Half the Answer

Delta Airlines brought Liam Ramos back from the child prison in Texas, but they don't seem to want to talk about how they took him there in the first place. Trent and Caitlin debrief with Gillian Brockell about the current status of ICE flights, the fate of the boy in the bunny hat, and the way journalists credit each other (and also sometimes don't) when they rely on each other's reporting.Resources:https://gillianbrockell.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/gillianbrockell.comUzbek deportation story https://newsletter.mariannedhenin.com/asylum-seeker-deported-after-suicide-attempt-in-ice-jail-advocates-say/Video proves Delta flew Liam to Dilley https://gillianbrockell.com/video-proves-delta-flew-liam-ramos-and-his-dad-to-ice-detention-center/Independent version: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/delta-air-lines-liam-ramos-ice-texas-b2940372.htmlAP version https://apnews.com/article/liam-ramos-video-ice-delta-commercial-flight-7b0ed36899da68177a6fdd665fb8a205Liam Conejo Ramos judge rejects asylum claim https://www.npr.org/2026/03/20/nx-s1-5753981/liam-conejo-ramos-family-fights-immigration-judges-ruling-to-deport-them-to-ecuadorKristi Noem F**K Jet details https://gillianbrockell.com/noems-luxury-d-jet-for-deportations-is-the-tip-of-the-ice-berg/The War Zone coverage https://www.twz.com/news-features/new-dhs-gulfstream-jet-now-flying-secretary-noemCareless People https://bookshop.org/p/books/careless-people-a-cautionary-tale-of-power-greed-and-lost-idealism-sarah-wynn-williams/804251bb5d4b06b3?ean=9781250391230&next=tNew Hampshire blizzard flight grounded https://gillianbrockell.com/breaking-shackled-migrants-trapped-on-deportation-plane-stuck-in-blizzard/More on NH flight https://gillianbrockell.com/ice-deportation-flight-leaves-nh-after-31-hours-exposes-chronic-problems/Seth Miller digging into the NH flight https://bsky.app/profile/wandrme.paxex.aero/post/3mfkamntcws24?ref=gillianbrockell.com Ms. Rachel is getting it done https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/ms-rachel-ice-dilley-detention-center-accurso/Send tips or request flight info for legal clients to Signal @gbrockell.44

What the hell is going on in Texas? Trent and Caitlin welcome Houston culture reporter Gwen Howerton about the Texas senate primaries, censorship in prisons, and the state of LGBTQ+ rights in the Lone Star State.Resources:https://bsky.app/profile/kissphoria.bsky.socialhttps://www.chron.com/culture/article/cornyn-paxton-texas-senate-ai-22082110.phphttps://www.chron.com/culture/article/texas-prison-book-ban-22079345.php

What's happened in New York City since Zohran Mamdani became mayor in January? Has it become a Marxist-Islamic bastion, ruled by a soviet in the succeeding three months? Trent and Caitlin discuss the Sharia Socialism of NYC Mayor Mamdani, the naked vice signalling and stove-touching of the GOP with author Ryan Cooper.Resourceshttps://bsky.app/profile/ryanlcooper.comhttps://prospect.org/https://www.leftanchor.com/https://gothamist.com/news/facing-historic-blizzard-mamdani-says-nyc-learned-lessons-from-last-snowstormhttps://www.amny.com/nyc-transit/congestion-pricing-nyc-subways-ridership-report-2025/https://www.liberalcurrents.com/neon-liberalism-30-rethinking-international-trade/

Trent and Caitlin achieve the coveted threepeat guest appearance with journalist Marisa Kabas of the Handbasket, fresh off her incredible legal win obtaining the body cam footage from the DC cops who assisted the DOGE boys in breaking into the USIP office in March 2025. They discuss the total disregard for life, law, and locked doors that was on display that day, as well as the frustrating events following Marisa's FOIA success. Resourceshttps://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.socialhttps://www.thehandbasket.co/p/body-cam-footage-usip-doge-raid-mpd-lawsuithttps://www.404media.co/the-removed-doge-deposition-videos-have-already-been-backed-up-across-the-internet/

