Punching Upwards

Fabian A. Scherschel
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The podcast that digs at the nitty-gritty facts behind the week's loudest headlines and discovers stories legacy media neglected to cover. From a veteran reporter and investigative journalist; new episodes every Sunday. punchingupwards.substack.com

  1. 6d ago

    PU 37: How Not to Report an Aviation Accident

    China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashed into a hill near Wuzhou in 2022, killing 132 people. What do we know about this Boeing 737 crash and what secret is the Chinese government keeping? Punching Upwards, Episode 37 for 24 May 2026 Topics: Aviation / China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Fadi Mansour, Bennet Piater, Eric and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! See Also * Punching Upwards 11: What Happened to UPS Flight 2976? Sources * China Eastern Plane Crash May Have Been Intentional, Reports Say, NBC News, 18 May 2022 * China Eastern plane could deliberately have crashed, sources say, Reuters, 18 May 2022 * Crash: China Eastern B738 near Guangzhou on Mar 21st 2022, lost altitude and impacted terrain, The Aviation Herald, 21 March 2022 * Letter from the NTSB in response to a FOIA request, NTSB, April 2026 * NTSB report on CVR and FDR data download, NTSB, 1 July 2022 * China Eastern Airlines flight 5735 crashes en route to Guangzhou, Flightradar24, 21 March 2022 * Search finds 49,000 pieces of plane in China Eastern crash, The Associated Press, 31 March 2022 * CAAC issues brief statement on anniversary of China Eastern 737 crash, FlightGlobal, 21 March 2023 * Investigation into deadly crash finds no anomalies, China Daily, 21 March 2024 * Flight data bolsters claim China Eastern plane was deliberately crashed in 2022, CNN, 4 May 2026 * Data Suggests Struggle in Cockpit Before Deadly China Eastern Plane Crash, The New York Times, 7 May 2026 * Deadly China plane crash was caused by fuel cut-off, says report, The BBC, 5 May 2025 * New Investigative Report Says China Knew More About Flight 5735 Crash Than It Let On, Guessing Headlights, 5 May 2026 * Evergrande linked to China plane crash in wild suicide rumour, Asia Markets, 11 April 2022 * Evergrande Group, Wikipedia * Translation of the CAAC preliminary report by a Reddit user, Reddit * Reddit rumour #1 * Reddit rumour #2 The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    46 min

  2. May 17

    PU 36: Dire Straits of Hormuz

    The Straits of Hormuz are closed, blocking about 20% of oil shipments from reaching the global economy. But what does closed actually mean? Punching Upwards, Episode 36 for 17 May 2026 Topics: Politics / War in Iran 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Routes through the Straits of Hormuz according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Routes through the Straits of Hormuz according to the BBC (BBC) Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Fadi Mansour, Bennet Piater, Eric and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! See Also * Punching Upwards 30: Aviation and the War in Iran * Punching Upwards 26: Trump Falls Into the Smart Bomb Trap Sources * Confusion in the Strait of Hormuz, BBC World at One, 4 May 2026 * Tensions flare near Strait of Hormuz as one ship is seized and another is sunk, PBS News, 15 May 2026 * Trump pauses Hormuz plan 50 hours after he announced it - what happened?, The BBC, 6 May 2026 * Two India-bound LPG carriers exit Hormuz as BRICS gathers in New Delhi, Lloyd’s List, 15 May 2026 * Report: Vessel Captured off Fujairah is a Floating Armory, The Maritime Executive, 14 May 2026 * Chinese oil tanker exits Strait of Hormuz, heads for Zhoushan, data shows, Reuters, 13 May 2026 * Russian superyacht sails through Strait of Hormuz despite blockade, The BBC, 28 April 2026 * Tui Cruises says two of its ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters, 19 April 2026 * Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz, CNN, 13 March 2026 * Iran begins laying mines in Strait of Hormuz, sources say, CNN, 10 March 2026 * Report: Two Types of Iranian Mines Detected in Strait of Hormuz, The Maritime Executive, 23 March 2026 * Maham 3 Seamine, Collective Awareness to UXO, undated * Maham 7 Limpet Mine, Collective Awareness to UXO, undated * The Strait of Hormuz in 8 Charts, Center for Strategic & International Studies, 22 April 2026 * There’s another big reason why shipping companies and insurers aren’t willing to risk the Strait of Hormuz, CNBC, 9 March 2026 * Iran threatens to close Strait of Hormuz over EU oil sanctions, The Telegraph, 23 January 2012 * West displays Gulf military power to defiant Iran, The Seattle Times, 25 January 2012 The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    44 min

