Executive Disorder: Iran, US Munitions Shortage, Texas Primary Election

Summary

Podcast Summary: It Could Happen Here

Episode: Executive Disorder: Iran, US Munitions Shortage, Texas Primary Election

Date: March 6, 2026
Hosts: Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, James Stout, Robert Evans
Podcast: Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

---

Overview

This episode of It Could Happen Here ("Executive Disorder" edition) explores the rapidly developing US-Iran war, the American munitions shortage, shifting alliances in Kurdish politics, ongoing waves of immigration crackdowns, and major stories from the Texas primary election—including voting rights skirmishes and the Democratic Senate primary upset. The hosts analyze how these domestic and international crises intertwine, reflect on the societal consequences of US foreign policy, and discuss the continuing rightward shift in US politics.

---

Segment Highlights and Key Discussion Points

1. Breaking Political News: White House and Congressional Drama

[02:35 - 06:46]

• Epstein Investigation Fallout: House subpoenas AG Hambani for Epstein investigation handling, with rare bipartisan support. Hillary Clinton's testimony (involving Pizzagate and UFOs) will be covered in a future episode.

• Paramount/Netflix/Warner Brothers Media Merger: Paramount wins out over Netflix after FCC chair declares the deal "a lot cleaner" ([03:49]).

  • Quote: "It's insane he just said that out loud." – Host ([03:51])

• ICE Raid at Columbia: New DHS raid targets student Ellie Agaheva using deceit (fake lost child), sparking protests. Advocacy by Mayor Mamdani leads President Trump to intervene for her release.

  • Quote: “These actions do nothing to advance the cause of public safety.” – Mayor Mamdani ([05:48])
  • Unclear legal status for Agaheva post-release.

• Immigration Law and Federal Immunity:

  • Hennepin County investigating federal misconduct; hosts clarify that federal officers are not absolutely immune from state prosecution ([08:34]).
  • Supremacy Clause constraints discussed: only actions "necessary and proper" and “authorized under federal law” are protected.

---

2. Iran Crisis Update: Escalation, Alliances, Humanitarian Danger

[09:41 - 23:46]

• Recent US Attacks Driven by Israeli Intelligence:

  • US acted pre-emptively, using real-time intelligence from Israel; daytime strikes unusual in this context.
  • Tehran heavily bombed, exacerbating Iran’s catastrophic water crisis.
  • Quote: "Absent even any of this military aggression from the US that we're seeing right now, Iran was in realistic danger of becoming a failed state." – Garrison ([12:09])
  • Quote: “Tehran is sitting on top of an empty aquifer... this is not helping that.” – James ([13:14])

• Kurdish Factions and Misinformation:

  • Extensive confusion and misrepresentation in media coverage regarding Kurdish involvement, with Axios piece criticized for major inaccuracies ([15:06-16:05]).
    • “Media perceptions of the Middle East are often formed by people whose understanding is eclipsed by the introductory part of the Wikipedia article.” – James ([15:19])
  • Reports of Kurdish paramilitaries joining the war are denied by Kurdish groups themselves ([39:47]).
  • Kurdish alliances (e.g., Peshmerga unification) nuanced and frequently misunderstood.

• Ground Forces and US Allies:

  • Realistic potential for Kurdish groups—if regime falls—to become main Western-backed ground element, but deep US unreliability as a partner.
    • Quote: “If you’re... a member of a foreign militant group that the US is talking to, don’t ever trust us. Bad friends.” – Garrison ([22:53])
  • Reference to the recent US abandonment of Kurdish allies in Syria.

---

3. US Munitions Shortage: War Sustainability and Ethical Concerns

[28:00 - 35:22]

• Boats and Bombers:

  • US claims to have neutralized almost the entire Iranian navy; hosts note explicit Iraq War comparisons ([28:43]).
  • Introduction of new US-produced “Lucas drones,” reverse-engineered from Iranian Shaheed drones ([29:49]).
    • Quote: “It’s one of the best ideas in warfare of the last hundred years.” – Garrison ([29:49])

• Running Low on Precision Munitions:

  • America’s high-tech munitions are being used up at an unsustainable rate; Pentagon warned weeks ago shortages could jeopardize operations ([30:54]).
  • Iran outproducing US in key missile and drone categories.
    • Quote: “We can build six or seven interceptor missiles in a month... Iran’s producing 100 ballistic missiles a month.” – Garrison ([31:40])
  • Shift toward ‘dumber’ bombs (JDAMs) increases risk of civilian casualties.
    • “We’re hitting a point where we’re running out of precision munitions... so we’ll just use these bigger weapons that kill more civilians.” – Garrison ([34:36])

• Religious Zealotry in Command Structures:

  • Growing religiosity and apocalyptic rhetoric among officers—some referencing bible prophecy and Armageddon to justify war.
    • Quote: "President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return…” – Quoted NCO ([35:38])
    • “I don’t think this is good. This is my take on that.” – James ([36:31])
  • Darkly humorous and worrying references to “red heifer” prophecy ([37:03]).

---

4. Consequences: Trade, Oil, and The Strait of Hormuz

[41:08 - 45:04]

• Strait of Hormuz Closed:

  • IRGC claims the critical maritime chokepoint is "closed"—affecting roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply ([41:08]).
  • Oil prices and global stock indices plummet, especially in oil-dependent Asian economies; South Korea’s stock market suffers largest drop in history ([44:00]).
  • US plan to escort tankers, including underwriting insurance, seen as militarily unworkable ([43:30]).
    • “There’s no way militarily that you can actually move oil tankers through here. You just can’t.” – Garrison ([43:51])

• Spain Denies US Base Access:

  • Spanish government refuses use of US air bases for the Iran war ([45:41]), triggering threats from Trump to cut off all trade with Spain—seen as bluster ([46:09]).
  • Little public backlash in the US, unlike the Iraq/Freedom Fries era, and war approval already below 50% ([47:47]).

---

5. Domestic Rights Erosion: Anti-Trans Legislation in Kansas

[51:21 - 53:33]

• Sweeping New Kansas Law:
  • Overriding governor’s veto, Kansas invalidates updated gender markers on state IDs and birth certificates, blocks future changes, and allows lawsuits against suspected trans people using public restrooms ([51:21]).
  • Quote: “Now you have people... [whose] passport being invalid, their birth certificate being invalid, and their state driver’s license being invalid... a very precarious situation.” – Host ([53:17])
  • Lawsuit filed by trans Kansans and the ACLU.

---

6. US Electoral Politics: Texas and North Carolina Primaries

[53:33 - 66:12]

• Texas Primary Headlines:
  • GOP: Cornyn vs. Paxton Senate runoff appears set, with Trump now backing Cornyn ([53:33]); far-right Steve Toth defeats Dan Crenshaw ([54:43]).
    • “We’ve replaced Hitler with Hitler, too.” – CJ ([55:02])
  • DEMS: Talarico (progressive, LGBTQ caucus, former teacher, Christian left) defeats Crockett in Senate primary ([57:21]).
    • Notable quote: “The only minority destroying this country is the billionaires.” – Talarico ([60:33])
    • Media/voting-rights focus: Lawsuits and legal confusion over restrictive voter rules in Dallas/Williamsburg counties ([55:21]); many ballots potentially thrown out due to last-minute court intervention.
• North Carolina Primaries:
  • Democrats siding with Republicans on anti-trans or pro-ICE bills were “destroyed” in primaries, losing by up to 50 points ([64:18]).
    • “I think it’s a sign of where people are right now...” – CJ ([64:48])
    • “Hopefully we’re seeing the culmination ... that can kill this kind of anti-trans politics in the place where it was born." – CJ ([66:13])

