Three stories.
Three minutes.
Every weekday.
Here’s what survived the week.

This Week in Review pulls together a run of stories about trust, control, and the quiet confidence institutions keep asking us to accept.

We start with investigations that matter less than who’s allowed to run them, as lawmakers argue credibility while millions meant for the homeless quietly disappear into luxury homes and private jets. Oversight isn’t the problem. Belief is.

From there, control becomes the theme:
Tax season promises relief, then hands you new forms.
Real ID tightens security while making movement more expensive.
Technology offers dignity and choice, right up until it asks a machine to make the most human decision imaginable.

California spends $236 million to help 22 people and calls it leadership.
Health experts warn that everything you enjoy eating is destroying your gut.
Your car shakes after a snowstorm—not because it’s failing, but because ice is stuck where it doesn’t belong.

Meanwhile:
The U.S. quietly positions itself closer to conflict with Iran.
Kids can’t read cursive, but are still expected to sign their names.
Major restaurant chains file for bankruptcy while insisting nothing changes.

Washington avoids a shutdown the same way it always does—delay, duct tape, and confidence.
AI agents promise efficiency while quietly introducing new risks.
And adulthood officially begins at 32, complete with blowout parties and the realization that nobody actually knows what they’re doing.

The through line is simple:
Everyone wants certainty.
Very few want questions.
Most systems just ask you to go along with it.

Sign here.

If you want this every weekday, it’s Three Stories. Three Minutes.
The Snark Factor 3 in 3 posts Monday through Friday, exclusively on Substack.

Subscribe at FingersMalloy.com to get each episode as it drops.

This is the Snark Factor 3 in 3 — Week in Review.
I’m Fingers Molloy.
Let’s talk Monday.

On this episode of The Snark Factor, Fingers Malloy and Sarah Smith bounce from the Pam Bondi fallout and the Epstein-files mess to the internet frenzy around Kristi Noem’s husband, then into the latest chaos surrounding Iran, Trump, and whether April Fool’s Day was a missed opportunity for presidential comedy. Along the way, they detour into cast iron skillet panic, old-school lunches like liverwurst and SOS, the horror of Jell-O vegetable molds, and a Miami airport baggage-fee meltdown that somehow turns into a conversation about Spanx, airline rage, and monetizing public embarrassment in 2026. It’s politics, food, absurdity, and just enough outrage to keep the whole thing moving.

Because of technical issues, there wasn’t a new full Snark Factor radio show on WAAM 92.7FM Ann Arbor this weekend — but Fingers didn’t want Sunday to pass without dropping something new.

So this episode is a little different.

First, Fingers reacts to the media glow surrounding the No Kings rallies, the lack of skepticism in local coverage, and the very organized network of activist groups behind the events. Then he shares a special Snark Factor 3 in 3 Week in Review, plus a bonus Monday edition from Substack.

Included in this episode: possible U.S. ground operations in Iran, paid TSA line-sitters, London PowerPoint dating nights, unpaid TSA agents, Netflix price hikes, United’s “Relax Row,” rising summer airfare, Death Cafes, oral exams making a comeback because of AI, Chinese router security fears, AI-driven power usage, medieval toilet wine, teens feeling pressure to stay online, 2016 nostalgia, worldwide travel cautions, cigarettes becoming trendy again, and young people taking up grandma hobbies to escape their phones.

If you’ve been wondering what the daily Snark Factor 3 in 3 sounds like, this episode is a full sampler platter.

Find everything at FingersMalloy.com.

On this episode of The Snark Factor, Fingers Malloy and Sarah Smith take on a familiar theme: common sense in full retreat.

They kick things off with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award going to Jerome Powell and “the people of the Twin Cities,” which leads to a sharp conversation about immigration enforcement, media narratives, political branding, and how the word courage now gets stretched so far it could snap. From there, they get into Trump’s joke about Japan and Pearl Harbor, Congress debating a bill tied to harming law enforcement animals, Denmark allegedly preparing for a possible U.S. move on Greenland, and why the federal government needs to get its grubby lizard fingers out of the student loan business.

Then the show takes a turn from political absurdity to modern-life dread. Fingers and Sarah dig into the alarming rise in death rates among Gen X and elder millennials, which spins into a conversation about colorectal cancer, colonoscopies, processed food, fast food, stress, and whether a generation raised on pizza rolls and “just keep moving” is finally paying the bill. After that, they tackle a new experimental keto pill that promises the effects of dieting without giving up carbs, an AI-generated Val Kilmer appearing posthumously in a new film, and Tinder wanting deeper access to users’ photo libraries to build more “authentic” matches. In other words: health anxiety, artificial people, privacy collapse, and the future getting dumber by the minute.

