The Overlap

The Overlap

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The Overlap episodes

  • Controlling the Checkbook: Science Under Attack

    In this episode of The Overlap, host Joshua exposes a major 2026 regulatory power grab buried inside a 412-page Washington document: Docket OMB-2026-0034! 🚨 By converting federal grant guidance into binding law, political appointees could veto scientific research and cancel active studies based on political loyalty rather than evidence. 🤯 Connecting modern bureaucracy to the tragic history of Soviet botany, the episode reveals how your boredom is weaponized to dismantle scientific autonomy. 🦠🌾🔍📈💸

    https://fof.foundation

    45 min
  • The Moat Around the Whitehouse: Democracy at Risk

    This week, we’re looking at the White House going full Baghdad “Green Zone”. FDR built a 1942 bunker so the Republic would outlive the man; today, they are pouring concrete for a $400 million ballroom “shed” over a secret military complex to make sure the man outlives the institution. Bypassing courts and a $1B budget hike—stay close to the house, it’s still yours.

    https://fof.foundation

    1 hr
  • One Big, Fugly Son of a Bill: OBBBA & Your Healthcare

    There’s a recording from 1971. Two men in a room. One of them becomes a felon. The other becomes the president. What they agreed to that afternoon is the reason your insurance just denied your claim.

    Nobody talks about this tape.
    We’re going to talk about this tape.
    Solo episode. Will’s off doing something more fun than healthcare policy. Guardrails off.
    Twenty-six days ago, a woman named Shmeeka Simpson — who works three jobs, none of which offer health insurance — became one of the first Americans subject to a new rule that decides whether she gets to keep seeing a doctor. She’s terrified. She has good reason to be. She’s been through this before. Not with healthcare. With something else.
    A 30-year-old in Kearney named Crystal is in a closed loop she can’t think her way out of. You’ll understand when you hear it.
    Forty percent of rural hospitals in this country are operating at a loss right now. The ones doing the math don’t like what the math is telling them. Neither will you.
    In this episode:
    → The two-word phrase a president said in 1971 that built the system you’re living inside
    → Why the “but Canada has wait times” argument falls apart the second you ask one follow-up question
    → The Arkansas experiment nobody wants to talk about — and what it predicted with terrifying accuracy
    → The number that makes Speaker Johnson’s “young men on couches” speech mathematically impossible
    → The quiet line in the bill that has nothing to do with work requirements and might be the most devastating part
    → What a television doctor running Medicare means for the woman behind you in line at Dunkin’
    → Why this bill got signed on the Fourth of July (the date is not an accident)
    We’re not doing a policy explainer. We’re doing the autopsy of a 50-year project — and the moment, three weeks ago, when it accelerated into something we haven’t seen before.
    By the end, you’ll know exactly what to do this week. Whether you’re on Medicaid or not. Whether you’re in a red state or a blue one. Whether you still have Republican friends or — like me — lost most of them somewhere along the way.
    This one’s for you. Specifically you.
    Pull up a chair.
    🎧 fof.foundation
    🦋 Bluesky + Mastodon
    📬 Wherever you get podcasts
    Thanks for living. Thanks for listening. That’s the Overlap.

    https://fof.foundation

    55 min
  • 1776: The Fund is the Foundation

    The pardons were the headline. The $1.776 billion is the foundation.

    This week DOJ stood up an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” — paid from the Treasury, never passed by Congress — and won’t rule out cutting checks to the people convicted of attacking the Capitol. Joshua goes solo to trace the mechanism: how a government reclassifies the people who attacked it as victims, then pays them, while purging the prosecutors who built the cases. We’ve run this play before — after the Civil War. Sources and full transcript below.

    The fund itself — announcement, mechanics, $1.776B / Judgment Fund / Dec. 2028 sunset / five-member commission:

