It Could Happen Here - Washington State Patrol

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

A look at some of the bad things the Washington State Patrol has done the past decade. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadowbride. Join me, Danny Trejo, and step into the flames of fright. An anthology podcast of modern-day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to Nocturnal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech

brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming. This is the chance to nominate your podcast for the industry's biggest award. Submit your podcast for nomination now at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. But hurry, submissions close on December 8th. Hey, you've been doing all that talking. It's time to get rewarded for it.

Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was, should the boy go back to his father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go, and he wanted to take his son with him. Or stay with his relatives in Miami? Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. completely unrelated note garrison you want to talk about the washington state highway patrol today i sure would love to talk about our uh our good friends at the washington state patrol um

because yeah they just uh they've they've come up on my radar and in an unrelated matter and now we're gonna talk about it matter yeah so now we're talking with them yeah so this is the show about things falling apart and kind of part of societal and political stuff kind of crumbling usually that gets related to some type of law enforcement agency more often than not oh yeah uh in terms of like tensions rising and stuff sure a lot of you know force gets force gets uh exerted via law enforcement and uh one such law enforcement yeah and one such agency that does this is called the washington state patrol um so they were them before i i don't know i just discovered them recently uh oh cool so they were founded exactly 100 years ago um and they were

originally called the washington state highway patrol um now they're just the washington state patrol they removed highway but they still do Patrol. Now they're just the Washington State Patrol. They removed highway, but they still do the same thing. They're basically the glorified traffic cops who operate all around Washington State. And we're going to talk about some of the ways that they've been making things worse within the past decade. Since they have a 100-year history, I'm sure we can find lots of historical examples. But we're going to do stuff that is more recent because this is generally trying to keep things around the current crumbling. And because we're going to talk about police, the first thing we're going to be discussing, oddly enough, is racism. Oh, my God.

I know. Yay. When you think of Washington State Patrol, it's kind of shocking that they might have a race issue. years ago, researchers working with the Washington State Patrol found that troopers were searching drivers from minority communities, particularly local Native American tribes, at a much

higher rate than white people. And they recommended an additional study, which the Washington State Patrol declined to investigate further. They were like, no. No more studies. So, meanwhile, like, no, um, no, no more studies. So meanwhile,

since then, uh, the troopers have continued to continue to search native Americans at a, at a rate much higher, uh, more than five times than that of, uh, of,

of white people in the area. Yeah. So, but there are five times as the popular there there's five times as many indigenous people in Washington as white people, right? There's not. Oh, oh, oh. Yeah.

OK. So an analysis by Investigate West showed that the patrol continued to do searches at much elevated rates for black people, Latino, Pacific Islanders and natives within Washington state. people, Latino, Pacific Islanders, and natives within Washington state. And yet, when troopers did decide to search white motorists, they were more likely to find drugs and contraband, which is something the Washington State Patrol actually acknowledges is that when they search people of minority communities, they are less likely to find illegal things. Yeah, I mean, that's nationwide and yeah and very very robust data so um government records obtained uh via like a freedom of information requests and various other

you know uh public records searches um also show that uh there there is a state law that washington state patrol is supposed to collect and report semi-annually to the criminal justice training commission in washington um uh about you know race and ethnicity data of motorists stopped by troopers but uh so this is supposed to happen semi-annually but the agency uh reported those findings only three times in the past 15 years oh that which isn't sounds kind of like the portland police not doing the things that federally they're supposed to do because they're so violent yeah yeah being out of compliance with a bunch of federal regs three times three times in 15 years is not semi-annually uh based on what i know the term semi-annually that's semi-decadely so yeah um based on responses for over 30 public records requests

um from from three different agencies looking looking at washington state patrol and more than like 50 interviews with current and former law enforcement officials and people with experience interacting with washington state patrol um and also data from millions of traffic stops uh all this was looked at in total examined about 8 million traffic stops from 2009 to 2015. This is what Investigate West was doing, which was the most recent data available. And the analysis found that it focused on 22,000 incidents of what researchers called high-discretion searches. That's when troopers had the most personal leeway to decide whether or not to pull over and search a vehicle. Black drivers were twice as likely to be searched as white drivers, and Latinos and Pacific Islanders were 80% more likely to be searched.