Trent and Caitlin catch up with employment litigator Joshua Erlich about the difficulties of holding immigration and border patrol agents to account when they break the law. What happens when you can't be sure which individual attacked you? How can their actions be restricted, and what should Democrats do given their level of power in the government right now?ResourcesJoshua's bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/joshuaerlich.bsky.socialLegal help for federal employees in the DMV: https://mwela.org/Legal help for federal employees nationally: https://NELA.org/Joshua's office: https://www.erlichlawoffice.com/lawyers/joshua-erlich/Federal forces keep shooting people: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/26/ice-minneapolis-shooting-alex-prettiDems coalescing around five restrictions on ICE: https://newrepublic.com/article/205723/dem-senator-harsh-new-takedown-trump-hits-home-breaking-pointSuozzi is sorry https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/us/democrats-ice-funding-vote-dhs.html

Caitlin and Trent talk with Aurelien Mondon about his recent political science paper outlining the limitations of considering all politics through the lens of "polarization." They discuss the pitfalls of the term and the ways "polarizing" events and speech can be drastically different and sometimes even positive.Resourceshttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41296-025-00779-4https://www.searchlightinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Searchlight-Memo-to-Interested-Parties_-Reform-and-Retrain-ICE-Dont-Abolish-It.pdfhttps://prospect.org/2026/01/19/author-dont-say-abolish-ice-memo-corporate-consultant-westexec/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/04/ice-minneapolis-287g-tom-homan-sanctuary/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-ice-masks-dhs-shutdown_n_69839db8e4b053ac3e17298d?origin=top-ad-recirchttps://www.majorityleader.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5822https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/22/trump-millennial-supporters-washington-dc-218833/https://www.npr.org/2025/11/14/nx-s1-5608204/white-house-dismisses-release-of-epstein-documents-as-a-distraction-from-democratshttps://midutahradio.com/news/local-news/mike-johnson-calls-for-political-rhetoric-to-calm/https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2012/02/10/146691773/euphemisms-concentration-camps-and-the-japanese-internment

Trent and Caitlin reconnect with journalist Walker Bragman to hash out the current state of the NIH and HHS, the ideologies that drive people to promote eugenics and science denial, and the childish nature of fascism.Resources:https://www.importantcontext.news/https://www.accountabilityjournalism.org/https://bsky.app/profile/walkerbragman.bsky.socialhttps://publichealth.jhu.edu/ivac/resources/us-measles-trackerhttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-means-surgeon-general-congress-state-of-the-union-live-updates-rcna260120https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/bhattacharya-urges-measles-vaccination-us-activity-increaseshttps://www.brookings.edu/articles/audible-reckoning-how-top-political-podcasters-spread-unsubstantiated-and-false-claims/

Happy days are not here again, but at least Trent and Caitlin have Jeff Waldorf, the Logical Leftist, to hang out with while they process it all. The United States has dropped bombs on Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several of his top-ranking officials, civilians, and the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school, in which more than 160 little girls were killed. They talk through the conflicting, nonsensical, and sometimes straight-up Orwellian justifications provided by US politicians for initiating a war of aggression against another country in the Middle East.Resourceshttps://www.youtube.com/@LogicallyLeftisthttps://www.facebook.com/JeffWaldorfShow/https://www.instagram.com/logicalleftist/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hv7pcnm6u7s544ycmf7xjatchttps://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagon-tells-congress-no-sign-that-iran-was-going-attack-us-first-sources-say-2026-03-02/https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730203/iran-israel-trump-congress-strikes-reactionhttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/nuclear-program-missiles-regime-change-trump-struggles-define-iran-war-rcna261309https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/iran-war-us-israel-trump-03-03-26https://www.npr.org/2026/03/02/g-s1-112151/iran-war-widens-threatens-to-engulf-lebanonhttps://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730203/iran-israel-trump-congress-strikes-reactionhttps://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-experts-deeply-disturbed-by-child-deaths-escalating-middle-east-conflict-2026-03-04/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/nyregion/merchant-iran-plot-assassination-trump.html

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