It Could Happen Here

In the conclusion of this three-part series on lethal injection, Steve Monacelli and Dr. Michael Phillips interview Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim who was shot and blinded in one eye by a white supremacist on a killing spree in Dallas following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Bhuiyan explains why he campaigned to prevent the execution of his attacker, Mark Stroman. His efforts led European companies that produce lethal chemicals to stop selling them for executions in states like Texas. The episode then looks at how states have evaded such bans by buying the drugs on the black market. Finally, we’ll hear from a from a priest, the Rev. Jeff Hood, who has held the hands of more than 10 condemned prisoners and witnessed their prolonged, tortured deaths. The series ends with a discussion of the uncertain future of the death penalty in this country.

Note: The Rev. Jeff Hood wanted to clarify that he began corresponding with condemned prisoners in 2010 and has has offered counseling to more than 100 prisoners on death row. After our interview, he accompanied Anthony Boyd during his nitrous hypoxia death in Alabama on October 23. That was the eleventh execution he has attended in person.

Sources:

Breanna Ehrlich, “The Last Face Death Row Inmates See,” Rolling Stone, March 29, 2025 (https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/death-row-reverend-jeff-hood-1235305460/)

Anand Giridharadas, The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2014.) 

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

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In the second episode of the lethal injection series, Steve Monacelli and Michael Phillips interview Dick Reavis, a journalist who witnessed the world’s first execution by lethal injection, that of Charlie Brooks in Texas in 1982. They report on how the lethal injection method was improvised after a Dallas reporter won a temporary court order allowing television stations to broadcast executions. Worried that a televised electrocution might turn the public against the death penalty, Texas politicians instead approved lethal injection. An Oklahoma coroner who admitted he had no expertise in chemistry and knew a lot about dead bodies but not “how to get them that way,” improvised the three-drug protocol eventually used by all death-penalty states, with horrifying results. Then, Monacelli and Phillips interview law professor Corinna Lain, who says that rather than a supposedly painless death, lethal injection is more like a slow drowning.

Sources:

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

Dick Reavis, “Charlie Brooks’ Last Words,” Texas Monthly (February 1983.) 

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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.)

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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.

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

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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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The gang discuss Graham Platner, Operation Midway Blitz, a shakeup in ICE leadership, and use of facial recognition to determine legal status. Plus, updates on tariffs, public lands, and Tylenol.

James’ Food Bank Fundraiser thread: https://bsky.app/profile/jamesstout.bsky.social/post/3m4eymwspn22i 

Sources:

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.

Garrison talks with a panel of magicians while attending a conference in Berlin focused on the intersection of mainstream culture and the occult.

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Andrew talks with Mia about the history of the human population and how different groups have sought to leverage it for their own fears and advantage.

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Mia talks with Ez and Finnly of the Seminary Co-op Booksellers Union about black mold, bad management, and how union busting works like an abusive relationship.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.