The St. Louis Podcast

One man has put more than a quarter of a billion dollars into this election since July. Crypto and AI super PACs are sitting on nine-figure war chests aimed at Congress and state houses. And in Festus, Missouri, a town of about 12,000, the city council approved a $6 billion data center without telling the public who would run it. Voters fired every incumbent on the ballot.

Gas went from $2.81 in January to over $4.30. AAA says this is the first October on record with the national average above $4. Fuel oil is up 75% just as heating season kicks in, and AI stocks like CoreWeave dropped more than 20% in a single week.

Also: what oligarchy and technocracy actually mean, Elon Musk's grandfather's arrest for joining Technocracy Inc. in 1940, the four steps a data center takes to land in your town before you ever hear about it, and why St. Charles, Peculiar and Jefferson County residents are pushing back.

Eric's back on the news and following the money.

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Trump told a rally crowd "let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego." California leaders lost it, and the White House says he was misunderstood. Meanwhile, Sam Altman says the good of AI will outweigh the bad, while businesses keep paying more for AI tools and seeing less in return.

Paramount officially closed its takeover of Warner Bros. HBO, CNN, DC, Harry Potter and around 15,000 films now live under one roof. And Reddit is convinced the new season of American Horror Story was written by ChatGPT.

Also, cocoa dropped from $10,000 a ton to $3,000, but candy prices only fell 8% and Lindt actually raised theirs. New York declared a statewide measles emergency. And one Young and the Restless star has been on the show for 46 years and over 4,400 episodes, so Eric did the salary math.

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Welcome back to the show! In today's episode, we cover a dramatic mid-air hijacking attempt, the real reasons behind skyrocketing grocery prices, and a Missouri redistricting fight that just won't end.

In this episode, we discuss:

The FlyDubai Hijacking: A co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, sending the plane into a 14,000-foot dive before passengers and off-duty crew regained control. We break down the timeline, the unanswered questions, and why the official story doesn't fully add up.

Why Your Grocery Bill Keeps Climbing: From $16-a-pound steak to rising aluminum and diesel costs, we dig into the real supply chain issues driving food prices through the roof, and who's actually benefiting from it.

Missouri's Gerrymandering Saga: The Supreme Court has ordered Missouri to use its 2022 congressional map for 2026, the third time the high court has weighed in. We talk about what fair redistricting could actually look like.

Plus, a Senate floor speech claiming airline staff are secretly furries, and why small businesses are quietly being squeezed out of existence.

Thank you for watching and we will be back next week with another amazing episode!

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Welcome back to the show! In today's jam-packed episode, we dig into underreported military casualties, a White House press ban that even Fox News refused to go along with, and the growing chorus of AI insiders warning that superintelligence could be an existential risk.

In this episode, we discuss:

The Pentagon's Missing Numbers: A Washington Post investigation reveals the real death toll from the Iran conflict may be significantly higher than what's been publicly disclosed, and the Pentagon isn't explaining the discrepancy.

The White House Media Ban: CNN, MSNBC, and Politico were banned from the White House, and in an unusual move, ABC, CBS, NBC, and even Fox News refused to cover the gap. Now it's headed to court as a First Amendment case.

AI's Reckoning: From a high-profile resignation at Anthropic to Geoffrey Hinton's closed-door warning to Congress, we break down the growing divide between what AI insiders say privately and what tech leaders say in public, plus the political money flooding into the fight over how (or whether) to regulate it.

We also cover a Franklin County data center vote that residents say was decided before a single public comment was heard.

Corruption, cover-ups, and so much more. Thank you for watching and we will be back next week with another amazing episode!

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Welcome back to the show! In today's jam-packed episode, we dive deep into three explosive corruption stories tracking pay-to-play schemes, hidden bribery networks, and the taxpayers left footing the bill.

In this episode, we discuss:
The Shadow Secretary: An unpaid campaign operative with no confirmed office became the effective gatekeeper for billions in Homeland Security contracts. We break down the Corey Lewandowski and Kristi Noem DHS scandal, the $220 million in no-bid ad contracts, and how it all came crashing down.

