Behind the Bastards

All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file: Hope & Dirty Tricks: How Lula Beat Flavio Bolsonaro Election Rumors and Conspiracism Catching up with the status of Kurdish groups in Iran  Executive Disorder: 2026 Midterms Edition  Executive Disorder: GOP Blame Game, Trump/Epstein Report, Paraguay Ousts President You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today! Sources/Links: Election Rumors and Conspiracism https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/26/trump-reward-reporting-voter-fraud https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/harassment-public-records-requests-bombard-uw-truth-seeker-after-jan-6-hearings-cameo/ https://uwcip.substack.com/p/election-rumor-rundown-october-24 https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/minnesota-charges-conservative-activist-okeefe-influencer-higby-after-voting-2026-10-29/ Catching up with the Status of Kurdish Groups in Iran https://x.com/vvanwilgenburg Executive Disorder: GOP Blame Game, Trump/Epstein Report, Paraguay Ousts President https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/10/how-mamdani-canceled-cop-city/416903/  https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/04/nyregion/pied-a-terre-mamdani-appeal-win-home-tax.html?smid=url-share https://apnews.com/article/port-strikes-arms-shipments-france-greece-italy-4a8813406fd51b91b3b7d17826c1883d https://x.com/vvanwilgenburg/status/2117641211909730538?a=ri24O90ueHp7eYgCoDc&s=20 https://x.com/war_noir/status/2117581845755773246?a=P0quWPGQ6wjaX70NPOQ&s=20 https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26A624/431463/20261102111302952_California%20Application.pdf  https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/united-states-v-california-2/  https://2026.electoral.dsausa.org/ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elections/senate-results https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/how-trump-lost-midterms-33cf9fd4?st=EQm4gx https://x.com/justinbaragona/status/2117780696626257981?a=Q68Ma2bBhMU2LKxTVkk&s=20 https://x.com/JDVance/status/2118004988433641835 https://x.com/kaitlancollins/status/2117614591060721973?a=A5arnEBUOHurQE3jSg8&s=20 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2117612993139585093?a=dprbLi0Afsej7Jh14ko&s=20 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/11/04/desantis-calls-midterm-bloodbath-an-extinction-level-event-for-republicans-01148705 https://x.com/politico/status/2117840712855113793?a=5vZ3flWUbvcJyTvleyU&s=2 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/11/05/congress/bernie-sanders-launches-medicare-for-all-push-01151604 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2117887743443505646?a=tif1VPo4NuwejhijsNY&s=20 https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6199505-house-investigations-trump-administration/ https://x.com/atrupar/status/2118335426968616973?a=tRXmF86Rp3SEkpIuB_E&s=20 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/15/paolo-zampolli-fired-state-department-trump-01121739 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-democrats-call-for-special-counsel-to-investigate-trump-s-ties-to-epstein/ar-AA2g6UnX https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/judiciary-democrats-report-details-mounting-evidence-linking-trump-to-epstein-s-criminal-activities-and-doj-s-cover-up-specific-accounts-involving-11-women-provide-more-evidence-of-potential-sex-crimes https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/318-garment-factories-closed-amid-labour-unrest-over-7-lakh-workers-leave-workplaces  https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/paraguay-president-santiago-pena-resigns-following-bank-collapse/4102079/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In part 2, Dennis Hastert lucks his way into becoming Speaker of the House and helps Congress redefine corruption for the 21st century. And then, after his retirement, it all comes crashing down.