# Strange News: Russian Plague, New Dinosaurs, Bank of America and More

An episode of [Stuff They Don't Want You To Know](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/732915228), 19 Oct 2026, 58 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/2e824128-fbd5-4c9e-9a57-ae2f0056b0c4/6235a414-916d-4b3e-861d-b4e80101559c/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=66d98a23-900c-44b0-a40b-ae2f0056b0db

As Ben, Matt, and Noel return from the high seas, they learn that a new plague may have broken out in Russia. Whistlebowers allege the CIA is searching genetic mapping companies for 'evidence of alien/human hybrid DNA'. A new kind of mega raptor is discovered in Europe. The rise of Peru's Hitler Mussolini. Yet another (unelected) European official falls under suspicion of selling state secrets. Tune in for all this and more in this week's strange news segment. They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is
[0:04] Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
[0:09] Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know.
[0:12] Speaker 2: A production of iHeartRadio.
[0:26] Speaker 3: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.
[0:29] Speaker 4: My name is Noah.
[0:30] Speaker 2: They call me Ben. We're joined, as always, with our
[0:33] Speaker 2: super producer, Max the Freight Train Williams. Most importantly, you
[0:38] Speaker 2: are you. You are here. That makes this the stuff
[0:41] Speaker 2: they don't want you to know. Welcome to our strange
[0:46] Speaker 2: news program. If you are hearing this, the evening it publishes,
[0:50] Speaker 2: it is October 19th. And guys, it's the best time
[0:54] Speaker 2: of the year.
[0:55] Speaker 4: Yeah, the spookiest time of the year. Guys, I saw
[0:59] Speaker 4: a fun thing this weekend. I saw Paranormal Activity, the musical. No,
[1:05] Speaker 4: it's not a musical, but it is a Broadway show,
[1:07] Speaker 4: and it was super good and spooky, and I really
[1:10] Speaker 4: enjoyed it.
[1:11] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome.
[1:12] Speaker 3: Because I had big plans to go to Six Flags
[1:15] Speaker 3: with my son to check out the old spooky times,
[1:17] Speaker 3: but it looks like that's not going to happen.
[1:21] Speaker 4: Okay. Local story, but making the national news. A really,
[1:25] Speaker 4: really tragic turn of events. A gentleman was riding the
[1:28] Speaker 4: Goliath roller coaster with his young son. His wife waited
[1:32] Speaker 4: down below, and it would appear that he was maybe
[1:35] Speaker 4: a little bit of a larger gentleman, and the safety
[1:37] Speaker 4: harness was not properly affixed, and he flew out of
[1:40] Speaker 4: the car and guys, I don't try to make this
[1:42] Speaker 4: about me at all, but I've ridden that coaster many
[1:44] Speaker 4: times at my heaviest. And I, I, I can't help,
[1:48] Speaker 4: but feel like I, there could have been me. I mean,
[1:52] Speaker 4: it's really terrifying stuff. I mean, it made you nervous,
[1:55] Speaker 4: the harness and everything. Oh, you know, at the time
[1:58] Speaker 4: when I wrote it, it's supposed to click, click, click.
[2:00] Speaker 4: But for me, when I was, you know, much heavier,
[2:02] Speaker 4: it only clicked once. And I just remember, I was
[2:05] Speaker 4: just talking about it with my therapist, like, I should
[2:08] Speaker 4: have said, I don't want to do this. But I
[2:11] Speaker 4: didn't want to embarrass myself in front of my kid or, like,
[2:14] Speaker 4: you know.
[2:15] Speaker 2: Be a bother. Yeah, but now you're alive.
[2:18] Speaker 5: 100%.
[2:18] Speaker 2: To embarrass yourself again.
[2:20] Speaker 4: No, yeah, but I'm just saying, like, I could have,
[2:24] Speaker 4: I'm never going to ride that coaster again or go
[2:26] Speaker 4: to any Six Flags.
[2:26] Speaker 2: Do you guys, do you remember the American Scream Machine?
[2:31] Speaker 4: The great American Scream Machine. It's just one of those
[2:32] Speaker 4: old wooden coasters, if I'm not mistaken.
[2:34] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the one I almost fell off of.
[2:37] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[2:38] Speaker 2: It's an absolute tragedy. One person is dead, four people
[2:41] Speaker 2: were injured, and Noel, you said earlier that you were
[2:45] Speaker 2: considering revoking your season pass.
[2:48] Speaker 4: No, I did it. I did it immediately. My kid
[2:51] Speaker 4: saw the story in the middle of the night on
[2:53] Speaker 4: Twitter and said that, oh, the comments are just horrific.
[2:56] Speaker 4: Just people, you know, fat shaming this man who has
[2:59] Speaker 4: tragically been killed. And he, you know, flew, if anyone's
[3:03] Speaker 4: familiar with his coaster, it has these camelback hump things
[3:06] Speaker 4: that they call it or camel humps. And at the
[3:08] Speaker 4: top of one is when his harness gave way. And
[3:10] Speaker 4: this harness is one thing, no backup restraints. It goes
[3:14] Speaker 4: over your, your torso. Um, and if it goes, it
[3:18] Speaker 4: goes nothing on your lap and it went, and he
[3:20] Speaker 4: apparently bounced and hit multiple other riders on the way down.
[3:24] Speaker 4: People coasted into the, uh, the, the end of the
[3:27] Speaker 4: ride covered in blood and just absolutely traumatized. No one's
[3:30] Speaker 4: ever going to be able to, Forget this. I mean,
[3:33] Speaker 4: this is serious.
[3:35] Speaker 3: It's a serious, terrible tragedy. It's horrific. It's all these things.
[3:40] Speaker 3: It's also, if you look at the statistics, right, and
[3:44] Speaker 3: how many people have been gravely injured in this specific park,
[3:48] Speaker 3: in all the parks across the world, there's a very
[3:51] Speaker 3: low probability that it's going to happen to you, right,
[3:54] Speaker 3: if you go to one of these things. It is
[3:57] Speaker 3: a tough thing to wrap your head around when you're
[4:00] Speaker 3: then trying to consider, well, You know, we wanted to
[4:02] Speaker 3: go to this park. Maybe we should go to this park.
[4:04] Speaker 3: Maybe we shouldn't go to this park. Am I going
[4:07] Speaker 3: to die if I go to this park? You know,
[4:09] Speaker 3: all these thoughts we have in our minds.
[4:10] Speaker 4: Well, I guess I've always felt that Six Flags was
[4:12] Speaker 4: a little on the rinky-dink side in terms of like
[4:15] Speaker 4: a lot of the kids, and I use that term accurately,
[4:18] Speaker 4: that run these rides are high schoolers. And I'm not,
[4:22] Speaker 4: you know, no shade on high schoolers trying to have
[4:23] Speaker 4: a summer job, but these are machines that can kill people.
[4:27] Speaker 4: And if they're not properly trained or don't see the
[4:30] Speaker 4: red flag of the thing not clicking enough, that's a
[4:33] Speaker 4: real problem.
[4:34] Speaker 2: But you may as well be talking about people driving automobiles.
[4:38] Speaker 2: That's absolutely true. And I had the same conversation this
[4:41] Speaker 2: morning with my therapist. It's not one of these things
[4:44] Speaker 2: where it's like, am I never going to go to
[4:45] Speaker 2: an amusement park ever again?
[4:47] Speaker 4: No, but I always have had a little bit of
[4:49] Speaker 4: a spidey sense about Six Flags. And it turns out
[4:52] Speaker 4: there are other investigations ongoing into other rides, into allegations
[4:57] Speaker 4: of poor maintenance practices and things like that.
[5:01] Speaker 2: So, And if you were old enough, fellow conspiracy realist,
[5:07] Speaker 2: you may remember Z-Force, another Six Flags amusement park ride
[5:13] Speaker 2: that resulted in a decapitation. We always want to start
[5:20] Speaker 2: with the positive stuff when possible, but today, tonight, we
[5:25] Speaker 2: are starting with the facts. We'll be right back after
[5:29] Speaker 2: a word from our sponsors. And we have returned fellows.
[5:43] Speaker 2: Do you guys eat vegetables? I know that's a personal question.
[5:49] Speaker 4: You know, my kid can't stand things and it really
[5:52] Speaker 4: bums me out. I have to hide them in smoothies
[5:55] Speaker 4: and Pasta, but I love vegetables. I do love vegetables,
[5:59] Speaker 4: and we certainly have talked on this show and Ridiculous
[6:01] Speaker 4: History about the evolution of farming practices and how the
[6:05] Speaker 4: vegetables we have today aren't necessarily the vegetables of yesteryear
[6:10] Speaker 4: that our ancestors grew in the fields with their hands.
[6:13] Speaker 2: What about you, Matt? Where are we at on vegetables?
[6:17] Speaker 3: I exclusively juice my vegetables, as should we all. Exclusively
[6:23] Speaker 3: juice it. Yeah, and I turn that juice into popsicles,
[6:26] Speaker 3: and then I munch on those popsicles. That's what I do. What?
[6:29] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what it's like at the top, folks. So
[6:33] Speaker 2: we have long discussed something that finally got acknowledged in
[6:40] Speaker 2: the news. Vegetables seem to be less nutritious than earlier. Now,
[6:46] Speaker 2: a lot of us listening tonight have a Family member, probably,
[6:50] Speaker 2: or an older friend who is saying beans don't taste
[6:54] Speaker 2: the same or these greens are not as green as
[6:58] Speaker 2: they once were back in my day, youngster. The news
[7:02] Speaker 2: is in thanks to a study with a very scary
[7:06] Speaker 2: name called Hollow Harvest Research.
[7:09] Speaker 4: Very Halloween-coated. I like it.
[7:11] Speaker 2: Yes, just so. We have learned that vegetables are officially
[7:16] Speaker 2: now half as nutritious as they were 60 years ago.
[7:23] Speaker 2: Big thanks to Rebecca Whitaker, who sums it up for
[7:27] Speaker 2: us via The Independent on Thursday, October 8th. We are
[7:32] Speaker 2: recording on the 14th, by the way. It's true, guys. Wheat, apples, carrots...
[7:38] Speaker 2: half as nutritious as they were back in the 1960s,
[7:43] Speaker 2: and can we guess why?
[7:47] Speaker 4: Monsanto. Yeah, that's right.
[7:50] Speaker 2: Sorry.
[7:50] Speaker 4: Maybe that figures into it, but the genetic aspect of scale. Factory.
[7:55] Speaker 4: Factory farming? Is that what you'd call it? Kind of. Yeah, yeah.
[7:58] Speaker 2: Factory farming is a huge part of it. Monsanto is
[8:02] Speaker 2: a huge part of it. It is declining soil quality.
[8:06] Speaker 2: The nutrients that come from the ground that your favorite apples, carrots, wheat,
[8:13] Speaker 2: and whatever would suck up, those are no longer as.
[8:19] Speaker 4: Potent.
[8:20] Speaker 2: They are no longer as concentrated.
[8:23] Speaker 4: Are we talking vitamins and minerals percentages have declined? Is
[8:30] Speaker 4: it that kind of nutrients? It's not necessarily that they
[8:33] Speaker 4: have less calories or that they, you know, it's just
[8:36] Speaker 4: that they don't have the same, you know, good stuff
[8:39] Speaker 4: that they used to.
[8:40] Speaker 2: Your potassium is missing. Your magnesium is low, right? We
[8:45] Speaker 2: talked about various proteins. what people would call boring minerals
[8:50] Speaker 2: in the ground that ultimately will help feed you. These
[8:56] Speaker 2: reduced nutrients in crops are a real problem for a
[9:02] Speaker 2: ton of people. We used to have that joke about
[9:07] Speaker 2: how celery was a good investment because you expend more
[9:14] Speaker 2: calories eating celery. than you do digesting celery.
[9:19] Speaker 4: Discontinent.
[9:20] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the sawdust thing all over again.
[9:25] Speaker 2: But the issue here, as studied by the researchers with
[9:31] Speaker 2: an awesome name for their endeavor, hollow harvest, rebuilding the
[9:36] Speaker 2: nutritional value of crops in an age of abundant calories.
[9:42] Speaker 2: It absolutely nails it. the dilemma here, we're looking at
[9:47] Speaker 2: a world where you could say that you're doing everything
[9:52] Speaker 2: right at the grocery store, right? I'm only shopping on
[9:56] Speaker 2: the outside aisles, right? The produce, the dairy, and so on.
[10:02] Speaker 2: But now I am not feeling well, right? Now I
[10:07] Speaker 2: am missing things. My doctor, if I'm lucky enough to
[10:11] Speaker 2: go to a doctor, tells me I have various deficiencies
[10:15] Speaker 2: and This is crazy. Guys, I wish more people were
[10:20] Speaker 2: talking about this one.
[10:21] Speaker 4: Well, I'll tell you what. I do enjoy vegetables just
[10:24] Speaker 4: for the taste. I like cooking vegetarian stuff and doing
[10:27] Speaker 4: stir fries. And I really enjoy them. And they're also
[10:28] Speaker 4: good for gut health and things like that. And they
[10:31] Speaker 4: don't taste half bad. So there are things out there
[10:33] Speaker 4: like supplements and stuff if you feel like you're not
[10:35] Speaker 4: getting what you used to. Not that everybody wants to
[10:38] Speaker 4: be taking fistfuls of horse pills every morning. But this
[10:41] Speaker 4: to me is a nice middle ground that gives me
[10:44] Speaker 4: a little extra something. And I have noticed. better digestion.
[10:47] Speaker 4: That's awesome.
[10:48] Speaker 3: Supplements are good. I'm currently taking potato.
[10:51] Speaker 4: Chips as my supplement. Heck yeah.
[10:54] Speaker 2: If you want to learn more about this issue, folks,
[10:59] Speaker 2: do check out an excellent presentation by a guy named
[11:04] Speaker 2: Noah Levin. over at TEDx. The title of it, which
[11:08] Speaker 2: you can find on YouTube, is Who Controls Our Food?
[11:12] Speaker 2: Rethinking Food Security and Sovereignty. Because as we know, a
[11:18] Speaker 2: lot of agricultural subsidy policies by governments are ultimately protectionism, right?
[11:25] Speaker 2: There's a reason Japan has a 4,000% tariff on rice
[11:28] Speaker 2: and so on. I, I, guys, I wish we had
[11:35] Speaker 2: more time, but we have to mention a possible bioweapon
[11:42] Speaker 2: exposure event. Did you guys hear about the news regarding
[11:46] Speaker 2: the pneumonic plague in Russia?
[11:49] Speaker 4: Just a little bit, Ben, but I did not dig
[11:51] Speaker 4: past that particularly distressing headline.
[11:54] Speaker 1: Right.
[11:55] Speaker 4: I figured it would come around eventually in our discussions.
[11:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Well, let's go to The Guardian with the
[12:01] Speaker 2: journalist Devi Sridhar, who writes, as a scientist, here's what
[12:07] Speaker 2: worries me about the suspected Russia plague victim. So long
[12:12] Speaker 2: story short, a few weeks ago, probably while we were
[12:17] Speaker 2: at the high seas, you guys, a 28-year-old lab worker
[12:22] Speaker 2: at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute.
[12:27] Speaker 4: What could go wrong there?
[12:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, she died after developing severe pneumonia. Yeah, Matt, Noel,
[12:35] Speaker 2: this reminds me of our earlier conversations about gain-of-function research.
[12:41] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's what I was sensing, that in
[12:43] Speaker 4: order to combat things like this, you kind of got
[12:47] Speaker 4: to make little bits of it. Or lots of bits
[12:49] Speaker 4: of it.
[12:50] Speaker 2: So to your point, Noel, the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute
[12:56] Speaker 2: was established in 1934 to study plague and, quote, other
[13:02] Speaker 2: dangerous pathogens, end quote, stuff like anthrax and cholera. For
[13:08] Speaker 2: a long time, the United States has suspected this is
[13:15] Speaker 2: a bioweapon research institute.
[13:18] Speaker 4: Are they responsible for the strain of sexually transmitted explosive
[13:21] Speaker 4: diarrhea that's going around too, do you think?
[13:24] Speaker 2: Oh, I would love that you're mentioning that.
[13:26] Speaker 4: Diarrhea.
[13:28] Speaker 2: Oh, geez.
[13:29] Speaker 4: Oh, boy. Yeah.
[13:30] Speaker 3: What is this? It's a real thing.
[13:32] Speaker 4: Well, maybe we'll talk about it. I don't want to
[13:34] Speaker 4: step on your story, Ben, but yeah, it's something maybe
[13:36] Speaker 4: we'll get to in a second. Okay.
[13:39] Speaker 2: So let's get to it now. Noel, can you give
[13:42] Speaker 2: us the quick and dirty?
[13:43] Speaker 4: Well, it's real quick and real dirty. That's the nature
[13:46] Speaker 4: of diarrhea as it explodes. No, it's just a strain,
[13:50] Speaker 4: a particular strain of a bacteria that can be transmitted sexually,
[13:57] Speaker 4: but also just, you know, like having dirty hands and
[14:00] Speaker 4: touching others or whatever. I think the sexually transmitted part
[14:03] Speaker 4: has to do with My buddy Jonesy on Weird AF
[14:06] Speaker 4: News pointed out that maybe there's a little more butt
[14:08] Speaker 4: play going on these days. But it is something that
[14:12] Speaker 4: could very quickly seems to be approaching superbug status. And
[14:18] Speaker 4: not only does it cause these symptoms, you know, horrific
[14:24] Speaker 4: digestive issues, explosive diarrhea, obviously, it can actually exacerbate and
[14:28] Speaker 4: get even worse and lead to death.
