Half the Answer

Trent and Caitlin check in with journalist Gillian Brockell after the release of her article on ICE air. They discuss the recent mass layoffs at the Washington Post, the abhorrent treatment of deportees, the justifications used to mistreat humans, and the importance of empathy and being a human.Resources:https://gillianbrockell.ghost.io/https://bsky.app/profile/gbrockell.bsky.socialhttps://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-richer-and-stingier-than-ever-forbes-400-list-2021-10https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/08/26/emmett-till-william-bradford-huie-carolyn-bryant-civil-rights/https://www.npr.org/2026/02/07/nx-s1-5705413/washington-post-ceo-resigns-will-lewishttps://51st.news/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/17/court-hearings-lawsuit-alleging-ice-agents-racially-profiled-us-citizens-minnesotaGinsburg on Firing Line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBpoZBhvBa4https://discourses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Teun-A.-van-Dijk-2008-News-discourse-and-ideology.pdfhttp://brianb.freeshell.org/a/kddd.pdfhttps://bookshop.org/p/books/wild-faith-how-the-christian-right-is-taking-over-america-talia-lavin/1cf72a0d0396cdce?ean=9780306829192&next=thttps://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-lovejoy-trap-fascism-masquerading-as-care/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/omni-ice-deportations-charter-flight-stonepeak-private-equity/https://newrepublic.com/article/206058/transcript-trump-ice-threats-take-darker-turn-maga-calls-bloodhttps://www.baloproject.org/

Trent and Caitlin talk with author and journalist Andrea Pitzer about the modern concentration camp model, its history and public perception, and the concentration camps the United States government is operating and hopes to open in the near future.Resourceshttps://andreapitzer.com/Andrea's newsletter: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/Andrea's book on camps: https://bookshop.org/p/books/one-long-night-a-global-history-of-concentration-camps-andrea-pitzer/ea53c06c993f6ad0?ean=9780316303569&next=tAndrea's book on Nabokov: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-secret-history-of-vladimir-nabokov-andrea-pitzer/fe47f57e9a2b2a73?ean=9781639361182&next=t https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-buys-warehouses-immigration-detention/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/us/politics/ice-warehouses-trump-voters.htmlhttps://bookshop.org/p/books/friendly-fascism-the-new-face-of-power-in-america-bertram-gross/414671ea6a34dd2c?ean=9781497689404&next=thttps://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/black-lives-matter-movement-not-covid-19-encouraged-voters-toward-biden-2020-election

Trent and Caitlin chatted with Hunter CG of RoteRote Media and Democrats Abroad, looking at the GOP's latest assault on voting rights, the SAVE America Act. This act has passed the House of Representatives and will be addressed by the Senate in the next couple of days. They talk about all the different ways this piece of legislation disenfranchises voters in the US and abroad, and they exhort everyone to reach out to their senators and make it clear that its passing would be unacceptable.Resources:https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/9-things-to-know-about-the-proposed-save-america-acthttps://www.tiktok.com/@roterotemediahttps://www.advocate.com/politics/national/save-act-lgbtq-voters https://foxbaltimore.com/news/nation-world/senate-to-vote-on-save-america-act-as-voter-id-debate-intensifies-susan-collins-chuck-schumer-photo-id

Caitlin and Trent talk with journalist Amanda Moore about her work tracking the DHS "surges" all over the United States, her efforts to get close to former commander at large Gregory Bovino, and her experience trying to form conclusions about the broader patterns of immigration forces' violence over time.Resources:https://substack.com/@noturtlesoup17https://www.instagram.com/noturtlesoup17/?hl=enhttps://bsky.app/profile/noturtlesoup17.bsky.socialBovino's legacy of violence https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUbhHF7jCI8/Trump's War on History https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/america-freedom-task-force-250-trump-anniversary-history-smithsonian-kennedy-center/The Horns and Whistles Work https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/the-horns-and-whistles-work/

