Drive and Listen

Drive and Listen

Long-form stories about history, money and technology, made for listening on the drive. Two hosts, one properly researched story, three mornings a week, out before the commute: Tuesday: Case Files. A scandal, a swindle or a disaster, told from the record. Wednesday: The Week. The one story from the news worth understanding. Thursday: Technology. The machines, chips and money behind the headlines. Arthur takes the history, the people and the world. George takes the money, the markets and the tech. You don't need to watch: everything is in the telling, so it works with the screen dark and your eyes on the road. Every episode is built from the record: primary documents, contemporary reporting, and the parts most retellings leave out. Sources are listed in each episode's description. Arthur and George are AI voices. Phil writes and researches every episode.

Episodes

  1. 3d ago

    How GPS Finds Your Car: Four Satellites and a Clock

    How many satellites does your car need to find itself? Usually four, and the reason is a clock: the one in your car is a little off, so the receiver works out how far off it is while it works out where it is. This episode follows the signal down from orbit: why a billionth of a second is a school ruler of light, why the satellites' own atomic clocks would run fast if nobody allowed for it, why the blue dot still wanders downtown, and the clock nobody sees: how the same signal helps cell towers, the power grid and traders agree on the time, alongside their other clocks. What this episode is careful about: the satellites never hear from your car; the receiver does the computing. Four is the usual minimum with satellites spread well across the sky, not a rule for every case, and no satellite has a time-only job. The clock numbers are NASA's rounded values, per day against clocks on the ground: about 7 millionths of a second lost to speed, about 45 gained from weaker gravity, about 38 gained overall. GPS.gov's five-meter phone figure is an example with no stated confidence, and the eight-meter standard is for a representative receiver, not a promise about any phone. The storm effect is a mechanism, not a forecast. Ashby's review describes how satellite clocks have been adjusted in the past; it is not a list of what every satellite does today. Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Chapters0:00 Why four satellites?0:40 A signal with the time on it2:04 Three for where, one for the clock4:08 The clocks that run fast5:07 Set wrong on purpose6:36 Where the blue dot struggles9:15 The clock nobody sees10:46 Close Sources (selected)- U.S. Department of Defense, GPS Standard Positioning Service Performance Standard (April 2020): https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/gps/geninfo/2020SPSPerformanceStandardFINAL.pdf- IS-GPS-200N, GPS interface specification (August 1, 2022): https://www.gps.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/IS-GPS-200N.pdf- GPS.gov, how accurate is GPS: https://www.gps.gov/gps-accuracy- GPS.gov, space segment: https://www.gps.gov/space-segment- GPS.gov, the final GPS III satellite: https://www.gps.gov/news/space-force-delivers-final-gps-iii-satellite-orbit- U.S. Space Force, public ICWG presentation (June 16, 2026): https://www.gps.gov/sites/default/files/2026-06/2026_Public_ICWG_Presentation_20260601.pdf- GPS.gov, other global navigation satellite systems: https://www.gps.gov/other-global-navigation-satellite-systems-gnss- NASA, relativity brochure (GR centennial): https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/astro/programs/physics-of-the-cosmos/documents/brochures-factsheets/jan-2015-aas/GR_Centennial_Brochure-Final.pdf- Neil Ashby, Relativity in the Global Positioning System (Living Reviews in Relativity, 2003): https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrr-2003-1- NIST, how GPS measures your location: https://www.nist.gov/how-do-you-measure-it/how-do-you-measure-your-location-using-gps- NIST, atomic time in a networked world: https://www.nist.gov/atomic-clocks/a-technology-powerhouse/atomic-time-networked-world- NOAA SWPC, space weather and GPS systems: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/space-weather-and-gps-systems- Apple, Location Services: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102515- ESA Navipedia, receiver types and assisted GNSS: https://gssc.esa.int/navipedia/index.php?title=Receiver_Types Diagrams are drawn for this episode and are not to scale. Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship inquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lNrXVWRIsBg

  2. 4d ago

    Northern lights: what actually makes the sky glow

    The northern lights take their energy from the Sun, but the glow itself is made here, in our own air. This episode follows that energy the long way round: why a flare's light and the solar wind run on different clocks, how Earth's magnetic space speeds up the electrons behind the familiar nighttime display, and how one gas, oxygen, gives off both the green and the red. Then the tenth of October by the numbers: what NOAA's storm scale and the Kp index measure, and why a storm number can't promise anyone's sky. Why it's worth your drive: NOAA's weekly report says geomagnetic activity reached G3 (Strong) on October 10, 2026. The same storms reach GPS, radio and the power grid, each its own way. What this episode is careful about: the seventeen hours between Carrington's flash and the great display of 1859 come from a later study (Green and Boardsen, 2005); it links the two in time and tracks nothing in between. The heights of the colors are broad, overlapping guides, not layers. NOAA's G-scale places are typical examples, not a promise for any town, and the Kp index measures magnetic disturbance, not brightness. The sunspot figure is our own calculation from NOAA's series, not an official word on where the cycle stands now. The images are archival, from 1859 to 2024; none of them shows October 10, 2026. Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Chapters0:00 A flash in 18591:17 Two clocks from the Sun3:01 The long way round5:03 Why green, why red7:37 The tenth of October, by the numbers10:49 The eye and the camera11:31 The Sun's busy years12:15 What else a storm touches13:30 Close Sources (selected)- R. C. Carrington, report of September 1, 1859 (Monthly Notices of the RAS): https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1859MNRAS..20...13C- J. L. Green and S. Boardsen, Duration and Extent of the Great Auroral Storm of 1859 (2005): https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050212156/downloads/20050212156.pdf- NOAA SWPC weekly report, archived at NCEI (issued October 12, 2026): https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/space-weather/swpc-products/weekly_reports/PRFs_of_SGD/2026/10/prf2667.pdf- NOAA SWPC, planetary K-index: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index- NOAA SWPC, space weather scales: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation- NOAA SWPC, aurora: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/aurora- NOAA SWPC, aurora 30-minute forecast (OVATION): https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast- NOAA SWPC, coronal mass ejections: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/coronal-mass-ejections- NOAA SWPC, GPS, HF radio and power grid pages: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/space-weather-and-gps-systems- NASA, five questions about space weather: https://www.nasa.gov/technology/five-questions-about-space-weather-and-its-effects-on-earth-answered/- NASA, auroras: https://science.nasa.gov/sun/auroras/- NASA and NOAA, the Sun reaches its solar maximum period (October 15, 2024): https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-noaa-sun-reaches-maximum-phase-in-11-year-solar-cycle/- NASA, the May 2024 storm: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/how-nasa-tracked-the-most-intense-solar-storm-in-decades/- NASA, STEVE (2020): https://www.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/aurora-chasing-citizen-scientists-help-discover-a-new-feature-of-steve/- R. Pfaff, auroral physics review (NASA technical report): https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20140000895/downloads/20140000895.pdf- Whiter and colleagues, camera study of auroral heights (Annales Geophysicae, 2023): https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/41/1/2023/ Images- Carrington's sketch of September 1, 1859: R. C. Carrington; reproduction via U.S. Geological Survey (public domain)- The Sun in extreme ultraviolet, October 3, 2024 (colors assigned): NASA/SDO- Data-based visualization of a dayside event, October 16, 2015: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio; Tom Bridgman- Aurora australis over the Indian Ocean, August 11, 2024: NASA, ISS Expedition 71- Aurora over Poker Flat, Alaska, night of February 16, 2017: NASA/Terry Zaperach- "Aurora with STEVE", Columbia Hills, Washington, March 23, 2023: The Modern Polymath, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aurora_with_STEVE.jpg), licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Changes: cropped, scaled, caption added.- Aurora from orbit, May 11, 2024, 08:20 UTC (grayscale sensor view): NASA Earth Observatory/Wanmei Liang; VIIRS day-night band data, Suomi NPP- The visible Sun, December 2019 and August 2024: NASA/SDONASA images are used under NASA's media guidelines; NASA does not endorse this channel. Diagrams are drawn for this episode. Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship inquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/q-BHK0R6tQM

