Stupid State Stories

Gelica

Welcome to Stupid State Stories, a podcast that dives into the absurd, illiberal, and downright oppressive ways governments mess with their own people. From bizarre laws and overreaching bureaucracies to outright abuses of power, each episode unpacks real stories and obvious hallucinations of state overreach—think petty tyrants, ridiculous regulations, and the occasional dystopian nightmare. With sharp wit, manufactured statistics, and a keen eye for the ridiculous, we explore how the state’s heavy hand shapes lives, often with unintended consequences. Tune in for a mix of outrage, disbelief, and dark humor as we expose the dumbest things done in the name of control.

  1. Oct 17

    Weaponized Warrantless Watchers

    The Fourth Amendment didn't die, it got outsourced. The government can't search you without a warrant, so it stopped searching you and started subscribing, with your money. Our guest Susan Peena of Third Party Solutions walks us through the catalog: doorbell footage requests that got reformed in 2024 and quietly un-reformed in 2025, a geofence warrant program that worked backwards from everyone at the bank to one name until the Supreme Court said six-to-three in June that it's a search, gunshot microphones whose algorithm pleads the trade secret, body-cam evidence held hostage behind a storage subscription, AI-written police reports carrying on a perjury tradition cops named themselves, and officers querying databases at two in the morning about someone they care about. There is one search tool that satisfies every requirement of the Fourth Amendment. It's called a warrant. Free since 1791. Everything else renews annually. The real vendors behind our fictional guest: Ring, Axon, SoundThinking, and Flock Safety. See how many police departments partner with the doorbell company: https://www.eff.org/pages/map-amazon-ring-police-departments Sources: - https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/court-rules-that-law-enforcements-use-of-geofence-warrant-was-a-search - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/01/ring-announces-it-will-no-longer-facilitate-police-requests-footage-users - https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/ring-community-requests-lets-police-ask-for-user-videos-a2437818485 - https://news.wttw.com/2024/02/13/mayor-brandon-johnson-cancels-shotspotter-contract-fulfilling-major-campaign-promise - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/effs-guide-getting-records-about-axons-ai-generated-police-reports - https://apnews.com/general-news-699236946e3140659fff8a2362e16f43 - https://www.ilsos.gov/news/2025/august-25-2025-giannoulias-audit-finds-license-plate-reader-company-in-violation-of-state-law.html - https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-nationwide-ai-enabled-camera-network-data-shows

    Weaponized Warrantless Watchers

  2. Oct 3

    Vain Voting Voodoo

    Democracy's got a math problem. In 1951 Kenneth Arrow proved that with three or more candidates, no ranked voting system can satisfy four reasonable fairness conditions at once, and picked up a Nobel for it in 1972. Play with the math yourself: https://ncase.me/ballot Sources: - https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arrows-theorem - https://arxiv.org/html/2303.00108v2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Burlington,_Vermont_mayoral_election - https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Ballot_Measure_2,_Repeal_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Initiative_(2026)

    Vain Voting Voodoo

  3. Sep 16

    Utopia's Unarmed Unmaking

    The deadliest killer of the twentieth century wasn't war, and it wasn't crime. It was government. R.J. Rummel's democide tally counts 262 million people murdered by their own states, six times the century's combat deaths, and nearly every regime that ran up that number took the guns first. From the Weimar Republic's gun registry to Cambodia's killing fields, from Chavez's gun ban to Bondi Beach, the recipe never changes: register, reassure, restrict. The state keeps its rifles. You get a brick. Sources: https://hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM https://reason.com/2014/05/15/be-antigovernment-and-proud https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-bondi-attack-the-islamic-states-strategic-shifts-and-jihadi-tactics-in-australia https://bbc.com/news/articles/cqxql12317qo

    Utopia's Unarmed Unmaking

  4. Jul 2

    Tyrannical Trillionaire Tax

    Elon Musk just became the first trillionaire then settled back to ~$947B. Schrödinger's billionaire. Washington finally has the boogeyman it needs. The mathing on why Warren and Sanders' wealth-tax proposals don't work, and why they sell votes anyway. The printer never stops going "brrrrr." Sources: forbes.com/profile/elon-musk en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-Millionaire_Tax_Act_of_2021 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_tax · usdebtclock.org

