Summary
Overview
This episode features stories of people who witness disturbing changes around them and refuse to stay silent. In Act One, a city council member in Pasadena confronts a military exercise conducted without proper public notice. Act Two follows a birth emergency in rural Maine after a hospital closes its labor and delivery unit, requiring heroic efforts from medical staff. Act Three presents a Russian filmmaker documenting the rollout of propaganda in his school after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, showing what it's like to watch authoritarianism take hold in real time.
Military Exercises in Pasadena Without Warning
Rick Cole, a Pasadena city council member, receives a text six minutes before the public is informed about military exercises happening that night in a residential neighborhood. Despite being told not to reveal the location, Cole decides the public deserves to know and posts the information on Instagram. He then goes to the abandoned hospital where helicopters, flashbang grenades, and simulated gunfire disrupt the neighborhood until 2 a.m., and creates videos to inform residents about what's happening.
- Rick Cole receives text about military exercises at 5:24 PM, six minutes before public announcement, with instructions not to reveal the location
- Cole instructs his assistant to post the location anyway, saying 'the people deserve to know where this is happening'
- Military exercises with helicopters, flashbangs, and simulated gunfire were supposed to end at 8:30 PM but continued until 2 AM
- Cole makes videos on site to inform residents, reaching nearly 8 million people
" I mean, that's the way I've lived my life, Ira. "
" We owe to the people we serve to treat them with respect and to keep them informed about things that affect them. And this was such a egregious breach of that trust. "
Emergency Birth After Hospital Closure in Rural Maine
Katie Gowell goes into labor at home in rural Maine just 29 days after the local hospital closed its labor and delivery department. When her umbilical cord prolapses—a life-threatening emergency—Dr. Rose Fuchs must keep her hand inside Katie's body for 90 minutes, pushing the baby's head up to protect the cord while they navigate a chaotic ambulance ride to a hospital. The delivery requires multiple nurses to come in on their day off and an OBGYN who happens to be on call, demonstrating the fragile nature of rural healthcare.
- Katie experiences a prolapsed cord, where the umbilical cord comes out before the baby—a dire medical emergency requiring C-section within 5-10 minutes
- Dr. Fuchs keeps her hand inside Katie's body for approximately 90 minutes, pushing the baby's head up to prevent the cord from being compressed
- The nearest working obstetrics department is 90 minutes away; Holton Regional had closed its labor and delivery unit just 29 days earlier
- Multiple nurses who used to work in the closed labor and delivery unit volunteer to come in and help
- The baby is delivered successfully by C-section at 7:58 AM but immediately airlifted to another hospital because Holton can't admit newborns
" I was terrified because I didn't want the baby to die. "
" I told her, I'm very sorry, but I can't care about your pain. "
" I mean, we're coming. "
" Hell yes, I'm going to be there. I threw on my clothes and I was there and I went to Bangor with her. And I sat and I held her hand and I talked to her the entire time. "
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