Tran Girlismo

Hello! On this episode of Grim Oil Rants (apologies/thanks to our wonderful friend of the show Nathaniel for stealing this bit from him), the girls just want to have fun, but they can't. Degrowth Don is back at it again, so it's time for an (admittedly more limited than last weeks') analysis of the diesel market. Then, the feds decide that since fuel prices are so low it's a great time to abolish CAFE in a way that Victoria thinks might actually make the entire market balloon more in size, and NHTSA admits will cost us more in fuel. Great.
Finally, Jordan plays a really good video game that can never happen again because Electronic Arts is too busy bonesawing small studios they purchase to make Infinite Money with Zero Employees.
Victoria especially would like to extend her genuine apologies for another oil-based downer episode but wow she is feelin' it this week. The uplifting, fun episode is the bonus this time. Sorry y'all.
As always, our opening theme is off Stella Spazzatura's Horse Tranquilizer Simulator and our fantastic editor who keeps us out of prison is Alex aka Harmful Park, who is looking for work and you should hire to work on your podcast too!
Referenced Stories:
Trump Considers Blowing Up Entire Economy For Fun @Reuters
Trump Does Not Understand How Red Dye Works @Reuters
Trump Admin Rolls Back CAFE To Pre-Biden @NPR
892 Pages Of Bullshit @NHTSA
Victoria's Extensive Reporting On The Footprint Rule @The Drive
Tesla's Easy Money Ends @Reuters

Hello! In this month's bonus episode, the girls watch and review Steve McQueen's 1971 film Le Mans, which it turns out kicks ass. DO NOT WORRY, non-subscribers, we will still have a main feed episode out this week! But we wanted to put out our bonus for all of our Patreon subscribers, we appreciate your support as always!

Later this week: MORE OIL

In this episode of Tran Girlismo, the girls correct the trajectory of the past "we're so back" episodes with one that affirms, no, really, "it's so over". Jordan briefly tries to distract Victoria with the good that is IMSA at IMS, and while that was fun, she cannot stop the It's So Over tsunami that is eight pages of oil crisis notes.
First, the girls cover the absolutely hilarious backstory of the Freedom Fuels... business (legally, they cannot call it a scam), before Victoria puts on her WTYP hat and breaks down the history of Yemen. It turns out that the entire world fucked over this country of 35 million for basically going on 100 years and the current oil-crisis-inducing Houthi situation did not just fall from the coconut tree, so to speak.
The girls wrap things up by dunking on the new Saudi Arabian Ceer car company. Please email all professional bonesaw appointment scheduling to trangirlismo@gmail.com.
CALL TO ACTION: If you are looking for ways to help the trans community and have some spare time we would love more volunteers at TRACTION! If you have spare space you'd be willing to let a trans refugee crash in (especially if you're in the Puget Sound region) please sign up to be part of our Couch Network! If you have money to spare, we also would love donations! I will probably be putting together a big fundraising marathon once things slow down slightly in my life!
As always, our intro theme is from the wonderful Stella Spazzatura off her album Horse Tranquilizer Simulator, and our editor is the fantastic (and available for more work) Alex aka Harmful Park!
Our special edition image is President George W. Bush addressing the American people about the invasion of Iraq, with Smoliv next to him. Because, you know, Smoliv is full of oil. [Victoria Note: For people that ordered shirts, I actually picked them up yesterday, and I'm gonna ship them ASAP; this weekend I have a wedding to attend, so it might not be until next weekend.]
Referenced Stories:
Sketchy Stolen Gas? @The New Republic
Mansfield Oil Allegations @The Guardian US
Associated Press Reporting On The Blowjob Brothers @Associated Press
Mansfield Oil Lawsuit @Politico
$700,000 In Back Rent Allegations @PoliticoPro
South Yemen's Socialist Experiment @Jacobin [Archive.org]
Zaydi Overview @Britannica
[Victoria Note: A lot of the backstory of Yemen is assembled from a variety of Wikipedia articles on the history of the Republic of Yemen, South Yemen, the history of Yemen, the history of British colonial occupation in the Middle East, and conflicts in Yemen, chasing down links for firmer citations as appropriate. As this was a crash-course for me, I did not record every source I relied on for my summary; my apologies!]
Chris Murphy Comments On Yemen @The Intercept
UN Comments On French/British/American Culpability In War Crimes @The Guardian
UN Reports On Material Poverty In Yemen @UN
Houthis Blow Up F-15 @BBC
Houthis Take Hanish Islands, Perim @The Guardian
Saudi Petroline Kablooied, Blowed Up @CNBC
Chris Wright Lies Through Teeth To Media @CNBC
It's So Over You Don't Even Know @Financial Times
Reuters Analysis Of How Over It Is @Reuters
Trump Tells Saudis GL, HF With Houthis @The Guardian
Trump Backtracks, Then Backtracks On Backtracking @New York Times
US Clears Way To Sell $25 Billion In F-35s To Saudis @Reuters
Israel Bombs "Houthis", Harms Civilians @Al-Jazeera
Shanghai Oil Futures $129 @Financial Times
Shanghai Oil Futures $140 Like Two Days After I Got That Link @Bloomberg
Ghost Shipping Surge @Reuters
National Security Council Houthi Analysis @NSC [Archive.org]
Houthi Analysis @Council on Foreign Relations
Ceer Unveiled @Reuters
Ceer Claims Of Range, Performance @Ars Technica
Foxconn Plant That Never Happened In Wisconsin @NBC [Chicago Affiliate]
Foxconn Runs Labor Camps According To Chinese, HK, Taiwanese Universities @South China Morning Post
Saudi Arabian Kafala System @Human Rights Watch

