Behind the Bastards

It Could Happen Here Weekly 207

November 8, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The 2025 A Culture Conference explored the tension between digital technomancy (like using LLMs as intermediaries for magical entities) and the revival of traditional occult practices. 
  • A key discussion at the conference involved demystifying LLMs, explaining them as probability machines rather than mystical entities, particularly concerning phenomena like AI girlfriends turning hostile (the Waluigi principle). 
  • A central theme of the conference was the tension between individual magical practice (seeking personal power/enchantment) and the desire for occultism to influence or shape broader culture and politics, with chaos magic practitioners seen as more engaged in cultural creation than those focused solely on preserving closed traditions. 
  • Lethal injection, introduced in Texas in 1982 as the first execution by this method, was designed primarily to hide the violence of state killing from the public, making it appear swift and humane despite evidence suggesting otherwise. 
  • The three-drug lethal injection protocol, adopted widely after being concocted by an unqualified Oklahoma coroner, Dr. Jay Chapman, was based on no research and likely causes a slow suffocation akin to waterboarding due to the drugs counteracting each other. 
  • The history of U.S. capital punishment shows a recurring pattern where new execution methods (hanging, electric chair, gas chamber, and lethal injection) are promoted as humane advancements but consistently result in botched, agonizing deaths, leading to subsequent calls for 'cleaner' alternatives. 
  • The history of lethal injection in Texas is marked by public celebrations of executions and political campaigns leveraging the death penalty, leading to Texas executing over a third of all individuals put to death since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. 
  • Lethal injection procedures are often agonizing and prone to error due to medical professionals refusing participation, leading to undertrained personnel administering complex drug cocktails, as evidenced by botched executions like that of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma. 
  • Victim advocacy, such as that of Reis Bouillon who fought to prevent his attacker's execution, has significantly impacted the availability of lethal injection drugs by pressuring European pharmaceutical companies, forcing states into illicit procurement methods. 
  • The trauma experienced by spiritual advisors like Reverend Jeff Hood, who witnessed multiple executions including the first nitrogen hypoxia death, underscores that capital punishment, even by lethal injection, is inherently violent and far from humane. 
  • Zoran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayoral race, achieved with high turnout and strong support across demographics despite being a self-identified Democratic socialist, signals a potential shift in viable Democratic politics toward a fusion of class and identity politics. 
  • The New York City election results demonstrated that aggressive, last-ditch Islamophobic attacks by opponents like the Cuomo campaign were ineffective against Mamdani's focus on affordability and specific policies. 
  • The political landscape is marked by escalating Republican punitive measures, evidenced by Greg Abbott's threat of a tariff on New Yorkers moving to Texas and the passage of numerous tax-cutting constitutional amendments in Texas that severely impact state revenue. 

Segments

Podcast Introduction and Ads
Copied to clipboard!
(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The episode is a compilation of the week’s ‘It Could Happen Here’ episodes, presented with fewer ads.
  • Summary: The episode is a compilation of all weekly episodes of ‘It Could Happen Here’ in one file. Robert Evans introduces this format for listeners who prefer a long stretch of content. Listeners who heard the episodes daily will find no new material.
Occulture Conference Overview
Copied to clipboard!
(00:02:56)
  • Key Takeaway: The A Culture Conference focused on the tension between digital technomancy and traditional occult practices.
  • Summary: Garrison Davis reports from the 2025 A Culture Conference in Berlin, which explored occultism and culture. Key currents included William S. Burroughs, the cut-up method, and generative AI versus traditional occult revival. This segment sets up a debate on occultism’s role in 2025 culture and politics.
Technomancy and LLM Magic
Copied to clipboard!
(00:04:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Magicians are using specially trained LLMs as translators between human practitioners and non-human magical entities like servitors.
  • Summary: A presentation detailed four categories of magic and tech practices: technological animism, techno-pantheism, servitors/tulpas, and digital sex magic. Techno-animism involves superstitions to keep the ‘spirit’ in technology happy, preventing glitches. LLMs are being used as translators for communicating with entities that do not use human language.