    Tyrannical Trillionaire Tax

  5. May 26

    Spiteful Swamp Splurge

    Thomas Massie (R-KY), 8-term congressman, lost his primary on May 19, 2026 to Trump-backed sock puppet Ed Gallrein. The most expensive House primary in US history $32M+ in ad spending BBB Adds ~$3T to national debt over a decade Only Congress makes war H.Con.Res.38 Pentagon conceded no evidence of imminent Iranian strike Massie pushed for release of files which may implicate the elite. Hasn't ruled out 2028 presidential run

    Spiteful Swamp Splurge

  6. Apr 12

    Raging Raid Ruin

    Chuck and Megan try to untangle Schrödinger's ceasefire, a confusing Middle East agreement that is somehow simultaneously happening and not happening. We also examine Lindsey Graham's unique interpretation of war powers, where he essentially treats the Constitution's mandate for congressional approval like a decorative throw pillow. Meanwhile, normal shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has plummeted as Iran sets up a lethal new toll booth system backed by threats of absolute destruction. Back at home, we break down the math-defying absurdity of Donald Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget as the national deficit continues to balloon out of control. Finally, we cover his recent Bond-villain-style threats to send a whole civilization "back to the Stone Age" and his bizarre boasting over the bombing of an unfinished bridge, on the appropriately-named B1, that tragically killed civilians at a family picnic.

    Raging Raid Ruin

  7. Mar 10

    Questionable Quasiwar Quagmire

    https://reason.com/2026/03/06/jobs-are-down-while-the-u-s-spends-2-billion-a-day-on-war-with-iran/ https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/02/24/proposal-to-create-counterintelligence-unit-receives-bipartisan-pushback/?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://reason.com/2026/03/06/the-federal-government-was-told-to-make-a-list-of-everything-it-funds-15-years-later-there-still-isnt-one/

    Questionable Quasiwar Quagmire

  8. Feb 3

    Panopticon's Political Playbook

    • ICE Legal Observer Added to Terrorist Database https://reason.com/2026/01/23/ice-tells-legal-observer-we-have-a-nice-little-database-and-now-youre-considered-a-domestic-terrorist/ • WH Domestic Terrorism Memo Sept 2025 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/ • Arrested for Observing ICE https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/01/arrested-for-observing-ice-minnesota-lesson.html • Ben Jordan: Flock Camera Security Exposé 40min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0gr7Fh6lY • Flock Security Vulnerabilities https://www.privacyguides.org/news/2025/11/17/ben-jordan-exposes-severe-security-vulnerabilities-in-flock-surveillance-cameras/ • Flock Safety Security Research https://gainsec.com/2025/11/05/formalizing-my-flock-safety-security-research/ • Campus Protests Fail vs History https://www.aei.org/society-and-culture/performative-politics-why-todays-campus-protests-fail-where-historys-movements-succeeded/ • Diminishing Power of Protests https://thesciencesurvey.com/editorial/2025/02/12/the-diminishing-power-of-protests-a-call-for-activism-redefined/ • Trump Two-Faced Gun Rights https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-alex-pretti-nra-cbp-minneapolis-shooting-essayli • Debunking Immigrant Crime Myth https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/debunking-myth-immigrants-and-crime/ • Undocumented Immigration and Violent Crime https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6241529/ • USCIS Record Backlogs Q2 FY2025 https://www.boundless.com/blog/uscis-q2-fy2025-data • Dignity Act 2025 Summary https://forumtogether.org/article/the-dignity-act-of-2025-bill-summary/ • Legal Immigration Data https://www.niskanencenter.org/immigrationdata/

    Panopticon's Political Playbook
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About

Welcome to Stupid State Stories, a podcast that dives into the absurd, illiberal, and downright oppressive ways governments mess with their own people. From bizarre laws and overreaching bureaucracies to outright abuses of power, each episode unpacks real stories and obvious hallucinations of state overreach—think petty tyrants, ridiculous regulations, and the occasional dystopian nightmare. With sharp wit, manufactured statistics, and a keen eye for the ridiculous, we explore how the state’s heavy hand shapes lives, often with unintended consequences. Tune in for a mix of outrage, disbelief, and dark humor as we expose the dumbest things done in the name of control.

Information

  • Creator
    Gelica
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Gelica
  • Show Website
    Stupid State Stories