Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #40

Summary

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It Could Happen Here: Executive Disorder — White House Weekly #40

Date: November 7, 2025
Hosts: Garrison Davis, Robert Evans, James Stout, Mia Wong
Producer: Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts

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Main Theme

This episode covers one of the most momentous weeks in U.S. politics, centered around the groundbreaking New York City mayoral election, the death of Dick Cheney, nationwide electoral results, and ongoing stories of collapse, division, and hope. The crew analyzes the seismic political shifts occurring at the city, state, and national level—including the historic victory of a democratic socialist immigrant mayor leading America’s largest city during a turbulent Trump presidency.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Death of Dick Cheney & Its Cultural Legacy

• [03:27] The episode opens with the news of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s death on election day, casting a strange shadow over political events.
• Robert Evans delivers a stinging eulogy, joking:

  “I just want to let everyone in hell know, this too shall pass. You won’t be stuck with him forever... He will get reincarnated as a Senate Republican staffer within six to eight months.” ([04:05])

• The hosts riff on Cheney’s infamous hunting accident, debating whether younger generations still understand the “Cheney lore,” with humorous anecdotes about pop culture associations.
• Key Takeaway: Cheney’s passing is a generational touchstone—his legacy of violence, infamy, and far-right politics is met with irreverent humor by the hosts.

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2. Zoran Mamdani's Historic Mayoral Win in NYC

Election Overview

• [05:00–22:00 & 26:11–36:25]
• Zoran Mamdani becomes the first NYC mayoral candidate since 1969 to win over a million votes, with record turnout (over 2 million votes)—a stunning achievement for a leftist candidate.
• Defeats independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa; Sliwa is described as a "very New York" character and the only candidate to call and congratulate Mamdani.
• The borough breakdown: Mamdani swept every borough except Staten Island (which backed Cuomo by 33 points).

Political Insights

• Robert Evans: “From what this should tell everyone everywhere in the country about what is possible in politics, even in times as dark as this... he was at 6% in January.” ([09:22])
• Garrison Davis: “It’s about affordability, not ideology... Strict focus on affordability was the key to winning this campaign.” ([10:43])

Voter Demographics & Tactics

• Mammoth support among young men and women, particularly younger women (84% for Mamdani).
• Unapologetically democratic socialist; opened victory speech quoting Eugene V. Debs.
• Did not run away from identity or principles:

  “Not hiding his political inspirations... quoted Eugene Debs 10 seconds into his victory speech.” ([12:17])

Speech Highlights

• Offered poetic vision for a city "reborn":

  “Over the last twelve months, you have dared to reach for something greater. Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands.” (Garrison reading Mamdani, [12:44]*)

• Offered fine-tuned digs at Cuomo:

  “I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the last time I utter his name.” ([13:51])

• Speaks directly to young people and marginalized groups, invoking immigrant, trans, Black, and working class communities.
• Cites hunger strike with cab drivers:

  “My brother, we are in City Hall now.” ([17:37])

Resistance and Islamophobia

• Mamdani faced weeks of 9/11-related and Islamophobic attacks in closing days of campaign, especially from Cuomo-aligned forces.
• “No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.” ([27:44])
• Mia Wong: “What Mamdani is doing here... is you can just do both—focus on class and race together, and it works.” ([29:06])

Positioning NYC as a Beacon

• Mamdani frames his win as hope and resistance in a “darkened political moment” nationally and vows to protect the vulnerable from Trump and local bigotry.

  “New York will be the light. Here we believe in standing up for those we love... To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.” ([26:50], [33:30])

• Speech closes with reference to moving beyond “worshiping at the altar of caution” and concrete promises (freezing rent, universal childcare, free buses).

  “Most of all, it will be felt by each New Yorker when the city they love finally loves them back.” ([36:25])

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3. Broader Election Results & National Shifts

Virginia

• Abigail Spanberger (Democrat) wins governor; Jay Jones (Democrat) becomes Attorney General despite highly aggressive and controversial text message leaks referencing violent revenge on Republicans and mass shootings as motivators.

  Garrison: “That is the new Democrat Attorney General of Virginia who the right has been attacking relentlessly.”

• Mia Wong: “All the white moms in the suburbs... looking at this and going ‘hell yeah!’” ([43:33])

California

• State redistricting Prop 50 passes, removing five GOP seats and leading to lawsuits and Trump-labeled “giant scam.”

  James: “This is one of the most expensive propositions in state history—$120 million spent in favor...” ([43:57])

Other Notable Results

• Maine votes down voter restriction measure decisively.
• New York passes multiple housing and zoning reforms, further empowering mayor to expedite housing projects.
• Texas passes 17 constitutional amendments, many slashing taxes, creating barriers to new taxes (on capital gains, stock exchanges), and gutting school funding.

  Robert: “They are basically lighting a lot of that [budget surplus] on fire to appeal to rich people and business owners and stock exchanges... We don’t have a society in Texas.” ([63:14])

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4. Immigration, Federal Policy, and Institutional Collapse

Immigration Enforcement

• Trump distances himself from Georgia Hyundai plant ICE raid amid economic blowback.
• Texas signs agreement allowing broad use of state police as ICE deputies—further militarizing migration law enforcement.
• Shocking conditions detailed in Chicago's Broadview detention facility lawsuit: freezing temps, crowding, lack of basic hygiene, deliberate deprivation to prompt deportation consent.

  James: “People in Broadview reported being so crowded they could not extend their legs. Jesus Christ.” ([56:14])

Collapse of Air Travel & Infrastructure

• Catastrophic crash at Louisville’s airport and near-misses linked to federal shutdowns, air traffic controller shortages, and weakened FAA capacity.
• Robert Evans: “Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy... said that all commercial flights might be stopped nationwide to protect public safety.” ([65:07])
• Air travel delays/cancellations, with implications for upcoming holidays.

  James: “Maybe consider not flying right now.” ([68:45])

Tariffs and Trade Wars

• Trump and China reach partial détente, lifting some ship tariffs and restrictions; U.S. pauses new rules on foreign entities, while Trump restricts exports of advanced AI chips to China.
• Supreme Court hears challenge to Trump tariffs, led by rightwing corporate libertarian groups.
• Greg Abbott posts about a “100% tariff” on people moving from New York to Texas; hosts dismiss as unserious “posting through it” but symptomatic of new-world “punishment as policy” style.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Robert Evans:

  “You won’t be stuck with Dick Cheney forever… He will get reincarnated as a Senate Republican staffer within six to eight months.” ([04:05])

• On Mamdani’s victory:

  “He was at 6% in January. And he won. He didn’t just eke it out… He legitimately came nowhere and won the most votes for a mayoral candidate in almost 50 years.” —Robert Evans ([09:22])

• On the shifting electorate:

  “Among women 18 to 29 years old, 84% Mamdani—fucking Saddam numbers.” —Garrison Davis ([11:16])

• Mamdani's Speech:

  “Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands.” ([12:44])

  “To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.” —Zoran Mamdani addressing Trump ([33:30])

• On Democratic Party change:

  “No longer will we have to open a history book for proof that Democrats can dare to be great. Our greatness will be anything but abstract.” —Garrison Davis quoting Mamdani ([36:25])

• On collapse:

  “Globally, air travel is not doing well… Maybe consider not flying right now.” —James Stout ([68:45])

• On charitable responses:

