Busted Business Bureau: Recent Episodes

Christian Borkey

A painstakingly researched comedy podcast about businesses’ scams, scandals, and shenanigans. Written and hosted by Christian Borkey

Do you ever have a years-long hyperfixation with a company no one's heard about?

Blender Bluid and Amy Do continue our millions-years-long season about private military contractors. This time, I'm telling them about the worst of the worst: Betsy DeVos' brother Erik Prince's rich kid lodge! Blackwater! Clean off your guns and meet me at the lodge - we're in for a real effing doozy.

Fair warning, this episode does brush over some truly horrific stuff. As mentioned mid-episode, my podcast isn't really the appropriate place to regale those stories in full detail, so only some of the key informational facts are mentioned out of respect for those who suffered cruel, pointless deaths during this war. Jeremy Scahill's book is a fantastic read to get the full picture on the politics, events, and horrors of Iraq, linked below.

Jeremy, if you're listening, I'm so sorry sweetie please look away - this is a comedy podcast by a clown. But THIS clown loved your book!

Follow @blenderbluid and @helloamydo. Thanks to the WONDERFUL Casey Synesael for fully editing this episode! Audio engineer and tastemaker, methinks.

SOURCES:

Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army - Jeremy Scahill, March 2007 (I read the revised 2008 version tho)
Firearms training centers on schools under assault - Jon Frank, The Virginian-Pilot, Oct 1999
Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy - Adam Ciralsky, Vanity Fair, January 2010
Erik Prince: An American Commando in Exile - Robert Young Pelton, Dangerous Magazine (originally published in Men’s Journal), November 2010
Blackwater founder takes aim at his critics in memoir - Bill Sizemore, The Virginian-Pilot, Nov 2013 (the “Field of Dreams” quote is in this)
Falluja lawsuit: Blackwater families settle case - BBC News, 2012
The Dark Truth about Blackwater - Peter Singer, Brookings Institution, October 2007
I scraped the Nisour Square legal timeline just from the Nisour Square Massacre wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre

Other recommended reading from the pod is Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Thanks for listening. Plz feel free to leave a review, and some extra stuff is on Patreon.com/bustedbizbureau

Been awhile, besties! Hello again! This is an episode that was ostensibly about Bechtel Corp (the construction company, not the lesbian cartoonist), but it got away from me and became an exploration into the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. An organized, peaceful method of resistance focused on boycotting business - what could go wrong? A LOT!

Join myself and Amy Do+Blender Bluid to continue in the military-contracting deep dive season (remember that?) and let's get some ice cream on the way! Anybody want to stop at Ben&Jerry'sIsreal? Perhaps a SodaStream to tide you over?

NOTE: The episode starts after bitching that took precisely 5 minutes. Ep begins at 5:00

Follow @blenderbluid and @helloamydo - both of whom have released new music on Spotify!!!! We out here!

Thanks to Casey Synesael for your genius audio engineering!!! SAVIOR!

SOURCES (sorry there are 23):

-Illinois bars state pensions from owning Unilever over Israel, Ross Kerber, Reuters 2021

Ben&Jerry's 2015 statement found at this link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210109062433/https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2015/ben-and-jerrys-business-in-israel

Ben&Jerry's 2021 statement found at this link: https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/media-center/opt-statement

40 ILCS 5/ Illinois Pension Code thingy quoted found here: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?ActID=638&ChapterID=9&SeqStart=100000&SeqEnd=6300000

Illinois General Assembly, this Israel amendment to our investment codes passed 49-0 in the Senate and 102-0 in the House: https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.13202.html#:~:text=The%20legislation%2C%20which%20was%20modeled,held%20indirectly%20inside%20larger%20portfolios.

University of Texas email quoted found here: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/26/ut-wont-reimburse-for-airbnb-lodging-after-texas-decision-on-companys-israeli-settlement-stance/5610142007/

-AIRBNB statement from 2017: https://news.airbnb.com/listings-in-disputed-regions/

-Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's statement found here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/executive-management/OAG%20advisory%20on%20SB%2013%20and%2019%2010.18.23.pdf

-Texas City Tells People No Hurricane Harvey Aid Unless They Promise Not to Boycott Israel, ACLU Press release re: case Koontz v. Watson — Challenge to Kansas Law Targeting Boycotts of Israel found here: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/texas-city-tells-people-no-hurricane-harvey-aid-unless-they-promise-not-boycott#:~:text=Free%20Speech-,Texas%20City%20Tells%20People%20No%20Hurricane%20Harvey%20Aid,Promise%20Not%20to%20Boycott%20Israel&text=HOUSTON%20%E2%80%94%20The%20city%20of%20Dickinson,in%20a%20boycott%20of%20Israel.

-Need Hurricane Aid? In One Texas City, If You Boycott Israel, You May Be Out Of Luck - Merrit Kennedy, NPR 2017

-Bechtel Settles Suit With Pledge to Stop Arab Boycott Role, William H Jones, Washington Post 1977

-The Anti-Boycott Provisions of the Export Administration Amendments of 1977, David Modi, 1977 North Carolina Journal of International Law Vol 3 No 1.

-Read the 1979 Export Administration Act here!: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-93/pdf/STATUTE-93-Pg503.pdf

-Office of Antiboycott Compliance quoted page: https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/enforcement/oac

-How the Israel Anti-Boycott Act Threatens First Amendment Rights, ACLU 2017

-ALLIED AIR WAR STRUCK BROADLY IN IRAQ: OFFICIALS ACKNOWLEDGE STRATEGY WENT BEYOND PURELY MILITARY TARGETS, Barton Gellman, Washington Post 1991

-In a Moment, Lives Get Blown Apart, Anthony Shadid, Washington Post March 2003

-A Boy Who Was 'Like a Flower', Anthony Shadid, Washington Post March 2003

-IRAQ: Bechtel ends Iraq rebuilding after a rough 3 years, David R. Baker, The San Francisco Chronicle, November 1, 2006

-Don't remember if I quoted this but here's a Government Accountability Office report about us failing re: oil and electricity in Iraq: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-07-677.pdf#page=39

-How the Bush Administration Deconstructed Iraq, Michael Schwartz, TomDispatch, May 18 2006 (HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS READ!)

-“Wielding Antidiscrimination Law to Suppress the Movement for Palestinian Rights” 133 Harv. L. Rev. 1360, February 2020. (ANOTHER BANGER OF A READ!)

-The "what can I do?" section quoted from the BDS website: https://bdsmovement.net/BDS-Guide-Strategic-Campaigning

I PROMISE this is the last part to our exploration of KBR! This episode features a big thematic swing of including the best food review of all time throughout the episode. If you’re into gargantuan oil failures, extensive explanations of holes, politically correct GOOP, or droopy baked alaskas then this episode is for YOU! Again, we’ll move on from this wound I’ve been picking for three weeks.

Also, hello! It is nice to be back from tour and to have wi-fi! I am swamped with the thousands of other bits of work I have to do now that the holidays are allegedly over. I will get back to posting as regularly as possible. Thanks for your patience; I love making this podcast!

Follow @blenderbluid, say hello to Amy Do, and thank Casey Synesael for wonderful audio doctoring as ALWAYS!

Before we get to the sources...PLEASE VOTE FOR ME FOR BEST CHICAGO PODACST OF 2023: https://chicagoreader.com/best-of-chicago/2023-ballot/#/gallery?group=468483

I WANT TO WIN!

okay anyways heres my sources:

SOURCES:

As Not Seen on TV, Pete Wells, The New York Times, November 13 2012

Rebuilding of Iraqi Pipeline as Disaster Waiting to Happen, James Glanz, New York Times, April 25, 2006

OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION: Pipeline River Crossing Al Fatah, Iraq link here: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA533936.pdf

Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq, T Christian Miller, May 2007

Full text: George Bush's Iraq speech, The Guardian, June 28, 2005

Military Burn Pits: A Toxic Legacy of War, Pamela Lein, phD, UC Davis Veterinary Medicine

“Contracting Abuses in Iraq: Is the Bush Administration Safeguarding American Taxpayer Dollars?” Frank Cassaday testimony, Senate Democratic Policy Committee Hearing link here; https://www.dpc.senate.gov/hearings/hearing42/cassaday.pdf

I didn't get to this on pod but here's some other reading:

ELECTRICITY -(testimony from Eric Peters, Former KBR Electrician, 5/20/09)

“I would estimate approximately 50 percent of KBR electricians in Iraq do not understand the basic principles of bonding and grounding…By the time I left Iraq, I concluded that KBR was not capable of performing quality, legal electrical installations in Iraq. I worried every day that people would be seriously injured or killed by this defective work. “

"'Multiple' failures led to Iraq electrocution, Pentagon says", Scott Bronstein, CNN Special Investigations Unit, July 2009

KBR Got Bonuses for Work that Killed Soldiers, Jeremy Scahill, The Nation, May 2009

No criminal charges in electrocution death, Associated Press, Aug 2009

HI YALL! Forgive the delay; I am already on tour and didn't realize I wouldn't have wi-fi! This was uploaded as a labor of my hot spot's love. Here's the part 2 no one asked for! Let's perfect our Lois Griffin impression Whiplash-style, crack open a $247 soda, and order 50,000 pounds of nails to get ready to revisit the company I've been obsessed with for years: Kellogg, Brown and Root. Gosh, this private military contracting season is a DOOZY. Fraud, waste and abuse abound!

As always, follow @blenderbluid, keep Amy Do in your offline thoughts, and thank the fabulous audio engineer Casey Synesael!!!!! YIPPEEEE

And if you're the type of person inclined to read the show notes, here's a spoiler: I didn't even cover everything in THIS episode, so there's going to be a part 3. I'm presently on tour so it'll take a few weeks before I'm back to record. Sowwy, I'm just one girly who does NOT plan things out. Just podcastin' for funzies. Anyways, here's my sources:

Blood Money: Wated Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq, T Christian Miller, May 2007
A Look Back at How Fear and False Beliefs Bolstered U.S. Public Support for War in Iraq, Carroll Doherty and Jocelyn Kiley, Pew Research Center, March 14, 2023
Excerpted from The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader, by Peter L. Bergen, accessed through Vanity Fair, January 1 2006
Here's a link to the Saddam playing cards published by the DIA: https://archive.org/details/030411D6570c001/030411-d-6570c-001/page/n27/mode/2up
Buyers beware: The real Iraq 'most wanted' cards are still awaiting distribution, Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes, April 17, 2003
Here's KBR employee Linda Warren's testimony (start at 21:30): https://www.c-span.org/video/?205080-1/contracting-abuses-iraq
Here is the 2005 testimony of KBR employee Rory Mayberry: https://www.dpc.senate.gov/hearings/hearing22/mayberry.pdf
Here's a link to the DPC report called Major Findings: DPC Oversight Hearings on Waste, Fraud, and Corruption in Iraq: https://www.dpc.senate.gov/dpcdocpr.cfm?doc_name=sr-111-1-116 (nails anecdote)
Iraq War Whistleblowers Represented by Constantine Cannon Secure $108.75 Million Settlement with KBR, Constantine Cannon press release, July 5 2023
“One hundred point four billion dollars..." quote from Democrat Mike Ross from this link (time stamp 5:43:40): https://www.c-span.org/video/?196460-2/house-session
INSIDE THE WORLD OF WAR PROFITEERS, David Jackson and Jason Grotto, Chicago Tribune, February 2008
Underclass of Workers Created in Iraq, Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post July 2004
Documents Reveal Details of Alleged Labor Trafficking by KBR Subcontractor, By DAVID ISENBERG and NICK SCHWELLENBACH, Project on Government Oversight, July 14 2011
Pentagon Finds Halliburton Overcharged on Iraq Contracts, Douglas Jehl, New York Times December 11 2003

Amy Do and Blender Bluid continue on our season-long journey into private military contracting! Avarice incarnate with a healthy heap of political parasitism, we're talking about the origins of KBR. Do you know how to build a nuclear power plant? No? Who gives a hoot! Let's try it anyway! Along the way we'll get 100,000 meals to throw out, Blender Bluid's RuPaul impression, and of course more war profiteering than you previously thought imaginable. It is still nuts to me that we're having the exact same conversation in different fonts all these years later re: KBR's failures, waste, fraud and abuse.