Of these incidents where officers had discretion and they could choose whether or not to pull someone over. So it wasn't like they were obviously speeding or doing regular, actually observable traffic violations. This is when people could choose. When the Investigate West thing got published, they contacted Washington State Patrol, and the spokesperson said that, here's the quote, that race was not the only factor when troopers decided whom to search, and that's partially because blacks, Native Americans, and Latinos are more more likely to be searched regardless of how much discretion troopers have. Which that doesn't really make very much sense.

I don't know what they mean by that. Get a new spokesperson. I don't know what they mean. Who approved that statement? Regardless. Jesus Christ. Brutal. Who was that bad

at checking the copy which is weird because later on the spokesperson said that same person same guy we're in a basic agreement that minorities are searched at higher rates but we find less contraband

so oh good at least they admit it he also noted that complaints about like a racial bias accounted for little more than 10 percent of all complaints of the state uh patrol filed last year so i guess he thinks that's a good he thinks that's a good stat. Yeah, I'm sure he's proud of that. Yeah. And another kind of not great thing is that the analysis found that not only are Native Americans more likely to be searched on the US-97, where it encounters a reservation at Olmec, about a mile from its intersection at State Road 155, and more than 130 miles south when the same highway enters another reservation. the same highway enters another reservation. So nearly one-third of high-discretion searches, so when troopers can decide whether or not to pull someone over,

they have more discretion whether they can. So one-third of those happen on these two stretches of highway right on the edges of these reservations. So they're patrolling outside these reservations to specifically do this. I saw an interview on this topic that talked that talked to to native americans in this area and they're like yeah every time we leave the reservation we get pulled over but then we watch tons of white motorists go by and no one cares like and like and they're like you're doing like they're just speeding by it doesn't matter um so yeah that is that is the uh first first you first unsurprising tidbit about

an organization who started as a highway patrol they're going to pull people over who are not white more often that's pretty not super shocking they're going to be psyched to do that and then make a public statement like

LOL yup yeah that does sound a lot like what the Washington State Patrol And then make a public statement like, LOL, yup. Yeah, that does sound a lot like what the Washington State Patrol sounds like. So that was the first obvious thing. This next part's a little bit more fun. So in 2009, the Washington State Patrol made the decision to fire eight troopers, which is pretty rare. And the reason why they got fired is because they used fake diplomas to claim pay raises. Yeah.

So there was this whole scheme about getting fake diplomas to get the troopers more money like individual people. There's this whole operation going on. It resulted in eight people getting fired. So troopers can boost their pay about 2% by earning a two-year degree or 4% with a four-year degree. And there was this group of

troopers who just started just forging diplomas. See, Garrison, this is a separate conversation, but they didn't need to forge diplomas. They could have just become doctors of magic like you're going to become. That is what I've tried to do. They could have just gotten that religious PhD. Yeah. There's all sorts of fake diploma mills. Come on,

Washington State Highway Patrol. This is pretty funny. So, the investigation began after federal agents shut down a diploma mill in Spokane. Criminal charges were not

filed, but the patrol did decide to fire these eight troopers. Yeah, so that is one of the more funny things we'll be talking about today. And I think it's time for an ad break. Oh, yeah. Speaking of funny, here's these ads that may or may not be the people we're talking about. No, unrelated. Unrelated. Unrelated.

Unrelated. Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter? Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted latin america since the beginning of time

listen to nocturnal tales from the shadows as part of my cultura podcast network available on the iheart radio app apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to leading journalists in the field. And I'll be digging into

why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming. Check out betteroffline.com. Submissions close on December 8th. Hey, you've been doing all that talking. It's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba.

He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian, Elian. Elian Gonzalez. Elian, Elian.

Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzales wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom.

