From “married my brother” to “Professor Vajastan” to “Ryder Cup Rambo”—today’s tour of weird

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Shock can be a shortcut, but it’s also a compass—pointing us toward the places where institutions, media, and public trust collide. Today we pull on three threads that lit up our feeds: sweeping claims of immigration fraud in Minneapolis tied to Somali migration, the long-circulating allegations around Ilhan Omar’s marriage history, and a jarring pivot to Harvard’s visiting professor whose drag persona doubles as pedagogy. Then we land on a story that’s equal parts farce and failure: a NYPD detective allegedly strolling into the Ryder Cup in tactical gear, flashing claims of federal and Trump ties while out on sick leave. Different headlines, same dilemma—how do we separate shock value from verified fact, and what should accountability look like when the dust settles?

We start by interrogating the “astounding” fraud statistic and the appetite for decisive enforcement that follows. What do we really know about the methods, the time frame, and the consequences? With Omar, we step through the allegations, the sources that keep them alive, and the gap between what’s public, what’s proven, and what’s politically useful. And with Harvard, we look past the name that begs for a punchline to ask harder questions about what counts as expertise, how performance intersects with scholarship, and why academic language can feel like a wall instead of a bridge.

Finally, the Ryder Cup episode spotlights a different kind of credibility crisis—how uniforms, jargon, and confidence can bypass scrutiny until something literally drops. It’s a case study in security culture, internal discipline, and the media habit of repeating the most gripping detail without answering the most important questions. If you’re craving clarity more than catharsis, you’ll find room here to think before you decide—and to decide with more than a headline.

Listen, share with a friend who loves to argue kindly, and tell us: which story changed your mind, and what would you fact-check first? If this made you think, follow the show, leave a review, and send us your take—we read every note.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello, good morning.
Alright.
We have some stories for youtoday.
One in particular that I foundreally interesting.
Uh let's get right to it.
Vast fraud of Somali migrantsstarting with Elon Omar finally

(00:21):
being exposed.
Well, how about that?
Huh.
This week federal officials madean astounding announcement.
Was it really astounding?
We all knew this already.
Nearly half of all immigrants ingreater Minneapolis were found
to have committed some form ofimmigrant immigration fraud.

(00:43):
So what do you think is going tohappen?
I'll tell you what's going tohappen.
Absolutely nothing.
I don't know why ICE is notgoing out there rounding all
these people up and shippingthem back.
The fraud uncovered in aSeptember sweep came in all
kinds of came in all kinds.
Sham marriages, fake deathcertificates, and other bizarre

(01:08):
schemes as U.S.
citizenship and immigrantimmigration services director
Joseph Edley put it put at putit.
I wonder what kind of bizarreschemes it was.
It's highlighted as a link, soI'm going to click it and see
where it takes me.
Oh dear.
So let's see, what does it say?
Trump calls for investigationinto Reper Omar ballot

(01:31):
harvesting can.
Okay, well, that was nothing.
All right, but the revelationwas no great surprise to those
of us who have followed thesettlement of some 100,000
Somali immigrants to inMinnesota over the past three
decades.
Yes, see, I told you.
As far back as 2008, guess whowas president in 2008?

(01:53):
The State Department temporarilysuspended one of the family
reunification programs used bySomali immigrants when DNA
testing of applicants found that80% of all its claimed family
relationships were fake.
Immigration fraud is in is inthis community has been the
norm.

(02:13):
Y'all, and when it comes tobizarre schemes, Representative
Elon Omar serves as exhibit A.
So we all know this, right?
We already knew that she marriedher brother.
Is this correct?
Let's see what it says.
Omar is accused and has nevercredibly denied that she married
her brother to get him legalpapers.

(02:34):
In 2016, following up on a tipposted on local Somali
discussion board, I found thatOmar, then a first-time
candidate for the MinnesotaState Legislature, had
religiously married, hadreligiously married, but not
legally married, Ahmad Hersey,the father of her children.

(02:55):
Okay.
However, records show that in2009 she had legally married
Ahmad Nur Said Elmy, a manidentified as her brother by
Somalis on the discussion board.
Omar was still married to Elmyas she campaigned for state
office in 2016, although herwebsite made no mention of him

(03:19):
and touted Hersey as herhusband.
It appeared that Omar hadmarried her brother for some
fraudulent purposes.
Hmm.
So we already knew all this, sowhy am I rehashing this?
I don't know.
I thought it was gonna besomething as obviously I didn't
read the whole story.
Uh, but yeah, basically it'sabout her.

(03:40):
I want to know about the otherimmigrants that are here and
what they did.
Let's go round them up.
How about that?
I'm trying to see if there'sanything more about the other
ones, but it's all about her, sowhatever.
Alright, let's move on to thenext story.
You um let's see.

(04:00):
Oh, y'all, this is terrible.
This is terrible right here.
My goodness.
Alright, sorry, I had to pauseit for a minute here.
Let's see.
Let's go back over here to mynotes.
Alright.
You ready for this one?
Harvard hires drag queen namedready for this, children.