Trent and Caitlin boogie with friend-of-the-program, journalist Jonathan M. Katz of The Racket. They talk Super Bowl, Bad Bunny, the TPUSA halftime safe space show, and immigration detention.Resources:theracket.newshttps://bsky.app/profile/katz.theracket.newshttps://www.tiktok.com/@katzonearth?lang=enSchools Closed in Puerto Rico: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/12/magazine/puerto-rico-schools-hurricane-maria.htmlInfrastructure in Puerto Rico: https://katz.substack.com/p/the-cluster-in-puerto-rico?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webGangsters of Capitalism: https://bookshop.org/p/books/gangsters-of-capitalism-smedley-butler-the-marines-and-the-making-and-breaking-of-america-s-empire-jonathan-m-katz/c1ca55fd36f1b6d4?ean=9781250135599&next=tThe Big Truck That Went By: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-big-truck-that-went-by-how-the-world-came-to-save-haiti-and-left-behind-a-disaster-jonathan-m-katz/b3ca7a131069f3ac?ean=9781137278975&next=t

Trent and Caitlin catch up with political science assistant professor Matt McManus. They discuss the narratives surrounding resistance in the twin cities, the loud and ugly voices on the right describing an ideology of cruelty and dehumanization, and the power of regular people to puncture false claims from the government.Resources: https://www.factcheck.org/2026/01/as-ice-arrests-increased-a-higher-portion-had-no-u-s-criminal-record/https://im1776.com/2022/07/01/christopher-rufo-interview/https://bookshop.org/p/books/what-is-post-modern-conservatism-essays-on-our-hugely-tremendous-times-matthew-mcmanus/270db00d6106d9a7?ean=9781789042450&next=thttps://bookshop.org/p/books/the-political-theory-of-liberal-socialism-matthew-mcmanus/f7f9b79be796b7ec?ean=9781032647234&next=t

Trent and Caitlin talk to Chris Geidner of Law Dork about the absolute deluge of legal news that seems to be crashing over us like a tsunami. What are the current assaults on our constitutional rights? What are judges and lawmakers doing to defend those rights? Why is Mike Johnson pretending the Fourth Amendment doesn’t exist?Resources: https://www.lawdork.com/https://bsky.app/profile/lawdorknews.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.socialMike Johnson being wrong about the 4th amendment: https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mdxoltnsyz2aPerdomo decision: https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/noem-v-perdomo/Bondi demands voter rolls: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/pam-bondi-letter-to-minnesota-voter-roll-data-alex-pretti-ice-midterms-trump/MN US attorneys resigning: https://www.startribune.com/another-wave-of-departures-in-minnesotas-us-attorneys-office/601575569Mark Zaid security clearance case: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/13/trump-mark-zaid-restore-clearanceTulsi Gabbard at Georgia elections office raid: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/29/tulsi-gabbard-georgia-fbi-elections-raid

Caitlin and Trent talk with journalist Gillian Brockell about her work tracking the flights and airline companies that move people in unsafe conditions to third-party recipient countries, where they will be imprisoned, mistreated, tortured, and possibly sent to their country of origin in violation of international law.ResourcesICE flight monitor https://humanrightsfirst.org/ice-flight-monitor/Unsafe Conditions on Deportation planes: https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ice-air-deportation-flightsGillian "interferes" in illegal ICE flight https://bsky.app/profile/gbrockell.bsky.social/post/3lpnjho77jc25Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs) autobiography https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780486419312Protest Key Lime Air Jan. 31 in Alamosa https://arkvalleyvoice.com/demonstration-against-key-lime-airs-ice-connections-set-for-january-31-in-alamosa/Key Lime Air https://boulderreportinglab.org/2025/12/28/cu-boulder-keeps-key-lime-air-contract-as-denver-ends-its-deal-over-ice-flights/Denver Air Connections https://cnycentral.com/news/nation-world/denver-colorado-city-council-rejects-airline-contract-for-its-association-with-president-donald-trumps-administration-ice-immigration-agendaGillian's Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/gbrockell.bsky.socialWhat is ICE Air? https://gillianbrockell.ghost.io/what-is-ice-air/

Trent and Caitlin ask Evan Urquhart about his 2025 wrap up piece on Assigned Media: "The Year We Lost Everything." They discuss the need to take stock of where we are on trans rights, autonomy and the various freedoms we hold dear, and the value of acknowledging that we are not hysterical or out of touch with reality when we feel those freedoms being wrenched from our grasp. We talk about the intense pressure in corporate media to maintain anti-trans bias and the wonderful work independent journalists are doing to find and share the truth.

