Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #39  ## Metadata - Author: [[It Could Happen Here]] - Full Title: Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #39 - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/4decb2c8-1ba2-4ee3-84db-28974097d56a ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **SNAP Cutoffs Trigger Widespread Hunger** - Millions will lose SNAP benefits due to the shutdown and face immediate hunger. - Gavin Newsom deployed the California National Guard, but funding and trust issues limit its effectiveness. Transcript: Mia Wong So, I think we should start off the bat by the same thing we started off last week with, which is that as you're listening to this... Happy Halloween! Yeah, well, that... On the upside, Halloween, woo, spooky. On the downside, like 40 million people lose their SNAP benefits the next day. On Saturday. Yeah, but what's spookier than that? Robert Evans Look, one thing you can't say about the government is that they're not failing to celebrate the holiday. James Stout Mm-hmm. Robert Evans I am scared of the consequences. Garrison Davis Yeah. Stock up on the trick-or candy, I guess. Robert Evans Steal as much candy as you can. You're going to need it to stay alive. James Stout See a group of children, you run past them. Kick them. Oh, they're kids. They can't stop you. Hold it above your head. They can't reach it. Garrison Davis No, it is extremely grim. And there seems to be no indication from the Republicans or the Trump administration that they are going to work with Democrats to resolve this without sacrificing health care for Millions of Americans. James Stout Yeah. So Gavin Newsom, a friend of the show, has deployed the California National Guard to assist food banks in the state. Oh my God. Yeah. Like, look, the thing is, when you participate in the largest crackdown on protected First Amendment speech in recent history, you don't get to show up and hand out snacks and feel good. And many food banks, including some in the Bay Area, have refused the help of National Guard members, right? Because they have this very obvious concern that some people might be reluctant to go to places where the soldiers who were standing right next to all the different immigration agents In LA are now working. And so this will have the opposite of a positive effect in those instances, right? People are afraid to go to food banks and going to remain hungry. The consequences of this will be negative. The issue, I don't think, is a lack of person power. The issue is a lack of funding. The state has mobilized $80 million in funds, but millions of Californians will be going hungry. ([Time 0:04:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/537d01d5-2192-4e5c-b611-484f4adf1436)) - **Build Practical Food Resilience** - Learn basic food-preservation skills like pressure canning and pickling when possible. - Use seasonal discounts to build whatever emergency food stock you can afford. Transcript: Robert Evans And pickle different foods and whatnot because there are ways that you can – and this is why, right? It's not because you should be doing that or you're irresponsible. Comes to the social safety net, you know, that we have, what little of one that we have, you can't rely on it because at any given point, it could become a fucking football for Democrats And Republicans to fight over and go away, right? Like, none of this stuff is reliable, which is why people ought to, if it's at all possible, be doing stuff like that, right? ([Time 0:09:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3590c2a5-0594-43e2-ba67-bc9f659880f9)) - **Plattner's Populist Rise** - Graham Plattner ran as a combative, populist candidate who initially polled very well. - His platform focused on social programs, healthcare, and attacking billionaire influence. Transcript: Robert Evans Talking about a touch of politicians. A couple of weeks ago, James brought up Graham Plattner, who is running for Congress in Maine, and some ads that he had put out, which were really – and I still think are really good ads. Good ads in terms of – they were effective, objectively. He raised a lot of money. He was leading in the polls prior to us. We'll talk about a bunch of scandals coming out. He's no longer leading, but he was doing very well for a while. So his campaign, the strategy that he was following, which was largely a mix of talking about and really pushing investments in social programs and particularly health care and attacking The billionaire class in very stark terms, talking about the need to effectively get rid of that as a group of people, like tax them out of existence. That's a popular, you know, and a good thing to campaign on. And the success that he had early on is evidence that there's a lot of legs to talking about that kind of stuff in the way that he did. And he talked about it in a very combative way, right? This guy was a former Marine. Yeah. Some sort of fisherman, I think. Whatever kind of... He's like one of those main fishermen. I think it's an oyster farmer or some shit. Whatever. They have up in that nonsense state. Sorry, Mainites. And they're called Maniacs, technically. I think they're called Mainers. That can't be