Punching Upwards

The Straits of Hormuz are closed, blocking about 20% of oil shipments from reaching the global economy. But what does closed actually mean?

Punching Upwards, Episode 36 for 17 May 2026

Topics: Politics / War in Iran

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Routes through the Straits of Hormuz according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)

Routes through the Straits of Hormuz according to the BBC (BBC)

Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Fadi Mansour, Bennet Piater, Eric and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

See Also

* Punching Upwards 30: Aviation and the War in Iran

* Punching Upwards 26: Trump Falls Into the Smart Bomb Trap

Sources

* Confusion in the Strait of Hormuz, BBC World at One, 4 May 2026

* Tensions flare near Strait of Hormuz as one ship is seized and another is sunk, PBS News, 15 May 2026

* Trump pauses Hormuz plan 50 hours after he announced it - what happened?, The BBC, 6 May 2026

* Two India-bound LPG carriers exit Hormuz as BRICS gathers in New Delhi, Lloyd’s List, 15 May 2026

* Report: Vessel Captured off Fujairah is a Floating Armory, The Maritime Executive, 14 May 2026

* Chinese oil tanker exits Strait of Hormuz, heads for Zhoushan, data shows, Reuters, 13 May 2026

* Russian superyacht sails through Strait of Hormuz despite blockade, The BBC, 28 April 2026

* Tui Cruises says two of its ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters, 19 April 2026

* Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz, CNN, 13 March 2026

* Iran begins laying mines in Strait of Hormuz, sources say, CNN, 10 March 2026

* Report: Two Types of Iranian Mines Detected in Strait of Hormuz, The Maritime Executive, 23 March 2026

* Maham 3 Seamine, Collective Awareness to UXO, undated

* Maham 7 Limpet Mine, Collective Awareness to UXO, undated

* The Strait of Hormuz in 8 Charts, Center for Strategic & International Studies, 22 April 2026

* There’s another big reason why shipping companies and insurers aren’t willing to risk the Strait of Hormuz, CNBC, 9 March 2026

* Iran threatens to close Strait of Hormuz over EU oil sanctions, The Telegraph, 23 January 2012

* West displays Gulf military power to defiant Iran, The Seattle Times, 25 January 2012

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

How the Pentagon switched decision making from humans to machines. And what it means for the future that computers now decide who lives and dies.

Punching Upwards, Episode 35 for 10 May 2026

Topics: Politics / War in Iran

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Fadi Mansour, Bennet Piater, Eric and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

See Also

* Punching Upwards 34: Scam Altman

* Punching Upwards 27: LLMs Are a Dead-End

* Punching Upwards 26: Trump Falls Into the Smart Bomb Trap

* Punching Upwards 24: The ELIZA Effect

Sources

* Multi-Domain AI: The Future of Command and Control (CDAO at AIPCon 9), Palantir, 13 March 2026

* New analysis of deadly girls’ school strike in Iran, LiveNow from Fox, 11 March 2026

* Speeding Up the “Kill Chain”: Pentagon Bombs Thousands of Targets in Iran Using Palantir AI, Democracy Now!, 18 March 2026

* Star Trek (The Original Series), Season 1, Episode 23: A Taste of Armageddon, Wikipedia

* AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying, 26 March 2026

* The AI War on Iran: Project Maven, a Secretive Palantir-Run System, Helps Pentagon Pick Bomb Targets, Democracy Now!, 31 March 2026

* Old intelligence and AI? Behind the deadly attack on an Iranian girls’ school that left 175 dead, The Independent, 12 March 2026

* Deadly strike on Iranian primary school raises questions about AI, accountability, South China Morning Post, 13 March 2026

* The Algorithm of War: How Palantir and Anthropic Became Co-Belligerents in America’s Iran Campaign, Hilal Ahmad Khan, 12 March 2026

* The Alignment Paradox: Claude AI and the Minab School Strike, Reddit, 8 March 2026

* Report: Palantir took over Project Maven, the military AI program too unethical for Google, The Next Web, 11 December 2019

* Project Maven to Deploy Computer Algorithms to War Zone by Year’s End, U.S. Department of War, 21 July 2017