Caitlin and Trent chat with linguistics scholars Savi Namboodiripad and Daniel Midgley on what word most exemplifies 2025. Was it a new coinage? A pre-existing word that gained a new meaning or usage this year? A word that seemed to be on everybody's lips in 2025?Resources:https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year"6 7" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xpV4ix2K8https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/27/more-than-20-of-videos-shown-to-new-youtube-users-are-ai-slop-study-findshttps://www.economist.com/culture/2025/12/03/and-the-economists-word-of-the-year-for-2025-ishttps://www.dictionary.com/articles/word-of-the-year-2025https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-dictionary-reveals-word-of-the-year-2025https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/collins-word-of-the-year-2025-ai-meets-authenticity-as-society-shifts/https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2147118/is-that-grocery-product-really-canadian-or-is-it-maple-washing"getting sendy" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYAQEJyqR7Egroup 7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/10/27/tiktoks-group-7-meme-explained/https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/lore https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/unchttps://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/choppedhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/huzzhttps://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-performative-male-how-young-men-are-experimenting-with-masculinity-online-268742https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051221126040https://dailyillini.com/opinions-stories/columns-opinions/culture/2025/10/25/opinion-unmasking-performative-male/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kianbakhtiari/2025/09/28/performative-males-gen-z-irony-and-the-death-of-sincerity/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/us/rapture-tiktok-sept-23.htmlEpstein's email simulator https://www.jmail.world/https://othermeans.io/p/the-glonzo-strategyhttps://www.theverge.com/policy/798491/frog-portland-trump-national-guardhttps://the-monsters.fandom.com/wiki/The_Monstershttps://lafufu.art/blog/labubu-vs-lafufuhttps://www.thelist.com/1817157/what-is-mar-a-lago-face-who-has-tried-the-trend/https://bsky.app/profile/canadiandictionary.bsky.social/post/3m7tf3jm2fc2chttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/oprah-podcast-no-contact-adult-children-parents_n_69389e85e4b0fb6244b0daa8https://fortune.com/2025/12/29/trump-tariffs-cost-25000-per-month-small-business-importers-center-american-progress/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/us/politics/doge-musk-trump-analysis.htmlhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-doge-government-spending-2025-b2890243.htmlhttps://www.vox.com/culture/376401/r-word-slur-return-euphemism-treadmill-cyclehttps://www.lawdork.com/p/the-kavanaugh-stop-50-days-laterhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/05/30/politics/trump-taco-angry-tariffhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/abbyzinman/canadians-elbows-up-explainerhttps://pen.org/banned-words-list/https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2025/03/15/these-197-terms-may-trigger-reviews-of-your-nih-nsf-grant-proposals/https://www.dailydot.com/memes/everythings-computer-trump-quote-meme/https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trump-promises-harsher-ice-crackdownshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/27/chatgpt-suicide-openai-raine/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/snap-welfare-queen-ai-memes-1235460824/https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/10022/who-coined-the-phrase-rapid-unscheduled-disassembly#10219https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/rapid-unplanned-disassembly-rudhttps://becauselanguage.com/131-wotwoty-2025/

Trent and Caitlin catch up with Greg Sargent from The New Republic about his recent piece exploring the family history and ideology of Stephen Miller. How did the product of Russian Jewish refugees come to see today's refugees as incapable of integration in American society? What are the white nationalist positions on who is a real American, and how does Miller navigate his position in relation to those ideologies? Why do these unlovable jerks insist on the myth that community and empathy are suicidal?Resources:The New Republic: https://newrepublic.comThe Daily Blast Podcast: https://newrepublic.com/podcastsGreg's piece on Miller: https://newrepublic.com/article/204191/stephen-miller-maga-terror-state-dark-plotStephen Miller on Somali immigrants: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/politics/stephen-miller-trump-immigration-law-somaliaFacts about Somali community in MN: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/5-things-to-know-about-the-somali-community-in-minnesota-after-trumps-attacksHatemonger: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780062986726 When The Clock Broke: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781250390417 Furious Minds: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780691255262 DHS Twitter Account: https://archive.ph/Vg8c7Stephen Miller's cousin: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stephen-miller-cousin-alisa-kasmer/

Caitlin and Trent speak with Mark Copelovitch, a political science professor from University of Wisconsin–Madison. They discuss the problem of a world power going rogue, the lack of viable responses for countries like Venezuela and Denmark, and the costs to international trust when the US is so unreliable.Resources:https://polisci.wisc.edu/staff/mark-copelovitch/https://www.markcopelovitch.com/https://bsky.app/profile/mcopelov.bsky.socialhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfXZxn2z8U0https://archive.is/OriWG