right, Garrison. So he was coming across as a very like blue collar guy right like a very and kind of crude but crude in a like i'm a straight talker sort of guy and that worked that was a that was a ([Time 0:10:30](https://share.snipd.com/snip/75083e22-dcc8-4621-9763-49574f7b1dc6)) - **Old Tattoo Undermined Support** - A long-held Totenkopf tattoo dramatically altered voter perceptions once publicized. - Polls showed awareness of the tattoo caused Plattner's support to drop sharply. Transcript: Robert Evans The most well-known of them is that for the last 20 years of his life, he has had a Totenkopf tattooed over his pectoral. That is the death's head. Now, it dates back before the Nazis. A – I don't know if this was the very first use of it, but the very first prominent use of it in military history was as the insignia for a unit called the Death's Head Hussars, which was an Elite German cavalry unit. I mean, I'm sure – I think they did still exist in World War I, but that was well past their prime. And it was then by the SS. And it was worn by a lot of guys in the SS, but it was specifically the insignia of a unit called the Totenkopf SS, which existed to guard concentration camps and death camps. So, having one tattooed on you, bad. Yeah, not cool. Plattner has said, basically, it was a dumb tattoo I got when I was young and just joined the Marine Corps, I didn't know what it meant. And I am willing to believe that like a 19 year old who joins the Marines would make a bad tattoo decision because I have a lot of friends that were in the Marines and they all have bad tattoos. Right. None of them have death heads. Also, you got it. Garrison Davis Well, like Croatia While drunk with other marines Right, and he was hammered And yeah, the probability of walking into a tattoo shop In Croatia and coming out with a Nazi tattoo Is extremely High ([Time 0:12:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d43dfc3a-64df-4635-9820-d177292dcab5)) - **Youth Back Rhetoric Over Scandal** - Young Democrats remained more supportive of Plattner despite scandals because they prioritized his rhetoric. - Populist, anti-oligarchy language retains strong appeal among younger voters. Transcript: Robert Evans And this is really interesting to me because the data shows that in general, among likely voters, his potential support plummets when people are made aware that he had the tattoo. But young Democrats are by far the group most likely to have become aware of it as soon as the story broke because young people are much more online than older people. And among young people, he's still well ahead, which I really just do think speaks more than anything to the strength of the platform that he came out the gate with. And the rhetoric, right? His combative rhetoric is really attractive to young voters, especially. Explain your generation to us, Garrison. Why are you like this? Garrison Davis I mean, there's a lot of stuff that the Zoran campaign kind of ignited around. Yeah, no, you're right. Exactly. Absolutely. Rhetoric, and then people, you know, Sanders and AOC had their, like, anti-oligarchy tour, which, I mean, we don't need to, like, debate, like, the use of, like, that term. No. But no, there is a huge frustration at the geriatric Democratic Party. And this sort of populist rhetoric is very popular among young people, as it has been since the Sanders campaign in 2016. This isn't like new or revolutionary information. This point is has gotten either past scandals or is ([Time 0:19:30](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e61deb6c-cfcb-4a50-938f-a98beeaa2e02)) - **Halloween Parade Tear Gas Raid** - Border Patrol disrupted a children's Halloween parade in Chicago and deployed tear gas. - Judge Sarah Ellis said costumed kids posed no immediate threat and riot control weapons were inappropriate. Transcript: Garrison Davis Can I do my Halloween ice Nazi... Sure....Bovino segment? Is that how you say his name? Bovino? James Stout Gregory Vino. Bovino. Garrison Davis Yeah, Gregory Vino. It looks like a Bovino to me. Sure, why not? So we're going to talk about him playing dress-up and how Border Patrol disrupted a Halloween parade. So last weekend, while conducting an immigration enforcement raid, Border Patrol disrupted the route of a children's Halloween parade in Old Irving Park in Chicago, using tear gas And arresting several people, including two U.S. Citizens. A crowd gathered around after Border Patrol arrested a 35-year construction worker who has lived in Chicago since he was four years old. Jesus. Neighborhood residents said that federal agents then deployed tear gas without warning. That following Tuesday, the architect of Operation Midway Blitz, Greg Bovino, appeared in federal court as part of a lawsuit alleging excessive force and violations of a TRO restricting The use of tear gas and crowd control munitions. Bavino seems to be flagrantly violating this TRO as he was photographed personally throwing a tear gas canister into a crowd on October 22nd during a raid on a laundromat and Home Depot. The DHS says that protesters were throwing rocks and Border Patrol issued warnings, though this account is contradicted by video of the incident. U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis told the Border Patrol chief, quote, kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of law enforcement Officers. They just don't. And you can't use riot control weapons against them, unquote. This TRO requires that crowd control munitions may only be used if someone poses an immediate threat to law enforcement, with agents instructed to give two verbal warnings before Tear gas or pepper spray can be deployed, and to wear body cams, badges, or visible IDs. ([Time 0:32:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a441efa0-67e6-42a6-b4a6-18c98e3e378f)) - **Court Limits Met With Resistance** - A court TRO required verbal warnings, body cams, and visible IDs before crowd-control use. - Greg Bovino refused to wear body cameras and claimed he lacked training and equipment. Transcript: Garrison Davis And to get an idea of how closely this is being followed, Lovino himself still does not wear a body cam and told Judge Ellis, quote, I have not received a body worn camera nor the training, Unquote. James Stout Yeah, it's a border patrol agents have generally just to give some context here, not worn body worn cameras for a number of reasons. Firstly, they just don't want to. Secondly, no one is making them. Thirdly, they believe that it is possible for people to detect the Bluetooth signal that the camera gives out and thus find them. This is something that is theoretically possible, as best my research can tell. You can make your own judgment as to which of those factors is weighing most heavily on their choice not to wear them but that they have never been required like as as a group to wear body Garrison Davis Worn cameras all the time no this judge is trying to force them to they're just refusing to follow the order despite bovino saying that 99 of agents have these cameras which is a bizarrely Robert Evans Specific claim yeah like yeah is he the one percent like i guess he's just so obviously lying it's just oh god yeah it's it's just it's lying we i think we that should be enough to say yeah James Stout I don't know if i said they never wear them to be clear they have gone forward and back on wearing them, but it was earlier this year, the specific security risk. Garrison Davis They have access to the cameras. Yes, yes. They're just refusing to follow this order. Yeah, yeah. ([Time 0:34:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e97a353b-b21c-42e4-8b4b-91467771ec05)) - **Accountability Gaps In Raids** - Plaintiffs allege agents used excessive force and threatened a protester with a firearm. - Bodycam footage requested by plaintiffs has not been produced, hampering accountability. Transcript: Garrison Davis Anyway, plaintiffs have requested body cam footage of this incident, which has yet to be provided. Mia Wong Yeah, and I think it's worth noting that they do this every single time there is any kind of protest. Garrison Davis They do stuff like this. They've been pointing guns at people the entire time. They've been here. They've been pointing a lot of guns the past few months, as we have reported. Yeah. They have shot two people. James Stout They've shot more than two people, yeah. Yeah. Garrison Davis Saying something like this is insane. James Stout Yeah, no yeah. It shows, obviously, like, a complete lack of concern for accountability, right? No. Like, absolutely no thought that you could be held accountable for this. Yeah. Robert Evans No, and it also shows a desire to kill liberals. Yes, yeah. Which liberals need to be aware of. I mean, yeah. Yeah. You can't let this organization continue to exist, nor can you let the people doing this stay free if you ever take power again. There has to be accountability, and there has to be an end to their ability, to the ability of any law enforcement agency to exist knowing that they are unaccountable and cannot be punished For the violence that they do to civilians. James Stout Yeah, I guess I'll take this point to mention that we have covered CBP and DHS's previous shootings in previous years and the internal review process they have for those which has led To a lack of accountability, even when compared to other law enforcement officers. ([Time 0:37:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/be957936-5791-4a18-a22c-6a5484ca9f58)) - **BP Influence Reshapes ICE Tactics** - Border Patrol leaders are reshaping ICE leadership to favor sweep-style arrests and deportation numbers. - DHS reassignments aim to replace ICE field chiefs with Border Patrol-aligned officials. Transcript: Garrison Davis Though just one day later, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Judge Ellis's order requiring these daily reports. In some other Bovino moves, earlier this week, news broke that top ICE field office chiefs are set to be reassigned and replaced by senior Border Patrol and CBP officials, with the goal Of netting more arrests to boost deportation numbers. James Stout Yeah, so the role of Border Patrol generally is to patrol the physical border and to do enforcement in that 100 mile border zone, right? The role of ICE. The majority of ICE agents are not the people that you see out there jumping out of cars and doing these smasher grabs, right? The majority of ICE