Podcasts about Federal

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    Latest podcast episodes about Federal

    FIVE MINUTE NEWS
    Trump's Asylum 'Re-Screening' Aims to Indefinitely Detain Legal Migrants for Profit.

    FIVE MINUTE NEWS

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2026 10:52


    When Donald Trump returned to office, he pledged the largest immigration crackdown in U.S. history. While public debate centered on mass deportations, a quieter — and potentially more consequential — transformation has taken shape: the rapid expansion of immigrant detention capacity inside the United States. New 2025 data shows that 77% of people newly placed into deportation proceedings had no criminal conviction. At the same time, ICE is consolidating more than 200 detention sites into 34 massive facilities — including proposed “mega-centers” capable of holding up to 10,000 people each. Planned sites span Georgia, Maryland, Texas, and Arizona, with total capacity projected to approach 100,000 beds. A controversial Department of Homeland Security memo now directs mandatory “re-vetting” of refugees at the one-year mark, allowing detention during inspection with no defined time limit. Critics argue this creates the risk of prolonged — even indefinite — confinement for people lawfully admitted to the United States. Federal judges have rebuked elements of the policy, citing constitutional concerns and unlawful detention practices. Meanwhile, fatal encounters involving federal immigration officers and a wave of collapsed federal prosecutions have intensified scrutiny. Supporters call the overhaul modernization and a restoration of order. Opponents see the construction of a permanent detention infrastructure that could outlast any single administration. Independent media has never been more important. Please support this channel by subscribing here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkbwLFZhawBqK2b9gW08z3g?sub_confirmation=1 Join this channel with a membership for exclusive early access and bonus content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkbwLFZhawBqK2b9gW08z3g/join Five Minute News is an Evergreen Podcast, covering politics, inequality, health and climate - delivering independent, unbiased and essential news for the US and across the world. Visit us online at http://www.fiveminute.news Follow us on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/fiveminutenews.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram http://instagram.com/fiveminnews Support us on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/fiveminutenews You can subscribe to Five Minute News with your preferred podcast app, ask your smart speaker, or enable Five Minute News as your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing skill. CONTENT DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed on this channel are those of the guests and authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Anthony Davis or Five Minute News LLC. Any content provided by our hosts, guests or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything, in line with the First Amendment right to free and protected speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The John Batchelor Show
    S8 Ep501: Neil Lanctot covers Charles Evans Hughes winning the Republican nomination, forcing Roosevelt to abandon Progressives, while suffrage leaders pressure candidates to support a federal amendment during the 1916 campaign. 6

    The John Batchelor Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 7:14


    Neil Lanctot covers Charles Evans Hughes winning the Republican nomination, forcing Roosevelt to abandon Progressives, while suffrage leaders pressure candidates to support a federal amendment during the 1916 campaign. 6

    This Week in Tech (Audio)
    TWiT 1072: The Devil's Advocate - Jailbreaking Fighter Jets, Social Media Addiction, and Self-Driving Snafus

    This Week in Tech (Audio)

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 183:40 Transcription Available


    What do jailbreaking fighter jets, lost Amazon vans, and swapping your phone's smart features for a handful of mud have in common? TWiT dives into the wild, occasionally absurd future of tech, where yesterday's sci-fi is tomorrow's supply-chain headache. Mark Zuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in court Instagram Boss Says 16 Hours of Daily Use Is Not Addiction Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push To Advance AI Agenda - Slashdot Australia's Social Media Ban Is Isolating Kids With Disabilities—Just Like Critics Warned Google I/O 2026 set for May 19-20 Pixel 10A hands-on: More like a slightly better Pixel 9A than a slightly worse Pixel 10 Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro, says it's better at complex problem-solving Tucson Daily Brief Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand 'Search Party' Surveillance Beyond Dogs A $10K+ bounty is waiting for anyone who can unplug Ring doorbells from Amazon’s cloud Amazon delivery van accidentally gets stuck in the sea in Britain Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans Government Docs Reveal New Details About Tesla and Waymo Robotaxis' Human Babysitters The Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling Won't Bring Car Prices Back to Earth A flood of cheap used EVs is coming Signal guide for everyday folks PayPal discloses data breach that exposed user info for 6 months Federal ban on TP-Link routers shelved, but Texas fights on You probably can't trust your password manager if it's compromised Mississippi health system shuts down clinics statewide after ransomware attack Fake Job Recruiters Hid Malware In Developer Coding Challenges F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like an IPhone: Dutch Defense Minister - Slashdot In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't,' notes the experiment creator | Tom's Hardware Lab-Grown Meat Exists (But Nobody Wants To Eat It) CERN rebuilt the original browser from 1989 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Sam Abuelsamid, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Nicholas De Leon Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: trustedtech.team/twit365 threatlocker.com/twit expressvpn.com/twit meter.com/twit shopify.com/twit

    S2 Underground
    The Wire - February 23, 2026

    S2 Underground

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 4:18


    //The Wire//1900Z February 23, 2026////ROUTINE////BLUF: SECRET SERVICE NEUTRALIZES GUNMAN AT MAR-A-LAGO. BUILDUP CONTINUES IN MIDDLE EAST AS MASS EVACUATIONS BEGIN. CONFLICT REMAINS INTENSE IN MEXICO.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Mexico: Following yesterday's intense fighting in Jalisco, most airlines have canceled flights out of Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. The main hospital in Guadalajara was evacuated for a few hours, after CJNG forces threatened to attack the facility due to rumors that wounded Federal forces were being treated there. The National Guard base in San Juan de Los Lagos was attacked with explosives (possibly RPGs), which resulted in several casualties.Far to the north, schools throughout Baja and Tijuana have been cancelled for all levels of education until further notice, and various Cartel-affiliated social media pages have declared a 10:00pm curfew for civilians, announcing that anyone caught outside after this hour will be shot.Concerning casualties sustained so far, Government forces report a total of 25x KIA as of this morning, most of which occurred as a result of the attack on the National Guard base. For CJNG, casualties are not known, as they usually withdraw with their wounded/dead without disclosing casualty figures until much later (if at all).Analyst Comment: Officially, the position of the Federal government is that absolutely nothing is happening whatsoever. This morning, President Sheinbaum stated several times that no blockades were in place, no engagements took place at all this morning, and everything is perfectly calm. This is mostly a lie, as multiple arson attacks have been reported this morning, but it's the story that the federales are sticking to. It is true that the knee-jerk response yesterday was an intense flash-in-the-pan, however much more substantial resources are staging throughout the nation, as many different cartels get ready for a protracted fight, if that is the chosen course of action.At lower levels of government, officials are not taking any chances. Authorities being concerned enough to cancel classes and close businesses in Baja is interesting as most people thought that this state was entirely controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel...not CJNG. This also means that conflict is likely to spread throughout the country, not just Jalisco where the violence first began. Cross border-conflict has not yet been observed in American border towns just yet, however with the speed at which hostilities have developed, a hot, shooting war can break out in any location at any time.-HomeFront-Florida: Over the weekend, a suspected assassination attempt was reported at Mar-a-Lago, after an assailant armed with a shotgun and incendiary materials breached the inner perimeter of the compound. Sunday morning, the US Secret Service posted a press statement confirming that one suspect had been killed at Mar-a-Lago after breaching a perimeter fence.Analyst Comment: Due to the sensitivity of the site, zero details have been provided on where the suspect breached the fence, or where the individual was engaged within the compound. No information has been posted regarding the shooter's identity or motive for the attack.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: In the Middle East, wartime preparations continue as before. Meanwhile on the diplomatic front, negotiations between the United States and Iran are scheduled to resume in Geneva on Thursday. Over the weekend, the Iranian diplomatic delegation was presented with a letter from the United States, outlining the proposals for limits on the Iranian missile program. As the Iranians have stated from the very start that their missile program itself is not up for discussion in any way, they returned the letter, reportedly unopened. At the time, most surmised that this was the last chance the Iranians h

    Cognitive Dissidents
    Healthy Climate Skepticism (?)

    Cognitive Dissidents

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 58:50


    North Dakota State Climatologist Daryl Ritcheson joins the show for his annual check-in about the climate (our fourth???) - He and Jacob revisit last year's forecast misses and hits before diving into 2026. They explore the transition from La Niña to El Niño, implications for U.S. agriculture, hurricane risk in the Gulf, and crop prospects in South America and the Black Sea. The discussion then widens into a candid debate over sea level rise, extreme weather trends, and climate data interpretation... Highlighting disagreements, long-term cycles, and the importance of questioning assumptions in an era of clickbait and politicized climate narratives.--Timestamps:(00:00) - Welcome(01:40) - Forecast Scorecard(04:02) - Federal cuts & the National Weather Service(06:52) - AI in meteorology(09:18) - Weather hype, clickbait, and short public memory(13:17) - 2026: La Niña fading, El Niño on deck(14:39) - Atlantic hurricane outlook for 2026 (Gulf Coast focus)(19:32) - Heartland & farm belt forecast(22:30) - West vs. Rockies(24:30) - Global Ag weather(27:44) - Black Sea outlook(29:34) - 1.5°C Threshold: What the Recent Record Heat Means(34:26) - Satellites vs. Tide Gauges(35:48) - Glaciers, Natural Cycles & Past Warm Periods(37:25) - Extreme Weather Claims(40:09) - Tornado Trends & the Problem of Short Data Windows(42:41) - What Actually Keeps Daryl Up at Night(44:50) - Depoliticizing Climate Talk(49:12) - India & the Monsoon(52:22) - Trusted Data Sources, Raw Data, and “Weather Rhymes”--Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.comJacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShapJacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe --The Jacob Shapiro Show is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com--Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today's volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world.--

    This Week in Tech (Video HI)
    TWiT 1072: The Devil's Advocate - Jailbreaking Fighter Jets, Social Media Addiction, and Self-Driving Snafus

    This Week in Tech (Video HI)

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 183:40 Transcription Available


    What do jailbreaking fighter jets, lost Amazon vans, and swapping your phone's smart features for a handful of mud have in common? TWiT dives into the wild, occasionally absurd future of tech, where yesterday's sci-fi is tomorrow's supply-chain headache. Mark Zuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in court Instagram Boss Says 16 Hours of Daily Use Is Not Addiction Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push To Advance AI Agenda - Slashdot Australia's Social Media Ban Is Isolating Kids With Disabilities—Just Like Critics Warned Google I/O 2026 set for May 19-20 Pixel 10A hands-on: More like a slightly better Pixel 9A than a slightly worse Pixel 10 Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro, says it's better at complex problem-solving Tucson Daily Brief Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand 'Search Party' Surveillance Beyond Dogs A $10K+ bounty is waiting for anyone who can unplug Ring doorbells from Amazon’s cloud Amazon delivery van accidentally gets stuck in the sea in Britain Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans Government Docs Reveal New Details About Tesla and Waymo Robotaxis' Human Babysitters The Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling Won't Bring Car Prices Back to Earth A flood of cheap used EVs is coming Signal guide for everyday folks PayPal discloses data breach that exposed user info for 6 months Federal ban on TP-Link routers shelved, but Texas fights on You probably can't trust your password manager if it's compromised Mississippi health system shuts down clinics statewide after ransomware attack Fake Job Recruiters Hid Malware In Developer Coding Challenges F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like an IPhone: Dutch Defense Minister - Slashdot In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't,' notes the experiment creator | Tom's Hardware Lab-Grown Meat Exists (But Nobody Wants To Eat It) CERN rebuilt the original browser from 1989 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Sam Abuelsamid, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Nicholas De Leon Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: trustedtech.team/twit365 threatlocker.com/twit expressvpn.com/twit meter.com/twit shopify.com/twit

    All TWiT.tv Shows (MP3)
    This Week in Tech 1072: The Devil's Advocate

    All TWiT.tv Shows (MP3)

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 183:40 Transcription Available


    What do jailbreaking fighter jets, lost Amazon vans, and swapping your phone's smart features for a handful of mud have in common? TWiT dives into the wild, occasionally absurd future of tech, where yesterday's sci-fi is tomorrow's supply-chain headache. Mark Zuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in court Instagram Boss Says 16 Hours of Daily Use Is Not Addiction Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push To Advance AI Agenda - Slashdot Australia's Social Media Ban Is Isolating Kids With Disabilities—Just Like Critics Warned Google I/O 2026 set for May 19-20 Pixel 10A hands-on: More like a slightly better Pixel 9A than a slightly worse Pixel 10 Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro, says it's better at complex problem-solving Tucson Daily Brief Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand 'Search Party' Surveillance Beyond Dogs A $10K+ bounty is waiting for anyone who can unplug Ring doorbells from Amazon’s cloud Amazon delivery van accidentally gets stuck in the sea in Britain Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans Government Docs Reveal New Details About Tesla and Waymo Robotaxis' Human Babysitters The Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling Won't Bring Car Prices Back to Earth A flood of cheap used EVs is coming Signal guide for everyday folks PayPal discloses data breach that exposed user info for 6 months Federal ban on TP-Link routers shelved, but Texas fights on You probably can't trust your password manager if it's compromised Mississippi health system shuts down clinics statewide after ransomware attack Fake Job Recruiters Hid Malware In Developer Coding Challenges F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like an IPhone: Dutch Defense Minister - Slashdot In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't,' notes the experiment creator | Tom's Hardware Lab-Grown Meat Exists (But Nobody Wants To Eat It) CERN rebuilt the original browser from 1989 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Sam Abuelsamid, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Nicholas De Leon Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: trustedtech.team/twit365 threatlocker.com/twit expressvpn.com/twit meter.com/twit shopify.com/twit

    Radio Leo (Audio)
    This Week in Tech 1072: The Devil's Advocate

    Radio Leo (Audio)

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 183:40 Transcription Available


    What do jailbreaking fighter jets, lost Amazon vans, and swapping your phone's smart features for a handful of mud have in common? TWiT dives into the wild, occasionally absurd future of tech, where yesterday's sci-fi is tomorrow's supply-chain headache. Mark Zuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in court Instagram Boss Says 16 Hours of Daily Use Is Not Addiction Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push To Advance AI Agenda - Slashdot Australia's Social Media Ban Is Isolating Kids With Disabilities—Just Like Critics Warned Google I/O 2026 set for May 19-20 Pixel 10A hands-on: More like a slightly better Pixel 9A than a slightly worse Pixel 10 Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro, says it's better at complex problem-solving Tucson Daily Brief Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand 'Search Party' Surveillance Beyond Dogs A $10K+ bounty is waiting for anyone who can unplug Ring doorbells from Amazon’s cloud Amazon delivery van accidentally gets stuck in the sea in Britain Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans Government Docs Reveal New Details About Tesla and Waymo Robotaxis' Human Babysitters The Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling Won't Bring Car Prices Back to Earth A flood of cheap used EVs is coming Signal guide for everyday folks PayPal discloses data breach that exposed user info for 6 months Federal ban on TP-Link routers shelved, but Texas fights on You probably can't trust your password manager if it's compromised Mississippi health system shuts down clinics statewide after ransomware attack Fake Job Recruiters Hid Malware In Developer Coding Challenges F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like an IPhone: Dutch Defense Minister - Slashdot In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't,' notes the experiment creator | Tom's Hardware Lab-Grown Meat Exists (But Nobody Wants To Eat It) CERN rebuilt the original browser from 1989 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Sam Abuelsamid, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Nicholas De Leon Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: trustedtech.team/twit365 threatlocker.com/twit expressvpn.com/twit meter.com/twit shopify.com/twit

    My Crazy Family | A Podcast of Crazy Family Stories
    Anna Kepner: Sealed Federal Charges, Blended Family Red Flags, and 16 Hours of Silence