Amy's recording remotely on a USB microphone which is why she sounds different. Additionally, Casey went nuts on some of the audio editing and I'm SO excited for y'all to hear this one.

Follow @BlenderBluid on socials, keep Amy Do in your thoughts, please clap for Casey Synesael, and plzzzzz vote for me on the Chicago Reader Awards starting 12/13! https://chicagoreader.com/best-of-chicago/2023-ballot/#//

SOURCES:

1) I made it up

2) THE TRANSFORMATION OF DON LUCE, Ted Lieverman, HistoryNet.com (lol), 2017

3) Saigon Is Investigating ‘Tiger Cage’ Cells at a Prison, New York Times, 1970

4) 4 South Vietnamese Describe Torture in Prison ‘Tiger Cage’, New York Times, 1973

5) Here's the link to the 1970 Life Magazine with the story/Tom Harkin's pics: https://books.google.com/books?id=jVUEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

6) Donald Sanders Luce (1934-2022): Exposed the Truth About the Tiger Cages, Mark Ashwill, Vietnam Full Disclosure/Veterans for Peace, 2022

7) Recalling Don Luce, the high-profile Vietnam War critic who did PR for a Falls soup kitchen, Mark Sheer, Niagara Gazette, Nov 2022

8) American Innocence, Robert N. Strassfeld, Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons, 1997

9) American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity by Christian G. Appy, 2015 (where the Don Luce interview about KBR's cages being 'in every way worse than the original ones'

10) Brown & Root helped pave way for Houston's growth, David Hunn, Houston Chronicle 2016

11) The Candidate from Brown and Root, Robert Bryce, The Texas Observer, October 2000

12) Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq by T. Christian Miller, May 2007

13) Brown & Root, one of the world's largest construction..., Gary Taylor, United Press International, 1981

14) here's that GAO Balkans report titled "Army Should Do More to Control Contract Cost in the Balkans https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA382598.pdf

15) Outsourcing War, An inside look at Brown & Root, the kingpin of America's new military-industrial complex, Anthony Bianco and Stephanie Anderson Forest, 2003

16) Mesothelioma.com Halliburton Page: https://www.mesothelioma.com/asbestos-exposure/companies/halliburton-company/

17) Inspector General of the DOD report "Hurricane Relief Costs on the Navy Construction Capabilities Contract": https://media.defense.gov/2019/Aug/22/2002174066/-1/-1/1/D-2008-097.PDF

Dipping my toe into making things way too personal with this episode about a giant oil conglomerate! Who doesn't fucking love that? Amy Do and Blender Bluid are BACK, baby, to do just a tiny bit more set dressing on this season. We're talking about procurement; how did the companies in the upcoming season get their contracts in the first place? Turns out, even THAT is laden with some busted-ass shenanigans!

Ultimately, this is a podcast that is entirely informed by my comedic and artistic point of view. This particular episode on Halliburton is admittedly not as dense as they typically come - that's intentional. I've already lost sleep from jolting awake at night, haunted by the images, descriptions, and horrors that keep coming up in this research. So fuck it, let's do an episode about Dick Cheney's heart! Let's talk about B.O.B. and G-Unit! Let's discuss how I ruined the name Christian for my high school religion teachers!

Follow @blenderbluid and please, sincerely, keep Amy Do in your thoughts right now.

Audio engineering by the wickedly talented Casey Synesael

SOURCES:

Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq by T. Christian Miller, May 2007

A Web of Truth: Whistle-Blower or Troublemaker, Neely Tucker, Washington Post, 2005

Whistleblower exposes $7 billion no-bid Defense Department contract, CBS News, 2019

The Whistleblower’s Tale: How An Accountant Took on Halliburton, Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica, 2015

Australian academics apologise for false AI-generated allegations against big four consultancy firms, Harry Belot, The Guardian, Nov 2023

Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, by (I'm sorry) Dick Cheney and Jonathan Reiner, MD

NBC's "Meet the Press" Transcript, Chuck Todd interviewing Dick Cheney, 2014

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102482_pf.html

Cheney Dismisses Critic With Obscenity, Helen Dewar and Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 2004

Iraq The Halliburton Connection: The Master Builder, Jyoti Thottam, TIME Magazine 2004

HELLO AGAIN, BESTIES! Amy Do and Blender Bluid join me for a season-long exploration into private military contracting. This specific episode explores some legal precedents that allow military contractors to operate with effective immunity from the law. Picture I just said that but in a SUPER funny way. If a tree falls in the forest, can anybody hear it? If a private contractor aids a soldier in a war crime, do we actually have any laws to hold them accountable for it? Along the way, we’ll declare war on a random Chicago comedian who broke my laptop, build a dike, then refuse to call it a dam, and we’ll Control+P…repare for a legendary season of podcasting!

Follow Blender Bluid @blenderbluid on all social medias; don't follow Amy Do. She doesn't want you to lol.

This episode had the pleasure of having Casey Synesael as the audio engineer! :D COOL RIGHT?

SOURCES:

-Armed Guards in Iraq Occupy a Legal Limbo, John Broder and James Risen, New York Times, Sep 2007

-JFK Library Bell Report: https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/071/JFKPOF-071-004

-Appendix 2 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: https://jsc.defense.gov/Portals/99/Documents/UCMJ%20-%2020December2019.pdf

-Federal Tort Claims Procedure: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title28/part6/chapter171&edition=prelim

-Boyle v. United Technology Corp (1988): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/487/500/

-Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (Amicus), Center for Constitutional: Justice https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/kiobel-v-royal-dutch-petroleum-co-amicus

-Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 569 U.S. 108 (2013) - https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/569/108/

-WHO'S DOING WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT?: MONITORING, ACCOUNTABILITY AND COMPETITION IN THE FEDERAL AND SERVICE CONTRACT WORKFORCE, March 2002: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg79883/html/CHRG-107shrg79883.htm

-Accountability of Private Military Contractors, Arthi Thiruppathi, GW Justice Journal, Jan 13 2021

Hello besties! I'm just a girl with vocal nodes in a podcasting world!

Hey kids...who likes #Jesus?? Christian McCann is on the pod so I can finally answer questions he's been asking me for like a year now. Why is there a marketing campaign for Christianity, and who is paying for it? As it turns out, the answer is something that will matter for 10 billion more years. Join me to talk about the intracacies of tax law and mostly dish about terrible religious experiences. Rich people of any religion will always find ways to retain control of their money; this episode is just a sliver into that world!

Christian and I have a dueling pianos show we do together constantly. You can check that out @candcduelingpianos on Instagram

SOURCES:

Servant Foundation Form 990: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/431890105/202320469349302877/full

The Signatry website: https://thesignatry.com/who-we-are/our-history/

https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/18/21010108/larry-page-philanthropy-foundation-donor-advised-fund-christmas

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2023/02/13/this-billionaire-is-a-donor-behind-the-jesus-focused-super-bowl-ads/?sh=64c3297d7b29

https://www.propublica.org/article/family-research-council-irs-church-status

Christian Community Foundation Form 990: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/751750059/202213469349301026/full

S2 Episode 6: Billionaires, DAFs, and the Changing Face of Philanthropy with Teddy Schleifer of Vox's Recode; Ethical Rainmaker: http://www.theethicalrainmaker.com/listen-now/s2-episode-6-billionaires-dafs-and-the-changing-face-of-philanthropy-with-teddy-schleifer-of-voxs-recode

deadass this little graphic: https://www.fdic.gov/about/learn/learning/banks.html#:~:text=It%20doesn't%20remain%20locked,even%20to%20operate%20a%20business.

Tax advantages of Donor Advised Funds: https://www.nptrust.org/what-is-a-donor-advised-fund/daf-tax-consideration/

https://jacobin.com/2023/02/christian-super-bowl-ads-he-gets-us-servant-foundation-abortion-gay-rights

BOOK RECS:

God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right, Daniel K. Williams

One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, Kevin Kruse

Franklin Pierce impersonator Dylan Cohen drops by to gab about the grocery store that totally changed the game: Piggly Wiggly! I'm thrilled to have this season's rascal-centered episode, and I'm VERY excited to add a new weirdo from the early 1900s to the BBB collection. Grab your bibles, label your vegetables, and let's play some synchronous jazz while we talk about the weird twists and turns of Piggly Wiggly's dramatic changes-of-hands!

Dylan Cohen is performing in The Lincoln Lodge's Future of Comedy Festival on Friday September 29th at 7:30pm for "Powerpoint Night Live!" tickets at thelincolnlodge.com/futureofcomedyfestival

SOURCES:

Clarence Saunders and the Founding of Piggly Wiggly: The Rise and Fall of a Memphis Maverick, Mike Freeman, 2011
When Piggly Wiggly Tried to Stick It to Wall Street, Shiva Nagaraj, Slate 2021
https://www.newspapers.com/image/768156903/?terms=clarence%20saunders&match=1
https://newspapers.com/image/774867648/?terms=clarence%20saunders%20piggly%20wiggly&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/244984597/?terms=clarence%20saunders%20piggly%20wiggly&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/768157998/?terms=clarence%20saunders%20civil%20war&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/774867648/?terms=clarence%20saunders%20piggly%20wiggly&match=1
Coach Houses, Vance Lauderdale, Memphis Magazine 2008

Who wants to get drunk and talk about 1800s agriculture? MEEEEE apparently! Join myself and my sweet special friend J. T. Kost for an episode detailing the guano boom and bust of the 1800s: drunken reenactments of the Last Supper, yadda-yadda-ing our way through unprecendented imperial expansion, and plenty of descriptions of bird shit abound this episode! Not to get too TMI but I had to figure out a recording situation last-minute to produce this podcast, which means that the audio quality might be...shall we say different than previous episodes. I'm working on a solution and I hope you still like it anyways! This episode was a labor of love to my roots in academia, which is part of why the title is so annoying <3

Tickets to Kost's show Giggle Hour

SOURCES:

1) How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States, Daniel Immewahr, 2016

2) Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History, Gregory T Cushman, 2013

These are pretty dense books, and let's be real, any other source I consulted was genuinely just taking their info from these books -- it's pretty obvious. But man these books are so effing dense I don't feel bad only having two sources lol.

Brazen antifeminist woman in STEM, Sarah, joins me to discuss the factory of girlfailures: Hewlett-Packard! Revolutionizing the world of personal-computers-you-kinda-know, this company has been run by a cavalcade of silly little clowns since at least 1999. This episode is packed top to bottom with shenanigans; spiders falling from the ceiling, being a Girl-FailedGubernatorialCandidate, somehow also private military contracting, and lots and lots of rich people problem-solving in unique, never-before seen foolish ways.