LLMs as Probability Machines
Copied to clipboard!
(00:08:25)
  • Key Takeaway: AI engineer Karen Vallis explained that LLMs are probability machines, not magical entities, and hostile AI behavior stems from mathematical pathways, not possession.
  • Summary: The concept of the ‘Devil in My LLM’ is explained mathematically, showing how interaction collapses alternate realities into specific response pathways. The phenomenon of AI girlfriends turning hostile is attributed to the AI mirroring latent abusive frameworks or the ‘Waluigi principle’ (an adversarial current). The core reality is that the user interacts with a multiverse generator, not a subjective entity.
AI Art and Mystery Cults
Copied to clipboard!
(00:14:06)
  • Key Takeaway: The use of AI-generated imagery in academic occult presentations, such as depicting mystery cult initiations, was met with mixed reception.
  • Summary: One presenter used AI images to show mystery cult initiations, justifying it by claiming the Catholic styles they appropriated were themselves appropriated from paganism. The presenter complained the AI could not generate the desired image of a naked initiate. This highlights the tension between modern tools and traditional subject matter.
Missed Panels on Occult Erotics
Copied to clipboard!
(00:15:35)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts expressed regret for missing panels focused on occult erotics, specifically those covering seminal alchemy and sacred sexuality.
  • Summary: The hosts acknowledged failing in their journalistic duty by skipping a block of panels titled ‘Occult Erotics: Bodies, Fluids, and Transformations.’ Specific missed topics included ‘Seminal Alchemy and Alienated Agency’ and ‘To Come or Not to Come.’ They vowed to prioritize these topics at future conferences.
Chaos Magic vs. Traditional Practice
Copied to clipboard!
(00:17:23)
  • Key Takeaway: Chaos magic, characterized by the motto ’nothing is true, everything is permitted,’ stands in contrast to traditional occult practices rooted in specific religious or cultural lineages.
  • Summary: Chaos magic, encompassing Burroughs’ cut-up method and technomancy, deconstructs occultism by rejecting strict orders and dogmatism. Traditional practices, like Haitian Vodou or Cornish witchcraft, often possess stronger religious or historical cultural components. Chaos magic’s postmodern approach contrasts with the fixed pantheons of older traditions.
Modern Greek Goetia Persists
Copied to clipboard!
(00:20:29)
  • Key Takeaway: Modern Greek practical magic (Goetia) never died, persisting today in vernacular folk practices and the liturgy of the Orthodox Church, requiring no reconstruction.
  • Summary: Dr. Sasha Kaitau’s talk highlighted that Greek practical magic continues as living folk practice (ietes), distinct from reconstructivist efforts. Theurgy persists in Orthodox liturgy, while Goetia continues as vernacular magic, often existing within community structures. This challenges the idea that ancient magic needs to be recreated by modern practitioners.
Why Practice Magic in 2025?
Copied to clipboard!
(00:24:35)
  • Key Takeaway: Practitioners engage in occultism to escape the disenchantment of the world, create relationships with reality, and gain agency through the manipulation of meaning.
  • Summary: A core question addressed was why people practice magic when cultural creation is democratized; answers included seeking an escape from mundane secular society and gaining power. Magic is defined as the manipulation of meaning, allowing practitioners to frame experiences, such as dealing with terminal illness, as bargaining with the world. Embodied practices, like whirling magic, offer fundamentally different experiences of time, body, and place.
Occulture: Creation vs. Preservation
Copied to clipboard!
(00:38:00)
  • Key Takeaway: A major tension exists between occultists focused on creating new cultural artifacts and those dedicated to preserving or regressing to older, sometimes manufactured, traditions.
  • Summary: The conference showed a divide between those actively creating new cultural artifacts using occult concepts (like music or film) and those focused on keeping ’the flame alive’ in existing traditions. The latter group sometimes views popularization as a ‘banalization’ of magic. The creation aspect involves using art to communicate metaphysical concepts to a wider audience.