[14:32] Speaker 3: Well, so when you say superbug status, are you talking
[14:35] Speaker 3: about resistance to antibiotics?
[14:37] Speaker 4: Correct.
[14:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, and communicability. Yeah. Unfortunately, this story from Russia is
[14:46] Speaker 2: getting shadowed and tilted by propaganda, obviously. The lab worker
[14:53] Speaker 2: died on October 2nd. And the problem is, guys, that
[14:59] Speaker 2: What the Russian government is saying versus what the Russian
[15:03] Speaker 2: government is doing, they don't match up. Experts are saying
[15:09] Speaker 2: it is unlikely that this is the beginning of a
[15:13] Speaker 2: new pandemic, right? Like a new Wuhan kind of thing.
[15:17] Speaker 2: But if you go to sources like PBS or PolitiFact,
[15:21] Speaker 2: you will see that the parallels are there. The government
[15:29] Speaker 2: of Russia is admitting that a lab worker had pneumonia
[15:36] Speaker 2: of undetermined origin, but they also put 200 people under
[15:44] Speaker 2: observation just for being around this person. They've quarantined a hospital.
[15:50] Speaker 2: They flew their top disease control experts to the region
[15:55] Speaker 2: and That is not how you respond to a garden
[15:58] Speaker 2: variety bug.
[15:59] Speaker 6: Nope.
[16:00] Speaker 4: No, it sure isn't.
[16:02] Speaker 3: No, I mean, if this thing is anywhere near as
[16:04] Speaker 3: close to the bubonic plague, if it gets out, we're screwed. Screwed,
[16:11] Speaker 3: I say.
[16:11] Speaker 4: No, I mean, if.
[16:15] Speaker 3: It got out and what is the thing we always
[16:17] Speaker 3: talk about, guys? Most of the conspiracies and cover ups
[16:20] Speaker 3: have to do with a tiny little mess up or something.
[16:22] Speaker 2: And then people trying to cover up that mistake.
[16:25] Speaker 3: Yes.
[16:26] Speaker 4: Oops.
[16:26] Speaker 3: It got out one time. Oh, well, we were trying
[16:30] Speaker 3: to cover it up. We didn't want anybody to know.
[16:32] Speaker 3: But that one person that it escaped with had interactions with.
[16:35] Speaker 3: 20 people. Uh-oh. You know, and it just begins that way.
[16:40] Speaker 3: And now we're in a plague apocalypse. And it wasn't nukes, guys,
[16:45] Speaker 3: that got us. It was the pneumonic plague that we'd
[16:48] Speaker 3: never heard of before.
[16:49] Speaker 2: Right.
[16:49] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[16:50] Speaker 2: This is not bubonic. This is pneumonic. And we like
[16:54] Speaker 2: the way those rhyme. We do have to admit as
[16:58] Speaker 2: well that it is entirely possible, perhaps indeed plausible, that
[17:04] Speaker 2: that the government of Russia is just being proactive, right?
[17:09] Speaker 2: Not a cover-up, just hoping to prevent people from dying
[17:14] Speaker 2: from some sort of infection. But then the question inevitably remains,
[17:21] Speaker 2: what are they building in there? You know what I mean? Like,
[17:25] Speaker 2: how plague is this pneumonic plague?
[17:28] Speaker 3: Right.
[17:28] Speaker 2: Or how infectious is this stuff? And, and Nola, I'm
[17:33] Speaker 2: a little bit spooked that you're coughing.
[17:35] Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, I'm just, dude, it's the season. time of
[17:38] Speaker 4: the season for coughing. I just got back from New
[17:41] Speaker 4: York Comic Con, and I think I got a little
[17:43] Speaker 4: case of the con crud. And just really quickly, we're
[17:47] Speaker 4: talking about these upticks of certain types of pathogens. The
[17:54] Speaker 4: explosive diarrhea that I was referring to earlier is called Shigella.
[17:59] Speaker 4: And it is significantly on the rise. It's been around
[18:01] Speaker 4: since the 70s. But between 2020 and this year, pretty
[18:07] Speaker 4: significant and alarming uptick that the biologists are flagging. And
[18:12] Speaker 4: the fact that it is becoming nil and impossible to treat. Right.
[18:17] Speaker 2: Yeah. Like our old superbug episode, this pneumonic plague in
[18:21] Speaker 2: Russia is prevalent. Also bacterial in nature, the technical name
[18:27] Speaker 2: for it when it has a tie or a cravat
[18:29] Speaker 2: on is Yersinia pestis. It can be treated with antibiotics
[18:35] Speaker 2: if you get to it early. If you don't get
[18:38] Speaker 2: to it early, it has a, quote, nearly 100% case
[18:43] Speaker 2: fatality rate. And that is according to the CDC, which
[18:47] Speaker 2: is still thankfully a thing, kind of.
[18:51] Speaker 4: Yeah, right here in Atlanta.
[18:53] Speaker 2: Right here in Atlanta, Georgia. We have one more quick
[18:57] Speaker 2: note before we move on to our next act. Our
[19:02] Speaker 2: buddy David Rush from earlier. Remember him? CIA guy?
[19:08] Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
[19:08] Speaker 3: This is the Rush guy. CIA guy who set up
[19:12] Speaker 3: a false. False all kinds of stuff. Coasted for way
[19:15] Speaker 3: too long. Way longer than he should have.
[19:18] Speaker 2: Loved watches, this guy.
[19:20] Speaker 4: To the point that I think our conjecture was that
[19:22] Speaker 4: he had to have been allowed to get as far
[19:26] Speaker 4: as he got.
[19:28] Speaker 2: He had a guardian angel on the inside. Well, bad
[19:31] Speaker 2: news for Brother Dave. He has forfeited $ 194 million.
[19:37] Speaker 4: Yo, what?
[19:38] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
[19:40] Speaker 4: Okay.
[19:40] Speaker 2: Because of the gold and the watches they found at
[19:42] Speaker 2: his house.
[19:43] Speaker 4: Right, right, right. What of the loose diamonds, though, Ben?
[19:46] Speaker 4: I can't remember What of the loose.
[19:48] Speaker 2: Diamonds, though, Noel? We'll never know because we don't know
[19:52] Speaker 2: how far he got. And the CIA, as we teased earlier,
[19:58] Speaker 2: is asking similar questions about how far alien DNA got.
[20:04] Speaker 2: We mentioned it at the top. Do you guys remember
[20:09] Speaker 2: Mysteries of the Unknown, the Time-Life books?
[20:12] Speaker 4: I don't think I do.
[20:14] Speaker 6: Yes, of course.
[20:15] Speaker 4: That was not in my upbringing.
[20:18] Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
[20:19] Speaker 4: No, I don't remember those.
[20:20] Speaker 2: I was looking back at the books and they had
[20:24] Speaker 2: something really exciting, which was a self-selecting survey where you
[20:30] Speaker 2: could answer questions that would tell you whether or not
[20:33] Speaker 2: you might have alien DNA. According to one whistleblower, The
[20:39] Speaker 2: CIA is finally taking this seriously. If you went to
[20:44] Speaker 2: 23andMe or Ancestry.com, no offense, like you did, Noel, then
[20:50] Speaker 2: the CIA may have been searching into your results to
[20:57] Speaker 2: see whether you are entirely human.
[21:00] Speaker 4: Beautiful. That's amazing. That's a cool new feature. I like it.
[21:03] Speaker 3: Don't they already have access to all of this stuff
[21:06] Speaker 3: via our health records, right? We give so much blood
[21:08] Speaker 3: when we do annual physicals. There's no way they need
[21:11] Speaker 3: that much blood. Come on, guys.
[21:13] Speaker 2: I mean, you kind of always want more blood though, right?
[21:18] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[21:18] Speaker 3: Well, yeah, and you give blood when you need to
[21:20] Speaker 3: to help out with the Red Cross because everything's fine there, right?
[21:23] Speaker 4: Everything's fine. Sure. Sometimes you pay the blood price.
[21:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Or the Red Crescent. And a shout out
[21:30] Speaker 2: to philosopher and novelist Jason Reza Georgiani, who talks about
[21:36] Speaker 2: this on a podcast called American Alchemy. And he says
[21:41] Speaker 2: he is tipped off by a fellow named Lynn Buchanan,
[21:45] Speaker 2: a veteran who, who claims he worked as a psychic
[21:49] Speaker 2: spy in the CIA's remote viewing program. Ooh, shout out
[21:53] Speaker 2: Russell Targ. So we'll leave it there as this is
[21:57] Speaker 2: probably going to be an episode in the future. Matt, Noel,
[22:02] Speaker 2: Freight Train, got to ask you, do you guys feel alien?