I'll be posting episodes every two weeks, which I think will make the podcast much more sustainable to make! I can't read all this shit in one day, no matter how hard I try. Thanks so much for sticking around. I hope y'all have been liking it so far! :) If you do, it'd help me out to leave a rating on Apple Podcasts. The algorithm loves seeing engagement. Write who you think the hottest HP failed CEO is!

SOURCES:

How Hewlett-Packard lost its way, James Bandler with Doris Burke, Fortune Magazine, May 2012
3 wartime moments to remember in HP’s history, Garage Staff for HP, Nov 2022
David Packard, Richard Nixon Administration – Historical Office of the Secretary of Defense
The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Founded Our Company, David Packard 1995
Leadership Challenges at Hewlett Packard: Through the Looking Glass, David F. Larcker and Brian Tayan, Stanford Closer Look Series, Oct 2011
HP: Grueling day for Hurd & Dunn, Grace Wong, CNN Money, Sep 2006
Fiorina out, HP stock soars; CEO who engineered Compaq merger leaving after fight with board; will walk away with $21 million, Paul La Monica, CNN Money, Feb 2005
Wisecrackers: A theory-grounded investigation of phishing and pretext social engineering threats to information security, Michael Workman, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(4), 662–674. 2008
Oracle really does owe HPE $3b after Supreme Court snub

Amy Do and Blender Bluid join me to unpack the lengthy, complicated story of Pat Tillman. For a typically facts-dense podcast about corporate wrongdoings, this episode is decidedly more opinionated -- this isn't a single business for which we can dig up public reports, lawsuits, etc. Rather, this episode dives into the general misuse of someone's memory so that a variety of folks can milk ad revenue on Youtube and sell tee shirts. Plain and simple, I think that sucks!

I've never been in more physical pain recording an episode nor have I taken so many L's in the leadup to it. Thanks for your patience on letting me take a week off before dropping this one! Once I get everything fixed up we should be back to a normal schedule.

Follow @blenderbluid and @helloamydo

SOURCES:

Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman, Mary Tillman, 2008
Pat Tillman Awarded the Silver Star, Billy House, USA Today, 2004
REMEMBER HIS NAME, Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated 2006
PRO FOOTBALL; Tillman Leaves N.F.L. to Join Army, Mike Freeman, New York Times, 2002
New Details on Tillman's Death, Martha Mendoza, Associated Press, Feb 2007
After Pat’s Birthday, Kevin Tillman, Truthdig 2006
TACKLING PAID PATRIOTISM: A Joint Oversight Report, John McCain and Jeff Flake 2015
"THINGS HAVE CHANGED BUT THINGS AREN'T BETTER", Gary Joyce, Sportsnet
The NFL, The Military, and the Hijacking of Pat Tillman’s Story, Ryan Devereaux, The Intercept 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse
Richard Tillman on Bill Maher, clip from funeral 1:00-ish in

Dry mouthed Emma Day did me a huge favor coming onto this podcast last-minute for a WHIRLWIND episode about trash. If you love cathaters and sewage being dumped into your Hawai'ian vacation resort water, suing a district attorney out of spite for 7 years, or committing literal textbook financial fraud, you'll freaking LOVE this one! Don't you wish a company tasked with a service that impacts public health and safety would do it...well? Nah, let's just pop some money into our retirement account and tell the next generation HAGS! Anyways, when Emma gets in the studio I just vibe. I love hanging out with her :)

Thanks to everyone for listening, you can follow Emma @alldayemmaday and catch her occasionally on 101.9 The Mix. She produces @thelesbianlodge monthly and is a cool fella.

SOURCES:

Citizen Wayne: The Unauthorized Biography of H. Wayne Huizenga, Steve Almond, Miami New Times, December 1994
Waste Management, Inc. Final Report - District Attorney Edwin Miller Jr. 1992
Fraud at Waste Management, Ann and Rob Diamond, Ethics for Professional Accountants 2019
SEC complaint against Waste Management INC, 2002
Violation Tracker - Waste Management
Waste Management Of Hawaii Inc. And Managers Indicted For Violations Of Clean Water Act, Conspiracy, Making False Statements, US Attorney's Office District of Hawaii, April 2014
Federal court orders Chicago-area company to pay whistleblower $95K in back wages after US Department of Labor investigation, OSHA news release 2021
https://www3.epa.gov/region9/water/npdes/stormwater-feature.html#:~:text=Stormwater%20systems%20were%20originally%20intended,and%20straight%20to%20our%20waters.
https://leachate.co.uk/main/leachate-treatment/how-do-you-treat-leachate/

My friend who loves a shot and a beer, Karsten Runquist, joins me for this exploratory episode about the ins and outs of the United States' beloved decrepit children's toy retail store, Toys R Us! Let's get jiggy with some brankruptcy docey-do's, George HW Bush's infamous trip to Japan, giraffe sized coffins, and the lush world of private equity! This episode took much longer to research than is likely evident from the podcast because what on God's green earth is a motherfvcking "Leveraged Buyout?" Is mayonnaise a debt instrument? Anyways, huge thanks to Investopedia dot com for your articles that require 3 other articles to understand, like a Matryoshka doll of finance jargon.

Karsten and I hosted a Succession recap podcast called Succ Off: A Succession Podcast which is on, like, all streaming services I assume. You can also follow him on Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter at either @KarstenRunquist or @RunquistKarsten. Yay!

SOURCES:

Charles P. Lazarus, Toys R Us Founder, Dies at 94. Michael Corkery. New York Times. March 2018.
COMPANY NEWS; Toys 'R' Us Opens Doors in Japan. James Sterngold. New York Times. Dec 1991
Plunder. Brandon Ballou. May 2023
These are the Plunderers. Gretchen Morgensen and Joshua Rosner. April 2023.
The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for America's Youngest Consumers. Eric Clark. January 2007
Lessons Learned From the Downfall of Toys 'R' Us, Tara Lachapelle, Bloomberg, March 2018

NOTE: The Plunder-ey books I’ve linked to the website where I get them with tenuous legality. I currently have a free trial on this website and it has been 1000% worth it. Considering getting a subscription and canceling my Scribd subscription, which is becoming less and less useful.

HIEEEEE!!!!! I'm back! My third-string comedian, first-string friend Kate joins me to talk about a company that has gotten away with evils that take place during every stage of a life cycle: Abbott Laboratories. If you like undercover FBI stings with costumes, vile descriptions of bacteria through the lens of art criticism, or selling your weight in illegally-marketed sedatives, this episode is for YOU! How can a business factor in losing hundreds of millions of dollars every few years because they're getting sued by the government? Fairly easily it turns out!

Thanks for your patience re: me releasing season 5. If you like the episode and want to stay updated on why the hell it took so long, you can go to Patreon.com/bustedbizbureau and find stuff there! Otherwise, just tell your wonderful friends about this podcast; it means the world to me. Thanks so much! Love you bye!

SOURCES:

FBI health-care sting uses mob case treatment, Bruce Japsen, Chicago Tribune 2003
Abbott Laboratories, est. 1888, Andrew Clayman, Made in Chicago Museu, 2020
The Department of Health and Human Services And The Department of Justice Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program Annual Report For FY 2004
“ 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2021
RX COMPLIANCE REPORT: VOL. X, ISSUE 14/NOVEMBER 30, 2011. “Abbott reserves $1.5 billion to settle Depakote off-label allegations.”
DOJ Settlement agreement re: Abbott Depakote
How Deadly Bacteria Spread in a Similac Factory—and Caused the US Formula Shortage. Susan Berfield and Anna Edney. Bloomberg. August 24, 2022
Infant Formula Shortage Highlights WIC’s Critic

If you're looking for a season finale where I nearly spit out my Diet Coke several times, this episode is for you. I'll be honest: I wrote a pretty solid script involving Hertz's century-long history with highlights including consistent overcharging, under-delivering on vehicles, becoming a meme stock, and commiting insurance fraud. However. Meg Harris is the funniest person alive and I forgot to say like half the things in my script. Is this the most research-ey the podcast has ever been? No. But I'm an entertainer, not a journalist, so this is a bangin' episode.

Check out They Call Us here:

Here's where you can find my Patreon (where I WILL be uploading content during the break before season 5!!): patreon.com/bustedbizbureau

SOURCES:

Longtime friend, firsttime caller Jon Oppenheimer finally joins my podcast to continue my tradition of not being quite topical by analyzing a months-old news thing: Southwest Airlines! December 2022 was far from the company's only meltdown that caused nationwide disaster. But Jon asked me to make this episode because we all had questions after the incident: why do we have so few choices of air travel yet so few consequences for airlines when they completely boof it? Who is in charge here? Is this how it's always gonna be? The history of commercial aviation in the US is actually fucking nutty, and the road to where we are now is paved with blood. This is a very dense and dry episode, which is kind of a fun twist for moi! Starting with the air mail scandal from the 30s through the airline deregulation act of 1978 through the present, this is a real highlight real of the relationship between the federal government and private airline companies. Also I whip out an incredible Lois Griffin impression about 42 minutes in. What's not to love?

Follow @joppenflopper and tell him a better twitter name

Also follow @BustedBizBureau on all social media for more fabulous stuff from me. As always if you like the show, I'm on Patreon.com/BustedBizBureau THANKS!!

SOURCES:

Mixed Emotions After Cemetery Near O'Hare Moved, Phil Rogers, NBC Chicago, April 2013
Supreme Court allows mass grave exhumation to make way for O'Hare runway, Jake Griffin, Daily Herald, Jan 2011
The Air Mail Fiasco, John T. Correll, Air and Space Forces Magazine, March 2008
https://stjohnsfamilyassistance.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Berger_Group
You can find financial data on how much O’Hare charges airlines for rent by year here: https://www.flychicago.com/business/CDA/factsfigures/Pages/financial.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Mail_scandal_accidents_and_incidents
A Tiny Line Takes On Braniff in a Price War, NYT Staff, 1973
Southwest Airlines, Keli Flynn, Texas State Historical Association, 2022
https://texasarchive.org/2010_00405 - Hostesses in Hot Pants Commercial
Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger To Congress: My Pay Has Been Cut 40 Percent In Recent Years, Pension Terminated, JOAN LOWY and MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, AP, Feb 2009
The blizzard is just one reason behind the operational meltdown at Southwest Airlines, Jennifer Ludden and Scott Neuman, NPR, Dec 2022
Flight fare prices skyrocketed following Southwest's meltdown. Was it price gouging?, Emily Olsen, NPR, Dec 2022
Taxpayers spent billions bailing out airlines. Did the industry hold up its end of the deal?, Michael Laris and Lori Aratani, Washington Post, 2021
How Southwest Airlines Melted Down, Alison Sider, Wall Street Journal, 2022
Attorneys General complaint to Pete Buttegieg: https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2022-12-19-USDOT-NPRM-FINAL-34-AGs.pdf
Southwest Investors complaint: https://rosenlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SW-Complaint-Upload.pdf
Southwest Airlines sued for outdated technology, Stefanie Schappert, Cyber News 2023
Southwest Airlines to Revamp Crew Scheduling System, Alison Sider, Wall Street Journal, 2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act

All I can say is I knocked it out of the park with this one. I'm finally telling my sweet friend Cookie the story of my absolute FAVORITE scammer: Liz Carmichael. This one's got everything: libertarian science fiction, engineering mishaps, three wheeled cars, stock fraud, Unsolved Mysteries, and a woman so magnetic that she girlbossed millions of dollars despite having NO PRODUCT. I sincerely mean it when I say that I am obsessed with her.