    My Crazy Family | A Podcast of Crazy Family Stories

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 28:24


    Eighteen-year-old Anna Kepner found dead under a bed on the Carnival Horizon. Homicide by mechanical asphyxiation. Her sixteen-year-old stepbrother — the sole suspect — appeared in sealed federal proceedings and was released to guardian custody. Nearly sixteen hours passed before anyone checked on her. Her father slept across the hall. This episode combines the legal and psychological breakdown of the Kepner case. Bob Motta explains what sealed juvenile federal proceedings look like, why the FBI kept jurisdiction, and what the suspect's claimed memory loss and alleged medication non-compliance could mean for a defense strategy. He addresses the family's contradictory public statements and what we can actually learn from a case this locked down. The psychological dimension is just as critical — a blended family where the stepmother called them "the Three Amigos," a travel advisor recommended separate cabins, therapy had been ongoing for over a year, and witnesses allege violence the night before Anna was found. The warning signs were there. The story the family was telling filtered them out. Anna planned to graduate and join the Navy. Instead she got a night nobody checked on her.#AnnaKepner #CarnivalHorizon #BobMotta #CruiseShipDeath #BlendedFamily #SealedProceedings #FBIInvestigation #JuvenileJustice #TrueCrime #HiddenKillersJoin Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

    Stories From Women Who Walk
    60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday: We Have the Power to Hold Musk & DOGE Criminally Accountable for Pirating Private SSA Data

    Stories From Women Who Walk

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 2:32


    Hello to you listening in Spokane, Washington! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. Christopher Armitage writing The Existentialist Republic on Substack posted an article entitled Democrats Can Launch Criminal Investigations into DOGE, Today. According to Armitage dozens of state investigations have the power to bring criminal actions to hold Musk/DOGE accountable for pirating private Social Security Administration (SSA) data and releasing it to third parties. Click HERE to read the article and get ready to take steps to e-mail your County Prosecutor, Governor and Attorney General.     Following are three email templates you can use if you live in the Great State of Washington. For all other states, please check the Substack article comments to find yours. If you don't see your state, comment in the post to receive your state's relevant statutes and templates to email. Thank you for listening and taking action wherever your feet touch the ground! Email 1: To your Washington State County Prosecutor Dear, I'm writing to request that your office refer a matter to Attorney General Nick Brown for criminal investigation under RCW 43.10.232. In a January 16, 2026 court filing in AFSCME v. Social Security Administration (D. Md., No. 1:25-cv-00596), the U.S. Department of Justice admitted that employees of the Department of Government Efficiency, while embedded at the Social Security Administration, transferred agency data to an unauthorized third-party server called Cloudflare outside all SSA security protocols. The SSA has confirmed it cannot determine what data was shared or whether it still exists on that server. A DOGE team member also sent an encrypted file believed to contain the names and addresses of roughly 1,000 people to the Department of Homeland Security and DOGE leadership, and the SSA has been unable to access the file to verify its contents. The filing further revealed that a DOGE employee signed a "Voter Data Agreement" with a political advocacy group seeking to match Social Security records against state voter rolls to overturn election results in certain states. The SSA made two Hatch Act referrals to the Office of Special Counsel as a result. Separately, NPR has reported that DOGE engineer Aram Moghaddassi contacted the Florida governor's office about state voter data while working simultaneously at SSA and DHS, and that a DOGE associate publicly claimed to have matched SSA data against voter rolls at a political rally. SSA records include the personal information of Washington residents in [your county]. This conduct may constitute violations of Washington's identity theft statute (RCW 9.35.020) and the Washington Cybercrime Act (RCW 9A.90). Federal officials do not have blanket immunity from state criminal prosecution when they exceed the scope of their authorized duties. I'm asking you to refer this matter to Attorney General Brown so his Criminal Justice Division can investigate whether Washington residents were victims of state crimes. The AG's office has confirmed it needs a referral from a county prosecutor or the governor to act. You have the authority to open that door. Thank you for your time and your service to our community. Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address] Email 2: To the Washington State Governor Ferguson Dear Governor Ferguson, I'm writing to request that your office refer a matter to Attorney General Nick Brown for criminal investigation under RCW 43.10.232. In a January 16, 2026 court filing in AFSCME v. Social Security Administration (D. Md., No. 1:25-cv-00596), the U.S. Department of Justice admitted that employees of the Department of Government Efficiency, while embedded at the Social Security Administration, transferred agency data to an unauthorized third-party server called Cloudflare outside all SSA security protocols. The SSA has confirmed it cannot determine what data was shared or whether it still exists on that server. A DOGE team member also sent an encrypted file believed to contain the names and addresses of roughly 1,000 people to the Department of Homeland Security and DOGE leadership, and the SSA has been unable to access the file to verify its contents. The filing further revealed that a DOGE employee signed a "Voter Data Agreement" with a political advocacy group seeking to match Social Security records against state voter rolls to overturn election results in certain states. The SSA made two Hatch Act referrals to the Office of Special Counsel as a result. Separately, NPR has reported that a DOGE engineer contacted the Florida governor's office about state voter data while working simultaneously at SSA and DHS, and that a DOGE associate publicly claimed to have matched SSA data against voter rolls at a political rally. These actions may constitute violations of Washington's identity theft statute (RCW 9.35.020) and the Washington Cybercrime Act (RCW 9A.90). The personal information of millions of Washington residents is contained in SSA records. Federal officials do not have blanket immunity from state criminal prosecution when they exceed the scope of their authorized duties, and a state conviction cannot be erased by a presidential pardon. The Attorney General's office has confirmed it requires a referral from a county prosecutor or the governor to investigate and prosecute criminal matters. I'm asking you to make that referral so Attorney General Brown can determine whether Washington residents were victims of state crimes. Thank you for your leadership. Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address] Email 3: To the Washington State Attorney General's Office The Honorable Nick Brown, I understand that the Washington Attorney General's office requires a referral from a county prosecutor or the governor to investigate and prosecute criminal matters. Toward that end I've written to both my [insert your county's name]  County prosecutor [insert the prosecutor's name] and Governor Ferguson requesting that they make such a referral. Specifically, I've asked them to refer the matter of DOGE employees' handling of Social Security Administration data, as described in the January 2026 DOJ court filing and subsequent reporting, for investigation under Washington's identity theft statute (RCW 9.35.020) and the Washington Cybercrime Act (RCW 9A.90). I wanted your office to be aware that this request is coming, and I hope Attorney General Brown will be prepared to act when the referral arrives. Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you'll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. Be sure to stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, email me to arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and stay current with me as "Wyzga on Words" on Substack. Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts Music: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music ALL content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.  If you found this podcast episode helpful, please consider sharing and attributing it to Diane Wyzga of Stories From Women Who Walk podcast with a link back to the original source.

    Tech Path Podcast
    Chaos Returns!

    Tech Path Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 22:13 Transcription Available


    The probability of the Clarity Act being signed into law this year fell below 50% after rising above 80% last week, per a Polymarket event contract. Meanwhile, The United States Supreme Court's ruling, which declared Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs unlawful, has injected uncertainty into global trade yet again, as the US president imposed a new 15 percent tariff on Saturday.~This episode is sponsored by iTrust Capital~iTrustCapital | Get $100 Funding Reward + No Monthly Fees when you sign up using our custom link! ➜ https://bit.ly/iTrustPaul00:00 Intro00:20 Sponsor: iTrust Capital00:40 CNBC: Retail uncertainty is back01:50 Most Severe CRASH02:20 New lows this week?03:10 Saylor: Bitcoin is amazon 10 years ago04:15 Boomers shorting Saylor05:10 META chart06:00 Trump threatens countries07:00 Gavin Newsom: Trump & Bessent / Dumb and dumber08:40 CNBC: Tariff Business impact10:10 Even FOX hates tariffs10:45 The “mother of all refunds”?11:40 Trump: dividend checks without congress12:20 Check promises13:15 Howard Lutnik is disgusting14:00 Dems surging towards full control14:20 Gold and silver15:00 CLARITY Fail16:00 Bessent puts pressure on Coinbase...again17:00 USD1 depeg17:40 Patrick Witt: Do you have enough dems?18:50 Netflix too19:20 Coinledger: Tax chaos21:30 Crypto Tax Roundtable today#Crypto #bitcoin #Ethereum~Chaos Returns!

    Set For Sentencing
    What's Crackin' at the Sentencing Commission - New Proposals that Could Change the Shape of Federal Sentencing

    Set For Sentencing

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 60:22


    Congress intended most first-time non-violent offenders receive a non-custodial sentence.  That's how federal law worked before the guidelines.  But, the guidelines did not fulfill that promise because the majority of those sentenced, end up having to serve time in the crumbling, overcrowded Bureau of Prisons.  All that may be about to change, with revolutionary new proposals the Commission is considering.   Take a listen, and then make your voice heard by lodging your comment on the USSG website: https://www.ussc.gov/policymaking/public-comment/public-comment-2026-proposed-amendments   IN THIS EPISODE: Trump Tarriff case and it's implications in the criminal world; The major questions doctrine; Proposed complete restructuring of sentencing guidelines table; Proposed post-offense rehabilitation reductions   LINKS: Visit the SET FOR SENTENCING SHOWNOTES FOR THE FOLLOWING LINKS: -prior recent podcast on other guideline amendment -3 R'S of Sentencing Narrative Article -New Law 360 Article by Doug Passon and Mark Allenbaugh on Guideline changes  

    The Valley Today
    180,000 Reasons to Care: The Growing Need for Food Assistance

    The Valley Today

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 25:51


    Record Numbers Shatter Post-Pandemic Expectations Six years after the pandemic first disrupted American life, a troubling trend emerges across rural Virginia. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank now serves approximately 180,000 people every month—a staggering 39,000 more than the pandemic's peak. Les Sinclair, the organization's Communications and PR Manager, reveals this sobering reality during a recent conversation on The Valley Today with host Janet Michael. Initially, food bank officials believed the pandemic would represent the worst crisis they'd ever face. When government assistance programs temporarily lifted many families out of poverty, demand dropped slightly to around 141,000 monthly visits. However, this optimism proved short-lived. "We thought the numbers would never go up beyond the pandemic max," Les explains. "That just didn't pan out." Instead, inflation took hold with devastating consequences. While prices soared across every sector, wages failed to keep pace. Consequently, more working families find themselves unable to afford basic necessities, forcing them to seek food assistance for the first time in their lives. A Massive Rural Footprint The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank operates across an impressive territory that spans 25 counties and eight cities throughout Virginia. Stretching from Winchester and Frederick County in the north to beyond Lynchburg and Bedford County in the south, the organization covers approximately 12,000 square miles—roughly the size of Maryland or one-third of Virginia's total area. To manage this vast region effectively, the food bank maintains four strategic warehouse locations. Their headquarters sits in Verona, just outside Staunton, while additional distribution centers operate in Winchester, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg. Notably, the Winchester facility alone serves Frederick, Clarke, Fauquier, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, and Rappahannock Counties, including the densely populated Loudoun County. Moreover, the organization represents a groundbreaking experiment in food banking. When founded in 1981, most food banks concentrated on urban areas where dense populations made distribution easier. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, however, pioneered rural food distribution—a critical distinction since nine out of ten food-insecure Americans live in rural communities rather than urban centers. The Partnership Model That Makes It Work The food bank functions as a sophisticated logistics operation, partnering with Feeding America nationally and hundreds of local food pantries regionally. Les compares their role to a Walmart warehouse, buying food by the truckload and storing massive quantities. Meanwhile, local pantries like Winchester CCAP serve as the "customer-facing" locations, directly distributing food to families in need. This partnership proves essential for reaching scattered rural populations. "We couldn't do what we do without them," Les emphasizes. "They couldn't do what they do without us." Furthermore, the organization sources food from diverse channels. Retail grocers contribute 36% of donations through partner pickup programs, where pantries collect excess inventory directly from stores like Food Lion, Kroger, and Giant. Additionally, the USDA provides government-purchased food from American farmers, while large manufacturers donate products with misprinted labels or excess inventory. Local and regional farmers also contribute fresh produce to the network. The Grocery Store Challenge Recently, however, the retail partnership faced unexpected pressure. During October and November, and again during winter snowstorms, consumers cleared grocery store shelves completely. When stores have no excess inventory, they have nothing left to donate. Compounding this challenge, grocery chains have become remarkably efficient at predicting demand. Using AI technology, they now anticipate that shoppers will buy strawberry Pop-Tarts before storms and adjust inventory accordingly. While this efficiency benefits retailers and consumers, it reduces the surplus available for food banks. Simultaneously, USDA food supplies have dropped 30% year-over-year, forcing the food bank to purchase more food directly. Although they cannot fully replace the high-quality proteins and vegetables the government typically provides, they continue prioritizing nutritious options for their partner pantries. Shattering Misconceptions About Food Pantry Users Perhaps the most persistent myth surrounding food insecurity involves who actually needs assistance. Many people assume food pantry visitors are simply lazy and should "get a job." The reality, however, tells a dramatically different story. Most people seeking food assistance are working. They're trying to improve their lives but living on financial margins so thin that a single unexpected expense creates crisis. In fact, more than a quarter of the food bank's guests visit only once per year—they simply need help getting over a temporary hump. Les shares the story of a convenience store worker who injured her wrist on the job. Unable to work while waiting for workers' compensation, she has zero income and cares for a paralyzed son. She's not lazy—she's injured, uninsured temporarily, and desperately trying to survive until she can return to work. Even when workers' compensation arrives, it typically covers only 70% of regular wages and takes considerable time to process. For families living paycheck to paycheck, missing even one payment creates cascading financial disasters. The Government Shutdown Ripple Effect Currently, partial government shutdowns compound these challenges. Federal workers, particularly TSA agents, continue reporting to work without paychecks. They still pay for childcare, gas, and other necessities, but many receive payment only monthly—making it extraordinarily difficult to stretch resources from one paycheck to the next. Contrary to popular belief, landlords cannot always wait patiently for delayed rent payments. Many landlords depend on rental income to pay their own mortgages. When a tenant misses a $2,000 rent payment, the landlord must still cover their mortgage. Moreover, the economic impact extends far beyond government employees. When federal workers stop dining out, restaurants lose business. Wait staff lose tips. Restaurant owners order less food from suppliers like Sysco. Truck drivers haul fewer loads. The entire economic system suffers. Sarah Cohen of Route 11 Chips experienced this firsthand. During COVID and government shutdowns, her sales to DC cafes plummeted because federal workers weren't coming to the office for lunch. These ripple effects reach deep into Virginia's economy, affecting businesses and workers far from the capital. The Impossible Choice: Heat or Eat Winter brings particularly cruel dilemmas for struggling families. Les recently spoke with William, a roofer injured on the job who lives in a mobile home with his dog, Cocoa. Unable to afford heating, William and Cocoa "just sort of curl up" together while he waits for surgeries that will allow him to return to work. Another woman caring for three disabled grandchildren faces $400 monthly electric bills. With both she and her husband experiencing serious health issues and the children's parents out of the picture, they constantly struggle with the impossible choice between heating their home and feeding their family. These aren't isolated cases. Across the food bank's service area, families regularly face this devastating decision. When $600 heating bills arrive after cold snaps, many choose to keep the lights on and visit food pantries to feed their families. Food as Medicine: A Holistic Approach The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank takes a progressive stance on nutrition, viewing food as medicine rather than mere sustenance. They prioritize fresh produce, which comprised 30% of their distribution last year, because they understand that proper nutrition helps people thrive. Nutritious food keeps medical bills down across entire communities. Children pay better attention in school when properly nourished. People can manage chronic illnesses and diseases through better nutrition. Conversely, when families can only afford high-calorie processed foods, they face increased health risks despite consuming adequate calories—debunking the myth that overweight individuals cannot be food insecure. Additionally, access to food reduces stress, which itself functions as a health intervention. When people live on the edge of a financial cliff, they cannot make good long-term decisions. They're too focused on simply not falling. However, when food security removes one major stressor, families can step back from that precipice and begin making better choices for their futures. Quality Food for Everyone Another common misconception suggests that food bank offerings are somehow subpar. In reality, the food distributed through this network maintains high-quality standards. While well-meaning donors sometimes contribute items like ramen noodles during food drives, the bulk of distributed food comes from retail grocers, USDA programs, and direct purchases of nutritious items. The food bank specifically prioritizes produce because people crave fresh fruits and vegetables. Although produce represents one of the most expensive food categories—often making it a luxury for families on tight budgets—the organization believes everyone deserves access to healthy, nutritious food regardless of their economic circumstances. How Communities Can Help Fortunately, community members have multiple ways to support this critical mission. Volunteering provides valuable assistance, and notably, many food bank guests themselves volunteer, giving back to the community that supported them during difficult times. Financial donations prove particularly effective. Just $1 helps provide more than three meals, meaning $10 supplies a month of meals for someone in need, while $100 provides 300 meals. The food bank's purchasing power and logistics expertise amplify every dollar donated. Beyond time and money, advocacy matters tremendously. Currently, the Federation of Virginia Food Banks—representing all seven food banks across the state—works to promote "food as medicine" initiatives with the state legislature. Community members can support these efforts through the food bank's website at BRAFB.org/actnow or BRAFB.org/getinvolved. Finally, social media engagement amplifies the message. Following the food bank's social media accounts, resharing posts, and commenting helps spread awareness that hunger relief remains an urgent community need. Finding Help When You Need It For individuals and families currently struggling with food insecurity, Les offers an important message: "You're not alone, and we are here with you. We are here to walk with you through this challenge in your life." The food bank's website features an easy-to-use food finder tool. Visitors to BRAFB.org can click "Find Food," enter their address, and immediately see all nearby pantries with contact information, open hours, and everything needed to access food quickly. Alternatively, Virginians can call 211 for phone-based assistance connecting them with local resources. A Community Responsibility As this conversation reveals, food insecurity affects far more people than most realize—one in nine people across the food bank's service area. These aren't strangers or statistics; they're neighbors, coworkers, and community members facing temporary crises that could happen to anyone. The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank stands ready to help, but they cannot do it alone. Through partnerships with local pantries, support from community donors and volunteers, and advocacy for systemic solutions, the organization continues fighting to ensure everyone has enough to eat. In Janet Michael's words, it's "a responsibility I do not take lightly"—and neither should any of us.

