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In this public News Brief we breakdown the most common anti-Palestinian tropes and why they're based on sophistry, ignorance, racism, or some combination of all three.

Debunking the 5 Most Common Anti-Palestinian Talking Points

And introducing...Kanye West! Chris and Molly are joined by online expert Felix Biederman to discuss Kanye's latest tear through Twitter, his sudden (but not necessarily unexpected) embrace of Trump, his new music, his ability to bend the world to his will, the intersection of politics & celebrity, and why hip-hop beefs have gotten so lame. 

Songs:

Runaway (wade pod dub)
Kanye West - Ye vs. the People (starring TI as the People)
Kanye West -  MAGA Hat Full Freestyle
Kanye West - Lift Yourself
Kanye West - Father Stretch My Hands pt. 1
Cam’ron feat. Kanye West - Down and Out (Instrumental)

And Introducing Podcast

#25 KANYE WEST! (ft. Felix Biederman)

We take a moment to salute the life and achievements of Sen. John McCain, and then are joined by comedian Jake Flores (@feraljokes) to hear all about his run-in with the Department of Homeland Security.

For Jake's Tour Dates check his twitter account @Feraljokes

Read Katherine Krueger's interview with Jake here:
https://splinternews.com/the-brooklyn-comedian-whose-joke-about-ice-got-him-a-vi-1825865670

Support International Whore's Day and fight SESTA/FOSTA:

https://macc.nyc/2018/05/11/International-Whores-Day.html

Donate to Rakem Balogun:

https://www.gofundme.com/help-with-the-fbi-sabotage-recovery

Listen and Subscribe to Pod Damn America:

https://www.patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Chapo Trap House

Episode 210 - ICE to See You feat. Jake Flores (5/13/18)

​Will and Virgil peel back the curtain to give an intimate backstage look at their recent media hit with Jesse "The Body" Ventura on RT.* They're then joined by political scientist David Faris to discuss his book "It's Time To Fight Dirty". Faris out lines all the ways a slim democratic majority could and should shortcut norms and the constitution to build enduring power, while Will and Virgil supply all the reasons they'll probably be too chicken to actually do so. Finally, a reading from the good book.


*Note: Our segment seems to have been cut before airing lol we still love you Jesse! 

Buy the book:

chapotraphouse.com

Episode 214 - 6 Weird Election Tricks That ACTUALLY Work! feat. David Faris (5/27/18)

Due to overwhelming popular demand, we've unlocked this recent episode...

Felix talks with @intifadarling, a Palestinian-American activist based in Ramallah. They discuss the context of the May 14 massacre of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, the political situation between Israel, America and Palestine, and the future of the Palestinian people.

UNLOCKED  - In Conclusion, Palestine is a Land of Contrasts feat. @Intifadarling (5/23/18)

It's sports night here on Chapo! We're go deep into the Red Zone with local radio call-in favorite, PFT Commenter. We go around the horn and take a tour through the wide world of sports takes: Is Lebron overrated? Should we play the National Anthem before movies? Should you kneel? Did Robert Redford make the right move by leaving Kristen Scott Thomas at the end of 'The Horse Whisperer'? 

We analyze the athletes who clash on the gridiron and the heroes who cover them in the sports media.

Episode 216 - First Time, Long Time feat. PFT Commenter (6/3/18)

Since the dawn of the American Empire, thin moral pretexts in our politics and press have been used to justify our wars and conquest. The invasion of Cuba and Philippines in 1898 was declared to be a fight for freedom from Spanish oppression. Vietnam was about stopping Communist tyranny. T he pioneer myth of Manifest Destiny and “westward expansion” was built about “taming” and “civilizing’ the land from violent savages.

But one current that flows through all of these imperial incursions has been the idea that the United States – as well as its allies the Great Britain and Israel – are out to protect women. Today's endless occupations in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are, in large part, justified in perpetuity because the United States is a self-declared, unique protector of modernity and women’s rights. 