agents are people who work in an office, who will check in with migrants through their intensive supervision program, which is one of their quote-unquote alternatives To detention, right? Both of these agencies are relatively aligned with what I'll call Donald Trump's agenda. But Border Patrol particularly has made a name for itself. Like Bovino himself and other Border Patrol chiefs were, there was a time when it looked like they were going to force Bovino to retire. And that time was 2023, a briefing against the Biden administration, right? Bovino has been kind of particularly emblematic of this new Border Patrol approach. And it is particularly BP that has been aligned just with with a lot of things that you know they had they had issues getting people vaccinated right like with this whole kind of political Social milieu that is representative of the modern right we see with ice agents like some of these people i'm not going to say they joined like looking to help you know maybe like make The world actually a happy place but like they uh they are reasonable civil servants right like i've talked to plenty of migrants who have gone to there and you'll hear from some of them In a scripted series next month gone to their eyes check-ins have been like that was fine that person was professional that they seemed genuinely concerned for things i'm facing and You know i i was not unduly harassed, made to feel uncomfortable, et cetera, et cetera. Garrison Davis Now, the Border Patrol agents are like particularly brutal. James Stout I have not heard that saying that was a reasonable professional about Border Patrol agents from migrants. Border Patrol also has a pretty high churn, right? So they have a lot of people who have joined since let's say the first trump admin yeah and that may kind of change things because those people are joining specifically because they want Robert Evans To fuck with migrants and while that's always been a thing for border patrol a lot of people joined border patrol because it's the easiest way to become technically a federal Yeah. And it can be a path to becoming a better kind of federal agent. James Stout Sure. Robert Evans It's a career thing, which is part of why there's so much churn. Part of why. James Stout BP, just to characterize some of the issues the organization has had, has consistently offered waivers for the academic qualifications that other agencies would not offer waivers For. They have a problem, a serious problem with sexual assault, not just of migrants, but of women in the Border Patrol. They call the women in the Border Patrol the fierce 5% because this is an agency that has not succeeded in getting more than 5% of its agents to be women. It is an agency that has, I guess, for want of a better term, radicalized, even within DHS agencies. Yeah. Garrison Davis I mean, all of the most brutal incidents of use of force in Portland in 2020 that came from Feds was Border Patrol. That was Bortak. Yeah. Bortak. James Stout Yeah. I would encourage people, if they want to get a sense of how Border Patrol sees itself, to go to the social media page that bovino curates and has curated for a while to look and again he Was uh my understanding like hemmed up for his social media posts in the biden administration he's obviously not being restrained in that way now go and look at uh i think it's called Border patrol special operations command or dhs special operations command which includes bortec go and look at their pages right like these guys uh see themselves in the realm of Like a military branch or a paramilitary police. Yeah. And that is what they are doing in Chicago. Yeah. Garrison Davis NBC is reporting that the White House has approved the reassignment of at least a dozen directors of ice field offices, with sources telling Fox News the cities will include Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Philadelphia, El Paso, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, and New Orleans. This is almost half of the ICE field offices in the country. This turnover is being orchestrated by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and DHS Senior Advisor Corey Lewandowski, with some of the replacements being handpicked by Bovino. This is like Bovino being able to shape ICE how he sees fit using his Border Patrol background. ([Time 0:39:25](https://share.snipd.com/snip/bcc3088b-2931-4908-b36e-aa4d87d39781)) - **Biometric Apps Produce Dangerous Errors** - ICE's Mobile Fortify and CBP-1 biometric apps have made flawed facial matches determinative. - These systems struggle with darker skin tones and may block asylum access or cause wrongful detentions. Transcript: James Stout So I've seen a piece in 404 media 404 media is the most annoying outlet to read pieces in because they will send you 17 emails a day 404 media suggests that ice is claiming a facial recognition Match in its app mobile fortify is a definitive determination of somebody's status. They're quoting here the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Benny G. Thompson, as saying, quote, Mobile Fortify is a dangerous tool in the hands of ICE, and it puts American citizens at risk of detention and even deportation. He also said that, quote, ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a definitive determination of a person's status, that an ice officer may ignore Evidence of american citizenship including a birth certificate if the app says the person is an alien ice using a mobile biometrics app in this way in ways its developers at cvp never Intended or tested is a frightening repugnant and unconstitutional attack on americans rights and freedoms. Thompson is misguided if he thinks that this is new. It is new in that it has impacted U.S. Citizens. Yes, this article, for reasons I cannot explain, does not mention CBP-1. As is often the case in immigration reporting that we see now it's completely lacking in context the context here is cbp1 is an app developed in the first trump administration um it's Often referred to as a biden app because the definitive political question of our time is uh who was president in 2020 there's just no way to know it's impossible to say you can't no data On anything happening that far back. Unfortunately, I have a new one, which is more recent, which we're going to talk about next. Grok, is this real? Yeah, but CBP-1 was effectively determinative for migrants, right? We've covered this in great detail here. There were some public records about CBP1 that I've looked at extensively. The sort of too-long version is the app did not work well on Android phones, especially previous generation Android phones, which are very common among people coming from the global South. The facial liveness scan. So what the facial liveness scan does is that let's say um robert is is coming to the u.s right they wanted to check that the phone is being held by robert that it's not been held and someone's Not holding up a photograph of robert in front of the camera right so you sort of move it around then it determines that it's a real 3d face not not a not a photograph it really struggled Robert Evans With black faces i've seen this firsthand i've all this stuff does it's the same thing with like how there have been like um motion activated faucets and stuff that wouldn't recognize James Stout Dark skin yeah it's a data set that they put in right to my understanding yeah the results of those scans were determinative for migrants right it could determine their ability to make An asylum appointment and therefore to enter the US and make a claim for asylum. This caused people to remain in various very dangerous situations. It has probably led to people dying. ([Time 0:52:17](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7d774cb5-9ea5-4333-91a3-766cdef2a888)) - **Wilderness Protections Under Threat** - Senator Mike Lee's bill would reopen wilderness to motorized roads near the border under pretext of security. - The proposal threatens longstanding protections in the 1964 Wilderness Act and could permanently alter landscapes. Transcript: James Stout Because Utah Senator Mike Lee is back on his bullshit. This time he has another bill. People will remember that Mike Lee tried to insert in the budget reconciliation bill a massive sell-off of public lands. Right? And what Lee does is he uses whatever terminology he thinks will make people support this crusade he has against lands owned by the public for everyone to access. The last time he tried to wrap it up in language about affordable housing. If you read the bill, you would have seen that it wasn't going to result in any affordable housing. This time, he's wrapping it up in the language of border security. And this is where we're going to return to the defining political question of our time, who is president? Because Lee, who introduced the bill in October of 2025, said, and I quote, Biden's open border chaos is destroying Americans' crown jewels. Families who want to enjoy a safe hike or camp out are instead finding trash piles, burned landscapes and trails closed because rangers are stuck clearing up the fallout. Cartels are exploiting the disorder, using these lands as cover for their operation. This bill gives land managers and border agents the tools to restore order and protect these places for the people they were meant to serve. Diligent observers will notice that Biden is no longer the president of the United States. And further diligent observers will notice that many people currently working for the federal government on public lands are being laid off or furloughed due to the government shutdown. What Lee's bill would do is allow Ds to identify illegal roads in public land areas and then to upgrade them to navigable roads this is important because the 1964 wilderness act doesn't Allow motorized access to wilderness areas and what lee is proposing is that they would identify these illegal roads within a hundred mile zone. He is proposing a blanket change to the 1964 Wilderness Act to allow the construction of roads, which would completely change the nature of wilderness in the United States. And sometimes a slippery slope argument can also be a fallacy. But in this case, building roads into the wilderness will permanently change the nature of that wilderness and will lead to other losses of protection on public land. Lee makes the argument that it's important for search and rescue and for border access. There is already