    The Scoot Show with Scoot
    Hour 3: The "Federal Beer Investigators" are on the case to identify FBI Director Kash Patel's beer

    The Scoot Show with Scoot

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 35:50


    This hour, Ian Hoch and Coleman try to identify the beer that FBI Director Kask Patel was drinking with the gold medal-winning USA hockey team. Then, Johnathan “JB” Brownlee, a founding partner of Torfoot Entertainment Group, joins the show to chat about how hyper-realistic AI will affect the future of Hollywood.

    The Education Exchange
    Ep. 431 - Feb. 23, 2026 - The Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Starts in 2027. What Can We Expect?

    The Education Exchange

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 34:22


    John Schilling, a senior advisor for the nonprofit Invest in Education, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss new Federal scholarship tax credit program, and how states are preparing for its launch in 2027. 

    All TWiT.tv Shows (Video LO)
    This Week in Tech 1072: The Devil's Advocate

    All TWiT.tv Shows (Video LO)

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 183:40 Transcription Available


    What do jailbreaking fighter jets, lost Amazon vans, and swapping your phone's smart features for a handful of mud have in common? TWiT dives into the wild, occasionally absurd future of tech, where yesterday's sci-fi is tomorrow's supply-chain headache. Mark Zuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in court Instagram Boss Says 16 Hours of Daily Use Is Not Addiction Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push To Advance AI Agenda - Slashdot Australia's Social Media Ban Is Isolating Kids With Disabilities—Just Like Critics Warned Google I/O 2026 set for May 19-20 Pixel 10A hands-on: More like a slightly better Pixel 9A than a slightly worse Pixel 10 Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro, says it's better at complex problem-solving Tucson Daily Brief Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand 'Search Party' Surveillance Beyond Dogs A $10K+ bounty is waiting for anyone who can unplug Ring doorbells from Amazon’s cloud Amazon delivery van accidentally gets stuck in the sea in Britain Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans Government Docs Reveal New Details About Tesla and Waymo Robotaxis' Human Babysitters The Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling Won't Bring Car Prices Back to Earth A flood of cheap used EVs is coming Signal guide for everyday folks PayPal discloses data breach that exposed user info for 6 months Federal ban on TP-Link routers shelved, but Texas fights on You probably can't trust your password manager if it's compromised Mississippi health system shuts down clinics statewide after ransomware attack Fake Job Recruiters Hid Malware In Developer Coding Challenges F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like an IPhone: Dutch Defense Minister - Slashdot In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't,' notes the experiment creator | Tom's Hardware Lab-Grown Meat Exists (But Nobody Wants To Eat It) CERN rebuilt the original browser from 1989 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Sam Abuelsamid, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Nicholas De Leon Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: trustedtech.team/twit365 threatlocker.com/twit expressvpn.com/twit meter.com/twit shopify.com/twit

    Noticentro
    Derrumbe incomunica a 2 mil 500 personas en Hidalgo

    Noticentro

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 1:32 Transcription Available


    Gobierno federal va por más agua para CoahuilaEn Coahuila habrá más Centros Libres para mujeres Más información en nuestro Podcast 

    Estadão Notícias
    Caso Master e a questão urgente: André Mendonça vai facilitar a operação abafa sobre Dias Toffoli?

    Estadão Notícias

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 55:35


    No “Estadão Analisa” desta segunda-feira, 23, Carlos Andreazza fala sobre o ministro do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) André Mendonça que convocou delegados da Polícia Federal para uma nova reunião sobre a investigação das suspeitas de irregularidades do Banco Master e do seu dono, Daniel Vorcaro, para a próxima segunda-feira, 23. Em decisão proferida na última sexta-feira, 20, André Mendonça já havia autorizado a PF a retomar as diligências do inquérito e organizar o trabalho dos peritos para a extração dos dados de aparelhos apreendidos. A expectativa dos investigadores é finalizar esse primeiro inquérito nas próximas semanas. Já foram abertas diversas outras frentes de apuração que estão em estágio inicial, como os crimes financeiros envolvendo fundos de investimento e o uso de influenciadores para ataques a autoridades públicas. Assine por R$1,90/mês e tenha acesso ilimitado ao conteúdo do Estadão.Acesse: https://bit.ly/oferta-estadao O 'Estadão Analisa' é transmitido ao vivo de segunda a sexta-feira, às 7h, no Youtube e redes sociais do Estadão. Também disponível no agregador de podcasts de sua preferência. Apresentação: Carlos AndreazzaEdição/Produção: Jefferson PerlebergCoordenação: Renan PagliarusiSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Jornal da Manhã
    Jornal da Manhã - 23/02/2026 | 1ª EDIÇÃO: Fachin arquiva pedido de suspeição de Toffoli | 2ª EDIÇÃO: Narcotraficante mais procurado do México é morto

    Jornal da Manhã

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2026 302:47


    Confira os destaques do Jornal da Manhã desta segunda-feira (23): O presidente do Supremo Tribunal Federal, Edson Fachin, determinou o arquivamento da ação que questionava a atuação do ministro Dias Toffoli no caso envolvendo o Banco Master. A decisão foi tomada neste sábado (21). Paralelamente, o ministro André Mendonça deverá se reunir novamente nesta semana com integrantes da Polícia Federal para discutir os próximos passos da investigação sobre supostas fraudes relacionadas à instituição financeira, que seguem em apuração. O presidente da Câmara dos Deputados, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), informou que o relator da proposta de emenda à Constituição que trata do fim da escala de trabalho 6x1 será definido no início desta semana. A indicação ocorrerá na Comissão de Constituição e Justiça (CCJ), etapa considerada decisiva para a tramitação da PEC, que propõe mudanças na jornada semanal de trabalho e tem gerado amplo debate entre parlamentares, empresários e trabalhadores. Brasil e China aparecem entre os países que podem ser mais beneficiados pelas mudanças nas tarifas anunciadas pelo presidente dos Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, entre sexta-feira (20) e sábado (21). As medidas devem alterar o fluxo do comércio internacional, encarecendo produtos de alguns concorrentes e abrindo espaço para exportações brasileiras e chinesas em setores estratégicos. Agentes do Serviço Secreto dos Estados Unidos e policiais do Departamento do Xerife do Condado de Palm Beach mataram a tiros um homem armado após ele entrar ilegalmente no perímetro de segurança de Mar-a-Lago, na Flórida, na madrugada deste domingo (22). Segundo as autoridades, o suspeito, de cerca de 20 anos, invadiu a área por volta de 1h30 e foi neutralizado. O presidente Donald Trump e a primeira-dama Melania Trump não estavam no local no momento do incidente, pois se encontravam na Casa Branca. Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, conhecido como El Mencho, fundador do Cartel Jalisco Nova Geração, morreu neste domingo (22), aos 59 anos, durante uma operação do Exército no México. Considerado o último grande narcotraficante em atividade no país, El Mencho construiu o cartel mais poderoso e violento do território mexicano por meio do confronto direto com autoridades e do uso sistemático da violência. Sua morte ocorre anos após a prisão de líderes históricos do Cartel de Sinaloa, como Joaquín Guzmán e Ismael Zambada. O governo dos Estados Unidos oferecia recompensa de US$ 15 milhões por sua captura, e especialistas o classificavam como um criminoso “violento por natureza”, que desafiava abertamente o Estado mexicano. O Governo do Brasil, por meio da Caixa, inicia nesta segunda-feira (23) a terceira etapa da liberação do vale-recarga de gás de cozinha (GLP) para beneficiários do Programa Gás do Povo. A nova fase vai contemplar cerca de 4,5 milhões de famílias em todo o país. Em entrevista ao Jornal da Manhã, o deputado federal Pedro Lupion, presidente da Frente Parlamentar Agropecuária (FPA), afirmou que o setor portuário e o agronegócio consideram ilegal a invasão indígena ao terminal da Cargill, em Santarém, no Pará, que levou o governo a suspender a licitação de dragagem no Rio Tapajós. Lupion também comentou a expectativa do agro em relação à nova tarifa de 15% anunciada pelo presidente dos EUA, Donald Trump, avaliando possíveis impactos sobre exportações brasileiras. O ex-vereador Carlos Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) afirmou neste domingo (22) que existe um “desencontro” interno no Partido Liberal e insinuou que seu pai, o ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro, estaria sendo isolado pela sigla após ter a prisão decretada. Essas e outras notícias você acompanha no Jornal da Manhã. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Jornal da Manhã
    Jornal da Manhã - 22/02/2026 | Trump eleva tarifaço global para 15% / Lula fala sobre homenagem na Sapucaí

    Jornal da Manhã

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 22, 2026 182:34


    Confira os destaques do Jornal da Manhã deste domingo (22): O presidente Donald Trump elevou a tarifa global para 15% como resposta após a Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos derrubar o seu plano anterior do tarifaço dos EUA. A nova medida amplia as incertezas econômicas sobre a inflação, o valor do dólar e o ritmo das exportações internacionais. Reportagem: Matheus Dias. O presidente Lula (PT) rebateu as críticas sobre o desfile polêmico da Acadêmicos de Niterói no Rio de Janeiro, afirmando que não é "carnavalesco". Apesar do rebaixamento da agremiação, o petista declarou que aceitou a homenagem, agradeceu o carinho e confirmou que visitará a escola para agradecer pessoalmente aos integrantes. Reportagem: André Anelli. A estrutura de poder no Irã e o crescimento do país sob o comando de Ali Khamenei são pontos centrais na compreensão da atual dinâmica do Oriente Médio. Considerado um nome crucial da geopolítica mundial, o líder supremo exerce influência direta sobre as decisões estratégicas e o desenvolvimento nacional iraniano. Fabrízio Neitzke comentou mais sobre o assunto. O professor de relações internacionais Gunther Rudzit analisa se a presença militar dos Estados Unidos é capaz de intimidar o Irã diante da atual escalada de tensão. O especialista avalia o impacto do envio de tropas intensificado por Donald Trump e os riscos de um conflito aberto no Oriente Médio. Os ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) analisam nesta semana a decisão de Flávio Dino sobre o pagamento de penduricalhos no serviço público. O julgamento ocorre após o presidente Lula (PT) vetar medidas que ultrapassam o teto constitucional. Reportagem: André Anelli. O especialista em finanças e negócios internacionais Beny Fard avalia como o embate entre Donald Trump e a Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos afeta as políticas globais. Fard destaca que os cidadãos americanos já estão "sentindo no bolso". O presidente Lula (PT) disse ao governo de Donald Trump que o Brasil não deseja uma nova "guerra fria" em meio às tensões sobre o tarifaço global. O petista defendeu que o governo brasileiro agiu corretamente ao adotar uma postura de cautela frente às recentes medidas econômicas americanas. Reportagem: André Anelli. A Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito (CPI) do Crime Organizado votará nesta quarta-feira (25) o convite para ouvir os ministros Alexandre de Moraes e Dias Toffoli sobre o caso do Banco Master. Por se tratar de um convite, e não de convocação, os citados não possuem a obrigação legal de comparecer. O ministro do Supremo Tribunal Federal André Mendonça convocou uma nova reunião com a Polícia Federal para realizar um balanço detalhado das investigações sobre o caso do Banco Master. Jesualdo Almeida e Nelson Kobayashi analisaram o assunto. O ex-ministro do Trabalho Ronaldo Nogueira analisa as divergências entre governo e oposição sobre a proposta de fim da escala 6x1 no Brasil. O especialista destaca a necessidade de um consenso equilibrado entre trabalhadores e empregadores para garantir a viabilidade econômica e o bem-estar social. Essas e outras notícias você acompanha no Jornal da Manhã. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Morning Wire
    ‘Follow the Money' - Dark Money Pipeline Uncovered Behind Minnesota Riots? | 2.21.26

    Morning Wire

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 17:26


    Federal immigration crackdowns and fraud investigations in deep blue states like Minnesota and California have sparked protests, some turning violent. The Trump administration claims many demonstrations are not organic but orchestrated and funded by “dark money” groups. In this episode, we examine the funding trail with Seamus Bruner of the Government Accountability Institute. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 2644- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors:Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order + free shipping at https://BollAndBranch.com/wire with code wire.Hello Fresh - Go to https://HelloFresh.com/morningwire10fm to Get 10 free meals + a FREE Zwilling Knife (a $144.99 value) on your third box. Offer valid while supplies last.- - -Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacymorning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    AMERICA OUT LOUD PODCAST NETWORK
    Pritzker's 2026 budget proposal is a reflection of why the Chicago Bears may leave Illinois

    AMERICA OUT LOUD PODCAST NETWORK

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 57:50 Transcription Available


    The National Security Hour with LTC Sargis Sangari – A stadium is not a charity. It is private capital and local jobs. If policy chases headline projects for political reasons while choking everyday taxpayers, that signals weakness. Federal funding can be pulled when states fail basic compliance. That can cost billions in transit, childcare, and infrastructure. Credit agencies warn that thin margins and...

    Beyond The Horizon
    The Deal That Never Happened: Inside Brunel's Planned Cooperation With U.S. Prosecutors (Part 1) (2/21/26)

    Beyond The Horizon

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 17:44 Transcription Available


    In 2016, French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel was reportedly close to cooperating with U.S. prosecutors against Jeffrey Epstein, offering to testify about how he recruited girls for Epstein's sex-trafficking operations and possessed incriminating material in exchange for immunity. Federal records show Brunel had discussions with lawyers for Epstein's victims and was planning a meeting with the U.S. Attorney's Office—suggesting he was prepared to provide evidence that could have significantly strengthened the case against Epstein years earlier. But once Epstein learned of these negotiations, Brunel suddenly went silent and ultimately never offered testimony, and prosecutors didn't take immediate action at the time.Brunel, who ran the modeling agency MC2 with Epstein's financial backing and has long been accused of facilitating abuse by recruiting vulnerable women and girls under the pretense of modeling work, was not pursued by prosecutors in 2016 and Epstein remained free until his 2019 arrest. U.S. files show that this missed cooperation set back efforts to hold Epstein accountable and allowed his exploitation to continue. Brunel was later arrested in France in 2020 on sex-crime allegations and died in custody in 2022, but the earlier opportunity to challenge Epstein's operations appears to have been lost when Brunel backed out of his planned cooperation.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:The accomplice who was going to testify against Jeffrey Epstein—then went dark

    Beyond The Horizon
    The Deal That Never Happened: Inside Brunel's Planned Cooperation With U.S. Prosecutors (Part 2) (2/21/26)

    Beyond The Horizon

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 22:49 Transcription Available


    In 2016, French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel was reportedly close to cooperating with U.S. prosecutors against Jeffrey Epstein, offering to testify about how he recruited girls for Epstein's sex-trafficking operations and possessed incriminating material in exchange for immunity. Federal records show Brunel had discussions with lawyers for Epstein's victims and was planning a meeting with the U.S. Attorney's Office—suggesting he was prepared to provide evidence that could have significantly strengthened the case against Epstein years earlier. But once Epstein learned of these negotiations, Brunel suddenly went silent and ultimately never offered testimony, and prosecutors didn't take immediate action at the time.Brunel, who ran the modeling agency MC2 with Epstein's financial backing and has long been accused of facilitating abuse by recruiting vulnerable women and girls under the pretense of modeling work, was not pursued by prosecutors in 2016 and Epstein remained free until his 2019 arrest. U.S. files show that this missed cooperation set back efforts to hold Epstein accountable and allowed his exploitation to continue. Brunel was later arrested in France in 2020 on sex-crime allegations and died in custody in 2022, but the earlier opportunity to challenge Epstein's operations appears to have been lost when Brunel backed out of his planned cooperation.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:The accomplice who was going to testify against Jeffrey Epstein—then went dark

    1010 WINS ALL LOCAL
    City officials say they learned valuable lessons from previous storms as a new blizzard looms...Three teenagers face charges after a boy falls from the Queensboro Bridge... A federal monitor says the NYPD is acting unconstitutionally

    1010 WINS ALL LOCAL

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 5:33


    This is the morning All Local update for Saturday February 21, 2026.