  3. 5d ago

    Theranos: What happened between the finger and the result?

    In September 2013, Theranos and Walgreens promised lab tests "from a blood sample as small as a few drops". In 2022, a jury convicted founder Elizabeth Holmes of defrauding investors, and found her not guilty on the patient counts it decided. This episode follows the drops: which machines the court record says tested them, why a small sample is harder to measure, and how the inspections, the reporting and two separate trials played out. Why it's worth your drive: a new documentary about Holmes, You Can See Everything, opened in theaters on October 16. We don't review the film; we go to the record. And any lab result depends on the sample and on how it was measured, not only on the machine. What this episode is careful about: the tenfold dilution is our own worked example, not a Theranos recipe, and no dilution factor is attributed to Theranos. The finger-prick study (Bond and Richards-Kortum, 2015) is a small pilot; it never tested Theranos and doesn't show finger-prick tests can't work. The SEC's figures are allegations; Theranos and Holmes settled without admitting or denying them. Balwani was tried separately, and his jury convicted him on all twelve counts. Prison release dates are the Bureau of Prisons' projections as of October 19, 2026, and can change. Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Chapters0:00 The few drops and the verdict1:16 The few-drops promise2:32 Why a few drops is hard4:48 What the machines actually ran7:58 The reporting and the inspections11:17 Two trials, different verdicts13:27 Where it stands13:53 Close Sources (selected)- Theranos and Walgreens press release (September 9, 2013): https://corporate.walgreens.com/news-and-stories/press-releases/2013/theranos-selects-walgreens-as-a-long-term-partner-through-which-to-offer-its-new-clinical-laboratory-service/- Ninth Circuit opinion, United States v. Holmes (February 24, 2025): https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2025/02/24/23-1167.pdf- Ninth Circuit amended opinion (December 22, 2025): https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2025/12/22/23-1040.pdf- Holmes verdict form (January 3, 2022): https://cand.uscourts.gov/wp-content/uploads/cases-of-interest/usa-v-holmes-et-al/US-v-Holmes-18-cr-00258-EJD-Dkt-1235-Returned-Final-Verdict-Form.pdf- Justice Department, Balwani verdict (July 7, 2022): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/theranos-executive-found-guilty-12-counts-fraud- Justice Department, Holmes sentencing (November 18, 2022): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/elizabeth-holmes-sentenced-more-11-years-defrauding-theranos-investors-hundreds- Justice Department, Balwani sentencing (December 7, 2022): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/theranos-president-sentenced-more-12-years-fraud-jeopardized-patient-health-and-bilked- SEC press release 2018-41 (March 14, 2018): https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018-41- Bond and Richards-Kortum, drop-to-drop variation in fingerprick blood (American Journal of Clinical Pathology, 2015): https://academic.oup.com/ajcp/article/144/6/885/1761216- Peer-reviewed recommendations on capillary blood sampling (PMC4622200): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4622200/- FDA Form 483, Theranos Newark lab (September 16, 2015): https://www.fda.gov/media/94712/download- FDA 510(k) database, K143236 (July 2, 2015): https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfpmn/pmn.cfm?ID=K143236- The Wall Street Journal, Theranos investigation (October 15, 2015): https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901- CMS sanctions letter (July 7, 2016): https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/r_Theranos_Inc_CMS_07-07-2016_Letter.pdf- Walgreens ends its Theranos relationship (June 12, 2016): https://corporate.walgreens.com/news-and-stories/press-releases/2016/walgreens-terminates-relationship-with-theranos-will-be-closing-operations-at-all-40-theranos-wellness-centers-in-arizona/- Arizona Attorney General, 2017 annual report: https://www.azag.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2024-10/2017AnnualReport.pdf- Walgreens customer settlement administrator: https://www.theranoslawsuit.com/faq- Supreme Court docket 25-1330 (Balwani): https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-1330.html- Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator: https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/- Justice Department clemency case status: https://www.justice.gov/pardon/search-clemency-case-status Graphics are drawn for this episode. There are no photos, no film images and no company logos; every machine drawing is a generic schematic. Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship enquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/nwyGR_DjDFA