mechanised access for search and rescue. Search and rescue helicopters, for instance, can access wilderness areas, that they have agreements in place with land management agencies, which allow them to do this already when There is a risk to human life. The bill also talks about removing invasive species and reducing fire risk by removing fire fuels down by the border. Again, I'm guessing what this would do would be, this would, I mean, if you fire fuels, like look at the southern border near where I live, right? Like think of the California sagebrush chaparral, like clearing fire fuels there would completely change that landscape forever. It would remove much of the value that this wilderness has, not as untouched, right? People have lived in this area for tens of thousands of years and that they have touched that nature and they have lived alongside it worked with it but it is an area that is significantly Less damaged than most of the united states right the bill would also inventory fires and damage to wilderness caused by migrants. I guess this is just an attempt to say another bad thing about migrants. It also prohibits any housing of migrants on federal lands unless it is in a prison. It onto this crusade that he has been on for a long time to deprive people in the United States and people visiting the United States of access to their public lands and eventually to sell Those lands off to the highest bidder. He introduced it on October 2nd. It's in the committee stage right now. ([Time 0:55:41](https://share.snipd.com/snip/22364c1f-5776-4f49-aeed-256906f1f7ff)) - **Tariff Deals Are Partial And Precarious** - Trump reduced some China tariffs but kept high rates overall and secured vague commitments on rare-earths and soybean purchases. - Senate symbolic votes reflect bipartisan resistance to some tariff moves, but House dysfunction blocks legislative follow-through. Transcript: Mia Wong All right. So as we talked about last week, Trump has been in East Asia to do a bunch of meetings for conferences already happening. And this is where tariff negotiations have been being handled. This has been being held in South Korea. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung presented Trump with South Korea's highest honor and also gave him a giant golden crown. Garrison Davis Have you all seen giant golden crown it's that easy folks all you gotta do it's all you gotta do is just these little stupid things and then he loves you giant gilded crown i haven't seen Mia Wong The crown i'm gonna look at the crown right now look up the crown i i am beseeching you all yeah i however big you think this crown is it is way larger than that it is oh wow yeah no it's uh jesus James Stout Wow it's like the size of a fire hydrant yeah yeah maybe they directly uh they directly took uh the one that they took from prince andrew for being a nonce and melted it down or something Mia Wong It's really something now now lee j myung is a name you might recognize because he's the guy who was famous for that video of climbing over the fence to stop the coup last year and one year Later he's giving trump what i think might be the largest crown i have ever seen now this crown is being described as quote a gilded replica so i don't know how much of this is actually gold I suspect it's gold paint or whatever i don't know i do not have confirmation on it but you know great great things happening in in in sort of like a revolutionary anti-coup movement, Which has ended with giving Trump the giant golden crown. Yeah, and apparently they got like a kind of favorable, sort of OK-ish kind of trade deal out of giving the president of the United States giant golden crown. So in terms of tariff news, while in China, Trump had his long-awaited meeting with Xi Jinping. They struck a deal. Trump decreased the quote-unquote fentanyl tariffs to 10%, which leaves the tariff rate for all Chinese goods at 47%, down from its previous 57%. China has agreed to not do rare earth mineral restrictions that we talked about last week and has also pledged to buy u.s soybeans again it's deeply unclear how much of this is actually Going to happen i think my my guess is that they probably won't do the harshest of the rare mineral restrictions but i will believe the soybean purchases when i see it and i haven't seen It yet um there's also been some interesting news out of the Senate where there's been a couple of symbolic votes against some sets of tariffs. ([Time 1:04:44](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d9fb0a92-e47f-4f58-bdc9-65b84eaee9b1)) - **Federal Monitors Raise Voter Fears** - California officials worry federal election monitors could intimidate voters around key ballots. - California plans its own monitors to watch federal monitors amid fears of suppression near polling places. Transcript: James Stout California Attorney General. Look at that, Harrison. That is why they pay me the median bucks. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is warning... That's such a fake-ass name. I'm sorry. Sorry. Garrison is wearing that hat for those not watching this podcast on top of their head in the fashion of affairs. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is warning about election interference by the federal government. The federal government has sent monitors to California, to a number of different counties in California, in order to monitor the elections that are happening here on the 4th of November. To be clear, federal monitoring is not uncommon. The Biden administration did it in more than 80 places in 2024, for example. But Bonta seems convinced this monitoring is going to lead to election denial, election interference. Here's Gavin Newsom talking on X about this. Robert Evans So today the Trump administration announced they're sending election monitors to five specific counties here in the state of California. They have no business doing that. They have no basis to do that. In fact, we have a statewide election for a statewide constitution. This is about voter intimidation. This is about voter suppression, period, full stop. And it's a pattern, isn't it? It's consistent with what they've done with the federalization of the National Guard and the intimidation, the chill that that's created. They'll do that right around election day as well. Same thing with ICE and Border Patrol, masked men. Watch that space showing up in and around polling booths and voting places. But this is a bridge too far. Speaker 6 And I hope people understand it's a bridge that they're trying to build, the scaffolding for all across this country in next November's election. They do not believe in fair and free elections. Our republic, our democracy is on the line. We all need to wake up. James Stout I'm actually a lot more concerned with the stuff around. I think he's probably right that we will see more federal agents around polling places in election time. What California is doing in response is assigning monitors to monitor the federal monitors which will be interesting and it seems unusual right for the federal monitors to be monitoring Things that one of the things that's on the ballot this year is prop 50 right which would redistrict california it's gerrymandering it's a gerrymandering proposition to it's revenge Robert Evans Gerrymandering yes yeah it's counter the bill is specifically, we're going to do this, but we're going to do this if there's redistricting in Texas. James Stout Yeah, yeah. Yes, it's an attempt to rectify the very obvious gerrymandering in Texas. Robert Evans It's kind of mad mutually asserted destruction is applied to gerrymandering. Yeah, yeah. James Stout Neither of these things are great. That's here we are. ([Time 1:13:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cb0207a6-f296-46f2-83ef-bfccb4e23bfc)) - **Tylenol Lawsuit Reflects Political Litigation Trend** - Texas sued Johnson & Johnson claiming Tylenol marketing hid autism risks, reviving a debated Swedish study. - The case signals broader political campaigns against common medications and unpredictable public-health legal battles. Transcript: Garrison Davis Breaking autism news. Oh, God. Texas is suing Tylenol, specifically a pharmaceutical company, Johnson& Johnson, for marketing Tylenol to pregnant women and failing to disclose what Attorney General Ken Paxton Calls, quote, a significantly increased risk of autism and other disorders, unquote. James Stout They don't market it to pregnant women. Like, generally, they're on... Robert Evans It says, if I'm not mistaken, it says on the bottles, don't take if you're nursing, you're pregnant. James Stout We covered this in a previous episode, but generally drugs are not, very few drugs are marketed to pregnant people, right? Be they're women or otherwise. Yeah. No, the only thing you're supposed to take as a pregnant woman is cocaine. Robert Evans And you got to make sure it's pure. Non-binary people thought you can take anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. James Stout If you're not pregnant, it's okay to do whatever. Yeah. If you are pregnant, not a woman, it's okay. Go right ahead. Robert Evans Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. I guess. Wait, no, I don't think that's how it works. Transmastic double? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think if you have a fetus gestating in you, you're only supposed to do cocaine. Garrison Davis Definitely the least autistic group of people. Non-binary people. Yeah, definitely. James Stout Definitely they can just take whatever or do or do take whatever yeah too many drugs like like they'll say that you should consult with it with your doctor consult a doctor yeah and none Of them are risk-free but it's it's it's a cost-benefit analysis right we covered this the autism and tylenol like correlation versus causation based on that one swedish study this Garrison Davis Is i'm interested to see how Johnson& Johnson argues this in court and if that will have effects across the rest of the Trump administration's anti-tylenol push if they're able to successfully Defend their product against Ken Paxton. So critical support to Tylenol, I guess. Robert Evans Welcome to the resistance, Big Pharma. Garrison Davis Jesus Christ. Yeah. James Stout If people want to listen to more on that, you can go back and find our previous episode. ([Time 1:16:03](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0b87bd9d-83a0-455d-98b3-681b8842becb))