NOTE: This piece was first published on FLGulfNews.com.
By Dick LaFontaine, with Michael Volpe and Richard Luthmann
Trump’s Japan Trade Triumph Earns Cautious Praise
President Donald Trump scored another trade win – and even some grudging praise from co-host Michael Volpe – as Episode 48 opened with news of a “massive” new deal with Japan.
Volpe recapped the highlights: Japan will open its markets to more American cars and rice, invest $500 billion in the U.S., and see tariffs drop from 25% to 15%.
“That actually sounds like a pretty good deal,” Volpe admitted, bumping Trump’s trade grade “up to a C plus” and noting that if Trump lands agreements with the EU and China, “then we got an A”.
Co-host Richard Luthmann agreed the Japan pact is a “win-win for both countries” and “very positive” for an important ally.
He credited President Trump’s earlier deal with Indonesia for paving the way: “The Indonesia deal led directly to the Japan deal” by spurring other nations to seek a seat at the table. With deals now inked in England and Japan, Trump is “halfway there” to a historic realignment of U.S. trade policy.
Volpe noted Trump had struggled to clinch major deals in his first term, but now momentum is building.
Both hosts struck an optimistic tone, lauding Trump for “doubling down” on confronting China’s economic threat even as they tempered their praise pending the next big deal.
Staten Island Goes Soviet: DA’s ‘Felony Free Speech’ Crusade Sparks Outrage
Co-host Richard Luthmann unloaded on Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon for what he called “Stalinist” tactics aimed at silencing a journalist – him.
McMahon, a Democrat, has issued a felony arrest warrant against Luthmann over emails sent by Substack, which bear his name and are connected to his news publication, effectively charging him with “felony free speech.”
“McMahon’s claims are bogus,” Luthmann said.
Luthmann revealed that the case hinges on a defective order of protection, which he claims he was never informed of in court and was never properly notified about.
He blasted McMahon as “not a good guy” who “weaponizes justice” to punish outspoken critics.
The conduct at issue in the underlying case occurred during McMahon’s 2015 campaign for District Attorney, a decade ago. There, Luthmann discovered that DEAD PEOPLE had signed McMahon’s ballot access petitions.
“This guy is outta control,” Luthmann warned, accusing the DA of using trumped-up charges to throw him in jail for exposing his corruption.
“In true Democrat Party fashion, Mike McMahon raised the dead for his political campaign. McMahon has also obtained the signature of the retired ADA Quentin Smith on the petition. The problem was that Quentin had moved to Ohio the year before and denied signing. Since then, he’s tried to put every knife in me he can,” Luthmann said. “It’s the Charles Hines vs. John Kennedy O’Hara feud all over again.”
“This is Lawfare… He wants to kill me,” Luthmann said, noting the DA knows a prolonged extradition and imprisonment could be deadly given Luthmann’s health conditions, even if it’s based on bogus charges, because he is out of state and would have to face extradition and “diesel therapy,” or prison transport from Florida. The process could take months.
“This guy is an evil, evil person,” he declared. “I did nothing wrong. And it appears that McMahon filed a false report under Penal Law Section 240.50 when he claimed to have feared for his life and safety. That is demonstrably untrue, as evidenced by the third-party Substack emails from July 13, 2025, which were sent to approximately 35,000 people.”
Luthmann says the emails are clearly marked as coming from the outlet, This is For Real. He says McMahon is delusional if he thinks he’s being “threatened or targeted” by third-party emails about President Trump and Family Court Corruption.
“Maybe he has Trump Derangement Syndrome?” Luthmann said. “It’s a clear and transparent attempt to make me look ‘violent’ so he can try to get me held in Rikers without bail so he can kill me using institutional measures. We call this institutional homicide and weaponized justice.”
Luthmann says he believes McMahon inadvertently signed up for the Substack email list himself.
“He’s old and not tech savvy, so I suspect he subscribed to the newsletter after a June 20, 2025, email to his office. That email from the news outlet was about Kevin Barry Love and Islamophobia. It went unanswered but not unclicked. The backend Substack evidence shows he was actively clicking links that week and thereafter,” Luthmann said. “I don’t even have any email or control over the Luthmann@Substack.com email domain he mentions. The whole NYPD report comes off as technologically imbecilic, and yet McMahon demands they must base an arrest on that garbage.”
Luthmann said the outlet even sent him an email earlier this week asking him if he wanted to continue receiving the publication.