At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story as part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ah, we're back, which is also unrelated yeah another thing that's been pretty common around police is that the past few years they uh generally don't think covet is really real or i hate that it is the past few years now oh my god i don't love that i don't love that robert we're less

than a month away from 2022 yeah i hate that it's like i mean fuck it's it's like what it's almost two years almost 10 of your entire life has been covid i'm not gonna think about math um yeah so generally they don't think covid's real and also they think vaccines are the mark of satan or. Yeah, well, obviously they are. Yeah. So in mid-October, this past October, Washington State Patrol announced that 127 of its employees lost

their job after the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline of October 18th. So unlike the Portland Police Bureau, and many other cities where city officials caved to the demands of the police that vaccine mandates not be extended towards police, this did not happen in Washington. And they actually got it enforced. So over 100 patrol employees quit their job, including 64 commissioned officers uh it was like six 67 troopers six

sergeants and one captain um right yeah so you know washington state patrol has about 2 000 personnel within like between like eight districts um so losing like 127 of them is not it is not an insignificant loss. No. And it has been trying to hire a lot more people in the past few months because of this. They've been trying to do a lot more recruitment, which is why they're... I've heard from other people

that they are putting advertisements out on the internet to become a Washington State Trooper. That makes sense. This is something I've heard from people online when I've been doing all of this deep, extensive research. So, yeah. They are recruiting.

So if you want to be a Washington State Patrol officer, don't. Don't actually. That's a bad idea. Don't do that. Yeah. Unless you want to like really fuck with people who live on a reservation if that's your goal it seems like the Washington State Highway Patrol

is your dream career or I have another option for you you could also just get COVID and die well yeah that is an option that's an option too freedom is what makes this nation great so I think you know a choice

anyway continue Garrison I'm gonna send a picture inside our group chat first because we're gonna be talking about one one specific evil dude next I'm sending a picture in the group chat that I want you to look at first just so you get a sense of who we're talking about oh based. I'm sending a picture in the group chat that I want you to look at first, just so you get a sense of who

we're talking about. Oh, based. Okay, I'm excited. Yeah. Alright, hit me. Oh no! Oh no! The bow tie really brings it all together. Oh no. You said bow tie, which does not

make me optimistic. Oh no! Oh no! What is wrong with it? You said bow tie, which does not make me optimistic. Robert, it's fine. Oh, no. What is wrong with it? Who puts a bow tie on a uniform like that? Oh, guys, I found a better quality image. Good God. Here we go. Same image, better quality.

He looks like Tucker Carlson in the Starship Troopers universe when he gets drafted. So this is the next guy we're talking about. Somehow feels like a hate crime towards the Weasley family. So, yeah, it feels like a hate crime towards the guy based off Tucker Carlson in Starship Troopers. So this is a big fan of Ron Ron Weasley's family. Ron Weasley's family? Probably. This is Sean Carr, a former Washington State Patrol sergeant

who resigned for reasons we will discuss. Fun. That's exciting. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. Anyway, so in 2015, an Associated Press investigation uncovered about 1,000 officers in the United States who lost their badges over a six year period for sex crimes or misconduct such as like this is this is a quote here, which I disagree with framing here.

But this is this is a quote propositioning citizens or having consensual but prohibited on duty intercourse, which is a pretty bullshit way to frame that because basically you're it's it's police raping people um and police officers being accused of like using their power over people uh to rape them is extremely common yeah and it's often just like yeah well the person said okay and it's like well they said okay to a person with a gun and the legal power to murder anyone they want or put them in jail yeah like like there's a lot of consent yeah you know i would argue you can't consent uh to sex with a police officer who's on duty and in uniform because it's or who have the power to murder anybody they want or or who just arrest you like like there's a lot of stuff so like there was a

study released a few years ago uh that analyzed data of like 550 arrest cases from the years of 2005 to 2007 so this is just two years and uh and of 400 officers employed by like 320 non-federal law enforcement agencies located throughout uh 43 states um and findings indicated that police sexual misconduct includes serious forms of sex-related crimes, and the victims of sex-related crimes by police are typically younger than 18 years old. So it happens a lot with minors. So there's a lot, like, a ridiculously common...

Like, if you Google this this which i honestly don't recommend but you can find like dozens of stories coming out like basically like not you'll find at least one new story every month of a kid getting raped by police it happens pretty commonly so over the past 10 years in the was State Patrol, they've investigated and confirmed four cases of what they call sex on duty, according to the agency. And this is including including Sean Carr. Now, Sean Carr's case is particularly sensitive for the agency because he was married to the the daughter of the Washington State Patrol chief. And Sean Carr was also himself a sergeant. So he was connected to, like, the big leagues at the Washington State Patrol.

