From Dusk To Shawn
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From Dusk To Shawn episodes

  • The Uniform is Not a Shield: A Veteran's Day Note

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    A congressman filed eight articles of impeachment against the Secretary of War. The Secretary answered that they put the troops on trial. I wore the uniform for just over thirty years, and I want to say one thing about that.

    The articles are about one man. Not the pilots, not the sailors. Him. When the man who gives the orders answers for them by pointing at the people who carried them out, that is not protecting anybody.

    I do not decide tonight whether the operations were lawful. That is for the vote, the courts and the record. This is about who the question was for.

    The record behind this one:
    H.Res., articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), 9 November 2026 (eight articles; text on congress.gov).
    Secretary of War press conference, 10 November 2026 (the rebuttal; full video on the Department of War site and on C-SPAN).
    Roll Call, "Massie moves to force Hegseth impeachment vote," 9 November 2026.
    The War Powers Resolution, 50 U.S.C. §§ 1541 to 1548 (the 60-day and 30-day periods).


     [the House vote result and date, once it has happened] 

    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    5 min
  • The Machine They Built

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    I use AI to make this show, and I say so under every episode. Tonight I say it out loud, and then I take the side of the people who are angry about it, since they have a point: the land, the power, the water, the towns that did not get a say.

    Then I ask who actually did that. A company picked the town. A power company signed the contract. A council voted. A state wrote rules or did not. Those are people with names, and some of them have to run for the job again. The machine does not know what a town is.

    What the machine does for me, in plain words, and why I am not going to run down a tool that does what I cannot.
    The research behind this one:
    U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, "2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report" (Shehabi et al., December 2024): data centers used about 4.4% of U.S. electricity in 2023, projected at 6.7% to 12% by 2028.
    Pacific Institute, "How Much Water Do Data Centers Use? And Why Does It Matter?" (Cooley and Shimabuku, Issue Brief, September 2026): a typical large facility withdraws about 44 million gallons a year, about three-quarters of it consumed; AI-specific facilities use roughly five times the water per unit of computing of the average data center; the water used to generate their electricity is 2 to 12 times more than the water used on site.
    Montour County, Pennsylvania: county commissioners rejected a rezoning for a gas-powered data center campus, February 2026 (Pipeline & Gas Journal; Insurance Journal, 11 Feb 2026).
    Pinal County, Arizona: the county rejected the La Osa data center after residents organized, and residents asked for rules for future projects, August 2026 (KJZZ, 26 Aug 2026).
    Data Center Frontier, "Community Opposition Emerges as New Gatekeeper for AI Data Center Expansion" (2026).

    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    7 min
  • The Borrowed Name

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     A man in the news, a famous name off the shelf, and one sentence that joins them. Tonight I take two of those videos apart, without naming who made them, and hand you the three questions that catch the trick every time. The philosopher who was quoted backward, the psychoanalyst who was turned inside out, and the study whose own title had the qualifier the video deleted. All in the notes, with the page. What the videos borrowed, and what the sources actually say: Nietzsche, F. Beyond Good and Evil, §13 and §36 (the will to power as the drive of life). Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue §5 (the last man). On his sister's assembly of The Will to Power: Kaufmann, W. (1974). Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, 4th ed. Coplan, R. J., Hipson, W. E., Archbell, K. A., Ooi, L. L., Baldwin, D., & Bowker, J. C. (2019). Seeking more solitude: conceptualization, assessment, and implications of aloneliness. Personality and Individual Differences, 148, 17–26. Nguyen, T. T., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2018). Solitude as an approach to affective self-regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(1), 92–106. Winnicott, D. W. (1958). The capacity to be alone. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 39, 416–420. Nguyen, T. T., Weinstein, N., & Ryan, R. M. (2022). Who enjoys solitude? Autonomous functioning (but not introversion) predicts self-determined motivation (but not preference) for solitude. PLOS ONE, 17(5), e0267185. Forer, B. R. (1949). The fallacy of personal validation. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 44(1), 118–123. (The "everybody scores five for five" effect.) 


    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    14 min
  • Nothing Owed

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     All my life I have done nice things for people and watched the room go cold afterward. Tonight is why: the other person is keeping a count, and a gift with no price on it reads as a price you have not been told yet. What I get out of it, said plainly. What the research says about why groups turn on their most generous member. And the one small move that lets the scale rest. The research behind this one: Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: a preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25(2), 161–178. Parks, C. D., & Stone, A. B. (2010). The desire to expel unselfish members from the group. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(2), 303–310. Herrmann, B., Thöni, C., & Gächter, S. (2008). Antisocial punishment across societies. Science, 319(5868), 1362–1367. Minson, J. A., & Monin, B. (2012). Do-gooder derogation. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(2), 200–207. Milton, D. (2012). On the ontological status of autism: the "double empathy problem." Disability & Society, 27(6), 883–887. Flynn, F. J. (2003). How much should I give and how often? The effects of generosity and frequency of favor exchange on social status and productivity. Academy of Management Journal, 46(5), 539–553. 

