Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova - What to Make of the NBA Sports Betting Scandal

Last week, two federal indictments and several high-profile arrests rocked the NBA. One indictment accused defendants of sharing insider information to cheat at sports betting, and the other accused over 30 co-conspirators, including members of various mafia families, of rigging poker games.


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Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver 

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It Could Happen Here - It Could Happen Here Weekly 206

All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file. 

- Caribbean Roundtable

- The Campaign to Bust Chicago’s Only Bookstore Union

- What’s Real in the Politics of Population with Andrew

- Occulture, William S. Burroughs, and Generative AI

- Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #39

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Sources/Links:

Caribbean Roundtable

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/the-caribbeans-zone-of-peace-under-threat-a-conversation-with-david-abdulah/

https://newsday.co.tt/2025/10/20/trinidad-and-tobago-stands-firm-with-us-on-regional-security/

The Campaign to Bust Chicago’s Only Bookstore Union

https://www.instagram.com/semcoopbooksellersunion/

Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #39

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-monitor-polls-24-states-compliance-federal-voting-rights-laws

https://x.com/gavinnewsom/status/1981893887460544737?s=46&t=wjiWDhD7WaSqfSfZGiwlSw  

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-asia-trip-japan-10-27-25?post-id=cmh8yni6000053b6nah0oh7ol 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-was-fatally-hit-vehicle-fleeing-ice-virginia-highway-officials-say 

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/22/california-to-deploy-national-guard-to-support-food-banks-fast-track-funding-as-trumps-shutdown-strips-families-of-food-benefits/ 

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/bay-area-food-banks-california-national-guard/3969875

https://www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-agents-are-scanning-peoples-faces-on-the-street-to-verify-citizenship/ / 

https://www.energy.senate.gov/2025/10/lee-bill-fights-back-against-biden-s-border-chaos-destroying-america-s-parks-and-public-lands 

https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/0DED04C4-18C7-4C1F-BCE4-DD5B79FB0264 

https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/0DED04C4-18C7-4C1F-BCE4-DD5B79FB0264 

https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1983273176907043070 

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.487571/gov.uscourts.ilnd.487571.94.0.pdf

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.487571/gov.uscourts.ilnd.487571.42.0_4.pdf 

https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/28/judge-blasts-border-patrol-boss-greg-bovino-for-violating-excessive-force-order/

https://apnews.com/article/chicago-illinois-bovino-ice-immigration-506c9c661ee75f3e955f346daeed5555 

https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/1982959806173581456 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3864929/trump-administration-quietly-purges-ice-leaders-in-five-cities-sources/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-plans-install-border-patrol-officials-lead-aggressive-migrant-cr-rcna240102 

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/others/20251029/korea-welcomes-trump-with-top-level-protocol

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/30/business/fentanyl-tariffs

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5579438-live-updates-trump-xi-meeting-government-shutdown/

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/30/nx-s1-5590754/trump-china-xi-meeting-lowers-tariffs

https://centralnews.co.za/trump-becomes-first-us-president-to-receive-south-koreas-highest-honour-golden-crown-and-grand-order-of-mugunghwa-presented-in-historic-ceremony/

https://write.ellipsus.com/edit/aef875a8-f460-429d-af2a-66e197b3000f

https://archive.vn/0s7cS

https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-conspiracy-indictment-broadview-protests-donald-trump-deportation-campaign

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1A - The News Roundup For October 31, 2025

The government shutdown has gone on for longer than one month.

Now, Republicans are considering ending the Senate filibuster to reopen the government.

The Supreme Court requested more information as it heard arguments about whether President Donald Trump is within his rights to deploy the National Guard to Chicago.

Two prosecutors who went after January 6 rioters were put on leave this week for filing a sentencing memo in the case of a man who showed up armed outside of the Obama residence.

Amidst a brutal trade dispute, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down for a face-to-face meeting in South Korea.

Despite recent Israeli strikes killing more than 100 people in Gaza, the Trump Administration says the ceasefire with Hamas is still on.

Following a snub by President Trump and a successful nuclear weapons test, intelligence officials say Russian President Vladimir Putin is showing no signs of seeking a compromise to end the war Ukraine.

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Planet Money - After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble

This week’s SNAP crisis is just a preview. Tucked inside the giant tax-cut and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump this summer are enormous cuts to SNAP: Who qualifies, how much they get, and who foots the bill for the program. That last part is a huge change.

For the entire history of the food stamp program, the federal government has paid for all the benefits that go out. States pay part of the cost of administering it, but the food stamp money has come entirely from federal taxpayers. This bill shifts part of the costs to states.

How much will states have to pay? It depends. The law ties the amount to a statistic called the Payment Error Rate -- the official measure of accuracy -- whether states are giving recipients either too much, or too little, in food stamp money.

On today’s show, we go to Oregon to meet the bureaucrats on the front lines of getting that error rate down -- and ask Governor Tina Kotek what’s going to happen if they can’t.

Looking for hunger-relief resources? Try here.

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This episode was hosted by Nick Fountain and Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed and Willa Rubin, edited by Marianne McCune and Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Debbie Daughtry and Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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