    U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs — “Justice Department Announces Anti-Weaponization Fund” (primary source): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-anti-weaponization-fund
    TIME, “What to Know About the DOJ’s New ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’”: https://time.com/article/2026/05/18/trump-doj-anti-weaponization-fund-irs-lawsuit-settlement/
    PBS NewsHour: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/justice-department-announces-a-1-7-billion-anti-weaponization-fund-fund-to-compensate-trump-allies
    The Hill (Blanche “machinery of government” quote; Stacey Young / Justice Connection): https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5883454-doj-launches-anti-weaponization-fund/
    The IRS lawsuit settlement, Judge Williams “stripped of jurisdiction,” 93 House Democrats, Treasury GC resignation:
    ABC News: https://abcnews.com/US/trump-court-filings-plans-drop-10b-lawsuit-irs/story?id=133066043
    NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-voluntarily-drops-10-billion-lawsuit-irs-leaked-tax-records-rcna345193
    CBS News (Caputo $2.7M claim; “for the sole use” memo): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-could-benefit-from-trumps-1-7-billion-weaponization-fund/
    CNBC (Senate hearing; Morrissey resignation): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/19/trump-doj-irs-fund-blanche-payouts-jan-6-rioters.html
    Who’s eligible / Vance & Blanche won’t rule out Jan. 6 payouts / “anybody can apply” / Coons on Keepseagle:
    TIME, “Vance Defends Possible DOJ Payouts to Jan. 6 Rioters”: https://time.com/article/2026/05/19/vance-defends-1-8-anti-weaponization-fund/
    ABC News (Blanche/Vance, Merkley questioning): https://abcnews.com/Politics/acting-ag-todd-blanche-faces-questions-17-billion/story?id=133107554
    HuffPost (Van Hollen “pure theft”; Coons; Keepseagle): https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anti-weaponization-fund-todd-blanche-jan-6_n_6a0c6ce0e4b00b2edf7d81de
    CBS News, “All J6ers will apply” (lawyers rushing to file; Dan Backer; Oversight Project): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-january-6-capitol-riot/
    The “1776” symbolism / Proud Boys “1776 Returns” / prosecutor & researcher reaction (Jacob Ware, CFR):
    MSNBC / ms.now, “Jan. 6 prosecutors and officers see Trump’s $1.776 billion fund as a signal”: https://www.ms.now/news/trump-weaponization-slush-fund-jan-6-rioters-prosecutors-message
    Officers’ lawsuit to block the fund (Harry Dunn & Daniel Hodges):
    CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawsuit-trump-1-7-billion-anti-weaponization-fund-former-police/
    NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-officers-sue-18b-pot-call-slush-fund-insurrectionists-rcna346103
    The opinion piece this episode’s argument is built from (DuBois “psychological wages,” Reichlin-Melnik “worse than Watergate,” Raskin via New Republic):
    The Intercept, “Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund Is a Handout to His Hardcore Supporters”: https://theintercept.com/2026/05/19/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-jan-6/
    The 2025 purge of Jan. 6 prosecutors and FBI agents (Act Two):
    CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/31/politics/fbi-agents-who-investigated-january-6-fired/index.html
    CBS News (Bove memo; Bondi “improper investigative tactics”): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-agents-on-jan-6-capitol-riot-trump-investigations-to-be-fired-sources-say/
    MSNBC / ms.now (Ed Martin firing letters; “25–30” prosecutors; Trump “good thing” quote): https://www.ms.now/top-stories/latest/justice-department-prosecutors-fired-fbi-trump-jan-6-rcna190283
    Rep. Raskin statement (House Judiciary): https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/ranking-member-raskin-s-statement-on-trump-s-lawless-and-dangerous-purge-of-fbi-agents-and-doj-prosecutors
    Pardons / clemency scope (≈1,600 defendants; 14 seditious-conspiracy commutations; >600 assault, ~175 weapons; 140+ officers injured):
    Reported across the TIME and NBC pieces above.
    Note on the historical material in Act One (Confederate pensions, the Lost Cause, the 1958 federal-equivalence law, Confederate widow pensions paid into the 2000s): these are well-established historical facts presented as the host’s own analysis/framing rather than from a single live source. If you want hard footnotes for the broadcast version, flag it and I’ll pull primary citations (state pension records, Public Law 85-425, UDC archives).

    https://fof.foundation

    34 min
  • Class Action Nation: The Lawsuit is the Last Remaining Public Square

    The picket line is gone and the regulators are captured. That leaves the class action as the last room where collective harm gets a name. ⚖️

    From the 190° McDonald’s coffee to the internal Sackler emails, we’re diving into why the “greedy lawyer” framing is a corporate shield—and why the courthouse is the last public square left.

    Resources & Action Items

    Public Citizen: Visit citizen.org to find resources on fighting forced arbitration.

