Facts Over Fear

We’re increasingly surrounded by surveillance. License plate readers track our movements, traffic cameras record our commutes, and smartphones collect our personal data. But what happens when that infrastructure is turned toward our elections?That’s the focus of today’s Facts Over Fear conversation with Amanda Carpenter, editor at Protect Democracy, former CNN contributor, and former communications director to Sen. Ted Cruz.Amanda, author of Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us, has spent years examining how political deception shapes public perception.In this week’s conversation, we explore how to distinguish legitimate election-security concerns from misleading political rhetoric, why transparency matters, and what voters should watch as these efforts continue.Because facts matter. Privacy matters. And protecting the right to vote means demanding accountability from those who wield power.As always, don’t take a political talking point at face value. Ask what the evidence shows, what the law actually says, and who’s accountable when the government gets it wrong.Highlights:00:00 The Surveillance State Is Coming for Your Vote01:30 Trump’s Push for a Federal Voter Database03:30 States Fight Back Against Federal Voter Surveillance05:00 ICE, Voter Rolls, and Government Overreach06:30 The Myth of Widespread Voter Fraud08:30 Amanda Carpenter’s Break With Trump’s Republican Party11:00 January 6 and the Breaking Point12:45 Election Interference Is Already Underway14:15 ICE, Voter Intimidation, and the Midterms16:00 Why Trump Supporters and Republican Leaders Stay Loyal18:00 What Happens After the Midterms?19:30 Corruption, Nepotism, and Accountability21:15 Expanding Political Choices Through Ranked-Choice Voting22:45 Fusion Voting and Electoral Reform24:00 Protecting Democracy Starts With Us25:00 Where to Find Protect DemocracyFOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

This conversation was originally recorded on September 23, 2026.You might not know it, but every time you drive past certain cameras, you could be leaving behind a record of where you’ve been.Automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, are increasingly being used to capture license plates, vehicle images, locations and timestamps creating databases that can be searched later.On the latest episode of Facts Over Fear, I’m talking with investigative journalist Ben Camacho about the growing network of ALPR surveillance and the questions his reporting is raising about privacy, data sharing and government oversight.Ben recently co-produced “Flock Walk,” a short documentary examining ALPR surveillance and what happens when this technology becomes part of our everyday lives.Watch here: https://www.inadvertent.news/p/short-documentary-flock-walk-privacyHe also recently reported on records from Santa Ana showing that the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, or NCRIC, conducted more than 27,000 searches accessing the city’s Flock network over six months, including searches connected to federal agencies.So what exactly can these systems tell us? Who gets access? What safeguards are supposed to be in place? And what happens when the public can’t get clear answers about how the technology is being used?We’re getting into the records, the surveillance networks and the accountability gaps without the fear mongering.FOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

What does immigration enforcement look like when you’re the person being detained? And what happens when those experiences collide with an election that could help determine the balance of power in Washington?HIGHLIGHTS:00:00 — Nick Valencia on ICE and Pennsylvania’s Midterms01:45 — Why Latino Voters Matter in Pennsylvania04:00 — The Battle for Pennsylvania’s 7th District06:15 — What Voters Are Saying About the Economy08:30 — ICE Detentions and the Human Cost of Enforcement11:00 — Inside the Stories Behind the Headlines13:15 — Ilhan Omar, ICE and Political Tensions15:30 — Media Distrust and Voter Disillusionment18:00 — Brotherhood: Changing the Conversation on Immigration21:30 — Why Independent Journalism MattersImmigration enforcement is frequently discussed through statistics: arrests, deportations, detention capacity and border encounters. Those numbers matter. But they don’t tell us everything we need to know about how enforcement works or what happens to the people caught up in it.And when allegations of abuse arise, what independent oversight exists to establish what happened and hold responsible parties accountable?The consequences of immigration enforcement can extend beyond the people who are arrested. Fear can spread through communities quickly, particularly when information is incomplete or official explanations are difficult to obtain. Responsible journalism has to investigate those fears rather than dismiss them or repeat every claim as fact.The goal is to understand what is happening, what evidence supports it, where the system is failing and what people need to know to protect their rights.Facts are a form of protection. But facts require journalists willing to follow the story beyond the initial arrest, official statement or viral video.Economic anxiety remains central. Immigration policy may also matter deeply, particularly for families who have experienced detention or fear separation.But we shouldn’t assume that a person’s ethnicity determines how they vote, or that concern about immigration automatically translates into support for one political party.The real story is how people weigh competing priorities, evaluate promises and decide whether elected officials are delivering.What happens when immigration and the economy collide?One of the most important questions heading into the midterms is how voters reconcile concerns that may pull them in different directions.A voter might support stricter immigration enforcement while worrying about how detention policies affect a family member, neighbor or coworker. Someone might have voted for Trump because of the economy and now feel that the cost of living remains too high. Another voter might be frustrated with both parties and unsure whether participating in another election will make a difference.When politicians make promises about economic security, public safety or immigration, people measure those promises against what they experience. They look at their paychecks, grocery receipts, rent, family circumstances and interactions with government agencies.The question isn’t simply which party can win over a particular demographic group. It’s whether elected officials understand what their constituents are experiencing and whether they can explain how their policies will address those concerns.That is especially important in a competitive district where a relatively small number of votes can make a difference in who represents a community in Congress. And it is why journalism must go beyond horse-race coverage and ask what voters actually want from the people seeking to represent them.Because if we’re going to understand what’s happening in this country, we need to listen to the people experiencing it firsthand. And if we’re going to understand the midterms, we need to listen to voters before we decide what their votes mean.

