The long-running media deconstruction podcast No Agenda delivered a poignant and provocative episode on July 30, 2026, as guest hosts Darren O'Neill and Larry Blythner filled in for Adam Curry, who is on bereavement leave following the passing of co-host John C. Dvorak. Titled "Flock Off!" (Episode 1890), the show tackled a range of pressing stories, from Anthony Fauci's controversial Senate appearance to Elon Musk's latest AI predictions and a bipartisan backlash against Flock Safety's license plate cameras.
Opening with a candid discussion about how they were tapped to keep the show running, O'Neill and Blythner dove into the episode's central topics. The headline-grabbing moment was Fauci invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times before a Senate committee, a spectacle that Blythner described as "the biggest, uh, comedic event in the history of United States government, no question about it." The hosts read verbatim passages from Fauci's roughly 1,100-page diary, including entries about Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, and a Kennedy Center evening with Joan Baez. Blythner argued that Fauci missed an opportunity for a Caesar's Palace residency by heeding his six attorneys instead of answering Senator Josh Hawley's questions directly.
The episode also examined Elon Musk's interview with The Economist, where he predicted AI would surpass human intelligence within five years and gave a 10 to 20 percent chance of "killer robots." O'Neill and Blythner analyzed the implications of such forecasts, placing them in the context of ongoing debates about AI regulation and safety.
Another major segment focused on the growing movement against Flock Safety, a company with 120,000 cameras across 49 states. The ACLU has joined right-leaning municipalities in Sedona, Arizona, and elsewhere to cancel contracts with the company. The hosts referenced the dflock.org tracking site and reporting from Sir Ryan Bemrose about antenna sensors capable of harvesting MAC addresses from passing phones. They contrasted CEO Garrett Langley's pitch that "safety should just be a right" with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's stance on incarceration, El Salvador's Bukele prison model, and Radley Balko's book "Rise of the Warrior Cop."
The episode also covered a McLaughlin poll on the Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz strikes, as well as a WNBA controversy involving Seattle Storm owner confronting two teenage Sophie Cunningham fans. A lengthy donation segment honored Dvorak with tributes from producers around the world, plus knightings and meetup announcements from Coeur d'Alene to Calgary.
This guest-hosted episode underscores the show's resilience and commitment to its mission of deconstructing media narratives, even in the face of personal loss. The analysis of Fauci's testimony, AI's existential risks, and surveillance technology's reach highlights the ongoing tensions between government transparency, technological advancement, and civil liberties. As the hosts noted, these stories are not just headlines but reflections of deeper societal shifts.