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert tells Miles Gray the tangled story of Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House, pioneer of congressional corruption, and pedophile. Sources: Prosecutors detail sex abuse allegations against Dennis Hastert | PBS News Weekend Dennis Hastert Dies at 84: Timeline of Scandals, Controversies and Criminal Conviction - Newsweek Uncovering the Dennis Hastert cover-up | Bloom Fudali Former Speaker Dennis Hastert indicted - POLITICO Hastert returns to his humble beginnings after historic career -- Daily Herald Washingtonpost.com: Plain-Talking Hastert Poised to Be Speaker House Speaker Dennis Hastert Can Win Friends, But Can He Influence People? - Page 9 - tribunedigital-chicagotribune Biography of Speaker J. Dennis Hastert | Dickstein Shapiro Ex-Yorkville school chief recalls no misconduct complaints against Hastert - Chicago Tribune Payments by Hastert Linked to Report of Sexual Abuse - NYTimes.com Dennis Hastert has a history of keeping secrets - VoxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file: Israeli Elections and the Palestinians 2026 Elections (The Union Ones) ¡El Chupacabras! Kim Kelly's Morbid Labor Tales  Executive Disorder: Lula’s Victory, AI Election Ads, Voter Fraud, Revolt in Albania You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today!   Sources/Links: Israeli Elections and the Palestinians Israel's Elections: What's at Stake?, International Crisis Group (Max Rodenbeck, Mairav Zonszein, Amjad Iraqi), 15 October 2026 A Jewish Currents Guide to the Israeli Elections, Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Currents, 20 October 2026 Occupied Thoughts interview with Sami Abu Shehadeh https://fmep.org/resource/barred-from-knesset-elections-sami-abu-shehadeh-on-the-state-of-israeli-democracy/ Prospect magazine op-ed on the settlers and the state - https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle-east/75279/settler-rioters-are-israeli-state-policythrough-deniable-means 2026 Elections (The Union Ones) https://linktr.ee/PamelaSH ¡El Chupacabras! Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction and Folklore by BenjaminRadford Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacle in Cuba and Puerto Rico,1898-1956 by Reinaldo L. Román En Qué Quedó Ep. 6 “El Chupacabras”https://open.spotify.com/episode/2r9ISXwgY7zTpWj2EJWcF1 Radio Ambulante “El vampiro entre nosotros”https://open.spotify.com/episode/0hvdSD4aXHwoOWoMYAdN9x Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years byWilliam A Calvo-Quirós https://web.archive.org/web/20230814111741/http://www.barriology.com/uploads/2/3/2/7/23276452/calvo-quiros_sucking_vulnerability_rev.pdf El Chupacabra: Icon of Resistance to US Imperialism Species (1995) dir. Roger Donaldson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MGZnLsPSRc La Operación (1982) dir. Ana María García https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoJoWMbRxvM&t=36s La Operación -Background https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6XEuu_auR8&t=8s https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/notas/se-registran-dos-ataques-del-chupacabras/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/30/vieques-puerto-rico-us-navy-base-training https://www.navfac.navy.mil/Portals/68/Documents/Business-Lines/Environmental/Environmental-Restoration/NAVFAC-Atlantic/Vieques/Vieques_Fact_Sheet_03_Depleted_Uranium_in_LIA_Eng.pdf https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/elyunque/recreation/discover-history/us-military-and-el-yunque-national-forest https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24816374-the-history-of-the-us-department-of-defense-programs-for-the-testing-evaluation-and-storage-of-tactical-herbicides-agent-orange-in-pr/?q=puerto+rico&mode=document#document/p5 https://www.elvocero.com/actualidad/otros/las-grandes-sequ-as-que-marcaron-a-puerto-rico-durante-el-siglo-xx/article_e6a37bce-5269-4040-836d-799a04358fc2.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/12/26/mystery-creature-ravages-puerto-rican-livestock/b7704250-dae0-4fa3-a886-561db637b463/ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-03-mn-9730-story.html “Monsters and Messiahs by Mike Davis”  “Beast of Borikén" by Julio Anta, Daniel IriZarri, Patricio Delpeche, and Lucas Gattoni Kim Kelly's Morbid Labor Tales  https://proteanmag.com/2021/10/31/picket-lines-in-the-graveyard-a-history-of-cemetery-workers-strikes/ https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67168074 https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/dc33-strike-philadelphia-medical-examiners-injunction-20250703.html https://6abc.com/post/retrieval-dead-bodies-is-being-delayed-due-blue-collar-union-dc33-strike-philadelphia-officials-say/16936166/ https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/sacrilegious-bodies-piling-up-at-cook-county-morgue/ https://6abc.com/archive/8511845/ https://abc7.com/archive/8719820/ https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/02/archives/workers-strike-funeral-homes-100-establishments-hit-in-the.html https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/04/archives/state-fails-to-end-embalmers-strike.html https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/08/28/the-coffin-makers-strike-1872/ https://newspapers.bc.edu/?a=d&d=pilot18720622-01.2.22&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------------------- Executive Disorder: Lula’s Victory, AI Election Ads, Voter Fraud, Revolt in Albania https://x.com/aricnesbitt/status/2066923547964928106?a=kc7nT6MWbZZrCG5F3ho&s=20 https://x.com/reaganreese_/status/2064370476449669139?a=o_23wNhd8KJXG1_3jd8&s=20 https://x.