements? We don't know, because this is. This is a lot of money. And this again comes after the Trump administration's deployment of the attempted assassination at the White House dinner to further the development of the ballroom. And now this bill includes extra funding for it in the wake of that. And it's unclear how exactly that money would be used if passed.
- [42:01]
Mia Wong
Garrison, my dear friend, you are thinking way too small in terms of what the President just tried to use. Just tried to use the Defense Production act to buy an airline so he could, like, run it, right? Like, they're gonna be like, yeah, I had to. I had to, like, put this gold. This gold lace on, like, this column is actually bullet deflecting. It's gonna be like that kind of shit. That's just like, the way this entire administration has operated.
- [42:28]
Garrison Davis
A lot of the construction could have security elements.
- [42:31]
James Stout
Yeah, well, this is already something that's been discussed at length in the National Trust for Historical Preservation lawsuit against the construction. Right. Um, and essentially the Trump administration has argued that the project in and of itself is an indivisible thing, that the project is a security project and you can't break out the security from the ball having.
- [42:56]
Garrison Davis
Yes.
- [42:57]
James Stout
And the judge has so far not agreed to that. Right. But the Trump administration has argued that like the below ground hospital room, security infrastructure, bomb shelter, etc. And the above ground party having room are like all one big security project.
- [43:16]
Garrison Davis
It should be one secured zone.
- [43:18]
James Stout
Yeah. And that like you cannot. Because in this case the discussion is about the injunction. Right. Which paused construction. So they're saying we can't do the security construction only we have to do all the construction because it's a contiguous whole. So, like that seems like it's relevant to this.
- [43:38]
Garrison Davis
Yeah. We will keep, keep, keep checking in on these reconciliation bills as they, as they move through Congress. But first we will go on this ad break and then discuss Iran and some of the Tuesday elections.
- [44:04]
James Stout
We are back, back in the street. Strait of Hormuz, a place where we spend a lot of time these last few weeks.
- [44:11]
Mia Wong
Yep.
- [44:12]
James Stout
So let's, I guess let's try and take this in kind of chronological order because it's probably the best way to explain it. Iran has launched cruise missiles and drones at United States ships in the Strait of Hormuz. For a while there, Iranian news sources were claiming that they had hit or turned around US Vessels. This does not appear to be true. CENTCOM certainly denied it, although some news networks did run with this. Apparently, based on what the Iranian government aligned media were claiming, it seems that two United States destroyers did transit the strait and they did receive various types of incoming fire from small boats, from missiles and from drones. Following that, a Maersk vessel sailed through the strait. The Alliance Fairfax is a United States flagged vessel and it receives assistance from the US Military. And then the motor tanker Anthem of Crowley Maritime also sailed through. Trump has called this assistance, quote, project Freedom. True thing. For the good of Iran, the Middle east and the United States, we have told these countries that we will guide their ships safely out of these restricted waterways so that they can freely and ably get on with their business. Again, these are ships from areas of the world that are not in any way involved with that which is currently taking place in the Middle East. I have told my representatives to inform them that we will use best efforts to get their ships and crews safely out the strait. Exactly what this meant was unclear when The President first truthed it. But what it seems, what I've seen reported now is that the United States advised them on safe routes and then provided in at least two cases, security detachment to go on board the ships. Despite this, the UK MTO still has reports of attacks. And on Tuesday night it reported that one vessel had been hit. And so it does not seem that there has been like a universal ability to allow vessels to move through the strait. The United States also claims to have sunk seven small Iranian vessels in the strait. Let's hear from Marco Rubio where he's explaining a little bit about why the US Is doing this.
- [46:25]
Marco Rubio
And we're going to do it as a favor to the world. Understand this, this is a favor to the world because it's their ships that are stranded, it's their fuel supplies that are stranded, by the way, it's their humanitarian, there's humanitarian aid destined for different countries in the world that's stranded in the Persian Gulf right now. It's the fertilizer that they need for their food and crops that's stranded in the Persian. Not our fertilizer, their fertilizer. So we want to be helpful and that's why the President stepped forward, because we're the only ones that can, frankly. Right, the only ones that can.
- [46:52]
James Stout
So the United States, they're wanting to be helpful, help the world with their humanitarian aid. On Tuesday, the President then truthed, based on the request of Pakistan and other countries, the tremendous military success that we have had during the campaign against the country of Iran and additionally the fact that great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran. We have mutually agreed that while the blockade will remain in place and will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom, the movement of ships with straight to four moves will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the agreement can be finalized and signed. So that was the 24 hour duration of Project Freedom.
