Jen and Noam were going to discuss the Somali Medicaid fraud story coming out of Minnesota and CBS News spiking a story about the US sending people to CECOT, but Trump ruined all of that by arresting Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Since nobody anywhere is talking about that, we tackle the topic of What Does It Mean and What Will Happen Next now that Maduro is in a jail cell in Brooklyn (yeah we don't get that one either really).

And we also have to talk about the season finale of Pluribus, if it did hold up for the whole season, and when season 2 will air (a long time from now, unfortunately). Noam watched the final half season of Stranger Things, so we talk about that and the merits of shows that are written with a specific ending point from the beginning.

Noam and Jen unfortunately had to cancel their special podcast plans due to the death of Noam's grandfather, but we still recorded an episode nonetheless. We certainly had plenty to discuss; the solved yet unsolved mystery of the Brown University - MIT shooter, the TPUSA conference, how the USS Liberty incident is indeed irrelevant to any conversation in 2025, Ben Shapiro, how the Heritage American conversation is heading to some dark places, and how America is pretty damn cool.

On the Pluribus front, there's the reveal of what the Big Plan is for the hivemind, Carol struggling with how everything is perfect but also completely wrong, and Manousos still making his way to Carol's doorstep.

Jen and Noam discuss the depressing news out of Australia - a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach was targeted by shooters, leaving (as of this writing) 16 dead and over 20 injured. We talk about the alarming rise of antisemitism in both the US and abroad, what globalizing the intifada means, and how every attack on Jews brings a wave of conspiracy theories.

We also spend some time talking about how Candace Owens and Tim Pool are pleading poverty over having to "hire security" to deal with "threats" they receive, how everyone is getting tired of Candace, and if MAGA influencers are realizing that 2026 may well be the end of the line for them.

And Pluribus. Of course. This episode was a little different though, more of a meditation on what loneliness is and how nobody is truly an island unto themselves. Even incredibly stubborn, dickish people.