[22:06] Speaker 3: All the time, yes, for sure.
[22:08] Speaker 2: I definitely feel alienated sometimes, you know what I mean?
[22:12] Speaker 4: That's the nature of living in this crazy world of ours, man,
[22:16] Speaker 4: especially post-COVID, the isolation of it all.
[22:20] Speaker 2: And with that, folks, we'd love to hear your thoughts
[22:23] Speaker 2: about the Lincoln Park billionaire who is accused of fueling
[22:26] Speaker 2: a rat infestation, another plague on the way. Shout out
[22:31] Speaker 2: to Ilhan Omar. We'll be right back after a word
[22:34] Speaker 2: from our sponsors.
[22:43] Speaker 4: And we're back. And while we're giving shout-outs, we should
[22:46] Speaker 4: talk about the Ilhan Omar thing, Ben. I mean, that's insane.
[22:49] Speaker 4: I only know what I've read and what I've heard
[22:53] Speaker 4: on some podcasts, but basically this person who has been
[22:57] Speaker 4: the target of a lot of kind of pretty baseless
[23:01] Speaker 4: accusations about her citizenship. She is a government official. She
[23:05] Speaker 4: is in the Senate, right? Or is she a representative?
[23:08] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[23:08] Speaker 2: Uh, representative Omar is from Minnesota and federal agents have
[23:14] Speaker 2: searched her home, um, just a few days ago as
[23:18] Speaker 2: part of a criminal investigation, but the details of the
[23:23] Speaker 2: investigation are unclear. And to your point, Noel, uh, representative
[23:28] Speaker 2: Omar has denied any allegations of immigration fraud.
[23:32] Speaker 5: And if I could jump in here right now, um,
[23:35] Speaker 5: One of the things, she is a refugee from Somalia,
[23:38] Speaker 5: which has long been a country that the current president attacks.
[23:43] Speaker 4: Especially concerning Minnesota, because there's a lot of Somali refugees
[23:46] Speaker 4: in Minnesota, and Trump has made it kind of a
[23:48] Speaker 4: talking point that's being taken over by Minnesota.
[23:51] Speaker 5: And she's like one of the founding members of the squad, too.
[23:53] Speaker 5: So she has been in the crosshairs for a very
[23:57] Speaker 5: long time. But another important thing to state is that
[24:00] Speaker 5: she was actually under investigation for campaign finance fraud. laws
[24:05] Speaker 5: and violations under like under Biden. They decided not to pursue,
[24:09] Speaker 5: but there was actually an investigation under Biden.
[24:12] Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Can we do it?
[24:14] Speaker 2: Can we do a crossover real quick? Can we get
[24:17] Speaker 2: a max with the facts? Wow.
[24:31] Speaker 4: That guy's good.
[24:33] Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a big fan.
[24:35] Speaker 3: Max, I mean, isn't it interesting to see how something
[24:38] Speaker 3: like this can be so easily weaponized and it can
[24:42] Speaker 3: create such outrage, right? It's curious to me that there
[24:45] Speaker 3: was a previous investigation under the previous presidency, which was
[24:49] Speaker 3: the other team, right? And then that team chose not
[24:52] Speaker 3: to investigate. But now the other team is in and
[24:56] Speaker 3: they have a there's a potential political advantage to investigating her.
[25:00] Speaker 3: And to cause a bunch of people to get angry
[25:04] Speaker 3: and riled up. Right. It's just that's the kind of
[25:07] Speaker 3: manipulation we talked about very recently, guys, in that October
[25:10] Speaker 3: surprise episode. So definitely watch that if you haven't yet.
[25:14] Speaker 4: Well said. Well, moving on to maybe a slightly less, no,
[25:18] Speaker 4: massively less disturbing story. We found a new dinosaur, guys.
[25:22] Speaker 6: What?
[25:23] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[25:24] Speaker 3: Yeah. I love it.
[25:25] Speaker 4: You love to hear it. IFL Science, which I love
[25:28] Speaker 4: that they're kind of like KFC. Didn't they used to
[25:30] Speaker 4: stand for I love science?
[25:32] Speaker 3: Yes.
[25:33] Speaker 4: Love it. Well, now they've rebranded and they're just IFL Science.
[25:35] Speaker 4: But if you know, you know. Newly discovered tiger-sized dinosaur
[25:40] Speaker 4: is the first of its kind found in Europe. And
[25:44] Speaker 4: we are talking the Isle of Wight, University College London,
[25:48] Speaker 4: which I've always found that to be the most British
[25:51] Speaker 4: name of a university. It's not only a college. It's
[25:54] Speaker 4: a university college, London. Researchers have identified a century-old Natural
[25:58] Speaker 4: History Museum skull as a new– this is a species
[26:02] Speaker 4: that I was not familiar with, guys. Maybe you all are.
[26:05] Speaker 4: Megaraptoran species. And it is called Invisibelatrix amberinae.
[26:13] Speaker 2: I love it. It sounds like it sounds like a
[26:16] Speaker 2: Power Rangers villain.
[26:18] Speaker 4: Oh, yeah. Read my mind. Invisibelatrix Amberina. And apparently 120
[26:26] Speaker 4: million years ago, this tiger sized guy would have been
[26:30] Speaker 4: hanging out and prowling the Isle of Wight, which folks
[26:34] Speaker 4: may remember for a famous poem. a rock and roll
[26:36] Speaker 4: concert that took place, I believe in the late sixties,
[26:39] Speaker 4: early seventies. And I'm sure it's known for other stuff too, but, uh,
[26:41] Speaker 4: it was found at the foot of a cliff. Wild
[26:45] Speaker 4: white is also known for its cliffs, uh, in 1924, uh,
[26:48] Speaker 4: by an amateur paleontologist, a guy named Reginald Walter Chooley.
[26:53] Speaker 2: Um, and it was quick question. Uh, do we not
[26:58] Speaker 2: all qualify as amateur paleontologist? If we also discovered dinosaur bones.
[27:04] Speaker 4: Uh, I think we would. You just got to get
[27:06] Speaker 4: out there, man. Just get out there. Get your hands
[27:08] Speaker 4: in the dirt. Dig at the foot of some cliffs,
[27:10] Speaker 4: and you too could be an amateur paleontologist. This one
[27:15] Speaker 4: in particular's name, it was Reginald Walter Tooley, and he found,
[27:18] Speaker 4: I love the way this is referred to in the writing.
[27:20] Speaker 4: They call it a fragmented brain case. Can we just
[27:23] Speaker 4: say brain case? It's just a great way of referring
[27:26] Speaker 4: to a skull, because is that not what it is?
[27:28] Speaker 4: If not, it's a case for the brain. And it
[27:30] Speaker 4: sat in a Natural History Museum drawer because, you know,
[27:33] Speaker 4: I don't know if you guys– they don't let you
[27:35] Speaker 4: back there, but I've seen in documentaries there are a
[27:37] Speaker 4: lot of specimens in Natural History Museums that are cataloged,
[27:40] Speaker 4: you know, and kept out of the eye of the public.
[27:43] Speaker 4: And there are these massive rooms with all of these, like,
[27:45] Speaker 4: you know, drawers with specimens. And it's pretty incredible. Sometimes taxidermied,
[27:51] Speaker 4: you know, full– creatures, like birds and things like that,
[27:55] Speaker 4: but then, of course, skeletons as well, and bits of bone,
[27:58] Speaker 4: fragments of bone, and it was just sitting in there
[28:01] Speaker 4: collecting dust. I assume they dusted it from time to time,
[28:03] Speaker 4: but for nearly 100 years, y'all, 1924, until researchers only
[28:09] Speaker 4: recently re-examined it. A researcher by the name of Dr.
[28:13] Speaker 4: Cassius Morrison at the University of Leeds said that Megaraptorans
[28:18] Speaker 4: were agile hunters capable of chasing down prey. I'm guessing
[28:21] Speaker 4: these are not terribly far from the velociraptors that we
[28:25] Speaker 4: know from Jurassic Park fame because they did have 10
[28:29] Speaker 4: centimeter to 20 centimeter claws used to hunt small dinosaurs, lizards,
[28:32] Speaker 4: and mammals. I think these are smaller guys, actually. No, no, no.
[28:35] Speaker 4: Tiger size. Tiger size. That's about the size of a Velociraptor,
[28:40] Speaker 4: but I know the way they were portrayed in the
[28:41] Speaker 4: movie was not quite accurate.
[28:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, but it was a fun show.
[28:46] Speaker 4: Sure was. Sure was. Maybe the sequel's diminishing returns. Matt,
[28:48] Speaker 4: what were you saying?
[28:49] Speaker 3: I believe I remember learning that Velociraptors are the teeny
[28:53] Speaker 3: tiny little chicken-sized guys.
[28:54] Speaker 4: That's right.