Chaos Magic and Political Projects
Copied to clipboard!
(00:57:29)
  • Key Takeaway: A significant critique was the lack of articulated political or social projects tied to contemporary occult practices, contrasting with historical figures like Genesis P. Orridge.
  • Summary: The conference was criticized for focusing on theoretical ‘what if’ scenarios rather than concrete plans for evoking change, contrary to magic as praxis. The misgendering of Genesis P. Orridge, whose work included a core project of androgyny as magic, demonstrated a disconnect from the political resistance inherent in some occult history. True occult influence, like the Haitian Revolution sparked by Voudou possession, involves explicit community service and revolutionary action.
Sponsor Messages and Nuremberg Ad
Copied to clipboard!
(01:13:58)
  • Key Takeaway: The film Nuremberg, starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, focuses on Lt. Col. Douglas Kelly assessing Hermann Goering’s mental state during the post-Holocaust tribunal.
  • Summary: Gambling problem hotlines and promotional disclaimers are read, followed by an advertisement for the film Nuremberg. The film depicts the psychological duel between U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelly and Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials. The central theme explored is the sobering truth that ordinary men can commit extraordinary evil.
Introduction to Lethal Injection History
Copied to clipboard!
(01:16:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Texas executed the first prisoner by lethal injection on December 7, 1982, as an innovation intended to mask the Eighth Amendment violation of cruel and unusual punishment.
  • Summary: The hosts introduce themselves, Michael Phillips and Stephen Monticelli, and the focus on the history of lethal injection, which began in Texas in 1982. Lethal injection was intended to appear swift and humane to the public, convincing witnesses it did not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Professor Corinna Barrett Lain argues that lethal injection’s primary function is to hide the true violence of state killing.
Preview of Lethal Injection Series
Copied to clipboard!
(01:18:10)
  • Key Takeaway: The upcoming episodes will detail the twisted tale of lethal injection design, the role of drug companies, and interviews with those who accompanied the condemned in their final moments.
  • Summary: The series will examine the lethal injection protocol designed by unqualified personnel and the untrained staff who carry out executions. Pressure from drug companies has forced officials to lie or buy execution drugs illegally. The series will also feature testimony from Father Jeff Hood, who has accompanied ten men as they died by state command.
Historical Context of Capital Punishment
Copied to clipboard!
(01:20:42)
  • Key Takeaway: Early American capital punishment was influenced by sadistic European traditions, but the colonies quickly adopted less exotic methods like hanging, often for minor offenses, especially in the South to control enslaved populations.
  • Summary: Colonial capital punishment traditions were rooted in European sadism, but the American colonies favored hanging, first used in 1608 for George Kendall. The 13 colonies executed people for offenses ranging from theft to witchcraft, with Southern states expanding capital crimes significantly after slave rebellions to enforce fear among the enslaved population.
The Failures of Hanging Executions
Copied to clipboard!
(01:24:35)
  • Key Takeaway: Hanging executions in the U.S. were often botched due to inexperienced local officials calculating rope length and weight incorrectly, leading to prolonged suffering, strangulation, or decapitation.
  • Summary: Unlike trained European executioners, U.S. hangings were handled by inexperienced local officials who often miscalculated the necessary drop length, resulting in botched executions. Benjamin Rush argued that the death penalty had a brutalizing effect on citizens, evidenced by public drunkenness and rioting following hangings. This public disorder led states, starting with Rhode Island in 1833, to move executions inside prison walls, shrouding the process in secrecy.
The Rise and Fall of the Electric Chair
Copied to clipboard!
(01:28:11)
  • Key Takeaway: The electric chair was adopted partly due to elite squeamishness over bungled hangings and Thomas Edison’s deliberate sabotage of George Westinghouse’s AC current to promote his DC system.
  • Summary: The gory death of Art Kinsales in 1900, who required a second hanging, highlighted the barbarity of the rope, prompting calls for a less barbaric method. Thomas Edison exploited the ‘current war’ by conspiring with New York to use AC current in the first electric chair on William Kemmler, intending to damage Westinghouse’s reputation. Kemmler’s agonizing death, where he burned alive, did not stop 26 states from adopting electrocution, which still resulted in numerous mechanical failures and prolonged suffering.