  3. May 10

    PU 35: The Horror of Computerised War

    How the Pentagon switched decision making from humans to machines. And what it means for the future that computers now decide who lives and dies. Punching Upwards, Episode 35 for 10 May 2026 Topics: Politics / War in Iran 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Fadi Mansour, Bennet Piater, Eric and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! See Also * Punching Upwards 34: Scam Altman * Punching Upwards 27: LLMs Are a Dead-End * Punching Upwards 26: Trump Falls Into the Smart Bomb Trap * Punching Upwards 24: The ELIZA Effect Sources * Multi-Domain AI: The Future of Command and Control (CDAO at AIPCon 9), Palantir, 13 March 2026 * New analysis of deadly girls’ school strike in Iran, LiveNow from Fox, 11 March 2026 * Speeding Up the “Kill Chain”: Pentagon Bombs Thousands of Targets in Iran Using Palantir AI, Democracy Now!, 18 March 2026 * Star Trek (The Original Series), Season 1, Episode 23: A Taste of Armageddon, Wikipedia * AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying, 26 March 2026 * The AI War on Iran: Project Maven, a Secretive Palantir-Run System, Helps Pentagon Pick Bomb Targets, Democracy Now!, 31 March 2026 * Old intelligence and AI? Behind the deadly attack on an Iranian girls’ school that left 175 dead, The Independent, 12 March 2026 * Deadly strike on Iranian primary school raises questions about AI, accountability, South China Morning Post, 13 March 2026 * The Algorithm of War: How Palantir and Anthropic Became Co-Belligerents in America’s Iran Campaign, Hilal Ahmad Khan, 12 March 2026 * The Alignment Paradox: Claude AI and the Minab School Strike, Reddit, 8 March 2026 * Report: Palantir took over Project Maven, the military AI program too unethical for Google, The Next Web, 11 December 2019 * Project Maven to Deploy Computer Algorithms to War Zone by Year’s End, U.S. Department of War, 21 July 2017 * Palantir Expands Maven Smart System AI/ML Capabilities to Military Services, Palantir press release via Business Wire, 20 September 2024 * Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence: Meet the Gods of AI Warfare, Wired, 23 March 2026 * The AI Doomsday Machine Is Closer to Reality Than You Think, Politico, 2 September 2025 * “God, It’s Terrifying”: How the Pentagon Got Hooked on AI War Machines, Bloomberg Businessweek, 12 March 2026 * The Evolution of Time Sensitive Targeting: Operation Iraqi Freedom Results and Lessons, John M. Fyfe, Airpower Research Institute, February 2005 The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 38m

  4. May 3

    PU 34: Scam Altman

    A deep dive on investigative journalist Ronan Farrow’s profile of Sam Altman’s leadership at OpenAI. The piece lays bare many of the enduring issues that make Silicon Valley so problematic. Punching Upwards, Episode 34 for 3 May 2026 Topics: Technology / Artificial Intelligence 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Fadi Mansour, Bennet Piater, Eric and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! See Also * Punching Upwards 27: LLMs Are a Dead-End * Punching Upwards 24: The ELIZA Effect * Punching Upwards 22: Moltbook Madness * Punching Upwards 15: State Secret or Vibe Physics? * Punching Upwards 8: Robotics Slop Sources * Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted?, The New Yorker, 6 April 2026 * The New Yorker investigates Sam Altman’s alleged deceptions at OpenAI, CNN, 7 April 2026 * OpenAI CTO Mira Murati says she’s leaving firm to do her “own exploration”, The Guardian, 25 September 2024 * “Unconstrained by truth”: Sam Altman profile casts doubt on his trustworthiness, News Nation, 6 April 2026 The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 29m