If you miss the live show on WAAM Talk Radio, you can catch The Snark Factor on your favorite podcast platform.

Fingers Malloy and Sarah Smith dig into a disturbing attack on a Michigan synagogue, the broader danger of soft targets, and the maddening reality that known terror threats still seem to slip through the cracks. They also break down the government shutdown’s impact on TSA, United Airlines cracking down on headphone-free passengers, and why modern air travel feels like public suffering with boarding groups. Plus, Gen Z may be dragging the mall back from the dead, and Hidden Valley Ranch apparently wants to send Americans to Europe to commit condiment-based foreign policy.

Visit [FingersMalloy.com](FingersMalloy.com) for every Snark Factor Podcast, and to subscribe to his Substack.

This week on The Snark Factor, Fingers Malloy and Sarah Smith look back at the challenge of doing a pre-recorded show when the news cycle refuses to cooperate — like last week, when the U.S. went to war with Iran after the show had already been recorded.

In this episode:

• The fallout and meme war surrounding the U.S. strikes on Iran
• A reshuffling at Homeland Security and the politics around it
• Polymarket pulling a betting market on whether a nuclear weapon would be detonated this year
• A disturbing case involving a Wisconsin teenager accused of plotting to assassinate President Trump with a drone
• A grocery store parking lot scam that can drain your bank account in seconds
• Los Angeles giving the Brady Bunch house historic landmark status
• Britney Spears headlines and the strange world of celebrity news

Politics, internet culture, scams, and a few unexpected detours — just another Sunday morning on The Snark Factor.

This week, Fingers Malloy and Sarah Smith run the national playlist: political theater, media stagecraft, and the strange new reality where everyone has an opinion—none of them come with solutions.

They start with the State of the Union ratings (down to 32.6 million viewers) and why Trump’s real superpower isn’t policy… it’s production. Hockey players threading through media row. Perfect little digs. And yes—somebody should’ve fixed the hair.

Then the conversation shifts to the kind of story that sticks in your ribs: Tucson missing-person cases that have gone cold for decades, and why some families get wall-to-wall coverage while others get a shrug and a “case pending.” Border proximity, cartel history, and the grim economics of trafficking all enter the chat.

After the break, it’s kitchen chaos: dull knives, disgusting sponges, chipped plates, scratched pans, and why Fingers put dishwasher knives on the list of crimes that deserve a long, thoughtful stare.

And finally: Ashley Madison is back, apparently rebranding from “affairs” to “discreet dating,” which is like calling arson “warm lighting.” They also detour into the celebrity-only dating app Raya, velvet-rope romance, and who exactly decides if you’re famous enough to swipe in peace.

On this episode:

State of the Union ratings + political theater fatigue

Trump vs. the media: stagecraft, visuals, and “don’t stand” energy

Tucson cold cases + why some disappearances get attention and others don’t

Kitchen purge list: knives, sponges, chipped plates, scratched pans

Ashley Madison “discreet dating” + what that even means

Raya: the celebrity dating app with a membership committee (of course)

More writing + the full show archive live at FingersMalloy.com.

If you missed it live on WAAM, the podcast is right here.

This week, Fingers and Sarah start with an awkward little truth for Democrats:
even with the “midterms are ours” confidence floating around… their own voters don’t seem thrilled with the party.

An AP-NORC poll shows Democratic favorability among Democrats sliding from the high 80s/low 90s range down to about 70%—and the conversation turns into a bigger question:

How long can a political movement run on pure Trump hatred… without offering anything else?

From there, the show pivots into two stories that feel like they should be jokes… but unfortunately are not.

TSA and the “$100 or more” shake-down

A class action lawsuit aims to stop TSA from seizing travelers’ cash—sometimes without charges ever being filed. The episode breaks down how civil asset forfeiture turns “suspicion” into a business model… and why the amounts are often sized perfectly to make fighting back not worth it.

Washington, D.C.: raw sewage into the Potomac… for a month

Then we hit the D.C. water disaster: hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing into the Potomac from burst pipes, while officials argue and the media shrugs—until Trump mentions it, and suddenly people are mad at the guy talking about it.

And the cherry on top: the D.C. Water CEO is David Gaddis—a name tied to Flint-era water controversy—because in government, failure doesn’t end careers. It upgrades them.

Also included: a Menards parking lot encounter that ends with a guy trying to sell candy bars to fund a motel room… which is a sentence that really captures the era.

Give it a listen. Share it with a friend who still thinks “the system” is running smoothly.

Follow Sarah on X: @MamaSwati
Follow Fingers on X: @FingersMolloy
More shows and podcasts: FingersMalloy.com