  “We All We Got San Diego... helping people be able to rely on them by delivering groceries... if you are able to [donate], that will give them the ability to plan to secure groceries for people they’re supporting.” —James Stout ([69:25])

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Time | Segment / Topic | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:26 | Death of Dick Cheney; cultural impact | | 05:00–22:00 | NYC Mayoral election deep-dive, Mamdani’s speech, demographic analysis| | 26:11–36:25 | Mamdani addresses Trump, populist and intersectional coalition | | 39:51–41:16 | Statewide election results: Virginia, California, Maine, NY, Texas | | 51:28 | Immigration news: ICE, deportation, Texas state-federal collaborations| | 54:31–56:20 | Lawsuit details horrific ICE detention conditions | | 59:35–60:45 | Tariffs, Trump-China, Abbott's “tariff” trolling | | 63:03–64:45 | Texas passes sweeping, regressive tax amendments | | 64:36–68:45 | Air travel chaos, infrastructure collapse, holiday warnings | | 69:14 | SNAP, mutual aid, food insecurity plug |

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Final Notes / Overall Tone

The hosts weave together gallows humor, sharp political critique, data analysis, and direct quotations from pivotal speeches to paint a vivid portrait of U.S. politics at the edge of collapse—while highlighting points of genuine hope and organizing. The mood fluctuates between sardonic resignation, excitement over leftist breakthroughs, and urgency about ongoing systemic crises.

For listeners, this episode offers a comprehensive, unflinching, but ultimately hopeful look at political change and the risks/opportunities that define American life today.

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For direct support and resources:

• We All We Got SD
• Email the show (encrypted): coolzonetipson.me (ProtonMail to ProtonMail)

More from Cool Zone Media:

• It Could Happen Here Website

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Transcript

[Garrison Davis]

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Hey, I'm Kyle McLaughlin.

[Robert Evans]

You might know me as that guy from Twin Peaks, Sex and the City or just the Internet Stand. I have a new podcast called what Are We Even Doing? Where I embark on a noble quest to understand the brilliant chaos of youth culture. Each week I invite someone fascinating to join me to talk about navigating this high speed rollercoaster we call reality.

[James Stout]

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[Robert Evans]

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[James Stout]

Wherever you get your podcasts. The Rich Russians Falling out of Windows podcast is back. Sad Oligarch Season 2 Since we left you in 2023 after season one, many politically motivated Russian millionaires have continued to die in suspicious circumstances. Season two gets very weird. Listen to Sad Oligarch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Mia Wong]

Media.

[Robert Evans]

Am I introducing the podcast? Welcome to the podcast.

[Garrison Davis]

This is It Could Happen Here Executive Disorder, our weekly newscast covering what's happening in the White House. The crumbling world, what it means for you. I'm Garrison Davis. Today I'm joined by Mia Wong, James Stout, and Robert Evans. This episode we're covering the week of October 31st to November 5th, one of the most exciting weeks in politics.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Because it's Bonfire Night, if you remember the poem. That's right. And that's not the only exciting thing to happen, but also not the only sad thing to happen this week, because as exciting as election day was for people in New York, there was, like, a looming sadness throughout the day because earlier that morning, obviously, Vice President Dick Cheney passed away. And that was. That was rough. Rough for many people, not rough for many others, but that certainly was a looming. A looming presence over the day. Does anyone have any words to say on the passing of Mr. Cheney?

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I mean, I just want to let everyone in hell know, this too shall pass. You know, you won't be stuck with him forever. Just try to grin and bear it. I know it's going to be hard for a lot of you, especially Saddam Hussein, but I know you can get past this. You. He will get reincarnated as a Senate Republican staffer within the next six to eight months, so you won't have to put up with him long.

[James Stout]

I guess this is also just your reminder that it's a good idea to practice the four essential rules of firearm safety at all times.

[Robert Evans]

Don't shoot with Dick Cheney. If you see Dick Cheney while you're hunting quail, run.

[Garrison Davis]

Do the kids even know about this now? Like, oh, the kids know. The kids know.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

Okay.

[Garrison Davis]

Okay.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Yeah. This is. This is deep in the lore, Mia.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. Chaney lore has permeated throughout generations of American culture.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

When I was a kid, there was, like, a whole thing where we all thought the song Jamie's Got a Gun was Chaney's Got a Gun.

[Robert Evans]

Wow.

[James Stout]

That made perfect sense because it just lined up with everything you knew about the world.

[Robert Evans]

What's funny about it is that my. My actual thinking on that shooting hasn't changed. I was a Republican kid, like, when I was a young right winger. I thought, wow, Dick Cheney's so cool. He shot a man and got him to apologize to him. And now as an adult on the left, I still think that's kind of the coolest thing Dick Cheney ever did.

[James Stout]

It is a hell of a feat.

[Robert Evans]

That man apologized for getting in front of his sights. That's amazing.

[Garrison Davis]

Now. It is. It is unfortunate that Dick Cheney did not live to see the election of Zora Mumdani as the mayor of New York City, which happened that would have been funny on Tuesday. Later that day, Zoran has become the first candidate in New York mayoral history to win over a million votes since 1969.

[James Stout]

Nice.

[Garrison Davis]

This election itself saw over 2 million votes. This is a million more votes in the last New York mayoral election. Huge turnout. Currently, as of Wednesday afternoon, Zoran has 50.4% of the vote. Former governor and sexual assault enthusiast Andrew Cuomo, running as an Independent, has 41.6%. And the Bray wearing Curtis Silwa has 7.1. Not a spoiler candidate in many ways, nor would it be correct to say that all of Silva's votes would have gone to one candidate or another. But even if you do add all of his votes onto disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo's total, Zordon still comes out.

[Robert Evans]

On top, which was something that there was legitimately a lot of question about as to like whether or not will SOA staying in matters.

[James Stout]

Right.

[Robert Evans]

And it's a really good sign that it didn't.

[Garrison Davis]

It did not Sliwa.

[Robert Evans]

So whatever.

[Garrison Davis]

No one really knows how to pronounce the name, including in the city you hear it different pronunciations from different people at different times. Sometimes it's Sliilwa, sometimes it's Silwa. Siliwa.

[Robert Evans]

All I know is he got stabbed on the subway, right?

[Garrison Davis]

Oh, and shot five times in the back of a cab.

[Robert Evans]

Five dives in the back.

[Garrison Davis]

That's right. How did they fail to fucking kill him?

[Mia Wong]

Jesus Christ.

[Robert Evans]

It's harder to kill people by shooting them with a handgun than you might think.

[James Stout]

Apparently handgun ballistics are just different.

[Garrison Davis]

Yes, and he does have 17 cats. He ran on the Republican and the Protect the Protect Animals party. You can have some criticism for. For past ills that, that he has contributed to, but he is certainly makes up for that in some way for being a fascinating character.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, he's a very New York kind of figure.

[Garrison Davis]

And he was the only mayoral candidate to call and congratulate Zoran Mamdani last night. Both Cuomo and Mayor Adams did not call Momdani, but Curtis did, which is kind of beautiful. It's kind of beautiful.

[Robert Evans]

He's a classy man. You don't get to wear a red beret like that unless you have some manners.

[James Stout]

The British Parachute Regiment would beg to disagree about having manners and wearing red hats.

[Robert Evans]

But no, he's I my head cannon now is that he is the British Paratrooper regiment.