(04:23):
Cover your ears.
Lahore Vagistan.
I'm not kidding.
That's what it says.
Lahore Vagistan.
Would you like me to spell itfor you?
As visiting professor.
Oh, y'all.
This is this is ridiculous.
Harvard University hired a dragperformer as a new professor who

(04:45):
is expected to teach a class onTV show, RuPaul's Drag Race.
This is what Harvard has become.
This is insane.
The institution welcomed Kareem,oh Lord, this last name, Cub
Chandani in a July message tothe college community and

(05:06):
revealed the visiting professorfrom Tufts University will teach
in the studies of gender andsexuality program thanks to the
Harvard Gender of SexualSexually Sexuality Caucus.
What?
Harvard Gender and SexualityCaucus.
What in the world are we doing?
Now at least it's college andnot high school.

(05:29):
Still, it's stupid.
Is perhaps better known by hisstage name, Lahore Vajastan.
A persona that he acad that theacademic has made an integral

(05:50):
part of their pedagog I can'tpronounce that word.
Pedagogy ped pedagogy?
I can't.
P-E-D-A-G-O-G-Y?
I don't know.
I don't know.
And of course there is T H E IR, I guess, you know, the
pronouns.
The professor will often lecturein the guise of Lahore, which
has been a person personalproject for over a decade, even

(06:15):
spawning a music video entitledSorry, oh my gosh.
S A R I Y'all, you should seethis person.
Uh in an interview with his owndrag persona published by Johns
Hopkins University Press 2015,Kubja Kubjandani spilled the tea

(06:38):
on the origin of the off puttingstage name.
Oh, you think we can't figurethat out?
Hello.
My name is Lahore Vajastan.
My preferred pronouns are she orAuntie.
I choose Lahore because myfamily traces its origins back
to Pakistan.
Lahore is an important city inPakistan.

(07:01):
And well, I'm a bit of a whore,the drag queen said.
So Lahore, the actual city inPakistan, is spelled
L-A-H-O-R-E.
And of course, he spells hisdrag name L-A-W-H-O-R-E.
And Vajastan, because I see thesubcontinent as one big,

(07:23):
beautiful Oh no.
I can't.
I'm not even I can't.
I can't with these people.
I'm not gonna finish readingthat.
It's on the New York Post ifyou'd like to go see it for
yourself, which I'm sure youdon't.
But here's me bringing you allkinds of interesting stories,
right?
Okay.
Moving on to my last topic.

(07:45):
So, oh, this guy.
I don't know.
This guy.
Okay.
NYPD cop on sick leave, snuckinto the Ryder Cup in full
tactical gear, claimed he wasn'ta Trump security sources.
Say, y'all.
And you should see this guy.
I mean, there's no way you wouldbelieve that he was uh, first of

(08:07):
all, a cop, and second of all,on the Trump security team.
And if you see the pictures ofhim, you're gonna know why.
He's a little overweight.
Uh let's see, an NYPD detectiveallegedly showed up at the
allegedly, you either he did orhe didn't.
Showed up at the Ryder Cup golftournament in full gear and

(08:28):
claimed he was working securityfor President Trump while out on
sick leave, the post.
So wonder why he wonder why hewas on sick leave.
Nobody they don't tell us why, Idon't think.
Detective Melvin Ng, ENG, who isnow facing administration
administrative charges for theftof services, may have been may

(08:50):
have even gotten away with thegolf course ruse had he not
dropped his gun magazine in thegrass in front of real security
personnel, according to lawenforcement sources.
So what was he really on sickleave or was he told to go on
sick leave because apparentlyhe's a shitty cop and he's

(09:12):
overweight.
So I mean, come on, who's hegonna chase down?
You're out sick, what are youdoing at the Ryder Cup?
One ticked off veteran cop saidabout Ng's alleged stunt.
You can't do that, and it'stheft of service because you
went in for free and then youlied and said you worked for
Donald Trump.
Oh, I hope Trump needs to dosomething about this.

(09:35):
Uh Ng 46, who is president ofthe NYPD Asian Jade Society,
allegedly showed up at theFarmingdale tournament Friday in
full tactical gear, claimed heWe already said that.
Do you need to repeat thisagain?
We already know this.
Tell us more, these people whowrite these articles, I swear.

(09:55):
According to the sources, Ngeven claimed he was working for
the feds.
That was enough to get him intothe popular tournament until he
dropped you already told usthis, he dropped his gun
magazine.
How many different ways do youneed to say this?
Oh What if he was looking tohurt someone?
Another police source said.
He got in there with his gun,passed the Secret Service,

(10:18):
passed the state police, reachedby phone Wednesday Ing said, I'm
sorry, I gotta go, and hung upon the reporter.
The NYPD did not immediatelyrespond to a request for
comment.
And that's where the story ends.
I mean, come on.
We need more information.
All right, let's see.
I guess I need to move on to thequestion of the day.
All right, here's the questionof the day.

(10:40):
Who is your favorite person fromthe Bible?
And no, you can't say Jesus.
You have to use somebody else.
Who is your favorite person fromthe Bible other than Jesus?
Okay, that's the question of theday.
I gotta go.
Thanks for listening.
Have a good one.