The Prevailing Narrative with Matt Bilinsky

The most interesting story nobody is talking about. El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele has instituted a brutal gang crackdown imprisoning nearly 1% of the entire population over the past year (the equivalent of over 3 million people in the US). This war against the gangs has been brutal...and effective. El Salvador's murder rate has plummeted 94%(!) since 2015, when it was the most violent nati...

Hollywood is at a stand-still with both the actor's and writer's guilds striking simultaneously for the 1st time since 1960. What is the battle over? What does this portend for the future of media? Transgender Health Secretary Rachel/Richard Levine makes controversial statements about childhood puberty and puberty blockers. LA (and Illinois) have reinstated "Zero Bail" policies for some crimes - a...

Meta releases Threads - the first true challenge to Twitter's supremacy as the "digital town square". What was the thinking behind Threads? Will it spell the end for Twitter? Who is using Threads so far and how? Jonah Hill's ex-girlfriend releases a batch of private texts supposedly showing him to be abusive and it's got the digital sphere talking. Another example of how we no longer know where to...

"Diversity", "Equity", & "Inclusion" are seemingly separate principles. However, the terms have been lumped together, co-opted by an industry of professionals, and implanted bureaucratically in Corporate America. With expensive "DEI Consultants" renting themselves out to companies, and "DEI Executives" occupying lofty (and expensive) positions at major corporations, no one seemed to ever ask the q...

Originally intended to measure strict environmental impact, "Environment Social Governance" or "ESG" scores are now used by financial institutions to reward and punish companies based on their supposed ethics. But are these scores actually measuring the right things? When Phillip Morris earns an ESG score multiples of Tesla - despite making a product that is literally killing people - it appears s...

The battle against ISIS and Vladimir Putin's invasion of Crimea in 2014 woke up the American national security apparatus to the notion of "hybrid war" - the impact of social media activity on battlefield results.  Beginning with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, this national security apparatus was aimed away from external enemies and turned inwards against American citizens - any of those dee...

Special Counsel John Durham finally released his report documenting massive misconduct and lies by the FBI and security agencies in conducting the Trump Russia investigation. Sports Illustrated has turned the Swimsuit Edition Woke - which begs the question: Why do male oriented brands feel the need to scold and alienate their core audience? Elon Musk has hired a new CEO for Twitter - NBC Advertisi...

New York City's subways have returned to the urban chaos of the 80's and 90's, leading to an inevitable fatal incident of vigilante-ism. A Marine trying to restrain an unhinged homeless person who had been threatning passengers, with a fatal result.  What conditions led to this? Could it have been prevented? Was it a just result? What can be done to rectify it? Adam Coleman is a writer who has bee...

After about a million false rumors of Donald Trump being arrested, one of the rumors finally came true. And the charges are pathetically weak - a flimsy attempt by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to flip a misdemeanor into a felony. On this episode I discuss: -The legal charges themselves and why there are baseless; a blatant example of prosecutorial misconduct and selective prosecution -The political fa...

Freddie DeBoer is one of my favorite writers and someone whose blunt yet thoughtful wisdom is sorely needed these days. Freddie joins me to discuss: The explosion in ADHD diagnosis and prescription drugs such as Aderral and Ritalin. How ADHD and other disorders have become "cultures" and "communities" that define people's identities The role of pharmaceutical companies and bureaucratic rewards inc...

Social commentary has become a lost art in movies and television, but recently 3 works were very deliberate in exploring the unique features of modern life: HBO mini-series White Lotus, and the films Tar & Triangle of Sadness.  My friend and comedian Leah Lamarr joins me to discuss these works and the social issues they comment on: - Shifting gender roles in modern relationships - do women want to...

Despite being both anonymous and controversial, Niccolo Soldo (not his real name) has built up one of the most popular pages on Substack and interviewed some of the leaders of media and industry. He joins me to discuss many of the wide ranging and fascinating topics he covers on his Substack: - "Turbo America": His contrarian theory that America is now actually more powerful than ever. - History o...

Roy Price has always been 2 steps ahead in the media world. He was the 1st employee of Amazon Video and the Head of Amazon Studios as TV and Film consumption shifted to streaming platforms. Roy built Amazon's streaming and production resources seemingly from nothing - presiding over 12 productions that won Best Series at the Emmy's and Golden Globes.  Roy is sharing his insights and predictions fo...