[James Stout]

They just drop him in with 17 cats and he. And he starts milling.

[Robert Evans]

Immediately he saves that fucking mall in Nairobi or wherever it was.

[James Stout]

Tell you what, the Argentines wouldn't have fucked with the Falklands if Curtis had been there.

[Robert Evans]

Now with all those cats.

[James Stout]

That's where he's going now that he's being banished.

[Robert Evans]

I was like, piss. Guys. Probably shouldn't take this.

[James Stout]

Just an island of cat litter.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. Staten island, which.

[Robert Evans]

You're a real New Yorker now, Gary. You shat on Staten island, which is.

[Garrison Davis]

The only borough that went for Cuomo, where he was up 33 points.

[James Stout]

That was very funny.

[Garrison Davis]

Mandani won every other bureau. Up 20 in Brooklyn, up 10 in Manhattan, up 5 in Queens, and 11 in the Bronx.

[Robert Evans]

From what this should tell everyone everywhere in the country about what is possible in politics, even in times as dark as this is that he was, what, 8% a year ago?

[James Stout]

6%.

[Garrison Davis]

6% in January. 6% in January.

[Robert Evans]

And he won. He didn't just eke it out because there were a shitload of guys. This isn't like an Arnold thing where everybody's on the fucking ballot and it's like a crazy cartoon election.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

He legitimately came nowhere and won the.

[Garrison Davis]

Most votes for a mayoral candidate in almost 50 years.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Nearly reaching the, like, the vote totals in this election for like a presidential election in the city.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Very impressive. For like a mid cycle, an off cycle, election, turnout wise.

[Robert Evans]

Yep.

[Garrison Davis]

Specifically, he won a whole bunch of votes that he did not gain in the primary among some, like, black and Latino voters. You can see that in the turnout at, like, the Bronx.

[Robert Evans]

And these, These people aren't overwhelmingly, at least at this stage. Folks who have been convinced of every aspect of ideology that Zoran has ever put out there. People who looked at who was available and were like, this guy seems like he genuinely wants to do something.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

And they listen to his. The specific policies. They're not. They're not paying attention to the fact that he quoted Eugene V. Debs. They're talking. They're listening to his policies on, like, creating municipal grocery stores and stuff. Right.

[Garrison Davis]

It's about affordability, not ideology. And Zoron's strict focus on affordability. Not running a campaign that, like, falls back on fear. Not running a campaign about foreign policy when you're in fucking New York City. A strict focus on affordability was the key to winning this campaign.

[Robert Evans]

A strict focus on affordability while not pretending not to have the ideology, which is also really noteworthy. Right. Where he's still. He's still. He isn't. He's not like talking around it. Right.

[Garrison Davis]

No, he's, he's, he's not apologizing or hiding the fact that he's a democratic socialist.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

And this produced some super interesting results if you, if you refer back to the last election, 2024, and in everyone bemoaning like how, how come young men are so politically lost? Why are they all going so far to the right? 68% of men age 18 to 29 going away. Mamdani. 66% of men 30 to 40. 45% of men 45 to 65. Among women 18 to 29 years old, 84% Mahmudani fucking Saddam numbers.

[James Stout]

Hilarious.

[Garrison Davis]

This is like bath party election numbers.

[James Stout]

Among women.

[Robert Evans]

Actually. Saddam Hussein Alta Creedy did in fact vote, but he went for, he broke hard for Cuomo. Honestly, at the end it was the sex crimes that did it for Saddam compelled him.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Uday did vote for Sliwa though. That was kind of weird. I'm going to be honest with you. We're all, we're all trying to parse that one out.

[James Stout]

It's a cat thing. Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Like I said, like not hiding his political inspirations in any way. Quoted Eugene Debs 10 seconds into his victory speech. Immediately you understand, like, oh, this guy's like playing. He knows what's up.

[Robert Evans]

Eugene V. Debs, the socialist who ran for president from prison.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yes. To know who Eugene V. Debs is like arguably the most radical national candidate who has ever existed in this country.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

And his speech was extremely poetic. It got a very strong positive reaction from the, the people who I watched this with in Bushwick, which was the district that was the most pro maktani out of the entire electoral mathematicity. But he started by talking about how power has been kept out of the hands of working people by the hands that keep the city going. By lifting boxes, by gripping the handlebars of delivery bikes and collecting burn scars from cooking food. Quote. Over the last 12 months, you have dared to reach for something greater. Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands. Unquote. The whole speech was kind of a rife with little like metaphors and allegories like that. It was, it was, it was very cute. It went on to discuss how the campaign toppled a political dynasty and gave one of the the most like fine tuned disses I've ever seen. Quote. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, which is a phenomenal.

[Robert Evans]

Quote, but I hope I never have to say his name again or something.

[Garrison Davis]

But let tonight be the Last time I utter his name. Only the best in private life is astounding.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. I mean, basically, this is like, he's not the originator of this particular kind of diss. It goes back a while, but the gist of it is like, everyone's mom, be a family man.

[Garrison Davis]

Get out. Go away. Repeatedly, Mamdani has. Has used the word mandate to describe this election. And the results quote, new York has delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, mandate for a city we can afford, a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that. I'm gonna play a short clip here.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refused to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past. You showed that when politics speaks to you without condescension, we can usher in a new era of leadership. We will fight for you because we are you. Or as we say on Steinway and I'm in Kum Wai Lake.

[Robert Evans]

The. The Arabic, they're wild. Wild that we've moved this far in New York, that it's incredible wins you an election. Like that didn't win him the election, but like, they really tried the 911 shit. Rudy Giuliani posted today a crude Photoshop of his own face in the fires of the twin. Of the burning Twin Towers.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

With we forgot written across it. And that did. None of that shit did anything.

[Garrison Davis]

The last month of the campaign against Mamdani, whether that's from people like Bill Ackman, Michael Bloomberg, or Cuomo's actual team, has. Has used what people have been calling the 911 card incessantly.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Playing clips of 911 with like Zoron, like emblazoned like over. Over top. Playing clips from Hasan talking about 9 11. But the Islamophobia that the Cuomo campaign has resorted to as a last ditch effort to stop MAMD has been despicable. And the fact that this did not scare Mamdani into like hiding or like restricting that part of himself is incredibly admirable.

[James Stout]

Yeah, but it wasn't just 9 11. Right? Like you said, it was the broad Islam. Like they. They deployed as they always do. Like every urban area in Britain is. Is now like the caliphate. Like this, that. That exists only in the American conservative mind. And it fails.

[Garrison Davis]

Which is good specifically for the. For a lot of the speech. It was about juxtaposing, like how we used to have good things in the past. Like we had this idea that like, good things now are always out of reach and juxtaposing this like, idea of like hope or, or, or like past exceptionalism that, that we just don't feel like we have access to anymore. And, and showing that if you actually involve young people, we can actually do, do good things in our city now. And I really liked the line about like politics that speaks to you without condescension and how much this campaign was like ran by and, and for, you know, young candidates and young voters. Zorin went on to thank the people who have been forgotten by the politics of our city and how they've supported his campaign. Quote, Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas Sengalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties, quote, and he went on to mention the kind of people that this campaign is about. And towards the end of that section he talked about the hunger strike that he participated in four years ago in order to win debt relief for cab drivers.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

And it's about people like Richard the taxi driver I went on a 15 day hunger strike with outside of City hall who still has to drive his cab seven days a week. My brother, we are in City hall now.