    Constitutional Accountability Center: Read their analysis on the Chamber of Commerce’s 70% win rate at the Supreme Court at theusconstitution.org.

    State Level Advocacy: Check NAAG.org to find your State Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

    Coty Inc. Shareholders: The deadline to request lead plaintiff status for the securities fraud class action is May 22, 2026.

    https://fof.foundation

    1 hr 1 min
  • Add Water to the Tea: The Fine Art of Selling Empty Bags

    From the 1929 utility pyramids of Samuel Insull to the 2026 hype cycles of Silicon Valley, the names change but the math remains the same. This week, Joshua and William trace the “boring” pipeline of share dilution—a legal mechanism that consistently transfers risk from those in the room to those standing at the end of the line. We explore how “going public” became the actual product, why your disclosure forms are written in Greek, and how a single New Jersey deli ended up with a $100 million market cap. Before you buy the next big AI IPO, join us to learn why the “exit” was planned long before you arrived.

    https://fof.foundation

    1 hr 2 min
  • The Base Breaks: When the War Machine Loses Its Fans

    The American war machine is losing its base.

    In this episode of The Overlap, Joshua explores why loyalty is running out as a new conflict in Iran looms. From the 1971 veterans throwing medals to the 2026 recruitment crisis, the pattern remains: the institution protects itself while families absorb the cost.

    This is a structural collapse of trust. Failures like the Pat Tillman cover-up and the denial of burn pit claims reveal a machine that chooses reputation over the people who serve. Today, the VA faces budget cuts while the $1.7 trillion F-35 program remains fully funded.

    Recruitment is hollowing out in the South and rural Midwest. The people who know the military best are recommending it the least. This isn’t a marketing problem; it’s a verdict.

    https://fof.foundation

    52 min
  • MAGA Built a War Machine and Now It's Pointing in the Wrong Direction

    This week on The Overlap, we’re exploring the ultimate “I never thought leopards would eat MY face” moment in American politics. Join Joshua and Will as they trace how a decade of “independent expenditures” and manufactured outrage built a shiny new political highway, only for a real estate developer and some very aggressive email marketers to steal the keys and drive it straight into a ditch of their own making.

    We dive into the high-octane engineering of WinRed’s “accidental” recurring donations—where your grandma’s twenty bucks became a hundred-million-dollar refund error—and the psychological warfare of the Stop the Steal fundraising machine. Watch as the “loyal” foot soldiers like Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes learn the hard way that a twenty-two-year prison sentence is just a “routing error” in a system that views human lives as disposable infrastructure.
    From Ronna McDaniel being discarded like a used tissue to rural hospitals in red districts getting the “efficiency” treatment from the world’s richest man, we follow the trail of broken promises and drained bank accounts. Because as it turns out, the machine doesn’t have a loyalty setting; it only has a “concentrate power” button, and it just realized you’re sitting in the way.

    States United Democracy Center (statesunited.org)

    Protect Democracy Project (protectdemocracy.org)
    Indivisible (indivisible.org)
    Election Reformers Network (electionreformers.org)

    https://fof.foundation

    51 min
  • People For Rent: America has always treated foreign workers as a resource, not as people.

    Will’s got his 90s voice ready and Joshua’s got the receipts on a 70-year-old architecture that treats students like

    Cold War chips. We’re talking about the $40 billion revenue model that charges you to watch you, and what happens when
    the ‘raw material’ starts writing op-eds. It’s a labor story, not an immigration debate, and no, it’s not a
    conspiracy—it’s a line item. Touch grass, then listen. #OverlapPodcast #HigherEd #LaborRights #SEVIS

    https://fof.foundation

    56 min
  • When Loyalty Becomes Currency: The New Architecture of Governance

    On January 20th, 2025, the revolving door didn’t just keep spinning. It lost its hinges.

    For 64 years we’ve watched the same pattern repeat: warning, scandal, regulation, scandal, repeat. But what happens when someone removes the friction entirely? When loyalty becomes the only credential that matters?
    This week we’re walking the documented architecture of how people move between government and industry, who profits, and what it costs everyone else. We’ll trace the paper trail from Eisenhower’s warning to today. And we’ll show you what Pam Bondi’s exit tells us about power in 2025.

    https://fof.foundation

    50 min

About The Overlap

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The Overlap is a podcast brought to you by the Friends of the Future Foundation.