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.
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False88% confidence5 sourcesOct 3, 2026Declassified documents released by the Spanish government revealed that WhatsApp groups used by migrants contained nearly 200,000 members each.Said by 3DThe declassified CNI message cited by AP, Reuters and BBC describes two WhatsApp/social media groups with a total of about 180,000 followers, not nearly 200,000 members in each group. The claim's per-group figure roughly doubles the documented per-group figure of about 90,000.False80% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026Kevin Warsh is the President's nominee for Federal Reserve Chairman.Trump did nominate Kevin Warsh for Fed Chair (announced January 30, 2026; formally sent to the Senate March 4), so the nomination itself is real. But as of the claim's date, 2026-10-03, the Senate had already confirmed him (May 13, 2026) and he had been sworn in as chairman (May 22), so he was no longer a pending nominee. The post's 'getting a hearing' framing also describes a stage that had passed by then, and the sources show the hearing was April 21.Mixed55% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026The United States government dropped the accusation against Nicolas Maduro that he led the Cartel de los Soles during his court case in New York in 2026.Said by AIn January 2026 the Justice Department dropped its claim that Cartel de los Soles was an actual organization led by Maduro in a revised indictment at his New York arraignment, per NYT and Yahoo reporting. However, later sources, including a State Department page from October 2026 and the superseding indictment, still describe Maduro as leading or being part of the Cartel of the Suns, so the sources conflict on whether the accusation was fully dropped.Mixed70% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026The Justice Department signed a secret opinion in the summer of 2025 justifying boat strikes by stating the United States was in an armed conflict with narco-terrorists.The core assertion holds: the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel produced a classified opinion justifying the boat strikes by asserting an armed conflict with narco-terrorist cartels. However, sources say the opinion was drafted or prepared in the summer, while WOLA reports it was signed September 5, 2025, so the claim that it was signed in summer is contradicted.Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.Mixed75% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026A joint U.S. and Ecuadorian operation on a compound in Ecuador resulted in a raid on a dairy farm with no arrests.Said by AThe sources support the core claim that a joint U.S.-Ecuadorian operation in March 2026 raided and destroyed a dairy farm in San Martín, though Ecuador disputed that it was a farm. They contradict the 'no arrests' element: HRW and a Senate letter report that Ecuadorian forces arrested or detained four farm workers, who were allegedly tortured. The claim also drops the 'alleged' qualifier on the compound, which is a faithful paraphrase and does not change the grade.Mixed60% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026Four men from Guiria were killed in a US military boat strike on October 1, 2025.Said by AThe sources support that a US strike killed four men, but they place the four-fatality strike on October 3, 2025, not October 1, so the claimed date is contradicted. The Guiria origin rests mainly on the podcast relaying the Los Bombardeos team's account, with AP reporting only that the dead came from Venezuela's northeastern coast.Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.Mixed55% confidence8 sourcesOct 3, 2026On March 23, 2026, the Ecuadorian ship La Negra Franciscano de Dos was hit by a U.S. military drone strike.Said by ASources support that the Ecuadorian fishing vessel (named La Negra Francisca Duarte II in most reporting) was hit by drone-dropped explosives, but they place the strike on March 17, not March 23; March 23 is when the crew was found. The U.S. role is unconfirmed: HRW says the U.S. likely had some involvement, while the Pentagon and Coast Guard deny responsibility, so the claim's unqualified attribution to a U.S. military drone strike, and its vessel name, depart from the record.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.Mixed60% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026There was a pause on U.S. boat strikes from July 21, 2026, to August 23, 2026.Said by ASources confirm that U.S. boat strikes paused and resumed with a strike on August 23, 2026, so a pause covered July 21 to August 23. However, they place the start of the pause around June 21-24, not July 21, so the claimed July 21 start date is contradicted. The claim's window falls inside the longer pause, but it misdates when the pause began.Mixed60% confidence8 sourcesOct 3, 2026Approximately 70,000 migrants attempted to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on August 10, 2026.Said by 3CThe roughly 70,000 figure is supported: Spanish officials put it at 72,000 and other outlets at 60,000 to over 70,000. However, the sources date the mass crossing to July 30–31, 2026, not August 10, so the claim's date is contradicted. The post's 'a month ago' from a September 10 recording points to August 10, but that is the post's own arithmetic, not the event's recorded date.Mixed70% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026Approximately 70,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in September 2026.Said by 3DThe sources strongly support that roughly 70,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, but they place the mass crossing on July 30-31, 2026, not in September. The claim's date is therefore contradicted, and the post's 'a month ago' phrasing is what appears to have led the extraction to September.Mixed55% confidence8 sourcesOct 3, 2026A Supreme Court decision in Spain regarding migrant regularization was issued in June 2026.Said by 3DSources establish a Spanish Supreme Court ruling (Judgment 814/2026) dated 29 June 2026 concerning summary returns ('hot returns') of migrants arriving by sea at Ceuta and Melilla, and a 30 June 2026 deadline for regularization applications; the claim's June date is supported. However, the ruling concerned summary pushbacks/rechazo en frontera rather than migrant regularization itself, so the claim's description of the decision as 'regarding migrant regularization' is partly inaccurate, although the regularization programme was a related context and an EU source referenced both the regularization and the June judgment.Mixed60% confidence8 sourcesOct 3, 2026Spanish intelligence informed the Spanish government that significant migrant movement was expected in mid-July 2026.Said by 3DSources support that Spanish intelligence (the CNI) warned the Spanish government's Ceuta representative and Moroccan services of a planned mass crossing, but they date those warnings to July 29 for a July 30-31 surge, not mid-July. Sources also dispute whether the warnings anticipated the scale of the surge, which the Interior Ministry and Foreign Minister say they did not.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.