“As far as I know, the This is For Real. outlet booted him. He’s banned. He can’t come to our journalistic picnic anymore,” Luthmann said.
He says McMahon’s false statements are problematic at best, and that the NYPD and the local Staten Island judiciary will likely “rubber-stamp the lies” because of who he is.
Luthmann says McMahon is trying to trick the U.S. Marshals to come and pick him up on a fake “violence” charge so that they can throw him into Rikers and circumvent “No Cash Bail.”
“He was very dishonest with the police in the report. There is no threat of violence anywhere. I am a peaceful person who sits behind a keyboard 1,300 miles away. That’s dishonesty under RPC 8.4, and I’m filing a Bar Complaint against him for starters,” Luthmann said.
He also believes the fix is in.
“I’m concerned that Judge Ray Rodriguez is part of the corrupt plan. I just found out that they have been holding appearances on my 2018 case for the past few weeks and haven’t noticed me on any of them. They have Artie Aidala listed as my lawyer. But he was dismissed by Brooklyn Judge Lonald Reo (sic) years ago. The whole thing stinks,” Luthmann said.
Luthmann also says there is no absolute immunity in the investigatory phase for McMahon’s subordinate goons. Also, as a private complainant, McMahon has no immunity whatsoever and is open to legal consequences for the “full panoply of his dishonesty, manipulation, and corruption.”
“I’ll sue everyone who touches this, and I’ll get depositions. If they manage to put me in jail on bogus pretenses, I’ll be a millionaire,” Luthmann said. “My lawyers already have damning audio where the Warrant Department says that they will ‘get anything they want because of who the victim is.’ That is prima facie evidence that this entire situation isn’t based on probable cause. It’s based on corruption and Maniac Mike McMahon’s personal vendetta against me.”
Luthmann plans to file a federal lawsuit in Florida to challenge extradition and is urging Governor Ron DeSantis and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to intervene.
In a court notice, Luthmann called it “LAWFARE,” and said the case is a national issue where blue-state prosecutors can “trample the First Amendment” and haul conservatives out of red states. He also alerted Ed Martin, the U.S. Pardon Attorney and chair of the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group. Martin oversees investigations into alleged politically motivated prosecutions and promises accountability for what he calls systemic lawfare.
He implored Florida officials – and even the Feds – to refuse cooperation with McMahon’s “Lawfare” and “rogue” campaign against free speech and the free press.
YouTuber Sues for Clicks – and His Fraudster Lawyer Gets Unmasked
The hosts next dove into a wild legal sideshow featuring YouTuber Jeremy Hales, whom Volpe bluntly called “a psycho,” and Hales’s ethically challenged attorney, Randy “Rocket” Shochet.
Hales, a YouTube personality with roughly 730,000 subscribers, has been suing Luthmann in an apparent bid for online content and profit.
“He figured out that he could sue people frivolously and create tons of content,” Volpe explained, noting that Hales makes so much money from the spectacle that “it wouldn’t matter” if he wins or loses.
Luthmann says Hales even lied about serving him with the lawsuit, underscoring the case’s bad faith. Volpe warned that Hales’s large audience amplifies the danger of this harassment-by-lawsuit strategy.
But Hales’s legal attack has backfired by shining a spotlight on Shochet, his lawyer. Luthmann’s investigation revealed that Shochet is a former Missouri dentist who was caught committing insurance fraud and perjury.
After losing his dental license, he reinvented himself as a Florida lawyer. Barred from practice in Arkansas for dishonesty, Shochet managed to get admitted to the Florida Bar in 2005, allegedly by concealing his sordid past.
Now he’s facing new scrutiny and calls for disbarment after allegedly misleading a federal court. Luthmann didn’t mince words about Shochet, calling him “the bottom of the barrel” and marveling that anyone could be “barred from two professions” for fraud.
This “fraudster in a suit” may have finally met his match under the harsh light of Luthmann’s exposé.
TikTok Provocateur Danesh Noshirvan Skips Court, Faces Backlash
The podcast also delivered breaking revelations about Danesh Noshirvan – a left-wing social media agitator known for doxxing and smearing conservatives.
Volpe called Noshirvan a “notorious… troll who ruins people’s lives.” Noshirvan even smeared Luthmann as a “pedophile” with zero evidence, prompting a defamation suit.