[Garrison Davis]

That is, that is the energy of like the campaign and the city right now, like that, that sort of framing and that's the energy that people are like carrying through.

[Robert Evans]

I saw among the right wing fever responses to this, Mike Cernovich taking a clip from the election night party where one of the people who was attending Zoran's party made a comment about how like white people need to get on board with the idea that like our culture is multiculturalism in this country. Right? Like it's, it's not anything else. Like that's, that's like what has made America. And Mike did not react well to that.

[James Stout]

I can't imagine a declaration of Warovich Mad.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, but no, like especially in New York, out of like anywhere in the country. Like, especially in New York, like the culture is made through the mix of immigrants that have built this city. And this is something that Zoran discussed throughout the speech. Zoran went on to thank the 100,000 campaign volunteers and specifically how their efforts, quote, eroded the cynicism that has come to define our politics. I liked that line. And then he asked New Yorkers to breathe this moment in. Quote, we have held our breath for longer than we know. We have held it in anticipation of defeat. Held it because the air has been knocked out of our lungs and too many times to count. Held it because we cannot afford to exhale. Thanks to all of those who've sacrificed so much. We are breathing in the air of a city that has been reborn. There are many who thought this day would never come, who feared we would be condemned only to a future of less, with every election consigning us to simply more of the same. And there are others who see politics today as too cruel for the flame of hope to still burn. New York. We have answered those fears, unquote.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

And while we cast our ballots alone, we chose hope together. Hope over tyranny. Hope over big money and small ideas. Hope over despair. We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible. And we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now it is something that we do. Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru. A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new.

[Garrison Davis]

The line about politics not being something that's done to you.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

That really outlines how politics has felt in this country for, for as basically as long as I can remember. He then outlined what his central agenda to tackle the cost of living crisis is, including freezing the rent for more than 2 million. Rent symbolized tenants making buses fast and free and delivering universal childcare across the city, saying, quote, this will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt. Unquote. Let's go on a quick break and we will come back to talk a little bit more about the election.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

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[Robert Evans]

Every now and then I rinse it.

[Garrison Davis]

Out and I need Tommy rinse tonight.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

And I need Needing more My kid.

[James Stout]

Wears a bed and the smell never.

[Robert Evans]

Leaves.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

I don't know what to do I'm always in the dark the sweat.

[James Stout]

And dead shark smells like a dark I'm down here rinsing tonight Downy rinse.

[Robert Evans]

Fights stubborn odors in just one wash when impossible odors get stuck in Rinse.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

It out.

[Robert Evans]

All I know is what.

[Garrison Davis]

I've been told and that to half.

[James Stout]

Truth is a whole lie for almost.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

A decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Robert Evans]

I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.

[James Stout]

Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky.

[Robert Evans]

Housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

[Robert Evans]

I did not know her and I.

[Garrison Davis]

Did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said. They literally made me say that I.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Took a match and struck and threw it on her.

[Garrison Davis]

They made me say that I poured.

[James Stout]

Gas on her.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

From Lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

[Garrison Davis]

America, y' all better wake the hell up.

[James Stout]

Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts. In early 1988, federal agents raced to.

[Garrison Davis]

Track down the gang they suspect of.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Importing millions of dollars worth of heroin into New York from Asia.

[Mia Wong]

We had 30 agents ready to go.

[Garrison Davis]

With shotguns and rifles and you name it.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

But what they find is not what they expected.

[James Stout]

Basically, your stay at home moms were.

[Garrison Davis]

Picking up these large amounts of heroin. They go, is this your daughter?

[James Stout]

I said, yes.

[Robert Evans]

They go, oh, you may not see her for like 25 years.

[James Stout]

Copy.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

In between a federal investigation and the violent gang who recruited them, the women must decide who they're willing to protect and who they dare to betray.

[Robert Evans]

Once I saw the gun.

[Garrison Davis]

I tried to take his hand and I saw the flash of light.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Listen to the Chinatown sting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

[Garrison Davis]

All right, we are. During the second half of this speech, Zuron turned to address Donald Trump. Right. This looming thing across politics nationwide, but specifically New York, as Trump has threatened to start to fuck with New York even more if Zorin is elected and people in New York know this. And. And about halfway through, Zoran addressed Trump directly, which we will get to in a sec. But before he directly talked to Trump in this speech, Zoran laid out what types of people the city government will be focusing on protecting from Trump's division and hate.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

In this new age we make for ourselves, we will refuse to allow those who traffic in division and hate to pit us against one another. In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light. Here, we believe in standing up for those we love. Whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall, your struggle is ours, too.

[Garrison Davis]

Specifically, I like this idea of, in the darkened political moment this United States is in New York and the Zoran administration and how that reflects. New York in general, though, will be a beacon for. For the rest of the country. And naming like the trans community is like. The second group mentioned there was heavily appreciated in the Bushwick Trans Watch party that I was at. Zoron went on to say that, quote, no more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election. This new age will be defined by a competence and a compassion that have too long been placed at odds with one another. We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent to redefine reality and to convince our neighbors that this new age is something that should frighten them. As has often occurred, the billionaire class has sought to convince those making $30 an hour that their enemies are those earning $20 an hour. They want the people to fight amongst ourselves so that we remain distracted from the work of remaking a long broken system. Together, we will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.

[Mia Wong]

I think this whole section, there's something very important. And this is. This has been something that's been very consistent about Mohammedani's entire campaign, which is there's been on the left for a very, very long time a just interminable, intractable conflict between this idea of like, purely focusing on class politics or talking about race. And what I think what Mondami is doing here that's been very effective. Right. Is you can just do both. And in fact, as the left, over the last, you know, sort of since it's kind of the re. Emergence of this kind of left in like 2015, 2016, as it's gone on, it's gotten less white, it's gotten more diverse, it's gotten more multicultural, and it's been able to fuse these two things together, and it's been able to fuse that with just, you know, like, being very, very openly pro trans. And like, I. There was, you know, there was also a pretty big response that I saw from people talking about the fact that he specifically mentioned that it was black women who were being fired by the Trump administration. Right. And you can just do all these things together and it works. And it's worked the whole time. And refusing to pit these things against each other, like refusing to pit affordability against trans rights. Refusing to pit.

[Garrison Davis]

Yes.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

You know, like refusing to pit. The politics of like, defending. And this is something that, like, fucking Bernie is terrible at.

[Robert Evans]

Right.

[Mia Wong]

We're like, Bernie, like, has been like. Has a whole rant about how Trump has been. Right on. Like, we have to reduce immigration. Right. And you don't have to do that. You can be pro immigrant, you can be pro trans, you can be pro black women, you can be, you know, and, and you can also want everything that costs less and you can be in favor of the fact that the US Is a. Is a multicultural society and can only function as one. And it's a winning form of politics. And I'm. I'm glad we're finally getting there.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. And it will be great if this New York City as a beacon can actually shine and not get stifled out in these. In these next four years. Because Zoran is. Unless. Unless things happen. Zoron will be the mayor for the remainder of the Trump term. Right. Like this is. He will be mayor after second Trump administration is over. Barring any unfortunate incident. Zoron, make sure your private security is really good and loyal.

[James Stout]

Well, you have a NYPD detail, which.

[Mia Wong]

Get your own guys.

