Ring's Lost Pet Ad: Fetching a Surveillance State

Co-hosts Nick Hauselman and Jared Yates Sexton open with a rare California Corner that’s more flood warning than sunshine report. Then they dig into the New York Times reporting on DHS and ICE subpoenas sent to Google, Meta, Discord, and Reddit, aimed at unmasking accounts tracking ICE and criticizing the crackdown. They talk through what that means in practice, why “anonymous” is a fantasy once the state wants names, and how pressure gets applied through watchlists, travel pain, and fear. From there they hit Wajahat Ali pressing Hakeem Jeffries on abolishing ICE and why Democratic leadership keeps dodging the simplest question because they helped build the machine. They also get into Russ Vought and the USAID money story, the right wing status theater of private security, and the East Wing fiasco as the perfect corruption tell. They close on climate, the EPA trying to yank the legal foundation for regulating greenhouse gases, and the ugly truth that leaders have known about this for decades and still refuse to act. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠.

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. It’s a full mailbag Weekender and it starts with Jared Yates Sexton hitting the wall after another long day on the road and Nick Hauselman catching heat for being too friendly with the devil machines. A listener asks whether the Democratic Party can be rebuilt or if it has to be replaced and the answer is not comforting. Another wants to know what it looks like when elections stop being free and fair, and they talk through the warning signs and why the “somebody will step in” instinct isn't realistic. Then a higher ed administrator writes in about the AI push inside colleges and why the people selling efficiency are really selling layoffs and hollowed out institutions. The questions keep coming on surveillance tech, local wins that feel too small, and what happens when public pressure stops working. They get into burnout, dissociation, and which Star Wars prequel we’re living through right now. They also hit the California governor race and why Jared treats every billionaire like a crime scene. It wraps with a question about where their politics came from and why the neoliberal era is decaying into something meaner. Happy Valentine’s Day, to all you lovers out there.

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman rip into Ring's Super Bowl ad, which manipulates the raw emotion of reuniting with a lost dog to sell a feature that quietly turns neighborhood doorbell cameras into a shared surveillance network. They move on to the Super Bowl's cultural divide: Bad Bunny's triumphant halftime show that sparked racist outrage, contrasted with the joyless Turning Point USA alternative that exposed the right's inability to create real energy or fun. The discussion hits Epstein file revelations linking back to Trump, Massie's bold public feud with him, the slim prospects for meaningful unredacted leaks through Congress, and the building tension around possible strikes on Iran as oligarchs push their agenda forward. Support the show on Patreon for the full episode, the Weekender every Friday, Live Shows, and our Discord community: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast Submit your questions for Friday's mailbag at [email protected]

It is Super Bowl weekend and neither the co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton or Nick Hauselman can pretend to care about the game. Jared is in full "They Live" mode and he is not being polite about it. The conversation quickly turns to the Washington Post gutting itself under Jeff Bezos, and what it means when a billionaire can buy a load bearing newsroom with pocket change. They argue that this is not a business mistake, it is the point, and they connect it to the bigger pattern of institutions being neutralized on purpose. Then they jump to the bitcoin slide, and how gambling keeps getting sold as hope in a collapsing economy. From there they hit Kamala’s new “Headquarters” relaunch and why it reads like brand management in the middle of an emergency. They close with France raiding X’s offices over sexual abuse material and deepfakes, and why Europe still has levers the US refuses to pull. The Weekender ends with what they’re watching and what they’re reading, including a rough movie recommendation and a couple books that actually land. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman kick off by diving into the latest drop of Epstein Files. They break down how Trump's name is mentioned 38,000+ times, with some really nasty tips the feds posted for a hot second before redacting everything and pulling it once screenshots started circulating. Epstein appears to be a straight-up intelligence asset as he received obvious legal protection due to his ties to the CIA, Mossad, and Russian money. They hit the crazy new angle of Epstein linking up with 4chan founder Christopher Poole right around the time the site became a launchpad for extreme online movements. Jared and Nick explain how that ecosystem fed the alt-right surge into 2016 and created QAnon, which flipped the script and pinned the same crimes these files keep exposing on everyone else. Blackmail to get in the door, rituals to keep people tied, elite power running on straight abuse. They close out on the bigger mess: Democrats folding on the budget again, just delaying the funding of ICE, who is continues to spend on concentration camps with basically no real resistance to the fascism building. The corruption cuts across both parties. Trust in the whole system is dead. Something's going to snap. Support the show by signing up for our Patreon to unlock our Weekender Show every Friday, plus access to the Discord discussion and special live shows.

