Podcast · iheart.com
Behind the Bastards
Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
206 claims · Clear filters
True85% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026In August 2025, the Department of Defense issued an execute order containing targeting instructions that required reasonable certainty rather than positive identification of a target.A 2026 federal court opinion quoting the execute order states that the August 5, 2025 Hegseth EXORD did not require positive identification of any individual and instead required DOD to 'determine with reasonable certainty' that the boat carried adult males affiliated with a designated terrorist organization. Other reporting citing The Washington Post and anonymous officials matches this, so the claim is supported and the extraction tracks the passage.True85% confidence5 sourcesOct 3, 2026In August 2025, the U.S. military issued an execute order requiring reasonable certainty that a target is affiliated with a drug trafficking organization to authorize a strike.Multiple sources report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an execute order on August 5, 2025, which required 'reasonable certainty' that targets were members of or affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and did not require positive identification. The claim's central assertion is supported, and the extracted wording is a faithful paraphrase of the post.True90% confidence8 sourcesOct 3, 2026On September 2, 2025, a U.S. military strike killed nine people on a boat in the Caribbean.Said by AMultiple sources state that the September 2, 2025 U.S. strike on a boat in the Caribbean killed nine people in its first strike, matching the claim. The 11 total aboard included two survivors who were killed in a second strike, which the claim does not address, and the post's wording ('Nine people died because of that first missile') is faithful to the claim.True90% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026A U.S. military strike killed at least 123 children at a girls' school in Manab, Iran.Said by AMultiple independent sources report that a U.S. missile strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary girls' school in Minab, Iran, on Feb. 28, 2026 killed at least 123 children, consistent with the claim. The post's spelling 'Manab' appears to be a typo for Minab, and Bloomberg's reporting supports the AI-reliant 'kill chain' framing.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True85% confidence9 sourcesOct 3, 2026Admiral Frank Bradley ordered SEAL Team Six to strike a vessel a second time, killing two survivors who had been in the water for 45 minutes.Said by AMultiple reliable outlets report that Adm. Frank Bradley, then JSOC commander, ordered a follow-on strike by SEAL Team 6 on the September 2 boat that killed two survivors who were clinging to the wreckage. The Intercept (via Airwars) reports the men were in the water for about 45 minutes before the second strike, and the claim's core and details are consistent across sources. The claim's 'in the water' wording is a minor paraphrase of 'clinging to the wreckage', and the sourcing relies partly on anonymous officials.True88% confidence4 sourcesOct 3, 2026A US military boat strike occurred on September 15, 2025, killing three men, including Alejandro Caranza Medina.Said by AMultiple reliable outlets confirm that Alejandro Carranza (Carranza Medina) was killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat on September 15, 2025, and ABC News reports that U.S. officials said three people in total were killed in that strike. Sources differ on whether the strike was off Colombia's Caribbean or Pacific coast, and say 'people' rather than 'men', but these details do not affect the core claim.True80% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026Luis Chemaria Martinez was jailed in Venezuela in 2020 after a boat he was operating capsized, killing about two dozen people.Said by AMultiple sources confirm that Luis Martínez, a local crime boss who was operating a boat that capsized in Venezuela in December 2020, was detained and jailed by Venezuelan authorities on human-trafficking charges. The AP's account, which the claim tracks, puts the death toll at about two dozen, though Reuters reports at least 20 and El País reports 32 burials, and the name and age details vary slightly across sources.True90% confidence5 sourcesOct 3, 2026A US military boat strike on October 14, 2025, killed six people, including Chad Charpo, Joseph, and Richie Samaru.Said by AMultiple reliable sources confirm that a U.S. military strike on October 14, 2025 killed six people, including two Trinidadian men, Chad Joseph (called 'Charpo' in some reporting) and Rishi Samaroo. The claim's spelling 'Richie Samaru' differs from the sources' 'Rishi Samaroo', but it refers to the same man, so the variant does not change the claim.True93% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026Families of Joseph and Samaru filed a lawsuit against the US government in the District of Massachusetts regarding the October 14, 2025, boat strike.Said by AFamilies of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo (the post's 'Samaru') sued the US government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts over the October 14, 2025 boat strike, with the suit filed January 27, 2026. The post's spelling 'Samaru' is a variant of Samaroo, and the filing date is not in the claim, so both are peripheral.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True93% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026Families of Joseph and Samaru filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government in the District of Massachusetts regarding the deaths of the two men.Said by AMultiple independent sources confirm that relatives of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo (spelled 'Samaru' in the post) sued the U.S. government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts over their deaths in the October 14, 2025 strike. The sources do not match the post's spelling exactly, which is a minor, non-material difference.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True70% confidence8 sourcesOct 3, 2026An official admitted that only one victim of the first U.S. boat strike was considered a member of a designated terrorist organization.Said by AThe Intercept reports that a Pentagon official's later briefing treated only one person aboard the September 2 boat as a member of a designated terrorist organization, with the other 10 categorized as affiliates. WOLA's analysis independently describes the same official admission, so the claim is supported, though both rest largely on the same reporting and the Intercept's account relies on anonymous officials.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True65% confidence8 sourcesOct 3, 2026Dushak Mirovich was a former cadet at the Venezuelan National Guard Academy.Said by AMultiple AP-sourced reports say a 24-year-old named Dushak Milovcic, killed in a US boat strike, had dropped out of the country's National Guard Academy, which supports the claim's core assertion. The sources spell the surname 'Milovcic' rather than 'Mirovich' as in the claim and post, but the matching age, cadet history, and strike context point to the same man, so the spelling difference is treated as a minor discrepancy.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.