[James Stout]

Yeah, it's by. It'll Be fun. But it also. It means, like. Like, from, I guess, a national perspective, it is likely that Mamdani will become, like, the enemy, number one of the Trump administration, where they're probably Newsom or Prashkara now. Right. Like, it's. It is easier because of the obvious bigotry that underlies a lot of the Republican Party to go after a brown dude.

[Robert Evans]

Yes.

[James Stout]

And that is what they are going to do.

[Garrison Davis]

And they're going to use brown Democratic Socialist.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Who stands up for trans people and migrants.

[Garrison Davis]

Absolutely.

[James Stout]

You saw how acceptable Islamophobia is in Cuomo's campaign. Right. Like, he'd just go on to every mainstream network and say, shit, that is fucking disgusting.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

And so we should prepare ourselves for four more years of that, I guess. And I think he does a very good job of repudiating that. And obviously the electorate in New York did, too. But that is going to be what we are going to see as a result of this.

[Garrison Davis]

Well, no, and, like, so much of the resistance to Zoron came from this idea that if he wins, that means that this is going to be what people point to as a future for politics, specifically Democratic politics. And a lot of people wanted to stop him because they knew that's going to happen. If he is in control of the biggest city in the country as the Democratic mayor, that's going to be influential for what Democratic politics will be after they got completely clobbered last year. And he's showing that a different type of politics is possible even. Even within the Democratic Party. And that's. That's true. Like altering what the party is fundamentally.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

And I think it's. It is. It is a cool little side note that Zoran voted for himself on the Working Families Party line and, in fact, not the Democratic Party line, because of how the New York mayoral ballots work. I'm gonna play one more clip from this speech of Zoron specifically addressing Trump. It's gonna be a teeny bit longer, and I think we'll cut. We'll shorten some of the applause bits because some of the applause sections go on for quite long. But this will be the last clip.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump, it's how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you're watching. I have four words for you. Turn the volume up. We will hold bad landlords to account because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks. We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections, because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed. New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant. So hear me, President Trump, when I say this. To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.

[Mia Wong]

This shit rocks.

[James Stout]

It's good.

[Robert Evans]

It's good.

[Garrison Davis]

It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool for a Mayor Alex, to say that managed to get in the.

[James Stout]

New York is the Ankara of America, which I was hoping for, but otherwise great.

[Robert Evans]

That's Eric Adams's bit.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah. Sad day for. Sad day for Turkey today, I guess.

[Mia Wong]

On an actual important note, I think it is really important that, you know, all of this energy against Trump, right, and against all the shit that he's doing that's so hideously unpopular, it's starting to be channeled into politics that can actually defeat him and that are actually good, you know, and that he's talking about specifically the fact that you have to destroy the conditions that created him so they don't create the next one. Like, this fucking rocks. This is good.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Like, for so long, like, for, I mean, most of the 2016-2020 period, and for a lot of this year, we've seen so many people turn the obvious disgust that people have of what Trump is doing into grifts, into supporting a politics which fundamentally allowed for the conditions we are in now. Right? And to see someone repudiate that and to see more than a million people turn out to support that is fantastic. Like, it's genuinely hopeful.

[Garrison Davis]

It's something that Zoran has, like, acknowledged. It's like, this is not, like, the end, right? This is a means. Yeah, not the means either. Like, this is this. This is a means to an end. And this whole campaign started as he's referred to it, as a, quote, unquote, electoral project by the New York City dsa. Like, this was largely an experiment, and an experiment that grew wildly, wildly, kind of out of what I assume they kind of saw it as in the earlier. In the earlier days. And now they're in this, like, moment. And they have to, they have to keep rolling with it. But it is, it is an experiment for a, a version of doing this. And he knows this is not like the only method or tactic to be utilized. But as, as an experiment, I think it's so far pretty well done. Now, Zoran closed his speech by calling to chart a new path. As bold as the campaign has already been saying that conventional wisdom would claim that he is far from the perfect candidate. Quote, I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this. And yet, if tonight teaches us anything, it is that convention has held us back. We have bowed at the altar of caution. We have paid a mighty price. Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party, and too many among us have turned to the right for answers to why they've been left behind. We will leave mediocrity in our past. No longer will we have to open a history book for proof that Democrats can dare to be great. Our greatness will be anything but abstract. Unquote. And he concludes by saying that the greatness will be felt by rent stabilized tenants who will wake up knowing their rent hasn't soared. By grandparents who can afford to stay in their home and whose grandchildren live nearby because the cost of childcare is not driving them out of the city. And by the single mothers who don't need to rush their kids to school because they can commute to work on a fast bus. Quote. Most of all, it will be felt by each New Yorker when the city they love finally loves them back. Unquote. The stuff about, like, worshiping at the altar of caution for, like, the past. Yeah, the past, like 20. More, more than 20, but especially the past, like 20 years of like, Democrat politics. And yeah, how he is also recognizing that, like, this is. This could mark a fundamental shift in what the Democratic Party actually is because the people, Democrats included, who've been trying to stop this have failed miserably so far, putting tens of millions of dollars into a campaign to, to try to crush, crush this version of what the future of New York Democrat politics is. And more people since 1969 showed up to deny that future. That's all I have for Zoron right now. It's literally, you know, less than 24 hours after the election. But this was not just a New York City mayoral election. There were, there were other races, including other, other things in New York. There was a Prop 1amendment to the State constitution to retroactively authorize the winter sports facilities on Mount Ven Hovenberg, which is protected forest land and would require the state add 2,500 acres of newly protected land elsewhere in the Adirondack. I mean, that's how I'm saying it. Adirondack Mountains.

[James Stout]

Yeah, Adirondack, which was passed.

[Garrison Davis]

And this allows them to continue to build and maintain the winter sports facility. Propositions two through six were New York City charter amendments. Two to four were housing reform proposals to fast track the approval process for affordable housing and simplify zoning reviews and establish an affordable housing appeals board. All of these passed. These will limit the ability of the city council to control and slow down housing development and empower the mayor specifically to build more affordable units faster. And Prop 5, which also passed, creates a new digital map of the city. The only prop to fail, which was number six, was to move local elections to be in line with presidential elections on that four year basis. Basically, the ballot that Zoran filled out himself was the one that passed for all of these. All of these proposals.

[James Stout]

Yeah, you get, they call it a coattails effect in political science. Right. Like the idea that the people.

[Garrison Davis]

He only announced his ballot that morning. He specifically did not. He, he, he, he did. And he didn't even announce it. Like a journalist asked him what he was voting on. He, he specifically did not advocate for any of these or, or try to dissuade anyone from, from any of these before the election.

[James Stout]

Yeah, for sure. But you get a generally aligned politically electorate, Right. A relatively progressive in American terms electorate coming out to vote for him, who will look at these things and say that seems to make sense with the way I see the world.

[Garrison Davis]

Absolutely. Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governor of Virginia flipping blue. And Jay Jones, a Democrat candidate for Virginia ag, also beat the Republican incumbent. This was after a month of attacks for a series of text messages from 2022 where J. Jones said that if certain Republican delegates died, he would, quote, go to their funerals to piss on their graves, unquote, and wish for the hypothetical deaths of Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert's children, quote. Only when people feel pain personally, do they move on policy. I mean, do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil and that they're breeding little fascists? Yes, unquote.

[Mia Wong]

That's also not reaching for hypothetical deaths.

