The long-running media deconstruction podcast No Agenda returned on July 30, 2026, with guest hosts Darren O'Neill and Larry Blythner filling in for regular hosts Adam Curry and the late John C. Dvorak. Episode 1890, titled "Flock Off!," tackled a range of controversial topics, including Anthony Fauci's Senate appearance, Elon Musk's latest AI predictions, and a growing bipartisan movement against Flock Safety's license plate cameras. The episode opened with a candid explanation of how the guest hosts were tapped to keep the twice-weekly show running without interruption.
Central to the episode was Fauci's invocation of the Fifth Amendment 111 times before a Senate committee, alongside the surfacing of his diary entries. 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, calling it "the biggest, uh, comedic event in the history of United States government, no question about it." He argued that 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 episode also delved into Elon Musk's interview with The Economist, where he predicted that AI will exceed human intelligence within five years, with a 10 to 20 percent chance of "killer robots." The hosts dissected the implications of such a timeline, questioning the preparedness of society and government for such a transformative event.
Another significant segment focused on the backlash against Flock Safety, a company with 120,000 cameras across 49 states. The ACLU has joined right-leaning municipalities in Sedona, Arizona, and elsewhere to cancel Flock Safety contracts. The hosts 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 CEO Garrett Langley's TED Talk 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." The discussion highlighted the growing bipartisan concern over surveillance and its implications for privacy and civil liberties.
Other topics included 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 episode concluded with a lengthy donation segment honoring Dvorak, featuring tributes from producers around the world, plus knightings and meetup announcements from Coeur d'Alene to Calgary.
The episode's focus on Fauci's testimony, Musk's AI warnings, and the Flock Safety revolt underscores a broader narrative of government overreach, technological risk, and the erosion of privacy. These stories are not just isolated news items but reflect deeper societal tensions that the No Agenda show aims to deconstruct, questioning how stories are framed, amplified, or ignored across news outlets and government messaging.