    Os Pingos nos Is
    Mendonça libera Vorcaro de depor / STF reabre acesso a dados do Master

    Os Pingos nos Is

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 120:06


    Confira os destaques de Os Pingos nos Is desta sexta-feira (20):Após decisão do ministro André Mendonça, do STF, o banqueiro Daniel Vorcaro informou que não comparecerá à CPMI do INSS. O dono do Banco Master negocia alternativas para prestar esclarecimentos, incluindo depoimento restrito em São Paulo ou envio de respostas por escrito à comissão. O ministro André Mendonça, do STF, devolveu à CPMI do INSS o acesso a dados sigilosos de Daniel Vorcaro e do Banco Master. A decisão determina que os documentos, que incluem informações bancárias, fiscais e telefônicas, sejam compartilhados com a comissão por meio da Polícia Federal. A quebra de sigilo havia sido aprovada pela própria CPMI em dezembro. Em meio à crise envolvendo o Banco Master, a Caixa Econômica Federal avalia a compra de carteiras de crédito do Banco de Brasília (BRB). As tratativas ainda estão em fase inicial e buscam dar fôlego à instituição do Distrito Federal. A movimentação ocorre no contexto das investigações que atingem o sistema financeiro e o mercado de crédito. Após a Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos derrubar o tarifaço imposto anteriormente, o presidente Donald Trump anunciou uma nova tarifa global de 10% para todos os países. A decisão do tribunal limitou o uso de uma lei de emergência econômica para impor taxas amplas, mas Trump afirmou que buscará alternativas legais para manter sua política comercial. A medida pode impactar o comércio internacional e exportadores brasileiros. O presidente Lula (PT) afirmou em entrevista que o presidente venezuelano Nicolás Maduro deve ser julgado no seu próprio país, e não nos Estados Unidos como deseja o governo norte-americano. Lula disse que a captura e julgamento de um chefe de Estado por outro país “não é aceitável” e que a solução do problema na Venezuela deve ser conduzida pelo povo venezuelano, com foco em restabelecer a democracia. O prefeito de São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), afirmou que Fernando Haddad “vai tomar um pau danado” caso dispute o governo do Estado contra Tarcísio de Freitas em 2026. A declaração foi feita durante agenda na capital paulista e repercutiu nos bastidores eleitorais. Aliados do presidente Lula articulam a possibilidade de Haddad entrar na disputa pelo Palácio dos Bandeirantes. O senador Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) intensificou as conversas dentro do partido para estruturar um programa de governo visando as eleições de 2026. O principal foco das discussões é a economia, com propostas que incluem redução do tamanho do Estado, corte de gastos e diminuição da carga tributária. O pré-candidato já passou a adotar o slogan “tesouraço” como símbolo das medidas defendidas. Você confere essas e outras notícias em Os Pingos nos Is.

    AP Audio Stories
    Texas man was fatally shot by a federal immigration agent last year during a stop, new records show

    AP Audio Stories

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 0:40


    AP correspondent Julie Walker reports records reveal a federal immigration agent fatally shot a Texas man last year.

    Keen On Democracy
    The Dangerous Myth of Neutrality Brian Soucek on Why Universities Should Take Sides

    Keen On Democracy

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 32:09


    "150 universities have adopted neutrality policies just since October 7th. I'm on the losing end of this trend." — Brian SoucekUniversities keep claiming what they see as the moral high ground of neutrality. But Brian Soucek, who holds the MLK chair at UC Davis School of Law, believes that's a dangerous myth. In his new book, The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education, Soucek argues in favor of the biased university. His argument is that even (or, perhaps, particularly) when universities stay quiet, they're actually taking sides through their policies, their hiring, their building names, their actions. Silence isn't neutral. It's ideological.This fetish with neutrality is gaining in popularity, Soucek warns. Since October 7th, an estimated 150 universities have adopted neutrality pledges—pushed by well-funded efforts from the Goldwater Institute and others. Every pledge has a vague moral carve-out: universities will still speak when their "mission is at stake." But everyone has a mission and they are all different. That's the whole point. Soucek claims the moral high ground of pluralism. That's why he wants Boston College to be different from Yale, UC Davis different from University of Austin. The flattening of higher education into some imagined neutral sameness is what terrifies this classical liberal.The real crisis, Soucek insists, isn't self-censoring students or woke professors. It's the external threat of federal funding cuts, hostile state legislatures, a Trump administration that has declared DEI illegal without exactly making it so. Universities are staying quiet because, as one UC president put it, "We don't want to be the tallest nail." But Harvard's faculty spoke out through the AAUP, and it changed the conversation. For Soucek, silence isn't safety. It's surrender. Eventually everyone will become the tallest nail. And will be flattened by a hammer-wielding ideological foe.On the promise or threat of AI, Soucek is blunt: the idea of objective algorithms deciding what statues to take down or what books to read sounds to him "completely dystopian." We'd lose something essential if we stopped allowing communities to make these contested decisions differently, he says. For Soucek, that's not a bug of an otherwise unbiased university. It's the feature of any credible institute of higher learning. Five Takeaways●      Neutrality Is a Myth: Universities claim neutrality but act in non-neutral ways—through policies, hiring, building names. Silence is a choice, not an absence of choice.●      150 Universities Signed Neutrality Pledges Since October 7th: Well-funded efforts from the Goldwater Institute are pushing this flattening of higher education. Soucek sees himself on the losing end.●      The External Threats Are the Real Crisis: Not self-censoring students. Federal funding cuts are existential. Universities are staying quiet so as not to be "the tallest nail."●      Pluralism, Not Homogeneity: Different universities should have different missions. That's why University of Austin is fine. New College Florida—where changes were imposed from above—is a disaster.●      AI Objectivity Is Dystopian: Letting algorithms decide which statues to take down or which books to read? We'd lose something essential. Contested decisions should stay contested. About the GuestBrian Soucek is Professor of Law and holds the Martin Luther King Jr. Chair at UC Davis School of Law. He is the author of The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education. He earned his JD from Yale Law School and his undergraduate degree from Boston College.ReferencesConcepts mentioned:●      The Kalven Report was a 1967 University of Chicago faculty report on institutional neutrality. It's been revived by organizations pushing neutrality pledges.●      The Goldwater Institute has funded efforts to get university boards to adopt neutrality policies modeled on the Kalven Report.●      Heterodox Academy is a campus speech advocacy organization that estimated 150 universities adopted neutrality policies since October 7th.●      FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) conducts surveys on campus self-censorship that Soucek references.Universities mentioned:●      University of Austin is a new university founded by tech figures with a consciously different mission. Soucek supports its existence as an example of pluralism.●      New College Florida was transformed by Governor DeSantis and Chris Rufo. Soucek calls it a disaster—changes imposed from above, not through shared governance.About Keen On AmericaNobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States—hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction: The myth of neutrality (02:18) - A challenge to both Left and Right (03:15) - Is there really a free speech crisis? (05:33) - Who wants the neutral university? (06:48) - The Kalven Report and Goldwater Institute (07:54) - October 7th and Gaza (09:22) - Where does intolerance come from? (10:00) - Can courts be neutral? (11:24) - DEI and the university's mission (14:04) - Should universities speak out against Trump? (15:53) - Does the university tilt Left? (17:03) - MLK and the right to break unjust laws (20:13) - The myth ...

    Noticentro
    ¡Que no lo multen! Aquí le decimos que autos no circulan

    Noticentro

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2026 1:28 Transcription Available


    Hallan sin vida a matrimonio desaparecido en Puebla  Sentencian a ex policías federales por homicidio en Querétaro  Reino Unido analiza excluir a príncipe Andrés de sucesión  Más información en nuestro podcast

    Opening Arguments
    Small DoJ Energy

    Opening Arguments

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 52:43


    OA1237 - The U.S. Department of Justice is not sending their best these days. From the problematic indictments of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for their coverage of the protest of a church in Minnesota whose pastor runs the local ICE field office to the unexpected dismissal of Mohsen Mohdawi's deportation proceedings to a bizarre argument (and more good news) in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's custody proceedings, we are continuing to see what happens when authoritarian lawyering meets actual federal judges applying actual federal law to the facts and parties before them.  Finally, in today's footnote: can you sue your ex for telling millions of people about your enormous penis? We debate whether a former football player's claims are giving BDE or legal shrinkage. Federal indictment of Nakima Levy Armstrong, Don Lemon, Georgia Fort, et al in connection with January 18, 2026 protest at Cities Church DOJ Office of Civil Rights memo re: FACE Act charging policy (Jan 24, 2025) The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (“FACE”) Act, 18 USC 248 Petitioner's 28(j) letter in Mahdawi v. Trump with copy of the Immigration Judge's order terminating Mohsen Mahdawi's removal proceedings attached (Feb. 17, 2026) Judge Xinis's order preventing Kilmar Abrego Garcia's re-detention by ICE (Feb. 17, 2026) Complaint in Kalil v. Kalil, filed Jan. 6, 2026 Excerpts from Rev. Jesse Jackson's “Keep Hope Alive” speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health
    Health Officials Slash the Number of Vaccines Recommended for All Kids

    Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 15:53


    Federal health officials reduced the number of vaccines recommended for all children and reorganized the schedule to align more closely with other developed nations, giving parents clearer decision points The updated framework separates vaccines into universal, high-risk, and shared clinical decision-making categories, increasing your role in evaluating what fits your child's specific situation The U.S. moved away from being a global outlier in the number of childhood vaccines recommended for all children, signaling a shift toward a more focused national approach Officials committed to stronger research standards, including placebo-controlled trials and longer-term safety monitoring, signaling a push for more transparent evidence The revised structure encourages you to weigh risks and benefits more carefully while strengthening your child's immune resilience through foundational health habits

    Greg & The Morning Buzz
    GOOD NEWS SEGMENT- NH FEDERAL CREDIT UNION. 2/20

    Greg & The Morning Buzz

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 11:39


    Share your good news with us.

    The Tara Show
    H1: Aliens, Iran & Domestic Chaos — America on Edge

    The Tara Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 30:00


    Trump jokes about aliens — then orders declassification. Iran gets 15 days. DHS offices are attacked. And Democrats implode in a Texas Senate race scandal. Tara breaks down a news cycle that feels like a fever dream — but isn't.

    Colorado Matters
    Feb. 20, 2026: Plea deals shape crackdown on Venezuelans; 'Local 303' honors Black History Month

    Colorado Matters

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 28:57


    Federal prosecutors have claimed a Venezuelan gang is entrenched in Colorado. Case filings reveal otherwise. Then, a week of whirlwind weather makes way for the return of warmer and drier days ahead. Plus, meet Colorado's new home-grown state supreme court justice, Susan Blanco. And the Local 303 celebrates Black History Month across musical genres. 

    MPR News Update
    New federal work requirements could strip food stamps from thousands of Minnesotans

    MPR News Update

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 5:20


    Winter storm warnings continue across northern Minnesota through Thursday morning with blizzard warnings for Duluth and the North Shore. Winds have been gusting to more than 60 mph at the Duluth airport and utilities are reporting thousands of homes and businesses without power. There's even been some lightning amid the heavy snow.To the south, rain will change over to snow Wednesday. The Twin Cities may get an inch or two by Thursday, with 2 to 4 inches for Willmar and St. Cloud.

    O Assunto
    A investigação sobre o vazamento de dados na Receita Federal

    O Assunto

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 24:28


    Convidado: Octavio Guedes, comentarista da GloboNews e colunista do g1 A ordem partiu do gabinete do ministro Alexandre de Moraes. E, na terça-feira (17), agentes da Polícia Federal cumpriram mandados de busca e apreensão contra quatro servidores públicos que atuavam na Receita Federal. A ação investiga se eles acessaram e vazaram dados sigilosos de diversas autoridades, incluindo os integrantes do Supremo Tribunal Federal e seus familiares. Os servidores foram afastados de seus cargos, passaram a usar tornozeleira eletrônica e tiveram os passaportes apreendidos. A Receita Federal informou que seus sistemas são rastreáveis e que uma auditoria interna identificou irregularidades, que foram comunicadas ao STF. A investigação sobre esses possíveis vazamentos foi aberta dentro do Inquérito das Fake News, criado em 2019 e que tem Moraes como relator. Para explicar o alcance da operação da PF e as evidências sobre o vazamento dos dados sigilosos, Natuza Nery conversa com Octavio Guedes, comentarista da GloboNews e colunista do g1. Guedes analisa também as críticas direcionadas à abertura da investigação pelo Supremo e como a decisão de Moraes repercutiu dentro da Corte.