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Media perceptions of the Middle East are often formed by people whose understanding is eclipsed by the introductory part of the Wikipedia article.”
  — James Stout ([15:19])
• “Absent even any of this military aggression... Iran was in realistic danger of becoming a failed state.”
  — Garrison Davis ([12:09])
• “If you’re... a member of a foreign militant group that the US is talking to, don’t ever trust us. Bad friends.”
  — Garrison Davis ([22:53])
• “We can build six or seven interceptor missiles in a month... Iran’s producing 100 ballistic missiles a month.”
  — Garrison Davis ([31:40])
• “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”
  — US service member (quoting officer) ([35:38])
• "The only minority destroying this country is the billionaires.”
  — James Talarico ([60:33])

---

Final Reflections & Analysis

• Intersecting Crises:
  • The US is wrong-footed geopolitically and domestically, facing munitions shortages, unreliable alliances, and humanitarian risks abroad—while at home, right-wing legal attacks continue against LGBTQ rights.
• Erosion of Trust:
  • Skepticism about US reliability in foreign partnerships mirrors disenchantment with the electoral process domestically, especially as legal maneuvers disenfranchise voters.
• Public Opinion and Resistance:
  • War approval is low and falling, and primary voters—often more progressive or engaged—are showing new willingness to punish anti-trans and anti-immigrant policies within the Democratic Party.
• Disinformation Warning:
  • Hosts urge critical skepticism as misinformation spreads rapidly, especially concerning Kurdish alliances and battlefield developments.

---

Timestamps of Key Segments

• Israel-driven Iran strikes, water crisis, humanitarian danger: [09:41 - 13:38]
• Kurdish politics & media criticism: [13:38 - 22:53]
• US munitions shortage: [28:00 - 35:22]
• Religious fervor among US officers: [35:22 - 37:20]
• Strait of Hormuz & world oil trade impact: [41:08 - 45:04]
• Kansas anti-trans law: [51:21 - 53:33]
• Texas primaries & voting issues: [53:33 - 61:12]
• North Carolina primaries & anti-trans backlash: [64:18 - 66:12]

---

Overall Tone

Critical, deeply informed, irreverent, and laced with dark humor. The hosts blend real-time analysis, policy/law explainers, historical context, and direct moral engagement, all while lampooning the absurdities of US politics, war, and media misreporting.

---

This summary is intended for listeners seeking a comprehensive grasp of pivotal events and analysis from this episode without the need to navigate ads, digressions, or non-content sections.

Transcript

[Weatherbug Advertiser]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human no one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need from storm warnings to pollen levels right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local Alerts and comprehensive 10 day forecasts wherever you are. Its hyperlocal real time customizable alerts. Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free Weatherbug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts forecasts 247 there's a fire

[Anabe Advertiser]

inside you you can't ignore. Stand still.

[James Stout]

Not a chance.

[Anabe Advertiser]

You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we are here to help you keep going further. Capella University what can't you do? Visit capella.edu to learn more.

[Garrison Davis]

Hi, this is Gronk from Dudes on Dudes. I'm here to tell you about protecting your end zone with wet extra large flushable dude wipes. Unlike dry wiping with toilet paper, Dude Wipes clear instead of smear Wetter cleans better.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Goodbye dingleberries.

[Garrison Davis]

Goodbye itch and irritation.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Plus if you take Gronk sized Grumpies

[Garrison Davis]

or as I like to call them Gronkies Baby Wipes won't do.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

You need extra big Dude Wipes to handle the job so don't fumble the

[Garrison Davis]

ball with toilet paper.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Stop being an A hole to your B hole and start using Dude Wipes. Available on Amazon and major retailers nationwide. Dude Wipes Best clean Pants down Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back tested against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures

[Garrison Davis]

Media. We should have kept working on that bomb that they thought would turn the entire enemy army gay, which was the thing they really put money into.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

This is it could happen here. Executive Disorder Our weekly newscast covering what's happening in the White House, the crumbling world and what it means for you. I'm Garrison Davis. Today I'm joined by Meowong, James Stout and Robert Evans. This episode we are covering the week of February 25th to March 4th. A House committee just today on Wednesday has subpoenaed AG Hambani to testify on her handling of the Epstein investigation, with five Republicans joining all Democrats in the vote. Hillary Clinton was asked about Pizzagate and UFOs during her congressional testimony on Jeffrey Epstein. More on that next week. In a special episode, God and Netflix declined to raise their offer to buy Warner Brothers, resulting in Paramount winning the bidding war. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told CNBC that the Paramount deal would be approved, quote, unquote, pretty quickly and that Netflix, quote, would have had a very difficult path. Saying the Paramount deal is, quote, a lot cleaner does not raise all the same types of concerns, unquote.

[CJ Teledano]

More on that in the episode before this one.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

It's insane he just said that out loud.

[CJ Teledano]

Onions.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

On Thursday, February 26, almost a year after Mahmoud Khalil was first detained, ICE agents arrested another Columbia student in the early hours of the morning. Shortly after 6am Five plainclothes agents from the Department of Homeland Security showed up outside a Columbia apartment building without a warrant, demanding to be let inside. The agents gained entry by falsely telling the building's superintendent that they were police searching for a missing child, even bringing pictures of this fake kid. The agents used this lie to enter into the apartment of 29 year old student Ellie Agaheva, where she was then arrested and taken off campus. After being detained, Agaheva posted on Instagram, DHS illegally arrested me. Please help. This same day, Mayor Mamdani happened to be meeting with President Trump in the White House regarding federal funding for the Sunnyside Yards housing project. During this meeting, the Mayor voiced opposition to ICE raids and concern about the detention of the Columbia student. Earlier that morning, I shared my concern

[CJ Teledano]

with the president about ICE's detention of Columbia student Elmina Agaeva yesterday morning, as well as the detention of four additional New Yorkers in relation to the university. Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi Yunseo Chang and Nakhal Kordia. I ask that their cases be dropped. I'm grateful that shortly after our meeting, the President called me to inform me that Elmina would be imminently released, and indeed she was.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

The mayor also discussed the release of Akaheva. In a question during this press conference,

[Garrison Davis]

during your advocacy with President Trump, what

[Anabe Advertiser]

do you think the winning argument was

[James Stout]

and did they reverse course?

[CJ Teledano]

All I can tell you is what happened, which is that I shared directly with the President a list of names of Columbia students and those who've also been detained because of their activity on Columbia campus, and that these actions do nothing to advance the cause of public safety. And I asked that these cases be dropped, and the President said that he would look into it. Soon after the meeting, I received a phone call from the President saying that he was going to imminently release her.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

At 3:45pm, Agaheva posted on Instagram that she'd been released and was, quote, unquote, safe and okay. On Thursday night, a DHS spokesperson told a reporter that Agaheva's student visa was terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes and that, quote, Ice placed her in removal proceedings and she's been released while she waits for her hearing, unquote. The current state of her case is unknown, with neither her lawyers nor DHS providing any follow up statements.

[James Stout]

That last part is very confusing to me. Right. Because if she had lost her student visa for non attendance, like that can happen, that would have shown up in Sevis.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

And that was a decade ago. That part confused me. I just, I was scanning it right before we started and I figured I'd just ask you in the episode, but

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

yeah, I mean, she has no pending cases with DHS in their system or no pending appeals. It's very unclear what happened here or the exact cause of why she was arrested and the state of whatever visa she's on.

[James Stout]

Right. Yeah. She could have been on a completely different visa.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Yeah. It's very unclear.