[Garrison Davis]

Like he did in a call with a, with another Republican politician. And then after the call they continued texting about it. So the proof is in these texts and he has, he has admitted this and basically he Was like, yeah, if these people's like children were to get killed in a mass shooting, maybe their opinions on guns would change. That's essentially what he's expressing there. Yeah. And then he, he also, he also was quoted in these leaked text messages as saying quote, three people, two bullets. Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head. Spoiler put Gilbert in the crew. Sorry I told you.

[Robert Evans]

Not just, not just as an elected.

[James Stout]

Official, as an attorney general. Someone going to be a cop that you put in the fucking text message.

[Garrison Davis]

Spoilers put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time. It's insane.

[James Stout]

OPSEC hero.

[Garrison Davis]

But that is the new Attorney general. That's the new Democrat Attorney General of Virginia who the right has been attacking for quite for relentlessly the past month.

[James Stout]

Because you really fucked up if you can't like if you know, if you can't run attacks on that guy and.

[Garrison Davis]

You still all of those jokes about.

[Mia Wong]

The white moms in the suburbs like wanting blood.

[Garrison Davis]

Like they're looking at this and going oh hell yeah.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

Yeah, give me four more bullets we'll.

[Mia Wong]

Put in this guy.

[Garrison Davis]

It's pretty crazy. It's pretty astonishing. Maine voted no 63% on a voter restriction measure. Voters extended the Democrat Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the California redistricting measure or proposition passed with 63.8%. James?

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Do you have stuff on this?

[James Stout]

Yeah. So Prop 50 in California. California it was like a one issue ballot, right. You said the prop. This would temporarily redistrict. I think people maybe have not been often it gets missed. And this is temporarily redistricting California until re establishing the nonpartisan committee that does that does districting in 2031 for the 2032 those districts will come back or that they will return to a non partisan districting in 2032. This is one of the most expensive, expensive propositions in state history. 120 million was spent in favor, 44 million against. There was also outside money. Newsom already called on New York, Illinois and other Democrat majority seats to do the same.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

It's going to likely remove about five Republican seats or those Republicans are going to struggle. Right. One of them would be San Diego's Mountain Empire and East county seat which is currently the 48th. That seat has been redistricted a few times. Right. It's moved around. It's currently Darrell ISS seat. In response, California Republicans have already filed a lawsuit Suit was filed by Harmeet Dillon's law firm.

[Robert Evans]

Yay.

[James Stout]

Yay so friend of the pie. Yeah, Dylan is in the Trump administration.

[Robert Evans]

Now, but yeah, Dylan is in the Trump administration and occasionally my inbox making threats.

[James Stout]

Fantastic. Great. But it was Dylan's law firm that filed the case. Right. The case has claimed that California drew the new lines to, quote, specifically favor Hispanic voters, which is a similar claim to the Louisiana versus Calais. I think it's Calais. There's a way to say it here. Case which is currently before the Supreme Court, which the Supreme Court seems to be suggesting it might be, it might be amenable to this argument.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

That the consideration of race in redistricting is discriminatory. Yesterday, Trump truced. I'm quoting here, the unconstitutional redistricting vote in California is a giant scam. That part is in block capitals, as is characteristic. The rest is sporadically capitalized. I'm going back to the quote now in the entire process, in particular the voting itself is rigged. All, quote, mail in ballots where the Republicans in that state are shut out is under very serious legal and criminal review. Stay tuned. Yeah, you know, fairly predictable. We talked about it last week. It's not entirely possible for me to pass out that, that second sentence. But, but I think we can see what direction is pushing in. Right. This was predictable that this was going to happen. And we'll keep you updated on it. Also predictable that we would have to pivot to ads again, which is what we're going to do now.

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[Robert Evans]

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[James Stout]

These things are huge. Super fresh, super clean Gain Super Flings.

[Robert Evans]

Gain Super Flings Laundry packs have four times the oxy cleaning power and three times the Febreze. Freshness versus Gain. Original liquid super fresh Super Clean gain. Super Clean gain Super flings for next level laundry. All I know is what I've been.

[Garrison Davis]

Told and that to have truth is a whole lie.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Robert Evans]

I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.

[Robert Evans]

Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

[Robert Evans]

I did not know her and I.

[Garrison Davis]

Did not kill her or rape or.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

Burn or any of that other stuff.

[Garrison Davis]

That y' all said. They literally made me say that I.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Took a match and struck and threw it on her.

[Garrison Davis]

They made me say that I poured.

[James Stout]

Gas on her.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

From Lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

[Garrison Davis]

America, y' all better wake the hell up.

[James Stout]

Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts. In early 1988, federal agents raced to.

[Garrison Davis]

Track down the gang they suspect of.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Importing millions of dollars worth of heroin into New York from Asia.

[Mia Wong]

We had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles and you name it.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

But what they find is not what they expected.

[James Stout]

Basically your stay at home moms were.

[Garrison Davis]

Picking up these large amounts of heroin. They go, is this your daughter? I said, yes.

[Robert Evans]

They go, oh, you may not see her for like 25 years.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Caught between a federal investigation and the violent gang who recruited them, the women must decide who they're willing to protect and who. Who they dare to betray.

[Garrison Davis]

Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand and I saw the flash of light.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Listen to the Chinatown sting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

[Garrison Davis]

And we are back.

[James Stout]

Little bit of immigration news this week as always, according to reporting this actually last week, but we didn't have time for it. Last week, according to reporting by cnn, Trump claimed he was, quote, very much opposed to his own administration's immigration raid on a Hyundai plant in Georgia. Which obviously this is what he's saying to try and get that foreign direct investment back in Georgia.

[Robert Evans]

Right.

[James Stout]

Because it looks very much like Georgia is going to pay pretty heavily for that raid. Unfortunately, another man lost his life when fleeing ICE officers last week. He seems to have left a car that he was in, attempted to cross a freeway where he was fatally struck by another car. Yeah, that's the second time this is. This has happened this year. Texas has signed an agreement with the federal government to allow local DPS officers to operate as ICE officers or technically to operate under the authority of ICE officers under the 287 program. So this is not the first law enforcement agency in Texas to do this. Lots of local agencies had. But the DPS is statewide.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

So this would include offices of. The Texas Highway Patrol has 5,000 employees. It will make Texas a markedly more hostile place for migrants. The authority allows warrantless detention under loosely limited, loosely phrased supervision by an ICE officer. Right. So it allows Texas cops to detain or question people who they suspect of being in the United States without documentation. Here in San Diego, San Diego's border Patrol sector released a video with. I think it was like, I'll have to check what song it was like some cringe kind of pop punk soundtrack of the dynamiting of land west of the Jacumba Wilderness. This is likely the construction that saw many environmental and cultural protections waived by DHA Secretary Nome earlier this year.

[Garrison Davis]

Right.