So Carr met a civilian woman who also works at Washington State Patrol, but has, like, an office job, so isn't a trooper. They met in 2012 and struck up an online friendship. And a few months later, they both of them told investigators that the relationship did turn sexual. Carr admitted to six sexual encounters for the next five years with the woman, five of which happened when he was on duty and like on state property or driving a vehicle or while in uniform. But the woman recalled as many as 20 and all but one of them were when he was on duty and well and so the woman said that most of their encounters were were what she would describe as consensual uh but she described three incidents where car did uh

push the boundary and she she she has described being raped by him multiple times. Yeah. So there was an incident. I think the first one happened at the beginning of 2017 inside his patrol car in a church parking lot. The woman had recently started dating another man, and Carr wanted to know who it was. When she wouldn't say so, he grabbed her arm hard enough to leave bruises and the woman said that car made her pick from two options give up the name of the man

or give car oral sex um oh god cool great guy car later told investigators that he said this in a quote joking context oh that's the you know i thinking, because that's almost exactly my tight five for my stand-up set. I mean, some comedians, for some reason, do like making jokes like that, and not great, usually. Not great to normalize that kind of thing. So, the woman said that she did, like, see to his, like, commands, which he said were, like, very much not. Yeah, and he had a gun and was a cop, sure. Yeah, and she said it like very much not. Yeah, and he had a gun and was a cop. Yeah, and she said it was very much not consensual. She told investigators that he raped me

on the side of the road. And if it was anyone else besides Carr, she said she would have called 911. So the second time happened when a car backed her into a corner of a highway, a way station, and forced her to have sex with him um she called it a coerced car said that consent was mutual so sure despite the sexual

assaults uh and and like and you know and and like assaults you know like you know grabbing someone's arm hard enough to leave a bruise uh she said the woman said she kept in touch with car because she was going through a difficult time in her life and she needed somebody to talk to yeah sure it's complicated yeah that's yeah that this is also not like people who are abusive can also be emotionally supportive sometimes like that's one of the things about abuse that's such a real real motherfucker uh it's not simple yeah car may not have gotten in trouble had the woman not confided in another patrol employee after she left her job um then the other other patrol employee mentioned the situation to someone higher up triggering an investigation um and then in 2019 the woman

formally reported car to uh to to like the patrol office of professional standards so records show that the patrol pretty quickly confiscated Carr's badge and gun and placed him on home assignment where he remained until he resigned voluntarily. The patrol gave the case to the sheriff's office to investigate because of the criminal nature of the allegations. So Carr's personal file includes other on-job violations, including using a taser on a drunk driving suspect who was handcuffed. Cool. And records show that in February of 2013, Carr was accused of frequenting a coffee stand and making unwanted advances on an employee by waiting near her car until her shift ended and making derogatory comments about her boyfriend.

So he was also stalking this barista, is what it sounds like. Yeah. Yeah, that is what that sounds like. That's pretty terrifying. So, yeah. After the woman told investigators that she was raped after 2019,

the county sheriffiffs recommended charges be filed but she wasn't willing to um she wasn't willing to testify she did not want to she did not want to do that um but but she she did tell prosecutors that she did have one wish that that car uh again the the son-in-law of the state patrol chief be not not allowed to police again um yeah that's a pretty reasonable request car obviously denied all the accusations of non-consensual sex and assault uh but you know i did admit to a to a consensual sexual relationship on duty um as well as other, you know, like patrol regulation violations. He resigned in July of 2020 before the patrol could decide whether or not to fire him. And then the state went about trying to strip him of his law enforcement certification, a requirement to carry a gun and badge and be hired as law enforcement in Washington.