This episode honestly evades my descriptive writing skills -- in part because I've worked 14 days in a row, in part because it's got so much going on. I promise this is a great one. Go to splitendsfilm.com and watch Cookie's awesome movie!

FOOTNOTES:

1) History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed, Preston Lerner and Matt Stone 2012

2) The Strange Case of the Dale, Walt Woron, New York Times Oct 1975

3) Liz Carmichael's Dream Buggy Turns into a Nightmare, People Magazine Staff, 1975

4) The Trans Women Behind HBO’s Tale Of This Mysterious, Audacious Automaker, Dawn Ennis, Forbes 2021

5) https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2021/05/21/dale-cliffts-original-three-wheeler-prototype-emerges-from-hiding-after-decades-heads-to-petersen

6) https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/1974-twentieth-century-dale

7) People v Carmichael (1980) https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1833667.html

8) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand

9) The Lady and the Dale, HBO Docuseries, Zackary Drucker and Nick Cammilleri 2021

My beloved friend Derry Queen joins me for a real fast-and-loose episode about RuPaul's Drag Race. This one was a very fun episode for me because it's less heavy on the research since Derry has a lot of personal experience relating to the show. The standard working conditions in reality TV are absolutely bonkers, and we talk about some of that history.

Don't forget to vote for ME for best podcast in the Chicago Reader, and don't forget to NOT VOTE FOR DERRY as best drag queen. Please vote for Irregular Girl!!! She is fucking awesome. If you like drag and you live in Chicago, you should absolutely check out her work.

SOURCES: I made it up

-Tired, Tipsy, and Pushed to the Brink, Edward Wyatt, NYT 2009

-Reality TV's Low-Wage and No-Wage Work, Tanner Mirlees, Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research, 27.

-REALITY’S KIDS: ARE CHILDREN WHO PARTICIPATE ON REALITY TELEVISION SHOWS COVERED UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT?, Adam P. Greenberg, Southern California Law Review 2018

-Reality TV's worker scandal: Shows accused of stealing millions in wages, Josh Eidelson, Salon.com 2013

-Shantay, You Pay: Inside the Heavy Financial Burden of Going On ‘Drag Race’, Rachel Miller, VICE 2021.

-PEG countersuit v Adore Delano

-Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched, Mark Andrejevic, 2004

-Bussy Queen's season 14 contract review on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=700Nvfa4wHk&t=757s&ab_channel=BussyQueen

Remember when Juul was a verb? The generecized word for vape? I REMEMBER! That business really came and went like a beautiful comet. Joining me to talk about the historic rise and fall of Juul is my dear friend Emma Day! The legal machinations behind regulating cigarettes is FASCINATING, and the status of cigarettes in the law affects the ways we make e-cigs. Also, we just talk about the smoking cessation industry in general, which is a hilarious thing we invented to solve the problem of overproducing unbelievably addictive yet dangerous objects. Emma is so fucking funny, please listen to her podcast Do You Have a Sec? everywhere!

SOURCES:

Books:

The Cigarette: A Political History, Sarah Milov, 2019

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee, 2010

Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition, Robert Proctor, 2011

Web:

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/MassvsJuul.pdf

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/fda-voices/how-fda-regulating-e-cigarettes

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02991-w

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-vaping-juul/juul-use-more-than-doubled-among-u-s-teens-young-adults-in-one-year-idUSKBN1ZK2SV

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-09/juul-to-pay-1-2-billion-in-youth-vaping-settlement

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/nicotine-replacement-therapy-market

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/juul-appeals-block-fda-ban-e-cigarettes-2022-06-24/

PS, I'm nominated for a Chicago Reader Award! Vote for me at this link (under "city life" for "best podcast")

https://chicagoreader.com/best-of-chicago/2022-ballot-voting-nominations/#/gallery/357091644/

Blender Bluid and Amy Do are back on the podcast for a VERY absurd episode. We get into the down and dirty of the free market's response to the very USA-based problem of school-based gun violence. As far as the more grim episodes go, this is one that we tried to bring a lot of levity to (especially about 24 minutes in). First we take a look at the products, then the politics, then profit-based active shooter training programs. There's a lot of ways to make money off of national policy failure and consistent tragedy, apparently.

A little note I want to say to everyone: I think this episode is very important, but I beg of you to not inappropriately share this episode every time there is a mass shooting. It's a (relatively) funny one, and I don't think it's appropriate to plug it under inevitable tragedies. That already happened to my NFL episode in the wake of the Damar Hamlin injury, and I just want to say that it makes me really uncomfortable. I'm proud of my work and I'm SO happy people are spreading it, but I want to do my part in being an upstanding and thoughtful creator. XOXO.

SOURCES:

Methodologies for different school shooting tracking statistics:

https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/methodology
https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Overview-American-School-Shooting-Study-TASSS.pdf (page 4)
https://www.chds.us/ssdb/methods/

Products/Industry Talk:

The Free Market Responds to America’s School Shootings, Ben Schott, Bloomberg, July 2022
https://fightingchancesolutions.com/
Armored school doors, bulletproof whiteboards, and secret snipers, John Woodrow Cox and Steven Rich, Washington Post, 2018
Experts cast doubt on high-tech efforts to stop school shooters, Laura Meckler, Washington Post, May 2022
CMS staff warned security system didn’t work. The district expanded it anyway., Annie Ma and Fred Clasen-Kelly, The Charlotte Observer, January 2020
School security technology at center of fierce debate after Uvalde shooting, Max Zahn, ABC News, June 2022
Schools Are Spending Billions on High-Tech Defense for Mass Shootings, Natasha Singer, New York Times, June 2022 (this is where I got the 3 billion number; the nonprofit is cited here)
These Businesses Say They've Got What You Need to Survive a Mass Shooting, Melissa Chan, Time Magazine, Oct 2019
A Comprehensive Report on School Safety Technology, John Hopkins University

POLITICS:

Department of Justice Awards More Than $125 Million in Grants Under The Stop School Violence Act, DOJ website
Dickey Amendment wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment

DRILLS/TRAINING:

Indiana Teachers Shot with Plastic Pellets as Part of Training, Lauren Camera, US News March 2019
The Company Behind America’s Scariest School Shooter Drills, Sylvia Varnham O’Regan, The Trace, Dec 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcpsnrxHdCc&t=78s&ab_channel=NBCNews
Estate of Davis v. City of North Richland Hills, TERRY MEANS, District Judge 2003

Swiss Miss Ali Fish(er) is on the pod to talk about one of the most prolific COVID testing scam sites in the country. What I didn't realize is how piecemeal our testing infrastructure was over the past 2 years, and this particular scam goes fucking nuts. How can two owners of an axe throwing range wind up as the 12th most federally funded COVID testing site in the country? Why did we regulate those testing sites as businesses and not health clinics? WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE!?

I neglected to mention in the episode that all of the information is as of Jan 1, 2023. There may be more charges that befall the fraudsters, but it doesn't look like anything's coming down the pipe any time soon. But if I'm wrong, I'm wrong! That'll teach me to do anything remotely topical.

SOURCES:

At pop-up COVID testing sites, customers report improper masking and social distancing, lengthy waits for results: ‘It’s kind of the wild, Wild West.’ - Nara Schoenberg and Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, Jan 2022
Center for COVID Control under investigation by Oregon DOJ, Better Business Bureau, Grace Hauck, USA Today, Jan 2022
COVID-19 Testing Chain Opened Pop-Ups Across The US. Now, It’s Temporarily Closing Amid Federal Investigation And Mounting Complaints, Kelly Bauer, Block Club Chicago, Jan 2022
MINNESOTA AG COMPLAINT AGAINST CENTER FOR COVID CONTROL, January 2022
OREGON AG COMPLAINT AGAINST CENTER FOR COVID CONTROL, April 2022
ARIZONA JUDGE RULING FOR AG COMPLAINT AGAINST CENTER FOR COVID CONTROL, July 2022
AG: Center for COVID Control owners barred from doing business in Washington, Fox 13 Seattle, Oct 2022
https://www.yelp.com/biz/studio-six-fifteen-schaumburg
https://web.archive.org/web/20220113035953/https://www.bullseyeaxelounge.com/2021/01/08/covid-19-diagnostic-testing/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyzX0Y0VlAs&ab_channel=MichaelFigueroa
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10414537/Federal-probe-serial-entrepreneur-couple-cashed-COVID-testing-boom.html
https://figmic.medium.com/the-center-for-covid-control-scam-or-success-story-b5cdfab4f5b0

11a. https://figmic.medium.com/government-funding-alone-sent-doctors-clinical-laboratory-soaring-358dd11894ea

Aleya and Akbar's assistant!: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1do6t7aTRAHIadtDfkSdI7DyacuzQ3MFeNOpANb9FmZY/mobilebasic?fbclid=IwAR0GacHvd2J9dkKMcahgc4mQjMKLttyktjQb3wh53-1WVYz2NPcbkd5vU4E
https://www.bbb.org/us/il/rolling-mdws/profile/covid-testing/center-for-covid-control-llc-0654-1000031765/complaints?page=2

So I just closed out ONE WHOLE YEAR of this podcast! Here is a self-indulgent, naval gazey episode with me and my roommates. My ex girlfriend and my ex coworker. Don't make this your first episode of the podcast, but if you already like listening to me and want to hear the household dynamic, check this one out. Next week I'm coming back with a big ole scam! Stay tuned!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for listening to BBB this first year. If you told me a year ago how different my life would be by this time 2023, I would have been so mad at you. But I've cracked a LOT of eggs this past year and now I'm eating omelettes, baby.

If you donate on Patreon.com, know that you are helping my journey away from having 15 jobs and into the journey of being a fulltime creative! If you want to join the fray, feel free to hit Patreon.com/bustedbizbureau. If not, plz keep following me on the socials @bustedbizbureau.

Thank you love you bye!

The wickedly talented, remarkably hungover Christian McCann drops back into the pod to talk about his only personality trait: hockey. If you like insurance fraud, broadway plays, or describing labor stoppages using the imagery of an ancient greek myth turned modern broadway musical....you're soooo in luck! This one has three pretty clear acts. Act 1: about 18 minutes of trying our best to choke out any words through the thickened hazy fog of a Disonysian-level hangover. Act 2: The NHLPA's founding executive director, Alan Eagleson, committing a litany of crimes against the players he was meant to represent. Act 3: The introduction of the salary cap -- a move that limits a lot of player's maximum earning potential -- in 2005, as told through poetic and beautiful storytelling.

Thanks for listening! Patreon.com/bustedbizbureau is how you can get some behind the scenes and gossip about this episode, or to support me I guess. Cheers!

SOURCES:

Game Misconduct: Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey, Russ Conway, 1995
How one cantankerous man inspired the creation of the NHL, The Ontario Educational Communications Authority, Jamie Bradburn, 2017
The Hockey Lockout of 2004-2005, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Paul D. Staudohaur, December 2005
MAN ON A MISSION RUSS CONWAY'S INVESTIGATIVE WORK MAY BRING DOWN A HOCKEY POWER BROKER, Sports Illustrated, Michael Farber, 1995
ALL ROB RAY FIGHTS VOLUME 1, Youtube
Those Who Doin't Learn Fron History Are Doomed to Repeat It, 2004-2005 NHL Lockout with Bruce Dowbiggin, Agent Provacateur with Allan Walsh and Adam Wylde, October 2022
Kelly ousted as head of NHLPA, ESPN News 2009

Wikipedia Pages of

-Tim Horton

-Clint Malarchuk

-Ed Kea

World's biggest fact-knower, KP, is back on the podcast to talk a little bit about the National Football League's greatest franchise, the Washington Commanders. Dan Snyder's circus of finding bold, brave, and inventive ways to hork as much money out of patrons as possible. Grab a beer for the urinal, cozy up with some expired airline peanuts, and be sure to pay me 200 dollars to listen to this episode that's probably one of the funniest ones to date. But then it gets pretty awful, sorry about that. If Congress didn't release a whole ass report on the Washington Commanders on Dec 8, 2022, I'd have probably made this a different episode. But here we are!