- [47:33]
Mia Wong
Rest in peace.
- [47:34]
James Stout
Then this morning the President truthed, quote, assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is perhaps a big assumption, the already legendary epic fury will be at an end. If they don't agree, the bombing starts and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. President John J. Trump. The parties, according to Axios, not an outlet known for its accurate reporting, appear to be closing in on a 14 point deal. The reporting suggests that Iran has committed to a moratorium of 15 to 20 years on uranium enrichment. The United States would then lift sanctions and release Frozen Iranian funds, which is a massive concession, and both sides would lift restrictions on passage through the Strait of Hormuz. However, hours after this was reported, a United States aircraft shut the rudder out of an Iranian motor tanker called the Hasna. They say they warned the ship which was headed towards Iranian ports. It was empty at the time. It was heading towards Iranian ports. Right. Then we saw reporting from Analges zero reporter Ali Hashem that instructions have been sent to boats crossing the strait. These instructions include, quote, priority of payment in Iran's national currency, issuance of guarantees in Iranian banks. Three, if a country caused damage to Iran in the recent war, it must first pay the damages before obtaining a passage permit. Countries that have sanctioned Iran or blocked Iran's money are not allowed passage. Four, the correct title, Persian Gulf, must be written on all documents. Five, Non compliance with the above result in seizure and a fine of 20% of the cargo value. So it is chaos in the Strait of Hormuz.
- [49:21]
Robert Evans
Right.
- [49:21]
James Stout
Like we have once Trump saying the US Will escort ships through and then pausing the escorting of ships through, and then the Iranians shooting at a commercial ship, and then the United States shooting at an Iranian ship. The Iranians asking for money, this time, not in cryptocurrency, and the United States saying that we are about to reach a peace agreement. This, of course, provides a lot of certainty, which markets love. And I'm sure this will result in the gas price not being nearly $7 a gallon here pretty soon. I also want to briefly talk about suicide dolphins. In a press conference, Iranian suicide dolphins were raised. Here's the question being asked.
- [50:06]
Podcast Ad Voice
Can you kind of clarify these reports of kamikaze dolphins that we've heard about?
- [50:12]
Robert Smigel
I haven't heard the kamikaze dolphin thing.
- [50:14]
Mia Wong
It's like sharks with laser beams, right?
- [50:16]
Robert Evans
No, it's not.
- [50:19]
James Stout
And then if you could play Hegseth's response as well.
- [50:22]
Garrison Davis
And I can't confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins, but I can
- [50:26]
Robert Evans
confirm they don't ultimately.
- [50:30]
Garrison Davis
Well, it's good. We're ultimate on that.
- [50:31]
James Stout
Yep. So Hegset's pretty definitive on Orion having kamikaze dolphins. It did seem kind of weird that people reporting on this weren't aware the United States has had a marine mammal program. Yeah, yeah. Like, you can see them in San Diego. They are not, to my knowledge, like, used in a kamikaze capacity, mainly because it's just cheaper to do that with drones.
- [50:51]
Mia Wong
The US Military did briefly experiment with bats, which turned out to be a terrible idea because the bats would just Fly back to you.
- [50:58]
James Stout
The boomerang bat.
- [51:00]
Mia Wong
This nearly wiped out a huge portion of US Central Command.
- [51:03]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [51:03]
Mia Wong
Great stuff.
- [51:04]
James Stout
Yeah, it doesn't. I mean, I'm pretty sure that Iran doesn't have suicide dolphins either, but people are asking that again, it is just cheaper, unaliving dolphins. Yeah, sure, one way dolphins, how we refer to them if they were munitions, but it just doesn't.
- [51:21]
Mia Wong
Is it a suicide dolphin? If you're pressing the buttons though, like, are you just blowing up a dolphin?
- [51:26]
James Stout
No, it's not. It's a murdered dolphin.
- [51:28]
Garrison Davis
Yeah. It's really unfair to the dolphin.
- [51:30]
Mia Wong
It's not a kamikaze dolphin either.
- [51:32]
James Stout
It hasn't made that commitment. It's just a dolphin.
- [51:34]
Robert Evans
It's a homicide dolphin. Let's be clear.
- [51:36]
Garrison Davis
I can't believe that those reporters would mess up such a basic fact.
- [51:41]
James Stout
Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. The people on the suicide dolphin beat really need to get Back to journalism 101. Shocked. All right. Talking about the ocean, Marco Rubio has visited southcom and posed for a photo with General Francis L. Donovan in front of what is very obviously a large map of Cuba.