All the same, the Pentagon is increasingly promoted, in press releases and media puffy pieces, as a place where women can exercise their agency: the ultimate apex of meritocracy and a vanguard of equality. 

But what if this approach misses the point of equality altogether? What if this is simply a craven branding exercise, putting a liberal face on what is a fundamentally oppressive system of violence? On this episode, we explore various ways "empowerment" has been used to sell colonial objectives and how one can differentiate between actual progress and the superficial language of inclusion used cynically in service of mechanized violence.

Our guests are University of Delaware professor Dr. Kara Ellerby and University of Bristol senior lecturer Dr. Sumita Mukherjee.

Episode 65: How Empire Uses ‘Feminist’ Branding to Sell War and Occupation

Though now a fixture of the fringe right-wing, libertarian pundit John Stossel was a longtime staple of mainstream, Serious Person media. With hour-long specials and a weekly segment on the ABC program 20/20, Stossel built his brand as muckraking Truth-Teller against Big Government and out of control "political correctness", along with an empire of high school “educational” videos, distributed by libertarian billionaire-funded front groups  to tens of thousands of American classrooms.

In his peak libertarian phase on 20/20, the ABC News program was frequently a Top 20 show, with an average of 13 million viewers an episode. Through his “Give Me A Break” segments and other high-profile special reports, Stossel – without challenge or balance – spread endless well-worn libertarian scare stories on topics ranging from teachers’ unions to the EPA to anti-tobacco regulators to minimum wage to Black civil rights activists, nut-picking the most fringe elements while building stories on anecdotal, fraudulent data and a black hole of libertarian sourcing. 

On this episode, we trace today’s neoliberal, far-right toxic media back to Stossel’s brand of mainstream-laundered, libertarian “contrarianism.”

We are joined by Jeff Cohen, founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR).

Episode 72 - John Stossel: Libertarian Billionaires' Inside Man

"The United States believes any Palestinian government must renounce violence,” a U.S. official told Ha'aretz. When it comes to nonviolence, writes Barbara Reynolds in The Washington Post, “Black Lives Matter seems intent on rejecting the proven methods." "Violence Is Never the Answer," New York Times columnist Charles Blow insists.

We are told endlessly that violence is inherently and unequivocally bad, something - when it comes to advocating for social justice or against military occupation and fascism - that’s always to be avoided, condemned and renounced. It must be rejected, our press and politicians declare, in favor of non-violence, so-called "peaceful protests" and the democratic process.

But in popular discourse, discussions of violence aren’t really about violence; rather, they’re about sanctioned versus unsanctioned violence. The routine violence of poverty, racist policing, militarism is never called "violence"–––it's just the way things are, a law of nature, the price of "stability". But unsanctioned violence, namely that carried out by activists, non or sub-state actors, and those generally distant from the halls of power, causes outrage without any coherent criteria for this indignation. 

On this episode, we discuss how what is and isn't deemed "violence" by our media is largely a function of proximity to power and whether those actions challenge or serve the interests of the status quo. 

We are joined by journalist and author Natasha Lennard.

Episode 74: Liberal Gandhi Fetishism and the Problem with Pop Notions of 'Violence'

In this episode, we are joined by journalist and author Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) to discuss his new book, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World.

Vincent's Book:

https://vincentbevins.com/book/

INFILTRATE AND CONTROL THE NARRATIVE w/ Vincent Bevins

Spenser and Mike interview Army Major Danny Sjursen about his journey from West Point officer in Iraq and Afghanistan to anti-war author, commentator and activist. 

Sjursen is host of 'Fortress On A Hill' podcast and author of several books. Find his work at https://skepticalvet.com/

Army Major to the Anti-War Movement

Citations Needed is a podcast about the media, power, PR, and the history of bullshit. It is hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson, and produced by Florence Barrau-Adams.

Debunking the 5 Most Common Anti-Palestinian Talking Points

Citations Needed Podcast