No Agenda 1908 'Chivatican': Curry & Horowitz on Tariffs, AI, FlyDubai

Released October 1, 2026, Episode 1908 of the No Agenda Show, titled 'Chivatican,' finds host Adam Curry broadcasting from the Texas Hill Country with a brand-new guest co-host in the chair: Andrew Horowitz of The Disciplined Investor and DH Unplugged. The pair, who have known each other for roughly 15 years and share a long history with the late John C. Dvorak, deliver a three-hour media deconstruction built around tariffs, jobs numbers, artificial intelligence hype, and a hijacking mystery over Saudi airspace. It is one of the most finance-forward No Agenda episodes in recent memory.

Horowitz brings a markets lens to the show's trademark narrative dissection. Among the threads unpacked: the $15 billion Mesabi Metallics / SR steel plant deal in Iowa, 'Patriot Pellets,' and the Section 232 tariffs that enabled it; Kevin Hassett's shifting commentary on BLS jobs reports, PCE methodology changes, and ShadowStats founder John Williams; Scott Bessent's bond-buying 'blunder,' private credit refinancing walls, and commercial real estate losses; Trump's rebrand of AI as 'SI' (super intelligence) and Anthropic's reported $2 trillion IPO prospectus; and the FlyDubai cockpit stabbing incident and Netanyahu's pre-election messaging. Horowitz's investing philosophy gets its own set piece when he recounts a horseback ride in Costa Rica with his wife Jill, comparing it to markets: 'The horse doesn't want to fall off the mountain just as badly as you don't want to fall off the mountain. Hang on to the horse. It's the same thing with these markets.' Curry, for his part, hammers the shifting official story on FlyDubai Flight to Tel Aviv, noting conflicting ABC, BBC and Netanyahu accounts of whether the plane dropped from 34,000 to 16,000 feet in two or three minutes, whether a knife or crash axe was used, and the now-famous Israeli plumber who allegedly leveled the aircraft.

The episode's depth comes from its specificity. Horowitz dissects Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's Oval Office pitch alongside Iowa TV6 reporting that no permits have been filed and no major Lee County land has been purchased for the plant. He contrasts Cleveland-Cliffs' North American pellet dominance with Brazil's Vale, flags the Indian ownership of SR Technologies, and connects the timing to the midterms. On AI, Curry champions Meta's Muse assistant, predicts the collapse of traditional podcast apps, and recounts building a prototype 'while watching West Wing.' AOC, Bill Gates, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman's 'Dots' launch, Pope Leo's Chicago-accented AI remarks, and Pete Hegseth's Pentagon purge all get run through the deconstruction machine. No Agenda is the long-running, listener-supported value-for-value podcast hosted by Adam Curry and the late John C. Dvorak, known for its skeptical, humor-laced media deconstruction of politics, culture, technology, and the forces shaping the daily news cycle. Episode 1908 'Chivatican' is available now wherever podcasts are heard, and at noagendashow.net.