Where this was said
Venezuela, the Discombobulator, and UAPs
At 44:29 · chapter starts 41:10
Rogan and Sheridan work through the details of the January 2025 US special forces operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — a raid that involved dropping operators onto the roof of a high-rise surrounded by Cuban special forces, using what Trump described as a classified sonic weapon that disabled both Russian and Chinese weapons systems and incapacitated enemy personnel simultaneously. Trump reportedly called it 'the discombobulator' and told the New York Post he wasn't allowed to explain how it worked. No Americans were killed. Sheridan observes that if he wrote this sequence in a script, producers would reject it as too far-fetched. The conversation naturally extends to UAPs: Rogan's position is that a significant fraction of unidentified aerial phenomena are classified US vehicles using novel propulsion systems developed over decades in programs far above top secret. Sheridan agrees that whatever the discombobulator represents publicly, there are likely four generations of technology beyond it already being tested quietly. Both men note the deep strangeness of the gap between what the public knows and what is being developed in classified programs.
Tom Nelson, co-author of the prison survival guide, was the biggest drug dealer in Hollywood, committed armed robbery, and ran over a DEA agent before serving 17 years.
During the January 2025 raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, US special forces used a classified sonic weapon — nicknamed 'the discombobulator' by Trump — that simultaneously disabled Russian and Chinese-made weapons systems and incapacitated enemy personnel. No Americans were killed. It's the kind of thing that would be rejected as too far-fetched in a movie script.
One side of Sheridan's family traveled from Kentucky to Texas in the 1840s, and a great-great-grandmother kept a detailed journal. That journal — combined with hundreds of other published pioneer diaries — became the research foundation for 1883. River crossings were the most deadly obstacle: almost no one could swim.
Sheridan built the structure of How Not to Die in Prison directly on the Lonely Planet model: overview, glossary, language, food, accommodation, navigating the territory. It covers day one, the yard, gangs, commissary, diseases, riots, and how to make a shiv. One rule: finish it before you get there, and do not bring it inside.