[28:55] Speaker 3: The Utahraptors are the ones that were depicted as or
[28:59] Speaker 3: called Velociraptors in the Jurassic Park series.
[29:02] Speaker 2: And an Amur tiger or Siberian tiger- can weigh in
[29:08] Speaker 2: excess of 400 pounds.
[29:10] Speaker 4: Got it. Well, I am picturing, if we're talking about
[29:12] Speaker 4: a tiger-sized raptor, I'm picturing, you know, the guy's opening
[29:15] Speaker 4: doors in the kitchen in Jurassic Park 1. But yeah,
[29:19] Speaker 4: he said they were agile hunters capable of chasing down prey.
[29:23] Speaker 4: This particular species, specimen, the Invisibelatrix, serves as the first
[29:30] Speaker 4: European example of a mega-Raptoran and confirms that the group
[29:35] Speaker 4: did spread globally from Asia into Australia or Gondwana. before
[29:40] Speaker 4: the asteroid strike 66 million years ago. That is, you know,
[29:45] Speaker 4: positive to have wiped out the dinosaurs. This is from
[29:49] Speaker 4: a study and the co-author of that study, Charlie Scherer,
[29:53] Speaker 4: said the findings would help to uncover the evolution of
[29:56] Speaker 4: one of the most mysterious theropod groups out there. And
[30:00] Speaker 4: unlike the Tyrannosaurus, the T-Rex, or what is it? Tyrant King?
[30:05] Speaker 2: Tyrant?
[30:06] Speaker 4: I think that's right. Invisibelatrix, I'm going to say it
[30:08] Speaker 4: as many times as I can, would have seen humans
[30:12] Speaker 4: as exactly the right size prey. Okay? So I think
[30:17] Speaker 4: we're talking kind of what we picture in those movies.
[30:20] Speaker 4: Morrison did note that the researchers called it a mystery
[30:24] Speaker 4: that the fossil was overlooked for so long. And it
[30:26] Speaker 4: also underscored how much potential there may well be for
[30:30] Speaker 4: new discoveries just hanging around in, you know, museum drawers.
[30:35] Speaker 4: What's so interesting about this story in particular is that
[30:39] Speaker 4: the Isle of Wight, in the grand scheme of things,
[30:43] Speaker 4: is a newcomer. I think the island actually just became
[30:49] Speaker 4: an island maybe 9,000 years ago. So you said 130 million.
[30:55] Speaker 4: years ago is when these guys were kicking it, there
[30:59] Speaker 4: must be more evidence under the water. That's a good point, Ben,
[31:03] Speaker 4: because yeah, I guess what you're implying is that it's
[31:07] Speaker 4: part of a larger, it would have been part of
[31:08] Speaker 4: a larger landmass, right?
[31:11] Speaker 2: Like you said, Gondwana.
[31:12] Speaker 4: Yes, correct. Well, moving on from that bit of fun
[31:17] Speaker 4: news for all us dino heads out there, this is
[31:20] Speaker 4: just kind of I don't know. I just had to
[31:22] Speaker 4: mention this because it's just so ridiculous. A hotly contested
[31:25] Speaker 4: mayoral race in Peru came to a conclusion with an
[31:30] Speaker 4: individual with a very interesting name winning the race and
[31:35] Speaker 4: becoming the mayor of Peru. This individual's name is no joke.
[31:40] Speaker 4: Hitler Mussolini. Boof. And multiple sources from the region, which
[31:45] Speaker 4: by the way, I think I said something really boneheaded
[31:47] Speaker 4: that he was the one, the mayor election became the
[31:50] Speaker 4: mayor of Peru. That's like Matt pointed off Mike. That's
[31:52] Speaker 4: like saying I'm the, the mayor of America, you know,
[31:56] Speaker 4: and this is a very small village in the Andes,
[32:00] Speaker 4: a hotly contested mayoral race, not a hundred percent sure
[32:03] Speaker 4: how their system of government works or their elections work exactly.
[32:08] Speaker 4: But the way it was put in multiple sources from
[32:10] Speaker 4: the region that I'm, looking at is 229 votes were
[32:14] Speaker 4: secured for the center-left O'Hara Nacion party. Peruvian politicians named Hitler,
[32:21] Speaker 4: it says, have previously held office. That includes former Yungar
[32:26] Speaker 4: mayor Hitler Alba and a late congressman, Hitler Saavedra, which
[32:30] Speaker 4: reflects the way this reporting puts it, Broader local cultural
[32:35] Speaker 4: trends where Peruvians choose historic or unusual names regardless of
[32:40] Speaker 4: negative connotations. Interesting. Yeah. So with 229 votes cast for Hitler-Mussolini,
[32:46] Speaker 4: the candidate defeated runner-up Gaspar Benilda Osorio Zambrano of the
[32:53] Speaker 4: popular Renewal Peru Party, who only got 204 votes or 30.8%.
[32:59] Speaker 4: of the total. This has to be an electoral college
[33:01] Speaker 4: type situation, given these numbers.
[33:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, but Noel, isn't your buddy Hitler Mussolini, I never
[33:07] Speaker 2: thought I'd say it on air. Noel, isn't your buddy
[33:10] Speaker 2: Hitler Mussolini also a pretty wealthy guy?
[33:13] Speaker 4: I think he has been, and I'm realizing I got
[33:16] Speaker 4: to walk this back. This area only has over 730 residents.
[33:21] Speaker 4: So I think we're talking about individual votes here. That's insane.
[33:25] Speaker 4: But you're right, Ben. He does manage a pretty successful
[33:29] Speaker 4: investment group. And he has a business background. And a
[33:33] Speaker 4: big part of his platform is that he would bring
[33:36] Speaker 4: business acumen to the mayoral role in this very, very
[33:40] Speaker 4: small district. That's wild. 730 residents.
[33:42] Speaker 2: We are talking 204 to 229, when by a very
[33:43] Speaker 2: narrow margin. Voting matters, by the way, folks. And we
[33:51] Speaker 2: are saying that just randomly as we record on Wednesday,
[33:55] Speaker 2: October 14th, 2026. That's true.
[33:59] Speaker 4: Yeah, I know you should vote, but we're not here
[34:00] Speaker 4: to tell you who to vote for, unlike the party
[34:03] Speaker 4: in power currently, who seems to be going to great
[34:05] Speaker 4: lengths to break something called the Hatch Act, where actual
[34:09] Speaker 4: members of the, you know, the elected body here in
[34:14] Speaker 4: the United States and the cabinet are, not to mention
[34:16] Speaker 4: the ads that the president himself ran and paid for
[34:20] Speaker 4: with taxpayer dollars are doing some pretty significant campaigning. And
[34:23] Speaker 4: even like, guys, come on, we're going to give every
[34:25] Speaker 4: adult American five grand if Republicans win.
[34:29] Speaker 2: How is that not bribery? It's not going to happen.
[34:32] Speaker 4: I know it's not going to happen, but I saw
[34:35] Speaker 4: an interesting piece, not to derail too much, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
[34:39] Speaker 4: And he put it really well. I think it's something
[34:42] Speaker 4: that we've all kind of said is that Trump really
[34:45] Speaker 4: highlighted the fact that there were just very few, if any,
[34:49] Speaker 4: actual actionable safeguards in place guarding democracy, that all it
[34:52] Speaker 4: took was someone willing to just flout all of it
[34:57] Speaker 4: and just kind of, you know, go their own way.
[34:59] Speaker 4: And there's really nothing to be done. And there's going
[35:02] Speaker 4: to be a post-Trump period, I think, where these things
[35:05] Speaker 4: are going to have to be.
[35:07] Speaker 2: I hate to say it, but we might be in
[35:09] Speaker 2: a situation, guys, where we need another Smedley Butler. It's
[35:16] Speaker 2: a real piece of hidden history, but we know that
[35:21] Speaker 2: the U.S. government is compromised, and the more we're learning
[35:26] Speaker 2: about various aspects of state-level politics, the more we're learning
[35:32] Speaker 2: that a lot of people have been compromised. We're accused
[35:37] Speaker 2: of trading in espionage.
[35:40] Speaker 4: That's right. And insider trading. All the trading.
[35:43] Speaker 2: All the trading.
[35:44] Speaker 4: And then, guys, I get ragged online on reviews and
[35:48] Speaker 4: things sometimes for being like some sort of bleeding heart
[35:50] Speaker 4: liberal or whatever. To me, this is apolitical and I really,
[35:52] Speaker 4: you know, don't care for either side and I'm pretty anti-politics.
[35:56] Speaker 4: I just think it's pretty gross. and no one has
[35:59] Speaker 4: our best interests at heart. Maybe very few do. But
[36:02] Speaker 4: I just think that, you know, this is pointing out
[36:04] Speaker 4: a lot of holes in our system, you know. And
[36:07] Speaker 4: if you like the guy, more power to you, I guess.
[36:10] Speaker 2: Hitler Mussolini?