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do. I mean that. Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I won't argue with you. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked. I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one. That's the deal.
    1B. HOW THIS ROOM RUNS

    How this room runs: One take. No editor, no second try. The stumbles stay in. I read from a script, and I have help writing them. I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories. I am not here to sway your vote, and I never will be. If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top, before anything else. The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    1C. THE LINES (every episode, last thing in the notes)

    If tonight is a hard one: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    15 min
  • Someone Like Me

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     You know the one. Works harder than everybody, gives away time, cannot let things go, gets passed over and never understands why. I am describing somebody just like me, and tonight is what it is like from the inside. Not a diagnosis of anyone. One line of research, labelled as one line, and the rest is my own account, including the part where I found out at fifty-three. The research behind this one (a hypothesis, not settled): Hutsler, J. J., & Zhang, H. (2010). Increased dendritic spine densities on cortical projection neurons in autism spectrum disorders. Brain Research, 1309, 83–94. Tang, G., et al. (2014). Loss of mTOR-dependent macroautophagy causes autistic-like synaptic pruning deficits. Neuron, 83(5), 1131–1143. On the shortage of clinicians trained to work with autistic adults: [link to one survey or report; to be added] The couple on YouTube I mentioned: Auticate with Chris and Debbie


    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do. I mean that. Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I won't argue with you. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked. I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one. That's the deal. 

     How this room runs: One take. No editor, no second try. The stumbles stay in. I read from a script, and I have help writing them. I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories. I am not here to sway your vote, and I never will be. If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top, before anything else. The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point. 

    If tonight is a hard one: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. 



    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    16 min
  • Hello World

    Send us Fan Mail

    ] I am Shawn. Thirty years in uniform, combat veteran, and autistic, which I found out at fifty-three. This is me saying all of that out loud for the first time, and telling you what this show is for. There is too much hate in everything we watch, and I miss the days when somebody on the radio just told you a story from a place you would never go. No finger pointing, no names, no leg up on the other side. Autism, politics from the middle, military leadership, law enforcement, race, religion. All of it, so we can start having conversations again. There are no sources to check in this one. There is nothing in it but me. Everything after this one comes with receipts. 




    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    8 min
  • Catching up and Teachings from Miyamoto Masashi

    Send us Fan Mail

      Catching up on recent past, where I have been, thank you to a few, and a new direction/delivery. 

    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    40 min
  • A New Beginning

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    A re-introduction, fresh start, new brief road map.

    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    10 min
  • Marcus Aurelius and Autistic Traits

    Send us Fan Mail

    Today we talk about more how to kick life in the balls by taking control slowly and reframe your life's anxiety.  Its all in your hands

    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    46 min
  • Morality And Life From My Eyes

    Send us Fan Mail

    More on what drives me and how I want to show some tough love to those who need it most.  Drag up a chair and pop open a beverage of your choice.  Today will be about what we need to try to accomplish together, and how it applies to us all to help heal each and every one of us.  

    And that includes you.  Don't be too shy.  I bite, but only a little.  At least you have that warning.

    Stare into these blue peepers and experience my soul through a voice with the intention to bring you out of your own dusk and into your own new life.

    I look forward to seeing your butterfly create its own flap to help start a movement where anger can be used for those deserving of the energy it consumes.  We cannot leave this mess to our kids.  

    Remember when you said you would never do to your kids what your parents did to you?  Now is your chance to make it right and have a life with those you desire.

    Take the first step with me on that grueling road-march we all need to stay in shape no matter how much it hurts.   Strap on your LPCs and bum a smoke. 

    We are going through some shit, and we all need this talk.

    Those who invoke violence for violence sake shall be warned to be careful for that for which they wish for.  It never ends well for anyone no matter the side of the gun or sword you stand on.

    Discussion, tough love, understanding.   We should work to understand and be understood.

    Prologue

    Everything on this show is my opinion. I research it before I say it, and I put my sources in the show notes so you can check my work. Please do.
    Don't believe me because I sound sure. Go look it up yourself. Try to find the one fact that knocks the legs out from under everything I said, because nothing worth keeping stands on a broken foundation. If you find that fact, bring it to me. I'll thank you, I'll fix what I built, and the repair will show, on purpose, because a thing mended honestly is stronger than a thing that pretends it never cracked.
    I'm not here to be right. I'm here to get it right. Those are different jobs, and I only signed up for the second one.
    That's the deal. How this room runs:
    One take. No editor. The stumbles stay in.
    I read from a script, and I have help writing them.
    I don't name private people. I talk about conduct, not categories, not anymore. My first season was full of mistakes with names and finger pointing. I've grown up a bit.
    This show runs low and slow on purpose. Think late night radio. It slows down again at the end so you can settle before you sleep.
    I am not here to sway your vote.
    If I get something wrong, tell me. Corrections get read on air, at the top.
    The host is autistic. If the delivery reads as off, just listen. The content is the point.
    If tonight is a hard one: call or text 988. Veterans: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    49 min

About From Dusk To Shawn

From the publisher's feed

I've retired from the government, but I am actually here to help. This is a discovery of myself and a document of my life for my children. Come as I and guests discuss what it took for me to…