Trent and Caitlin check in with the Handbasket’s Marisa Kabas about the year that has been the first week of 2026. What are we doing in Venezuela, and why is corporate media being so weird about it? What are the ethics of publishing scoops that involve military actions? Why are we doing our war crimes from a resort ballroom in Florida?Resources:https://www.thehandbasket.co/https://www.semafor.com/article/01/03/2026/new-york-times-washington-post-held-off-on-reporting-venezuela-raidhttps://www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/politics/video/trump-mar-a-lago-war-room-maduro-venezuela-vrtchttps://www.wsj.com/world/americas/trumps-donroe-doctrine-aims-to-dominate-the-americas-b31208dd?mod=Searchresults&pos=3&page=1

Trent and Caitlin talk with philosophy of science expert Nathan Oseroff-Spicer about his review of the book "The War On Science," how the book misses the mark, what strategies its authors use to downplay the threats from the right and fabricate a threat from the left, and what motivations could possibly lead thirty-nine scholars to create such a meritless collection of propaganda under the leadership of someone like known pest Lawrence Krauss.Resources:https://www.liberalcurrents.com/wars-on-science-real-and-otherwise/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/https://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/administration/breaking-this-hurts-unl-eliminates-4-programs-despite-faculty-student-pleas/article_e0d11a61-0fcc-4e66-b364-d16e89bea336.htmlhttps://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-chatbot-journal-research-fake-citations-1235485484/https://blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/13/llm-usage-and-manipulation-in-peer-review/https://www.advocate.com/news/second-ou-instructor-suspendedhttps://www.facebook.com/OUNightlyTV/posts/pfbid02nieL7PmXwUDAnNcHzK9HLBWdCQ1EyjA7S1pDvrRxEaGw7qkqAR3oGtjXwFXkb4KBlUPDATE: grad student no longer teaching https://www.koco.com/article/samantha-fulnecky-professor-graduate-instructor-no-longer-at-ou-oklahoma/69841882https://pen.org/trumps-compact-for-higher-education-faq/https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-pares-down-grant-review-process-reducing-influence-outside-scientistshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/17/aap-hhs-funding-rfk/https://bsky.app/profile/crampell.bsky.social/post/3ma7aivcros2ahttps://hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-shutdown-has-led-to-hundreds-of-thousands-of-deaths/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/rumeysa-ozturk-what-i-witnessed-inside-an-ice-womens-prison?srsltid=AfmBOoqRks5pzgFv2QyjsvuUvNt6E41InSCPQmXwWOoFvxftjMoRvkSyhttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/judge-releases-palestinian-student-at-columbia-who-was-arrested-at-citizenship-interviewhttps://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/11/20/columbia-denies-mahmoud-khalil-sipa-24-campus-access-for-planned-events-citing-security-reasons/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-emails-reveal-ties-to-prominent-scientists/

Caitlin and Trent talk with Matthew Sheffield about his experiences as a former Republican strategist and the information he wants progressives to know about their strategies and successes.Resources:https://plus.flux.community/p/what-republicans-knowhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/142008768?utm_campaign=postshare_fanhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4qwwk0g0yohttps://www.seattletimes.com/business/sinclair-known-for-conservative-political-tilt/https://deadline.com/2025/12/nexstar-trump-tegna-merger-trump-1236642435/https://www.xfang.studio/books/we-are-definitely-human-wcnat

Trent and Caitlin catch up with journalist Amanda Moore to hear about her tour of American cities that have been targeted for ICE and Border Patrol operations.Resources: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/broadview-ice-cbp-gregory-bovino/https://www.clippings.me/users/noturtlesoup17https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/29/us/illinois-broadview-ice-protesters-chargedhttps://abcnews.go.com/US/border-patrol-commander-admitted-lied-tear-gas-incident/story?id=127283392 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-top-border-patrol-goon-gregory-bovino-roasted-for-nazi-look/ https://www.npr.org/2025/12/02/nx-s1-5627502/national-guard-shooting-latesthttps://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-plastic-whistles-are-becoming-an-anti-ice-resistance-tool-chicago-2025-10-23/https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-orleans-immigration-raids-operation-catahouls-crumch/

