In a poignant episode of the long-running media deconstruction podcast No Agenda, guest hosts Darren O'Neill and Larry Blythner stepped in for the July 30, 2026 broadcast, filling the chairs left open as Adam Curry takes bereavement time following the passing of co-host John C. Dvorak. The episode, titled "Flock Off!" (Episode 1890), tackles Anthony Fauci's headline-grabbing Senate appearance, Elon Musk's latest predictions on artificial intelligence, and a growing bipartisan revolt against Flock Safety license plate cameras.
The pair opened with a candid explanation of how they were tapped to keep the twice-weekly show running without interruption, setting the tone for an episode that dissected several stories dominating the news cycle with the show's trademark clip-driven analysis. Among the topics: Fauci invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times before a Senate committee, alongside diary entries that surfaced; Elon Musk telling The Economist that AI will exceed human intelligence within five years, with a 10 to 20 percent chance of "killer robots"; the ACLU joining right-leaning municipalities in Sedona, Arizona and elsewhere to cancel Flock Safety contracts; a McLaughlin poll on the Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz strikes; and a WNBA controversy involving the Seattle Storm owner confronting two teenage Sophie Cunningham fans.
The hosts read verbatim passages from Fauci's roughly 1,100-page diary, including entries about Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, and a Kennedy Center evening with Joan Baez. Blythner did not mince words about the spectacle. "This is the biggest, uh, comedic event in the history of United States government, no question about it," he said, arguing Fauci squandered a chance at a Caesar's Palace residency by listening to his six attorneys instead of answering Senator Josh Hawley's questions about the color of his tie and the carpet in front of him.
The Flock Safety segment delved into CEO Garrett Langley's TED Talk and the company's 120,000 cameras across 49 states. O'Neill and Blythner referenced the ACLU's Chad Marlowe, the dflock.org tracking site, and reporting from Sir Ryan Bemrose about antenna sensors capable of harvesting MAC addresses from passing phones. They contrasted Langley's pitch that "safety should just be a right" with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's stance on incarceration, El Salvador's Bukele prison model, and Radley Balko's book "Rise of the Warrior Cop."
A lengthy donation segment honored Dvorak with tributes from producers around the world, plus knightings and meetup announcements from Coeur d'Alene to Calgary. The episode is a testament to the show's resilience and its commitment to questioning how stories are framed, amplified, or ignored across news outlets and government messaging. For listeners, this episode underscores the importance of independent media analysis in an era of information overload and institutional distrust.