[James Stout]

There's a lot here that I'd like to know. Many such cases, I guess. So, to start with a couple of immigration things. During a Senate hearing yesterday, that's Tuesday, Christine Nome doubled down on the claim she's previously made about Alex Pretty, which are, as far as we can tell, false. Right. Saying his actions were, quote, the definition of domestic terrorism. She's in the House testifying today. So I will try and summarize both those testimonies in next week's Ed. Just. Just so we don't end up covering this twice and we've got a lot to address today. This is breaking news right before we release the podcast. Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is going to be leaving that job at the end of March and and he will be replaced by current United States Senator for Oklahoma, Mark Wayne Mullen Noem will be moving into another job where she will be the special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, which is a security initiative for the Western hemisphere that Trump is planning on telling us more about this weekend. Mullen, for those aren't familiar, is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He has been in the House of Representatives for 10 years before he was in the Senate for the last three years and he used to be a professional MMA fighter. Secondly, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has announced an investigation into potential misconduct by federal officers in the state. In response, DHS has claimed that, quote, federal officials acting in the course of their duties are immune from liability under state law. This isn't true in legal terms. Right. Federal officials can be prosecuted if their actions weren't necessary or proper or not in the course of their duties. So this pertains to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Right. And it's a two part test for Supremacy Clause immunity. A, the federal official's actions authorised under federal law and B, that they are, quote, necessary and proper in the execution of their duties as a federal officer. I will link in the sources of our document to a 10th Circuit case on this. The case was about some federal wildlife officers who had crossed onto private land during a wolf collaring operation in Wyoming and then Wyoming attempted to prosecute them for trespassing.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Right.

[James Stout]

So we can see like a previous example of this. But. But it's not true that they have complete immunity from state laws, which is what's important here. I want to move on to Iran, just like most of the US military has done. But thank you. I worked so hard on these.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

So we made a whole episode about this which came out on Wednesday of this week and I don't want to recap what we said there. That is why we make lots of episodes so you can go into depth on things. So I will for the most part be picking up on that by updating people on things that have happened in the 24 hours since we recorded that. Firstly, it seems that the attacks, or east, their timing was heavily driven by Israel, who were likely acting on intelligence about the whereabouts of her main. The attacks occurred in the daytime, which is pretty unusual. Like normally they'll want to time These things with moon phase, they want to do them at night just to make them safer for any of the piloted aircrafts that they're using. Right. I also wanted to point out, so that the source for this Israel claim. Let's start there, comes from the Rapid Response 47 account. I guess I describe that as like a White House affiliated Twitter account. I can't think of the. Yeah, it's one of the accounts. It's not White House, but it's one of the accounts that the Trump administration runs.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

One of the accounts the administration uses to disseminate information.

[James Stout]

Yeah. This quotation here from Marco Rubio, quote, the President made very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties. It seems like the initial push came from Israel.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

I'd also like to add that Tehran is getting bombed very heavily as we record this. Something that I think is missing in that discourse. We were actually going to have an episode about the water crisis in Iran this week. Yeah. For obvious reasons, we, we made another Iran based episode. But Iran is critically low on water. Right. Lake Urmia, which is, was the largest lake in Asia, is essentially gone now from damming, from draining of aquifers. And Tehran is sitting on top of an empty aquifer, which leads to a greater potential for damage, I guess, with, with some of these large bombs that we, that we're seeing drop there. Right.

[Garrison Davis]

I mean, it also means that absent even any of this military aggression from the US that we're seeing right now, Iran was in realistic danger of becoming a failed state.

[James Stout]

Yes.

[Garrison Davis]

Because of the sheer lack of water. That is an existential threat when your capital city is running out of water. Like there's no other way to look at that scale of problem. And the fact that now they're dealing with this massacre of the people who had been running things, as well as mass destruction via the air of a lot of civil infrastructure, this is just so much more of a problem. And it, yeah, it makes the odds of the end result of all this being a failed state in the region that leads to a humanitarian crisis on scale of the refugee crisis we saw during the early stages of the Syrian civil war much likelier.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Especially when you consider that like there are millions of refugees already living in Iran, right. From Afghanistan and Iran has been deporting them on a massive level. But like, yes. The chances of this being an absolute humanitarian disaster are worryingly high. Tehran received one millimeter of rain.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Last year, according to some Guardian reporting I read. They were already, as you said, very close to people turning on the taps and nothing coming out.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

This is not helping that. I want to move on to these claims that we have seen in the past 24 hours about a Kurdish partner force in eastern Kurdistan. Right. In Kurdish, that will be called Rojalat. That would be western Iran.

[Garrison Davis]

Right, Right. Like Kurdistan, the broader region is western Iran, northern Iraq, northeast Syria, southern Turkey. Right. You can draw kind of a big glob around all those parts of the world. That's Kurdistan.

[James Stout]

Yeah, exactly. If you can, like, draw a blob that encompasses all of those things. Yeah. Obviously, Kurdistan is not a state. It is an area.

[Garrison Davis]

It's not at all.

[James Stout]

That is part of the issue at stake here. Kind of a big, big deal kind of the thing. Yeah. So Axios has reported that Trump called Baful Talabani and Masoud Barzani, who are the leaders of the two biggest factions in Iraqi Kurdistan. Yeah. Southern Kurdistan, northern Iraq. The piece was written by Barack Ravid. This is not Barack's first time. Joining us on Executive Disorder, Friend of the Bard. Yeah, yeah. Regular guest, Barack Rafid. People remember last time that we talked about Barack. It was in the context of a leaked proposal for peace between Russia and Ukraine that appeared to be essentially a list of Russian demands, but was not present, was presented as a US Proposal. I will try and remember what week we talked about that and insert that link in case people want to go back.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

Like, I've spent a lot of time pointing out on various websites how bad this piece was. It was atrocious in its understanding of Kurdish movements. For instance, listed Talabani and Barzani as leaders of Iranian Kurdish factions. What? Yeah, like.

[CJ Teledano]

Oh, no.

[James Stout]

I think it's important to note at this point that, like, media perceptions of the Middle east are often formed by people whose understanding is eclipsed by the introductory part of the Wikipedia article on a given topic.

[Garrison Davis]

Vastly.

[James Stout]

Like, that's not an exaggeration.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

Like, this is.

[Garrison Davis]

This is.

[CJ Teledano]

This is. This is like saying Macron is the leader of, like, the Quebec separatists.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

Like, it's like that kind of shit.

[Garrison Davis]

Like, yeah, see, that I do believe, actually. But that's a separate episode. I will be actually doing that in partnership with Infowars France. Very excited to see that get off the ground.

[James Stout]

Infowars France. It's a frightening concept, genuinely.

[Garrison Davis]

Hey, baby. They're turning the frogs gay. We got to do something about that. That was a French.

[James Stout]

French joke. Yeah, the French joke.

[Garrison Davis]

Very good one.

[James Stout]

Excellent.

[Garrison Davis]

Sorry.

[James Stout]

They also kind of didn't understand that SDF and Peshmerga were distinct entities, it appears.

[CJ Teledano]

Jesus Christ.

[Garrison Davis]

Wildly different entities. And combat efficacy too. Yes.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah, just like, unless they're talking about the Peshmerga raj, I guess, which like, exists largely in telegram rumors these days. The piece does line up with the strategy that we are seeing though.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

There has been significant bombing of IRGC and police facilities along the border with Iraq. There have been and continue to be many eastern Kurdish groups who are based in Iraq right now.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

There has been significant bombing along the road from Halabdu to Comancha. Right. Which would be like a road that you would use if you're planning to move some people in that way. In theory. The KDP and the puk. So they are the two major Kurdish factions in Iraq, have unified their peshmerga. Peshmerga means those who face death. They're the armed forces that are affiliated to the two Kurdish political parties. This is really kind of a rhetorical construct because they have regional commands which effectively mirror the areas where the KDP and the PUK are in control anyway. But they have unified payroll, which is interesting. It is also worth noting that pro Iran groups inside Iraq have been targeting Peshmerga with drone attacks. Both sides in this conflict are bombing Iraq right now, which really does suck for people in Iraq.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, I mean, this conflict has been ever present. Obviously after the Iraq war, Iran exerted a significant amount of influence. They brought explicitly formed penetrators to the Shia militias in the region. Shia cleric Muqtad Al Sadr, who was probably the most successful political figure of the war years and was very heavily involved with Iran. But during the fighting in Mosul, you had Peshmerga, you had Iraqi army soldiers generally from around Baghdad. And then you had the PMFs, the Popular Mobilization Forces. And these were all Iran backed militias and traveling, especially as I was with Kurds, you had to always be really careful in the PMF positions because you never knew what would happen because again, they are enemies. They were tied together fighting isis, but they are not allied forces and they have a history of fighting each other.

