August 30th • 2h 31m
Shownotes
Every new episode of No Agenda is accompanied by a comprehensive list of shownotes curated by Adam while preparing for the show. Clips played by the hosts during the show can also be found here.
00 🪙 HYPERLIQUID AND THE OIL PRICE
Seven days ago Trump said Mike was working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States. Hyperliquid's policy arm has now filed with Selig's CFTC for a path to run US OIL PERPETUALS - price discovery migrating to a venue that never closes. The re-run is the trailer. Then the other half of the oil story: the United States takes a fifth of Venezuela's proven reserves, and Delcy Rodriguez signs it away.
📰 Articles & links (read/context — above the clips)
Clips — 2
00 The Re-Run Hyperliquid Comes Home
01 RERUN from NA-1896 - Trump - bring Hyperliquid into the United States
📺 RERUN from NA-1896 (?)
Trump (White House crypto summit, 19 Aug 2026 - RE-RUN from NA-1896): a clear framework so builders stay on American soil, President Xi arrives September 24th, the May CFTC authorisation of the first true Bitcoin perpetual futures contract on a US exchange - and the close, that Mike is working to bring HYPERLIQUID into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion. Seven days later Hyperliquid filed for US oil perpetuals.
01 Venezuela And The Biggest Oil Deal
01 The US Takes A Fifth Of Venezuelas Oil And Delcy Rodriguez Signs
📺 YouTube (clip)
Trump calls it the biggest oil deal in world history — *"and for once, he's not exaggerating."* A fifth of Venezuela's proven reserves, 65 billion barrels, at no cost to the taxpayer, worth more than the economy of Germany at today's prices. It more than doubles US reserves.
01 🛢️ STRANGLE IRAN
The UAE has stopped being a bystander - striking inside Iran and shutting the Dubai cash houses that turned China's renminbi into dollars for Iranian oil. Kyle Bass said Treasury would make an example of a bad bank on Friday. He said it on the 26th. That Friday was the 28th. It happened. His doctrine is the spine: the entire world is priced in dollars, and that is the whole of the leverage.
📰 Articles & links (read/context — above the clips)
Clips — 7
00 Strangle Iran
01 Fox Reports UAE Forces Are Striking Inside Iran - FOX NEWS via X
📺 Fox News (MSM)
Fox, citing the Wall Street Journal, reports UAE forces are carrying out military strikes *inside* Iran and have been for several days — retaliation for Iranian missiles and drones fired at the UAE.
02 Kyle Bass On The UAE Cash Houses And The Bad Bank On Friday
📺 cnbc.com (?)
The anchor asks how China reacts. Bass lays out the plumbing — China buys 90%+ of Iran's oil, 15% of its daily energy imports, paid in RMB, and cash houses in the UAE convert that RMB into dollars. The UAE has now cut Iran off.
03 The Entire Worlds Priced In Dollars
📺 cnbc.com (?)
The anchor presses — what can you actually do to a bank? Bass gives the doctrine: *"the entire world's priced in dollars. Nothing is priced in any other currencies."* OFAC is the economic tip of the spear; removing an institution from the dollar system is catastrophic.
04 Cut The Blood Flow To The Tumor And Canadas Transshipment
📺 cnbc.com (?)
Bass on squeezing the IRGC — *"cut the blood flow off to the tumor."* The anchor pivots to Trump's next China tariff round ahead of the Xi meeting and the collapsed Canada talks. Bass: Canada is fighting to keep its right to transship Chinese goods into America.
01 Six Months And The Blockade
01 Who Said Im Not You Dont Know If Im Doing It
📺 World Health Organization briefing (official)
A reporter raises Putin meeting Iran's president about a nuclear agreement, and asks whether the White House worries these countries are not taking "economic D-Day" seriously. Trump: Iran is not paying its troops.
02 The Bad Bank
01 Treasury Sanctions The UAE Bank That Was Irans Lifeline
📺 YouTube (clip)
The first fresh Iran sanctions since Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast — targeting a UAE-based bank, a manager of a second Dubai bank, and a Hong Kong front company. Treasury says the UAE bank processed a couple of billion dollars for Iran's shadow banking networks.
02 The Spy Sheikh And A Trump Family Bank Charter
📺 YouTube (clip)
A new Trump-family banking operation is backed by an Abu Dhabi sheikh. World Liberty Financial denies a conflict. Per the Wall Street Journal, a prominent Emirati known as "the spy sheikh" — already half a billion dollars into the family's crypto firm
02 🇨🇦 THE TRADE WAR
Carney walked, and we finally know the demand: the US insisted Canada match American tariffs against its own trade partners. Trump signed the Lake America order anyway. Alberta votes on separation in the middle of it. And a historian resets the clock to 1890 and the McKinley tariffs, because they have invaded us twice.