This interview was pre-recorded on. Sept. 30, 2026 at 4:30pm EST and has been left unedited.I will never put essential public health information behind a paywall. Period. That’s a promise. And I’m able to keep doing this work because of the people who choose to support it. My paid Substack subscribers help fund independent journalism that puts people before profit, facts before fear, and accountability before the billionaire class.If you believe we need journalism that answers to the public, not the one-percent, corporations or political power, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support keeps this work independent. And it keeps the information free for everyone.COVID never left us. And right now, it’s surging again.But there’s a problem: one of the most useful tools we have for seeing where COVID is circulating, wastewater surveillance, is becoming harder for the public to interpret.In this episode of Facts Over Fear, I’m talking with Dr. Michael Hoerger, associate professor of psychology, psychiatry and oncology at Tulane University and director of the Psycho-Oncology Research Program and Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative.Highlights:00:00 — COVID Is Surging Again: What the Data Shows01:29 — The 13th COVID Wave Is Here03:10 — Why COVID Data Is Getting Harder to Track04:48 — What Wastewater Data Actually Tells Us07:45 — Why Wastewater Is So Important for Tracking COVID10:38 — Why the CDC Changed Its Wastewater Risk Categories14:05 — What COVID Mitigation Looks Like in 202616:12 — Why N95 Masks Still Matter18:28 — Schools, Restaurants & Indoor Air Quality21:18 — Why Is the COVID Vaccine So Expensive?24:20 — Who Can Get a COVID Booster Right Now?27:18 — Should We Be Getting Boosted More Often?30:08 — The Long-Term Risks of Repeated COVID Infections34:18 — Long COVID, Heart Attacks, Strokes & Excess Deaths38:00 — Why Public Health Messaging Is Still Getting COVID Wrong41:20 — COVID Isn't Just “Another Respiratory Virus”43:25 — What Public Health Should Be Doing Instead46:10 — You Can't Get Yourself Out of a Public Health Crisis48:00 — Where to Follow Dr. Michael HoergerAnd did you know: CDC’s current 2026–27 guidance recommends a COVID-19 vaccine for any adult ages 18 and older who would like one, while recommendations for children vary by age, immune status and risk. Talk to your doctor to see if a vaccine is right for you and your family.Meanwhile, CDC’s own wastewater data says the surveillance system remains an important way to track community-level COVID activity , even as the agency says a transition in its testing contract is creating a temporary data gap at about 200 sites.So no, this isn’t about pretending we’re back in 2020. It’s about asking a much more useful question:What does the evidence tell us about COVID now and what should we actually do with that information?FOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

What the Cornell sexual assault allegations and the Epstein files reveal about institutional accountability, survivor privacy and the systems that too often protect power.What happens when the institutions meant to protect survivors become more focused on protecting themselves?That’s the question at the heart of tonight’s Facts Over Fear.The allegations surrounding the “Cornell Seven” and the ongoing fight over the Jeffrey Epstein files are very different cases. But both raise a fundamental question about power, institutional accountability and survivor justice.What happens when reputation, money and influence stand between survivors and accountability?And for survivors, the harm doesn’t necessarily end with the abuse. There can be a second violation: being disbelieved, silenced, exposed, threatened or forced to fight powerful institutions just to be heard.Joining me is Arick Fudali, Managing Partner of Bloom & Fudali. Fudali represents survivors of sexual abuse, including several Epstein survivors, and has experience representing survivors of campus and fraternity sexual assault.We’re talking about what these cases reveal about survivor rights, institutional accountability, transparency and the systems that too often protect the powerful.Highlights from the interview:00:00 — When Institutions Protect Power Instead of People02:32 — What the Cornell Case Reveals About Sexual Assault06:04 — Criminal vs. Civil Court: What’s the Difference?10:02 — Why Calling Sexual Assault Lawsuits a “Money Grab” Is Misleading14:05 — Why Survivors’ Stories Can Change Over Time17:32 — Cornell, Epstein and the Culture of Institutional Denial21:06 — Has the Me Too Backlash Changed How We Treat Survivors?24:33 — What Real Institutional Accountability Requires27:37 — Why Survivors Should Still Come Forward30:44 — How Lawsuits Can Force Institutions to ChangeThese cases aren’t just about individual allegations or scandals. They force us to ask who gets believed, who gets protected and who gets held accountable?Because accountability isn’t just about exposing powerful people. It’s about changing the systems that allow power to protect itself. Are we actually getting better at protecting survivors or just better at talking about them?And until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.FOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.