[36:11] Speaker 4: No, Donald Trump. Oh, okay, okay. I just mean, I
[36:15] Speaker 4: just think there's no way around seeing how this period
[36:19] Speaker 4: in our history isn't exposing some very weak points in
[36:23] Speaker 4: our system of government. So that's it for me, guys.
[36:26] Speaker 4: I had another story about NCAA betting scandal. An individual
[36:31] Speaker 4: is getting six years in federal prison. One Yalen Smith,
[36:35] Speaker 4: Jalen Smith, sentenced to six years in federal prison for
[36:38] Speaker 4: his role in an NCAA basketball point shaving scheme. First
[36:43] Speaker 4: time someone's gone down for this sprawling, you know, illegal
[36:47] Speaker 4: gambling and game fixing. I guess it's not quite fixing exactly.
[36:51] Speaker 4: I'm not quite sure how... point shaving works.
[36:54] Speaker 5: You want to run down the point shaving max how
[36:56] Speaker 5: does point shaving work sorry give me a quick second
[36:59] Speaker 5: i was lifting some.
[37:00] Speaker 4: Weights so.
[37:02] Speaker 6: Give us some out of out of breath point shaving
[37:06] Speaker 6: okay so how point shaving works is basically so when
[37:09] Speaker 6: you're betting on a score of a game you can
[37:10] Speaker 6: do the over the unders so let's just say it's
[37:13] Speaker 6: duke versus north carolina in basketball the over under is
[37:16] Speaker 6: set 13 and a half so if duke wins by
[37:20] Speaker 6: 14 you get the over Duke wins by 13, you
[37:23] Speaker 6: get the under, and obviously lower and.
[37:25] Speaker 5: Higher than that holds that same thing. So how point
[37:27] Speaker 5: shavings works is, let's say you're up like 16, and
[37:34] Speaker 5: you're playing for Duke, and you have a bet on
[37:36] Speaker 5: North Carolina. You have a bet on the under. You
[37:39] Speaker 5: intentionally turn the ball over, so North Carolina now gets 13,
[37:43] Speaker 5: and you win the bet.
[37:44] Speaker 4: Okay, so you fix the game. So you're not throwing
[37:46] Speaker 4: the game. It is a fix. It is a type
[37:49] Speaker 4: of fix because it involves cooperation by the players who
[37:53] Speaker 4: are changing their actions. Sometimes, it's my understanding too, Max,
[37:56] Speaker 4: it involves bribery. Like they might have some compromise on
[37:59] Speaker 4: a player and get them to, you know, you wouldn't,
[38:02] Speaker 4: you can't, one player can't throw the game for the
[38:04] Speaker 4: whole team, not like boxing, but you could change your
[38:08] Speaker 4: behavior to benefit the, you know, the people that are betting.
[38:12] Speaker 5: So the worst scandal in sports was Dougherty, Bill Dougherty,
[38:16] Speaker 5: I forget the first name, but he's an NBA ref
[38:18] Speaker 5: for decades was intentionally shaving, changing the things of scores
[38:23] Speaker 5: by just doing like routine calls or just doing just
[38:27] Speaker 5: like subtly doing things. That's how point shaving is. You're
[38:29] Speaker 5: not throwing the game. Your team still wins. You're just
[38:32] Speaker 5: changing the margin.
[38:33] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[38:34] Speaker 5: So then it looks a little bit like, you know, Oh,
[38:36] Speaker 5: he's just being careless with the ball or they're up
[38:38] Speaker 5: big and it's late, whatever.
[38:40] Speaker 4: But yeah. Well, it says that prosecutors have accused Smith of,
[38:46] Speaker 4: playing a central role in this very elaborate scheme that
[38:49] Speaker 4: began back in 2022 and involved recruiting players and getting
[38:53] Speaker 4: them to underperform. Ultimately, it looks like 17 universities and
[38:57] Speaker 4: 29 games were swept up in this, and it generated
[39:01] Speaker 4: more than $ 3 million in fraudulent wagers. So there you go.
[39:07] Speaker 4: It's a lot. It's a lot of cash. What was
[39:08] Speaker 4: the episode we did? There was a book, or it
[39:10] Speaker 4: was maybe even a podcast.
[39:11] Speaker 3: It was a podcast.
[39:12] Speaker 4: It was in the Payne-Lindsey family of shows.
[39:15] Speaker 2: Yes.
[39:15] Speaker 3: Tenderfoot TV had a show called Whistleblower or has a
[39:18] Speaker 3: show called Whistleblower. The host, Tim Livingston, hung out with us.
[39:23] Speaker 3: We talked about this very thing.
[39:24] Speaker 2: We also had an interview years ago with a guy
[39:27] Speaker 2: named Brian Tuohy.
[39:28] Speaker 1: Tuohy.
[39:30] Speaker 2: A great case that a lot of sports are rigged
[39:33] Speaker 2: uh noel i appreciate it i gotta look into this
[39:36] Speaker 2: one further.
[39:37] Speaker 4: I've never claimed to be a sports guest i'm so
[39:38] Speaker 4: glad we have you here max but i do think
[39:40] Speaker 4: this is uh definitely a stuff they don't want you
[39:42] Speaker 4: to know type topic.
[39:43] Speaker 5: And my last thing and then i'll disappear back into
[39:45] Speaker 5: the ether um My counterargument to basketball being fixed is
[39:50] Speaker 5: we never got a Kobe versus LeBron finals. If that
[39:53] Speaker 5: would have happened, that would have been the biggest money
[39:55] Speaker 5: finals in the history of the NBA.
[39:57] Speaker 3: And those are players?
[39:59] Speaker 4: Yes, I do know that.
[40:01] Speaker 2: And is it a basket and a ball at the
[40:04] Speaker 2: same time?
[40:05] Speaker 4: Got to have both. Can't have one without the other.
[40:08] Speaker 4: Shout out to, what was the guy's name that invented it? Naismith. Naismith. Yes,
[40:13] Speaker 4: shout out to that guy. Hey, let's take a quick break.
[40:15] Speaker 4: We'll hear from our sponsor and then we'll be back
[40:17] Speaker 4: with more strange news.
[40:26] Speaker 3: And we've returned. Isn't it funny, guys, that we went
[40:28] Speaker 3: from channels like Discovery that was exploring science and it
[40:34] Speaker 3: was called Discovery to a... Love science, man.
[40:39] Speaker 2: We used to have a learning channel, and now we're
[40:44] Speaker 2: just TLC. It's 90s R & B all over again.
[40:49] Speaker 3: We're doing such a good job, whatever this thing is.
[40:52] Speaker 2: Could we dance in the sky, perhaps?
[40:55] Speaker 3: Hey, we might dance in the sky. We might make
[40:59] Speaker 3: a crap ton of money. Let's talk about Bank of America.
[41:03] Speaker 3: On this show... We love to point out every once
[41:06] Speaker 3: in a while when one of the giant banks, one
[41:08] Speaker 3: of the international boys gets in a little bit of trouble,
[41:12] Speaker 3: gets a little, oh, bad, bad boy, you were laundering
[41:16] Speaker 3: money again, weren't you?
[41:17] Speaker 2: You little scamp.
[41:19] Speaker 3: Well, it's happened again.
[41:21] Speaker 4: The U.S.
[41:21] Speaker 3: Department- of the Treasury or the Treasury Department, if you will,
[41:26] Speaker 3: very recently is saying that Bank of America is getting
[41:29] Speaker 3: fined $ 1. 2 billion, which is an unimaginable amount of money
[41:34] Speaker 3: for most of us. For Bank of America, it's like
[41:39] Speaker 3: getting flicked in the knuckles.
[41:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, because didn't they make more than $ 113 billion in
[41:42] Speaker 2: total revenue last year?
[41:51] Speaker 3: Yes, they made the equivalent of a ton of money,
[41:55] Speaker 3: and they're only going to have to pay a tiny...
[41:58] Speaker 3: ton of money is that metric a metric yeah metric
[42:01] Speaker 3: metric on yeah the treasury also said that bank of
[42:04] Speaker 3: america the giant has reached an 11.6 million dollar settlement
[42:09] Speaker 3: with the quote department's office of foreign assets control that
[42:13] Speaker 3: we've talked about before the fact the fact fac yeah
[42:21] Speaker 3: yeah yeah um sorry i'm being flippant about this guys
[42:26] Speaker 3: it is just um It's really frustrating just to know
[42:31] Speaker 3: what's happening, and it's the banks. It's the ones, the
[42:33] Speaker 3: folks that control the money, that move the money, that
[42:36] Speaker 3: take 80% of the deposits that come through their institutions
[42:41] Speaker 3: and then reinvest them in other places, and it makes
[42:44] Speaker 3: them tons of money, literal tons of money.
[42:47] Speaker 2: Metric tons of money.