Clips — 9
00 Canada And The Trade War
01 Trump Calls Canada One Of The Worst Countries In The World
📺 YouTube (clip)
Beck asks what is happening with Canada. Trump says they are among the worst to deal with, itemises the 400% milk tariff, then lands the Lake Ontario renaming joke — *"people thought I was kidding. Maybe I wasn't."*
02 They Take Advantage Of Us As Though They Were A State
📺 YouTube (clip)
Trump drops the joke and gives the actual grievance — Canada behaves like a state without being one, took the car and agriculture industries, and the US loses $60 billion a year.
03 Freeland Says The US Asked Too Much And Gave Too Little
📺 YouTube (clip)
The anchor sets the 8 September tariff date and names Freeland and her credentials, then asks what actually happened when the talks collapsed. She quotes Carney — the US *"asked too much and gave too little"*, last-minute demands touching sovereignty and cultural protection
04 Treat Your Allies Like Partners Not Vassals
📺 YouTube (clip)
Kernen hits her with the OECD data — Canada dead last on 10-year GDP growth, 0.5% against 20.7% for the US, and projected dead last for the next thirty years. She refuses the frame, declares herself a China hawk, and turns it round: if you want the free world with you against autocrats, *"treat your allies like partners.
05 Canadians Are Prepared To Take The Pain Because Our Sovereignty Is Worth It
📺 YouTube (clip)
She turns bullish — potash, natural gas, the West Coast pipeline her government built, Cohere in AI, quantum — then concedes the trade war will hurt, and lands the title line. Backs it with Harper, a Conservative, saying Canada should endure *any* amount of economic harm, and 75% agreement.
01 Lake America Is An Order Now
01 He Signed It And Says Canada Is The Worst To Deal With
📺 YouTube (clip)
The anchor confirms he followed through and signed the order renaming Lake Ontario, against the backdrop of Canada's retaliatory tariffs after talks collapsed. Monica Alba calls it taunting. Then the Trump SOT — asked who is worst on trade, *"that's easy. Canada. They are the worst.
02 Why Carney Walked
01 The Demand Was That Canada Match US Tariffs Against Its Own Trade Partners
📺 YouTube (clip)
Sets the precedent — when Trudeau and Trump renegotiated NAFTA into CUSMA/USMCA, the parties agreed a clause: if any of the three does a free trade deal with a non-market or state-controlled economy such as China, it must notify the others, who may then pull out. That is already in the contract.
03 The McKinley Tariffs And Two Invasions
01 They Have Invaded Us Twice And Then Came The McKinley Tariffs
📺 YouTube (clip)
The reporter frames a slow, steady deterioration and *"what a week"* in bilateral relations. Vox pop: *"This guy's a loser."* … *"I don't feel that he is the right person for the job."* … *"It's disappointing, actually, because it didn't used to be that way."* Then the historian resets the clock: *"we've had tough times with the United…
04 Alberta Votes On Leaving
01 Alberta Premier On A Separation Vote In The Middle Of A Trade War
📺 YouTube (clip)
The question is the whole setup — the opposition and federalists want the referendum postponed or cancelled, because it *"creates a perception of a weak link in national unity that the Trump administration could potentially exploit during a trade war."* Her answer: it is a separate process under citizen initiative law
03 🥩 BEEF AND THE CARTEL
Glenn Beck broke into his own interview with the President to ask him to break the four-company meatpacking cartel. Two days later Trump Truthed it. That is a producer asking and a President answering inside 48 hours - and it threads straight out of our rancher's clip on 1899. Then the close: the Agriculture Secretary is not privy to where the beef comes from.
Clips — 3
00 Beef And The Cartel
01 Beck Asks Trump To Break The Meatpacking Cartel
📺 YouTube (clip)
Trump claims prices — and now beef — are coming down. Beck breaks in unplanned to say the problem is not the price, it is the four-company processing cartel, and asks the President to break it. Trump says he has heard about it for twenty years and commits to look at it that day.
02 Two Days Later Trump Truths It
📺 X / social (clip)
Beck dates the call — *"On Wednesday, the president was on. It's Friday today"* — replays what he asked for, then reads Trump's Truth verbatim: nasty monopoly, essentially four of them, very non-competitive, "much of its ownership based outside the U.S.", legal documents authorised, the right to process their own food in all caps.