Meanwhile, Luthmann’s investigation has caught Danesh red-handed in outrageous behavior: just days ago, Danesh livestreamed from a Las Vegas hotel pool – on OnlyFans – boasting about “finding people” (code for recruiting porn actors) in plain sight of families with children.
This stunt, at the Hilton Vacations Club Elara resort, put Noshirvan “under fire,” further exposing his potential violations of federal law related to commercial pornography consent releases under 18 U.S.C. § 2257.
Even more shocking, Danesh chose to participate in the Hilton pool broadcast and another Los Angeles podcast instead of appearing in federal court.
In fact, he flat-out blew off a scheduled federal court hearing in Fort Myers before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nicholas Mizell, so he could appear on a California podcast at the same time.
Judge Mizell was left waiting as Danesh chased clout across the country. The no-show prompted a federal order for Noshirvan to show cause.
Luthmann, incensed, blasted Danesh’s contempt for the legal system, accusing him of “disrespecting justice” by continuing to thumb his nose at the court.
For years, Noshirvan’s antics – from doxxing Supreme Court Justices to spinning wild conspiracies – went unchecked.
Now, with his misdeeds laid bare and an angry judge to answer to, “Delusional Danesh” may finally face a legal reckoning.
Idaho Cracks Down on Family Court Abuses
Idaho is joining other red states like Arizona and Florida in confronting family court corruption. Co-hosts Volpe and Luthmann spoke with Idaho State Senator Tammy Nichols, who leads a task force examining the “abuses” plaguing family courts.
One bombshell discovery: local magistrate judges, who handle most family cases in Idaho, are largely appointed behind closed doors by a Bar Association committee, not elected by the people.
“Why is the bar making appointments for magistrates?” Volpe asked. Nichols agreed the system must change: “There needs to be a bit of change in regards to how judges are being appointed,” she said.
Nichols is also taking aim at a legal loophole: so-called “temporary” custody orders.
Volpe noted these emergency orders are often issued ex parte and then “used as permanent orders” since they cannot be appealed.
Luthmann explained how one party can rush to a magistrate, claim an emergency, get an order immediately, and then see follow-up hearings endlessly delayed. Over time, that one-sided order becomes the “status quo” that judges refuse to undo, leaving the targeted parent stranded without a real day in court.
“Courts are violating people’s due process… handing kids to abusers,” Volpe warned, underscoring the urgent need for reform.
Nichols and her colleagues are pushing fixes – from requiring prompt evidentiary hearings to overhauling judge appointments – to restore fairness.
Change won’t happen overnight, but Idaho’s leaders have put the family court establishment on notice.
“Lawless” Illinois Judge Under Fire as Whistleblowers Speak Out
Jackie Sample and Roy Johnson closed the show with explosive testimony against an Illinois judge they deem lawless.
Sample said Judge James Orel trampled her rights – and Volpe even saw Orel “treat [Jackie] like she was pond scum” in court.
She revealed Orel tried to place her into a guardianship behind her back, effectively declaring her incompetent. He urged a lawyer that “if [Jackie] still reside[s] in DuPage County in seven days, do it… do it” – instructing them to put her under a guardianship.
Orel also consistently sided with Jackie’s ex-husband, even accepting three forged financial affidavits from him and “look[ing] the other way” as millions in assets vanished.
Roy Johnson’s story is just as shocking. His brother was ensnared in a guardianship that Judge Orel approved in secret. Only the guardian – a crony of the court – was present, so “no one else was there” to object.
Johnson says Orel “disregarded the law” and worked off false evidence to let this guardian seize his brother’s property. The guardian then stripped him of his home and assets under the guise of care.
Johnson calls it an “organized shakedown” of elderly victims.
Now, Sample and Johnson are fighting back. They’ve filed complaints and are publicly exposing Orel’s deeds, armed with proof (like records of Jackie’s husband hiding income).
What they describe as a judicial “travesty of justice” can no longer lurk in the shadows, and pressure is mounting for authorities to act.
Episode 48 of The Unknown Podcast made one thing clear—this isn’t just talk. From trade policy to TikToker porn scandals, from rogue prosecutors to family court corruption, Volpe and Luthmann aren’t backing down.
“We’re not afraid to hit the bullies in the nose,” Luthmann said.
Whether it’s McMahon’s lawfare, Hales’s lawsuit circus, or judges ruling from the shadows, the war on truth is real—and the fight is just getting started.
As Luthmann warned: “Expose the system, or the system will crush you.”
This podcast is a warning—and a battle cry.