    The Epstein Chronicles
    The Deal That Never Happened: Inside Brunel's Planned Cooperation With U.S. Prosecutors (Part 2) (2/20/26)

    The Epstein Chronicles

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 22:49 Transcription Available


    In 2016, French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel was reportedly close to cooperating with U.S. prosecutors against Jeffrey Epstein, offering to testify about how he recruited girls for Epstein's sex-trafficking operations and possessed incriminating material in exchange for immunity. Federal records show Brunel had discussions with lawyers for Epstein's victims and was planning a meeting with the U.S. Attorney's Office—suggesting he was prepared to provide evidence that could have significantly strengthened the case against Epstein years earlier. But once Epstein learned of these negotiations, Brunel suddenly went silent and ultimately never offered testimony, and prosecutors didn't take immediate action at the time.Brunel, who ran the modeling agency MC2 with Epstein's financial backing and has long been accused of facilitating abuse by recruiting vulnerable women and girls under the pretense of modeling work, was not pursued by prosecutors in 2016 and Epstein remained free until his 2019 arrest. U.S. files show that this missed cooperation set back efforts to hold Epstein accountable and allowed his exploitation to continue. Brunel was later arrested in France in 2020 on sex-crime allegations and died in custody in 2022, but the earlier opportunity to challenge Epstein's operations appears to have been lost when Brunel backed out of his planned cooperation.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:The accomplice who was going to testify against Jeffrey Epstein—then went darkBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

    The Epstein Chronicles
    The Deal That Never Happened: Inside Brunel's Planned Cooperation With U.S. Prosecutors (Part 1) (2/20/26)

    The Epstein Chronicles

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 17:44 Transcription Available


    In 2016, French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel was reportedly close to cooperating with U.S. prosecutors against Jeffrey Epstein, offering to testify about how he recruited girls for Epstein's sex-trafficking operations and possessed incriminating material in exchange for immunity. Federal records show Brunel had discussions with lawyers for Epstein's victims and was planning a meeting with the U.S. Attorney's Office—suggesting he was prepared to provide evidence that could have significantly strengthened the case against Epstein years earlier. But once Epstein learned of these negotiations, Brunel suddenly went silent and ultimately never offered testimony, and prosecutors didn't take immediate action at the time.Brunel, who ran the modeling agency MC2 with Epstein's financial backing and has long been accused of facilitating abuse by recruiting vulnerable women and girls under the pretense of modeling work, was not pursued by prosecutors in 2016 and Epstein remained free until his 2019 arrest. U.S. files show that this missed cooperation set back efforts to hold Epstein accountable and allowed his exploitation to continue. Brunel was later arrested in France in 2020 on sex-crime allegations and died in custody in 2022, but the earlier opportunity to challenge Epstein's operations appears to have been lost when Brunel backed out of his planned cooperation.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:The accomplice who was going to testify against Jeffrey Epstein—then went darkBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

    The Daily Scoop Podcast
    Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia tapped for new leadership roles at GSA

    The Daily Scoop Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 5:01


    Federal Chief Information Officer Greg Barbaccia will be adding two new titles — at least temporarily — to his work in government. The General Services Administration announced Thursday that Barbaccia will join the agency as the acting director of Technology Transformation Services. He'll be replacing Thomas Shedd, one of the few officials left at the agency who helped carry out the so-called Department of Government Efficiency's cost-cutting initiative last year. Shedd will remain at the agency as its senior advisor for fraud prevention, which the GSA said is “an area of increasing importance for the agency and the administration.” The federal CIO was also tapped as senior advisor to the GSA administrator, the agency said. In this role, advising former privacy equity executive Edward Forst, Barbaccia will focus on “emerging technologies, best practices in digital delivery, and cross-government collaboration.” The Pentagon will adhere to existing laws and regulations associated with surveillance, security and democratic processes as it fast-tracks the military's frontier AI adoption, but it won't permit companies supplying the technology to determine its rules for operation, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael told DefenseScoop. His comments come as the Defense Department is locked in a high-stakes dispute with Anthropic about the U.S. military's use of the startup's Claude AI model in real-world operations. During a meeting with a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the annual Microelectronics Commons summit Thursday, Michael provided updates on the department's GenAI.mil rollout and pushed for the ethics-related rift between the Pentagon and Anthropic to be resolved. “I believe and hope that they will ‘cross the Rubicon' and say, ‘This is common sense. The military has certain use cases. There are laws and regulations that govern how those use cases can be done. We're willing to comply with them,'” he said. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

    Os Pingos nos Is
    Dino proíbe novos penduricalhos / BRB e Master na mira da Justiça

    Os Pingos nos Is

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 118:56


    Confira os destaques de Os Pingos nos Is desta quinta-feira (19):O ministro do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) Flávio Dino proibiu a criação de novas leis que permitam o pagamento de verbas indenizatórias acima do teto constitucional. A decisão complementa a liminar anterior sobre os chamados penduricalhos e ocorre após o veto parcial do presidente Lula a reajustes no Legislativo. O tema será analisado pelo plenário da Corte na próxima semana. O corregedor nacional de Justiça, ministro Mauro Campbell, determinou que cinco tribunais prestem esclarecimentos, em até 15 dias, sobre depósitos que podem chegar a R$ 30 bilhões no BRB. A instituição é alvo de investigação da Polícia Federal no contexto das apurações envolvendo o Banco Master e possíveis irregularidades na gestão anterior. A CPMI do INSS antecipou para segunda-feira (23) o depoimento do empresário Daniel Vorcaro, dono do Banco Master. O anúncio foi feito pelo presidente da comissão, senador Carlos Viana. O colegiado pretende ouvir o banqueiro sobre contratos de empréstimos consignados que teriam sido suspensos pelo INSS por falta de comprovação da autorização dos aposentados. O senador Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) vem ajustando o tom do discurso e ampliando acenos a públicos fora da direita ideológica, em meio às articulações para as eleições de 2026. Segundo aliados, a estratégia busca reduzir resistências entre eleitores moderados e ampliar o alcance da pré-candidatura presidencial. Aliados afirmam que o ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro defendeu que o PL lance Carlos Bolsonaro e a deputada federal Carol de Toni ao Senado por Santa Catarina. A posição contraria articulações conduzidas pelo governador Jorginho Mello no estado e pode influenciar a definição das candidaturas majoritárias para 2026. O presidente Lula (PT) demonstrou contrariedade com a repercussão da homenagem feita pela escola Acadêmicos de Niterói no Carnaval. Após o desfile, aliados relataram preocupação no Planalto com o impacto negativo nas redes sociais e entre eleitores, especialmente no público evangélico. O PT avalia medidas jurídicas diante da reação da oposição. O governador de São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, comentou o rebaixamento da Acadêmicos de Niterói após o desfile que homenageou o presidente Lula. Em declaração, classificou a apresentação como de “péssimo nível” e disse que o rebaixamento foi “bem-vindo”. A manifestação ocorre em meio às repercussões políticas do Carnaval. Você confere essas e outras notícias em Os Pingos nos Is.

    O Antagonista
    Ah! Que isso? Moraes está descontrolado? | Meio-Dia em Brasília - 20/02/2026

    O Antagonista

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 55:56


    O programa Meio-Dia em Brasília desta sexta-feira, 20, fala sobre a nova decisão do ministro do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) Alexandre de Moraes de ouvir em depoimento o presidente da União Nacional dos Auditores Fiscais (Unafisco) após ele fazer uma série de críticas à conduta do magistrado.Além disso, o jornal também fala sobre as consequências políticas do desfile da Acadêmicos de Niterói e sobre a petição apresentada pelo PL contra o governo Lula por crime eleitoral.Meio-Dia em Brasília traz as principais notícias e análises da política nacional direto   de Brasília.     Com apresentação de José Inácio Pilar e Wilson Lima, o programa aborda os temas mais quentes do cenário político e econômico do Brasil.     Com um olhar atento sobre política, notícias e economia, mantém o público bem informado.   Transmissão ao vivo de segunda a sexta-feira às 12h.   Apoie o jornalismo independente. Assine O Antagonista e Crusoé com 10% via Pix ou Google Pay:  https://assine.oantagonista.com.br/   Siga O Antagonista no X:  https://x.com/o_antagonista   Acompanhe O Antagonista no canal do WhatsApp. Boletins diários, conteúdos exclusivos em vídeo e muito mais.  https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va2SurQHLHQbI5yJN344  Leia mais em www.oantagonista.com.br | www.crusoe.com.br 

    O Antagonista
    Censura Suprema? Moraes intima presidente da Unafisco após críticas à PF

    O Antagonista

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 11:23


    O ministro Alexandre de Moraes, do Supremo Tribunal Federal, acionou novamente a Polícia Federal, mas desta vez para intimar o presidente da Unafisco Nacional, Kleber Cabral.O auditor fiscal foi convocado para prestar depoimento após as duras críticas que fez à operação realizada na terça-feira de Carnaval contra servidores da Receita Federal.Moraes quer explicações sobre as declarações de Cabral, que classificou a ação como "intimidadora" e "arbitrária", gerando um clima de censura e medo institucional.Meio-Dia em Brasília traz as principais notícias e análises da política nacional direto   de Brasília.     Com apresentação de José Inácio Pilar e Wilson Lima, o programa aborda os temas mais quentes do cenário político e econômico do Brasil.     Com um olhar atento sobre política, notícias e economia, mantém o público bem informado.   Transmissão ao vivo de segunda a sexta-feira às 12h.   Apoie o jornalismo independente. Assine O Antagonista e Crusoé com 10% via Pix ou Google Pay:  https://assine.oantagonista.com.br/   Siga O Antagonista no X:  https://x.com/o_antagonista   Acompanhe O Antagonista no canal do WhatsApp. Boletins diários, conteúdos exclusivos em vídeo e muito mais.  https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va2SurQHLHQbI5yJN344  Leia mais em www.oantagonista.com.br | www.crusoe.com.br 

    3 em 1
    Governo defende PL Antifacção do Senado / Suprema Corte dos EUA derruba tarifaço

    3 em 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2026 119:46


    No 3 em 1 desta sexta-feira (20), o destaque foi o líder do PT no Congresso, Pedro Uczai, que afirmou que o governo defenderá o texto do PL Antifacção aprovado originalmente no Senado. Os governistas criticam as diversas alterações feitas pelo relator Guilherme Derrite (Progressistas), atual secretário de segurança de São Paulo. Reportagem: André Anelli. O presidente dos Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, sofreu um revés jurídico após a Suprema Corte americana derrubar as tarifas comerciais impostas por sua gestão. A sentença estabelece novos marcos sobre os limites do Poder Executivo e a medida impacta diretamente a estratégia econômica da Casa Branca e as relações comerciais externas do país. Reportagem: Eliseu Caetano. O ministro André Mendonça (STF) decidiu, nesta sexta-feira (20), que a participação de Daniel Vorcaro na CPMI do INSS é facultativa. O magistrado autorizou o deslocamento do dono do Banco Master, mas retirou a obrigatoriedade do depoimento previsto para segunda-feira (23). Além disso, Mendonça também vetou o voo particular de Vorcaro para a CPMI, que deveria acontecer através de voo comercial. Reportagem: Janaína Camelo. O vice-presidente Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) afirmou, nesta sexta-feira (20), que a queda das tarifas de Donald Trump deve fortalecer a relação comercial entre Brasil e Estados Unidos. Durante coletiva de imprensa, o político destacou que o presidente Lula (PT) sempre defendeu o diálogo internacional e isso não vai mudar. A declaração repercute a decisão da Suprema Corte americana que invalidou as taxas impostas pela Casa Branca. O ministro André Mendonça (STF) derrubou as restrições impostas por Dias Toffoli (STF) no inquérito do Banco Master, atendendo a um pedido da Polícia Federal. A decisão autoriza a retomada imediata de perícias e depoimentos, devolvendo o fluxo normal às investigações sobre supostas fraudes financeiras. Reportagem: Janaína Camelo. A Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR) se manifestou contra a concessão de prisão domiciliar para Jair Bolsonaro (PL), afirmando que o quadro clínico do ex-presidente está controlado e que os cuidados médicos necessários podem ser realizados na Papudinha. O presidente da Unafisco, Kléber Cabral, prestou depoimento à Polícia Federal nesta sexta-feira (20) por determinação do ministro Alexandre de Moraes (STF). A oitiva ocorre após o auditor afirmar que é mais arriscado investigar altas autoridades do país do que membros do PCC, em crítica à operação que apura vazamento de dados sigilosos da Receita Federal. Reportagem: André Anelli. O prefeito Ricardo Nunes (MDB) comentou sobre uma eventual candidatura de Fernando Haddad (PT) nas eleições de 2026, afirmando que o ministro "vai tomar um pau". O gestor paulistano declarou ainda que vai apoiar integralmente a decisão tomada pelo governador Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos) para o próximo pleito. Tudo isso e muito mais você acompanha no 3 em 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The NPR Politics Podcast
    Federal agencies under Trump have been using white nationalist messages

    The NPR Politics Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2026 16:25


    Federal government agencies have repeatedly invoked white nationalist language and images in the year since President Trump returned to the White House for his second term. We discuss the intended target of those messages and what effects they have. This episode: senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, domestic extremism correspondent Odette Yousef, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

    Unchained
    The Chopping Block: Dragonfly's $650M Fund + Crypto's Great Resignation + OpenClaw vs Crypto Twitter

    Unchained

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2026 55:45


    Dragonfly raises a $650M Fund IV amid crypto's institutional vs retail sentiment gap, the industry exodus including Kyle Samani's departure from Multicoin, OpenClaw's OpenAI acquisition and crypto Twitter harassment, X402 payment standards for AI agents, Polymarket's controversial 5-minute Bitcoin betting markets, and the brewing federal vs state regulation battle over prediction markets. Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This episode kicks off with major news: Dragonfly just closed their $650 million Fund IV, making them one of the largest crypto VCs not through growth, but because others have downsized. The timing feels surreal — they keep raising right when markets dump, creating the biggest gap between institutional optimism and retail sentiment Haseeb has ever seen. But money flowing in contrasts sharply with talent flowing out. Kyle Samani left Multicoin, Arianna Simpson departed A16z Crypto, and several other crypto veterans are moving on. The crew unpacks what this "great resignation" means for an industry that feels like it's shifted from pioneer phase to settler phase. Then they dive into the OpenClaw saga — the viral AI coding assistant that got acquired by OpenAI, but not before its creator almost deleted it due to harassment from crypto Twitter demanding he launch a token. This leads to a deep discussion on X402 payment standards and why AI agents might prefer crypto over credit cards. Finally, they debate Polymarket's controversial 5-minute Bitcoin betting markets and the brewing legal battle between federal and state regulation of prediction markets. Let's get into it. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

