Systemic Error Podcast

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump appeared to stare at senior aide Natalie Harp’s legs during a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, held for Sen. Pete Ricketts. The moment came shortly after Trump called Harp “the perfect person.” The outlet says the clip repulsed several social-media commentators, including activist Derek Cressman, Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, and podc...

What happened CBS News deleted and replaced a social media post announcing former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s death after criticism that it reduced his criminal case to “violating banking laws” while omitting the sexual abuse those violations concealed. According to RawStory, CBS acknowledged that its original post had “missed the mark.” The replacement said Hastert had been jailed on charges c...

What happened RawStory reports that a CBS News insider dismissed Skydance CEO David Ellison’s promise to protect newsroom independence as “all lies” during the company’s first town hall after the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger on October 6, 2026. According to media correspondent Justin Baragona, the source cited Ellison’s alleged failure to honor a similar promise after acquiring Paramoun...

What happened RawStory reports that lawyers for three-time Olympian David Hearn asked the Justice and Interior departments’ inspectors general to investigate whether U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office improperly secured a felony indictment over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Prosecutors dropped the case after conceding that a botched coating installation—not Hearn—caused the dam...

What happened CBS News deleted and replaced a social media post announcing former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s death after criticism that it reduced his criminal case to “violating banking laws” while omitting the sexual abuse those violations concealed. According to RawStory, CBS acknowledged that its original post had “missed the mark.” The replacement said Hastert had been jailed on charges c...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump spent Monday night accusing The New York Times of doctoring a photograph of Trump National Doral Miami. He said the image made his property look “shoddy” and posted a brighter picture that he claimed showed the real facade. But the two images were not the same photograph: they showed different landscaping, fountains, framing, and lighting....

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump told a Monday rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego while he defended the costs of war as a small price for national and global safety. The crowd applauded, according to the report. On Tuesday’s “Morning Joe,” MS NOW hosts rejected efforts to excuse the remark as a joke. Joe Scarborough said c...

What happened RawStory reported on October 6, 2026, that newly released documents showed the FBI monitored Melania and Barron Trump’s travel and tapped Susie Wiles’ phone during special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office. The story does not explain the legal authority, investigative purpose, duration, or scope of those measu...

What happened AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump announced on September 28 that construction had already begun on a $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel plant in Iowa. But Lee County officials said the company had not selected a final site, submitted permits or provided detailed plans, while local records showed no major property acquisition tied to the project that year. The project remai...

What happened The reported “insurance policy” is a planned $5 million Republican spending push to defend Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina. RawStory, citing Axios, reports that Graham—appointed to succeed her late brother, Lindsey Graham, and endorsed by President Donald Trump—was statistically tied with Democratic challenger Annie Andrews despite the state’s long Republican dominance. Accordi...

What happened RawStory reports that ABC and Disney asked U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan to block FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s unusually early review of licenses held by eight ABC-owned stations. Carr ordered the April review one day after President Donald Trump urged ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel. ABC alleges that the administration is targeting constitutionally protected programming it dislikes. At Tue...

What happened AlterNet reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a Wednesday address at Quantico to announce an Autonomous Warfare Command and Project Meridian, a 120-day study of future warfare led by Elon Musk, Newt Gingrich and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. The headline’s supposed “admission” was Hegseth’s acknowledgment that inexpensive, mass-produced weapons can threaten costly mil...

What happened AlterNet, citing Politico, reports that Sen. Ted Cruz has become a major behind-the-scenes supporter of Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton in Texas. Cruz has campaigned with Paxton, attacked Democratic nominee James Talarico on his podcast, deployed his super PAC against Talarico, advised Paxton informally and connected him with donors. He also helped arrange outreach to bring Paxt...

What happened A federal judge refused the Trump administration’s request to dismiss former Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith’s lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations, AlterNet reported. Judge Amit Mehta also denied Smith’s request for immediate reinstatement, ruling that she had not shown she was likely to prevail on the merits at that preliminary stage. The decision followed a Sep...

What happened AlterNet reports that Republican campaigns and allied groups spent heavily on Senate television advertising through September 2026 without gaining a comparable advantage in airtime or polling. AdImpact calculated that Republicans spent $563 million across nine battlegrounds, versus Democrats’ $375 million, but their 26 percent broadcast-spending advantage produced only 7 percent more...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump told supporters at a Monday-night rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego, calling that a “very small price to pay” while predicting that the war would end soon. The audience cheered. The two cities have roughly 5.3 million residents combined, according to figures cited by RawStory. San Diego C...

What happened RawStory reports that President Donald Trump brought aide Natalie Harp onstage during a Monday-night rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, to deliver an executive order concerning purchases of tax-free red-dyed diesel. Trump signed it before the crowd, called Harp a “perfect person,” and compared the presentation to “The Price Is Right.” On Tuesday’s “Morning Joe,” MS NOW co-host Willie G...

What happened At an October 6, 2026 rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, President Donald Trump repeatedly stumbled while campaigning for Gov. Jim Pillen and Sen. Pete Ricketts, according to RawStory’s account of reporting by several outlets. Most notably, Trump called “Jim Walz” the “worst governor in history,” apparently combining Pillen’s first name with the surname of Democratic candidate Lynne Wa...

What happened RawStory reports that MIT biosecurity researcher Kevin Esvelt argued Russia’s response to the unexplained death of a 28-year-old technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute did not resemble the response to a routine laboratory-acquired plague infection. He cited quarantines across several hospitals, reported involvement by the Federal Security Service, hazmat precautions...

What happened Raw Story columnist Jason Miciak argues that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche could face professional discipline and possible state scrutiny that a presidential pardon would not erase. The concrete exposure described is a June 22, 2025 New York bar complaint signed by 101 former federal and state judges; the article says the 69-page filing alleges abuse of Justice Department powe...

What happened RawStory, summarizing NPR’s reporting, says FBI counterintelligence staffing has fallen to roughly 50% to 60% of authorized positions in many field offices, with some offices cutting the number of counterintelligence squads in half. Agents and analysts have been redirected toward violent crime, gangs, and immigration—the priorities President Donald Trump emphasizes while campaigning...

What happened RawStory columnist Ray Richmond writes that President Donald Trump told a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego and called that “a very small price to pay.” Richmond interprets the remark as encouragement for Iran to attack millions of Americans in two cities that overwhelmingly reject Trump politically. The column says the crowd cheered...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Justice Department appealed to the conservative 11th Circuit for access to information concerning 2020 election workers in Fulton County, Georgia. The filing misspelled “north” twice, but the substantive failure came earlier: U.S. District Judge William Ray ruled in July that the demand was unreasonable and would not produce information supporting any viable...

What happened AlterNet reports that the Trump administration did not invite observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to monitor the November 3 midterm elections. If that remains unchanged, this would be the first U.S. federal election since 2002—and the first of seven midterm elections during that period—without OSCE observers. The State Department said the OSCE shou...

What happened AlterNet reports that a newly unsealed, court-appointed monitor’s report found that Stephanie Ameiss, whose firm AZ Truthfinder received a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office contract for sensitive internal investigations, omitted significant parts of her background from her résumé. Those omissions included six years as lead investigator for Understanding the Threat—classified by the So...