[James Stout]

And we're. So we're seeing the beginning of what that looks like and what that looks like here. It's just a very unique landscape. And many. One I know some people who listen came out to Hukumbra a couple of years ago to help out. Like it's an extremely unique sort of high desert landscape and it's currently being dynamited. Right. These are the areas where there were little gaps in the border wall because construction there is very hard and the way that they're going ahead with construction is blowing stuff up. Finally, on the immigration beat, a case regarding conditions in the Broadview facility, which is in Chicago until earlier this year. It was only for very short stays, like not for 24 hour stays has revealed some of the horrific conditions inside the facility. It confirms something I've heard from multiple migrants who have been detained all over the US which is that ICE is using the threat of longer stays in poor conditions to get People to sign deportation paperwork. Often it's literally in the overcrowded rooms where they're sleeping and staying. Right. Like at any point you can just walk up to it and sign your name and you will presumably be removed from those conditions and placed into deportation flight as soon as possible. Reading directly from the lawsuit here, people are forced to attempt to sleep for days, or sometimes weeks on plastic chairs or on the filthy concrete floor. They are denied sufficient food and water. They cannot shower. They are denied soap, hygiene items and menstrual products, and they have no way to clean themselves. They are often denied a change of clothes. Continuing my quote here, the temperatures are extreme and uncomfortable. Most nights are freezing cold, yet only some receive a thin foil blanket, sweater, or sweatpants to try to retain warmth. The lights are typically on all night. People have also reported being denied water by agents. There being no running water in the places where they are held, and very little food. We've reported on these conditions before. Some of this is standard, right? Lights on all night, freezing cold. You only get a very thin blanket. That has been the case. It was the case throughout the Biden administration. They call these places the icebox, both in English and in Spanish. This has always been. The conditions people have been held in, in these facilities have always been inhumane. But some of this is particularly bad. People in Broadview reported being so crowded they could not extend their legs. Jesus Christ. Yeah. So they had to sit like sort of fetal position. They couldn't sit down, extend their legs. Right. Let alone sleep. Disgustingly unclean conditions. They have. Lots of people have reported paperwork not being able. In the language that they read and write. Bathrooms there are not private. And the lawsuit alleges that people of other genders could see each other using the bathroom, which. Which is pretty disgusting. I've linked to the. The lawsuit. You can read it if you want to.

[Mia Wong]

Tariff park transition.

[Garrison Davis]

Go.

[Robert Evans]

Ah, music to my ears.

[Mia Wong]

Oh, boy. Okay. Abrupt, abrupt shift in tone. So we got a little bit more details on the sort of partial agreement that Trump and the Chinese government have sort of come to that has staved off some of the most disastrous of the new trade war elements. Both sides seem to have gotten rid of the fees from ships both docking at their ports and also on like, the sort of complicated shipbuilding stuff we talked about last year. The US has paused the. The thing we talked about last week where they were. They were using the foreign entity list to do anything that was like. Like controlled. That was like 40% or more controlled by a thing on the foreign Entity list couldn't be traded with the US Is backing off on that for a year. China's agreed to buy more soybeans. There's also some discussion of China buying more energy products. But this is one of these things that we just, we have no idea what that is. It's possible by the time you're listening to this, there will be information. All we have is buy more energy. And the last thing that Trump said that didn't seem to be part of the negotiations between him and the Chinese government per se, but were definitely part of negotiations that have been going on between Trump and his Cabinet was that there's going to be restrictions on AI chip exports. Although exactly what is not known. All Trump said was, quote, the most advanced. We will not let anybody have them other than the United States. What this seems to be, and again, everyone is kind of murkily cobbling together whatever information they have. What it seems to be is Trump stopped Nvidia from selling its like most advanced AI grade chips called Blackwell to China, which was, which Nvidia has been massively lobbying for because they need to expand their market to continue the giant bubble that they've accumulated. Trump has stopped them. It's unclear whether this is going to be made into formal policy or if Trump is just going to personally intervene every time a CEO asks him to do this. But yeah, we also have. So today recording November 5th is the start of the Supreme Court case against the tariffs. I think it's worth noting that this court case against the tariffs, it's framed as like a lot of small businesses brought this lawsuit and they did. But also the reason it's gotten to the Supreme Court is because they're being backed by a huge player in the conservative legal machine. Almost the entire thing is being funded and paid for by the Liberty justice center, which is, it's a kind of libertarian right wing legal thing backed by like the Walton family and the Koch Network. And this is, I think, one of the most direct and interesting actual oppositional moves we've seen from, from this wing of the libertarian business wing of the party, which is very, very pissed off at the tariffs. We've seen a whole bunch of amicus curi briefs from the American Agency Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute and a whole bunch of other right wing think tanks who are extremely angry about this. We don't know exactly how it's going to go, but the initial arguments do not seem to be going well for the Trump administration. So that'll, that'll be unfolding and we'll report on it more as. As we know more. It's. This is literally recording actually the first day of trials.

[Garrison Davis]

So.

[Mia Wong]

And finally I'm going to close on a, a genuinely deeply baffling piece of news, which is that the day before the election in New York, Greg Abbott posted that there would be a 100% tariff on anyone moving to New York after the election.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

How does that work?

[Robert Evans]

Isn't it moving to Texas from New York?

[Mia Wong]

Oh, I thought it was to New York.

[Garrison Davis]

To me it looked like moving to New York as well. I mean, it's certainly unclear because this doesn't not seem like a policy proposal and it seems more like a post. It seems like something just. It's just a post. It's someone who's posting through it because.

[Robert Evans]

This is moving from moving from New York to Texas.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. Anyone moving from New York to Texas.

[Mia Wong]

Interesting. I don't know. Tariffs are just post now.

[Robert Evans]

I don't. That's not like a thing that there's law around you being able to do.

[Garrison Davis]

No.

[Mia Wong]

It's so unconstitutional.

[Garrison Davis]

I think it's just a post. I don't think it is anything like.

[James Stout]

Yeah, I mean, evidently.

[Mia Wong]

I think the interesting thing about it is like, is the way in which tariffs have come to be seen in the Republican mind as like, this is something you do to people you're mad at, which is very new development in. This is. This is a, this is a pure Trump 2 phenomena, effectively.

[Garrison Davis]

Well, absolutely, yeah.

[Robert Evans]

A marker of how intensely they're paying attention to this election. Like, I mean, Abbott's said doing this because I'm sure he, it, it'll show up, shore up his local popularity. But it's a marker of like a change that has been going on that, that has been really like supercharged in the Trump era of. No, no, you can't have local politics. Like, it's, it's all national politics. And any kind of vote at a state or local level that goes against whatever the party wants is something to be punished. Like even if it's 2,000 miles away. And that is, that hasn't been as dominant in US Politics as it has been recently. We should probably talk a little bit about Texas's election night because that was also pretty consequential. There were 17 ballot measures passed by the Texas legislature earlier this year by a two thirds majority. And the way Texas law works is that once the legislature votes for a ballot measure to 2/3 majority, it becomes a constitutional amendment after a simple majority of voters on a ballot support it and there were 17 measures on the ballot in Texas, which is wild. Very few states add constitutional amendments that the rate Texas does. And all of them passed, which is nuts. And some of them are, like, fine. There was, like, one to create, like, a $3 billion fund for dementia research with, like, which is like, whatever. Nobody's got a problem with that. Really. Some questions about implementation maybe, but there's some absolutely bug fuck nuts stuff here. Proposition 13 raised the homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000. It was passed by about 80% of voters. This lowers the taxable value of a home, which reduces overall tax bills on your primary residence. For an article in the Houston Chronicle. The amendments will be especially felt by elderly or disabled Texans who are poised to receive a separate tax, a separate break that brings their total property tax exemptions to 200,000. As a result, roughly half of seniors and people with disabilities living in Harris and Bexar counties will no longer pay any school property taxes.

[James Stout]

Jesus.

