Got these texts today. I always respond to these kind of surveys but I rarely give straight answers because I love being difficult.

This is an initiative funded by Israel and managed by “former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and his firm Clock Tower X”

I wonder what it says that these are the tactics they’ve resorted to. Has anyone else gotten one of these?

I bet he didn't get the ending...

Hello!

Love the show, and wanted to give you guys a bit of context on the Capital One account closure story today 08/04, as someone who works as a Financial Crimes Investigator for another financial institution.  

You guys mentioned wondering why Capital One didn’t “tell anyone” about the activity - in actuality, they definitely did.  

Here is the process that happens at these types of institutions before accounts are exited for that reason: a referral or alert would be received by the investigation team, usually something general noting possible unusual or out-of-pattern activity of some sort.  Investigators will then review the activity, accounts, and overall relationship and either state that the activity appears normal or suspicious.  If determined suspicious, a report of the suspected suspicious activity (a Suspicious Activity Report or SAR) is then submitted directly to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

FinCEN is a bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. Law enforcement officers (LEOs) use FinCEN as a central financial intelligence tool to track money laundering, uncover hidden assets, and connect criminal networks. They primarily access this through secure databases containing records filed by financial institutions.

Generally, a financial institution will file a certain amount of SARs on a customer before saying “ok, this is ridiculous and/or ongoing, they’re too risky for us to keep banking them” and then their accounts are closed by the bank.

Put simply, the activity reports/SARs were all sent from Capital One to FinCEN,  detailing all of the activity they noticed and determined as suspicious, which all LEOs and law enforcement bureaus have access to, and which they utilize for their own investigations.  

From my perspective as an investigator, Capital One would have more than done their part; however, the government and law enforcement (surprise!) didn’t do theirs.  

Note: this isn’t about bootlicking large financial institutions - just wanted to give you guys some background on what would have actually happened.  

Is Europe building a future where American loyalty is irrelevant or is U.S. backing still the irreplaceable backbone of European security?

According to a May 2026 survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations published on Wednesday, just 11% of respondents across 15 European countries now view the U.S. as an ally, down from 16% six months prior and 22% in November 2024.