[James Stout]

Yeah, that was a wild time. He had a lot of people who had a lot of beef on the same side, that particular contract. It's also probably worth noting at this point that like it was the Department of Defense, not the CIA. That was really Driving the boat.

[Garrison Davis]

Yes.

[James Stout]

When it came to, like, supporting the Kurds in Syria.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

The CIA went with the tfsa.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

The Turkish Free Syrian army, which does not have a great record as far as not doing war crimes goes. I also received confirmation today that Barzani and Talabani spoke with Iran's foreign minister. So they've spoken with both Trump and the Iranian foreign minister, Kubad Talabani, who's the deputy Prime Minister of Kurdistan, not the same person as Baful Talabani. The leader of the PUK made a statement to say that the Kurdistan region was not involved in the conflict. I think it's very unlikely that we will see large Peshmerga groups from northern Iraq, southern Kurdistan, entering Iran in the near future.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

I do think it's interesting that Ravid got this piece leaked to him because things don't generally get leaked because one person has a crisis of conscience. That does happen sometimes, but in events like this, it is normally a choice. And this particular story leaves the Kurdish people in a very difficult position because it puts a target directly on them for the Iranian regime.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

And they can fight or not fight, but they have been singled out as a group that is going to be the ground forces of this Israeli and US aggression. And what that means is they will be singled out for oppression at home whether or not they fight. That leaves them in a place where they might have to choose to fight.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

Or they might fight, but not through their own choosing. There has been for some time an alliance of. I think 22nd of February is when it was made of five Kurdish groups, five Iranian Kurdish groups. These are. Rather than saying them, like, phonetically, I'd read out the initials. People want to look them up. Pjak, P, A, K, D, P, I. And then these two groups have names, not initials. There are two of the three parts of Kamala and Chabad. It is more likely that these groups, specifically kdpi, will be willing to engage. We do know that Trump spoke to Mustafa Hijri, that he's a KDPI leader. I have had sources that suggest that some Kurdish and some non Kurdish groups have at least the intention or desire to enter Iran and fight. I'm not really comfortable naming particularly which ones. I'd want data sourcing on that.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

What they plan to do is a little unclear. Right. None of these Rajalati groups are massive numerically. They don't have the manpower. However, ITV reported that weapons have been stockpiled in eastern Kurdistan for a while. And as we saw in Rojava as we saw in southern Kurdistan and the Islamic State times, their ability to scale up their forces pretty rapidly is something that the Kurds have retained for a long time. Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

An advantage they have over. So obviously it is true that in the months preceding this, there were uprisings in Iran, and tens of thousands were killed by the government. And that represents the people who, in normal Iranian civil society, would have been kind of best positioned to be active and a part of any sort of, like, government that were to follow. If the current government collapses under the onslaught being directed against it, a lot of those people are dead. That's not really the same case with the Kurdish movement, because at any given time, three quarters of the Kurdish movement is not, you know, more or less is outside of Iran, not physically present. And this is what happened in Syria, too, when you had other parts of the country massively depleted by the slaughter. Fighting Assad in northeast Syria, you were able to have Kurds from southern Turkey and from northern Iraq come in and provide a lot of the backbone of what became these large and effective fighting units that were able to defeat isis. When you're talking about, like, well, what's going to happen if the government of Iran starts to crumble? There's a pretty good odds that you wind up with a sizable Kurdish force, and it would very likely be supported by Western. At least initially, by Western munitions in that chunk of Iran. Like, that's. That's a very possible outcome.

[James Stout]

Yeah, I think it's probably, if we do see, like, continued airstrikes, for the Iranian state to disappear in its current form, there needs to be a ground element.

[Garrison Davis]

Right?

[James Stout]

Yes. And these are among the most likely people. It is, of course, important to include the context that the US Is less than a month of abandoning its Kurdish allies in Syria. Right.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. Like, and you should never. If you're. If you're listening to this and a member of, like, a foreign militant group that the US Is talking to, don't ever trust us.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Bad friends.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah. Bad friends, indeed.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, yeah.

[James Stout]

Not friends at all, but allies.

[Garrison Davis]

Not friends at all. Guys, that will fuck you the second we can. Like, the second we can. Yeah.

[James Stout]

I will say that the Americans in Syria were specifically there to fight isis. They weren't there to aid in the Kurdish freedom struggle.

[Garrison Davis]

Right, right.

[James Stout]

And they have been very consistent about not aiding.

[Garrison Davis]

The other thing about Rojava was it was very explicitly not a state and not an attempt to carve out a separate state. And they were always extremely emphatic about that. So it's a very different situation than anything you're seeing with the regime change the Trump administration is working on.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah, let's take a break here and then we're going to talk about boats. Huzzah.

[Weatherbug Advertiser]

No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local Alerts and comprehensive 10 day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyperlocal, real time, customizable alerts. Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 247 this week on

[CJ Teledano]

Point Game with me, CJ Teledano and

[Garrison Davis]

Isaiah Thomas, it talked about the heated

[CJ Teledano]

exchange between Anthony Edwards and his coach and whether that's a dynamic that t Wolves fans should worry about.

[Garrison Davis]

Take a listen. For him to be able to have his personality and talk his stuff and them to come out on top with the win, that was a good thing

[CJ Teledano]

because Coach Finch said what he had

[Garrison Davis]

to say as a coach in front of his team.

[CJ Teledano]

Pass the ball, especially with two guys on you.

[Garrison Davis]

But then again that's his best player and the ball being in his hand

[CJ Teledano]

is is probably the best situation for that team.

[Garrison Davis]

And then he came out on top with it. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use Code Point Game. New customers bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets instantly. With Code Point Game in partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours.

[CJ Teledano]

Gambling problem call 1-800- gambler, New York

[James Stout]

call 877-8-HOPE NY or text hopeny Connecticut

[Garrison Davis]

call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf

[James Stout]

of Brute Hill Casino in Kansas.

[Garrison Davis]

Wager tax pass through may apply in

[James Stout]

Illinois 21 plus in most states. Void in Ontario.

[Garrison Davis]

Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets

[James Stout]

which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required for additional terms and

[Garrison Davis]

responsible gaming resources, see DKNG co Audio Limited Time Offer.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's good. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures Life gets messy.

[Anabe Advertiser]

Spills, stains, pet accidents and kid chaos. But with anibe, cleaning up is easy. Our sofas are fully machine washable inside and out so you never have to stress about messes again. Made with liquid and stain resistant fabrics, that means fewer stains and more peace of mind. Designed for real life, our sofas feature changeable fabric covers allowing you to refresh your style anytime. Need flexibility? Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa sofa effortlessly. Perfect for cozy apartments or spacious homes. Plus they're earth friendly and built to last. That's why over 200,000 happy customers have made the switch. Upgrade your space today. Sofas start at just $699. Visit washablesofas.com now and bring home a sofa made for life. That's washablesofas.com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[James Stout]

All right, we are back and it's boat time.

[Garrison Davis]

It boat time.