01 Nobody Knows Where The Beef Is From
01 The Agriculture Secretary Is Not Privy To Where The Beef Comes From
📺 YouTube (clip)
Senator Tom Cotton calls the action ill-advised; Rep. Ashley Hinson, in a competitive race, calls it flat-out bad. Then the reveal: the administration is not saying where the beef is coming from — the President named no countries in the proclamation, and the Agriculture Secretary said she was not privy to that information.
04 💵 THE FED AND THE YEN
Warsh at Jackson Hole puts 65 months of sustained elevated inflation squarely on the central bank, "and that's where it belongs" - then names the Hall of Mirrors problem, where markets read the Fed while the Fed reads markets and both go blind together. Meanwhile Treasury is in the market changing the very signals he says he needs. Plus the Bessent-Warren yen exchange, which is documents, not tape.
📰 Articles & links (read/context — above the clips)
Clips — 5
00 Warsh At Jackson Hole
01 The Hall Of Mirrors And Who Pays For It
📺 YouTube (clip)
Warsh names the economic literature's *"Hall of Mirrors"* problem — if markets lean on Fed guidance while the Fed reads market prices, both go blind together. Then the turn: the people who bear that cost are not the ones who caused it.
02 Inflation Is Running Above Our Two Percent Target
📺 YouTube (clip)
The numbers, flat: 12-month PCE at 3.7%, six-month a little above 4, CPI and both core measures elevated too. None of the measures are perfect, but they tell the same story — and therefore *"the Fed's predominant focus right now should be on prices."*
01 The Fed Might Hike
01 Warsh Puts 65 Months Of Inflation On The Fed Itself
📺 YouTube (clip)
One signal nobody can miss — responsibility for 65 months of sustained elevated inflation sits squarely with the central bank, "and that's where it belongs." Then his standard: confidence that underlying inflation is moving to target *clearly and at sufficient speed* — otherwise *"we have work to do.
02 Fed's Hammack Says Now Is The Time To Act
📺 YouTube (clip)
The PCE print landed exactly on their nowcast — annualised, about 3% inflation. She will not prejudge the meeting, then does: *"I believe now is the time to act. We've been in an inflationary situation for more than five years… I don't see any restriction in policy."*
03 Treasury Is Changing The Very Market Signal Warsh Says He Needs
📺 YouTube (clip)
Asked whether Treasury intervening in the bond market is at odds with what the chair is doing: *"I do think it's ironic that you have Kevin saying we want clear signals from the market because that will help us make policy
05 🗳️ MAIL-IN AND THE COURT
The lawyer producer's TRO has been lifted. SCOTUS called the original case premature, and on that reasoning a judge in a separate case let the President's order stand. Two dozen states have sued USPS, first ballots go out next week, and Trump calls it a great ruling for the Republican Party. Read his letter first, then play the tape that overtook it.
Clips — 2
00 The Court Lets The Mail Order Stand
01 Two Dozen States Sue The Postal Service And A Judge Lifts The Block
📺 YouTube (clip)
First ballots go out as early as next week. Two dozen states sue USPS over the order. The original case was premature because the rule was not final — and that reasoning let a judge in a separate case lift the block today. For now USPS can run its final rule: it delivers ballots only to voters on an approved list.
02 Trump Calls It A Great Ruling For The Republican Party
📺 YouTube (clip)
A reporter asks how states like North Carolina implement this when ballots go out next week. He detours into liking North Carolina and winning it three times, then lands it: they ruled on legitimacy, *"and it was a great ruling for the Republican Party."*
06 📱 THE META SETTLEMENT
Thirty states, settled in week two of trial, up to eighteen billion - but Meta pays only seventy percent, and releases the last 5.3 billion ONLY if YouTube and TikTok change too. Bonta says it was never about the money. Jonathan Kanter says the quiet part: the state attorneys general achieved what Congress could not.
📰 Articles & links (read/context — above the clips)
Clips — 4
00 The Meta Settlement
01 Meta Pays But Only Seventy Percent Unless YouTube And TikTok Follow
📺 cnbc.com (?)
The mechanics, laid out cold. 30 states, settled in week two, up to $18bn — but Meta pays only 70%, and releases the last $5.3bn only if YouTube and TikTok change too. Then the actual product changes: two-hour daily limit, nighttime blocks, autoplay off, extreme makeup filters disabled, all for under-18s.
02 AG Bonta On Why California Settled Mid Trial
📺 cnbc.com (?)
