Behind the Bastards

In part 2, Dennis Hastert lucks his way into becoming Speaker of the House and helps Congress redefine corruption for the 21st century. And then, after his retirement, it all comes crashing down.
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Robert tells Miles Gray the tangled story of Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House, pioneer of congressional corruption, and pedophile.
Sources:
Prosecutors detail sex abuse allegations against Dennis Hastert | PBS News Weekend
Dennis Hastert Dies at 84: Timeline of Scandals, Controversies and Criminal Conviction - Newsweek
Uncovering the Dennis Hastert cover-up | Bloom Fudali
Former Speaker Dennis Hastert indicted - POLITICO
Hastert returns to his humble beginnings after historic career -- Daily Herald
Washingtonpost.com: Plain-Talking Hastert Poised to Be Speaker
House Speaker Dennis Hastert Can Win Friends, But Can He Influence People? - Page 9 - tribunedigital-chicagotribune
Biography of Speaker J. Dennis Hastert | Dickstein Shapiro
Ex-Yorkville school chief recalls no misconduct complaints against Hastert - Chicago Tribune
Payments by Hastert Linked to Report of Sexual Abuse - NYTimes.com
Dennis Hastert has a history of keeping secrets - Vox
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All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file:
Israeli Elections and the Palestinians
2026 Elections (The Union Ones)
¡El Chupacabras!
Kim Kelly's Morbid Labor Tales
Executive Disorder: Lula’s Victory, AI Election Ads, Voter Fraud, Revolt in Albania
You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today!

Sources/Links:
Israeli Elections and the Palestinians
Israel's Elections: What's at Stake?, International Crisis Group (Max Rodenbeck, Mairav Zonszein, Amjad Iraqi), 15 October 2026
A Jewish Currents Guide to the Israeli Elections, Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Currents, 20 October 2026
Occupied Thoughts interview with Sami Abu Shehadeh https://fmep.org/resource/barred-from-knesset-elections-sami-abu-shehadeh-on-the-state-of-israeli-democracy/
Prospect magazine op-ed on the settlers and the state - https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle-east/75279/settler-rioters-are-israeli-state-policythrough-deniable-means
2026 Elections (The Union Ones)
https://linktr.ee/PamelaSH
¡El Chupacabras!
Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction and Folklore by Benjamin
Radford
Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacle in Cuba and Puerto Rico,
1898-1956 by Reinaldo L. Román
En Qué Quedó Ep. 6 “El Chupacabras”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2r9ISXwgY7zTpWj2EJWcF1
Radio Ambulante “El vampiro entre nosotros”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0hvdSD4aXHwoOWoMYAdN9x
Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years by
William A Calvo-Quirós
https://web.archive.org/web/20230814111741/http://www.barriology.com/uploads/2/3/2/7/
23276452/calvo-quiros_sucking_vulnerability_rev.pdf
El Chupacabra: Icon of Resistance to US Imperialism
Species (1995) dir. Roger Donaldson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MGZnLsPSRc
La Operación (1982) dir. Ana María García https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoJoWMbRxvM&t=36s
La Operación -Background https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6XEuu_auR8&t=8s
https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/notas/se-registran-dos-ataques-del-chupac
abras/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/30/vieques-puerto-rico-us-navy-base-traini
ng
https://www.navfac.navy.mil/Portals/68/Documents/Business-Lines/Environmental/Enviro
nmental-Restoration/NAVFAC-Atlantic/Vieques/Vieques_Fact_Sheet_03_Depleted_Uran
ium_in_LIA_Eng.pdf
https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/elyunque/recreation/discover-history/us-military-and-el-yunq
ue-national-forest
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24816374-the-history-of-the-us-department-
of-defense-programs-for-the-testing-evaluation-and-storage-of-tactical-herbicides-agent-
orange-in-pr/?q=puerto+rico&mode=document#document/p5
https://www.elvocero.com/actualidad/otros/las-grandes-sequ-as-que-marcaron-a-puerto-
rico-durante-el-siglo-xx/article_e6a37bce-5269-4040-836d-799a04358fc2.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/12/26/mystery-creature-ravages-p
uerto-rican-livestock/b7704250-dae0-4fa3-a886-561db637b463/
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-03-mn-9730-story.html
“Monsters and Messiahs by Mike Davis”
“Beast of Borikén" by Julio Anta, Daniel IriZarri, Patricio Delpeche, and Lucas Gattoni
Kim Kelly's Morbid Labor Tales
https://proteanmag.com/2021/10/31/picket-lines-in-the-graveyard-a-history-of-cemetery-workers-strikes/
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67168074
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/dc33-strike-philadelphia-medical-examiners-injunction-20250703.html
https://6abc.com/post/retrieval-dead-bodies-is-being-delayed-due-blue-collar-union-dc33-strike-philadelphia-officials-say/16936166/
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/sacrilegious-bodies-piling-up-at-cook-county-morgue/
https://6abc.com/archive/8511845/
https://abc7.com/archive/8719820/
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/02/archives/workers-strike-funeral-homes-100-establishments-hit-in-the.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/04/archives/state-fails-to-end-embalmers-strike.html
https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/08/28/the-coffin-makers-strike-1872/