  5. Apr 26

    PU 33: The Stop Nick Shirley Act

    YouTuber Nick Shirley says California’s proposed AB2624 law was made to stop him and other independent journalists from reporting on fraud. How much of that is true? Punching Upwards, Episode 33 for 26 April 2026 Topics: Politics / Free Speech 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! See Also * Punching Upwards 23: The Minnesota Welfare Fraud Scandal * Punching Upwards 21: The Death of Alex Pretti * Punching Upwards 19: The Death of Renee Good Sources * California bill AB-2624: Privacy for immigration support services providers, California Legislative Information, 9 April 2026 * Tweet by Nick Shirley, 18 April 2026 * California moves forward with its ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’, Yahoo News, 14 April 2026 * Dems ripped for ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ that could ‘shield’ fraud and abuse in California, 15 April 2026 The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    54 min

  6. Apr 19

    PU 32: Germany's Digital Strategy Is Absolutely Bonkers

    Driven by a national delusion that Germans are somehow naturally very bad at digital technology, the country’s government is rushing headfirst into a disastrous implementation of AI in government. Punching Upwards, Episode 32 for 19 April 2026 Topics: Politics / Artificial Intelligence 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater, Sir Galteran and Fairero Voltier for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! See Also * Punching Upwards 27: LLMs Are a Dead-End * Punching Upwards 24: The ELIZA Effect * Punching Upwards 22: Moltbook Madness Sources * Digitalminister im Bild-Interview: Wildberger über KI-Jobverlust, Bürokratie und Digitalisierung, Bild, 30 March 2026 * Deutschland gewinnt internationalen KI-Preis, Bundesministerium für Digitales und Staatsmodernisierung, 4 February 2026 * KI in der Verwaltung, Bundesministerium für Digitales und Staatsmodernisierung, undated The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 6m

  7. Apr 12

    PU 31: NASA’s Artemis II Mission

    Depending who you ask, NASA’s new mission to the moon was either the scientific breakthrough of the century or an utterly boring waste of money. Which is it? Punching Upwards, Episode 31 for 12 April 2026 Topics: Science / Space 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Some of the photos taken by the Artemis II crew (images courtesy of NASA): The astronauts back on Earth (images courtesy of NASA): NASA photo galleries: * Artemis II Launch * Artemis II Journey to the Moon * Artemis II Lunar Flyby * Artemis II Return to Earth * Artemis II Splashdown and Return Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater and Sir Galteran for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! See Also * Kerbal Space Program * The Expanse: novels, TV series Sources * Liftoff! NASA astronauts have launched on a historic journey to the moon, NPR, 1 April 2026 * Outlook in space, Marcus House (tweet), 2 April 2026 * Moon Joy, Courtesy of NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts, NASA, 10 April 2026 * Artemis II reentry, splashdown & recovery, CNN, 11 April 2026 * Artemis II Reference Guide, NASA, undated * Orion Reference Guide, NASA, undated * Development of the European Service Module Propulsion Subsytem for the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, Barsi et al., 25 September 2017 * Lunar Trajectory Geometry, Bellcom Inc., 23 December 1969 The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 8m

  8. Apr 5

    PU 30: Aviation and the War in Iran

    The war in Iran is having a tremendous impact on the aviation industry. An underreported detail is what happens when your flight deviates around the closed airspace over Iran via Afghanistan. Punching Upwards, Episode 30 for 5 April 2026 Topics: Aviation / War in Iran 🦉 No AI Content 📢 Podcast RSS Feed Credits Thanks to Michael Mullan-Jensen, Fadi Mansour, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vlad A Gouf, Bennet Piater, Sir Galteran and John C. for supporting this podcast financially and therefore making it possible for me to produce it! Sources * Everything We Know About LaGuardia, Captains Speaking - The Mentour Pilot Podcast, 26 March 2026 * March 2026: Afghanistan Overflight Update, Ops Group, 3 March 2026 * Afghanistan, Safe Airspace – Conflict Zone & Risk Database * Middle East Airspace – Current Operational Picture, Ops Group, 30 March 2026 The theme music for the podcast is a track called Fight or Fall by Def Lev. Find out more about the show at fab.industries/podcast — new media, new rules! Get full access to Punching Upwards at punchingupwards.substack.com/subscribe

    33 min
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About

The podcast that digs at the nitty-gritty facts behind the week's loudest headlines and discovers stories legacy media neglected to cover. From a veteran reporter and investigative journalist; new episodes every Sunday. punchingupwards.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Fabian A. Scherschel
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Fabian A. Scherschel
  • Show Website
    Punching Upwards