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/2097325814689743049?a=-BXTLNGkR3wjP9lkgeE&s=20 https://x.com/AndrewSolender/status/2083629219980960030?a=U6bD8EFjG4McMm-xQCM&s=20 https://x.com/NassauExec/status/2096705749774631131?a=9MzOBMvGxcqDqhpGhgA&s=20 https://x.com/BlueprintFNDN/status/2078957886403670411?a=2Q_B5IADKyInPq5JQKE&s=20 https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2076099238363005194?a=GAD-fsC8RATzjNcbr5s&s=20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrw_hLs4O_0 https://x.com/JacobRubashkin/status/2113454492872045007?a=jb16JdrbsG8yhaW1ljI&s=20 https://x.com/NassauExec/status/2094800565452611646?a=wRx4Pm2YJdKDtLMz7Eo&s=20 https://x.com/NassauExec/status/2091865610233786666?a=q7ts8IGOQNOt_zkiCGE&s=20 https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/2051314128468197851?lang=en https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0093650226142143 https://mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-101526/ https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/artificial-intelligence-ai-in-elections-and-campaigns  https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/when-ai-campaign-ads-fake-reality  https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/us/politics/midterm-elections-ai-generated-ads.html https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/deciding-fake-images-candidates-are-using-ai-political-ads-get-vote-rcna605243  https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-10.hjc-dems-staff-report-epstein-and-trump.pdf https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ly097zw1xwo https://www.daylightsandiego.org/ice-detainee-dies-at-otay-mesa-detention-center-in-san-diego/ https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/10/27/iraqi-court-sentences-seven-french-isis-members-to-prison/ https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2113552255576092815 https://sana.sy/en/syria/2353795/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/10/27/flavio-bolsonaro-flees-brazil-us/92462116007/ https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3moy4zcl3b52a https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2114740388514697527  https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/netherlands-citizen-arrested-illegally-voting-2024-election  https://x.com/TheJusticeDept/status/2113703040444145701 https://apnews.com/article/california-voter-data-justice-department-lawsuit-0305190ba958051bb86741ac00da36a7  https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-state-california-over-voter-list  https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1466286/  https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2113794933236871180 https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-10-26-Order-.pdf  https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-charges-28-foreign-nationals-california-election-crimes  https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-noncitizen-voting-court/ https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2087950683831931327a=2VozR5e62ZW8NoNmfl8&s=20 https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2087950683831931327 https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2115228635326242842 https://www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news/2026/October/election-charges https://citizens.al/en/2026/09/07/100-days-of-the-flamingo-revolution-the-new-culture-of-civic-protest/  https://www.balkanweb.com/en/On-the-14th-day-of-student-protests--citizens-and-young-people-gather-en-masse-in-front-of-the-Ministry-of-Education./#gsc.tab=0  https://www.tiranatimes.com/albanian-government-tightens-protest-laws-as-crisis-deepens/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert concludes the thrilling tale of the life of Peter Rachman by explaining how his death was used by even worse Slumlords to evade any responsibility for their crimes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.