The “Sweet Dreams Are Made of Cheese” Edition
Rational Security
The Lawfare Institute
4.8 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Scott sat down with his colleagues Alan Rozenshtein and Anna Bower to talk through the week’s big national security news stories, including:
- “A Higher Loyalty.” The Justice Department appeared to bow to the demands of President Trump last week when, over the reported objections of several senior officials, it successfully sought the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly false statements he made to Congress. But the prosecution is raising a lot of questions among legal experts about the procedures, the substance, and what exactly its odds are for success moving forward. What should we make of this move by the Justice Department? What does this tell us about the prospects for weaponization moving forward?
- “A Right to Bare Faces.” California has enacted a new law that, among other measures, will require law enforcement officers of all stripes to limit their use of face masks. But legal experts are torn on whether this policy can constitutionally apply to its clear target: the ICE personnel and other federal law enforcement officers who have started wearing masks for even routine law enforcement activities. How likely is the new law to achieve its goals?
- “Legal Code.” California has passed a first of its kind AI safety law, with the support (or at least acquiescence) of industry leaders. Does this point a way forward for AI safety legislation? And how will it make us safer?
In object lessons, the AI overlords completely take over. Alan is vibe coding his way to paying for his kids’ college tuition. Scott’s AI alter ego is making easier work of docket watching with NotebookLM. And even Anna, in search of Jimmy Kimmel jokes, gets a little AI anecdote in through her recent tour of NYC comedy clubs.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There are some things you'll never understand. |
| 0:02.8 | Like, why did that person ghost me? |
| 0:05.2 | When did man-spreading become socially acceptable? |
| 0:07.8 | And how come that dinosaur theme park keeps reopening, given its safety record? |
| 0:12.6 | But some things you can understand. |
| 0:15.2 | Like your Experian credit score. |
| 0:17.4 | The more you improve your score, the more you could save, |
| 0:19.7 | on things like credit cards, car loans, |
| 0:22.4 | mobile contracts, and more. |
| 0:24.5 | It's dead easy to check and completely free. |
| 0:27.4 | Download the Experian app and check your score today. |
| 0:32.9 | So, Alan, as this is one of our new efforts to do some of these on video, everyone can appreciate |
| 0:39.2 | the fact that you are in fact very much a law professor on sabbatical, meaning you are unshaven |
| 0:43.7 | in a t-shirt that is maybe one size too small. |
| 0:48.2 | It fits perfectly, Scott. |
| 0:50.5 | I will have you know. |
| 0:51.6 | Kind of in a tights-sveled way. |
| 0:53.4 | You're feeling very confident your t-shirt wearing. |
| 0:56.8 | No, I'm wearing my Minnesota landscape arboretum hat. I'm a dad. I'm a Midwestern dad. Yeah, and the joke on your shirt is also a dad joke. For those listening, I picked this up. I saw this in a, I saw this in a t-shirt store in Asheville, North Carolina, because of course, and I had to immediately buy it. |
| 1:14.0 | It says, sweet dreams are made of cheese. Who am I to disabree? And people love this. People look at it, and it's like they take a second. They're not more of a University of Wisconsin shirt. I'm sure that dads love that shirt. You know, plenty of moms like this shit too. |
| 1:29.3 | Thank you very much. You have to be over the age of 35 to like this shirt. I think that's the main. That's the main thing. That's the goal. And spiritually may be well over 40. So what does one do on sabbatical? Like are you like are you I you, I mean, obviously I know you're working on projects, but like, are you watching TV? Like, are you like... That's the biggest display of your ignorance is the idea that Alan is actively working on project. Maybe you're not working on sabbatical. I think that's not. I feel like this is the year where I really have been mapping. Personal projects. No, I mean, look, look. But I mainly just want to know, like, what's the TV consumption like? You know, I am... I watch no more TV than I did. This is the problem with sabbaticals, which is that, like, you don't teach, but teaching is, like, only a fairly small part of the job. And mostly just means that I do more law fair stuff I do the, I do my other job. I'm sabbatical. I am, I mean, don't tell my dean because I'm very grateful for it, but I think sabbaticals are wasted on people like me. Like we, we, this is public. Yeah, you probably should not say that out loud. Please do not listen. |
| 2:34.8 | I am not giving my sabbatical back. |
... |
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