- [51:58]
Robert Evans
Hell yeah.
- [51:59]
Garrison Davis
I think what you meant to say is DJ Mark Rubio. But continue.
- [52:02]
James Stout
Yeah, the map is titled Cuba Reference Map.
- [52:10]
Garrison Davis
That's not good.
- [52:11]
James Stout
Yeah, like in terms of like a subtle signaling.
- [52:14]
Garrison Davis
That's not good.
- [52:14]
James Stout
Rubio also claimed at a press conference that Operation Epic Fury was over.
- [52:19]
Marco Rubio
The Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. I'm not going to, you know, we're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the President would prefer is a deal. He would prefer to sit down, work out a Memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed. A full opening of the straits so the world can get back to normal. And he preferred that that be negotiated through the route that Steve and Jared have been working and that all of us have been supporting. That's the route he prefers. That is so far not the route that Iran has chosen. And so the result has been that the United States has to do, do something about the fact that we're the only nation on earth that can do anything to open up a lane within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there. And that's what we're undergoing now.
- [53:04]
James Stout
So that's the end of Operation Epic Fury and the beginning of the United States doing something to open up a lane in the Strait of Hormuz.
- [53:14]
Robert Evans
Great operation. Unclear,
- [53:18]
James Stout
the goals of which are unclear, but apparently the first one succeeded. So congrats to all the epic fury people listening.
- [53:28]
Robert Evans
Operation is going great. Things are really good and we're, we're just minutes away from figuring out what we're doing next.
- [53:36]
Garrison Davis
Really thrilled for when we invade Cuba. And it's like Operation Bacon. Awesome sauce.
- [53:41]
James Stout
Yeah, yeah, right. Like epic bacon is the.
- [53:44]
Garrison Davis
Oh, boy. Before we close, there's a few, a few shorter things that we should mention. Let's first by turning to, as Vivek Ramaswamy has said, not the best state in the nation, Ohio, which.
- [54:01]
Robert Evans
Not the best state in the nation,
- [54:03]
Garrison Davis
which for some reason, Vivek Ramaswamy is the GOP candidate for governor as of Tuesday.
- [54:09]
Robert Evans
He has deep connections to Ohio, where he's lived for how long? Garrison?
- [54:13]
James Stout
Just long enough to be on the
- [54:15]
Garrison Davis
ballot, like a few days, like a week or two.
- [54:17]
Robert Evans
Yeah,
- [54:19]
Garrison Davis
it's a good state. I can't say it's the best state. Incredible stuff.
- [54:25]
Robert Evans
Praise high, accurate praise.
- [54:28]
Garrison Davis
We will be following this because if Vivek loses to the Democrat, that would be an interesting indicator not just of support for Trump and maga, but also how annoying Vivek Ramaswamy is.
- [54:41]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [54:41]
Garrison Davis
But Robert, there's someone that you would like to briefly mention as well.
- [54:46]
Robert Evans
Yes. So in addition to Vivek doing so well last night, another candidate who did pretty well is Brian Poindexter. Brian is running for. Well, was running and won the Democratic primary for the Ohio 7th district seat. And he will be running against the Republican incumbent in that district, a guy named Max Miller, who initially ran for and, and won his way into Congress in 2022. He was a former aide of President Trump and a bit of a sleazebag, if I'm going to be honest with you. If I'm going to talk about this guy, I mean, first off, he's, he's like definitely a Nepo baby. His, his grandfather was Samuel H. Miller, who is the former co chair emeritus of Forest City Realty Trust, which was acquired in this big real estate deal in 2018 for $6.8 billion. So he is like a kid who came from a family with a shitload of real estate money and wound up working in the Trump White House and then got into Congress where He has a 14% lifetime voting score from the AFL CIO. When he was initially running for Congress and he was asked, because I found a fun interview with him where he was asked to give like his elevator pitch and I just have to read this, was Max Miller's elevator pitch for why he should be in Congress. So with my background in the Marine Corps, in the infantry, and six years on the reserve side and the work and working for Senator Rubio and my time in the White House, I've been in these meetings with the President and other Cabinet secretaries. And the reason why I'm running for office is because of what I saw when I was there. We send people to Washington, D.C. to represent our values. And for the most part, what we see as regular Americans is they don't. They're so out of touch with reality. And for the most part, these individuals only go there to benefit their own way of life, and they lose sight of everyone that they were sent there to protect. And I saw that throughout the four years that I was in Washington, D.C. in the White House, and it was extremely eye opening.