[Robert Evans]

I should have to say how, like, bad that is for Texas schools and in general, this. A lot of these ballot measures were about making heavy cuts and making it impossible to raise new revenue. The cuts that are just in these ballot measures are going to cost the state about $4 billion over the next two years. Right. But that's not all that was done. Several of the bills that were passed banned the potential to create new taxes. Right. So it is now illegal in Texas to create taxes on capital gains or taxes on the growth of assets like property and stocks or taxes on inheritance and estate taxes. Taxes on the operations of stock exchanges are now banned because several have announced plans to open in Texas. Right. So you are looking at. I think the estimate here that I'm seeing in the Chronicles article is that the state's gonna spend about $51 billion over the coming biennium to pay for the new cuts and maintain existing ones. Texas is a state that has had for quite a while a budget surplus, and they are basically lighting a lot of that on fire to appeal to rich people and business owners and stock exchanges to take their assets to Texas. You won't have to help society if you come to Texas. We don't have a society in Texas. Right. And that agenda did very well in Texas.

[James Stout]

Geez.

[Robert Evans]

Anyway, good stuff. I guess the last thing I want to talk about a little bit since we've got a couple of minutes here is the question on everybody's mind. Should I be flying anywhere for the holidays? Is that going to be a good idea? We're saying I'm saying this a day after a horrific crash of a UPS flight over Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville. Right. Which, I mean, I think seven was the death toll ast I saw Nightmarish fireballs. Thank.

[James Stout]

I mean, it hit nine this morning.

[Robert Evans]

Is it at nine because the plane just the engine caught on fire basically on takeoff. And normally from what I'm reading from pilots, normally that should have been a manageable problem. But because it happened during the ascent, which is the most dangerous part of piloting a plane and where you have the least control, they were not able to recover or gain any kind of control. And the plane bas basically plowed directly into a UPS warehouse and it was loaded with something like £300,000 worth of fuel because it was about to fly to Honolulu. So it was as full of fuel as a big plane can be and just a horrific crash. Is this tied to the, the fact that you have a lot of federal employees furloughed? Is it tied more just to the fact that the FAA is not functioning the way it should be or used to as a result of, of changes the Trump administration made as soon as they came to power? I think it's too early to say that, but this is part of a pattern of pretty disastrous near misses that absolutely can be attributed to things like the air traffic controller shortage and the fact that there's just a lot less safety precautions being taken. And this is something the administration is aware of and has become critical enough that they're no longer able to deny it. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on Monday said that all commercial flights might be stopped nationwide to protect public safety. And they were certainly going to need to cut off flights in specific parts of the countries at times as a result of the ATC shortage. Right. Basically, there's different, like, kind of grids that the, the country is divided into, and you might have to shut down one or more of those at a time in order to make the, the, the shortage of air traffic controllers able to handle the rest of the load. Right. For an example of, like, how bad this can get locally on last Friday in New York's, in New York State, 80% of air traffic controllers did not show up for work. So this is a potentially pretty calamitous problem. There have been ground delays on Monday for three major Texas airports in Austin, Dallas Fort Worth and Dallas Love Field. And this is just in general a problem that's only going to get worse as the shutdown looms. Because I've seen some interviews with air traffic controllers where like One guy was like, look, we're not getting medicine for my kid and she'll die without it. It's just not coming in. How do you expect me to be a fucking air traffic controller? Right? Like the hardest job in the country that requires absolutely perfect concentration at all times without ever fucking up or hundreds of people die. So I don't know. To answer the question of, like, should you fly, be planning flights for this holiday season. You should certainly get the flight insurance and be paying attention the days before as to what's happening if the shutdown doesn't end. Because right now we are seeing delays the likes of which haven't really been seen since maybe like either. The pandemic. The pandemic probably before 9, 11 was kind of the last time things were this completely fucked. Garrison can tell you how much of a fucking nightmare they had coming back. And it's not just in the United States, by the way. Multiple major airports in Europe over the last week and change.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Have had to shut down entirely or partly because of unauthorized or unknown drone flights in their airspace.

[James Stout]

Yeah. That's been ongoing.

[Robert Evans]

Globally, air travel is not doing well.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Russia's been probing Europe with these all lands for a little while. Yeah. I think all. I don't know if Robert's flown. Gareth and I have flown this month and it fucking sucks. Use a credit card if you can, one that has some protections. But maybe, maybe consider not flying right now.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. Just, you know, keep an eye on things. I don't know what else to tell you.

[James Stout]

Yeah, it's great. Everything's going great. That is the slogan. Everything's going great.

[Garrison Davis]

You know, there's been worse times.

[Robert Evans]

There's been worse times.

[James Stout]

Yeah. You know the blitz. Yeah. Talking of worse times, lots of people are hungry, Right. Because. Because we are. We're fucking with people. SNAP benefits now as part of the culture war. Lots of people are very worried about where their food is going to come from.

[Robert Evans]

Right.

[James Stout]

And we're entering a time of year, you know, kids are going to be off school. There are lots of places you can still get your free school meals. But it's a difficult time for people. It's difficult time for people to feed their families. I wanted to plug.

[Robert Evans]

We all.

[James Stout]

We got San Diego group. What they're doing is helping people be able to rely on them by delivering groceries to them. Right. And the way that they most need support is for people to sign up to regularly donate a certain amount. I'm not going to tell you how much you can donate, but if you're able to. That will give them the ability to plan to secure groceries for people they're supporting. The way you can find their website is to go to we all we got sd.com donate also, if you want to reach out to us and you want to do it in an encrypted way, you could send an email from your ProtonMail address to our Proton Mail address, which is coolzonetipson. Me. If you're a marketing person and you want your client to be a guest on our podcast, don't email us. I'm just gonna fucking block you. That's. That's, that's all I have to say about that. If you want us to plug your product, I will also block you.

[Garrison Davis]

We've reported the news.

[James Stout]

We reported the news Foreign It Could.

[Garrison Davis]

Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media.

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For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website coolzone media.com or check.

[Garrison Davis]

Us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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You can now find sources for It.

[Garrison Davis]

Could Happen here listed directly in Episode Descriptions. Thanks for listening.

[Robert Evans]

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[James Stout]

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The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[James Stout]

America, Y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.

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[Kyle McLaughlin]

Hey, I'm Kyle McLaughlin.

[Robert Evans]

You might know me as that guy from Twin Peaks, Sex and the City, or just the Internet station. I have a new podcast called what Are We Even Doing? Where I embark on a noble quest to understand the brilliant chaos of youth culture.

[James Stout]

Each week I invite someone fascinating to.

[Robert Evans]

Join me to talk about navigating this high speed roller coaster we call reality.

[James Stout]

Join me and my delightful guests every Thursday and let's get weird together in a good way.

[Robert Evans]

Listen to what Are We Even Doing on the Ice Radio app, Apple Podcasts.

[James Stout]

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Robert Evans]

Hey It's Ed Helms, host of Snafu, my podcast about history's greatest screw ups. On our new season, we're bringing you a new Snafu. Every single episode.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

32 lost nuclear weapons.

[Garrison Davis]

You're like, wait, stop.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

What?

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, it's gonna be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot of fabulous guests. Paul Scheer, Andy, Angela and Jenna. Nick Kroll, Jordan Klepper. Listen to season four of SNAFU with Ed Helms on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Garrison Davis]

This is an iHeart podcast.