  4. Oct 15

    iPhone Duo: How a Glass Screen Folds

    Apple says its new iPhone Duo, which it calls the first foldable iPhone, has high-strength glass above and below the folding display panel. Glass is the stuff that cracks. So how does a screen with glass in it fold, and come back, every day? This episode builds a folding screen from nothing, one layer at a time. Why thin glass stretches less when it bends. How a squeezed surface makes glass tougher. Why the layers need glue that still lets them slide. How a hinge makes room for the bend. And what a crease measurement, or a lab's fold count, can and can't tell you. Then we hold all of it up against what Apple says it built. Why it's worth your drive: as of October 12, Apple says preorders open on October 16. If you're weighing one up, or you've just wondered how glass can fold, you'll know what the claims about it mean. Apple doesn't publish the glass thickness, the fold radius, who makes the glass, or a fold count. The worked numbers in this episode are made-up examples. The glass makers', Samsung Display's, the researchers' and the patent's examples are theirs, not the Duo's. Apple's statements are as of October 12, 2026. Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Chapters00:00 Opening: how can glass fold?02:46 The bend: why thin glass stretches less06:04 A tougher skin: ion exchange07:48 Layers that slide10:08 Room to bend: the hinge11:42 The crease and the fold count15:02 What Apple says it built18:08 Close Sources (selected)- Apple Newsroom, Apple unveils iPhone Duo (September 9, 2026): https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/09/apple-unveils-iphone-duo/- Apple, iPhone Duo technical specifications: https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/specs/- Apple Newsroom, Apple and Corning cover glass in Kentucky (August 2025): https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/08/apple-corning-to-manufacture-all-iphone-apple-watch-cover-glass-in-kentucky/- 9to5Mac, a leaker's claim about the Duo's display supplier (September 11, 2026): https://9to5mac.com/2026/09/11/leaker-says-apple-will-pay-250-per-iphone-duo-display-in-three-year-samsung-deal/- Corning, flexible glass substrates engineering slides (2011): https://www.corning.com/media/worldwide/cdt/documents/Flexible_glass_substrates_for_continuous_manufacturing.pdf- Corning, The secret of tough glass: ion exchange: https://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/innovation/the-glass-age/science-of-glass/the-secret-of-tough-glass-ion-exchange.html- Corning, Bending toward a foldable future: https://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/the-progress-report/crystal-clear/bending-toward-a-foldable-future- SCHOTT, ultra-thin glass in foldable displays: https://www.schott.com/en-sg/expertise/applications/schott-utg-in-foldable-displays- Samsung Display, ultra-thin glass explainer: https://global.samsungdisplay.com/30121- Samsung Display, 500,000-fold test (July 2025): https://global.samsungdisplay.com/31384- Samsung Display, fold testing at minus 20 °C: https://global.samsungdisplay.com/28434/- Lee et al., Additive effect in salt bath for glass strengthening (J. Ceram. Soc. Japan, 2021): https://doi.org/10.2109/jcersj2.20144- Kim et al., deformable display review (Light: Science & Applications, 2023): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9984414/- Park, Kim and Kwon, adhesives for foldable displays (Soft Science, 2024): https://www.oaepublish.com/articles/ss.2024.22- Niu, Ding, Liu and Fenwick, Analysis on the Mechanical Behavior of Flexible Screens (Materials, 2022): https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15082829- Nath and Gupta, Modeling the Mechanical Performance of Bendable Display under Cyclic Loading (IEEE IFETC 2019, authors' copy): https://m2n037.github.io/docs/IFETC2019_Modeling_the_Mechanical_Performance_of_Bendable_Display_under_Cyclic_Loading.pdf- Google Patents, WO2022161635A1 (hinge with a teardrop-shaped fold): https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2022161635A1/en- IEC 62715-6-22:2026, measuring crease and waviness (abstract): https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/96176 Graphics are drawn for this episode. There are no photos and no Apple images; every phone outline is a generic schematic. Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship enquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/83GZXdJ-6bM

  5. Oct 14

    Russian Plague Scare: How an Outbreak Report Gets Checked

    In early October, a worker at a plague research institute in Irkutsk, Russia, died after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia, and media reports suspected pneumonic plague. On October 10, the World Health Organization published its report on the case. Its title doesn't say plague. It says "Pneumonia of undetermined etiology." So which is it? This episode doesn't claim to solve the case. It explains how you can tell, for this story and the next one: what plague is today and how it reaches people, what it takes for a suspected case to become a confirmed one, how a report travels from a hospital to WHO and what WHO can and can't ask a country for, and what WHO says is still unknown here. Why it's worth your drive: outbreak headlines will keep coming. By the end, you'll have five questions to put to the next one before you decide how worried to be. The Irkutsk case is told as of WHO's report of October 10, 2026, checked again on October 12. Things may have moved since. Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Chapters00:00 Two headlines, eight days apart03:49 What plague is today, and where it lives08:27 What it takes to confirm a case15:36 How a report reaches the WHO20:03 The eight days, dated26:45 Five questions for the next scary headline28:10 Back to the two headlines Sources (selected)- WHO, Disease Outbreak News: Pneumonia of undetermined etiology, Russian Federation (October 10, 2026): https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON620- WHO Director-General, opening remarks at the media briefing (October 7, 2026): https://www.who.int/news-room/speeches/item/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing---7-october-2026- UN Geneva newsroom, WHO on the suspected plague death in Irkutsk: https://www.unognewsroom.org/story/en/3289/irkutsk-suspected-plague-death-who/9745- WHO fact sheet, Plague: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/plague- WHO, International Health Regulations (2005), consolidated text: https://apps.who.int/gb/bd/pdf_files/IHR_2014-2022-2024-en.pdf- CDC, how plague spreads: https://www.cdc.gov/plague/causes/index.html- CDC, plague diagnosis and testing: https://www.cdc.gov/plague/hcp/diagnosis-testing/index.html- CDC, plague clinical care: https://www.cdc.gov/plague/hcp/clinical-care/index.html- CDC, plague maps and statistics: https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps-statistics/index.html- CDC/CSTE, plague case definition (2020): https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/case-definitions/plague-2020/- WHO, Madagascar plague outbreak news (2017): https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/plague---madagascar- Reuters, via AOL (October 7, 2026): https://www.aol.com/articles/russia-says-properly-informed-plague-102044000.html- Reuters explainer, via KELO (October 6, 2026): https://kelo.com/2026/10/06/explainer-what-do-we-know-about-plague-institute-lab-workers-death-in-russia/- Russian government information portal, Rospotrebnadzor on Irkutsk Oblast (October 6, 2026; in Russian): https://xn--90aivcdt6dxbc.xn--p1ai/articles/news/rospotrebnadzor-sanepidobstanovka-v-irkutskoy-oblasti-spokoynaya/ Graphics are drawn for this episode, apart from two public-domain science images: an NIAID electron micrograph of Yersinia pestis and a CDC photo of a rat flea (both via Wikimedia Commons). Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship enquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/40dhiNqRRXQ