Joe Biden delivered his 1st post-mid terms State of the Union. Does he benefit from our low expectations? How real are his (claimed) accomplishments? Are the Republicans botching a response? (some are, some aren't) Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle, Armie Hammer, & Salman Rushdie all back in the news this week. Has Cancel Culture faded? Was it real in the first place? Why or why not? Exploration of 2 gre...

By now we're all familiar with the Fyre Fest debacle and the man behind it all - Billy McFarland. Billy has paid his debt to society with 4 years in prison...but now has to pay his debt to Fyre Fest victims to the tune of $26 million (non-dischargeable!!!). Billy appears to be taking responsibility for his mishaps, and is saying all the right things. But he's had a habit of saying the right things...

In 2017 explosive claims dropped about NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere. Lurid tales of sexual abuse, blackmail, financial impropriety, and even physical "branding" with hot irons.  The court system agreed and sentenced Raniere to 120 years in prison.  NXIVM member Nicki Clyne was front and center for it all. She claims the accusations against Raniere and NXIVM are predominantly false and obscur...

Marty Callner has directed the most iconic figures of the past 50 years - Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Cher, Brittney Spears, Aerosmith, Whitney Houston, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, George Carlin....the list goes on and on.  The NY Times has called him "the most influential director you've never heard of" and that is quite the under-statement as Marty revolutionized THREE different entertainment m...

4:00 - The ChatGPT app rocked the tech world just before the holidays, providing us a glimpse into the commercial capabilities of Artificial Intelligence. Former Twitter engineer and machine learning expert Nikolai Yakovenko joins us to break down this technology and its anticipated impact on our lives. 47:16 - Aaron Sibarium has been documenting the Woke takeover over critical institutions rangin...

To start off 2023, all anyone can talk about are the revelations from Prince Harry & his wife Meghan Markle....or how they're tired of hearing about them. Kinsey Schofield has researched the claims made by H & M and we put them under a microscope, and discuss how this saga speaks to larger issues in current media and culture.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

End of the year controversy and arrest for provocateur Andrew Tate. The popularity of online personalities like Tate and Jordan Peterson (for different reasons) expose a vacuum in healthy representations of masculinity, and serve as a broad canvas for Culture War paranoias/suspicions. 6:17 - Dan Holloway is an Army veteran and shrewd student of these dynamics, and he joins me to discuss.  Learn mo...

Congress is about to vote on a $1.7 TRILLION Omnibus Spending Bill which is receiving lot of criticism. I analyze the Bill.  An investigation into CLEAR, the TSA, and the current state of the airport security experience.  Perry Rahbar defied tough market conditions and sold his Fin-Tech start-up DV01 this year. He joins us to discuss many entrepreneurial lessons learned and the global economy.  Am...

Click Here to Listen to DXSW: https://apple.co/3U1kNCg Cavalry Audio is proud to present Death X Southwest, a new weekly true crime podcast that explores grisly murder stories unique to the American Southwest. Join sisters & hosts, Margot & Jenna, as they use a blend non-fiction narrative storytelling and conversational commentary to immerse listeners in a different deadly crime each week, explori...

0:12 - Intro: Elon Musk's release of the "Twitter Files" and the key figures exposed.  13:45 - Crime & drugs journalist Ioan Grillo joins me to talk about the unholy alliance between Mexican Drug Cartels and Chinese Chemical Manufacturers that is driving America's Fentanyl Crisis 1:10:36 - Tablet magazine editor Alana Newhouse on "Brokenism" - a helpful framework to understanding America's contemp...

0:015 - Hysterical media claimed Twitter was about to implode last week as Elon's job cuts took hold. Nothing happened. A play by play on the media's illusory battle against Elon's Twitter.  21:37 - Joe Biden promised to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Now he's going back to them hat in hand and granting them immunity on the murder. What happened? 34:43 - James Kou...

0:17 - Results of the mid-term elections are finally in and the Republicans severely under-performed. What was it? Trump? Abortion? Bad Candidates? Luck? All are discussed 29:25 - A discussion with Los Angeles Magazine's political guru Jon Regardie on the LA Mayor's Race and other LA elections.  1:01:30 - The implosion of crypto exchange FTX has shaken the industry and put $10 billion in customer...