[42:49] Speaker 3: And the reason Bank of America had to pay that
[42:52] Speaker 3: $ 11. 6 million settlement is over, quote, apparent violations of numerous
[42:57] Speaker 3: sanction programs, including on Iran, Russia, narcotics, and global terrorism. What?
[43:04] Speaker 2: But who are we? Are we to remember, as Bank
[43:09] Speaker 2: of America, every single million that we put somewhere? That's
[43:14] Speaker 2: crazy talk.
[43:16] Speaker 4: What's a couple mil between friends? Yeah.
[43:21] Speaker 3: Oh, but you know who's getting $ 750 million of that
[43:24] Speaker 3: $ 1. 2 billion penalty? They're having to work with the FinCEN folks.
[43:31] Speaker 3: Remember we talked about that a lot too, the Financial
[43:33] Speaker 3: Crimes Enforcement Network?
[43:35] Speaker 2: Is it Max who gets the money? I'd like that.
[43:39] Speaker 3: Not this time. Sorry, Max. It's going to the U.S.
[43:42] Speaker 3: office of the comptroller of the currency.
[43:46] Speaker 4: We love a comptroller.
[43:47] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[43:48] Speaker 4: Still don't fully understand what they do, but love the title.
[43:50] Speaker 2: They control the comps.
[43:51] Speaker 4: Yep.
[43:52] Speaker 3: What's the comptroller going to do with all that money?
[43:54] Speaker 4: A lot of comps.
[43:55] Speaker 3: I hope it's something good.
[43:57] Speaker 4: A lot of free sports tickets, I imagine, right?
[44:01] Speaker 3: Probably. They're going to bet it all on the next speech, right?
[44:07] Speaker 3: That's what you do, right? How many times will the
[44:09] Speaker 3: President of the United States say X? Or it'll be
[44:12] Speaker 3: the over-under of the Denver Broncos basketballing team.
[44:17] Speaker 4: Who knows?
[44:17] Speaker 3: Whatever it is, who cares? Sorry, no offense.
[44:20] Speaker 4: That's football. I know that, Max. No offense, sports. I
[44:22] Speaker 4: don't care.
[44:23] Speaker 3: Matt, you are leaning into your.
[44:24] Speaker 4: Lack of sports knowledge.
[44:26] Speaker 2: Hey, Matt, quick question. Is this an immediate lump sum paid?
[44:33] Speaker 2: Is this something that... the authorities have already gotten secured
[44:38] Speaker 2: in the courts, or is it something that can be appealed?
[44:42] Speaker 3: First of all, when you're playing the lottery like Bank
[44:44] Speaker 3: of America does every day with all their, you know,
[44:47] Speaker 3: movings around of money, always take the lump sum. Always
[44:49] Speaker 3: take the lump sum, guys. You never know how long
[44:52] Speaker 3: this whole society thing's going to go. If you're getting stuff,
[44:55] Speaker 3: you know, quarterly, yearly, monthly, it could stop any time.
[44:59] Speaker 4: Just get that lump sum.
[45:02] Speaker 2: But they're obviously going to appeal, right?
[45:06] Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure they will. They probably won't have to
[45:08] Speaker 3: pay anything in the end.
[45:09] Speaker 4: Why would they?
[45:11] Speaker 3: They're gods.
[45:12] Speaker 4: But you better believe we're going to pay our taxes.
[45:16] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[45:16] Speaker 4: And then some.
[45:17] Speaker 2: Oh, because you gotta.
[45:21] Speaker 4: $ 11.
[45:21] Speaker 2: 53, by the way, at my local library. I held
[45:24] Speaker 2: on to a book too long, and they wouldn't let
[45:26] Speaker 2: me out. Like they held you in the back rooms
[45:30] Speaker 2: of the library? They wouldn't forgive the late fee. And
[45:35] Speaker 2: that's where we're at as a society. Oh, no, I
[45:38] Speaker 2: still show up. It's just a matter of principle.
[45:42] Speaker 4: You're in a bit of a standoff with the public libraries.
[45:44] Speaker 2: It's very much a microcosmic Cold War.
[45:47] Speaker 4: I understand.
[45:48] Speaker 3: Dude, speaking of microcosms, let's talk about Germany. AP News,
[45:54] Speaker 3: October 6, 2026. Not going to say the headline here.
[45:58] Speaker 3: We're just going to jump right in. August Hanning, H-A-N-N-I-N-G,
[46:03] Speaker 3: who led the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German
[46:07] Speaker 3: acronym BND, from 1998 until 2005, is, quote, strongly suspected
[46:14] Speaker 3: of spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage. Hanning,
[46:22] Speaker 3: who is 80 years old at the time of his arrest,
[46:26] Speaker 3: was arrested in southern Germany along with another person. This
[46:31] Speaker 3: person is known as Manfred D. He cannot be fully
[46:35] Speaker 3: identified because of the laws there in Germany. He is,
[46:38] Speaker 3: you know, it's that whole innocent until proven guilty thing, which.
[46:41] Speaker 2: Is probably a good thing. Yeah, we used to have that.
[46:45] Speaker 3: The sensationalization of news stories and trials and all that stuff,
[46:51] Speaker 3: probably a good idea. This other dude, he wasn't arrested
[46:54] Speaker 3: with Hanning. He was also arrested, but this time in
[46:57] Speaker 3: Western Germany. He's a former aide, Manfred. And this guy
[47:02] Speaker 3: has been charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and
[47:06] Speaker 3: treasonous espionage. Here's how it works together. It's a little confusing.
[47:11] Speaker 3: Highly recommend you read the story out of AP we
[47:14] Speaker 3: just mentioned. Ex-spy chief is arrested in Germany on suspicion
[47:18] Speaker 3: of trading state secrets and treason. Manfred. This guy, he
[47:23] Speaker 3: worked as Hanning's chief of staff when Hanning was in
[47:27] Speaker 3: that position as the head of the BND. He later
[47:31] Speaker 3: served as the chief of staff for several other BND
[47:35] Speaker 3: presidents from 2012 until 2026. Here's why it's important why
[47:40] Speaker 3: we're talking about this story. There are folks in positions
[47:44] Speaker 3: like old Manfred here all over governments, all over intelligence agencies,
[47:50] Speaker 3: all over militaries, folks who are kind of the in-betweens,
[47:55] Speaker 3: the folks who aren't elected, but they're brought on, they're
[47:58] Speaker 3: kept on sometimes because of their expertise, because of their experience,
[48:03] Speaker 3: because they're just really good at their job. Maybe they're
[48:05] Speaker 3: an advisor, you know, an advisory position is very cool
[48:10] Speaker 3: if you can work your way into one of those,
[48:12] Speaker 3: because now you're just going to do the job of
[48:15] Speaker 3: being in the ear of whoever finds themselves in that position,
[48:19] Speaker 3: in the the stone chair, if you will, the one
[48:21] Speaker 3: who gets sacrificed if something goes wrong. Because that person
[48:25] Speaker 3: can be a liaison between a lot of different other folks, right?
[48:29] Speaker 3: You can sit in a meeting, get some intel, bring
[48:32] Speaker 3: it to boss. Now boss has the intel and all
[48:35] Speaker 3: that stuff. You can be sent on missions by boss
[48:38] Speaker 3: and to do other things. And sometimes you get lots
[48:42] Speaker 3: and lots and lots of classified information if you're, let's say, oh,
[48:48] Speaker 3: I don't know, the chief of staff for the head
[48:51] Speaker 3: of an intelligence agency.
[48:52] Speaker 2: I am just a humble guy who takes notes at
[48:56] Speaker 2: various farms in, in farm notes.
[49:00] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[49:00] Speaker 2: I'm a humble farmer who takes notes in various office rooms.
[49:06] Speaker 2: And here are some notes that I think you would
[49:09] Speaker 2: find of interest. And here are some premium notes. If
[49:14] Speaker 2: you'd like to have a financial conversation.
[49:17] Speaker 4: Exactly.
[49:18] Speaker 3: So here's what happened. Hanning left in 05, 2005. He
[49:22] Speaker 3: left that position, but Manning stayed on, continued working with
[49:25] Speaker 3: a bunch of other folks. It appears, at least it
[49:28] Speaker 3: is alleged, that Manfred, while he continued on that job,
[49:32] Speaker 3: was collecting classified, super secret data, stuff that nobody gets
[49:37] Speaker 3: to know about This is compartmentalized information a lot of times,
[49:41] Speaker 3: state secrets, and was transmitting it to Hanning, who was
[49:45] Speaker 3: no longer in those positions or working in intelligence. He
[49:49] Speaker 3: had started his own thing, basically being an investigator, a
[49:53] Speaker 3: private investigator, private intelligence, doing basically consulting work. That's what
[50:00] Speaker 3: this guy was doing, started his own private business. So
[50:03] Speaker 3: he's selling connections. Well, yeah, but he's selling connections, specific intel.