- [56:48]
Garrison Davis
And that's why I'm running to be the Republican representative.
- [56:52]
Robert Evans
You are asked, okay, what's your elevator pitch? Why should you be in office? That's an amazingly incoherent bit of babble.
- [57:01]
Garrison Davis
Yeah.
- [57:02]
Robert Evans
So he was asked, like, why do you think you're the right guy? And he was like, well, I've been in North Korea, I've been in Iraq, bouncing between Al Assad and Erbil. I was in Afghanistan negotiating with foreign delegations on behalf of the President. And I've been in the pressure cooker. And again, he was like a Trump aide. Like, he's, like, followed around in meetings where more important people were making decisions. Like, that was his.
- [57:22]
Garrison Davis
He was like a coffee boy.
- [57:24]
Robert Evans
Yeah, pressure cooker again, walking around with the President not making any decisions. He was like a Diet Coke boy more than anything.
- [57:33]
Garrison Davis
It looked like those were bad negotiations.
- [57:35]
James Stout
Yes.
- [57:38]
Robert Evans
This interviewer finally gets him to pin down and, like, what is the issue you most want to deal with? And he's like, top issue, hands down, is inflation and the economy. And like, he talks about how, like, there's 70. There's $67 billion worth of credit card debt that Americans are. And that's his top issue. So what does he do once he's in power? First off, none of the bills that he co sponsored in his first year in Congress had anything to do. All I made it through is, like, the first year and a half, but none of those had anything to do with credit card bills, inflation, or the economy. And the main bill that he is, like, can attach his name to that he co authored was the Full House act and unfair taxation of gambling losses. So not a great guy. So anyway, while I'm going through this interview. There's a moment here where the interviewer is like, hey, so your girlfriend recently made some allegations against you.
- [58:34]
James Stout
How did we did we see that one coming?
- [58:36]
Robert Evans
So here's what Taylor Popliars, that's the journalist here, says your ex girlfriend Stephanie Grisham, who also worked in the Trump White House with you, she has alleged some pretty serious things related to you, that you've slapped her, pushed her, threw a dog toy at her, cheated on her. And I know you've denied all that. You filed a lawsuit at one point. Do you still deny all that? His response was, to be clear, we're handling this in litigation. And her motion to dismiss was denied. So the case will be heard. Now we've all, so we've already won our first battle in that hurdle. And to be clear, she herself has never articulated the allegations. It was all hearsay by second and third party sources. Anyway, that's not the only scandal this guy has on his record. I just briefly looked into him and I found not only those allegations from this former staffer, that he had become violent in the White House and that the President was aware of that and was like that's kind of fucked up. Like he and the President and Melania were both saw him become violent and
- [59:30]
Garrison Davis
we're like oh God.
- [59:31]
Robert Evans
Oh wow, that's kind of fucked up. Yeah. But didn't actually do anything. Like it's really messed up. Like the allegations here are at least really messed up.
- [59:38]
Garrison Davis
Yeah.
- [59:39]
Robert Evans
That's not the only person who has made allegations against him in his like messy divorce. His ex wife has alleged that he has gotten violent with her. He has countered and said that she got violent with him. But then his representatives had to admit that their client fabricated testimony and court documents in order to obtain a protection order against his ex wife. So this dude is a real piece of shit.
- [60:03]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [60:03]
Robert Evans
Like Max Miller, bonafide trash person. And currently he's up by about five points in this election in Ohio, seven against Poindexter. So it's very unclear how are things going to actually go. But I just looking at how sleazy this guy is and how, how soft his actual base of organic support seems to be. This is one where I kind of suspect maybe once you actually get a decent candidate. And Poindexter really seems to be like he's a guy who spent his pretty much his entire year as like a union metal worker and is a reasonably good campaigner. He's been a five term councilman in Brook Park, Ohio. Like he's he's someone who, like, this isn't a dilettante in politics, but also has like a real life. I don't know. I could see this being something that, like, maybe the Democrats are actually able to flip here. If Poindexter proves to be as good at campaigning in like an open election as he was in the primary, I'm kind of bullish about him. Anyway, it's something to watch.