The $4.3 Million Regulator: Ohio's largest utility spent $60 million in untraceable money to install a House Speaker who passed a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout for two failing nuclear plants, then helped kill the referendum that would have let voters repeal it.

The Hawaii Wastewater Scandal: A wastewater contractor bribed a county official and two state legislators with cash, casino trips, and hotel rooms. When the FBI caught him, he became an informant, and the trail eventually led straight to the Lieutenant Governor's office.

Corruption, cover-ups, and so much more. Thank you for watching and we will be back next week with another amazing episode!

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Welcome back to the show! In today's jam-packed episode, we dive deep into the latest headlines tracking corporate accountability, hidden debt, AI safety breaches, and the rising economic pressures squeezing everyday Americans.

In this episode, we discuss:
The Epstein Subpoenas: Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black defies congressional subpoenas regarding his financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein, choosing to file a lawsuit against the House committee instead. Meanwhile, the DOJ continues to withhold roughly half of the 7 million pages tied to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The $1.65 Trillion AI Debt Bomb: Big Tech is packing massive amounts of off-balance sheet infrastructure obligations into special purpose vehicles—debt that now completely eclipses their reported actual debt.

OpenAI Sandbox Escape: An internal safety test goes rogue after unrestricted AI models exploit an unknown security flaw, breach their sandbox environment, and independently hack into HuggingFace's production servers.

Data Centers, The health care crisis and so much more. Thank you for watching and we will be back next week with another amazing episode!

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The Supreme Court ruled the EPA tariffs were illegal. The government collected $166 billion it wasn't entitled to. They've refunded about 60% — and none of it is going back to the people who actually paid higher prices at the register.

Canada is now retaliating dollar for dollar starting September 8th. Gas was $2.81 in January. It's $4.10 now. And Ameren just filed for another $13 a month rate increase on top of the $14 increase from last year.
Also — St. Louis County just cancelled its Flock camera contract. Bus drivers in Jackson struck for a month and won a 5% raise. And cannabis workers in Springfield just ratified Missouri's second ever cannabis union contract.

Eric's back on the news and not holding back.

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Eric takes a break from the war, the economy, and the political circus to talk about something nobody's saying out loud — men have completely stopped trying when it comes to how they dress.

The athletic pants. The puffer vest. The glued polyester Men's Warehouse suit that everyone has in the exact same navy blue. Meanwhile the rest of the world looks at Americans and wonders what happened.

Also: how to make limoncello at home that destroys anything you'll find at the grocery store, why Eric bought a squat rack for his basement, and why working from home five days a week is slowly killing him.
Sometimes you just need an episode like this.


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Tommy Holstein had 48 hours to decide whether to run for Missouri's third congressional district. He filed. Now he's on the ballot August 4th.

No PAC money. No corporate donors. No political experience. Just a guy in his 30s who got fed up watching Renee Good and Alex Prey get killed and decided someone had to do something about it.

Eric and Tommy talk about Medicare for all, data centers, Amendment 4 and 5, Citizens United, the AI bubble, why the stock market is fake, and why work from home might be making the loneliness crisis worse.

If you're in Missouri's third congressional district, vote August 4th.

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The US is shooting $2 million Tomahawk missiles at $5,000 Iranian drones. We've fired more Tomahawks in this war than any military campaign in history. Northrop Grumman is up 6%. Lockheed is up 40% since January. The S&P fell that day. Defense was the only sector that went up.

Meanwhile Pete Hegseth just asked Congress for $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon — up from the $200 billion he floated in March.

Oh, and five of the biggest tech companies are hiding $1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet debt through special purpose vehicles. More hidden debt than they officially report. Oracle just got downgraded to one notch above junk bond status. Nobody's covering it.

Also the Houthis are back, now targeting the Saudi pipeline — the only relief valve left for global oil markets.


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