  6. Oct 13

    Jim Bakker's $1,000 Lifetime Hotel Promise, Sold 66,683 Times

    In the 1980s, a TV ministry sold a deal that sounded like a dream: give $1,000 once, and stay free at its Grand Hotel for four days and three nights, every year, for the rest of your life. By the end of the drive you'll know what the courts found: how many of those partnerships were sold against the limit that was promised, why the hotel couldn't fit them even on paper, where the money went instead, how Jim Bakker's conviction stood while his first sentence didn't, and what the buyers actually got back. Jim Bakker died on October 5, 2026, at 86, WBTV reported, citing his family. This episode is about the lifetime partnerships he sold at Heritage USA, and it tells that story from the court records: the 1991 criminal appeal, the 1988 bankruptcy opinion and the buyers' own civil case. The room-night math in the episode is ours, not the court's, and it is labelled that way. Why it's worth your drive: sooner or later, someone will offer you years of something for one payment today. A membership, a lifetime pass, a plan you pay for up front. That isn't a trap by itself. The question this case teaches is: what is going to deliver all those years, and with what money? The Heritage Tower details are as of WBTV's report of June 15, 2026. Things may have moved since. Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Chapters00:00 Opening: one offer, one hotel02:03 66,683 sold for one 500-room hotel07:45 Where the money went12:24 The spring it came apart13:35 Convicted, then resentenced15:57 What the partners got back18:46 What happened to the Towers19:22 After prison20:49 The question to ask Sources (selected)- United States v. Bakker, Fourth Circuit criminal appeal (1991): https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/925/925.F2d.728.89-5687.html- In re Heritage Village Church and Missionary Fellowship, bankruptcy court opinion (1988): https://www.leagle.com/decision/1988109292br10001896- Teague v. Bakker, Fourth Circuit civil appeal (1994), which quotes the Grand Hotel brochure: https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F3/035/35.F3d.978.91-2122.91-2120.91-2101.html- Teague v. Bakker, district court opinion (2002), on the settlement and what the class received: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/213/571/2362048/- U.S. Postal Inspection Service, "Heritage USA fraud": https://www.uspis.gov/history-spotlight/heritage-usa-fraud- Senate Finance Committee staff memo on media-based ministries (January 6, 2011): https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SFC%20Staff%20Memo%20to%20Grassley%20re%20Ministries%2001-06-11%20FINAL.pdf- Associated Press, trial opening and government auditors' figures (August 1989), Midland Reporter-Telegram: https://newspapers.swco.ttu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/6e04d6c0-c4b1-4b22-9b91-741ed09e0563/content- Associated Press, resentencing (August 1991): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-24-mn-796-story.html- Associated Press, sentence reduced (December 1992), Pampa News: https://newspapers.swco.ttu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/77059326-1e3c-4b97-a14f-aa21cf8535e2/content- Associated Press, move to a halfway house (July 1994): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-02-mn-11000-story.html- Associated Press, end of house arrest (December 1994), Hereford Brand: https://newspapers.swco.ttu.edu/bitstreams/40b11df0-9a53-4098-966d-b2cfc4c778bf/download- Los Angeles Times, the 1988 Pulitzer Prizes: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-01-mn-644-story.html- Todd C. Frankel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch feature (February 2008), archived by the Ventura County Star: https://archive.vcstar.com/lifestyle/reinvented-jim-bakker-looks-a-bit-like-the-old-ep-374226670-352646581.html- MorningStar Ministries, purchase statement (2004): https://msm.morningstarministries.org/publications/morningstar-purchases-former-heritage-usa- WBTV, Heritage Tower (June 15, 2026): https://www.wbtv.com/2026/06/15/fort-mill-landmark-heritage-tower-could-soon-be-demolished-what-know/- Missouri Attorney General, petition (March 2020): https://www.consumerresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-03-10_petition_11598045.3_.pdf- Missouri Attorney General, consent judgment (June 2021): https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/consent-judgment-bakker-signed.pdf- WBTV, death report (October 5, 2026): https://www.wbtv.com/2026/10/06/televangelist-jim-bakker-founder-praise-lord-club-dies-86-family-reports/- Associated Press, death report (October 2026), via ABC News: https://www-cdn.abcnews.com/US/wireStory/jim-bakker-built-ptl-club-televangelism-empire-died-137024206 Graphics are drawn for this episode, apart from a crop of the signed 2021 consent judgment. Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship enquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XrTrstrs-EI

  7. Oct 8

    Does White Noise Actually Help You Sleep?

