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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True90% confidence5 sourcesOct 3, 2026The Trump administration enacted federal cuts to Medicaid-funded services.Multiple tier1 and primary sources establish that the Trump administration's 2025 tax and policy law (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) enacted large federal cuts to Medicaid, with CBO projecting roughly $900 billion to $1 trillion in reductions and 7.5 million fewer insured, and that further Medicaid cuts were pursued after enactment. The claim as extracted matches the passage's wording, and the post's own referent ('the Trump administration') resolves to the administration described in the sources.True70% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026Nearly 70,000 caregivers in New York have signed union cards to join 1199 SEIU through the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program.Multiple outlets reporting on the September 22-23, 2026 NLRB filing say roughly 70,000 ("over 70,000" or "approximately 70,000") CDPAP caregivers had signed authorization cards to join 1199SEIU, which is consistent with the claim's "nearly 70,000" as of the 2026-10-03 posting date. The figure traces largely to the union's own announcements, which caps confidence, and the claim's "to join 1199 SEIU" matches the post's referent.True90% confidence4 sourcesOct 3, 2026In 1999, 74,000 Los Angeles County home care workers voted to form a union with SEIU.The 1999 Los Angeles County home care worker vote for SEIU representation of about 74,000 workers is confirmed by the contemporaneous LA Times report and by a peer-reviewed-style labor analysis, and the extracted claim faithfully matches the post. Some sources say 'more than 70,000' or describe joining a public authority, which are minor imprecisions rather than contradictions.True85% confidence5 sourcesOct 3, 2026In 2000, Walmart eliminated its entire meat department in Texas and five other states after meat cutters at a Texas location voted to unionize.Contemporaneous 2000 reporting from the Washington Post, the Dallas-datelined Ledger story, and an AP story says Wal-Mart announced it would close meat-cutting operations in six states (Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas and Missouri) weeks after meat cutters at its Jacksonville, Texas store voted to unionize. Wal-Mart denied any link to the vote, and later NLRB rulings upheld by an appeals court found the elimination was tied to the union drive, but the claim's 'after' timing is correct.True70% confidence4 sourcesOct 3, 2026National Nurses United is the largest union of registered nurses in the United States.Multiple sources describe National Nurses United as the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S. (about 225,000 members as of October 2026), consistent with the claim as of 2026-10-03. The claim faithfully reflects the post's wording, and no source contradicts it; the only support is NNU's own materials and a 2009 Reuters piece, so confidence is moderate.True92% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026Palantir provides technology to ICE to surveil and target immigrants in the United States.Multiple reliable sources, dated before the 2026-10-03 post, report that Palantir holds ICE contracts to build surveillance and deportation-targeting systems, so the claim holds as of that date. The claim matches the post's wording, and the post's reference to the company and ICE is resolved correctly.True88% confidence4 sourcesOct 3, 2026Palantir provides technology to Israel's Ministry of Defense for use in Gaza.Multiple reliable sources, including Reuters and Bloomberg reporting from 2024 and a Palantir SEC filing, confirm that Palantir has a strategic partnership with Israel's Ministry of Defense to supply technology for the war in Gaza, so the claim held as of 2026-10-03. The claim drops the post's 'genocide' characterization, which is a qualifier rather than a factual element, and the sources do not address that framing either way.True60% confidence4 sourcesOct 3, 2026Puny Maharaj is the executive director of National Nurses United.A National Nurses United press release dated August 5, 2025 says the union named Puneet Maharaj as its new executive director, succeeding Bonnie Castillo. No source contradicts that she still held the post on 2026-10-03, though the record is a year old and the source spells the name "Puneet" rather than "Puny", which appears to be the same person's nickname. The other sources are unrelated or empty.True85% confidence6 sourcesOct 3, 2026Oil prices have increased because of the war involving the United States and Israel in Iran.Sources published around the 2026-10-03 posting date consistently attribute the rise in oil prices to the US-Israeli war on Iran and Iran's disruption of Strait of Hormuz shipping, and show Brent up sharply over the period. The claim matches the post's wording, and the causal link is supported by multiple outlets, though the sources are mostly dated after the posting date and some note that supply flows were partly recovering.True90% confidence5 sourcesOct 3, 2026Deck officers at Alaska Tanker Company and Overseas Shipholding Group voted to unionize with the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots in 2024.The 2024 MM&P union elections at Alaska Tanker Company and Overseas Shipholding Group are well documented: the NLRB tally for the OSG unit shows a win for the union, and OnLabor and MarineLink report that the union won 80% at ATC and 70% at OSG in NLRB-certified elections in 2024. The claim's wording matches the post and the sources, and the dispute is over the later bargaining, not the vote.True75% confidence7 sourcesOct 3, 2026Deck officers at Alaska Tanker Company and Overseas Shipholding Group have not received a first contract two years after voting to unionize.Multiple sources describe licensed deck officers at Alaska Tanker Company and Overseas Shipholding Group as still without a first contract more than two years after their 2024 union elections, and the NLRB ordered bargaining in 2026. The companies are appealing those orders rather than bargaining, so the claim held as of 2026-10-03 and no source reports a contract since.True90% confidence5 sourcesOct 3, 2026The National Labor Relations Board ordered Alaska Tanker Company and Overseas Shipholding Group to recognize the union and start bargaining.The NLRB issued bargaining orders against Alaska Tanker Company (May 19, 2026, per an NLRB weekly summary) and against Overseas Shipholding Group (August 4, 2026, per the Board's decision and order), requiring recognition of and bargaining with the MM&P union. The claim matches the passage's referent, which is the two companies' deck officers. The companies have appealed to the Eleventh Circuit, but the orders stand as reported and the appeal does not make the claim false.