Why settle when you are winning? Bonta says they were doing very well — showing Meta its own words and its own studies, with Instagram president Adam Mosseri on the stand — but they measure settlements against what litigation could have won, and this exceeded it.
03 They Knew They Doubled Down They Lied To The Public
📺 cnbc.com (?)
The anchor presses on the money — the states had floated $200 billion, this is about 9% of that, so why is it a good outcome? Bonta: *"it's not about the money. It really isn't."* Meta played victim, claimed the states were trying to run it out of business.
04 The States Did What Congress Could Not
📺 cnbc.com (?)
Former Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, on the phone, gives the frame the AGs will not say themselves: the state attorneys general achieved what Congress has been unable to do — actually regulate social media.
07 🤖 AI, PACS AND ANTHROPIC
Ed Markey does not know whether he uses AI, and says it makes no difference whether it is called Siri or Claude. Seth Moulton's rebuttal is the beat. Then the harder story: a court ruled the Pentagon UNLAWFULLY RETALIATED against Anthropic after the company refused to allow its models to be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons.
📰 Articles & links (read/context — above the clips)
Clips — 4
00 AI PACs And The Primary
01 Markey Does Not Know If He Uses AI
📺 YouTube (clip)
The moderator asks Markey directly whether he personally uses AI platforms like Claude or ChatGPT. He says he uses whatever is inside his iPhone and iPad and does not know what companies it might be.
02 It Doesnt Matter If Its Siri Or Claude
📺 YouTube (clip)
Markey defends the non-answer by declaring the distinction irrelevant — *"it doesn't make any difference whether it's called Siri or it's called Claude"* — claims leadership on AI safeguards, and accuses Moulton of inventing his record.
03 The Corporate PAC Money Exchange
📺 YouTube (clip)
Moulton pivots from AI to honesty — the senator has repeatedly called him a liar, but has not told Massachusetts voters the truth about corporate PAC money or fossil-fuel money, and sends viewers to the fact-checkers. Markey answers flat: he has taken none, and if corporations send it, *"it's return to sender."*
01 The Pentagon Blacklisted Anthropic And Lost
01 Court Rules The Pentagon Unlawfully Retaliated Against Anthropic
📺 YouTube (clip)
A judge blocked the administration from blacklisting Anthropic. Earlier this year Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Claude and Hegseth declared the company a supply-chain risk — moves that came *after* the company refused to allow military use for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons.
08 🧊 THE ARCTIC AND NATO
Iceland votes on the EU with the Cod Wars still live, and the real subject is the Arctic. Eighty years in NATO, Russia building in the North Atlantic, China opening routes, and Trump threatening Greenland while mentioning Iceland in passing - so NATO is increasingly not trusted by the Icelanders. Rutte confirms trilateral talks on Greenland and the Golden Dome that he is not allowed to discuss.
📰 Articles & links (read/context — above the clips)
Clips — 4
00 Iceland And The Arctic
01 Iceland Votes On The EU And The Cod Wars Are Still Live
📺 cnbc.com (?)
The anchor sets the referendum, too close to call, and the two sides — cheaper living against loss of control of the fishing industry, with Russia and Trump's Greenland threats over the top.
02 NATO Is Increasingly Not Trusted By The Icelanders
📺 cnbc.com (?)
Fishing is *totemic* — Iceland fought the Cod Wars against the United Kingdom fifty years ago over exactly this. Then the anchor forces the real subject: this is about the Arctic and Donald Trump.
01 Rutte On Greenland
01 Trilateral Talks On Greenland And The Golden Dome
📺 YouTube (clip)
First, the military track — keeping the Arctic safe, the *"Arctic century"* launched by the Supreme Allied Commander in February. Then the part he says he is not allowed to discuss or make commitments on: trilateral talks led by the foreign ministers of the United States, Greenland and Denmark, to ensure that investments in the Golden…
02 Rutte Praises Trump Since Eisenhower
01 Praise Trump For What The US Tried Since Eisenhower
📺 YouTube (clip)
*"What I always do is acknowledge when praise is due — and I think we should praise Donald Trump for the fact that NATO is so much stronger."* He grants the other causes, the Russian threat and the war in Ukraine, then lands it: it also has to do with Trump delivering what the United States has tried to achieve since Eisenhower
09 🛂 IMMIGRATION
Milo Yiannopoulos, an early Trump 2016 supporter, is in ICE custody. DHS calls him an illegal alien who chose to overstay his welcome. He posted last year that we have to deport millions and millions and millions of people. Laura Loomer is claiming credit.