    A lot of us fall asleep to a fan, a hiss or an app. By the end of the drive you'll know what white, pink and brown noise actually are, how a steady sound can make a sudden one less likely to wake you, what the studies really show and how thin some of them are, why one sleep lab now urges caution about leaving it on all night, what it means for a baby's sound machine, and what one small study found when it put that sound up against a pair of foam earplugs. When a University of Pennsylvania team reviewed 38 research papers in 2021, they rated the quality of the evidence that continuous noise improves sleep "very low": very little confidence that it helps, which is not proof that it doesn't. So every study here comes with its size and its setting, from four volunteers in a sleep lab to 495 working adults with an app. This episode explains the research; it isn't medical advice. In the words of the NIH's brain institute: "See a doctor if you have problems sleeping or if you feel unusually tired during the day." The "Where It Stands" chapter is as of Monday, October 5, 2026. Things may have moved since. Chapters0:00 Opening6:54 Stop 1: White, pink and brown12:53 Stop 2: How masking works17:51 Stop 3: What the studies found23:30 Stop 4: Pink noise and deep sleep30:14 Stop 5: Babies, volume and hearing36:07 Stop 6: What to do tonight38:36 Where It Stands: As of October 5th40:37 Close Sources (selected)- Riedy and colleagues (the Penn review), Sleep Medicine Reviews (2021): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33007706/- Basner and colleagues, Sleep (February 2026): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41627391/- Capezuti and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2022): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34964434/- Ding and colleagues, Sleep Medicine (2025): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41151421/- Khandelwal and colleagues, Sleep Medicine: X (2025), hospital trials: https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC12547953- Stanchina and colleagues, Sleep Medicine (2005), recorded ICU noise: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16139772/- Messineo and colleagues, Frontiers in Neurology (2017): https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC5742584- Ebben and colleagues, Sleep Medicine (2021): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34049045/- Nien and colleagues, ICU trial in southern Taiwan: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41761732/- Vazzaz and colleagues, Sleep (2026), app sleep sounds trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42223503/- Ngo and colleagues, Neuron (2013): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23583623/- Wunderlin and colleagues, Sleep (2021): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33406249/- Chen and colleagues, Sleep Research (20 September 2026): https://doi.org/10.1002/slp2.70058- MIT News (9 September 2026): https://news.mit.edu/2026/pink-noise-burst-may-mean-more-restorative-sleep-0909- Spencer and colleagues, Archives of Disease in Childhood (1990): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2405784/- NICU trial of white noise and mothers' voices (2021): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33975075/- Hugh and colleagues, Pediatrics (2014), infant sleep machines: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24590753/- De Jong and colleagues, Sleep Medicine (2024), scoping review: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38663282/- American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/all-around/Pages/how-noise-affects-your-child.aspx- American Academy of Sleep Medicine, infant sleep advisory (2014): https://aasm.org/advocacy/position-statements/infant-sleep-health-advisory/- NIH, NINDS Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep- Harvard Health Publishing (2025): https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-white-noise-really-help-you-sleep-better- CDC, NCHS data brief 559: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db559.htm- NHTSA, Drowsy Driving: https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drowsy-driving- AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety: https://aaafoundation.org/drowsy-driving-in-fatal-crashes-united-states-2017-2021/- US patent 3,121,220 (Buckwalter): https://patents.google.com/patent/US3121220A/en- The Atlantic (2019): https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/06/how-a-bad-nights-sleep-birthed-the-sound-conditioner/592177/- CPSC, Love To Dream recall (24 September 2026): https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2026/Love-To-Dream-Recalls-Portable-Sleep-Machines-Due-to-Risk-of-Injury-from-Fire-and-Burn-Hazards- Brown noise and sleep: our PubMed searches of 5 October 2026.Graphics: drawn from the sources above; no photographs. Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship enquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hSANyNnFUKE

  8. Oct 7

    Four Narrow Places: Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Way Around That Got Hit Too

    When a narrow place at sea shuts, the world tries to go around it. In 2026 the main way around the Strait of Hormuz ran out through a second narrow place, at the bottom of the Red Sea, and by September that way around was under attack too. By the end of the drive you'll know how a gap about two dozen miles wide came to matter at your gas pump, why it's so much worse when the way around is hit as well, and why, even with a deal, the ships don't all come back overnight. Our four narrow places: the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca and the Panama Canal. The "Where It Stands" chapter is as of Monday, October 5, 2026. The pump prices in it are the government's weekly averages for Monday, September 28. Things may have moved since. Chapters0:00 Opening5:42 Stop 1: The front door11:44 Stop 2: The deal in June16:18 Stop 3: The back door21:13 Stop 4: The way around, hit27:52 Stop 5: Malacca and Panama31:44 Stop 6: A staircase, not a switch36:20 Where It Stands: As of October 5th38:24 Close Sources (selected primary records)- U.S. Energy Information Administration, World Oil Transit Chokepoints (March 2026): https://www.eia.gov/international/content/analysis/special_topics/World_Oil_Transit_Chokepoints/- EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (weekly retail prices): https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/- EIA, Short-Term Energy Outlook, September 2026: https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/- International Energy Agency, Oil Market Report, March 2026: https://www.iea.org/reports/oil-market-report-march-2026- IEA, Oil Market Report, September 2026: https://www.iea.org/reports/oil-market-report-september-2026- IEA, largest-ever oil stock release (March 2026): https://www.iea.org/news/iea-member-countries-to-carry-out-largest-ever-oil-stock-release-amid-market-disruptions-from-middle-east-conflict- IMF PortWatch, daily chokepoint transits (satellite ship tracking): https://services9.arcgis.com/weJ1QsnbMYJlCHdG/arcgis/rest/services/Daily_Chokepoints_Data/FeatureServer- The Islamabad Memorandum, published text (labelled a draft by the American Presidency Project): https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/islamabad-memorandum-understanding-between-the-united-states-america-and-the-islamic- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Strait of Hormuz: https://www.britannica.com/place/Strait-of-Hormuz- Joint Maritime Information Center, Advisory Note update 098, 20 September 2026 (third-party copy): https://dbce.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Update-098-JMIC-Advisory-Note-20-September.pdf- Joint Maritime Information Center, Advisory Note update 100, 27 September 2026 (third-party copy): https://dbce.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Update-100-JMIC-Advisory-Note-27-September.pdf- Joint Maritime Information Center, Advisory Note update 101, 1 October 2026 (Internet Archive copy): https://web.archive.org/web/20261002192625id_/https://www.ukmto.org/-/media/ukmto/products/update-101-jmic-advisory-note-01-october.pdf- Al Jazeera, What's in Iran's seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz? (25 September 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/25/whats-in-irans-seven-day-plan-to-reopen-the-strait-of-hormuz- BBC News, 26 September 2026, on President Trump's answer to Iran's plan: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqgmrr9ekr7ko- AFP, 4 October 2026, on Iran reviewing the U.S. answer: https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/iran-says-no-military-solution-214147000.html- CNBC, 22 July 2026, on the Houthis' embargo on Saudi ports: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/22/houthis-red-sea-bab-el-mandeb-saudi-oil-iran.html- CNBC, 30 September 2026, on crude and fuel through Hormuz (Kpler data): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/30/iran-war-strait-hormuz-gulf-oil-fuel.html- Kpler, Middle East flow and disruption tracker, 1 October 2026: https://www.kpler.com/blog/middle-east-flow-and-disruption-tracker-1-oct-2026- The National, 10 September 2026, on Mokha: https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/09/10/houthis-yemen-mokha-port-red-sea/- Xinhua, 4 October 2026, on the report of explosions near a tanker off Mokha: https://english.news.cn/20261005/d09744bced9c4eb9bcc037ebe9fc94af/c.html- Lloyd's Market Association, Joint War Committee: https://lmalloyds.com/committee/joint-war-committee/- Panama Canal Authority, 11 September 2026: https://pancanal.com/en/panama-canal-smithsonian-and-imhpa-analyze-the-impacts-of-el-nino/- Panama Canal Authority, 28 September 2026, on draft and daily transits: https://pancanal.com/en/panama-canal-announces-increase-in-draft-and-daily-transit/Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). Place coordinates: Wikidata (CC0). Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Business and sponsorship enquiries: winterfallplanning@gmail.com Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/P0dQ-58Un_o