    Psychedelics Today
    PT 649 - Melissa Lavasani and Jay Kopelman

    Psychedelics Today

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2026 70:01


    Melissa Lavasani & Jay Kopelman join our podcast to discuss how psychedelic policy is actually moving in Washington, DC. Lavasani leads Psychedelic Medicine Coalition, a DC-based advocacy organization focused on educating federal officials and advancing legislation around psychedelic medicine. Kopelman is CEO of Mission Within Foundation, which provides scholarships for veterans and first responders seeking psychedelic-assisted therapy retreats, often outside the United States. The conversation centers on veterans, the VA, and why that system may be the first realistic federal pathway for psychedelic care. Early Themes Lavasani describes PMC's work on Capitol Hill, including hosting events that bring lawmakers, staffers, and advocates into the same room. Her focus is steady engagement. In DC, progress often happens through repeated conversations, not headlines. Kopelman shares his background as a Marine and how his own psychedelic-assisted therapy experience led him to Mission Within. The foundation has funded more than 250 scholarships for veterans and first responders seeking treatment for PTSD, mild traumatic brain injury, depression, and addiction. They connect this work to pending veteran-focused legislation and explain why the VA matters. As a closed health system, the VA can pilot programs, gather data, and refine protocols without the pressures of private healthcare markets. Core Insights A recent Capitol Hill gathering, For Veteran Society, brought together members of Congress and leaders from the psychedelic caucus. Lavasani describes candid feedback from lawmakers. The message was clear: coordinate messaging, avoid fragmentation, and move while bipartisan interest remains. Veteran healthcare is not framed as the final goal. It is a starting point. If psychedelic therapies can demonstrate safety and effectiveness within the VA, broader adoption becomes more plausible. Kopelman raises operational realities that must be addressed: Standardized safety protocols across providers Integration support, not medication alone Clear training pathways for clinicians Real-world data beyond tightly screened clinical trials They also address recent negative headlines involving ibogaine treatment abroad. Kopelman emphasizes the need for shared learning across providers, especially when adverse events occur. Lavasani argues that inconsistency within the ecosystem can slow federal confidence. Later Discussion and Takeaways The discussion widens to federal momentum around addiction and mental health. Lavasani notes that new funding initiatives signal growing openness to innovative treatment models, even if psychedelics are not named explicitly in every announcement. Both guests stress that policy moves slowly by design. Meetings, follow-ups, and relationship building often matter more than public statements. For clinicians, researchers, operators, and advocates, the takeaways are direct: Veterans are likely the first federal pathway Public education remains essential Safety standards must be shared and transparent Integration and workforce development need attention now If psychedelic medicine enters federal systems, infrastructure will determine success. Frequently Asked Questions What do Melissa Lavasani & Jay Kopelman say about VA psychedelic policy? They argue that veteran-focused legislation offers a realistic first federal pathway for psychedelic-assisted care. Is ibogaine currently available through the VA? No. They discuss ibogaine in the context of private retreats and future possibilities, not an existing VA program. Why do Melissa Lavasani & Jay Kopelman emphasize coordination? Lawmakers respond more positively when advocates present aligned messaging and clear priorities. What safety issues are discussed by Melissa Lavasani & Jay Kopelman? They highlight the need for standardized screening, monitoring, integration support, and transparent review of adverse events. Closing Melissa Lavasani & Jay Kopelman provide a grounded look at how psychedelic policy develops inside federal systems. Their message is practical: veterans may be the first lane, but long-term success depends on coordination, safety standards, and sustained engagement. Closing This episode captures a real-time view of how federal policy could shape the next phase of the psychedelic resurgence, especially through veteran-facing legislation and VA infrastructure. Melissa Lavasani & Jay Kopelman argue that coordination, public education, and shared safety standards will shape whether access expands with credibility and care. Transcript Joe Moore: [00:00:00] Hello everybody. Welcome back to Psychedelics Today. Today we have two guests, um, got Melissa Sani from Psychedelic Medicine Coalition. We got Jake Pelman from Mission Within Foundation. We're gonna talk about I bga I became policy on a recent, uh, set of meetings in Washington, DC and, uh, all sorts of other things I'm sure. Joe Moore: But thank you both for joining me. Melissa Lavasani: Thanks for having us. Jay Kopelman: Yeah, it's a pleasure. Thanks. Joe Moore: Yeah. Um, Melissa, I wanna have you, uh, jump in. First. Can you tell us a little bit about, uh, your work and what you do at PMC? Melissa Lavasani: Yeah, so Psychedelic Medicine Coalition is, um, the only DC based Washington DC based advocacy organization dedicated to the advancing the issue of psychedelics, um, and making sure the federal government has the education they need, um, and understands the issue inside out so that they can generate good policy around, around psychedelic medicines. Melissa Lavasani: [00:01:00] Uh, we. Host Hill events. We host other convenings. Our big event every year is the Federal Summit on psychedelic medicine. Um, that's going to be May 14th this year. Um, where we talk about kinda the pressing issues that need to be talked about, uh, with government officials in the room, um, so that we can incrementally move this forward. Melissa Lavasani: Um, our presence here in Washington DC is, is really critical for this issue's success because, um, when we're talking about psychedelic medicines, um, from the federal government pers perspective, you know, they are, they are the ones that are going to initiate the policies that create a healthcare system that can properly facilitate these medicines and make sure, um, patient safety is a priority. Melissa Lavasani: And there's guardrails on this. And, um, you know, there, it's, it's really important that we have. A home base for this issue in Washington DC just [00:02:00] because, uh, this is very complicated as a lot of your viewers probably understand, and, you know, this can get lost in the mix of all the other issues that, um, lawmakers in DC are focused on right now. Melissa Lavasani: And we need to keep that consistent presence here so that this continues to be a priority for members of Congress. Joe Moore: Mm. I love this. And Jay, can you tell us a bit about yourself and mission within Foundation? Jay Kopelman: Yeah, sure. Joe, thanks. Uh, I, I am the CEO of Mission within Foundation. Prior to this, most of my adult life was spent in the military as a Marine. Jay Kopelman: And I came to this. Role after having, uh, a psychedelic assisted therapy experience myself at the mission within down in Mexico, which is where pretty much we all go. Um, we are here to help [00:03:00] provide, uh, access for veterans and first responders to be able to attend psychedelic assisted therapy retreats to treat issues like mild TBI, post-traumatic stress disorder, uh, depression, sometimes addiction at, at a very low level. Jay Kopelman: Um, and, and so we've, we've been doing this for a little more than a year now and have provided 250 plus scholarships to veterans and first responders to be able to access. These retreats and these, these lifesaving medicines. Um, we're also partnered, uh, you may or may not know with Melissa at Psychedelic Medicine Coalition to help advance education and policy, specifically the innovative, uh, therapy Centers of Excellence Act [00:04:00] that Melissa has worked for a number of years on now to bring to both Houses of Congress. Joe Moore: Thank you for that. Um, so let's chat a little bit about what this event was that just, uh, went down, uh, what, what was it two weeks ago at this point? Melissa Lavasani: Yeah. Yeah. It's called For Veteran Society and it's all, um, there's a lot of dialogue on Capitol Hill about veterans healthcare and psychedelics, but where I've been frustrated is that, you know, it was just a lot of. Melissa Lavasani: Talk about what the problems are and not a lot of talk about like how we actually propel things forward. Um, so it, at that event, I thought it was really important and we had three members of Congress there, um, Morgan Latrell, who has been a champion from day one and his time in Congress, um, having gone through the experience himself, um, [00:05:00] at Mission within, um, and then the two chairs of the psychedelic caucus, uh, Lou Correa and Jack Bergman. Melissa Lavasani: And we really got down to the nitty gritty of like w like why this has taken so long and you know, what is actually happening right now? What are the possibilities and what the roadblocks are. And it was, I thought it was a great conversation. Um, we had an interesting kind of dynamic with Latres is like a very passionate about this issue in particular. Melissa Lavasani: Um, I think it was, I think it was really. A great event. And, you know, two days later, Jack Bergman introduced his new bill for the va. Um, so it was kind of like the precursor to that bill getting introduced. And we're just excited for more and more conversations about how the government can gently guide this issue to success. Joe Moore: Hmm. Yeah. [00:06:00] That's fantastic. Um, yeah, I was a little bummed I couldn't make it, but next time, I hope. But I've heard a lot of good things and, um, it's, it sounded like there was some really important messages in, in terms of like feedback from legislators. Yeah. Yeah. Could you speak to that? Melissa Lavasani: Yeah, I mean, I think when, uh, representative Latrell was speaking, he really impressed on us a couple things. Melissa Lavasani: Um, first is that, you know, they really kind of need the advocates to. Coordinate, collaborate and come up with like a, a strategic plan, you know, without public education. Um, talking to members of Congress about this issue is, is really difficult. You know, like PMC is just one organization. We're very little mission within, very little, um, you know, we're all like, kind of new in navigating, um, this not so new issue, but new to Washington DC [00:07:00] issue. Melissa Lavasani: Um, without that public education as a baseline, uh, it's, it's, you have to spend a lot of time educating members of Congress. You know, that's like one of our things is, you know, we have to, we don't wanna tell Congress what direction to go to. We wanna provide them the information so they understand it very intimately and know how to navigate through things. Melissa Lavasani: Um, and secondly. Um, he got pretty frank with us and said, you know, we've got one cha one chance at this issue. And it's like, that's, that's kind of been like my talking point since I started. PMC is like, you have a very limited window, um, when these kind of issues pop up and they're new and they're fresh and you have a lot of the veteran community coming out and talking about it. Melissa Lavasani: And there's a lot of energy there. But now is the time to really move forward, um, with some real legislation that can be impactful. Um, but, you know, we've gotta [00:08:00] be careful. We, we forget, I think sometimes those of us who are in the ecosystem forget that our level of knowledge about these medicines and a lot of us have firsthand experience, um, with these drugs and, and our own healing journeys is, um, we forget that there is a public out there that doesn't have the level of knowledge that we all have. Melissa Lavasani: And, um. We gotta make sure that we're sticking to the right elements of, of, of what needs to happen. We need to be sure that our talking points are on track and we're not getting sideways about anything and going down roads that we don't need to talk about. It's why, um, you know, PMC is very focused on, um, moving forward veteran legislation right now. Melissa Lavasani: Not because we're a veteran organization, but because we're, we see this long-term policy track here. Um, we know where we want to get [00:09:00] to, um. Um, and watching other healthcare issues kind of come up and then go through the VA healthcare system, I think it's a really unique opportunity, um, to utilize the VA as this closed system, the biggest healthcare system in the country to evaluate, uh, how psychedelics operate within systems like that. Melissa Lavasani: And, you know, before they get into, um, other healthcare systems. What do we need to fix? What do we need to pay attention to? What's something that we're paying too much attention to that doesn't necessarily need that much attention? So it's, um, it's a real opportunity to look at psychedelic medicines within a healthcare system and obviously continue to gather the data. Melissa Lavasani: Um, Bergman's Bill emerging, uh, expanding veteran access to emerging treatments. Um, not only mandates the research, it gives the VA authority for this, uh, for running trials and, and creating programs around psychedelic medicines. But also, [00:10:00] one of the great things about it, I think, is it provides an on-ramp for veterans that don't necessarily qualify for clinical trials. Melissa Lavasani: You know, I think that's one of the biggest criticisms of clinical trials is like you're cre you're creating a vacuum for people and people don't live in a vacuum. So we don't necessarily know what psychedelics are gonna look like in real life. Um, but with this expanding veteran access bill that Bergman introduced, it provides the VA an opportunity to provide this access under. Melissa Lavasani: Um, in a, in a safe container with medical supervision while collecting data, um, while ensuring that the veteran that is going through this process has the support systems that it needs. So, um, you know, I think that there's a really unique opportunity here, and like Latrell said, like, we've got one shot at this. Melissa Lavasani: We have people's attention in Congress. Um, now's the time to start acting, and let's be really considerate and thoughtful about what we're doing with it. Joe Moore: Thanks for that, Melissa and Jay, how, [00:11:00] anything to add there on kind of your takeaways from the this, uh, last visit in dc? Jay Kopelman: Yeah, I, I think that Melissa highlighted it really well and there, there were a couple other things that I, I think, you know, you could kind of tie it all together with some other issues that we face in this country, uh, and that. Jay Kopelman: Uh, representative Correa brought up as well, but one of the things I wanted to go back and say is that veterans have kind of led this movement already, right? So, so it's a, it's a good jumping off point, right? That it's something people from both sides of the aisle, from any community in America can get behind. Jay Kopelman: You know, if you think about it, uh, in World War ii, you know, we had a million people serving our population was like, not even 200 million, but now [00:12:00] we have a population of 330 million, and at any given time there might be a million people in uniform, including the Reserve and the National Guard. So it's, it, it's an easy thing to get behind this small part of the population that is willing to sign that contract. Jay Kopelman: Where you are saying, yeah, I'm going to defend my country, possibly at the risk of my l my own life. So that's the first thing. The other thing is that the VA being a closed health system, and they don't have shareholders to answer to, they can take some risks, they can be innovative and be forward thinking in the ways that some other healthcare systems can't. Jay Kopelman: And so they have a perfect opportunity to show that they truly care for their veterans, which don't, I'm not saying they don't, but this would be an [00:13:00] opportunity to show that carrot at a whole different level. Uh, it would allow them to innovate and be a leader in something as, uh, as our friend Jim Hancock will say, you know. Jay Kopelman: When he went to the Naval Academy, they had the world's best shipbuilding program. Why doesn't the VA have the world's best care program for things like TBI and PTSD, which affects, you know, 40 something percent of all veterans, right? So, so there's, there's an opportunity here for the VA to lead from the front. Jay Kopelman: Um, the, these medicines provide, you know, reasonably lasting care where it's kind of a one and done. Whereas with the current systems, the, you know, and, and [00:14:00] again, not to denigrate the VA in any way, they're doing the best job they can with the tools in their toolbox, right? But maybe it's time for a trip to Home Depot. Jay Kopelman: Let's get some new tools. And have some new ways of fixing what's broken, which is really the way of doing things. It's not, veterans aren't broken, we are who we are. Um, but it's a, it's a way to fix what isn't working. So I, I think that, you know, given there's tremendous veteran homelessness still, you know, addiction issues, all these things that do translate to the population at large are things that can be worked on in this one system, the va that can then be shown to have efficacy, have good data, have [00:15:00] good outcomes, and, and take it to the population at large. Joe Moore: Mm-hmm. Brilliant. Thanks for that. And so there was another thing I wanted to pivot to, which is some of the recent press. So we've, um, seen a little bit of press around some, um, in one instance, some bad behavior in Mexico that a FI put out Americans thrive again, put out. And then another case there was a, a recent fatality. Joe Moore: And I think, um, both are tragic. Like we shouldn't be having to deal with this at this point. Um, but there's a lot of things that got us here. Um, it's not necessarily the operator's fault entirely, um, or even at all, honestly, like some medical interventions just carry a lot of risk. Like think, think about like, uh, how risky bypass surgery was in the nineties, right? Joe Moore: Like people were dying a lot from medical interventions and um, you know, this is a major intervention, uh, ibogaine [00:16:00] and also a lot of promise. To help people quite a bit. Um, but as of right now, there's, there's risk. And part of that risk, in my opinion, comes from the inability of organizations to necessarily collaborate. Joe Moore: Like there's no kind of convening body, sitting in the middle, allowing, um, for, and facilitating really good data sharing and learnings. Um, and I don't, I don't necessarily see an organization stepping up and being the, um, the convener for that kind of work. I've heard rumors that something's gonna happen there, and I'm, I'm hopeful I'll always wanna share my opinion on that. Joe Moore: But yeah. I don't know. Jay, from your perspective, is there anything you want to kind of speak to about, uh, these two recent incidents that Americans for Iboga kind of publicized recently? Jay Kopelman: Yeah, so I, I'll echo your sentiment, of course, that these are tragic incidents. Um, and I, [00:17:00] I think that at least in the case of the death at Ambio, AMBIO has done a very good job of talking about it, right? Jay Kopelman: They've been very honest with the information that they have. And like you said, there are risks inherent to these medicines, and it's like anything else in medicine, there are going to be risks. You know, when I went through, uh, when I, when I went through chemo, you know, there were, there are risks. You know, you don't feel well, you get sick. Jay Kopelman: Um, and, and it. There are processes in place to counter that when it happens. And there are processes and, and procedures and safety protocols in place when caring for somebody going through an ibogaine [00:18:00] journey. Uh, when I did it, we had EKG echocardiogram. You're on a heart monitor the entire time they push magnesium via iv. Jay Kopelman: You have to provide a urinalysis sample to make sure that there is nothing in your system that is going to potentially harm you. During the ibogaine, they have, uh, a cardiologist who is monitoring the heart monitors throughout the ibogaine experience. So the, the safety protocols are there. I think it's, I think it's just a matter of. Jay Kopelman: Standardizing them across all, all providers, right? Like, that would be a good thing if people would talk to one another. Um, as, as in any system, right? You've gotta have [00:19:00] some collaboration. You've gotta have standardization, you know, so, you know, they're not called standard operating procedures for nothing. Jay Kopelman: That means that in a, you know, in a given environment, everybody does things the same way. It's true in Navy and Marine Corps, air Force, army Aviation, they have standard operating procedures for every single aircraft. So if you fly, let's say the F 35 now, right? Because it's flown by the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. Jay Kopelman: The, the emergency procedures in that airplane are standardized across all three services, so you should have the same, or, you know, with within a couple of different words, the same procedures and processes [00:20:00] across all the providers, right? Like maybe in one document you're gonna change, happy to glad and small dog to puppy, but it's still pretty much the, the same thing. Jay Kopelman: And as a service that provides scholarships to people to go access these medicines and go to these retreats, you know, my criteria is that the, this provider has to be safe. Number one, safety's paramount. It's always gotta be very safe. It should, it has to be effective. And you know, once you have those two things in place, then I have a comfort level saying, okay, yeah, we'll work with this provider. Jay Kopelman: But until those standardized processes are in place, you'll probably see these one-off things. I mean, some providers have been doing this longer than others and have [00:21:00] really figured out, you know, they've, they've cracked the code and, you know, sharing that across the spectrum would be good. Um, but just when these things happen, having a clearing house, right, where everybody can come together and talk about it, you know, like once the facts are known because. Jay Kopelman: To my knowledge, we still don't know all the facts. Like as, you know, as horrible as this is, you still have to talk about like an, has an autopsy been performed? What was found in the patient's system? You know, there, there are things there that we don't know. So we need to, we need to know that before we can start saying, okay, well this is how we can fix that, because we just don't know. Jay Kopelman: And, you know, to their credit, you know, Amio has always been safe to, to the, to the best of my knowledge. You know, I, [00:22:00] I haven't been to Ambio myself, but people that I have worked with have been there. They have observed, they have seen the process. They believe it's safe, and I trust their opinion because they've seen it elsewhere as well. Jay Kopelman: So yeah, having, having that one place where we can all come together when this happens, it, it's almost like it should be mandatory. In the military when there's a training accident, we, you know, we would have to have what's called a safety standout. And you don't do that again for a little while until you figure out, okay, how are we going to mitigate that happening again? Jay Kopelman: Believe me, you can go overboard and we don't want to do that. Like, we don't wanna just stop all care, but maybe stop detox for a week and then come back to it. [00:23:00] Joe Moore: Yeah. A dream would be, let's get like the, I don't know, 10, 20 most popular, uh, or well-known operators together somewhere and just do like a three day debrief. Joe Moore: Hey, everybody, like, here's what we see. Let's work on this together. You know how normal medicine works. And this is, it's hard because this is not necessarily, um, something people feel safe about in America talking about 'cause it's illicit here. Um, I don't understand necessarily how the operations, uh, relate to each other in Mexico, but I think that's something to like the public should dig into. Joe Moore: Like, what, what is this? And I, I'll start digging into that. Um, I, I asked a question recently of somebody like, is there some sort of like back channel signal everybody's using and there's no clear Yes. You know? Um, I think it would be good. That's just a [00:24:00] start, you know, that's like, okay, we can actually kind of say hi and watch out for this to each other. Jay Kopelman: It's not like we don't all know one another, right? Joe Moore: Yes. Jay Kopelman: Like at least three operators we're represented. At the Aspen Ibogaine meeting. So like that could be, and I think there was a panel kind of loosely related to this during Aspen Ibogaine meeting, but Joe Moore: mm-hmm. Jay Kopelman: It, you know, have a breakout where the operators can go sit down and kind of compare notes. Joe Moore: Right. Yeah. Melissa, do you have any, uh, comments on this thread here? And I, I put you on mute if you didn't see that. Um, Melissa Lavasani: all right, I'm off mute. Um, yeah, I think that Jay's hits the nail on the head with the collaboration thing. Um, I think that it's just a [00:25:00] problem across the entire ecosystem, and I think that's just a product of us being relatively new and upcoming field. Melissa Lavasani: Um, uh, it's a product of, you know. Our fundraising community is really small, so organizations feel like they are competing for the same dollars, even though their, their goals are all the same, they have different functions. Um, I think with time, I mean, let's be honest, like if we don't start collaborating and, and the federal government's moving forward, the federal government's gonna coordinate for us. Melissa Lavasani: And not, that might not necessarily be a bad thing, but, you know, we understand this issue to a whole other level that the federal government doesn't, and they're not required to understand it deeply. They just need to know how to really move forward with it the proper way. Um, but I think that it. It's really essential [00:26:00] that we all have this come together moment here so we can avoid things. Melissa Lavasani: Uh, I mean, no one's gonna die from bad advocacy. So like I've, I have a bit of an easier job. Um, but it can a, a absolutely stall efforts, um, to move things forward in Washington DC when, um, one group is saying one thing, another group is saying another thing, like, we're not quite at a point yet where we can have multiple lines of conversation and multiple things moving forward. Melissa Lavasani: Um, you know, for PMC, it's like, just let's get the first thing across the finish line. And we think that is, um, veteran healthcare. And, um, I know there's plenty of other groups out there that, that want the same thing. So, you know, I always, the reason why I put on the Federal Summit last year was I kind of hit my breaking point with a lack of collaboration and I wanted to just bring everyone in the same room and say like, all right, here are the things that we need to talk about. Melissa Lavasani: And I think the goal for this year is, um. To bring people in the same room and say, we talked about [00:27:00] we scratched the surface last year and this is where we need to really put our efforts into. And this is where the opportunities are. Um, I think that is going to, that's going to show the federal government if we can organize ourselves, that they need to take this issue really seriously. Melissa Lavasani: Um, I don't think we've done a great job at that thus far, but I think there's still plenty of time for us to get it together. Um, and I'm hoping with these two, uh, VA bills that are in the house right now and Senate is, is putting together their version of these two bills, um, so that they can move in tandem with each other. Melissa Lavasani: I think that, you know, there's an opportunity here for. Us to show the federal government as an ecosystem, Hey, we, we are so much further ahead and you know, this is what we've organized and here's how we can help you, um, that would make them buy into this issue a bit more and potentially move things forward faster. Melissa Lavasani: Uh, at this point in time, it's, I think that, [00:28:00] you know, psychedelics aren't necessarily the taboo thing that they, they used to be, but there's certainly places that need attention. Um, there's certainly conversations that need to be had, and like I said, like PMC is just one organization that can do this. Um, we can certainly organize and drive forward collaboration, but I, like we alone, cannot cover all this ground and we need the subject matter experts to collaborate with us so we can, you know, once we get in the door, we wanna bring the experts in to talk to these officials about it. Melissa Lavasani: So I. I, I really want listeners to really think about us as a convener of sorts when it comes to federal policy. Um, and you know, I think when, like for example, in the early eighties, a lot of people have made comparisons to the issue of psychedelics to the issue of AIDS research and how you have in a subject matter that's like extremely taboo and a patient population that the government [00:29:00] quite honestly didn't really care about in the early eighties. Melissa Lavasani: But what they did as an ecosystem is really organized themselves, get very clear on what they wanted the federal government to do. And within a matter of a couple years, uh, AIDS research funding was a thing that was happening. And what that, what that did was that ripple effect turned that into basically finding new therapies for something that we thought was a death, death sentence before. Melissa Lavasani: So I think. We just need to look at things in the past that have been really successful, um, and, and try to take the lessons from all of these issues and, and move forward