It Could Happen Here - The Shady Business of Lethal Injection: The Heart Stops Reluctantly

In this first episode of a three-part series on lethal injection in the United States, guest hosts Steve Monacelli and Dr. Michael Phillips describe the futile quest for a “humane” form of execution, from the 1600s to the present day.  They explore how each one has turned out to be extremely violent, prompting authorities to move such “gruesome spectacles” out of public view.  Finally, they describe how the prospect of a televised execution in the electric chair led to the lethal injection protocol, pioneered by Texas in 1982.

Sources:

Corinna Barrett Lain, Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (New York: New York University Press, 2025.)

Michael Phillips and Betsy Friauf, The Purifying Knife: The Troubling History of Eugenics in Texas (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2025.) 

Austin Sarat, Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014.)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Strange News: The Looming Hunger Crisis, Mass Layoffs, Strange Stuff in the Skies, Monkeys, Minks and More

As the government shutdown continues, an estimated 42 million US residents may go hungry. Mushrooms may be the next memory chips. Ben, Matt and Noel continue to obsess over 3I/Atlas. Cameos by minks and monkeys. All this and more in our weekly strange news segment.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Native America Calling - Monday, November 3, 2025 – The looming wildfire crisis in the Arctic

Researchers are documenting more and longer-lasting wildfires in northern Alaska and Canada. In fact, the increase of wildfires is a trend across the Arctic, as far as Norway and Siberia, driven by higher temperatures and dryer conditions. The trend has immediate threats to people’s homes and health. Some tribes in Alaska and Canada also worry about the possibility of a long-term cataclysmic cycle of fires burning through vast stores of peat, producing uncountable amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. We’ll get a look at the latest research and learn what concerned Alaska Native tribes and other Indigenous stakeholders are doing to prepare.

GUESTS

Edward Alexander (Gwich’in), co-chair for Gwich’in Council International and senior Arctic Lead Woodwell Climate Research Center

Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson (Métis), senior fire advisor for the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and board member of the International Association of Wildland Fire

Malinda Chase (Deg Hit’an), tribal liaison for the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center under the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the land manager for her village Anvik

 

Break 1 Music: Blueberry Hill (song) Métis Fiddler Quartet (artist) Northwest Voyage Nord Ouest (album)

Break 2 Music: Traditional Side Step Song (song) Little Otter (artist) Side Step Songs (album)

It Could Happen Here - Occulture, Technomancy vs Tradition, and the Role of Magick in 2025

Garrison talks with a panel of magicians at the Occulture conference in Berlin to discuss digital technomancy vs. traditional magical practices and debate the ability of occultism to shape politics and culture in contemporary society.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Good Bad Billionaire - Diane Hendricks: Building a fortune

Diane Hendricks rose from a teenage mother on a Wisconsin dairy farm to become America’s richest self-made woman, building a $22 billion fortune through roofing giant ABC Supply.

BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng trace her journey from selling homes to leading the largest roofing supplies company in the US. From renovating properties to reshaping her hometown of Beloit, Hendricks’ story is one of grit, ambition, and political influence.

Good Bad Billionaire is the podcast that explores the lives of the super-rich and famous, tracking their wealth, philanthropy, business ethics and success. There are leaders who made their money in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street and in high street fashion. From iconic celebrities and CEOs to titans of technology, the podcast unravels tales of fortune, power, economics, ambition and moral responsibility, before asking the audience to decide if they are good, bad, or just billionaires.

It Could Happen Here - Pathfinder: Dawn of the Frogs, Part One

It's RPG time! Margaret and company are playing Pathfinder. This week, our heroes beging their journey.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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

You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today!

http://apple.co/coolerzone

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Happy Halloween: How Selling Your Soul Works

In tonight's special Halloween episode, Ben, Matt, Noel and Super Producer Dylan lean on Ben's earlier experience with the paranormal. Tonight's question: Is it actually possible to sell your soul to infernal powers? Check this out: we learned how it works.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Native America Calling - Friday, October 31, 2025 – Documenting the meaningful Indigenous origins of Dia de los Muertos

The practice of celebrating dead ancestors started long before Spanish colonizers came to what is now Mexico, but the Aztec and Mayan custom eventually engulfed the entire country, blending Catholic, Spanish, and Indigenous elements into what is now Dia de los Muertos. The festival even spills into parts of the U.S. Some people with Mexican Indigenous ties are working to cut through the contemporary pop culture trappings of the holiday and reconnect with the deeper, more spiritual origins.

We’ll also hear about Vision Maker Media’s expanded push to train and support young filmmakers to tell stories driven by mission. The Native Youth Media Project partners with tribes, organizations, and individuals to develop storytellers at a time when federal support for such projects has disappeared.

GUESTS

Janet Martinez (Zapotec), executive director of Communidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO)

Kurly Tlapoyawa (Chicano and Nahua), archaeologist and co-host of the “Tales from Aztlantis” podcast

Anita Huízar-Hernández, associate director of the Hispanic Research Center and publisher and managing editor of the Bilingual Press at Arizona State University

Francene Blythe-Lewis (Diné, Sisseton Wahpeton and Eastern Band of Cherokee), executive director of Vision Maker Media

Break 1 Music: Hechizos (song) Glass Spells (artist) Crystals (album)

Break 2 Music: Halloween (song) Blood Dance (artist) Halloween (album)