[James Stout]

James Stout, Ph.D. yeah, you can't see, but I'm wearing my little boat hat right now. I've got one of those stripy shirts on. So the United States has sunk a submarine and a total of 17 Iranian ships, it's claiming. In a briefing, Centcom said they were going after the entire Iranian navy. At the current time, they claim there are no Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Oman. This briefing was interesting because they explicitly made the comparison to the invasion of Iraq. Not an invasion, not a war. That has the greatest rep in recent

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

months and years, even among conservatives at this point.

[James Stout]

Yeah, Trump has made a thing of. Well, I mean Trump wasn't strongly opposed to the war in Iraq, right? But I think he has acknowledged that it was a mistake or the way it was conducted was poor. At least what they said here was that the scale of this bombing campaign was twice that of the shock and oil bombing campaign that we saw in Iraq. They have so far used Cruise missiles, airstrikes, B2, B1 and B52 bombers, long range precision strike missiles for the first time. They call them Prisms and something called Lucas drones, which are kind of interesting to me. They are the result of the United States capturing and reverse engineering an Iranian Shaheed drone. The Shaheed is like a. Sounds like a lawnmower, very distinctive sound. Like I've heard them flying over and. Yeah, but they're a one way attack drone. They're essentially a sort of guided munition. They're very cheap and they've been very effective for Iran and for Russia, who now has licensed production of these drones. So it's interesting that the US Is openly just saying, yeah, we saw that and we copied it.

[Garrison Davis]

It's one of the best ideas in warfare of the last hundred years. It's an incredibly effective platform that seals up an enormous number of holes that have always existed in modern militaries, like the capacity gap that it allows particularly a country like Iran to seal. Right. Because with enough Shaheeds, you effectively can mimic not just the assassination capabilities of like bigger drones, but something like close air support in a way that's very hard to interdict with traditional air power. Right, yeah, that's a real sea change. And they seem to be being used effectively right now.

[James Stout]

Yeah, they're cheap. There's tons of them. Ukraine, they've used interceptor drones to intercept them.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

But that requires a lot of time, technology and human effort.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. So I think this is probably a good time, James, for me to talk about munitions because as you noted, we're using a significant amount of high precision projectiles. We're using like advanced weapon systems that are made to allow us to hit targets very precisely that could not be hit with dumb munitions or with less intelligent munitions.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

The downside of this is that it's hard to make enough munitions to maintain on a war footing in peacetime, because in peacetime it's kind of a waste of money as an industry. And so capitalism doesn't tend to, unless there's a war on, reward companies for producing the kind of like munitions and number in the kind of number you would need to fight a modern war. And so whenever one does start up, you wind up with this situation. We're seeing this, we saw this with Russia and Ukraine. We're still seeing it in Russia and Ukraine, and we saw it in World War I too, where very suddenly everyone runs out of ammunition. Right. And prior to the United States going to, I'm going to say, going to war with Iran, again, like literally about a week before, there was an article that dropped in, I think, the Wall Street Journal about how Trump's top generals were really worried that the United States did not have enough munitions to sustain conflict with Iran for any significant period of time. And there's immediately been reports as soon as this started that that is in fact exactly what's fucking happening. There's a good piece on CNN Politics written by Sean Lyngass, Kylie Atwood and Isabel Kurschudian, and it describes, or at least it talks to conversations with someone at the Pentagon saying that the United States is burning through long range precision guided missiles at an unsustainable rate. And this is not just to attack Iranian positions, but also to stop Iranian ballistic missiles. Quote from that source. Each intercept represents hundreds of hours of training, readiness and technology all coming together to work as designed. So that means you, you don't have an infinite number of these, whereas Iran is capable of producing a significant number of the ballistic missiles and the drones that, that these precision munitions are needed to shoot down. Iran's producing something like 100 ballistic missiles a month and had a stockpile going into this. We can build six or seven interceptor missiles in a month. Right. So obviously we're going into this with stockpiles. And Trump has claimed that US Munitions stockpiles have never been higher or better and that the war could go on forever very successfully just using these supplies. But he didn't specify what munitions he was referring to. And all of the information coming out suggests that we are like the seventh Fleet has basically burned through its supply of advanced munitions. There's been confirmation because the IRGC claims they took out two THAAD batteries. And I don't take the IRGC at their word, but we did get local confirmation in at least one case that one of those batteries was disabled. And it seems very likely based on some satellite imagery that that both were damaged. How damaged they are is very hard to say. We're talking generally the radar array that, that you use for the missiles has been hit, but we've only got like eight of these things. These batteries are like not just our most best protection we would have from like submarine based nuclear missiles, but our best anti missile systems, period. And we're in the process of peeling away the THAAD batteries that we've got in Korea to bring into the Middle east to continue to protect Israel and to protect our forces. And the fact that any of them may have been seriously damaged or lost is a serious problem for the United States. I want to continue from that CNN piece here. They're interviewing a Colonel Mark Gunsinger, who's a retired military colonel and the director of Future Concepts and Capability Assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He basically made this claim that like, since the United States has established air superiority early on in this conflict, quote, there's a need for the higher end, very long range standoff weapons. I don't know that I agree with him on this because it seems like we're using some of those munitions now. But he's primarily talking about we don't need to use as discriminating of weapon systems. Now instead of using our like super advanced precision guided munitions, we can use stuff like JDAMs, which we have a lot more of. We have a huge stockpile of JDAMs of various sizes and small diameter bombs. The problem is that these are not nearly as advanced in terms of their guidance capabilities and the civilian casualties related from using these are much, much higher. So we're hitting a point where we're running out of precision munitions. And it seems very clear that at least among military thinkers, the attitude is that's fine because we'll just use these bigger weapons that kill more civilians and yeah, that's what you should look forward to in the next stages of this conflict.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Talking of, I guess the next stages of this conflict, the the Military Religious Freedom foundation is reporting that it's been flooded with complaints from troops whose officers believe the operation will bring about the end of days as foretold in the Bible.

[Garrison Davis]

Well, there you go.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah. Here's a quotation from one of their non commissioned officer clients. Quote, this morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us not to be afraid as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He urged us to tell our troops this was all part of God's divine plan. And he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that, quote, president Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth. I am not a big Bible understander, but Garrison Davis, a regular resident Bible person, please comment if you want to. I don't think this is good. This is my take on that. I think it's a great way to be going around foreign policy.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

No, it's not a good foreign policy blueprint.

[Garrison Davis]

It might be kind of made biblically accurate, though. I mean, that's the thing.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Is that a good blueprint? It is. It is. It is accurate, though. I was.

[Garrison Davis]

Trump does in fact match a number of descriptions of the Antichrist. And it is possible that what we're doing in Iran ends in the apocalypse.

[James Stout]

So, you know, my understanding is this hinges on a certain color of cat, the red heifer.

[CJ Teledano]

This is the whole thing. We had a breeding program.

[Garrison Davis]

We made it in Texas.

[James Stout]

It's got heifer. Yes. Yes. This is one of the first, the first, like, American subculture things I ever engaged with when, like when I got the Internet at school and you could go into the computer lab and look at stuff I learned about these people trying to make a red heifer. Right. Like, yeah, that will bring about the apocalypse. This cow. Yeah. Fascinating stuff. Very normal.

[Garrison Davis]

Very normal.

[James Stout]

That's all I've got. Hopefully send us pictures of your cattle if you've got one of the appropriate color and that'll be a sign that it's all over.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

I mean, things in Iran do not seem to be winding down. If anything, they are holding or ramping up.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

On Tuesday, Marc Rubio said, quote, in the next few hours and days, you're going to really begin to perceive a change in the scope and the intensity of these attacks as frankly, the two most powerful air forces in the world take apart this terroristic regime and defang it, unquote.