Early Consideration of Drug Execution
Copied to clipboard!
(01:37:51)
  • Key Takeaway: As early as the late 19th century, doctors rejected lethal injection due to anatomical difficulties with the criminal population’s veins and ethical concerns regarding violating the Hippocratic Oath.
  • Summary: A Texas Medical Journal editor suggested using prisoners for medical experiments via injection before executing them with prussic acid, foreshadowing Nazi practices. When the electric chair was adopted in 1890, a report considered and rejected lethal injection for two reasons: the poor health and drug abuse history of prisoners made vein access difficult, and doctors opposed participation due to ethical oaths.
Gas Chamber Executions and Moratorium
Copied to clipboard!
(01:41:21)
  • Key Takeaway: Gas chamber executions, modeled after animal euthanasia, were plagued by prisoners resisting the gas, leading to agonizing deaths characterized by pain, anxiety, and visible struggle.
  • Summary: Nevada introduced the gas chamber in 1924, but prisoners often resisted breathing the poison, causing slow deaths. Dr. Richard Traitsman noted the sensation was similar to a heart attack due to oxygen deprivation. A de facto moratorium on executions occurred by the mid-1960s due to legal challenges focused on the death penalty’s overt racial biases, particularly in rape cases.
Furman v. Georgia and Death Penalty Resumption
Copied to clipboard!
(01:45:12)
  • Key Takeaway: The 1972 Supreme Court ruling in Furman v. Georgia struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional due to its arbitrary and freakish imposition, especially noting that 87% of those executed for rape were Black men convicted of raping white women.
  • Summary: The Supreme Court invalidated existing death penalty statutes because they were applied wantonly and freakishly, leading to the commutation of 600 death sentences. States rewrote laws to address vagueness, and in 1976, Gregg v. Georgia upheld the death penalty with clear jury instructions. Executions resumed in 1977 with Gary Gilmore’s firing squad in Utah.
Oklahoma Designs Lethal Injection Protocol
Copied to clipboard!
(01:48:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Oklahoma State Coroner Dr. Jay Chapman, admitting ignorance about how to kill people, invented the three-drug lethal injection protocol, which was adopted blindly by nearly every state.
  • Summary: Politicians sought a less brutal method than the electric chair, especially with the threat of televised executions, leading them to ask the medical community for help. Dr. Jay Chapman, claiming expertise only in dead bodies, created the protocol without research, adding a third drug simply because he thought, ‘Why not?’. This protocol, including sodium theopentol, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride, became the standard for decades.
The Mechanics of Lethal Injection Failure
Copied to clipboard!
(02:00:25)
  • Key Takeaway: The first lethal injection execution in the world, Charlie Brooks (Sharif Ahmad Abdul Rahim) in Texas in 1982, was an unresearched medical experiment that likely resulted in slow suffocation.
  • Summary: Dick Revis witnessed the execution of Charlie Brooks, who claimed innocence and appeared to die peacefully, though experts suggest he was slowly suffocating due to pulmonary edema. The three-drug cocktail prevents the prisoner from communicating suffering while the paralytic drug masks the sensation of drowning from within. Brooks’ last meal request for shellfish was denied because the prison claimed it lacked the ingredients, an indignity Revis noted.
Texas Execution Culture and Policy Changes
Copied to clipboard!
(02:03:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Texas modernized its executions in 1923 by centralizing them in Huntsville using the electric chair (‘Old Sparky’), where African Americans and Mexican-Americans were disproportionately executed until the 1960s moratorium.
  • Summary: Before 1923, Texas hangings were public and often botched by inexperienced sheriffs; afterward, executions moved to Huntsville using the electric chair. Between 1925 and 1964, 63% of those executed in the chair were African American, and 70% were Mexican-American, despite the murder rate remaining high. The state later ended special last meal requests in 2011 after Lawrence Brewer ordered an elaborate feast and refused to eat it.