Getting decertified for misconduct by the Criminal Justice Training Center in Washington is very hard. Very few people have actually been decertified. Yeah. And to be certified, a panel must be convinced that on-duty behavior rose to the level of official misconduct and constituted a crime committed under the color of authority as a peace officer. That's the that's the under the color of authority is an interesting way to phrase that. Carr's attorneys argued that the state failed to meet this high bar and there was, quote, no legal basis to decertify Carr.

basis to decertify Carr. Meanwhile, the CJTC, the Criminal Justice Training Center, alleged his behavior did constitute official misconduct and failure of duty, but they didn't actually include the sexual assault allegations. Instead, it contended that he used state resources for his own benefit or neglected to do his duties when he was engaged in sexual activity on duty. So they didn't actually include sexual assault or anything in this. They just said you were basically, because you were having sexual activity on duty, you weren't doing your job, and that's the reason that we want to decertify you. So the state of Washington has about 11,000 certified officers at any given time. And since 2003, they've decertified like 230 and at least four of them for on-duty sex. And one of those cases was overturned on appeal.

Around mid-May, the CJTC, in its final order, said that Carr's constituted crimes of failure of duty and official misconduct by, among other things, quote, intentionally choosing to pursue his own sexual gratification rather than using his on-duty time to perform his lawful responsibilities as a peace officer. So he did get decertified, but again, not actually discussing the actual assaults and rapes. So the Sheriff's County Prosecutor's Office declined to pursue charges on the case last year when the woman was unwilling to testify. But the deputy prosecuting attorney did say that she believed they just happened. She believes this stuff happened, but because of the lack of evidence due to time passing and the woman not wanting to testify, it's hard to prove guilt in court. So they're not going to pursue these charges at the moment. Yeah, that scans. So that is Shankar. So, yeah, he is not allowed to police as of May of 2021.

Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter? Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and dare enter. Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by I Heart and Sonorum. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters

to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin

America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network, available

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming. This is the chance to nominate your podcast for the industry's biggest award.

Submit your podcast for nomination now at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. But hurry, submissions close on December 8th. Hey, you've been doing all that talking. It's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season

digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to leading journalists in the field. And I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people.

I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez.

Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with.

His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well.

Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That is a cursory glance at stuff in Washington State Patrol. Oh, I guess one other thing I found out today is that Washington State Patrol has a psychologist for recruiting. Basically, if you want to join the patrol, you have to go through a psychological screening. Sure, that makes sense. And he just resigned because he was probably going to get fired.

This was after Seattle Times and Public Radio Northwest News Network published a piece showing that since 2017, the psychological screenings rejected 20% of white candidates over the past four years. But the psychologists that they hired rejected 33% of black candidates, of hispanic candidates and 41 of asian candidates so again i'm not pro people being police in general but there is a clear disparity on who they are wanting to become police like who like who are they they're letting in a lot more white candidates than they are letting in candidates of color. So this psychologist screener is no longer on the job as of like a few days ago.

Yeah, so just another level of stuff because, yeah, you know, they want there to be more white officers than anything else. Yeah. So, yeah, that is the Washington State Patrol. I guess the one other thing I want to do is I'm going to again send in the group chat.

Their current logo, their current logo, Curbit. Oh, you're smirking, you're smirking. I hate it when you do this. I'm afraid. I don't know, Sophie, maybe it'll be fine. I mean, it's actually kind of fun. That's their logo?

That is their current logo. Did they design it in, like, paint? Yes. They probably did design it in MS Paint. Yeah, that looks like it belongs on an AngelFire website. Garrison, do you know

what Angel Fire was? I do not. Oh my god, you fucking teenagers. Yeah, that looks like it belongs in an Angel Fire. I will let all of the other people who feel very old right now know that it looks like something you'd see in an Angel Fire website. Like, shittily animated, blinking across the screen. Yeah, no, it looks like something from a 1990s website all right well now i'm both angry about the police and i feel a thousand years old so

this is good that is man garrison you did what a good what a good what a good feeling well that that wraps that that wraps it up for today um and hey again i i have heard that they are recruiting and they should have a new psychological screener soon. Great. There we go. I'm imagining the primary psychological screening is you're white, right? That is what it used to be. I mean, I'm imagining that's what it's going to be still.

Probably. Maybe not, Garrison. Maybe not. All right. Well, this has been a great time. I'm sure everybody's feeling good. Feeling great. Goodbye.

Bye. Get out of my house. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadow. Join me, Danny Trails, and step into the flames of right.

An anthology podcast of modern day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to Nocturno on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming. or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, you've been doing all that talking. It's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast. And we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose.

Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was, should the boy go back to his father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home

and he wanted to take his son with him. Or stay with his relatives in Miami? Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.