  9. Oct 6

    The Salad Oil Swindle of 1963: The Paper Said the Oil Was There

    A tank farm in New Jersey, a great deal of vegetable oil that wasn't there, and a pile of paper that said it was. After it came apart in November 1963, a later appeals court put what was found at about $6 million worth of vegetable oil, along with salt water, against $100 million in warehouse receipts issued to Allied. Nearly all of this story is paper saying something is there, and people lending a lot of money because of that paper. That's still how a lot of money works: a bank statement, a company that says its warehouses are full. Arthur and George follow the warehouse receipts through the court record: what they claimed was in the tanks, how lenders used them, and what happened when the oil and the paperwork failed to match. By the end of the drive you'll know what to ask the next time someone shows you a piece of paper and tells you the thing is there. Chapters0:00 Opening7:52 Stop 1: The man and the paper11:49 Stop 2: Who held the tape17:53 Stop 3: The bet23:25 Stop 4: The week29:00 Stop 5: The man31:47 Stop 6: The bill37:17 Close Sources (selected primary records)- In re American Express Warehousing, Ltd., 525 F.2d 1012 (2d Cir. 1975): https://static.case.law/f2d/525/html/1012-01.html- In re Ira Haupt & Co., 304 F. Supp. 917 (S.D.N.Y. 1969): https://static.case.law/f-supp/304/html/0917-01.html- In re Ira Haupt & Co., 234 F. Supp. 167 (S.D.N.Y. 1964): https://static.case.law/f-supp/234/html/0167-01.html- Zeeman v. United States, 275 F. Supp. 235 (S.D.N.Y. 1967): https://static.case.law/f-supp/275/html/0235-01.html- Heimann v. American Express Co., 53 Misc. 2d 749 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1967): https://static.case.law/misc2d/53/html/0749-01.html- Seligson v. New York Produce Exchange, 378 F. Supp. 1076 (S.D.N.Y. 1974): https://static.case.law/f-supp/378/html/1076-01.html- Weinberger v. New York Stock Exchange, 403 F. Supp. 1020 (S.D.N.Y. 1975): https://static.case.law/f-supp/403/html/1020-01.html- Mittendorf v. J. R. Williston & Beane, Inc., 372 F. Supp. 821 (S.D.N.Y. 1974): https://static.case.law/f-supp/372/html/0821-01.html- Procter & Gamble Distributing Co. v. Lawrence American Field Warehousing Corp., 16 N.Y.2d 344 (1965): https://static.case.law/ny-2d/16/html/0344-01.html- Harbor Tank Storage Co. v. DeAngelis, 85 N.J. Super. 92 (App. Div. 1964): https://static.case.law/nj-super/85/html/0092-01.html- United States v. DeAngelis, 361 F.2d 788 (3d Cir. 1966): https://static.case.law/f2d/361/html/0788-01.html- Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Monthly Review, December 1963, p. 179: https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/monthly_review/1963_pdf/12_1_63.pdf- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 31st Annual Report (fiscal 1965), p. 16: https://www.sec.gov/about/annual_report/1965.pdf- Berkshire Hathaway, Chairman's letter for 1994 (dated 7 March 1995): https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1994.html- Trafigura, "Statement re Legal Action" (9 February 2023): https://www.trafigura.com/news-and-insights/press-releases/2023/statement-re-legal-action/- London Metal Exchange, Notice 23/044 (17 March 2023): https://www.lme.com/-/media/Files/News/Notices/2023/03/WAREHOUSING-23-044-INVALIDATION-OF-NINE-NICKEL-WARRANTS-AND-ASIAN-HOURS-NICKEL-TRADING-POSTPONEMENT.pdf- TIME, "Crime: The Man Who Fooled Everybody" (4 June 1965) and "Corporations: Oil, Vinegar & Sugar" (3 September 1965), cited as contemporary reporting- The Pulitzer Prizes, Norman C. Miller (1964): https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/norman-c-millerCourt opinions via the Harvard Law School Library Caselaw Access Project. Photographs: Carol M. Highsmith, Bayonne, New Jersey, 2017 (Library of Congress, Carol M. Highsmith Archive); Thomas J. O'Halloran, floor of the New York Stock Exchange, 1963 (Library of Congress, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection). Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech. Arthur and George are AI-voiced characters. Phil writes and researches every episode.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0H47_x_8ZgU