with psychedelics. Joe Moore: Love that. And yes, we always need to be figuring out efficient approaches and where it has been successful in the past is often, um, an opportunity to mimic and, and potentially improve on that. Melissa Lavasani: Yeah. Jay Kopelman: One, one thing I think it's important to add to this part of the conversation is that, [00:30:00] you know, Melissa pointed out there are a number of organizations that are essentially doing the same thing. Jay Kopelman: Um, you know, I like to think we do things a little bit differently at Mission within Foundation in that we don't target any one specific type of service member. We, we work with all veterans. We work with first responders, but. What that leads to is that there are, as far as I've seen, nothing but good intentioned people in this space. Jay Kopelman: You know, people who really care about their patient population, they care about healing, they are trying to do a good job, and more importantly, they're trying to do good. Right? It, it, I think they all see the benefit down the road that this has, [00:31:00] pardon me, not just for veterans, but for society as a whole. Jay Kopelman: And, and ultimately that's where I would like to see this go. You know, I, I would love to see the VA take this. Take up this mantle and, and run with it and provide great data, great outcomes. You know, we are doing some data collection ourselves at Mission within foundation, albeit anecdotal based on surveys given before and after retreats. Jay Kopelman: But we're also working with, uh, Greg Fonzo down at UT Austin on a brain study he's doing that will have 40 patients in it when it's all said and done. And I think we have two more guys to put through that. Uh, and then we'll hit the 40. So there, there's a lot of good here that's being done by some really, really good people who've been doing this for a long time [00:32:00] and want to want nothing more than to, to see this. Jay Kopelman: Come to, come full circle so that we can take care of many, many, many people. Um, you know, like I say, I, I wanna work myself out of a job here. I, I just, I would love to see this happen and then I, you know, I don't have to send guys to Mexico to do this. They can go to their local VA and get the care that they need. Jay Kopelman: Um, but one thing that I don't think we've touched on yet, or regarding that is that the VA isn't designed for that. So it's gonna be a pretty big lift to get the right types of providers into the va with the knowledge, right, with the institutional knowledge of how this should be done, what is safe, what is effective, um, and then it, it's not just providing these medicines to [00:33:00] people and sending them home. Jay Kopelman: You don't just do that, you've gotta have the right therapists on the backend who can provide the integration coaching to the folks who are receiving these medicines. And I'm not just talking, I bga, even with MDMA and psilocybin, you should have a proper period of integration. It helps you to understand how this is going to affect you, what it, what the experience really meant, you know, because it's very difficult sometimes to just interpret it on your own. Jay Kopelman: And so what the experience was and what it meant to you. And, and so it will take some time to spin all that up. But once it's, once it's in place, you know, the sky's the limit. I think. Joe Moore: Kinda curious Jay, about what's, what's going on with Ibogaine at the federal level. Is there anything at VA right now? [00:34:00] Jay Kopelman: At the va? No, not with ibogaine. And, you know, uh, we, we send people specifically for IBOGAINE and five MEO, right? And, and so that, that doesn't preclude my interest in seeing this legislation passed, right? Jay Kopelman: Because it, it will start with something like MDMA or psilocybin, but ultimately it could grow to iboga, right? It the think about the cost savings at, at the va, even with psilocybin, right? Where you could potentially treat somebody with a very inexpensive dose of psilocybin or, or iboga one time, and then you, you don't have to treat them again. Jay Kopelman: Now, if I were, uh, you know, a VA therapist who's not trained in psychedelic trauma therapy. I might be worried [00:35:00] about job security, but it's like with anything, right? Like ultimately it will open pathways for new people to get that training or the existing people to get that training and, and stay on and do that work. Jay Kopelman: Um, which only adds another arrow to their quiver as far as I'm concerned, because this is coming and we're gonna need the people. It's just like ai, right? Like ai, yeah. Some people are gonna lose some jobs initially, and that's unfortunate. But productivity ultimately across all industries will increase and new jobs will be created as a result of that. Jay Kopelman: I mean, I was watching Squawk Box one morning. They were talking about the AI revolution and how there's gonna be a need for 500,000 electricians to. Build these systems that are going to work with the AI [00:36:00] supercomputers and, and so, Joe Moore: mm-hmm. Jay Kopelman: Where, where an opportunity may be lost. I think several more can be gained going forward. Melissa Lavasani: And just to add on what Jay just said there, there's nothing specific going on with Ibogaine at, at the va, but I think this administration is, is taking a real look at addiction in particular. Uh, they just launched, uh, a new initiative, uh, that's really centered on addiction treatments called the Great American Recovery. Melissa Lavasani: And, um, they're dedicating a hundred million dollars towards treating addiction as like a chronic treatable disease and not necessarily a law enforcement issue. So, um, in that initiative there will be federal grant programs for prevention and treatment and recovery. And, um, while this isn't just for psychedelic medicines, uh, I think it's a really great opportunity for the discussion of psychedelics to get elevated to the White House. Melissa Lavasani: Um, [00:37:00] there's also, previous to this announcement last week from the White House, there's been a hundred million dollars that was dedicated at, um, at ARPA h, which is. The advanced research projects, uh, agency for healthcare, um, and that is kind of an agency that's really focused on forward looking, um, treatments and technologies, uh, for, um, a, a whole slew of. Melissa Lavasani: Of issues, but this a hundred million dollars is dedicated to mental health and addiction. So there's a lot of opportunity there as well. So we, while I think, you know, some people are talking about, oh, we need a executive order on Iboga, it's like, well, you know, the, the president is thinking, um, about, you know, what issues can land with his, uh, voting block. Melissa Lavasani: And I think it's, I don't think we necessarily need a specific executive order on Iboga to call this a success. It's like, let's look at what, [00:38:00] um, what's just been announced from the White House. They're, they're all in on. Thinking creatively and finding, uh, new solutions for this. And this is kind of, this aligns with, um, HHS secretaries, uh, Robert F. Melissa Lavasani: Kennedy Junior's goals when he took on this, this role of Health Secretary. Um, addiction has been a discussion that, you know, he has personal, um, a personal tie to from his own experience. And, um, I think when this administration started, there was so much like fervor around the, the dialogue of like, everyone's talking about psychedelics. Melissa Lavasani: It was Secretary Kennedy, it was, uh, secretary Collins at the va. It was FDA Commissioner Marty Macari. And I think that there's like a lot of undue frustration within folks 'cause um, you don't necessarily snap your fingers and change happens in Washington dc This is not the city for that. And it's intentionally designed to move slow so that we can avoid really big mistakes. Melissa Lavasani: Um. [00:39:00] I think we're a year into this administration and these two announcements are, are pretty huge considering, um, you know, the, we, there are known people within domestic policy council that don't, aren't necessarily supportive of psychedelic medicine. So there's a really amazing progress here, and frustrating as it might be to, um, just be waiting for this administration to make some major move. Melissa Lavasani: I think they are making major moves like for Washington, DC These, these are major moves and we just gotta figure out how we can, um, take these initiatives and apply them to the issue of psychedelic medicines. Joe Moore: Thanks, Melissa. Um, yeah, it is, it is interesting like the amount of fervor there was at the beginning. You know, we had, uh. Kind of one of my old lawyers, Matt Zorn, jumped in with the administration. Right. And, um, you know, it was, uh, really cool to [00:40:00] see and hopeful how much energy was going on. It's been a little quiet, kind of feels like a black box a little bit, but I, you know, there was, Melissa Lavasani: that's on me. Melissa Lavasani: Maybe I, we need to be more out in public about like, what's actually happening, because I feel like, like day in and day out, it's just been, you gotta just mm-hmm. Like have that constant beat with the government. Mm-hmm. And, um, it's, it's, it's not the photo ops on the hill, it's the conversations that you have. Melissa Lavasani: It's the dinner parties you go to, it's the fundraisers you attend, you know? Mm-hmm. That's why I, I kind of have to like toot my own horn with PCs. Like, we need to be present here at, at not only on the Hill, not only at the White House, but kind of in the ecosystem of Washington DC itself. There's, it's, there are like power players here. Melissa Lavasani: There are people that are connected that can get things done, like. I mean, the other last week we had a big snow storm. I walked over to my friend's house, um, to have like a little fire sesh with them and our kids, and his next door neighbor came over. He was a member of Congress. I talked about the VA bills, like [00:41:00] we're reaching out to his office now, um, to get them, um, up to speed and hopefully get their co-sponsorship for, uh, the two VA bills. Melissa Lavasani: So, I mean, it, the little conversations you have here are just as important as the big ones with the photo ops. So, um, it, it's, it's really like, you know, building up that momentum and, and finding that time where you can really strike and make something happen. Joe Moore: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jay, anything to add there? Jay Kopelman: Yeah, I was just gonna say that, you know, I, I, I think the fervor is still there, right? Jay Kopelman: But real life happens. Melissa Lavasani: Yes, Jay Kopelman: yes. And gets in the way, right? So, Melissa Lavasani: yeah, Jay Kopelman: I, I can't imagine how many issues. Secretary Kennedy has every day much less the president. Like there's so many things that they are dealing with on a daily basis, right? It, we, we just have to work to be the squeaky wheel in, in the right way, right. Jay Kopelman: [00:42:00] With the, with the right information at the right time. Like just inundating one of these organizations with noise, it's then it be with Informa, it just becomes noise, right? It it, it doesn't help. So when we have things to say that are meaningful and impactful, we do, and Melissa does an amazing job of that. Jay Kopelman: But, you know, it, it takes time. You know, it's, you know, we're not, this is, this is like turning an aircraft carrier, not a ski boat. Melissa Lavasani: Yeah, Joe Moore: yeah, absolutely. Um, and. It's, it's understandably frustrating, I think for the public and the psychedelic public in particular because we see all this hope, you know, we continue to get frustrated at politics. It's nothing new, right? Um, and we, we wanna see more people get well immediately. [00:43:00] And I, I kind of, Jay from the veteran perspective, I do love the kind of loud voices like, you're making me go to Mexico for this. Joe Moore: I did that and you're making me leave the country for the thing that's gonna fix me. Like, no way. And barely a recognition that this is a valid treatment. You know, like, you know, that is complicated given how medicine is structured here domestically. But it's also, let's face the facts, like the drug war kind of prevented us from being able to do this research in the first place. Joe Moore: You know? Thanks Nixon. And like, how do we actually kind of correct course and say like, we need to spend appropriately on science here so we can heal our own people, including veterans and everybody really. It's a, it's a dire situation out there. Jay Kopelman: Yeah. It, it really is. Um, you know, we were talking briefly about addicts, right? Jay Kopelman: And you know, it's not sexy. People think of addicts as people who are weak-minded, [00:44:00] right? They don't have any self-control. Um, but, but look at, look at the opioid crisis, right? That Brian Hubbard was fighting against in Kentucky for all those years. That that was something that was given to the patient by a doctor that they then became dependent on, and a lot of people died from that. Jay Kopelman: And, and so you, you know, it's, I I don't think it's fair to just put all addicts in a box. Just like it's not fair to put all veterans in a box. Just like it's not fair for doctors, put all their patients in a box. We're individuals. We, we have individual needs. Our, our health is very individual. Like, I, I don't think I should be put in the same box as every other 66-year-old that my doctor sees. Jay Kopelman: It's not fair. [00:45:00] You know, if you, if you took my high school classmates and put us all in a photo, we're all gonna have different needs, right? Like, some look like they're 76, not 66. Some look like they're 56. Not like they're, we, we do things differently. We live our lives differently. And the same is true of addicts. Jay Kopelman: They come to addiction from different places. Not everybody decides they want to just try heroin at a party, and all of a sudden they're addicted. It happens in, in different ways, you know, and the whole fentanyl thing has been so daggum nefarious, right? You know, pushing fentanyl into marijuana. Jay Kopelman: Somebody's smoking a joint and all of a sudden they're addicted to fentanyl or they die. Melissa Lavasani: I think we're having a, Jay Kopelman: it's, it's just not fair to, to say everybody in this pot is the same, or everybody in this one is the same. We have [00:46:00] to look at it differently. Joe Moore: Yeah. I like to zoom one level out and kind of talk about, um, just how hurt we are as a country, as a world really, but as a country specifically, and how many people are out of work for so many. Joe Moore: Difficult reasons and away from their families for so many kind of tragic reasons. And if we can get people back to their families and back to work, a lot of these things start to self-correct, but we have to like have those interventions where we can heal folks and, and get them back. Um, yeah. And you know, everything from trauma, uh, in childhood, you know, adulthood, combat, whatever it is. Joe Moore: Like these things can put people on the sidelines. And Jay, to your point, like you get knee surgery and all of a sudden you're, you know, two years later you're on the hunt for Fentanyl daily. You know, that's tough. It's really tough. Carl Hart does a good job talking about this kind of addiction pipeline and [00:47:00] a few others do as well. Joe Moore: But it's just, you know, kind of putting it in a moral failure bucket. It's not great. I was chatting with somebody about, um, veterans, it's like you come back and you're like, what's gonna make me feel okay right now? And it's not always alcohol. Um, like this is the first thing that made me feel okay, because there's not great treatments and there's, there's a lot of improvements in this kind of like bringing people back from the field that needs to happen. Joe Moore: In my opinion. I, it seems to be shared by a lot of people, but yeah, there's, it's, it's, IGA is gonna be great. It's gonna be really important. I really can't wait for it to be at scale appropriately, but there's a lot of other things we need to fix too, um, so that we can just, you know, not have so many people we need to, you know, spend so much money healing. Joe Moore: Mm-hmm. Jay Kopelman: Yeah. You ahead with that. We don't need the president to sign an executive order to automatically legalize Ibogaine. Right. But it would be nice if he would reschedule it so that [00:48:00] then then researchers could do this research on a larger scale. You know, we could, we could now get some real data that would show the efficacy. Jay Kopelman: And it could be done in a safe environment, you know? And, and so that would be, do Joe Moore: you have any kind of figures, like, like, I've been talking about this for a while, Jay. Like, does it drop the cost a lot of doing research when we deschedule things? Jay Kopelman: I, I would imagine so, because it'll drop the cost of accessing the medicines that are being researched. Jay Kopelman: Right? You, you would have buy-in from more organizations. You know, you might even have a pharma company that comes into this, you know, look at j and j with the ketamine, right? They have, they have a nasal spray version of ketamine that's doing very well. I mean, it's probably their, their biggest revenue [00:49:00] provider for them right now. Jay Kopelman: And, and so. You know, you, it would certainly help and I think, I think it would lower costs of research to have something rescheduled rather than being schedule one. You know it, people are afraid to take chances when you're talking about Schedule one Melissa Lavasani: labs or they just don't have the money to research things that are on Schedule one. Melissa Lavasani: 'cause there's so much in an incredible amount of red tape that you have to go through and, and your facility has to be a certain way and how you contain those, uh, medicines. Oh, researching has to be in a specific container and it's just very cumbersome to research schedule one drugs. So absolutely the cost would go down. Melissa Lavasani: Um, but Joe Moore: yeah, absolutely. Less safes. Melissa Lavasani: Yeah. Joe Moore: Yes. Less uh, Melissa Lavasani: right. Joe Moore: Locked. Yeah. Um, it'll be really interesting when that happens. I'm gonna hold out faith. That we can see some [00:50:00] movement here. Um, because yeah, like why make healing more expensive than it needs to be? I think like that's potentially a protectionist move. Joe Moore: Like, I'm not, I'm not here yet, but, um, look at AbbVie's, uh, acquisition of the Gilgamesh ip. Mm-hmm. Like that's a really interesting move. I think it was $1.2 billion. Mm-hmm. So they're gonna wanna protect that investment. Um, and it's likely going to be an approved medication. Like, I don't, I don't see a world in which it's not an approved medication. Joe Moore: Um, you know, I don't know a timeline, I would say Jay Kopelman: yeah. Joe Moore: Less than six years, just given how much cash they've got. But who knows, like, I haven't followed it too closely. So, and that's an I bga derivative to be clear, everybody, um mm-hmm. If you're not, um, in, in the loop on that, which is hopeful, you know? Joe Moore: Mm-hmm. But I don't know what the efficacy is gonna be with that compared to Ibogaine and then we have to talk about the kind of proprietary molecule stuff. Um, there's like a whole bunch of things that are gonna go on here, and this is one of the reasons why I'm excited about. Federal involvement [00:51:00] because we might actually be able to have some sort of centralized manufacturer, um, or at least the VA could license three or four generic manufacturers per for instance, and that way prices aren't gonna be, you know, eight grand a dose or whatever. Joe Moore: You know, it's, Jay Kopelman: well, I think it's a very exciting time in the space. You know, I, I think that there's the opportunity for innovation. There is the opportunity for collaboration. There's the opportunity for, you know, long-term healing at a very low cost. You know, that we, we have the highest healthcare cost per capita in the world right here in the us. Jay Kopelman: And, and yet we are not the number one health system in the world. So to me, that doesn't add up. So we need to figure out a way to start. Bringing costs down for a lot of people and [00:52:00] at the same time increasing, increasing outcomes. Joe Moore: Absolutely. Yeah. There's a lot of possible outcome improvements here and, and you know, everything from relapse rates, like we hear often about people leaving a clinic and they go and overdose when they get home. Tragically, too common. I think there's everything from, you know, I'm Jay, I'm involved in an organization called the Psychedelics and Pain Association. Joe Moore: We look at chronic pain very seriously, and IGA is something we are really interested in. And if. We could have better, you know, research, there better outcome measures there. Um, you know, perhaps we can have less people on opioids to begin with from chronic pain conditions. Um, Jay Kopelman: yeah, I, I might be due for another Ibogaine journey then, because I deal with chronic pain from Jiujitsu, but, Joe Moore: oh gosh, let's Jay Kopelman: talk Joe Moore: later. Jay Kopelman: That's self inflicted. Some people would say take a month off, but Melissa Lavasani: yeah, Jay Kopelman: I'm [00:53:00] not, I'm not that smart. Joe Moore: Yeah. Um, but you know, this, uh, yeah, this whole thing is gonna be really interesting to see how it plays out. I'm endlessly hopeful pull because I'm still here. Right. I, I've been at this for almost 10 years now, very publicly, and I think we are seeing a lot of movement. Joe Moore: It's not always what we actually wanna see, but it is movement nonetheless. You know, how many people are writing on this now than there were before? Right. You know, we, we have people in New York Times writing somewhat regularly about psychedelics and. Even international media is covering it. What do we have legalization in Australia somewhat recently for psilocybin and MDMA, Czech Republic. Joe Moore: I think Germany made some moves recently. Mm-hmm. Um, really interesting to see how this is gonna just keep shifting. Um Jay Kopelman: mm-hmm. Joe Moore: And I think there's no way that we're not gonna have prescription psychedelics in three years in the United States. It pro probably more like a [00:54:00] year and a half. I don't know. Do you, are you all taking odds? Melissa Lavasani: Yeah. I mean, I think Jay Kopelman: I, I gotta check Cal sheet, see what they're saying. Melissa Lavasani: I think it's safe to say, I mean, this could even come potentially the end of this year, I think, but definitely by the end of 2027, there's gonna be at least one psychedelic that's FDA approved. Joe Moore: Yeah. Yeah. Melissa Lavasani: If you're not counting Ketamine. Joe Moore: Right. Jay Kopelman: I, I mean, I mean it mm-hmm. It, it doesn't make sense that it. Shouldn't be or wouldn't be. Right. The, we've seen the benefits. Mm-hmm. We know what they are. It's at a very low cost, but you have to keep in mind that these things, they need to be done with the right set setting and container. Right. And, and gotta be able to provide that environment. Jay Kopelman: So, but I would, I would love, like I said, I'd love to work myself out of a job here and see this happen, not just for our veterans, [00:55:00] but for everybody. Joe Moore: Mm-hmm. Um, so Melissa, is there a way people can get involved or follow PMC or how can they support your work at PMC? Melissa Lavasani: Yeah, I mean, follow us in social media. Melissa Lavasani: Um, our two biggest platforms are LinkedIn and Instagram. Um, I'm bringing my newsletter back because I'm realizing, um, you know, there is a big gap in, in kind of like the knowledge of Washington DC just in general. What's happening here, and I think, you know, part of PC's value is that we're, we are plugged into conversations that are being had, um, here in the city. Melissa Lavasani: And, you know, we do get a little insight. Um, and I think that that would really quiet a lot of, you know, the, a lot of noise that, um, exists in the, our ecosystem. If, if people just had some clarity on like, what's actually happening or happening here and what are the opportunities and, [00:56:00] um, where do we need more reinforcement? Melissa Lavasani: Um, and, and also, you know, as we're putting together public education campaign, you know. My, like, if I could get everything I wanted like that, that campaign would be this like multi-stakeholder collaborative effort, right? Where we're covering all the ground that we need to cover. We're talking to the patient groups, we're talking to traditional mental health organizations, we're talking to the medical community, we're talking to the general population. Melissa Lavasani: I think that's like another area that we, we just seem to be, um, lacking some effort in. And, you know, ultimately the veteran story's always super compelling. It pulls on your heartstrings. These are our heroes, um, of our country. Like that, that is, that is meaningful. But a lot of the veteran population is small and we need the, like a, the just.[00:57:00] Melissa Lavasani: Basic American living in middle America, um, understanding what psychedelics are so that in, in, in presenting to them the stories that they can relate to, um, because that's how you activate the public and you activate the public and you get them to see what's happening in these clinical trials, what the data's been saying, what the opportunities are with psychedelics, and then they start calling their members of Congress and saying, Hey, there is this. Melissa Lavasani: Bill sitting in Congress and why haven't you signed onto it? And that political pressure, uh, when used the right way can be really powerful. So, um, I think, you know, now we're at this really amazing moment where we have a good amount of congressional offices that are familiar enough with psychedelics that they're willing to move on it. Melissa Lavasani: Um, there's another larger group, uh, that is familiar with psychedelics and will assist and co-sponsor legislation, but there's still so many offices that we haven't been able to get to just 'cause like we don't have all the time in the world and all the manpower in the world to [00:58:00] do it. But, you know, that is one avenue is like the advocates can speak to the, the lawmakers, the experts speak to the lawmakers, and we not, we want the public engaged in this, you know, ultimately, like that's. Melissa Lavasani: Like the best form of harm reduction is having an informed public. So we are not, they're not seeing these media headlines of like, oh, this miracle cure that, um, saved my family. It's like, yes, that can happen psychedelics. I mean, person speaking personally, psychedelics did save my family. But what you miss out of that story is the incredible amount of work I put into myself and put into my mental health to this day to maintain, um, like myself, my, my own agency and like be the parent that I wanna be and be the spouse that I wanna be. Melissa Lavasani: So, um, we, we need to continue to share these stories and we need to continue to collaborate to get this message out because we're all, we're all in the same boat right now. We all want the same things. We want patients to have safe and [00:59:00] affordable access to psychedelic assisted care. Um, and, uh. We're just in the beginning here, so, um, sign up for our newsletter and we can sign up on our website and then follow us on social media. Melissa Lavasani: And, um, I anticipate more and more events, um, happening with PMC and hopefully we can scale up some of these events to be much more public facing, um, as this issue grows. So, um, I'm really excited about the future and I'm, I've been enjoying this partnership with Mission Within. Jay is such a professional and, and it really shows up when he needs to show up and, um, I look forward to more of that in the future. Joe Moore: Fantastic. And Jay, how can people follow along and support mission within Foundation? Jay Kopelman: Yeah, again, social media is gonna be a good way to do that. So we, we are also pretty heavily engaged on LinkedIn and on Instagram. Um, I do [01:00:00] share, uh, a bit of my own stuff as well. On social media. So we have social media pages for Mission within Foundation, and we have a LinkedIn page for mission within foundation. Jay Kopelman: I have my own profiles on both of those as well where people can follow along. Um, one of the other things you know that would probably help get more attention for this is if the general public was more aware of the numbers of professional athletes who are also now pursuing. I began specifically to help treat their traumatic brain injuries and the chronic traumatic encephalopathy that they've, uh, suffered as a result of their time in professional sports or even college sports. Jay Kopelman: And, you know. I people worship these athletes, and I [01:01:00] think that if more of them, like Robert Gall, were more outspoken about these treatments and the healing properties that they've provided them, that it would get even more attention. Um, I think though what Melissa said, you know, I don't wanna parrot anything she just said because she said it perfectly Right. Jay Kopelman: And I'd just be speaking to hear myself talk. Um, but being collaborative the way that we are with PMC and with Melissa is I think, the way to move the needle on this overall. And like she said, if she could get more groups involved in, in these discussions, it would, it would do wonders for us. Joe Moore: Well, thank you both so much for your hard work out there. I always appreciate it when people are showing up and doing this important, [01:02:00] sometimes boring and tedious, but nevertheless sometimes, sometimes exciting work. And um, so yeah, just thank you both and thank you both for showing up here to psychedelics today to join us and I hope we can continue to support you all in the future. Jay Kopelman: Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Joe. It's a pleasure being with you today and with Melissa, of course, always Melissa Lavasani: appreciate the time and space. Joe Moore: Thanks.  