Caitlin and Trent talk with Jonathan Howard, a neurologist, psychiatrist, and author of *Everyone Else Is Lying to You* and *We Want Them Infected*, both books analyzing the policies and discourses around the COVID-19 pandemic.ResourcesScience-Based Medicine website: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/*Everyone Else Is Lying to You*: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781959346999*We Want Them Infected*: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781959346036Zeb Larson, "Propaganda, Rather than Pandemic Policies, Caused the War on Public Health" https://www.liberalcurrents.com/propaganda-rather-than-pandemic-policies-caused-the-war-on-public-health/"crank magnetism" https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/crank-magnetism-weston-price-foundation

Trent and Caitlin talk with journalist and author Jonathan Katz about the gangsters of capitalism, the imperial boomerang, and the moral injuries inflicted when officers, agents, and soldiers engage in the inhumane and depraved acts that are demanded of them.ResourcesJonathan's book https://jonathanmkatz.com/gangstershttps://theracket.newshttps://www.tiktok.com/@katzonearth?lang=enhttps://www.instagram.com/katzonearth/?hl=enimperial boomerang https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/4383-the-imperial-boomerang-how-colonial-methods-of-repression-migrate-back-to-the-metropolis?srsltid=AfmBOorPodSS76ia1ZcpE5D7F77PSU84p0owKWfM2ukUp0s1E10FaYmrthe wrongest war https://theracket.news/p/the-wrongest-warmoral injury https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/cooccurring/moral_injury.aspLA agents drive away with toddler https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-04/ice-border-patrol-dodger-stadium-parking-lotUS-Mexico restriction https://www.cbsnews.com/news/warning-signs-mexico-beach-us-department-of-defense-property/Controlled Pod Into Terrain https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNrA2-FWoOnpgOS-ywSQlowThumbnail image https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/unauthorized-us-signs-on-mexican-beach-along-texas-border-lead-to-international-dispute-mexico-president-trump-military-action-marines-drug-war-rio-grande

Trent and Caitlin speak with journalist Spencer Ackerman about the CIA, DHS, and other parts of the US government ostensibly protecting us from terrorism. How have they achieved this level of impunity? What are the precedents for the intolerable level of human rights and privacy violations we see today? What have we allowed to be done to the “other” in the past and present?Resourceshttps://www.forever-wars.com/Spencer's upcoming book https://www.forever-wars.com/book-two-majid-khan-iran-troops/Spencer’s Iron Man issue https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/114934/iron_man_2024_1Homan Square https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-siteUSS Gerald Ford in Caribbean https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uss-gerald-r-ford-caribeean-venezuela-rcna244193Sexual abuse in ICE detention https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/hundreds-of-immigrants-have-reported-sexual-abuse-at-ice-facilities-most-cases-arent-investigatedCIA abusive practices https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/enhanced-interrogation-tactics-included-lunch-tray-gruesome-force-feeding-methodsSusan Sontag https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/09/24/tuesday-and-after-talk-of-the-townStellar Wind https://www.theguardian.com/nsa-inspector-general-report-document-data-collection"surveillance capitalism" https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/03/harvard-professor-says-surveillance-capitalism-is-undermining-democracy/Palantir and the CIA https://www.fastcompany.com/91446398/cia-police-palantir-alex-karp-predictive-peter-thiel-paypal-sequoia"white innocence" https://www.dukeupress.edu/white-innocence

Caitlin and Trent speak with educational policy researcher Derek Gottlieb about what it's like to research education in a country whose administration thinks public education shouldn't really even be a thing.Resources: https://www.derekgottliebphd.com/"Building a Better Teacher" https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.htmlKristof, "Obama and Our Schools" https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/opinion/13kristof.htmlCavell, "The Claim of Reason" https://academic.oup.com/book/49825Malcolm Gladwell's quarterback problem https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/12/15/most-likely-to-succeed-malcolm-gladwellReduction in Force notices https://www.k12dive.com/news/education-department-layoffs-what-to-know-special-education-civil-rights-lawsuits/802779/Reduction in Force halted https://www.npr.org/2025/10/28/nx-s1-5585083/government-shutdown-trump-rif-layoffsAhmed, "On Being Included" https://www.dukeupress.edu/on-being-included