Texas Execution Spectacle and Politics
Copied to clipboard!
(02:24:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Texas politicians historically used executions as central campaign tools, claiming credit for justice delivered.
  • Summary: Drunken parties were held outside the Huntsville prison during executions, with crowds cheering the death of condemned individuals like Ronald Clark O’Brien. Political ads featured candidates walking past mugshots of executed murderers, claiming credit for administering justice. Texas has led the US in state killings since Abdul Rahim, accounting for over 36% of all executions since 1976.
Innocence and Cost of Capital Punishment
Copied to clipboard!
(02:26:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Professor Lane argues that the high rate of death row exonerations suggests a systemic failure where one in eight executions risks being of an innocent person.
  • Summary: Professor Lane notes that 200 people have been exonerated from death row, equating to one exoneration for every eight modern executions. A conservative estimate suggests 4.1% of people currently on death row are factually innocent. Capital punishment is catastrophically expensive, costing nearly $4 million per execution versus $1.3 million for life imprisonment.
Lethal Injection Complications and Ethics
Copied to clipboard!
(02:30:09)
  • Key Takeaway: The complexity of lethal injection forces undertrained prison personnel to perform procedures, often resulting in agonizing deaths due to dosing errors or failed IV access.
  • Summary: Medical professionals generally refuse to participate in executions due to ethical rules, leaving execution to undertrained prison staff who struggle with difficult IV access on prisoners with poor health. One Missouri doctor involved in executions was found to be dyslexic and was incorrectly administering half the required anesthetic dose. Botched executions, like that of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma, involved prolonged torture due to repeated failed IV attempts and incorrect drug combinations.
Victim’s Campaign Against Execution
Copied to clipboard!
(02:44:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Reis Bouillon, a victim of a post-9/11 hate crime, campaigned to prevent his attacker’s execution, leading to international pressure on drug companies.
  • Summary: Mark Anthony Strowman, motivated by 9/11, murdered Pakistani immigrant Wakhar Hassan and shot Reis Bouillon, blinding him in one eye. Bouillon later forgave Strowman and sought to prevent his execution, viewing it as a moral obligation to help others as he promised God upon surviving. Bouillon’s efforts shamed European drug companies like Lundbeck into banning the sale of lethal injection components to US prisons.
Drug Shortages and Alternative Execution Methods
Copied to clipboard!
(03:01:09)
  • Key Takeaway: The international ban on key lethal injection drugs has forced states to use questionable procurement tactics or resort to more gruesome execution methods like nitrogen hypoxia.
  • Summary: After European bans, Texas resorted to buying drugs from a compounding pharmacy fined 48 times for safety violations, suggesting impure or outdated drugs. States have resorted to illegal swaps, black market purchases, or cash deals in parking lots to acquire necessary chemicals. Some states, like Alabama, authorized the use of nitrogen gas hypoxia, which Reverend Jeff Hood described as indescribably worse than lethal injection.
Hood’s Trauma and Death Penalty Future
Copied to clipboard!
(03:05:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Witnessing multiple executions, especially the first nitrogen hypoxia execution, has left Reverend Jeff Hood deeply traumatized, yet he feels compelled to continue accompanying the condemned.
  • Summary: Reverend Hood witnessed Kenneth Smith’s nitrogen execution, describing the violent convulsions and facial trauma as worse than lethal injection, noting Smith did not die for at least 22 minutes. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Buckaloo case effectively rendered the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment moot. Public support for the death penalty is at a half-century low, especially among younger generations, suggesting its long-term decline is independent of political action.
White House Weekly Political Update
Copied to clipboard!
(03:30:10)
  • Key Takeaway: The week of October 31st to November 5th saw the passing of Dick Cheney overshadowed by the historic New York mayoral election where Zoran Momdani won over a million votes.