Hello! On this episode, the girls are joined by their friend Cora Goodwin (who you can find nowadays on Instagram), who basically invented half the car culture the two of them grew up with. (You might remember Cora from the Zero Fucks Given RX-7 or the Turbo Trolls-Royce builds if you liked Matt Farah as a teenager and you're about the girls' ages). The girls had written notes but rapidly threw them out the window as the conversation took on a life of its own.
(Victoria's Note: For the geopolitics sickos, next week's episode will be a return to form.)
The discussion (roughly) covers the Focus ST, Civic Si, VICTORIA'S FIRST CAR IN YEARS, HER NEW JEEP [air horn sounds dot wav], being transgender and figuring out your deal, the Morgan Aero 8, hydrogen-powered cars, and how to help your community. It was meandering.
Anyway, check out these sick-ass pics of Vicki and her new Jeep taken by Friend Of The Show and photographer Sula Griggs:
(Victoria's Note: Thank you all for your support, this Jeep is pretty much possible because of this Patreon. I will be relentlessly talking about what I'm going to do with and to it in the near future on the show and I promise I will use having a vehicle to do as much good as I can!)
As always, our opening theme is off Horse Tranquilizer Simulator by Stella Spazzatura and our editor is the fantastic Alex/Harmful Park, who you should hire to edit your show, too!

Hello! This week the girls are joined by Rob Zacny, cofounder of Remap Radio, host of Star Wars podcast A More Civilized Age, and panelist on F1 podcast Shift+F1! The girls had a bunch of notes written out but immediately got distracted for almost three hours. Sorry about that.
We discuss Mazda, the catfish Chevrolet Camaro, living at a race track, generational trauma of The Sports Car You Missed Out On, revving for 9/11, the narrative complexity of Codemasters' F1 series, getting your wife to sim-race, Dire Straits,
Our opening theme as always is off the album Horse Tranquilizer Simulator by Stella Spazzatura and thank you as always to our wonderful editor Alex (@nohopeoverkill.com on Bsky)!
Referenced Stories:
Pedestrian Safety by Victoria @Motor1.com
Car Bloat by Victoria @The Drive
The girls actually didn't really have any sources for this episode because it's like three hours of riffs.