I'm talking about the US military here (which is also the nation's largest employer, period). Dan Ming has been covering our military for a while, and he's got some insight here: back in 2021, he spoke to Sgt First Class Jessica Haut just as she had decided to transition. He's kept in contact with her since, and just recently interviewed her again.

So now that Trump's Executive Order has effectively banned anyone trans from serving in the military – what happens for her, and the thousands of other trans people?

Dan is @danming on most social media sites - go follow him!

This was recorded live on twitch.tv/dexdigi

Here are the links we discussed:

The original executive order from Trump - https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/prioritizing-military-excellence-and-readiness/

Some articles:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/us/transgender-military-ban-trump-hegseth.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/trump-transgender-military-ban-rcna194741

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/22/hegseth-mocks-judge-trans-troops

And Dan's two segments from VICE with Sergeant First Class Jessica Haut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMJFqSvuUWo (2021)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68sjjlE9Ugk (2022)

David Z Morris has been covering cryptocurrency for over a decade. And now that Trump has announced a ‘crypto reserve’, you’d think he’d be excited. But a lot of crypto experts think it’s all a pretty bad idea, and David has a hunch it probably won’t happen anyway. We also talk a bit about the ‘crypto czar’, David Sacks, and what role he may play in all of this.

(recorded March 4, 2025, on twitch.tv/dexdigi )

Links:

David’s article on this, ‘Trump's Strategic Sh*tcoin Reserve’

https://davidzmorris.substack.com/p/trumps-strategic-shtcoin-reserve

David’s 2014 article on bitcoin:

https://fortune.com/2014/01/21/bitcoin-is-not-just-digital-currency-its-napster-for-finance/

NOTE: at 31:30 we're talking about an AI-generated video of Trump sucking Elon's toes. Someone was playing it on TVs at HUD.

Greg Walters, News Editor at Crooked Media, joined the stream to talk about DOGE, and why despite the outrage, it's probably sticking around.

You can check out the newsletter we reference here:

https://crooked.com/newsletters/what-a-day-fork-in-the-doge/

And here's clip from the What a Day podcast (at 05:00):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbnLllHkHY

three quick facts: 1. Canada *does* have a fentanyl problem. 2. But less than 1% of the fent coming into the U.S. is from there. 3. And Mexican migrants aren't bringing it in, either. I talked with Manisha Krishnan, who's been covering drugs and drug policy for nearly a decade, about what kind of weird political games are happening, and who is losing those games.

A bonus fact: Trump doesn't seem to be talking about fentanyl anymore, at least not this week. We get into why. Also booing the national anthem.

This was recorded live on stream!

You can be here for the next one; find me here: twitch.tv/dexdigi

you can find Manisha on Instagram or Bluesky:

https://www.instagram.com/baesic.unicorn/

https://bsky.app/profile/manishakrishnan.bsky.social

The links we referenced:

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-17-edmonton-am/clip/16126506-how-much-fentanyl-actually-moved-u.s

The NYT article:

https://archive.is/eclOy

https://newrepublic.com/article/178684/fentanyl-misinformation-migrants-border-media

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/boo-national-anthem-debates-sports-1.7453849

Angad Singh interviewed one of the 4.9 million people who Canada might now be asking to 'go home', now that Trudeau is out. His piece is on YouTube, and you can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5vRl23p0Zw

This one was recorded just after the Olympics. I was talking about having b-boys and b-girls in the Olympics and how that was kiinida complicated now and then our guest, documentary filmmaker Mustafa Mirza comes in with potentially the most important thing that’s happened in Pakistan sportswise in a long time, and what happens now that javelin is on the map for the 5th largest population in the world.

You can find Mustafa's work at mustafamirza.com, or @moosezafa on socials.

warning: you’re about to listen to two journalists talk about the news. But the news sucks! you say — so why should we care? Well, this $250 million deal might have just made it worse. Counterintuitive, but Matt Pearce (ex LA Times) has a pretty compelling argument. We talk about this, and AI, and a bunch of other stuff.

Keep in mind that this is a pretty complicated topic, and there are some other viewpoints on this. For example, there’s this opposing stance:

https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/the-california-journalism-preservation-act-would-do-more-harm-than-good-heres-how-the-state-might-better-help-news/

And on the other hand, there's Matt summarizing the situation, where he says 'hardly anyone won, except Google':

https://mattdpearce.substack.com/p/a-deep-dive-into-googles-shady-and

And also this:

https://mindandiron.substack.com/p/mind-and-iron-gavin-newsom-may-have

There’s also Matt’s big spreadsheet on astroturfing, which we mention only briefly:

https://mattdpearce.substack.com/p/californias-sb-1327-and-the-big-tech

You can find Matt Pearce at his newsletter, which I highly recommend:

https://mattdpearce.substack.com

Anyway, this is something a lot of people probably won’t even be aware of, because it’s a really boring topic. But I think this is going to be playing out repeatedly, soon. Stay in tune.

Chaos Town has been documenting the wildest parts of Portland for a year now. From stripper yoga to the 'penis bush lady' to sideshows – and now, the best look at what is truly happening in Portland's $4m graffiti war.

if you haven't already watched their documentary, do that first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npnxP_6poA

In the doc, Chaos Town embedded with an up-and-coming writer rappelling off structures to make a name for themselves, a businessman with graffiti cleanup contracts, a veteran vandal in his secret stash spot with $20k+ in spray paint, and an 84-year-old man taking matters into his own hands – all in an attempt to understand what is really behind the ‘graffiti war’ that nobody appears to be winning.

Cruz on camera, Cam on production and edit, and Jameson as host.

Prisons are constantly going on lockdown because of staff shortages, which means that prisoners can't use the phones. This makes tablet computers sold to incarcerated people are all the more crucial to let their loved ones on the outside know they are safe – but Gaby Caplan has discovered in her reporting for WIRED that federal prisons nationwide seem to have enacted a policy of disabling the messaging functions.

Why should we care? Gaby breaks it down.

Read Gaby's piece here:

https://www.wired.com/story/electronic-tablets-in-federal-prisons-chat-apps-disabled/

How do you make a documentary about Gaza … when they won't let you into Gaza? A mix of OSINT, protests, and Whatsapp calls with a journalist trapped in Rafah.

Seb Walker (former DC Bureau Chief of VICE News) hosted a documentary called A Hidden War, from Scripps News and Bellingcat.

And yes, we talk about Kendrick v Lamar (a tiny bit), but mostly Macklemore.

We get into what it was like to talk to 'both sides' of the war, and what this might mean for US elections at home.

A Hidden War Documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz9q8dsW9Qg

Macklemore's song 'Hind's Hall':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmg6vbt04TY

Hind Hassan's post on the Pulitzer:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6qie2UMxCP/?img_index=1