[CJ Teledano]

That, by the way, was also preceded immediately by him saying, we're going to unleash Chang, which is a completely unhinged thing from the old, old like anti communist far right where they're like, we're going to unleash Chiang Kai Shek and he's going to retake China and kill everyone. So that's, that's great. That's. That's fun. Extremely normal.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, that's a, that's a John Bircher right there.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

And after a closed door Senate hearing, briefing the Senate on actions in Iran, Senator Blumenthal said, quote, I am more fearful than ever after this briefing that we may be putting boots on the ground.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. We have to. You can't actually stop the regime without doing that.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Even the like Trump model, which is a Syria model. Right. Of a relatively limited footprint with a partner force, it still like, American people died in Syria. Well.

[Garrison Davis]

And unfortunately, I think they're also looking to Libya. Right. Initially, we're hoping it would be something like that. But the thing is, in Libya, you Already had a situation where there was a massive army arrayed against the dictator who was holding them back via air power. So being able to stop the air power was able to was enough to sign the regime's death warrant. And obviously the failure of NATO to do anything to help Libya in the wake of that has been awful. But it's totally different in Iran. Like, it's the Iranian people, the Iranian resistance, the Iranian protests had not taken territory. They had not like swung large chunks of the Iranian military. The military and the regime were still in control of the country. And nothing has changed in that regard. So if you're going to knock out the regime, you have to send in the fucking Marines. That's the only way. And that's, I think, what's going to happen at some point.

[James Stout]

Yeah, it's going to be the next few days, probably by the time you're hearing this. By the way, just as we're recording this, hopefully this has left the news cycle. Several news outlets have published that Kurdish paramilitary forces are streaming across the border into Iraq. That's not true. Each of those groups who they're claiming are doing that have denied it. There is going to be a lot of misinformation in the next few weeks and you should be very careful about where you are sourcing your news. Yeah, I just wanted to make that very clear.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. This is the first war, potentially major war, that started while already in place was an entire system that monetized people getting disinformation about that war to go viral. Right, yeah. Obviously that has impacted things in Ukraine later and Palestine. And Palestine too. But when the invasion started, those were not like it really. It came into being over what happened in Palestine. You're right, Garrison.

[CJ Teledano]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

But it's now in complete, completely full form at the start of the conflict.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

There's a whole like industry, you know, across many different countries.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

To so misinformation to win money via the Blue Check system on Twitter, which is still used for, you know, news sourcing across the world in the case of breaking events.

[CJ Teledano]

So speaking of industry, so one of the other consequences of this war has been effectively the end of trade and passage to the Strait of Hormuz, which is extremely critical lifeline for the world economy. I'm going to quote here from Al Jazeera, quote, a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday that the strait was, quote, closed and that any vessel attempting to pass through the waterway would be set, quote, ablaze. Now, per CNBC, there's about 13 million barrels of oil a day that flows through the street of Hormuz. It's 31% of all C1 crude flow. The total, like, impacted oil production and distribution from this is about. It's about a fifth of the world's oil supply total that is being impacted by this. Liquefied natural gas is also being massively impacted because of. Yeah, the places where a whole bunch of natural gas and oil are produced. This is a very, very significant blow to the world's energy supply. And one of the reasons why, even if you don't care, like the US doesn't about, you know, obliterating Iranian schoolgirls with bombs, this war is a terrible idea because you're suddenly losing access to a fifth of the world's oil supply. Now, Trump has repeatedly said that the Strait is not open. The IRGC has repeatedly said that it is closed. Trump also, yesterday that we're recording this on Wednesday, said that the U.S. will escort tankers, if necessary through the strait with U.S. navy ships. The other major issue here is that no insurance company will insure any ship going through this, because why on earth would you do that? And Trump has also ordered the government to insure these tankers. And this has stopped the massive rise in oil prices a little bit that was happening at the beginning of, at the beginning of the conflict. However, I don't know why it stopped the rise in oil prices because this won't work. You can't just escort oil tankers through the strait with American battleships and have them not like, do you know how big an oil tanker is and how slow they are? Like, there's no way militarily that you can actually move oil tankers through here. You just can't. It's too easy to hit with literally any munition. So the sort of American markets don't seem to have figured out that you obviously cannot escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Where people have figured this out are the Asian markets, particularly South Korea and Thailand, where both of their stock indexes had their circuit breakers triggered, which is the emergency system they have in place when the market is collapsing too fast, all trading halts. South Korea's index lost 12.06% yesterday, which is the single largest drop that the market has ever experienced. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's really bad. The Chinese indexes have been okay, but both Japan and Taiwan were down between 3 and 4%, which is still also quite bad. Now, South Korea and Thailand, specifically, the reason that these two countries are having just sort of apocalyptic market collapses is that these two countries are extremely reliant on imported oil. And you know, there's this tendency to think about oil as just liquid money and it's not. You do actually have to use it to power things. And a portion of the of both the Thai and the South Korean economy are sort of heavy industrial things that require this oil. These countries are now in very dire straits and the only way that this could stop as if somehow Trump wins the war very, very quickly and is able to reopen the strait, which I don't think is particularly likely. So this is probably just going to intensify.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

You could call it a dire strait.

[Garrison Davis]

Ah, Garrison, you've. You've brought up my favorite band of which I am aware of one of their songs. Great band. Heard the one song of theirs.

[James Stout]

I know one of the songs that has a slur in it that were better songs.

[Garrison Davis]

Hey no. But they stopped using the slur in more in more recent updates. But also the slur was never. It was never a slur directed at the audience. They were talking from the perspective of a bigot insulting them.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

It's a thing that happened. So it's I think anyway.

[James Stout]

Yeah. In terms of songs with slurs, not the worst.

[CJ Teledano]

Speaking of Dire Straits, I'm cutting. I'm cutting the white people off. Talking about slurs here or cutting it off. Speaking of being in dire straits. Spain in a well when I wrote this script I said a rare moment of bravery. I should give them slightly more credit than that. But in a moment of genuine bravery and principle. The Spanish government has refused to allow the US to use its air bases to conduct the war in Iran.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

These are American air bases in Spain. This has led to a bunch of assets being moved out of Spain. Trump has responded to this by I'm just going to quote Al Jazeera quote from Al Jazeera. He said he had told his he had told his Secretary of the Treasury Scott Best to quote cut off all dealings with Spain. We're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain.

[Garrison Davis]

The president said the Trump is taking away your Yamona Berrico like you have to we have to stop this.

[CJ Teledano]

There will be no top us in America.

[Garrison Davis]

Where else are we going to get the highest quality smoked meats. Yeah.

[James Stout]

Yeah. To will forever be worse. It's not really possible to do this. Right. Because Spain is in the eu. We don't have internal borders.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

It should it be possible to do this.

[James Stout]

I, I, who knows.

[CJ Teledano]

I think it's like probably I'm leaning towards about 95.5that Trump just forgets about this. And there's a 5% chance there's some completely hitherto unused unhinged national security like power that was passed by by John Woo specifically. But I don't know. We're back to Calvin Ball trade policy. He's just saying stuff I was wrong last week. They're just making shit up.

[Garrison Davis]

Well here's the thing like that this shows this may be optimistic is how different the climate is like the social climate is in the United States as opposed to during the Iraq war where like if this has happened during the Iraq war you would have had people like renaming Spanish dishes Freedom fucking paella or whatever the fuck.

[James Stout]

Freedom fries.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, you would have had. There would have been like a social. There's not, there's been no cultural backlash backlash against Spain and the United States that I, that I've seen that has any kind of juice and you know

[CJ Teledano]

and to say like one serious thing before we wrap this up like the approval rating for this war is sub 50% right now.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

It's only going to get worse because wars war approval ratings are always the highest when they first start. It's already sub 50. Everyone hates this. I want to wrap this up before we go to ads by saying the administration have also claimed that Spain had because of the threat of economic pressure, whatever had agreed to cooperate and the Spanish government immediately said no we didn't. What are you talking about?