  • Summary: The passing of Dick Cheney was noted, with hosts referencing the infamous hunting incident where Cheney shot a man who subsequently apologized. Zoran Momdani won the NYC mayoral race with over 50% of the vote, securing more than a million votes, a first since 1969. Curtis Sliwa, the third-place candidate, was the only one to call and congratulate Momdani.
Mamdani Victory Analysis
Copied to clipboard!
(03:34:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Zoran Mamdani won the NYC mayoral race with the most votes for a candidate in nearly 50 years, succeeding despite starting the year at only 6% support.
  • Summary: Mamdani won every borough except Staten Island, securing significant support from young men (68% of 18-29 year olds) and women (84% of 18-29 year olds). His victory was attributed to a strict focus on affordability, such as municipal grocery stores, rather than ideological fear-mongering. Mamdani quoted Eugene V. Debs in his victory speech, signaling his Democratic Socialist alignment without apology.
Mamdani’s Poetic Speech
Copied to clipboard!
(03:47:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Mamdani’s victory speech framed the election as a moment where politics is no longer something done to the people, but something they do.
  • Summary: The speech emphasized that power must be taken from those who keep the city running, referencing workers lifting boxes and cooking food. He delivered a pointed diss to Andrew Cuomo: “I wish Andrew Cuobo only the best in private life… But let tonight be the last time I utter his name.” His agenda includes freezing rent for 2 million tenants and making buses fast and free.
Defiance Against Trump
Copied to clipboard!
(03:49:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Mamdani explicitly positioned New York under his administration as a beacon against Trump’s division and hate, promising protection for immigrants and the trans community.
  • Summary: The campaign successfully weathered incessant Islamophobic attacks, exemplified by Rudy Giuliani’s crude 9/11 Photoshop, without Mamdani restricting his identity. He promised to hold ‘Donald Trumps of our city’ accountable and told President Trump directly, ‘To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.’
NYC Ballot Measures
Copied to clipboard!
(04:02:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Voters approved housing reform proposals aimed at fast-tracking affordable housing development by limiting City Council control.
  • Summary: New York City Charter Amendments (Propositions 2-4) passed, empowering the mayor to build affordable units faster by simplifying zoning reviews. The only measure to fail was Proposition 6, which would have aligned local elections with presidential election cycles. The electorate’s progressive leanings were reflected in the passage of these measures.
Virginia and California Races
Copied to clipboard!
(04:04:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Democrat Jay Jones won the Virginia Attorney General race despite sharing text messages advocating for the deaths of Republican opponents and their families.
  • Summary: Jones’s victory occurred despite admitting to texts suggesting Republican Speaker Todd Gilbert should receive ’two bullets to the head’ alongside Hitler and Paul Pott. In California, Proposition 50 passed, temporarily implementing a new redistricting map that is expected to remove about five Republican seats, leading to an immediate lawsuit from conservative legal groups.
Immigration and Travel Woes
Copied to clipboard!
(04:09:59)
  • Key Takeaway: ICE facilities like Chicago’s Broadview are allegedly using horrific, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions to coerce migrants into signing deportation paperwork.
  • Summary: Conditions reported in the Broadview facility include sleeping on concrete floors, denial of food/water/showers, and extreme temperatures, leading migrants to sign paperwork to escape the environment. Separately, the FAA faces a crisis due to air traffic controller shortages, leading to major delays and raising concerns about holiday travel safety, especially with a looming government shutdown.
Trump Trade and Tariffs
Copied to clipboard!
(04:15:04)
  • Key Takeaway: The Trump administration reached a partial trade agreement with China, pausing restrictions on AI chip exports to China for one year, while facing a Supreme Court challenge from libertarian groups against existing tariffs.
  • Summary: The agreement includes China buying more soybeans and pausing a rule restricting trade with entities 40% controlled by listed foreign entities. Simultaneously, the Liberty Justice Center, backed by the Koch network, is funding the Supreme Court challenge against Trump’s tariffs, indicating internal opposition from the business wing of the party. Greg Abbott posted a baffling threat of a 100% tariff on New Yorkers moving to Texas, reflecting the nationalization of local political grudges.