[50:09] Speaker 3: And it's alleged that he they won't say the specifics
[50:12] Speaker 3: yet because I guess it's still an investigation. But they
[50:15] Speaker 3: are saying very specific classified information was taken by Manfred,
[50:22] Speaker 3: given to Hanning. Then Hanning gave it to a foreign
[50:26] Speaker 3: intelligence service member from another country, not Germany. And it
[50:30] Speaker 3: was transmitted via his private practice.
[50:33] Speaker 1: Right.
[50:34] Speaker 3: So that's a huge deal. There's this other weird thing
[50:38] Speaker 3: that has to do with the kidnapping of, um, a
[50:41] Speaker 3: person during a custody battle and a divorce.
[50:44] Speaker 4: It's crazy.
[50:45] Speaker 3: I'll read a bit from here. Hanning came under scrutiny
[50:48] Speaker 3: in a separate investigation into the abduction, abduction of Hamburg businesswoman,
[50:53] Speaker 3: Christina blocks children from her ex-husband in Denmark in 2024.
[50:57] Speaker 3: This is a custody battle that had been going on
[51:00] Speaker 3: for several years. And it's the investigation into this case, uh,
[51:06] Speaker 3: Hanning's involvement in that whole thing that led to evidence
[51:10] Speaker 3: that was found during searches that got them to understand, oh,
[51:15] Speaker 3: this guy is selling state secrets. He's not just trying
[51:18] Speaker 3: to abduct people's children.
[51:22] Speaker 2: Wow, I love that, Matt. It's not just trying to
[51:25] Speaker 2: abduct children. There's something we should worry about is the implication.
[51:31] Speaker 3: Hanning and a retired official from the Hamburg State Criminal
[51:34] Speaker 3: Police Office are suspected of having accepted a contract from Block,
[51:39] Speaker 3: that's Christina Block, in 2022 to abduct her children while
[51:45] Speaker 3: serving as executives of a security firm. So the plan was, hey,
[51:51] Speaker 3: we're a part of a security team and now we're
[51:53] Speaker 3: going to abduct the children to get them away from
[51:55] Speaker 3: her husband as part of this custody battle. That's a
[52:02] Speaker 3: weird set of circumstances.
[52:04] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
[52:06] Speaker 3: But just to lead to where it led, it was
[52:08] Speaker 3: very crazy. Guys, I don't have a bunch more to
[52:11] Speaker 3: add there. Just to point out, we should probably pay
[52:14] Speaker 3: more attention to the folks who are aides, who are advisors.
[52:18] Speaker 2: White House chefs.
[52:29] Speaker 3: When they're in the ear of a president or a
[52:32] Speaker 3: prime minister or somebody who is in those upper echelons
[52:35] Speaker 3: making decisions, executive decisions, because those people maybe are sticking
[52:41] Speaker 3: around for a lot longer than an appointee, somebody who's
[52:44] Speaker 3: going to be a yes man or yes woman in
[52:46] Speaker 3: those positions.
[52:47] Speaker 2: Right.
[52:49] Speaker 3: Because these folks are. They're working the long game. Yeah,
[52:55] Speaker 3: there's a lot other bigger stuff at play than people
[52:58] Speaker 3: getting elected or not elected. And that ends up becoming
[53:03] Speaker 3: the primary thing we worry about right now. Think about
[53:05] Speaker 3: how nervous you maybe feel about this upcoming election. Like,
[53:08] Speaker 3: really think about that. I feel really nervous about it.
[53:13] Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a wild one.
[53:16] Speaker 3: Well, and I think that's no matter where you land
[53:20] Speaker 3: politically in this country, elections can be... nerve-wracking, anxiety-inducing things.
[53:27] Speaker 3: If you open up any platform that serves ads right now,
[53:31] Speaker 3: you're probably going to see one of these candidates. For me,
[53:35] Speaker 3: for some reason, John Ossoff always shows up or Talrico,
[53:38] Speaker 3: and they're always like.
[53:39] Speaker 4: We need money.
[53:40] Speaker 2: We need your money.
[53:42] Speaker 4: Please, please.
[53:47] Speaker 2: Like, hey, bro. Hey, Matt, you know I'm cool. Also,
[53:51] Speaker 2: can I have like a dollar or 200,000?
[53:55] Speaker 3: Yeah, and if everybody gave $ 1 right now, $ 50 million
[53:59] Speaker 3: in the campaign in Texas. And I'm connecting these two
[54:04] Speaker 3: stories on purpose to make us think about these two things.
[54:08] Speaker 3: The folks that actually control situations and make moves versus
[54:14] Speaker 3: all of this money that's pouring into these campaigns and
[54:17] Speaker 3: the banks that end up moving that money around and
[54:21] Speaker 3: where it goes to sit, you know, before it gets...
[54:25] Speaker 3: I guess, given out to Google AdSense and all the
[54:27] Speaker 3: other places where like wherever they're spending this money.
[54:31] Speaker 4: Seriously.
[54:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, it reminds me a lot of non-commissioned officers or
[54:35] Speaker 2: nurses in hospitals. Right. You can have a hotshot doctor
[54:41] Speaker 2: just off their residency.
[54:42] Speaker 4: Right.
[54:43] Speaker 2: But the nurse who has been there for decades is
[54:47] Speaker 2: probably going to have more real world authority or more
[54:52] Speaker 2: decision making capacity. So we have to. I think it's
[54:55] Speaker 2: just an excellent point, Matt. We have to be aware
[54:59] Speaker 2: of and cognizant of the issues at play because at
[55:06] Speaker 2: times voting can seem like it is a silly little game.
[55:13] Speaker 2: Nobody is going to get to elect. No voting public
[55:18] Speaker 2: is going to get to elect the CEOs or landed
[55:21] Speaker 2: heirs of a banking dynasty.
[55:23] Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
[55:25] Speaker 3: In the end, all that matters is who's going to
[55:27] Speaker 3: make us more money? What's going to make us more money?
[55:30] Speaker 3: What's going to solidify more power for us in the
[55:36] Speaker 3: ruling class that exists right now of billionaires and multi-multi-millionaires
[55:42] Speaker 3: and capitalists and oil giants? That's all that matters right now.
[55:46] Speaker 3: Who's going to make us more money and give us
[55:48] Speaker 3: more power? And that's the whole game. And... you know,
[55:54] Speaker 3: as if you can see it, you can start thinking
[55:57] Speaker 3: about how to fix it. And we just need to
[55:59] Speaker 3: make sure we can all really see it.
[56:02] Speaker 2: Perfect note for us to end on folks. Uh, we
[56:06] Speaker 2: have to tell you the oligarchy is a lot of things,
[56:09] Speaker 2: but it is not by any means new. Uh, we
[56:13] Speaker 2: hope that you will re-examine some of these stories. We
[56:17] Speaker 2: can't wait to hear your thoughts and gosh, Noel, uh,
[56:21] Speaker 2: I kind of want to meet Hitler Mussolini. Maybe we
[56:25] Speaker 2: go to Peru and catch Machu Picchu on the way.
[56:29] Speaker 2: But while we're on the road, what are some of
[56:32] Speaker 2: the best ways to contact us?
[56:34] Speaker 4: Well, you can find us at the handles Conspiracy Stuff
[56:38] Speaker 4: or Conspiracy Stuff Show, depending on which social media platform
[56:42] Speaker 4: you enjoy.
[56:44] Speaker 3: We have a phone number. It is 1-833-STDWYTK. Turn those
[56:50] Speaker 3: letters into numbers and dial that number and then use
[56:54] Speaker 3: your face and your mouth to say some words into
[56:57] Speaker 3: your phone. Make sure those words have something to do
[57:00] Speaker 3: with something we're talking about, something you want us to
[57:02] Speaker 3: talk about, or, well, I guess it could be anything.
[57:05] Speaker 3: And give yourself a cool nickname. That's really the only
[57:08] Speaker 3: thing you got to do. If you want to send
[57:09] Speaker 3: us words via typing or even speech to text, you
[57:13] Speaker 3: can do that too.
[57:14] Speaker 4: We are.
[57:15] Speaker 2: The entities that read each piece of correspondence we receive,
[57:19] Speaker 2: are you suspicious that you may be a little witchy,
[57:24] Speaker 2: perhaps an alien-human hybrid? If so, write to us. We
[57:29] Speaker 2: would love to hear your direct input on that. If
[57:35] Speaker 2: you work for the CIA and you have been searching
[57:38] Speaker 2: Ancestry.com or 23andMe. com, we would love to hear from you.
[57:44] Speaker 2: So find us Out here in the dark before the
[57:46] Speaker 2: spaceships take off. Conspiracy at iHeartRadio.com.
[58:10] Speaker 3: Stuff they don't want you to know is a production
[58:12] Speaker 3: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the
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[58:19] Speaker 3: your favorite shows.

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