https://newspapers.bc.edu/?a=d&d=pilot18720622-01.2.22&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-----------------------
Executive Disorder: Lula’s Victory, AI Election Ads, Voter Fraud, Revolt in Albania
https://x.com/aricnesbitt/status/2066923547964928106?a=kc7nT6MWbZZrCG5F3ho&s=20
https://x.com/reaganreese_/status/2064370476449669139?a=o_23wNhd8KJXG1_3jd8&s=20
https://x.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/2097325814689743049?a=-BXTLNGkR3wjP9lkgeE&s=20
https://x.com/AndrewSolender/status/2083629219980960030?a=U6bD8EFjG4McMm-xQCM&s=20
https://x.com/NassauExec/status/2096705749774631131?a=9MzOBMvGxcqDqhpGhgA&s=20
https://x.com/BlueprintFNDN/status/2078957886403670411?a=2Q_B5IADKyInPq5JQKE&s=20
https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2076099238363005194?a=GAD-fsC8RATzjNcbr5s&s=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrw_hLs4O_0
https://x.com/JacobRubashkin/status/2113454492872045007?a=jb16JdrbsG8yhaW1ljI&s=20
https://x.com/NassauExec/status/2094800565452611646?a=wRx4Pm2YJdKDtLMz7Eo&s=20
https://x.com/NassauExec/status/2091865610233786666?a=q7ts8IGOQNOt_zkiCGE&s=20
https://x.com/AdImpact_Pol/status/2051314128468197851?lang=en
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0093650226142143
https://mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-101526/
https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/artificial-intelligence-ai-in-elections-and-campaigns
https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/when-ai-campaign-ads-fake-reality
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/us/politics/midterm-elections-ai-generated-ads.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/deciding-fake-images-candidates-are-using-ai-political-ads-get-vote-rcna605243
https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-10.hjc-dems-staff-report-epstein-and-trump.pdf
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ly097zw1xwo
https://www.daylightsandiego.org/ice-detainee-dies-at-otay-mesa-detention-center-in-san-diego/
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/10/27/iraqi-court-sentences-seven-french-isis-members-to-prison/
https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/2113552255576092815
https://sana.sy/en/syria/2353795/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/10/27/flavio-bolsonaro-flees-brazil-us/92462116007/
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3moy4zcl3b52a
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2114740388514697527
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/netherlands-citizen-arrested-illegally-voting-2024-election
https://x.com/TheJusticeDept/status/2113703040444145701
https://apnews.com/article/california-voter-data-justice-department-lawsuit-0305190ba958051bb86741ac00da36a7
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-state-california-over-voter-list
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1466286/
https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2113794933236871180
https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-10-26-Order-.pdf
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-charges-28-foreign-nationals-california-election-crimes
https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-noncitizen-voting-court/
https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2087950683831931327a=2VozR5e62ZW8NoNmfl8&s=20
https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2087950683831931327
https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2115228635326242842
https://www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news/2026/October/election-charges
https://citizens.al/en/2026/09/07/100-days-of-the-flamingo-revolution-the-new-culture-of-civic-protest/
https://www.balkanweb.com/en/On-the-14th-day-of-student-protests--citizens-and-young-people-gather-en-masse-in-front-of-the-Ministry-of-Education./#gsc.tab=0
https://www.tiranatimes.com/albanian-government-tightens-protest-laws-as-crisis-deepens/
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Robert concludes the thrilling tale of the life of Peter Rachman by explaining how his death was used by even worse Slumlords to evade any responsibility for their crimes.
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Peter Rachman was a London landlord so bad, his last name became an internationally recognized synonym for "shitty slumlord". In these episodes, Robert explains how he went from fleeing the Nazis, to fleecing the British.
https://archive.is/EXu9c#selection-1535.829-1539.80
https://www.unseenhistories.com/the-murky-world-of-peter-rachman-neil-root/
https://www.thejc.com/life/books/how-landlord-rachmans-name-became-a-household-word-for-the-worst-reasons-mrrpna3a
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/krays-christine-keeler-cheap-flats-36683606
https://www.londonhistorians.org/index.php?s=file_download&id=71
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/home-office-could-not-get-rid-of-notorious-rachman-178265.html
https://www.thesteepletimes.com/the-fog/redefining-rachman/
https://andyshistoricalmusings.wordpress.com/2024/08/05/who-was-peter-rachman-the-slum-landlord/
https://bnp.org.uk/rogue-landlords/
https://julesbirch.com/2012/10/24/revealing-the-real-rachman/
https://julesbirch.com/2014/05/14/rachman-rogues-and-renting/
https://time.com/archive/6807883/great-britain-the-saga-of-polish-peter/
https://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/entertainment/jon-snow-the-slum-landlord-is-alive-and-doing-well-2306457.html
https://flashbak.com/even-the-bathwater-is-dirty-grim-and-grimy-tales-of-an-old-notting-hill-433573/
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