If you like KP's stuff, follow @theycallus on instagram or head to Patreon.com/theycallus

If you like Busted Business Bureau, follow @bustedbizbureau on all socials, or hit Patreon.com/bustedbizbureau

Sources (not in order, also sorry many of them use the team's old name):

Conduct Detrimental: How the NFL and the Washington Commanders Covered Up Decades ofSexual Misconduct, Committee on Oversight and Reform U.S. House of Representatives, December 8, 2022
From dream job to nightmare: More than a dozen women allege sexual harassment and verbal abuse by former team employees at Redskins Park, Washington Post, Will Hobson and Liz Clarke, July 2020
Daniel Snyder and Washington Football Team: A timeline of his dysfunctional, now full ownership, Sporting News, Vinnie Iyer, 2021
A STRANGER TO MANY, BUT NOT TO SUCCESS, Washington Post, Peter Behr and Sandra Torry, 1999
Who is Beth Wilkinson? Lawyer leading Washington NFL team’s investigation has high-profile history, Washington Post, Adam Kilgore, July 2020
Washington Redskins Cheerleaders Describe Topless Photo Shoot and Uneasy Night Out, New York Times, Juliet Macur, May 2018
The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder, Washington City Paper, Dave McKenna, 2010
Raiders Coach Made Racist Comment About N.F.L. Players’ Union Chief, New York Times, Ken Belson, 2021

We're back! Iconic ex-roommate duo, Danaka and Nic, join me on the pod to go through the history of America's passtime. There's sure as hell a lot of shady business doings here! We'll talk about how labor relations for players have improved (and not!) over pro ball's 100+ year history. My major focus this episode was on Curt FLood, the guy who paved the way for players to be able to ore freely negotiate their contracts, which was NOT a fixture of baseball for a looooong time.

Last season was serious as hell, so it's time to get fucking silly! These first three episodes are all a futile attempt at understanding and communicating about sports. Apparently people know a LOT about it, like Danaka and Nic! But if you're a girlypop like me looking for a solid introduction to the sport, here's your chance. Mwah!

Patreon.com/BustedBizBureau

Sources:

WE'VE GONE AND DONE IT! EIGHT HOURS LATER, THE MONSANTO SEASON IS COMPLETE! This episode goes over Bayer's disastrous acquisition of Monsanto, how the antitrust division of the US government is simply set up to fail, and we have a look back on all of the hee-hees and haw-haws of the Monsanto season. After sitting in that studio for hours on end with Bluid and Amy, I think we deserve a little retrospective as a treat. I hope you're all feeling emotionally ok after this season. Drink some water. Hug your besties. I hope to see as many of you at the live show as possible this Saturday, and if not, I'll catch you in Season 4! Should be out by the end of 2022. Kissies!

Follow @BlenderBluid and @HelloAmyDo

LIVE SHOW TICKET LINK OCTOBER 1 PLEASE COME!

PATREON LINK

SOURCES:

https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/file/1066656/download
Bayer Tightens Control Over the World’s Food Supply, Carin Smaller, International Institute for Sustainable Development 2016.
Bayer raises Monsanto cash takeover offer to $65bn, Rob Davies, The Guardian 2016
Justice Department approves Bayer-Monsanto merger in landmark settlement, Brian Fung and Caitlin Dewey, WP 2018
How Bayer-Monsanto Became One of the Worst Corporate Deals—in 12 Charts, Ruth Bender, WSJ Aug 2019
Bayer Investor Sues Top Officials for ‘Disastrous’ Monsanto Deal, Chris Dolmetsch, Claims Journal 2020
Seed monopolies: Who controls the world's food supply?, Charli Shield, DW 2021

Barehanded honeykeeping, moms-on-facebook, and deadly scientific coverups are all converging to form the final bell toll for Monsanto's mortal time. With all of the doom-and-gloom from past episodes, you're probably wondering how this company...doesn't...still exist, given its titanic political, scientific, and corporate influence. The answer is it's all of it and it's none of it. We're really going through the ringer this episode with a final act that is so heartbreaking that I was, in fact, crying while reading it. Check it out! Please rate and leave reviews on the podcast if you love it; it really helps me out :)

Follow @BlenderBluid and @HelloAmyDo

LIVE SHOW TICKET LINK OCTOBER 1 PLEASE COME!

PATREON LINK

SOURCES:

The Monsanto Papers: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice, Carey Gillam 2021
Leydy Pech, the "honey lady" who stopped Monsanto, Beatriz Garcia, Al Dia News 2020
https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/leydy-pech/
Mayan Women Fought Monsanto—And Won, Christin Sandberg, Bitch Media 2014
Guatemalan protests against Monsanto Law, Rebecca Griest Swathmore College 2015
https://web.archive.org/web/20151226231418/http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/guatemala-indigenous-communities-prevail-monsanto/
I Won a Historic Lawsuit, But May Not Live to Get the Money, Carey Gillam, Time 2018
He was drenched in a weed-killer made by Monsanto in a workplace accident. Then he was diagnosed with cancer, Vanessa Caldwell, CBC Docs 2022

What would you say the work-life balance is on the Death Star? This episode follows a path down the Monsanto communications rabbit hole. PRAD majors, get your forks! Come eat! Blender Bluid, Amy Do and I try to answer a key question throughout the episode: do the entry/mid-level Monsanto employees....know? Do they know the vibe? To answer that question, we talk about intra-company communication, PR strategies, and track a story straight out of an episode of a Nev Schulman TV show. Oh, we also break into a lengthy discussion on that Lockheed Martin twitter drama discourse; how much ire is appropriate to direct at somebody who works at an evil mega-company?

Follow @BlenderBluid and @HelloAmyDo

LIVE SHOW TICKET LINK OCTOBER 1 PLEASE COME!

PATREON LINK

SOURCES

Missouri business groups divided on LGBT-discrimination ban, Summer Ballentine, Fulton Sun 2016
Gay? Transgender? Why You Might Want to Work for Monsanto, Lindsay Toler, RiverFront Times 2018
Monsanto Leading the Way for Women in Leadership, Sara Miller, LinkedIn 2018
The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy, Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, Harvard Business Review 2002
Monsanto Discovers a New Social Media, Wilhelm Peekhaus, International Journal of Communications 2010
Monsanto archived website links:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100205155240/http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto_today/for_the_record/default.asp
https://web.archive.org/web/20091224173230/http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto_today/for_the_record/monsanto_business_practice_indonesia.asp
https://web.archive.org/web/20100524063155/http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto_today/for_the_record/india_farmer_suicides.asp

This one's a banger, no way around it. This one will give a detailed history of Monsanto's relationship with the FDA -- spoilers, it literally goes ALL the way back -- and how the FDA was complicit in the expediting of Bovine Growth Hormone. We also go on a very long tangent on if the father of food safety was a fellow homosexual (Because it's my podcast! And I get to do whatever I want!)

This episode is full of such compelling characters; it's a shattering reminder that there are always people fighting the good fight. Hope you're enjoying the season so far! My description-writing game has dramatically weakened. Need to redirect my brain power into the episodes lol. But if you like this podcast, please keep telling your friends! I can tell a lot of you have been already!!

Follow the mysterious and hilarious @BlenderBluid and @HelloAmyDo

LIVE SHOW TICKET LINK OCTOBER 1 2022

PATREON LINK

SOURCES:

The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Deborah Blum 2018
Harvey W. Wiley: An Autobiography, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, New York: Bobs-Merrill Company 1930
The 19th-Century Fight Against Bacteria-Ridden Milk Preserved With Embalming Fluid, Deborah Blum, Undark Magazine 2018
The World According to Monsanto, Marie-Monique Robin 2008
Bovine Somatotropin (bST), FDA.gov April 2022
Pushing RBST: How the Law and the Political Process Were Used to Sell Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin to America, David Aboulafia, PACE Environmental Law Review 1998
Monsanto lobbying: an attack on us, our planet, and democracy, Nina Holland and Benjamin Sourice, Corporate EuropeObservatory 2016
Torturing Animals with Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered Feed, Katherine Paul, Truthout 2013

This is the birth of Modern Monsanto, and it takes quite a turn from the previous episodes. Instead of talking about the diseases and human suffering as a result of the products (like we've been doing at length), we're going to be looking at the sexy, muscular legal arm of Monsanto. Clarence Thomas comes back in this one! PokeMonsanto collection growing every day! :D Thanks again for tuning in and for all of your support. It means the world to me. Follow Amy Do and Blender Bluid on all the social medias @BlenderBluid and @HelloAmyDo

LIVE SHOW TICKETS OCTOBER 1

PLZ SUPPORT MY PATREON

SOURCES:

Monsanto’s Bet, Linda Grant and Alicia Moore, CNN Money 1997
The World According to Monsanto, Marie-Monique Robin 2008
Monsanto’s Technology Agreement, 2008
Safe Or Scary? The Shifting Reputation Of Glyphosate, AKA Roundup; Dan Charles, NPR 2019
Monsanto Vs. US Farmers, Center for Food Safety report 2005
Monsanto vs. US Farmers, 2010 Update, Center for Food Safety
Down and Out in Covington, Andy Meek, Memphis Daily News 2006
Monsanto wins $7.7b lawsuit in Brazil – but farmers’ fight to stop its ‘amoral’ royalty system will continue, Beth Daily, the Conversation 2019
WIKIPEDIA PAGES FOR THE FOLLOWING:
Flavr Savr

Hello again, y'all! This episode's all about the ENVIRONMENT and it is a real doozy. If you choose for some reason to start with this one, understand that we'd been in the studio for hours at this point. Blender Bluid, Amy Do and I were all simply transcending the mortal form. Anyways, in this riveting episode we talk about Times Beach Missouri, Anniston Alabama, and Soda Springs Idaho's separate disasters connected to Monsanto. There's a surprising amount of horses and Ronald Reagan, but not related to one another despite the fact that he was really into horses. Fun fact for ya. Cheers!

LIVE SHOW TICKETS OCTOBER 1

PLZ SUPPORT MY PATREON

SOURCES:

Baptized in PCB’s: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town, Ellen Griffith Spears 2014
The World According to Monsanto, Marie-Monique Robin 2008
Missouri's Costly Dioxin Lesson, Marjorie Sun, Science VOL. 219, NO. 4583 pp. 367-369, 1983
Monsanto Hid Decades Of Pollution, Michael Grunwald, Washington Post 2002
Pollution, Poverty and People of Color: Dirty Soil and Diabetes, Brett Israel, Environmental Health News, 2012
Monsanto’s Superfund Secret, Bart Elmore, Dissent Magazine 2017
Roundup’s Other Problem: Glyphosate is Sourced from Controversial Mines, Gosia Wozniacka Civil Eats, 2019
Residential zoning at former Monsanto site dangerous for future homebuyers, Sue Stevenson Columbia Daily Herald, 2021

All in all, this is a comedy podcast. But this is definitely one of the darkest episodes I've made. It's really important to me and it's heartbreaking...huge content warning for gruesome body horror. I'm really proud of this one, and despite it all, Amy and Blender Bluid managed to make this one real funny. This episode talks about Monsanto's role in the US imperial machine! We've got warmongering, we've got factories blowin' up, we have a new kind of acne that has literally never been observed before. Hitherto unforseen diseases will unfortunately be a running theme. This episode also tests the limits of what we will put up with when it comes to French people being french. Enjoy!