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

So they're just lying about stuff again. It's great.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. Woo. Woo.

[James Stout]

Fantastic.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

You know what else is great?

[James Stout]

What's that guy?

[Garrison Davis]

America.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Again this brief ad break before we return for even more news.

[Weatherbug Advertiser]

No one knows what the future holds but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need from storm warnings to pollen levels right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10 day forecasts wherever you are. Its hyperlocal real time customizable alerts. Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the app store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24. 7.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures tired

[Anabe Advertiser]

of spills and stains on your sofa? Wash away your worries with Anabe. Anabe is the only designer sofa that's machine washable inside and out. Starting at just $699 plus. Ana Bay sofas are pet friendly, stain resistant and feature changeable slipcovers and modular pieces. Get up to 60% off site wide with a 30 day money back guarantee. Visit washablesofas.com to get yours. Now that's washablesofas.com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[James Stout]

You ever get the feeling the city

[Public Investing Advertiser]

walls closing in the concrete jungle suffocating your soul? You crave wide open spaces, the chance to connect with, maybe chase some elk, fish a private stream.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Well, listen up.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

There's a whole world out there and finding your own piece of it just got easier. Head over to land.com they've got ranches, forest, mountains, you name it. Search by acreage, location, the kind of hunting or fishing you dream of. Land.com it's where the adventure begins.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

All right, we are back. Two final stories to cover this episode. Last week, the Kansas State Legislature passed a new law overriding governor Laura Kelly's veto invalidating state issued driver's license with updated gender markers requiring quote Kansas issued driver's license and identification cards reflect the credential holders sex at birth unquote. After this law was passed, the state sent letters to trans people informing them their license was now invalid, effective immediately, including to at least one trans person who did not change their gender marker but recently changed her legal name. State Officials say about 1,700 license holders were affected. The law also invalidates updated birth certificates and prohibits anyone born in Kansas from updating the gender marker on state issued birth certificates and driver's license in the future. This same law also prohibits trans people from using the public restrooms on government property that aligns with their gender and allows private citizens to sue someone suspected of being trans in the quote, unquote, wrong restroom in a government building for damages totaling $1,000. Two trans Kansans and the ACLU have filed a lawsuit claiming the new law, SB 244, violates the Kansas Constitution's protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.

[Garrison Davis]

Yep.

[James Stout]

Not great.

[Garrison Davis]

No. It obviously is a violation of all those things.

[CJ Teledano]

Yeah. I mean, I think it's also just worth noting that this is part of a trend we've been seeing of just this is basically what used to be a whole bunch of different bills like compiled into one. Right. This is like a bounty bill. This is like a ban. This is instead of having legislative fights over all the different elements, they're just pushing them all through in one package which has been working for them very

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

like clear, like egregious violation of, of rights. And now there's a. Now you have people in a situation where they could have their passport being invalid, their birth certificate being invalid, and their state driver's license being invalid.

[CJ Teledano]

Yep.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

It's a very precarious situation.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

That we will watch to see the fallout of in the next few weeks to months. Finally, the Texas primary election that happened on Tuesday. Some big news coming out of that. The Republican Senate primary was going to advance to a runoff election between incumbent John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Though this runoff could be disrupted because Trump just signaled that he will endorse Cornyn, leading many to suspect that Paxton may drop out of the race. This is still unclear, but it was a very close race between those two and one other person that was going to go to a runoff due to redistricting. Two Democratic incumbents, House Representatives Al Green and Christian Menifee, battled over a new district in a close race that will now also go to a runoff. The same goes for Representative Julie Johnson and former Representative Colin Allred, who dropped out of the Senate race to run for this newly redrawn district. Neither of these two were able to reach a majority, so that race will also head to a runoff. Incumbent Dan Crenshaw lost the primary.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

To Republican challenger Steve Toth, who was backed by the party's far right. And Tucker Carlson is significantly to the right of Dan Crenshaw.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

As fun as it is to see Crenshaw go down, he's getting replaced by someone that is actually worse.

[Garrison Davis]

It's not good. It's just kind of funny.

[CJ Teledano]

Yeah, we've replaced Hitler with Hitler, too.

[James Stout]

Great things happening because he specifically had spoken out about some Trump policies. Right.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Like, yeah, he had gone more independent on some issues rather than like ketoing to the bending the knee to the current Republican line. And that opened him up to attacks from the right.

[Garrison Davis]

Yep.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

But the big story of the night is the Democratic Senate primary, in which Texas State House Rep. James Talarico is projected to beat US Representative for Texas Jasmine Crockett, who previously told Talarico that she would not run for the Senate before entering the race late in December. Crockett did not concede the night of the election, has since conceded, but did not concede election night, citing issues at voting precincts and dueling court orders that sowed confusion. Come Election Day, Republicans in Dallas county and Williamson county switched the rules from countywide centralized polling locations to an assigned precinct system where voters can only cast their ballots at one specific location. After reports of people being turned away from their regular polling locations on Election Day and being told they had to travel to their assigned precinct to cast their ballot, both Crockett and Talarico advocated to expand voting hours in these counties to compensate for the confusion and ensure all votes intended to be cast on Election Day would be counted. Judges in Dallas and Williamson county extended voting hours to 9 and 10pm respectively. But later that night, in a ruling just before 8:30pm The Texas Supreme Court blocked the lower court's order and instructed Dallas and Williamsburg county to separate any ballots cast by voters who entered the line after 7pm and mark them as provisional ballots. After a request by Attorney General Ken Paxton, who claimed his office was not properly notified of the extended voting hours, Paul Adams, the Dallas county election administrator, confirmed that the separated ballots would not be counted pending further legal challenges. At her election night watch party, Crockett said that she had, quote, no idea how it is that clerks are going to know who was in line by what time. I can tell you now that people have been disenfranchised, unquote. On Wednesday morning, Crockett did concede the race, but told the New York Times, quote, the Democratic Party should absolutely prepare for the worst and get some things litigated right now. People will not turn out because of what's happened, in my opinion, especially if no one fights for their votes to be counted, unquote.

[James Stout]

It does feel a lot like the first decade of the century again. Like, we got wars in the Middle east. We got people arguing about votes that should be counted and not counted.

[Garrison Davis]

It's great.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

So the total number of votes cast in the Republican primary that are tallied so far at 95% of the votes in is 2,142,211 versus the Democratic primary. That's 2,308,836 slightly more Democratic votes counted in the primary.

[James Stout]

Texas has open primaries, apparently.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Texas has open primaries, yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

Okay.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Talarico was up 9 points among white voters, up 22 points among Hispanic, while Crockett was up 23 points among black voters. Crockett was up 8 points with Biden voters, and Talarico up 32 points with Sanders voters. If you look at the 2020 presidential primary, that gives you a little bit of a peek into kind of what these two candidates represented, with Crockett serving on the Kamala Harris campaign, definitely more of a K Hive esque candidate, and Talarico a little bit running off of the kind of Bernie Sanders progressive coattails. A little bit not coattails, but, like, using that sort of playbook as more of like a relatable working class guy, less of like an established mint Democrat, like. Like Crockett sort of branded herself as. Talarico is a former school teacher who served in the State House since 2018, has fought against Christian nationalism and a bill mandating the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, calling the bill unconstitutional, un American and deeply unchristian, and has passed legislation lowering the cost of prescription drugs. He's like a progressive Christian. That's kind of, I guess, the best way to describe him as he. Yeah, frequently went viral the past three years for clips of him, you know, arguing in the Texas State House, you know, arguing for progressive points of view while, like, quoting Bible verses, that sort of thing. For this campaign of his, he was running on affordability and cost of living. That was the real focus of this campaign of targeting the richest 1% in giant corporations, making billionaires and corporations, quote, unquote, pay their fair share of taxes, raising federal minimum wage to 15, expanding child and earned income tax credits. He's opposed to state legislation restricting gender affirming health care, including for people under 18. In September, right after he announced his candidacy, Talarico, who's a member of the LGBTQ caucus, responded to a question about trans athletes like this.