  10. Oct 1

    The Race to Power AI

    On September 24, 2026, Bloomberg reported that Oracle had sent a legal notice to the developer of Project Jupiter, a giant AI campus being built in New Mexico. The campus is designed to make its own electricity: a planned power plant of about two and a half gigawatts, backup included, roughly a fifth of all the power-plant capacity in New Mexico. AI runs on electricity, a lot of it. By the end of the drive you'll know why it needs so much, where that power comes from and why it's so hard to get, why one giant AI campus in New Mexico is racing a gas pipeline, an air permit and the clock to make its own electricity, and how the data-center boom is already showing up on some power bills, in a grid region of 67 million people. Arthur and George start from zero: what a data center is, why AI makes it so hungry for power, and why a gigawatt is power, not energy. Berkeley Lab estimates US data centers used 4.7 percent of the country's electricity in 2024. Then Project Jupiter, in Santa Teresa, Doña Ana County: a gas pipeline contracted to start flowing on August 15, 2026, which TechCrunch reported on September 24 has slipped to February 1, 2027; the state's air permit, still undecided; and the courts. Oracle says Project Jupiter remains on its planned schedule; what is reported late is the gas. Then why new power is slow: a big gas turbine ordered now is due between 2028 and 2031, depending on the maker; a big transformer took about two and a half years on average to arrive in a mid-2025 survey; and the typical power project that switched on in 2025 had waited more than five years to plug in. And the bills. In PJM, the grid operator for about 67 million people, the capacity price across much of the region was more than eleven times as high for June 2026 to May 2027 as two years earlier: one wholesale cost, not a whole bill. PJM's market monitor estimates that about $6.3 billion of July's $16.4 billion auction, for the year starting June 2028, came from data centers: its own estimate, and PJM says an auction total isn't what customers pay. Nationally, prices are up, and we found no source that has measured how much of that is data centers. The "Where it stands" chapter is as of Wednesday, September 30, 2026; things may have moved since. What to watch: public comments on the pipeline's federal review close October 5; the air permit's reported deadline is November 23. Arthur and George are AI voices. Phil writes and researches every episode.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/moiyMOa1iaM Chapters0:00 Opening4:46 Stop 1: What eats the power9:15 Stop 2: A campus with its own power plant12:49 Stop 3: The race in New Mexico19:32 Stop 4: Why power is hard to get26:58 Stop 5: Who pays31:10 Stop 6: The lights and the pushback32:56 Where It Stands: As of September 30th36:15 Close Sources (selected primary records)- Oracle, BorderPlex and Bloom Energy announcement (27 April 2026): https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/oracle-borderplex-and-bloom-energy-to-power-project-jupiter-with-fuel-cell-technology-2026-04-27/- Oracle's request to FERC for expedited approval of the Green Chile pipeline (1 May 2026) and FERC's notice of schedule (24 July 2026), docket CP26-80 (FERC eLibrary)- New Mexico Environment Department, air-quality permit docket AQB 26-57 (2026): https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States Data Center Energy Usage Report: 2025 Update: https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/3374245- International Energy Agency, Key Questions on Energy and AI (April 2026): https://www.iea.org/reports/key-questions-on-energy-and-ai/executive-summary- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly (data for July 2026): https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/- PJM, capacity auction results (14 July 2026): https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/about-pjm/newsroom/2026-releases/20260714-pjm-capacity-auction-procures-138318-mw-of-generation-resources.pdf- PJM's Independent Market Monitor, report of 28 July 2026: https://www.monitoringanalytics.com/reports/Presentations/2026/IMM_MC_Market_Monitor_Report_20260728.pdf- FERC's order on PJM's backstop procurement (29 September 2026, docket ER26-3380) and the Texas Governor's directive to TCEQ (21 September 2026)- New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (12 February 2025): https://www.nj.gov/bpu/newsroom/2024/approved/20250212.html- Reporting quoted, by outlet and date: Bloomberg News, via CNBC (24 September 2026); TechCrunch, CNBC and the Las Cruces New Mexican (24 September 2026); the Albuquerque Journal, Source NM, KRWG and KVIA (September 2026); El Paso Matters; POWER magazine (January 2026); Utility Dive and Data Center Watch (2026). Also the New Mexico State Land Office (15 July 2026), the NRC (Federal Register, 25 September 2026), Holtec, NERC, LBNL's Queued Up and Doña Ana County. Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech.

  11. Sep 30

    Why the Fed Just Raised Rates (the First Hike Since 2023)

    On September 16, 2026, America's central bank raised its main interest-rate target by a quarter of a percentage point, to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent. It was the Fed's first increase since July 2023, and the vote was 12 to zero. By the end of the drive you'll know what the Fed changed and its stated reasons for moving now; how the change can reach variable-rate credit cards, home equity lines and new car loans; why rates on new fixed mortgages tend to follow the ten-year Treasury yield rather than move one-for-one with the Fed; how little the national average savings rate changed over a year of Fed cuts; and what to watch before the next meeting on October 27 and 28. Arthur and George start from zero: what the Fed is, who votes, and what a quarter point is. Then how we got here: eleven increases from March 2022 to July 2023, six cuts from September 2024 to December 2025, an oil shock the International Energy Agency dates from February 28, 2026, and a new chairman, Kevin Warsh, since May 22. In his account, the economy had strengthened since July, the summer's inflation trends failed his test, and geopolitics had changed. By our count, the hike came 280 days after the last cut, the second-shortest of seven such waits in the Fed's published tables since July 1990. Prime rose from 6.75 to 7 percent on September 17; variable-rate cards and many home equity lines follow a benchmark like that, on the terms of their agreements. A fixed-rate mortgage you already have keeps its interest rate. New fixed mortgages tend to follow the ten-year Treasury yield plus a spread: Freddie Mac's 30-year average was 7.03 percent on September 24, up from its 2026 low of 5.98 percent in the February 26 release, while the top of the Fed's range rose a quarter point. That comparison does not tell us how much of the rise the hike caused. And the FDIC's national average savings rate went from 0.40 to 0.37 percent between the August 2025 and August 2026 readings, a year of Fed cuts, all before the hike. The "Where it stands" chapter is as of Tuesday, September 29, 2026; things may have moved since. What to watch, as scheduled: August PCE inflation (September 30), the September minutes (October 7) and the next decision (October 28). Arthur and George are AI voices. Phil writes and researches every episode.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2yP05W0Z3Y4 Chapters0:00 Opening5:02 Stop 1: What the Fed did8:44 Stop 2: How we got here13:50 Stop 3: Why now18:55 Stop 4: Your money, loan by loan26:37 Stop 5: The reaction31:23 Stop 6: Where it stands36:06 Close Sources (selected primary records)- Federal Reserve, FOMC statement (16 September 2026): https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20260916a.htm- Transcript of Chair Warsh's press conference (16 September 2026): https://www.federalreserve.gov/mediacenter/files/FOMCpresconf20260916.pdf- Summary of Economic Projections (16 September 2026): https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomcprojtabl20260916.htm- Chair Warsh, remarks at Jackson Hole (28 August 2026): https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/warsh20260828a.htm- Minutes of the FOMC meeting of 28-29 July 2026: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomcminutes20260729.htm- Federal Reserve, Open Market Operations (target-range history): https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/openmarket.htm- BLS, Consumer Price Index, August 2026 (11 September 2026): https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_09112026.htm- BEA, Personal Income and Outlays, July 2026 (26 August 2026): https://www.bea.gov/news/2026/personal-income-and-outlays-july-2026- U.S. Treasury, Daily Treasury Par Yield Curve Rates, 2025 and 2026 (home.treasury.gov)- Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey: https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms- FDIC, National Rates and Rate Caps: https://www.fdic.gov/national-rates-and-rate-caps- CFPB, home equity lines of credit (brochure): https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_heloc-brochure.pdf- Dallas Fed Economics (7 May 2026): https://www.dallasfed.org/research/economics/2026/0507- Boston Fed, Why mortgage rates exceed Treasury yields (2026): https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/current-policy-perspectives/2026/why-mortgage-rates-exceed-treasury-yields.aspx- IEA, Oil Market Report, March 2026: https://www.iea.org/reports/oil-market-report-march-2026- New York Fed, John C. Williams, remarks at the University at Buffalo (29 September 2026): https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/speeches/2026/wil260929- Reporting quoted, by outlet and date: AP, CNBC, CNN, NBC News, Axios and Fox Business (16-18 September 2026); CNBC (4-5 September 2026); Reuters, TheStreet, Investing.com, Dow Jones, TPM and Barron's (September 2026). Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech.