- [61:04]
Garrison Davis
Yeah. Last Big Story As a part of the ongoing lawsuit, Louisiana v. FDA on May 1, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary ban on the remote prescription and mailed delivery of the abortion pill mifepristone. Last October, Louisiana brought this case against the FDA for a Biden era regulation allowing telehealth prescription and mail order access to the drug, which Louisiana claimed was unsafe and facilitated illegal abortions in the state. A district court had previously agreed that Louisiana was likely to win its challenge, but it did not grant the state's requested stay on the regulation. In fact, the lower court put the entire case on hold because last year RFK Jr announced an FDA review of mifepristone and its quote unquote reported adverse effects, with RFK Jr specifically mentioning in his announcement that, quote, the Biden administration removed mifepristone's in person dispensing rule without studying the safety risks, unquote. Despite the case being put on hold Due to the FDA's review, Louisiana appealed the lower court's decision to decline a stay on mail order mpristone. And Last week the 5th Circuit ruled in the state's favor, temporarily reinstating this in person dispensing requirement while the case continues. But then on May 4, the Supreme Court restored remote prescription and mail order access to mifepristone by blocking the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. But this stay by the Supreme Court is only in effect until Monday, May 11. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will consider responses from both parties and then issue a subsequent ruling. The majority of abortions in the United States are now administered through abortion medication like mithapristone. And according to a study published in 2025, 1/4 of abortions are now done through telehealth services, double the rate from before the overturning of dos. Other Republican states like Texas and Missouri are also engaged in other efforts to restrict access to methopro stone nationwide. Yeah, will keep up on this as the Supreme Court issues a more definitive ruling in the near future. The last thing I want to mention very ever so briefly. Big news in Marx Land. Biggest update in Marxism in a while.
- [63:36]
James Stout
Oh, boy.
- [63:37]
Robert Evans
Oh, good. New Marxism just dropped.
- [63:38]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [63:39]
Garrison Davis
On Monday, the secret Service shot a 45 year old man from Texas named Michael Marks, spelled the same way, who was. Who was allegedly sealed, carrying a sig. P. P65A.
- [63:52]
Robert Evans
P365. Okay.
- [63:55]
James Stout
P365, 320.
- [63:57]
Garrison Davis
Well, between the White house and Washington monument, Secret service say they tried to approach the man after noticing the imprint of a gun. The man then fled and allegedly fired towards the agents who returned fire, wounding Mr. Marks. While in the ambulance, he allegedly said, quote, the white House and kill me, kill me, kill me, Unquote.
- [64:19]
James Stout
Oh, dear.
- [64:20]
Garrison Davis
A 15 year old was also shot during this incident. And at first secret service claimed that the armed man shot the kid, but they later reneged that claim though. After Marx was charged, u. S. Attorney Janine Pirro repeated this claim, saying that he, quote, shot an innocent bystander who was simply crossing the street with his family, unquote. After the shooting, Chris McDonald, a congressional affairs official with the secret service, told congress that there was no indication that the man was targeting anyone inside the executive complex, writing, quote, president Trump was not in any danger.
- [64:58]
Robert Evans
So we don't actually know what happened here. Was this just some weirdo? Concealed carrying, presumably illegally, right?
- [65:06]
Garrison Davis
Illegally, yes.
- [65:06]
James Stout
Yeah. Yeah.
- [65:09]
Robert Evans
Just because he's. Does that or was he. Did he have. Was he trying to commit? Doesn't it. Yeah. This doesn't make much sense right now.
- [65:17]
Garrison Davis
Yeah, no, it's. It's unclear what his intention was at this point. But then after being shot by secret service, that's when he expressed the White House, kill me, kill me, kill me. But there's no indication he was targeting any elected official.
- [65:31]
Robert Evans
Sure.
- [65:32]
Garrison Davis
But did allegedly shoot at secret service as they tried to approach and chase him?
- [65:38]
Robert Evans
Interesting. Yeah, yeah.
- [65:41]
Garrison Davis
Anyway, cool.
- [65:42]
Robert Evans
I mean, it's bad, but you know,
- [65:45]
Garrison Davis
yeah, that, that's it for us here, addict. Could happen here.
- [65:51]
James Stout
Yeah.
- [65:52]
Garrison Davis
We reported the news.
- [65:53]
Robert Evans
Great.
- [65:54]
Mia Wong
Put a trans girl on your couch.
- [65:57]
James Stout
If you want to send us an email specifically pertaining to tips about news, you can do so coolzonetipsome me.
- [66:06]
Marco Rubio
We reported the news.
- [66:15]
Sophie Lichterman
It could happen Here is a production of cool zone media. For more podcasts from cool zone media, Visit our website, coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iheartradio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources where it could happen here listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.
- [66:38]
Robert Evans
This is an iheart podcast.
- [66:40]
Podcast Ad Voice
Guaranteed human.