* Palantir Expands Maven Smart System AI/ML Capabilities to Military Services, Palantir press release via Business Wire, 20 September 2024

* Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence: Meet the Gods of AI Warfare, Wired, 23 March 2026

* The AI Doomsday Machine Is Closer to Reality Than You Think, Politico, 2 September 2025

* “God, It’s Terrifying”: How the Pentagon Got Hooked on AI War Machines, Bloomberg Businessweek, 12 March 2026

* The Evolution of Time Sensitive Targeting: Operation Iraqi Freedom Results and Lessons, John M. Fyfe, Airpower Research Institute, February 2005

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

A deep dive on investigative journalist Ronan Farrow’s profile of Sam Altman’s leadership at OpenAI. The piece lays bare many of the enduring issues that make Silicon Valley so problematic.

Punching Upwards, Episode 34 for 3 May 2026

Topics: Technology / Artificial Intelligence

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Fadi Mansour, Bennet Piater, Eric and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

See Also

* Punching Upwards 27: LLMs Are a Dead-End

* Punching Upwards 24: The ELIZA Effect

* Punching Upwards 22: Moltbook Madness

* Punching Upwards 15: State Secret or Vibe Physics?

* Punching Upwards 8: Robotics Slop

Sources

* Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted?, The New Yorker, 6 April 2026

* The New Yorker investigates Sam Altman’s alleged deceptions at OpenAI, CNN, 7 April 2026

* OpenAI CTO Mira Murati says she’s leaving firm to do her “own exploration”, The Guardian, 25 September 2024

* “Unconstrained by truth”: Sam Altman profile casts doubt on his trustworthiness, News Nation, 6 April 2026

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

YouTuber Nick Shirley says California’s proposed AB2624 law was made to stop him and other independent journalists from reporting on fraud. How much of that is true?

Punching Upwards, Episode 33 for 26 April 2026

Topics: Politics / Free Speech

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

See Also

* Punching Upwards 23: The Minnesota Welfare Fraud Scandal

* Punching Upwards 21: The Death of Alex Pretti

* Punching Upwards 19: The Death of Renee Good

Sources

* California bill AB-2624: Privacy for immigration support services providers, California Legislative Information, 9 April 2026

* Tweet by Nick Shirley, 18 April 2026

* California moves forward with its ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’, Yahoo News, 14 April 2026

* Dems ripped for ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ that could ‘shield’ fraud and abuse in California, 15 April 2026

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

Driven by a national delusion that Germans are somehow naturally very bad at digital technology, the country’s government is rushing headfirst into a disastrous implementation of AI in government.

Punching Upwards, Episode 32 for 19 April 2026

Topics: Politics / Artificial Intelligence

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater, Sir Galteran and Fairero Voltier for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

See Also

* Punching Upwards 27: LLMs Are a Dead-End

* Punching Upwards 24: The ELIZA Effect

* Punching Upwards 22: Moltbook Madness

Sources

* Digitalminister im Bild-Interview: Wildberger über KI-Jobverlust, Bürokratie und Digitalisierung, Bild, 30 March 2026

* Deutschland gewinnt internationalen KI-Preis, Bundesministerium für Digitales und Staatsmodernisierung, 4 February 2026

* KI in der Verwaltung, Bundesministerium für Digitales und Staatsmodernisierung, undated

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

Depending who you ask, NASA’s new mission to the moon was either the scientific breakthrough of the century or an utterly boring waste of money. Which is it?

Punching Upwards, Episode 31 for 12 April 2026

Topics: Science / Space

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Some of the photos taken by the Artemis II crew (images courtesy of NASA):

The astronauts back on Earth (images courtesy of NASA):

NASA photo galleries:

* Artemis II Launch

* Artemis II Journey to the Moon

* Artemis II Lunar Flyby

* Artemis II Return to Earth

* Artemis II Splashdown and Return

Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

See Also

* Kerbal Space Program

* The Expanse: novels, TV series

Sources

* Liftoff! NASA astronauts have launched on a historic journey to the moon, NPR, 1 April 2026

* Outlook in space, Marcus House (tweet), 2 April 2026

* Moon Joy, Courtesy of NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts, NASA, 10 April 2026

* Artemis II reentry, splashdown & recovery, CNN, 11 April 2026

* Artemis II Reference Guide, NASA, undated

* Orion Reference Guide, NASA, undated

* Development of the European Service Module Propulsion Subsytem for the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, Barsi et al., 25 September 2017

* Lunar Trajectory Geometry, Bellcom Inc., 23 December 1969

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

The war in Iran is having a tremendous impact on the aviation industry. An underreported detail is what happens when your flight deviates around the closed airspace over Iran via Afghanistan.

