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.

This week on The Snark Factor, Fingers Malloy and Sarah Smith take on a week where being the adult in the room somehow became a political crime.

It starts with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — not in legal trouble, but in deep trouble with the activist wing of his own party — for committing the unforgivable sin of trying to keep the government funded. Fingers and Sarah dig into why shutdown politics have flipped, how immigration and ICE became the flashpoint, and why polling reality still refuses to cooperate with protest narratives.

From there, the conversation widens into media blind spots, propaganda, and why public trust has eroded so badly that no investigation, no institution, and no authority is seen as legitimate anymore — which may be the point.

The show then turns local, as Fingers contrasts wall-to-wall coverage of protests with the near silence surrounding a deadly crash in Indiana involving an illegal immigrant driver — and asks why some victims get national attention while others barely get a headline.

In the second half, the focus shifts from politics to something that hits much closer to home: money. A disturbing story from Carol Roth details how a retiree’s six-figure savings account was quietly closed and sent to the state for “inactivity,” despite regular interest deposits — a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks their money is safe just because it’s sitting still.

And because this is The Snark Factor, the episode wraps with lighter fare:
Waffle House going full fine-dining for Valentine’s Day, regional pronunciation fights (“waffle”), Super Bowl party food politics, Velveeta defenders, and the eternal danger of the sad veggie tray.

Smart, sharp, skeptical, and occasionally hungry — this is The Snark Factor.

This week on The Snark Factor, Fingers Malloy and Sarah Smith dig into the ongoing chaos in Minneapolis and the bigger problem underneath it: the argument isn’t even about what happened anymore — it’s about who gets to explain it.

They break down how modern “protests” become coordinated disruptions, from encrypted group chats on Signal to the manufactured tactics of whistles, bullhorns, and traffic blockades. They also explore why the flashpoint appears concentrated in Minneapolis while other parts of the country are handling ICE cooperation and transfers without the same street-level disorder.

From there, the conversation moves to the collapse of trust: viral footage, the constant question of “is this real,” and the way misinformation floods the public space so thoroughly that people struggle to verify anything before reacting. Fingers and Sarah argue that the public is being baited into rage, because anger is the easiest fuel to control.

The episode also covers the “Pig Face” case out of Arizona — a story they use to discuss gangs, territory, private property norms, and the cultural mismatch arguments that emerge when communities feel order breaking down. They connect the issue to DHS priorities and the narrative battle over what immigration enforcement actually targets versus what people are told it targets.

In the second half, they pivot to day-to-day pressure points: Real ID hitting its next enforcement phase, the mood inside the Washington, D.C. political bubble, and why federal systems often feel insulated from the consequences everyone else lives with. They also react to a chart of price changes since 2000 — with medical care, childcare, college, and hospital services exploding upward — and argue that government involvement is the common thread in the biggest increases.

The show wraps with a rapid-fire run through property taxes, permits, insurance traps, utility bill spikes, and the rising sense that bureaucracy is designed to grind people down — plus a detour into egg prices, butter prices, and why arguing with people online is rarely worth the energy.

On this episode:

Minneapolis unrest and the coordination behind it

Signal, group messaging, and “manufactured chaos” tactics

Trust collapse, misinformation, and the anger trap

The “Pig Face” story, gangs, and property norms

Real ID enforcement and the TSA fee conversation

Price changes since 2000 and why the public feels squeezed

Property taxes, permits, utility spikes, and the bureaucracy spiral

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