LIVE SHOW TICKETS OCTOBER 1

PLZ SUPPORT MY PATREON

FOOTNOTES:

Dioxin, Agent Orange, the Facts. Michael Gough, Plenum US 1986
Viktor Yushchenko: Ukraine's ex-president on being poisoned - BBC News, 2018
Agent Orange On Trial, Peter Shuck 1987
The World According to Monsanto, Marie-Monique Robin 2008
Monsanto: A Checkered History, Brian Tokar, The Ecologist 1998
The Children of Agent Orange, Charles Ornstein and Hannah Fresques, ProPublica, and Mike Hixenbaugh for The Virginian-Pilot, 2016
THE AGENT ORANGE SYNDROME, James Nachtwey, Vanity Fair 2007
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ranch_Hand
Kemner v. Monsanto Co., Casetext, 1991
The Little Town That Whipped Monsanto

SEASON 3 LET'S GO! This episode is the first of 8 in a FULL MONSANTO SEASON!!! I'd recommend starting with this episode; it will provide a complete timeline of Monsanto's wacky history and will give us some surprise tools to help us in later episodes. Blender Bluid and Amy Do are the guests for the entire season and girl they are hysterical. This episode is full of scientific abominations, the US government, Mark Ruffalo, and a place coloquially referred to as titty city. Welcome to my magnum opus, and enjoy the view from halfway down! Also I forgot to mention it aloud in the podcast but please come to my live show on October 1st :) The topic will not have to do with Monsanto; it's going to be a banging time.

Follow @BlenderBluid and @HelloAmyDo

LIVE SHOW TICKET LINK

PATREON LINK

SOURCES:

The World According to Monsanto, Marie-Monique Robin 2008
“Incorporated to Be a Sewer”: A Historical Analysis of Industrial Pollution in Sauget, Illinois, Fiona Eckert, Washington University in St Louis Center for Humanities, 2020
Funky Town! Smokestacks, strip joints and a seriously solid tax base: Welcome to Sauget, Illinois, Mike Seely, Riverfront Times 2004
Village Tax Levy is Only Thirteen Cents, Belleville News-Democrat, 1930
The Dayton Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation c. 2019
Monsanto Company, Company-Histories.com
Former Monsanto CEO John "Jack" Hanley dies at 96, Bryce Gray, St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2018
Monsanto lobbying: an attack on us, our planet, and democracy, Nina Holland and Benjamin Sourice, Corporate EuropeObservatory 2016
Monsanto Cutting 12% Of Employees As

Oops! I accidentally wrote an 8 part episode and decided to make it its own season! LOL! Season 3 is coming September 5. Listen to this teaser to find out what the topic will be and the new release schedule. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST! All of your kind words make me so happy! Keep telling your friends about it if you love it. It's about to get real fuckin' coconuts.

PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/bustedbizbureau

LIVE SHOW TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/busted-business-bureau-live-tickets-392610848617

(Dueling Pianos tickets bc me and other christian's show is friday aug 26): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/christian-and-christian-dueling-pianos-tickets-350709189627

Instagram/Twitter/Tiktok: @BustedBizBureau

^My instagram usually has the most updates, twitter has the most drunk shitposts, tiktok has the most Polished Content.

Dr. Alex Berr is on the pod to 1) brutally roast me several times and 2) help me think about the questions regarding the business of selling and distributing animals. The question that drives this episode is: Are animals products? We talk about the industry standards for both pet rats and lab rats when it comes to breeding, caretaking, and liability. Dr. Berr got her PhD in biomedical engineering and has PLENTY of experience with mice...it's really cool stuff. While this episode is absolutely hilarious, it's also pretty dark and gross. Don't listen if you're squeamish about animal stuff; this one is simply not for you. I forgot to put a disclaimer up top so consider yourself warned. Anyways, go see Uncontrolled Variables at the Lincoln Lodge this Thursday at 7:30pm! :)

FOOTNOTES:

Mr. McKnight works to keep on rolling, Liz Such, Kaneland Krier 2013

EVERY DOG CAN HAVE ITS DAY: EXTENDING LIABILITY BEYOND THE SELLER BY DEFINING PETS AS “PRODUCTS” UNDER PRODUCTS LIABILITY THEORY, Jason Parent, Animal Law Review at Lewis & Clark Law School, 2005

Caruso v Crawford Hospital, NY 1979

Bazzini vs Garrant, NY 1982

https://www.criver.com/sites/default/files/noindex/catalogs/rms/brown-norway-rats-us-pricing.pdf

Special report: Thousands of mice were euthanized at Rutgers during last year's campus shutdown, Madison McGay and Hayley Slusser, The Daily Targum 2021

The History of the Lab Rat Is Full of Scientific Triumphs and Ethical Quandaries, Sam Schipani, Smithsonian Magazine (This one has EAR RAT in it)

https://www.melirats.com/our-rattery

USDA uncovers abuse at rodent supplier that PETA claims is used by PetSmart, Russ Wiles, AZ Central 2016

Petco Rats Need Bigger Warning, Jury Told. Ameena Shelling, Courthouse News Service 2016

Busted Business Bureau Live Show Link!: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/busted-business-bureau-live-tickets-392610848617

Busted Business Bureau Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bustedbizbureau

Aasia Lashay is BACK for what I'm calling a bonus episode, but is simply the length of a regular episode. They were in a Second City show years ago that wound up being the centerpiece of a reverse racism discrimination lawsuit. The complaint never went anywhere, so years later, she's on this pod to respond to the allegations! SLAY!

FOOTNOTES:

Stream Aasia's music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1wL4h8Av9COEVikfmGEtgb
Here's the full complaint: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4041688-Secondcity
Second City current performer union efforts: INSTAGRAM @secondcityworkers TWITTER: https://twitter.com/scworkers
BUSTED BUSINESS BUREAU LIVE SHOW INFO: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/busted-business-bureau-live-tickets-392610848617

A woman with literally no water signs in her astrological chart through Pluto, Claire Rufin, joins me to throw away any chances I had at getting sponsored by BetterHelp! I'm working through a lot of my own understanding on the subjects in this episode, including how a CEO who is presumably worth millions of dollars would take to Reddit to address a complaints lobbied by a Youtuber named Memeology 101. Anyways, this episode is about privacy, employees' rights, and big data. I could not have formed my understanding on these subjects without Cathy O'Neill's Weapons of Math Destruction: AWESOME book! But yeah, I think this is a unique take on BetterHelp. Claire was great on this podcast, @claireannalee is her instagram, I'm cracking open a daiquiri with a paper straw in her honor tonight.

Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O'Neill 2016

How Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit behemoth, suddenly imploded, Lance Williams, Reveal News Sep 2016

Are Workplace Personality Tests Fair?, Lauren Weber and Elizabeth Dwoskin, WSJ 2014

When Your Boss Makes You Pay for Being Fat, Leslie Kwoh, WSJ 2013

At Talkspace, Start-Up Culture Collides With Mental Health Concerns, Kashmir Hill and Aaron Krolik, NYT Aug 2020

Eat the Rich episode 90: Online Therapy Platforms

https://jezebel.com/the-spooky-loosely-regulated-world-of-online-therapy-1841791137

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/betterhelp/

https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/4/17932862/betterhelp-app-youtube-sponsorship-controversy-explained

https://pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/461812-87#overview

https://medium.com/@alonmatas/when-betterhelp-found-itself-in-a-youtube-controversy-3fd472229a4e

https://www.betterhelp.com/privacy/

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollingstone.com%2Fculture%2Fculture-features%2Fbetterhealth-app-astroworld-travis-scott-1255876%2F

https://www.betterhelporg.com/ ("Robust Reporting")

Dan Carroll, who is one of the boys, joins me for probably the most fucked up episode I've made to date. Medical horror abound, this one is certainly dark. If you think illegally marketing a drug to be used off-label for disabled children is bad, it's literally not even scratching the surface of how bad the rest of it gets. Strap in for the longest episode script I've made thus far all about geriatric abuse, simping for the FDA, and body changes that are so shocking that I waited until 30 minutes in to tell Dan where the episode was going. Oh also, you get some lore about me! Follow @DanCarroll__ on twitter, hug your people tight, and thanks again for listening to this podcast. Love you all! B)

FOOTNOTES:

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker, Steven Brill, Huffington Post DocuSerial 2016
Johnson & Johnson to Pay More Than $2.2 Billion to Resolve Criminal and Civil Investigations, DOJ 2013
https://risperdalboys.com/
https://thenationaltriallawyers.org/2014/03/risperdal-lawsuit-montana-5-9-million-settlement/
https://www.drugwatch.com/risperdal/lawsuits/
https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/jj-janssen-risperdal-lawsuit/
https://web.archive.org/web/20180804183932/https://newbrunswicktoday.com/article/jj-biochemist-testifies-company-never-gave-fda-risperdal-safety-analysis-it-knew-about-years
https://web.archive.org/web/20180804183827/https://newbrunswicktoday.com/article/latest-risperdal-verdict-jj-hit-70-million-compensatory-damages
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1256452/?page=3

Buffalo native and hater-by-trade, Christian McCann, has dropped by the podcast to give us a people's history of the most bizarre restaurant chain: Buffalo Wild Wings! It is kind of crazy how many things Buffalo Wild Wings has entered into our culture. Its origin story is COMPLETELY left field. We also talk about how busted the service industry is. If you like wage theft, polio, or overindulgent descriptions of meat, this is definitely the episode for you. Christian is so near and dear to my heart, follow @c_and_c_dueling_pianos on Instagram or his twitter @CThomasMccann (he thought his handle was @fullonacidtrip, but it is not. he simply lied for attention)

FOOTNOTES:

https://www.newspapers.com/image/195224567/?terms=a%20Woman%20Worth%20Moving%20a%20Restaurant%20Chain%20For&match=1

https://www.nrn.com/mergers-acquisitions/arby-s-buy-buffalo-wild-wings-29b-deal?NL=NRN-02_&Issue=NRN-02__20171129_NRN-02__134&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_1&utm_rid=CPG06000002760274&utm_campaign=20321&utm_medium=email&elq2=4c13e545705c41069634f725a3785a8e

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-11/buffalo-wild-wings-sued-by-server-over-tipped-wage-practices

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2015/10/buffalo_wild_wings_owners_agre.html

https://www.fslawfirm.com/blog/current-cases/buffalo-wild-wings-complaint/

https://www.bradleygrombacher.com/blog/2017/september/buffalo-wild-wings-wage-hour-lawsuit-alleges-unp/

https://www.legalreader.com/buffalo-wild-wings-agrees-to-pay-1-5m-ending-lawsuit-over-employee-pay/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-27/buffalo-wild-wings-cuts-jobs-amid-rising-labor-wing-prices

https://www.carlsonattorneys.com/news-and-update/food-poisoning-lawsuit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODqkxgg1AM&ab_channel=MattPlapp