[James Stout]

I think it's interesting. I've been in this race for five days, and I've had A lot of interviews with national media. No one's ever asked me about the cost of housing. No one's asked me about the cost of prescription drugs. No one's asked me about the cost of child care.

[CJ Teledano]

The only thing the media wants to

[James Stout]

ask me about are trans athletes. And so what I would say is that the only minority destroying this country is the billionaires. Trans People are 1% of the population. Undocumented people are 1% of the population. Muslims are 1% of the population. We are all focused on the wrong 1%. Trans people aren't taking away our health care. Undocumented people aren't defunding our schools. Muslims aren't cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends. It's the billionaires and their puppet politicians. And so we need not only the media, but all of us to focus on the real problem at hand.

[Garrison Davis]

Hey.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

It appeared like this was effective messaging.

[Garrison Davis]

That's a good response.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah. The only dangerous minority is the rich. It has consistently actually been a popular messaging that demonstrates Democrats have nonetheless shied away from.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. Because that's who donates money to them.

[CJ Teledano]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Because they like them.

[James Stout]

The only minority they like because many of them are rich.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

And others wish to be.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Talarico supports regulating AI universal health care, term limits for Congress and Supreme Court justices, halting Israel's illegal settlements, restoring the talking only filibuster, and banning gerrymandering and establishing independent redistricting. Tyler participated in the Texas Democrats protests against redistricting both in, like, 2021 and last year in 2025. Where they fled Texas.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

They went on holiday for a while.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

On his campaign website, he talks about advocating reform to make legal immigration easier and creating pathways to legalization for undocumented immigrants already long present, as well as spouses and dreamers. Part of his immigration policy reads, quote, prioritize the deportation of criminals, gang members, and human traffickers, not our neighbors, who contribute to our communities, pay taxes, and pose no threat to our safety. Unquote. Part of where this sort of language, I think, falls apart is that when the Trump administration claims that it's deporting gang members and criminals. Like what we saw.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

When. With people sent to see cottage. That also includes regular people, that also includes our neighbors. And I think that is. That is one slight fault in this messaging. It's going to be interesting with him running in the general now. You know, in Texas, where the border is a big issue there, and a lot of his. A lot of his immigration stuff definitely is. Is not going to at least currently is, is not as far to the left as some other progressive Democrats. And this is something that he is currently being pushed on, especially after winning. Progressive advocates are pushing him on ICE specifically as well as some stuff on Israel and Gaza. Talariko has advocated to stop the sale of quote unquote offensive weapons to Israel while still funding the Iron Dome and defense weapons, talked about trying to find a way to make sure that defense weapons cannot be used offensively. But he does recognize that Gaza is an extremely important issue and said in an interview, quote, one of the primary reasons the Democratic Party lost young voters in particular last election was our party's failure to recognize the moral disaster in Gaza. And I hope that we have leaders who recognize that mistake. I think that's all I need to say regarding that the general is not until November and if it is Cornyn, that will be a much, a much harder race considering he's an incumbent versus you know, Paxton, who has a lot of, lot of avenues for attack for someone like Talarico who can lean on his like Christian charm to attract voters both in rural areas as well as lean on his support among Hispanic voters as demonstrated in the primary. Mia, you have one final thing to add based on the primary elections in North Carolina.

[CJ Teledano]

Yeah, yeah, there were a bunch of primary elections in North Carolina and I'm mentioning this because there was a series of North Carolina Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass anti trans legislation over a veto from the governor and also voted with them on really horrifying like pro ice legislation. And those people lost by cartoon margins. We are talking margins that start at 30% go to 40% and one of these people lost their race by 50%.

[James Stout]

Geez.

[CJ Teledano]

So the anti trans candidates and the like, I am pro ice racist candidates lost by like bath party numbers, which, which I think is actually very encouraging because I think it's, it's, it's a sign of where people are right now, where people are going. Even as the state is trying to do anti trans repression. This has become a thing that is enough where if you are willing to like vote for this shit and make a bunch of trans people suffer, you will, you will lose by, you will lose by 40 in a primary.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Unbelievable.

[James Stout]

Primaries tend to include more informed, politically engaged voters and that is one of the things that engages people most right now, specifically the ICE stuff.

[Garrison Davis]

It's also more ideologically motivated voters and the right has made, the far right has made use of this for decades to push the more moderate actual politician stuff of the Republican Party further Right. Because you can't win primaries without getting like appealing to the most extreme of them. And there has not, up until very recently been that kind of success with like far left positions. Not that I think basic respect for trans people ought to be far left, but it's clearly not a centrist dim position.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, apparently.

[Garrison Davis]

And I think that this is good. I think it's, it's a smart way to influence the direction of the party.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah.

[CJ Teledano]

I want to close with There's a slogan from Chile that gets used in social movements constantly that goes roughly like, Chile is where neoliberalism was born and we're going to kill it here. And I think this is sort of the start of potentially that in North Carolina, where. Well, this isn't the start, but. But hopefully we're seeing like the culmination of a whole bunch of ways of activism and organizing and mobilization that can kill this kind of anti trans politics in the place where it was born.

[James Stout]

The First Bathroom Bill so if you would like to email us with some tips on stories, you can do so at coolzonetipsproton. Me. That is not the email address to plug your book or ask if you could be on behind the Bastards. And if you do that, I will block you.

[CJ Teledano]

Put a trans girl on your couch.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

We reported the news.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

We reported the news.

[Garrison Davis]

It could Happen.

[CJ Teledano]

Here is a production of Cool Zone Media.

[Garrison Davis]

For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media,

[CJ Teledano]

Visit our website coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcast podcasts.

[Garrison Davis]

You can now find sources for It Could Happen here listed directly in Episode Descriptions. Thanks for listening.

[Weatherbug Advertiser]

No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need from storm warnings to pollen levels right at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10 day forecasts wherever you are. Its hyperlocal real time customizable alerts make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free Weatherbug app from the App Store today and start Getting accurate weather forecasts 24. 7

[Anabe Advertiser]

sink into affordable luxury. Annabe is the only machine washable sofa inside and out with stain resistant slipcovers and a cloud like frame duvet. Everything goes goes right in the wash. Plus the modular design lets you change the look of your space anytime. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home shop up to 60% off site wide with sofas starting at just $699 and a 30 day money back guarantee. Shop [e-mail] offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. You're listening to a podcast, so you're doing something else too. Like maybe scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving places you like without thinking you'll get them. Because that's what house hunting has become. But Redfin isn't built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home. Redfin agents close twice as many deals as other agents, which means when you find a place you love, you've got a real shot at getting it. Redfin helps turn saved listings into real addresses. Get [e-mail]. own the dream.

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

Wasn't that delicious?

[Garrison Davis]

So good. Your bill, ladies.

[CJ Teledano]

I got it.

[Garrison Davis]

No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.

[James Stout]

I insisted first.

[CJ Teledano]

Oh, don't be silly.

[Garrison Davis]

You don't be silly. People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash

[Host (Executive Disorder)]

credit card prefer to pay because they

[Garrison Davis]

earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[James Stout]

Okay.

[Anabe Advertiser]

Rock, paper, scissors for it.

[James Stout]

Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot.

[Garrison Davis]

No. The Wells Fargo Active Cash credit Card visitors@wells fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply.

[Weatherbug Advertiser]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.