In the latest episode of the No Agenda Show, hosts Adam Curry and returning co-host Rob Dew dissect the media and political narratives shaping the upcoming midterm elections. The episode, titled 'Caconian,' was published August 23, 2026, from the Texas Hill Country. Among the topics: the engineered backlash against AI data centers, the Trump administration's beef import plan, and the U.S. strategy at the Strait of Hormuz.
Curry and Dew argue that opposition to AI data centers has been turned into an anti-Republican wedge issue, citing a Gallup poll showing 7 in 10 Americans oppose local data center construction. They point to Texas Governor Greg Abbott's reversal on the issue after accepting $20 million in campaign donations from data center executives, leading to a construction moratorium. The hosts push back on the framing that data centers are harmful, with Curry describing the buildout as a generational economic opportunity similar to the railroads or the 1990s fiber boom. He urges listeners to train for jobs in the industry: 'This is an opportunity for the American people to take money from BlackRock, from Vanguard, from Google, from Meta. Take their money.' Dew adds a firsthand account of friends in Alexandria, Virginia, being offered $4 million for homes surrounded by existing data centers, illustrating how private equity money is flowing to homeowners.
The episode also covers Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's bond buyback strategy, which Curry traces back to Janet Yellen and economists Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Miran's 2024 concept of 'activist Treasury issuance.' Curry explains how swapping long-term 30-year bonds for short-term T-bills is designed to lower yields and support the stablecoin market, with Tether and Circle now controlling over 80 percent of a $300 billion sector projected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2030. The hosts also discuss the Clarity Act's implications for stablecoins.
On international affairs, the episode covers CENTCOM's stealth Omani shipping corridor moving 10 million barrels of oil daily, Trump's declaration of the Strait of Hormuz as 'American territory,' and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins defending the 300,000-ton Argentine ground beef import deal. A soldier deployed under NAVCENT offers a boots-on-the-ground note on USS Lincoln conditions.
Other topics include Flock camera vandalism and Fourth Amendment questions, Confucius Institutes and Pentagon audits of 30 universities, and Chinese national voter fraud charges in Massachusetts. The episode continues the show's tribute to the late John C. Dvorak through the newly launched Order of the Ant.
No Agenda is a listener-supported podcast that offers an irreverent alternative to conventional news analysis. Episode 1897 is available now wherever podcasts are heard, and through modern podcast apps at podcastapps.com.