  12. Sep 29

    Six Warnings: How Bernie Madoff Got Past the SEC

    Three examinations. Two investigations. The SEC still did not uncover Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. That is the finding of the SEC's own inspector general. Between 1992 and the day Madoff confessed in December 2008, the inspector general counted six substantive complaints raising red flags about his business. The first began with a complaint about two accountants' firm and led the SEC to Madoff. Harry Markopolos's warning reached the SEC in three versions, in 2000, 2001 and 2005; counted separately, the inspector general said there were arguably eight. Arthur and George follow each warning through his 2009 report: a hedge-fund manager's complaint in 2003, another firm's internal e-mails that SEC examiners discovered in April 2004, an anonymous e-mail in October 2005, and a letter from an anonymous concerned citizen in December 2006, received again in March 2008. Why did none of them stop him? The inspector general found that the SEC never verified Madoff's purported trading through an independent third party. Staff did contact DTC, the Depository Trust Company, after his May 2006 testimony, but he found they failed to use independent records to verify the trading. Madoff lied to the SEC under oath, and the inspector general found no evidence that senior SEC officials directly tried to influence the examinations or investigations. His customers' November 2008 statements showed about $64.8 billion. That was the statement total, not cash lost; the government's trial expert later put direct investors' net cash losses at about $20 billion. The same kind of scheme is still in the courts: the Justice Department announced two Ponzi-scheme sentencings on September 15 and 16, 2026. By the end of the drive you'll know the seven warning signs the SEC's Investor.gov lists, signs that many Ponzi schemes share. They tell you when to investigate further, not when you can stop checking. Arthur and George are AI voices. Phil writes and researches every episode. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6EcSBAhY5Fk Chapters0:00 Opening4:11 Stop 1: 1992: the 100% safe notes8:41 Stop 2: 2000–2001: "too good to be true"12:49 Stop 3: 2003–2005: two exams, no independent verification20:39 Stop 4: 2005–2008: the check the SEC failed to complete27:38 Stop 5: December 2008: "one big lie"32:25 Stop 6: After Madoff: the money and the warning signs37:38 Close Sources (selected primary records)- SEC Office of Inspector General, Report No. OIG-509, Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme (31 August 2009): https://www.sec.gov/files/oig-509.pdf- United States v. Madoff, criminal complaint (11 December 2008): https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdny/legacy/2012/04/16/criminalcomplaint.pdf- United States v. Madoff, 09 Cr. 213, criminal information (10 March 2009): https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdny/legacy/2012/04/16/20090310criminalinfo.pdf- Plea hearing transcript (12 March 2009): https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdny/legacy/2012/04/16/madoffhearing031209.pdf- Sentencing transcript (29 June 2009): https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdny/legacy/2012/04/16/20090629sentencingtranscriptcorrected.pdf- Government sentencing memorandum, trial of five former employees (22 July 2014), via the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20150114012527/http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/madoff/2014.07.22%20Government%20Sentencing%20Memo%20(corrected).pdf- SEC, Investor.gov, "Ponzi Scheme": https://www.investor.gov/protect-your-investments/fraud/types-fraud/ponzi-scheme- SEC, "Post-Madoff Reforms": https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/secpostmadoffreforms.htm- Madoff SIPA Trustee, recoveries and distributions (as of 21 August 2026): https://www.madofftrustee.com/recoveries-distributions-sipc-commitment-00.html- U.S. Department of Justice, Madoff Victim Fund, 10th distribution (30 December 2024): https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-departments-10th-distribution-brings-total-provided-over-43b-nearly-full-recovery- U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri, press release on the Siddharth Jawahar sentencing (15 September 2026), justice.gov- U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California, Lickiss sentencing (16 September 2026): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/former-east-bay-financial-advisor-sentenced-nine-years-federal-prison-ponzi-scheme Drive and Listen — stories for your drive.Tuesdays: Case Files. Wednesdays: The Week. Thursdays: Tech.

  • 12 Episodes

About

Long-form stories about history, money and technology, made for listening on the drive. Two hosts, one properly researched story, three mornings a week, out before the commute: Tuesday: Case Files. A scandal, a swindle or a disaster, told from the record. Wednesday: The Week. The one story from the news worth understanding. Thursday: Technology. The machines, chips and money behind the headlines. Arthur takes the history, the people and the world. George takes the money, the markets and the tech. You don't need to watch: everything is in the telling, so it works with the screen dark and your eyes on the road. Every episode is built from the record: primary documents, contemporary reporting, and the parts most retellings leave out. Sources are listed in each episode's description. Arthur and George are AI voices. Phil writes and researches every episode.

Information

  • Creator
    Drive and Listen
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Drive and Listen
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