2024's Most Undercovered Stories

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2024's Most Undercovered Stories

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In the last episode of The Reason Roundtable in 2024, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman select undercovered stories from the past year across three categories: politics, global affairs, and private industry. Au revoir, 2024!

 

00:14—Undercovered stories in politics

18:07—Undercovered stories in global affairs

33:14—Undercovered stories in private industry/commerce

48:24—2024 under the radar cultural recommendations

 

Mentioned in this podcast:

"No, California's $20 Minimum Wage for Fast-Food Workers Did Not Create Jobs," by Aaron Brown

"We Have Already Passed Peak Public School," by Matt Welch

"A Week of Failing To Pay With Bitcoin in El Salvador," by Katarina Hall

"IMF Pressures El Salvador To Stop Pushing Bitcoin," by Katarina Hall

"A Glimmer of Success in Miserable Moldova," by Matt Welch

"Guillaume Verdon: Should We Have a 'Second Amendment for AI'?" by Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe

"Nic Carter: Did Bitcoin Win the Election?" by Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe

"Influencers Are Here To Stay—Now It's Time To Modernize Labor Laws," by Liya Palagashvili and Susannah Petitt

 

Send your questions to [e-mail]. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

 

Audio production by Ian Keyser

Assistant production by Hunt Beaty

Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

• Video Editor: Ian Keyser
• Producer: Hunt Beaty

What are we consuming this week?

Nick Gillespie

• DISGRACELAND

Matt Welch

• The Cleansing by Peter Perrett

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Moo Deng becoming ungovernable

Peter Suderman

• Rebel Ridge

---

Comments

[Dillinger]

are drones still mapping North Jersey? also long live Linda Lavin.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I’m sure LL will live to see 100.

[Rob Misek]

The most underreported story of 2024.

Anything to do with Israel, because it shows what Israel really is.

1.On trial in the International Court of Justice for committing a holocaust in Gaza.

2. Netanyahu with international warrants for his arrest for crimes against humanity.

3. The US violating its signatory obligations to the UN genocide convention by funding and arming the Israeli genocide after being told to stop by the UN.

4. The exposure of the conspiracy that the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was a false flag coordinated by the Jew LBJ and Israel to bring the US into WW3 on Israel’s side.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Refuted

[Rob Misek]

On December 11 2024 Candace Owens interviewed Phil Tourney a surviving sailor and current president of the USS Liberty veterans organization. Earning Ms Owens the coveted antisemite of the year award.

In the video he demonstrates irrefutable evidence that the Jewish US president knew about the attack by Israel in advance and that the entire event was a false flag planned to use the sinking of the USS Liberty to bring the US into WW3 on the side of Israel.

If you consider yourself a US PATRIOT, putting America first, you need to see this interview and WAKE UP!

https://www.lewrockwell.com/political-theatre/candace-owens-interviews-uss-liberty-survivor-phil-tourney/

When a conspiracy is proven it moves from theory to fact.

The fact is that the president of the US conspired with Israel to kill American citizens to serve the political interests of Israel. Then coerce survivors silence.

Israel is not our ally and anyone supporting them is a traitor.

Both the US government and Israel still deny these facts today. Nothing has changed.

Today the US has chosen to be on the wrong side of history sacrificing its credibility on the world’s stage to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza and prop up an Israeli president with international warrants for his arrest for crimes against humanity.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Refuted.

[Rob Misek]

Here is the letter Phil Tourney sent which was read by Candace Owens prior to the interview.

It leaves zero doubt about Israel’s relationship with the US. Suckers.

His personal account during the interview is even more impactful.

“ Phillip Tourney President, USS Liberty Veterans Association

I am a survivor of the unprovoked and deliberate 1967 attack on the USS Liberty by the Zionist state of Israel that killed 34 and wounded 174 of the 294 crewmen onboard. The US government covered up the truth and conspired with Israel to falsely claim the Zionist state mistook the USS Liberty for an Egyptian ship. The attack was intended to be a false flag to justify the US siding with Israel in the Six Day War against Arab states.
The failure to sink the ship miraculously thwarted their plans.

This attack and cover up are absolutely relevant today. This is when AIPAC took control of US foreign policy. And now the neocons want a war with Iran. Today the threat of WWIll and nuclear war is a frightening reality for you, me, our children and grandchildren. The US continues to pursue a foreign policy dictated by the neocons instead of America First non-interventionism that would bring peace and prosperity to our nation.
The US sends billions to Israel to fund the bombs and weapons that have murdered, according to the Lancet Medical Journal, 189,000 civilians in Gaza, territory Israel stole from Egypt during the Six Day War.

I am appealing to you to do whatever you can to get the truth out on this attack. If more Americans understood this, they would rise up to lobby their government to stop funding the genocide in Gaza and to oppose sending their sons and daughters to be killed in a war with Iran.

If our ship had gone down as planned, WWiII was only minutes away. The failure of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to sink the USS Liberty saved the world from a nuclear holocaust caused by the US government and Israel. This is a fact we can prove to the American people.

On June 8, 1967, when the gallant crew of the USS Liberty was savagely attacked by Israel, our American flag was proudly flying on our ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The designation AGTR- 5 was clearly painted on the bow, port and starboard sides. "USS Liberty" was written in English on her stern.

When we arrived on June 7, we were overflown by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft, and the same activity was repeated on the morning of June 8. We were positively identified as American and friendly by the IDF.
We requested a destroyer escort long before we entered the Mediterranean but were denied twice Our captain assured us we were clearly marked as American and we had nothing to fear. We were alone, 12.5 miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, always in international waters.
The Israeli reconnaissance aircraft were clearly marked with the Star of David. We felt secure seeing a flying box car and other smaller recon propeller aircraft taking good care of us.

The attack began at two o'clock on a beautiful bright sunny day by French-made Mirage and Mystere jets painted black with no markings. We had no clue who was attacking us but assumed it was an Arab state. During the first pass by, the jets took out all but one of our transmitting antennas as well as every watertight door above the water line. The air attack lasted about 25 minutes, killing and maiming our fire fighters and any sailor who moved

Our radioman took one antenna off line, so it wasn't transmitting and wasn't hit. He ran a long wire to it and the SOS went out to the sixth fleet. It was even picked up as far away as Vietnam: "Rock Star Rock Star under attack by unknown jet aircraft help us help us."

Captain Tully, skipper of the USS Saratoga, sent jets to come to our aid. Before the jets hit the horizon, they were recalled by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
Captain Engen of the USS America and Tully relaunched more aircraft to aid us; they were also recalled by LBJ himself. He said, "I don't care about a few dead sailors....I will not embarrass my ally, Israel. Return to base immediately."
How did he know who was attacking us if we didn't?
We were set up by our own government to let a foreign government have their way with us. The IDF even dropped napalm on the bridge of our ship.
How low they would go we would soon find out. Three motor torpedo boats headed our way and one torpedo hit our starboard side. We saw the star of David on the boats. They were there to sink us. The attack continued for another hour and a half.

Attacking jet aircraft destroyed all but three of our life rafts, which we put overboard. We were going to place our most seriously wounded in them so they would have a chance at life. The IDF would have none They continued shooting and killing my mates.
They left and we thought it was over, but it wasn't. IDF helicopters were sent with troops armed and ready to board our ship and finish us off. Then they just left. I guess the gig was up when the mighty IDF could not sink our defenseless ship.

When it was all done there were over 821 rocket and cannon holes and over 5,000 armor-piercing bullets riddling the ship. Napalm was burning us up and a 40x40 foot torpedo hole was in her side, causing the ship to list badly to our starboard side.
We waited 17 hours for help. I guess they hoped we would sink that night. Help was only forty minutes away from us but they left us all out alone to die.

When the USS America and USS Davis arrived to help us, they took our wounded to care for them. Their wounds were so horrific, words cannot explain.
Admiral Kidd boarded our ship a few days later and the cover up began.

We were ordered to never speak of the attack to anyone, not even with each other. Penalties were fines, imprisonment or worse, and we all knew worse meant death.
We have been treated like garbage for the last 57 years. Congress has been bought and paid for with the exception over the years of a few brave lawmakers-Reps. Pete McCloskey, Paul Findley and Jim Traficant. As the courageous Rep. Thomas Massie has noted, all Republican members of Congress except for him have AIPAC handlers. We can assume this is also true of nearly all Democrats.

We are the most decorated ship in naval history for a single engagement.
God saved us that day to allow us to communicate the truth of this attack to leaders like you. We give all power to Jesus Christ. We are just his servants, that horrible day and now.
The USS Liberty survivors are the biggest whistleblowers this country has ever seen. We have been smeared as anti-Semitic, Jew haters and Nazis. Our only sin is we stayed alive to tell the truth. We didn't kill anyone. Israel did all the murdering and the US government covered it up.

I'm asking you to help us save America by telling others the facts about the slaughter of my mates. We are begging you to support us.

Respectfully,

Phil Tourney
President, USS Liberty Veterans Association

P.S. In appreciation for your time and consideration, I am including with this letter a USS Liberty challenge coin.”

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Refuted.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

You are an anti American un simp

[Rob Misek]

You are a Jew supporting enemy to the US.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Refuted.

[With Trump in, "now Lord you can let your servant go in peace"]

Sorry, Rob, you just destroyed yourself with that mindless international Law statement.

Biden actually sent a shtload of weapons so horrible that 100 plus countries have outlawed them
" the Biden administration announced that it would provide Ukraine with M864 cluster bombs that release dozens of small grenades over a large area. Over 100 countries banned these weapons under the Convention on Cluster Munitions because they can leave dud bomblets that endanger civilians. “Transferring these weapons,” claimed Human Rights Watch, “would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians and undermine the international opprobrium of their use.” "

[JFree]

The most undercovered story of 2024 is that arithmetic has become part of critical ratio theory. A Muslim (not Marxist except for the attempt to attach the metric system to it) conspiracy to infiltrate hijab wearing trannies across the border into the US and into classrooms in order to indoctrinate kids into using non-binary Arabic numeral system.

The Roman number system is what made America great. It is being destroyed. Only Elon Musk understands the threat as he tries to salvage X.

[AT]

I mean, thanks for that I guess - but I just use the Ground News app/extension.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Do you find Ground News useful? I tried it for several months, its diversity seemed to be limited to multiple copies of the same wire stories from mostly TV station web sites, rather than independent stories with different slants. I haven't checked in months and don't intend to renew.

[AT]

It's not perfect. But I do appreciate how it facilitates seeing how different places with clear biases reports something, and then links you to them so you can read "CNN's version" against "NYPost's version" (or whatever) and maybe kinda piece together a balanced interpretation of the facts.

I also like Straight Arrow News. It's built off the back of Ground News, and I rarely draw issue with the way they characterize news like overtly biased sites do.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Thanks. Ground news has changed, possibly for the better, I'll try them again. Also took a quick look at Straight Arrow.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Hmmm I do like reason. I read the article and then think the opposite of whatever the author says. I'm right about 95% of the time.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

2011 under reported story. Rumors about her death? This isn't the song, but it's close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVaqQe3V498

[Wizzle Bizzle]

Maybe somebody should start a libertarian site to cover all of those stories. And if they're looking for naming suggestions, 'Spiked' has a nice ring to it.

[Rick James]

Suggestion box: Reason's most Overcovered stories.

1. Priscilla Villareal.
2. Priscilla Villareal.
3. Priscilla Villareal.
4. Food trucks.
5. Priscilla Villareal.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Hey reason, how about j6ers being held for years under literal torture without being charged for a crime.

Fuck you all you all should commit suicide.

[Uncle Jay]

THE most under covered story was the MSM' failure to report Biden's growing dementia for the past three years.
It is without a doubt the biggest scandal in US journalism history.

[With Trump in, "now Lord you can let your servant go in peace"]

Yes, I agree. Many of the great scandals of the 20th and 21st Centure were abetted by the Press.

[Jokibif0]

I don't see any reason why quantum computing, no matter how powerful, demonstrates that the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is any more valid than the Copenhagen interpretation. The numbers come out the same regardless of whether the wave function is collapsing to the correct result or we're just seeing the correct result because we're in one of the overwhelmingly likely "worlds" in which the correct result is what happens.

Also, the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is not really the same as the Marvel (or DC!) "multiverses", so it really doesn't mean that the comics are real.

[With Trump in, "now Lord you can let your servant go in peace"]

You need to read the brilliant Wolfgang Smith on that , your confusion is epistemological and not ontological

[LIBtranslator]

If Suderman is right, it may be possible to expand 1940s Verona code decripts and identify another infiltrated Los Alamos or Metlab Soviet agent, one-time pads notwithstanding. If so I have a name of a postumous nominee in an envelops and $50 to put into the hat--provided someone in the Roundtable does the drawing and divvying. So "Name That Atom Spy" is the catchy name I suggest for this contest.

[LIBtranslator]

Rebel Ridge even has Youtube analysis videos with subtitle translation errors and whatnot--in Brazil.