Clips — 2
00 Milo And The ICE Checkpoint
01 ICE Arrests Milo Yiannopoulos And Calls Him An Illegal Alien
📺 YouTube (clip)
Anchor breaks the news — DHS has arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, 41, an early Trump 2016 supporter, now in ICE custody, with DHS releasing a photo and calling him *"an illegal alien who chose to overstay his welcome."* Correspondent Nancy Cordes takes it: arrested at the New Orleans airport where he had flown in for a Kanye West concert,…
02 The Man Who Wanted Millions Deported Is Being Deported
📺 YouTube (clip)
The visa had expired and ICE has ramped up airport apprehensions this summer. Then the turn — he was an outspoken advocate for exactly this, posting last year that *"we have to deport millions and millions and millions of people."* He landed in the crosshairs after falling out with Laura Loomer, who has been urging ICE to deport him and…
10 🪖 SPOOKS AND THE PENTAGON
Hegseth on the Afghanistan withdrawal review: the deeper we look, the more there is to look at. Classified material that should have been disclosed was stashed and hidden in safes - and once reviewed, it became clear why someone tried to hide them.
Clips — 1
00 The Hidden Afghanistan Files
01 Hegseth Says Documents Were Stashed In Safes So They Would Not Be Found
📺 YouTube (clip)
A thorough review of the Afghanistan withdrawal, and he will be honest about what it turns up — *"the deeper we look, the more there is to look at. We are finding things that we did not expect."* Then the reveal: highly relevant classified material that should have been disclosed, stashed and hidden in safes.
11 🦠 EBOLA
The fastest growing Ebola outbreak on record, outpacing the response - but stoppable, because we know how to interrupt transmission. And the other virus in the room.
Clips — 1
00 The Fastest Ebola On Record
01 The Fastest Growing Ebola On Record And The Virus Of Indifference
📺 YouTube (clip)
The outbreak is the fastest growing on record and is outpacing the response — but it can be stopped, because we know how to interrupt transmission and save lives. *"But we must also overcome another virus, the virus of indifference."* Then the setting: three decades of conflict in Ituri province alone have displaced 1 million people;
12 🎭 CULTURE
Sean Ono Lennon says he misses MTV, because there is no town square and no campfire left. Gen Z has left pumpkin spice for matcha. An LA councilwoman says a hard no to public sex huts. Usha Vance laughed at the pawpaw swipe. And the President signs a space academy order and calls the moon the first subway stop.
Clips — 5
00 The Town Square
01 Sean Ono Lennon Says There Is No Campfire Left
📺 YouTube (clip)
He admits he used to be anti-MTV on principle — too mainstream, too corporate — and says he misses it now, because there is no town square and no campfire. Beato takes it further: there may be no place culture *is*, because there is no single culture, only cultures.
01 Pumpkin Spice Is Dead
01 Gen Z Left Pumpkin Spice For Matcha
📺 YouTube (clip)
After more than two decades the pumpkin spice fall phenomenon may be loosening its grip. Google and Pinterest data show searches and clicks have plummeted since this time last year, and Gen Z has moved to the matcha latte — 260% more searches last month.
02 No We Are Not Doing Public Sex Huts
01 An LA Councilwoman Says A Hard No
📺 YouTube (clip)
LA City Councilwoman Tracy Park is saying a hard no to one potential city project — public sex huts. The idea was floated by a resident during a council meeting: a private place where homeless people could go to have privacy, as a couple or alone.
03 El Sayed And Usha Vance
01 Usha Vance Responds To The Pawpaw Attack - FOX AND FRIENDS via NY POST
📺 nypost.com (?)
The anchor sets up El-Sayed's post and hands to the Fox and Friends interview. Usha Vance says she does not have social media so someone had to show it to her, admits *"I kind of laughed"*
04 The Moon Will Be A Close Location
01 Trump Signs A Space Academy Order And Calls The Moon The First Subway Stop
📺 YouTube (clip)
Another historic announcement, and one he says is exciting for him personally — given the growth of the Space Force and the commercial space industry, and ambitions to the moon *"and far beyond the moon."* Then the line: far beyond the moon will someday be thought of as a close location, "like in the old days, the subway, the first stop…
13 🔌 THE GRID AND THE RULES
NO TAPE IN THIS SEGMENT - it is an executive order and two producer letters. Three days ago the President declared a NATIONAL EMERGENCY over foreign-made equipment in the bulk-power system, invoking IEEPA and naming data centres and artificial intelligence as the reason demand is now critical. A producer confirms the grid Ontario "exports" over does not respect the border at all. And the California tire rule is the same shape of story: a regulation that produces the opposite of what it claims.