TECH ERROR FIXED! Woman with BFA, Sarah, is back on the pod to talk about the musical that got cancelled to its death on Twitter: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812! This is my favorite musical ever written that unfortunately was, in fact, a busted business. Bad decisions all the way at the top. I'm not kidding, you should put this on a playlist with all the bangers from the show. If you like controversy, overindulgence, opulence, and Josh Groban, this one's a must-listen! If you're going to listen to one song to get into the show, I think I might recommend sitting down and fully listening to The Ball. Sooooo enchanting. Anyways, plz follow @BustedBizBureau on tiktok and instiegram if you want to see all the Great Comet vids I've posted (of which I've posted many). Donate to the patreon, I guess. Go on Dave Malloy's website, too. You won't regret it. Cheers! :)

FOOTNOTES:

https://www.papermag.com/beetlejuice-broadway-tiktok-trend-1-2640689936.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/theater/how-to-keep-the-great-comet-party-going-on-broadway-dish-out-the-pierogies-and-add-josh-groban.html

https://digboston.com/experience/2011/12/from-the-aisle-three-pianos/

https://thehustle.co/the-economics-of-broadway-shows/

scribd.com/book/401397644/I-Wanna-Be-a-Producer-How-to-Make-a-Killing-on-Broadway-or-Get-Killed

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/theater/on-the-town-producers-keep-faith-in-their-investment.html

https://playbill.com/article/great-comet-and-ars-nova-say-contract-dispute-resolved

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/theater/josh-groban-great-comet.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcTfhMT2_4o&ab_channel=KevinSpaceyTalks

https://www.npr.org/2017/05/18/528803081/josh-groban-leaves-big-shoes-to-fill-in-the-tony-nominated-great-comet

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ohenry-report/id1261146501

https://playbill.com/article/mandy-patinkin-will-return-to-broadway-in-the-great-comet

https://deadline.com/2017/07/mandy-patinkin-drops-out-of-natasha-pierre-and-the-great-comet-of-1812-on-broadway-1202138576/<!--

-->

Loyal Piggly Wiggly customer, Aasia Lashay, joins me for a deep dive (haha get it) into the scandalous world of packaged seafood products. You know it's bad when a whole ass CEO genuinely faces consequences for it. If you like scheming, gruesome workplace safety violations, backstabbing, and DOJ antitrust investigations, you better listen ASAP! You'll definitely have stories for your coworkers to break the ice after this one. Anyways, stream ALL of Aasia's music on Spotify (D.A.B.O. is my personal fav), watch the stuff she writes for (What We Do in the Shadows and Upload), and follow her on ALL SOCIAL MEDIAS @euthanAasia!

FOOTNOTES:

This government price-fixing case makes the tuna industry sound like the mafia, LA Times, Michael Hiltzik, 2019
Dairy companies fined for price rigging, The Korea Herald, 김지현 2011
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/4483839/Bunble-Class-Action-Complasint-Copy.pdf
The most important details of the Walmart suit against the “big three” tuna companies, Seafood Source, Cliff White 2016
Asserting innocence, Lischewski hopes to return to Bumble Bee CEO role, Undercurrent News, Jason Smith 2019
Cooked to death in agony for two hours: Gruesome guilty plea by Bumble Bee Foods, My News LA, Stephanie Michaud 2017
Chris Lischewski hopes to avoid prison, while prosecutors push for 10-year sentence, Seafood Source, Cliff White 2020
Thai Union's Chicken of the Sea blew the whistle on tuna price fixing, Bumble Bee and StarKist replace legal teams, Seafood Source, Cliff White 2017
Lischewski — There Was No Price Fixing in the Tuna Industry, Medium, Chris Lischewski 2020
https://twitter.com/LischewskiChris/status/1201639711124738049

PS If you live in chicago, I have a comedy/dueling pianos show coming up this Friday, June 24 2022, at the Lincoln Lodge at 6pm! It's called Christian and Christian dueling pianos, you can get tix on eventbrite, and it'll be way fun. Thanks! :)

Late bloomer Ari Levin joins me for, I'm not kidding, probably the best episode I've made thus far. THEE Charles Ponzi's scheme has so many twists and turns. Charles Ponzi is a mama's boy, he's a pisces, he's 5'2. He's.....the man of my dreams. While many historians have actually pieced together a pretty cogent puzzle of the life Ponzi lived, none are as brave as I am because none of them acknowledge that he's a total smokeshow. I'm sure you're reading this like "she's doing a joke right now" but I AM NOT. Anyways, huge thanks to Mitchell Zuckoff, whose book on Ponzi is enrapturing. Ari is also absolutely hysterical in this episode, he's the perfect podcast guest. Follow @remlevin and catch him in Trigger Happy at the Annoyance on Wednesdays at 9:30! Or anything he's in. He's a gem!

Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend, Mitchell Zuckoff, 2006
Ponzi's Scheme, Lizzie Peabody, Sidedoor - Smithsonian Institution Podcast, 2020
Ponzi: The Incredible True Story of the King of Financial Cons, Donald Dunn, 2004
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ponzi
This Week In History: The Boston Post Takes Down Charles Ponzi, Edgar B. Herwick III, 2014

PS I actually PAID for the books I mentioned because they weren't on Scribd. If you like stuff like this, consider tossing coins at my PATREON! It's patreon.com/bustedbizbureau

KP, who invented being funny, has returned AGAIN for an episode about the market’s solution to the pesky idea of consumers hating climate change: “climate certification.” This podcast is certified carbon neutral because I venmo’d someone in France to get an impossible whopper from Burger King. This episode is not doom and gloom, it’s full of scams and glam! It’ll be fun, I pinky promise! Follow @they.call.us everywhere and thanks for the reviews! Keep ‘em coming! I love and appreciate you <3

FOOTNOTES

https://www.climateneutral.org/
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/carbon-cowboys-20110722-1hssc.html
https://features.propublica.org/brazil-carbon-offsets/inconvenient-truth-carbon-credits-dont-work-deforestation-redd-acre-cambodia/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/to-regrow-forests-us-needs-billions-of-seeds-many-more-seed-hunters
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2010/0420/Carbon-offsets-How-a-Vatican-forest-failed-to-reduce-global-warming

PS towards the end I mention that I really believe in individual action to stop climate change, the IMPLICATION being that I also believe in holding companies accountable for their behaviors/believe in strict regulations. I feel like that’s clear from….the entire podcast that I do….but I did in fact fail to mention it in the rant at the end. Cancel me if you feel.

My brother in christ, Matt McLean, joins for a jaunty-ass personal episode about society's preventative answer to the war on drugs: DARE! Cops certainly did not get this one right, despite receiving an insane amount of funding. Like bonkers. This loosey goosey episode was so fun to record, and if you like drugs, alcohol, and violence, this episode is for you! Stream Matt's music and follow @bustedbizbureau if you're so inclined. :) KISSES!

FOOTNOTES

DARE Marks a Decade of Growth and Controversy : Youth: Despite critics, anti-drug program expands nationally. But some see declining support in LAPD., Jim Newton, LA Times, 1993
DARE takes substance abuse message into classrooms, Mureena Naseer, Journal and Courier, 1999
DARE to succeed, Myra Jones, The Bradenton Herald, 2000
DARE officers guide our youth, Joe Mazurek, Ravalli Republic, 1996
Program DARES youth to resist drugs and violence, Sheryald Cubrey, The Marshall News, 1996
Vintage DARE cartoon
DARE Scare: Turning Children Into Informants?, James Bovard, 1994, Washington Post
A brief history of DARE, the anti-drug program Jeff Sessions wants to revive, Christopher Ingramsen, Washington Post 2017,
Local cops defend DARE, Rex Robinson and Phil Rokohor, Southtown Star 1998

National Organizer at CODEPINK, Danaka, joins me for the girliest episode of Busted Business Bureau: the multibillion dollar weapons company, Lockheed Martin! If you pay taxes, I promise this episode is about you. For a company that's been around so long, you think they'd build less stuff that caught on fire or less stuff that made Vermonter children lose control of their bowels. This one's got explosions, missed deadlines, a bit of the red scare, bribery, and the WHITE MAN'S CAUCUS, which I promise is just as funny as it sounds. Follow @wifeoftoast on twitter or @CODEPINK everywhere!

PS, if you live in Chicago, Mike Quigley takes money from Lockheed Martin. Follow @DivestMike and tell him to cut it out!

Footnotes:

Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, William D. Hartung

Inside America’s Dysfunctional Trillion-Dollar Fighter-Jet Program, Valerie Insinna, New York Times 2019

Federal Contractors Are Violating Workers’ Rights and Harming the U.S. Government, Center for American Progress Report

Sandia National Labs Bribery Scandal, Department of Justice Summary

Lockheed Subsidiary (Tools and Metals) Overcharging Scheme, Jerry Seper, Washington Times 2000

Working for Equality: The Narrative of Harry Hudson, Harry Hudson

Wikipedia List of Lockheed Bribery Scandals

How Lockheed Martin Makes Money, Investopedia

Nooses, Symbols of Race Hatred, At Center of Workplace Lawsuits, Sana Siwolap, NYT 2000

Lockheed's Latest Battle: Bias, Greg Schneider, NYT 2000

Remove Labels This Ramadan <3, Coca Cola XOXO

I don't want to plug that right wing guy's website or the White Man's Caucus website but if you're dying to look them up, they're easily googlable lol.

Chicago improv's biggest hater KP returns to talk about men's rights (and men's wrongs). This men's rights lawyer has unleashed himself upon California to successfully sue people over ladies nights, lesbian gatherings, and Mother's Day baseball promotions. Why is Alfred Rava not a household name? This is literally all I talk about now. TUNE IN!

Souces (not enough if you ask me):

https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/12/DFEH_UnruhFactSheet.pdf
https://www.nrtoday.com/a-hetoo-movement-fighting-for-men-s-rights-in-california-courts/article_7b2a05db-3e71-542b-a7d9-4f21eabf1fbc.html
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-may-16-sp-promotions16-story.html
https://nypost.com/2018/05/11/woman-sued-by-men-for-discrimination-at-empowerment-events/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/men-rights-unruh-act-women-discrimination/
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-mens-rights-20161027-story.html
https://ncfm.org/2018/06/news/discrimination-news/discrimination-against-men-news/ncfm-members-file-lawsuit-against-women-only-tech-scholarships-a-man-tax/
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1887382.html
https://www.classaction.org/media/riddick-et-al-v-united-airlines-inc.pdf
https://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&sportCat=mlb&id=4247723
https://www.scribd.com/document/380009632/Pollister-v-Shlesinger-Et-Al

Follow @BustedBizBureau or head to BustedBizBureau.com for more updates! Thanks for tuning in. Season 2 coming soon!

Rollercoaster hater Peter Bucci joins the season finale to talk about Six Flags’ insane journey to becoming the world’s largest regional theme park chain. This episode has everything: bankruptcy, a hostile takeover, many gruesome rollercoaster deaths. Also, who knew the politics of parking could be so interesting? Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to follow @BustedBizBureau everywhere for updates on season 2.

Footnotes:

Angus G. Wynne, © Academic, 2000-2022
Restructuring a Theme Park: The Six Flags Bankruptcy, John Capps and Lauren Sherrell
Incidents at Six Flags parks, Wikipedia
Six Flags faces buying spree hangover, Sean Murphy, My Plainview 2005
The Atlanta Braves Borrowed Their Parking Scam From Dan Snyder, Dave Mckenna, Deadspin 2016
DEFINITIVE CONSENT SOLICITATION STATEMENT FILED BY RED ZONE LLC, 2005
Large Shareholder Files Against Six Flags Sale NFL Owner Backed By Major Investor, Paul Monies, NEWSOK 2005
Six Flags Files For Chap. 11 Bankruptcy, Forbes 2009
Dakota Hickman and Matthew D’Agostino vs. Six Flags New England, 2019
How you can eat every day at Six Flags Magic Mountain for $150 a year, Mercury News 2021
Six Flags 2018 Annual Report

Rising star Deanna Ortiz joins to talk about something we spend a stupid amount of tax dollars on in Chicago: ShotSpotter! It’s a national company, but the City of Chicago makes up nearly a quarter of its revenue. What are we spendin’ all that money on? This episode is sooo foolish, we talk about tech bros’ hubris, how good PR can change everything, and who from the company definitely got picked to be the fall guy. FUN STUFF! COMEDY PODCAST! Follow @DeannaOrtiz_ and @Crushes_podcast everywhere!!

Footnotes:

Shot Spotter: Can a tech startup put a dent in violent crime? Ethan Walters, Wired Apr 1 2007
Interactive Map of where Shotspotters are in Chicago
ShotSpotter FAQ
Could a controversial gun-surveillance system help tackle Toronto crime? Jeff Gray, 2016 Toronto Daily News
Gunshot detection technology raises concerns of bias and inaccuracy, Prince Shakur, Coda 2020
ShotSpotter Sensors Send SDPD Officers to False Alarms More Often Than Advertised, Kara Grant, Voices of San Diego 2020
Courtroom testimony reveals accuracy of SF gunshot sensors a ‘marketing’ ploy, Jonah Owen Lamb, San Francisco Examiner 2017
Impact of ShotSpotter Technology on Firearm Homicides and Arrests Among Large Metropolitan Counties: a Longitudinal Analysis, 1999–2016, Green, Dineen, Doucette, Shapiro, and Rassian 2021
A Partially Randomized Field Experiment on the Effect of an Acoustic Gunshot Detection System on Police Incident Reports, J. Experimental Criminology (2018)
Williams Case - Frye Motion
An American city’s struggle to police its police: Shots in the Dark, CHAPTER TWO | A HIGH-STAKES GA

How far would you go to protect your company’s reputation? Is it box-of-live-spiders far? Is it cross-country far? Is it re-enact-a-B-list-80s-movie far? Emily Lindsey joins for this very crime-y episode about the eBay corporate cyberstalking scandal that goes further than you’d imagine. This episode is absolutely nuts; it’s got blogging, it’s got schemes, it's got people who make a preposterous amount of money trying to do crime. Can’t miss this one! Follow @BustedBizBureau everywhere!

“Take Her Down”: Inside eBay’s Stalking Campaign against a Natick Couple, Mike Damiano, Boston Magazine, December 2021
Activist Investor Eviscerates eBay Management, Ina Steiner, eCommerceBytes January 2019
eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of Employees, Ina Steiner, eCommerceBytes April 2019
FBI Affadavit, Mark Wilson, June 11 2020
Gilbert, Popp, Stockwell and Zea Charging Doc, US District Court of Massachusetts, May 2020
US District Court of Massachusetts vs. Phillip Cooke, July 2021
Pictures of iMessages, Craigslist Post, and Pig Mask, BustedBizBureau Instagram, 2022

My girlfriend Sarah joins to talk about frozen food, a surprising amount of corporate espionage, and the private company that has a ~70% likelihood of supplying your public school's pizza: Schwan's! The school lunch contract biz is more intense than you'd think. Please follow @BustedBizBureau everywhere!

Marvin M. Schwan, John Radzilowski, Immigrant Entrepreneurship 2018
Schwan, Marvin in front of an original ice cream truck, ca. 1977
Ketchup as a Vegetable: Condiments and the Politics of School Lunch in Reagan’s America, Amy Bentley, Gastronomica 2021
Judge Allows Lawsuit to Proceed in $870 Million Schwan Heir Case, AP News 1996
MARK SCHWAN AND PAUL SCHWAN VS LAWRENCE BURDGOF ET. AL, APPEAL FROM SECOND JUDICIAL COURT, MINNEHHAHA COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA
Corporate Spies: The Pizza Plot, Adam L. Penenberg and Marc Barry, NYT 2000
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA Schwan’s IP, LLC, and Schwan’s Consumer Brands North America, Inc VS Kraft Pizza Company
Potato politics, with a pizza side, David Rogers, Politico 2011
Washington pizza sauce fight has deep Minnesota ties, Brett Neely, MPRNews 2011
Leading School Food Supplier, Schwan’s Food Service, Serves Up Industry’s First Portfolio of Products to Meet Proposed USDA School Meal Rules, BusinessWire 2011
City Schools’ Food Program Struggles with Pizza Problems, City Limits 2016
Schwan's Co. v. Cai 12-2-2021

KP joins to talk about origins and dramatic sudden closure of iO theater. How can you make a sustainable business off of adults playing pretend? Turns out it’s pretty hard. This episode has everything: improv comedy, wage theft allegations, desecration of human remains. Twists and turns everywhere! Follow KP's incredible project @they.call.us everywhere!!!

Footnotes:

Behind the Laughs: Community and Inequality in Comedy, Michael P. Jeffries
The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legend of Del Close, Kim “Howard” Johnson
Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History, Margaret Hicks
Skullduggery, Tad Friend, The New Yorker
Comedy Guru Charna Halpern Carries On, Achy Obejas, Chicago Tribune
The First Comedy Strike, Richard Zoglin, Time Magazine
This Unsung Comic Guru Turned Her Passion For Improv Into a Profitable Business INC Magazine, 2016
iO Co-Founder's Controversial Sexual Harassment Comments Spark Debate, Mae Rice, Chicagoist
iO Chicago’s move is more than a new address, Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
iO makes a big move into founder Charna Halpern’s ‘dream theater’, Brianna Wellen, Chicago Reader
What We Can Learn From Improv Theaters' PPP Loans, Seth Simons, Paste Magazine

My friend Bibi joins to talk about Johnson & Johnson’s transvaginal mesh implant that has been the center of class action lawsuits around the globe. Comedy podcast!! In this episode, we’ll dive into gruesome detail about how your organs sag with age, how some products have tried and failed to alleviate that problem, and how your work emails should never be the subject of court litigation. Follow @BustedBizBureau on all social media! It really helps me out, thanks!

Footnotes:

The history and evolution of pessaries for pelvic organ prolapse, Shah et al. 2005
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, Gill v Ethicon Sàrl (No 5) [2019] FCA 1905
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA The People of the state of California vs JOHNSON & JOHNSON, ETHICON, INC.and DOES 1 Case No. 37-2016-00017229-CU-MC-CTL, January 2020
Ethicon complaint reviewer says in J&J trial that patients felt vaginal mesh instructions fell short of explaining risks, Northern California Record 2019
Revealed: Johnson & Johnson's 'irresponsible' actions over vaginal mesh implant, The Guardian
Huskey v Ethicon Day 4- Huskey Takes the Stand, Jane Akre, 2014
'Scandal' of vaginal mesh removal rates revealed by NHS records, The Guardian
Patient Recruiter and Physician Plead Guilty in Bribery and Kickback Scheme in Connection with Transvaginal Mesh Litigation, DOJ 2021
Orlando doctor facing federal charges banned from performing liposuction after patient death, Orlando Sentinel, 2021

Karsten Runquist joins for an overwhelmingly deep dive into Kars4Kids. When you donate your car, where does your money go? This question is what inspired me to start this entire podcast. If you like looking through public tax records, learning about real estate speculation, or being frightened by sentient 5-dollar-bill mascots, this one's for you. Follow @karstenrunquist and/or @runquistkarsten everywhere!

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Footnotes:

Kars4Kids website, check out the houses and stuff! Pretty fun!
Car donation: When it makes sense to seek a charity tax deduction, Peter Gareffa Edmunds
Kars4Kids Tax Filings by year, ProPublica
Kars4Kids Charity Reneged on Deal, Josh Nathan-Kazis, 2012
Charity in Taxes Tussle, Wall Street Journal, 2012
Kars4Kids Charity Loses Big on Real Estate, Josh Nathan-Kazis, 2012
Court: Oorah is tax-exempt in town of Jefferson, Matthew Mckibben, 2014
Oorah Tax Filings by year, Propublica
Did an Orthodox Charity Secretly Buy a Synagogue Just to Avoid Filing a Tax Return?, Josh Nathan-Kazis, 2016
More on Congregation Oorah, Hannah Dreyfus, 2016
Oorah Federal Covid-related Complaint, 2021

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Jaxi Alegria joins to talk about commercial clothing donation bins, specifically the ones tied to an international political cult. Big swing for the first episode! We'll talk about troubled teen facilities, international fugitives known for tax evasion, fradulent charities, and how sexy you have to be to commit certain crimes.

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Tvind Alert Website
Minneapolis and USagain bins, Grant Wilson
Case Summary of Danish Prosecutor vs. Mogens Amdi Petersen
FBI Report on Tvind, 2001
Former supporters describe charity leader's rise and fall, Chicago Tribune
Concerning Tvind, Steen Thomsen
Charity Commission Report, 1997
Fresh abuse allegations at children’s ‘home of horrors’ with links to ‘cult-like’ group, Tom Bristow
Teachers Group: The cult-like group linked to a charity that gets UK aid, BBC
US taxpayers are financing alleged cult through African aid charities, Reveal News
PlanetAid's 2020 Annual Report, Talks about One World University and Humana People to People
Tvind's Website Timeline stating that they founded One World University and Humana People to People

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Blender Bluid joins to talk about the Salvation Army. NOT THE GAY STUFF. This is about worker’s rights, weird Christians, incredibly lax laws around what counts as “rehab,” and resisting the urge to cry while reading court documents about labor violations. Follow @blenderbluid everywhere!

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The anti-drinking listicle, William Booth 1888
Salvation Army ARC magazine write-up, New Frontier Chronicle (now CARING magazine)
Charlotte ARC write-up, UNC MediaHub contributors
Chaotic De Moines Article, Lee Rood
Department of Labor decision, Washington Times
"Work Therapy"—How the Salvation Army's Chain of Rehabs Exploits Unpaid Labor, Kenneth Anderson
Guy Dixon court summary, Jan 2005
California Salvation Army Court Complaint, May 2021
Chicago Salvation Army Court Complaint, Nov 2021

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Amy Do joins to talk about the meteoric rise and fall of a family cable empire from the 90s. It’s like if Succession took place in a rural company town, had less sexy actors, and added fradulently-funded lesbian arthouse films. Turns out, it only takes one question from a nosy fella to collapse a billion-dollar business. Follow @helloamydo everywhere!

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JohnnyCashRules32 Youtube Page
Adelphia Interviews, Dr. Susan Bishop
Court Case Summary, District Judge Gerard Lynch
SEC vs. Adelphia
That damn public Adelphia meeting, NYT 2002
Retrospective on Adelphia, NYT 2004
Watch Songcatcher for Free, Tubi
The Adelphia Story, CNN Money
John Rigas First Pitch, Olean Times Herald

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Join Christian Borkey as she performs dissections (and vivisections!) on various busted business models. This research-based comedy podcast is for peeps who enjoy densely packed information, white collar true crime, and naturally funny people. :) Thanks for tuning in!

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