Punching Upwards, Episode 30 for 5 April 2026

Topics: Aviation / War in Iran

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater, Sir Galteran and John C. for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

Sources

* Everything We Know About LaGuardia, Captains Speaking - The Mentour Pilot Podcast, 26 March 2026

* March 2026: Afghanistan Overflight Update, Ops Group, 3 March 2026

* Afghanistan, Safe Airspace – Conflict Zone & Risk Database

* Middle East Airspace – Current Operational Picture, Ops Group, 30 March 2026

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

With the cancellation of Starfleet Academy, there is no Star Trek series in active production for the first time in a decade. Why is that and what does it reflect about the state of our culture?

Punching Upwards, Episode 29 for 29 March 2026

Topics: Politics / Culture

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater, Sir Galteran and John C. for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

Sources

* “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” to End With Season 2, Variety, 23 March 2026

* Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Cinematic Intro (1997) Interplay, ScifinewsDE, 15 January 2026

* Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 CCXP Sneak Peek, Rotten Tomatoes TV, 7 December 2025

* Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 1 - Holly Hunter, Sandro Rosta, IGN, 21 January 2026

* Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Clip “Hello” - Bella Shepard, Kerrice Brooks, TrekMovie, 12 January 2026

* Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Clip “Old and Boring” - Tig Notaro, TrekMovie, 12 January 2026

* Star Trek Starfleet Academy “I think I swallowed my combadge”, Worth it or Woke, 18 January 2026

* Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - Exclusive Clip, IGN, 25 February 2026

* Picard speech with the first link the chain is forged, HD_Picard, 29 March 2017

* Picard vs. Picardo, Lt. Mark, 1 February 2026

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

Even though it has been in the US news a lot recently, almost everybody over there seems to be getting wrong what Antifa actually is. This is an overview from someone who grew up around this movement.

Punching Upwards, Episode 28 for 22 March 2026

Topics: Politics / Trumpism

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater, Sir Galteran and John C. for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

Sources

* Verdict reached in high‑profile Prairieland ICE attack trial, CBS Texas, 14 March 2026

* How the Prairieland ‘Antifa’ Verdict Threatens the Anti-Trump Resistance, The Texas Observer, 19 March 2026

* Trump says he’s designating antifa as terrorist organization, LiveNOW from FOX, 18 September 2025

* What to know about antifa after Trump moves to label it a “domestic terrorist organization”, CBS News, 9 October 2025

* White House Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Designates Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, 22 September 2025

* Trump designates Antifa a ‘domestic terrorist organisation’, The BBC, 23 September 2025

* ‘Serious Threat to the First Amendment’ as Trump Admin Wins First Antifa Terror Charge, Common Dreams, 15 March 2026

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!

Why current AI technology can’t get us what its proponents are promising. Why the media keeps getting the AI story wrong. Why AI layoffs are just an excuse to re-hire workers for cheaper.

Punching Upwards, Episode 27 for 15 March 2026

Topic: Technology / Artificial Intelligence

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Credits

Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater, Sir Galteran and John C. for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it!

See Also

* Punching Upwards 22: Moltbook Madness

Sources

* Richard Sutton – Father of RL thinks LLMs are a dead end, Dwarkesh Patel, 26 September 2025

* The Bitter Lesson, Richard Sutton, 13 March 2019

* DHUnplugged #793: Mission Accomplished?, Dvorak / Horowitz Unplugged, 11 March 2026

* Meta just bought Moltbook, the viral social network for AI agents, Business Insider, 10 March 2026

* The lethal trifecta for AI agents: private data, untrusted content, and external communication, Simon Willison, 16 June 2025

* Jürgen “tante” Geuter

* Wading Through AI by Casey Muratori, Molly Rocket

The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules!