CIB returns, soggy and spent, to your podcast feeds with a look at the news of the week and a bit of rambling about the discomfort and anxiety of sharing the real world with a bunch of people who spend the vast majority of their time in a bespoke false creation that is not in conversation with reality. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!
Show Rundown
Open — Connectivity issues, the weather, and stabbings
8:20 — Iran deal imminent, and Trump’s ongoing influence in the GOP, Trump IRS settlement
46:54 — Are we collectively losing a grip on reality? Probably!
1:29:26 — Wrap-up! Obsession; LotR: The Return of the King; Too much James Webb, too much space
Relevant Linkage
NYT: A Powerful El Niño Is Forming. If History Is a Guide, It Could Hit Hard.
NPR: Iran’s supreme leader acknowledges thousands killed as pressure builds on clerical rule
NYT: Trump Just Pardoned Himself and His Family Forever
THR: Donald Trump Roast Revisited: What Comedians Weren’t Allowed to Say and What Jokes Cut the Deepest
WaPo: Police ordered guns to be removed from mosque shooter’s home in 2025
NPR: Meta slashes 8,000 jobs as it pivots towards AI
Reuters: UK lawmakers approve lifetime smoking ban for today’s under-18s
National Library of Medicine: Who drinks most of the alcohol in the US? The policy implications
National Library of Medicine: The Dependence of Online Gambling Businesses on High-Spending Customers: Quantification and Implications
The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.