The Weekender, our weekly show for Patreon members, opens with fallout from Alex Pretti’s murder and the sudden sidelining of Bovino, with Tom Homan stepping in and the administration pretending this is accountability instead of damage control. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman break down why this shakeup changes nothing, why ICE is still operating like a lawless occupying force, and why Democrats are offering cosmetic fixes while people are being abducted in the streets. They dig into the broader picture, from Kristi Noem’s political trouble to the FBI raid on Georgia election offices, and why the renewed obsession with 2020 looks a lot like groundwork for controlling future elections. The conversation circles back to the same question: if institutions won’t stop this, where does real resistance come from. They cool things down at the end with what they’re reading and watching, including Oscar contenders, a brutal takedown of The Rip, and why some messy, ambitious movies stick in your head long after the credits roll. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast

Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman are furious, and they’re not trying to hide it. They dig into the killing of Alex Preti, a VA nurse who rushed in to help someone who’d been pepper sprayed, got tackled, disarmed, and ended up shot to death while the cameras rolled. Then came the part that makes it feel even darker: the immediate scramble to flip the story, smear the victim, and sell the public an alternate version of reality. They talk about what “they heard ‘gun’” is turning into, a magic word that apparently wipes out training, restraint, and consequences. And they get into the bigger trap people are stuck in right now: waiting for guardrails, waiting for Democrats, waiting for a system that keeps proving it won’t protect anyone. If this is “law enforcement,” why does it keep looking like an occupying force, and why is everyone being told to just accept it? Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast

Nick Hauselman is flying solo while Jared Yates Sexton is out, so he grabs his buddy Brian Kaplan for a relaxed Weekender that starts as a casual lunch in LA and somehow turns into a full-blown political autopsy. Between salad-fork confessions and talk of suspicious bruises, they dig into: whether Trump needs full time care, why congressional hearings are basically soundbite factories, and how “we all saw it happen” doesn’t matter when a party’s committed to an alternate reality. From Matt Gaetz and the ethics report mess to the Supreme Court’s consequence-free zone, the conversation keeps circling the same ugly theme: power, money, and the cruelty-as-strength brand that keeps getting rewarded. They also kick around the idea that America isn’t “going back” to anything, it’s stumbling into a new Gilded Age, and the only real rebuild might come from a generation that’s sick of watching the same fossilized leadership cling to the wheel. And because it’s the Weekender, they close it out with something actually pleasant: what they’re watching when the news gets too dark. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast

Jared Yates Sexton is on the road without the studio setup, but he and Nick Hauselman still sound sharper than the people allegedly running the country. Nick reads a wildly unhinged letter Trump reportedly sent to Norway, a Nobel Peace Prize grievance tour that somehow swerves into Denmark, Greenland, and demands for “complete and total control.” From there, they dig into what it means when the U.S. starts treating allies like enemies, using tariffs like a cudgel, and drifting toward a real crisis over Greenland. They talk intelligence sharing, Five Eyes, why allies would start going dark, and how all of it connects back to the domestic crackdown, Minnesota, and the surveillance state getting upgraded right in front of everyone.

You’re hearing a preview of the Weekender. Get the full episode, bonus shows, and access to our community by subscribing here: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman dig into Trump’s latest authoritarian talk, from musing about skipping elections to floating Insurrection Act crackdowns. They break down reports of ICE ramp-ups in places like Maine, the expanding surveillance network tied to it, and why Democratic leaders keep blinking. Then it’s the Greenland talk, NATO fallout, and why chaos, outages, and “testing the fence” all feel like the point. They close with what they’re reading and watching, and a frank check-in on how to keep your bearings when the news cycle is a blender.