    True Crime Recaps
    Ghislaine Maxwell Pleads the Fifth and Offers a Deal for Her Freedom

    True Crime Recaps

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2026 14:19


    In February 2026, Ghislaine Maxwell appeared virtually from a federal prison in Texas and repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein or any potential co conspirators. Through her attorney, however, she sent a message that immediately reignited controversy. Grant her clemency, and she will speak fully and honestly.Maxwell is currently serving a twenty year sentence for her role in recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein. With Epstein deceased and no additional federal indictments pending, she remains the only person imprisoned in connection to the case. Her proposed clemency deal raises difficult questions about accountability, leverage, and whether new information could ever lead to further charges.At the same time, newly released documents have fueled public debate. Emails, flight records, and references to powerful individuals have resurfaced. Federal prosecutors previously stated that while substantial evidence confirmed abuse of minors, they did not find sufficient provable evidence to bring additional federal conspiracy charges.Now the woman at the center of one of the most controversial cases in modern history is offering information in exchange for freedom. The government must decide whether the potential value of her testimony outweighs the gravity of her conviction.More than two decades after the first report in Palm Beach, the Epstein case continues to raise legal, political, and ethical questions that remain unresolved.

    The Will Cain Podcast
    Why Are Chinese-Linked Biolabs Operating on U.S. Soil? (ft. Rep. Kevin Kiley)

    The Will Cain Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2026 59:52


    Story 1: Neighborly disputes can be a headache, but rarely do they result in a potential public health emergency. For one Las Vegas neighborhood however, the improbable became reality. Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) joins Will to help decipher the mystery behind illicit biolabs in the western United States, each containing samples of highly infectious diseases, and operated by the same Chinese national.Story 2: Democratic Representative in Texas and Will Cain antagonist James Talarico (D-TX) made headlines this week after his interview with Stephen Colbert was pulled, making the bold claim that the Federal government personally ordered its cancellation. The evidence, and even some in his own party, would beg to differ. Will and The Crew unravel Rep. Talarico's Machiavellian political plays in the wake of his interview's cancellation, and explain the real reason why it was pulled.Story 3: Will and The Crew take a look at a recent study demonstrating a massive explosion in LGBT identity among younger generations, and hear Will out on his billion dollar restaurant idea. Subscribe to ‘Will Cain Country' on YouTube here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country!⁠⁠⁠Follow ‘Will Cain Country' on X (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), Instagram (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), TikTok (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), and Facebook (⁠⁠⁠@willcainnews⁠⁠⁠)Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WillCain⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices