Shutdown Politics: Billions Weaponized, Rules Broken

The shutdown is not a glitch. It is not paperwork stuck in a drawer. It is the sound of a government slamming its own face into a wall.

They call it gridlock. They call it a standoff. That is polite language for a demolition derby where the drivers are drunk and the cars are already on fire.

In this episode I pull apart what is really happening behind the headlines. The shutdown is not clean. It is not temporary. It is a blunt weapon being swung at the people who can least afford it.

The people who are supposed to keep the lights on are playing blackout bingo. Parks closed. Paychecks missing. Agencies gutted. The one thing still open is the finger pointing factory.

In this episode I break down how billions meant for real infrastructure have been ripped away. The money was not lost. It was seized. Chicago is being used as a prop in a political revenge show.

You are not watching leaders make choices. You are watching toddlers fight over the matchbook while the house burns down around them. And in this episode I connect how those tantrums affect every single taxpayer.

The system that promised neutrality is now a megaphone for propaganda. Federal agencies are posting partisan talking points like campaign interns. In this episode I take that apart and ask what it means when the rules no longer apply.

The shutdown is not the story. The story is how much damage they can do while everything is shut down. And in this episode I show you exactly how the damage is spreading.

And the real headline is not whether government reopens tomorrow. The real headline is whether democracy itself makes it out alive.

Looking forward to your comments and feedback. Email me at:

WolfPackTalks@gmail.com 

AWorldGoneMadPodcast@gmail.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open & Friday Setup
• 0:45 Shutdown Chaos Explained
• 3:40 Chicago Funds Pulled as Punishment
• 6:38 Hatch Act Lines Crossed
• 9:50 Shift to Bizarre News
• 10:37 Passports Eaten at 30,000 Feet
• 12:46 Python at the Drive-Thru
• 15:37 Melbourne’s Fake Seizure Guy
• 18:25 Ticketing a Driverless Car
• 20:32 Segment Close & Listener Call-In
• 21:20 Closing Monologue & Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

This is a world on mad. This is a worldbone mad.

unknown: 0:07

Mad Mad Mad Mad.

SPEAKER_00: 0:09

This is the World Gone Mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolf. Welcome to the Friday edition, the part of the week where later in my podcast I bring you news from the edge of sanity. And try to lighten the load a little before you head into the weekend. News from the edge of sanity. The kind of stories that make you pause mid-coffee and say, you've got to be kidding me. But let's talk about the real news stories from the last 48 hours, which sometimes rival the bizarre ones. Okay, here we go. The government is shut down. We know this. It's day three. And honestly, calling it a shutdown is generous. A shutdown sounds clean, it sounds organized, like there was a switch. You know, someone turned it off, and now America is just taking a little nap. No, what we have here is a clown car pile up on fire inside a bigger clown car also on fire. You want to know what's closed? The parks are closed. The Smithsonian is closed. The people keeping your food safe, all of that is closed. You know what's open? TSA, of course TSA. Because if there's one thing America cannot live without, it is getting yelled at for carrying three ounces of shampoo in a four-ounce bottle. And while you're trying to figure out if your Social Security check is still alive, Congress is holding the dumbest pissing contest in history. They are not fixing anything. They are not even pretending. They are literally standing in front of the burning clown car arguing over who gets to hold the match in the photo. The White House is dangling. Permanent layoffs like it is the season finale of Survivor. Who will be voted off the island? Tune in next week when maybe the economy still exists. Meanwhile, actual essential workers, the ones who track hurricanes, wildfires, climate disasters, they're home watching Wheel of Fortune while the wheel of government lands on bankrupt again and again. So what we are left with is the exact opposite of logic. The things that make life bearable. Gone. The things that make life unbearable wide open. Parks closed, taxes open, NASA grounded, IRS turbocharged, National Zoo animals unfed. Congress still running around flinging their own feces like it is mating season. And here's the punchline. Day three is going to turn into day four. Day four is going to turn into day five. And nothing changes. Because the one part of government that can never shut down is the ability to point a finger and scream, This is your fault. And more absurdity. Gone. Not because the money disappeared. Not because Chicago said, nah, we're good. No. Because the administration decided it did not like how the contracts were written. They claim it was about race-based contracting. Translation. Political spite. This is not about bridges. This is not about trains. This is not about people getting to work without potholes eating their tires like a Pac-Man machine. This is about weaponizing federal cash like it's a toy you could take away from the kid you don't like. Imagine you were in Chicago, you are waiting for that money to build safer roads, new stations, maybe a bridge that doesn't look like it was designed during the Lincoln administration. And suddenly Washington says, Nope, you're on timeout. No trains for you. No bridges for you. Go sit in the corner. Think about what you did. This is not fiscal responsibility. This is not belt tightening. This is a giant toddler, Donny boy, holding the country's checkbook. And the toddler just discovered the joy of saying mine. But it's more than toddler logic. This is the strongman playbook. Trump is sitting there like a wannabe king deciding who gets fed, who goes hungry. Red states, here's your dinner. Blue states, starve. It's not even subtle. It is government by revenge tour. If you voted for me, here's your new highway. If you didn't, enjoy your crater-sized potholes and collapsing bridges. And while Chicago is being treated like the bad kid in gym class, the rest of the country still gets its allowance. The cash is flowing to everyone else. This is not about saving money. It is about punishment. It is about sending a message. Chicago is being used as a prop in a political soap opera. Today it's infrastructure. Tomorrow it could be food stamps. Next week, oxygen. And the people who lose are not the politicians. It is the commuters. It is the workers. It is the neighborhoods staring at a crumbling bridge while Washington plays king of the sandbox. So it is day three of the shutdown. And while the government is technically closed, the propaganda machine is very much open for business. Federal agencies, the ones that are supposed to be neutral, the ones that are supposed to quietly do their jobs, are posting shutdown notices that literally blame Democrats. Not subtle, not implied, just straight up, this is their fault, folks. That, my friends, is a Hatch Act violation. The Hatch Act is the rule that says federal employees cannot campaign from inside the government. You cannot use taxpayer resources to do partisan politics. You cannot take my tax dollars and spend them on a billboard that says vote for Steve. And yet here we are. The Department of Agriculture posting it like it is the Republican National Committee intern pool. This is not democracy. This is not bureaucracy. This is not government. This is the Trump campaign with federal letterhead. The walls of Washington are being used like bathroom stalls for campaign graffiti. Big block letters. Democrats shut it down. Picture it. But they can tell you Democrats caused the shutdown. The Department of Transportation cannot fix your potholes. But they can tell you Joe Biden stole your pudding. It is state-run media without the media. And this is where it goes from absurd to dangerous. Because once the machinery of government is openly doing partisan propaganda, you're not a democracy anymore. You're a franchise of Trump Incorporated. You are basically paying taxes to fund his re-election flyers. And the reality is there's no accountability. Who enforces the Hatch Act? The very government that is now violating it. It's like putting raccoons in charge of the garbage and then being shocked when they show up in tuxedoes throwing a banquet. So while America is shut down, the campaign is wide open, and you, the taxpayer, are footing the bill for attack ads against yourself. This is not just a breach. That is a system telling you the rules do not apply anymore. And that wolfpack is where we are. Three days into a shutdown circus, two billion dollars yanked out of Chicago like lunch money, and federal agencies moonlighting as campaign billboards. Welcome to America, where democracy is apparently a rental car with no brakes. Alright, now it's time to shift gears. We have had the absurdity and the insanity of the real news. And now we move straight into the absurdity and the insanity of the bizarre news. Because let's be honest, whether it is Washington or the weird stuff, it is all the same circus. And that circus produces the stories that are actually real, but so ridiculous they make you shake your head and wonder, how the hell we share a planet with this? Wolfack listeners, welcome to news from the edge of sanity. Let me set the scene. You're on a Ryanair flight from Milan to London. You are thinking about, you know, maybe grabbing a sandwich when you land, maybe a nap, and suddenly two passengers decide, forget the peanuts, we are going to eat our passports. I'm not exaggerating. One of the passengers is literally tearing out pages and chewing them like they are on some kind of high fiber Euro diet. The other passenger is in the bathroom trying to flush their passport down the plane toilet, which by the way is not even good at handling normal human waste, let alone a whole passport. The cabin crew has no idea what to do. Do you serve these passengers drinks? Do you call Interpol? Do you tell them page 17 of an EU passport is very high in cholesterol? The passengers around them are watching like it is a live episode of Fear Factor. And the pilots are up front going, Well, I guess we're not landing in London anymore. Nope. They diverted the entire flight to Paris. Because apparently, when people start eating and flushing their passports, the International Travel Rule book says, Bring in LeFrench. Police boarded the plane, pulled the two passport gourmet off, and the rest of the flight went on after a two-hour delay. Can you imagine being the guy late to work because two strangers decided to turn their identity documents into lunchables? Sorry, boss, I uh missed the meeting. The guy next to me was eating his passport. And the best part, no one knows why they did it. Were they trying to hide their identities? Were they making some kind of performance art statement about borders? Or were they just very confused about the in-flight menu? Either way, it is official. In 2025, air travel is no longer about turbulence or crying babies. It is about hoping the guy in C23B does not turn immigration paperwork into a mid-flight buffet. Let's all head over to California. So you're working the window at an in-and-out fast food in Monrovia, California. It's a normal shift. Cars are lined up in the drive-thru. You're asking the same questions over and over to your customers over the loudspeaker. Do you want fries with that? Do you want it animal style? Do you need extra napkins? You're half asleep from the routine when suddenly you turn to hand out the next order, and staring back at you in the drive-thru window is a four-foot python. And yet, that is exactly what happened. A ball python snake named Henny somehow slithered its way into the drive-thru. Imagine rolling up in your car, window down, and instead of, would you like that animal style? You get. The staff freaked out, as they should, and called Pasadena humane. Because when a snake is in the French fries zone, you need professionals. Officers came in, scooped up penny, and here's the wild part. This snake had owners. It had escaped from home almost 50 miles away. That's commitment. Forget DoorDash. This Pison basically slithered its way through Los Angeles County like it had a GPS set to extra pickles. Customers are sitting inside the In N Out with their burgers in shock. Imagine trying to eat a double double while watching a rescue worker pull a snake out of the ketchup station. Nobody standing online ordered animal style. And in true California fashion, it ended fine. The Python was safely reunited with its owners, who now get to explain to their neighbors how their pet went on a fast food field trip. So, yes, 2025 is the year when even in In and Out, it is not safe from the insanity. You might get fries, you might get a milkshake, or you might get a four-foot python hissing. Would you like extra venom with that? Now, this next story would be funny if it wasn't so bizarre. So imagine you are walking through downtown Melbourne, Australia, normal day. People are out shopping, grabbing coffee, heading to work. Suddenly, you see a man collapse in front of you. His body convulses, his eyes roll back, he is shaking on the ground. And your first instinct, like any decent human being, is to run over and help. You kneel down, you are panicked, you are trying to hold him still. Seizures can be dangerous. Maybe you're calling an ambulance, maybe you are yelling for help. Other people rush over too. You are terrified this man could die right in front of you. And then it takes a turn because while you're trying to help this man, the guy starts giving you instructions. Pin me down. Hold my arms. Put pressure on me. Straddle. He tells you exactly what to do, like he has rehearsed this scene a thousand times. And just when you think you're in the middle of a medical emergency, the man suddenly snaps out of it, he gets up, he walks away. No seizures, no ambulance, nothing. This is not a one-time event. This is a scam. They call this guy the fake seizure guy. He's been pulling this routine for years across Melbourne, Australia. Dozens of men have come forward saying the exact same thing happened to them. He fakes the collapse. He demands strangers restrain him. And then he just vanishes back into the crowd. Nobody knows why he does it. Nobody knows what he gets out of it. Is this some kind of twisted power trip? Is it humiliation kink? Is it performance art for one very disturbed audience of one? Whatever it is, it leaves every single victim shaken, humiliated, and furious. And think about the absurdity of this. Melbourne has an actual urban legend. Not a ghost, not a monster, a man who pretends to have seizures in public just to trap people in a sick little game. While the rest of us are worried about inflation or climate change, people in Australia are literally asking each other, wait, was that seizure real? Or was that fake seizure guy again? Okay, listeners, join me back in California. You're driving through San Bruno, California. Normal afternoon traffic. You see a car get lit up by police lights. Sirens, whoop, whoop, the whole thing. The car pulls over, and police pulled this car over from making an illegal U-turn. The police walk up to the car and say, License and registration, please. The officers check it out. They see the car has no driver. Nobody is inside. That is because this was a Waymo self-driving taxi. The car just sits there quietly, like R2D2 after a stroke. Which raises the question: who exactly do the police give the ticket to? The steering wheel? The bumper? And they realize the law has absolutely no playback for this. You cannot hand a ticket to a computer, you cannot lecture a GPS, you cannot tell Siri to appear in traffic court next Thursday. And here's where it gets perfect. The San Bruno Police Department actually went online and posted about it. Their official account wrote, no driver, no hands, no clue. That is an actual police statement in 2025. Not from a late-night comedy writer, from law enforcement. This is where we are. Human drivers are out here racking up tickets for speeding, rolling stops, busted tailgates. And a robot car can whip an illegal U-turn right in front of a cop, and the cop just shrugs and goes, Well, guess we can't do anything about that. The machines are not just taking our jobs, they are also getting away with the same traffic violations that we get nailed for. And we are officially living in the future where the dumbest driver on the road might also be the one made entirely of code. That was your news from the Edge of Sanity. It's now a regular segment on Fridays. A friendly reminder that while the headlines are terrifying, the sidelines are completely unhinged. I'm not saying reality is upside down, but I just watched Common Sense use Google Maps, Mystery Exits, and crash through a Waffle House. Wolfpack, you hear me here every week tearing through the madness, but this is a two-way street. I want to know what you're seeing out there, the story that made you stop, laugh, curse, or shake your head. Send it to me. Just one line, one headline, one thought. The address is Wolfpacktalks at gmail.com because this show is a conversation, not a monologue. This has been a World Gone Mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolf. I'll be back Monday because someone has to say the shit. No one else will. And apparently, that job's mine. Until then, Wolfpack Listeners, stay skeptical, stay focused, and most of all, stay hopeful.

SPEAKER_01: 21:39

There is chaos in the world. Can't you see? And we need to stand up and freezer a democracy. This is a world.