The famous MI6 agent James Bond must thwart an alien plot against the British. E1 on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/e1podcast

243 - James Bond in "Roger Me Never"

"Clinton Says He's Not Leaning Left but Taking a New 'Third Way,'" reported The New York Times in 1992. "It's not left. It’s not right. It’s forward!" proclaimed former presidential candidate Andrew Yang during a 2019 Democratic debate. "Neither left nor right," reads the slogan of far-right French political party Front National.

Every few years we hear about a new, trailblazing political vision that transcends traditional party lines, leaning not to the right or the left, but straight ahead. No longer, we're told, must we conform to antiquated political notions of "liberal" or "conservative," nor must we continue to tolerate the corrupt duopoly. Instead, we can embrace a forward-thinking alternative; a third way; a modern, pragmatic and new political paradigm.

But for all the talk of moving "beyond left and right," there sure is a lot of right-wing sentiment. Rhetoric like this almost exclusively comes from neo-fascists, libertarians, and centrists – Glenn Beck, Bill Clinton, Andrew Yang, and the like – and virtually never from figures on the Left. Why is that? What political purpose does the false notion of transcending right and left serve? And why does this hackneyed concept continue to surface and resonate?

On this episode, we examine the vacuous nature of claiming to reject political categories of "right" and "left." We analyze how this rhetoric disguises garden-variety right-wing austerity politics as a novel, barrier-breaking political vision, as well as how it taps into real frustrations with political systems, but obscures and absolves the causes of these frustrations through sleazy, sales-pitch style tactics.

Our guest is writer Osita Nwanevu.

Ep. 170: The Shallow, Audience-Flattering Appeal of the ‘Neither Right Nor Left’ Guy

We talk about Kanye for way too long and then we talk about how San Francisco police have unveiled a real robocop and then we talk about New York City's hottest new job listing. Also CONTENT WARNING: we talk a lot at the end about putting down animals idk man.

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON + DISCORD
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All Hail The Rat Czar

This week we bring you part 2 of our exploration of the Cambridge Analytica Scandal — cast in a very different light. In part 1 we took a look at Christopher Wylie’s origin story and the sketchy science behind the supposed “psychological warfare mindfuck tool” Steve Bannon employed within Cambridge Analytica on behalf of Robert Mercer, which, the story goes, won the election for Donald Trump by manipulating the masses. In part 2, we’re gonna be taking a look at Wylie’s attempt to create his own Cambridge Analytica, how he turned into the supposed do-gooder whistleblower in the first place, and what it means for the accepted narrative about the scandal.

We are joined again by guest writer Anthony Mansuy, a French reporter for Society Magazine. For this two-parter, Anthony conducted months of research and forty exclusive interviews. You’ll be hearing from Cambridge Analytica employees, data scientists, former Obama, Trump and Cruz campaign staffers, as well as friends and associates of Chris Wylie.

The evidence lays out how Wylie spread numerous fabrications and exaggerations to minimize his contribution to the development of Cambridge Analytica's tools and conceal the true causes of his departure from the organization. More importantly, Wylie capitalized on the deepest fears held by the liberal media about the far-right, social media, and Russia; allowing him to craft the perfect narrative to fit the political moment — one that persists to this day.

Subscribe for $5 a month to get an extra episode of QAA every week + access to ongoing series like 'Manclan' and 'Trickle Down': http://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous

Anthony Mansuy: https://twitter.com/AnthonyMansuy
Les Dissidents (Anthony's book): https://bit.ly/3jgCFfK

Merch: http://merch.qanonanonymous.com

Music by Pontus Berghe, Nick Sena, DJ Death. Editing by Corey Klotz.

Episode 214: Rewriting Cambridge Analytica (P2) feat Anthony Mansuy

"History will cast a shadow over Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan," the Washington Post’s David Ignatius warned in April of 2021. "Biden's Betrayal of Afghans Will Live in Infamy," George Packer cautioned in The Atlantic magazine in August of that year. "The Cost of Betrayal in Afghanistan," wrote The Atlantic Council’s Ariel Cohen in Newsweek shortly thereafter.

When news broke in April of 2021 that the Biden administration planned to withdraw all documented US troops from Afghanistan after a 20-year occupation, media outlets almost uniformly rushed to issue condemnations. How could the US, and the West more broadly, simply "abandon the Afghan people," especially women, we’d so bravely liberated? How could the US just up and leave, when it had invested and sacrificed so very much to counter the Taliban over the course of two decades?

This outrage stood, and still stands, in stark contrast to the media’s default state of indifference to the suffering people of Afghanistan, and the US’ extensive role in engineering that suffering. For many decades now, American, British, and other Western media have only really seemed to be concerned with the plight of Afghan people, namely women, when it serves to bolster the case for war, occupation, and the continuation of US regional hegemony. Meanwhile, during Afghanistan’s now second winter of famine after having more than $7 billion dollars stolen from its economy by the United States and its allies, these very same pundits and outlets are uniformly silent on this unfolding human rights disaster, caused, again, in large part, by the United States itself.

On this episode, we examine the media's pattern of selective, chauvinistic outrage when addressing the welfare of Afghan people. We also study how media diminishes the enormous role the US has played in destabilizing the country of Afghanistan and endangering its people, how media portray US military solutions as the only means of support for Afghan people, and how media treat Afghans as little more than pawns in a game of US soft- and hard-power expansion and domestic media-focused moral preening.

Our guests are Hadiya Afzal and Julie Hollar.

Ep. 175: Selective Humanitarianism and the US Role in Afghanistan's Post-Occupation Famine

What if the Super Bowl was invaded by aliens?

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JAKE LIVE SHOW
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PATREON
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I Want To Believe

To hear the rest of the episode, subscribe at patreon.com/TrueAnonPod
----------
Following the arrest of mafia boss and murderous gamer Matteo Denaro, we grab Matt from Ghost Stories for the End of the World and take a trip to Sicily for a two-parter on Cosa Nostra, the mafia’s role as handmaiden and parasite, and the early history of the Sicilian Mob.

Episode 269: Cosa Nostra Part 1 (preview)

In this follow up interview to episodes 172 and 158, we interview UCLA Associate Professor Benjamin Madley about his book "An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe," and discuss how newspapers, tracts, and paperbacks were an essential element in assisting and priming the public for the genocide of California's native population.

News Brief: How Newspapers Aided Genocide in California. an interview w/ Benjamin Madley

In this News Brief, we break down the recent controversy over the open letter sent by 1200+ NYT contributors pushing back on The Times' salacious coverage of "trans issues," and how the Paper of Record's response has proved to be thin skinned, sanctimonious, and hypocritical.

With guests Eric Thurm and Julia Carmel.

News Brief: The Battle Over NYT's Lurid, Tabloid Coverage of 'Trans Issues'

Our old friend David A. Banks is back to talk about the release of his new book, The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America. We also discuss the complicated legacy of Richard Florida and the false prophets of the creative class. 

Buy the book here: bookshop.org/p/books/the-city-authentic-how-the-attention-economy-builds-urban-america/18908149

Check out David’s substack here: https://otherday.substack.com/

Episode 287: Creative Ass

We examine a pair of Twitter spaces, one successful (TrueAnon & frazzledrip), one a disaster (Ron DeSantis & Elon Musk). Plus Bill Gates blackmailed by Epstein and explosive allegations in the USVI lawsuit.

patreon.com/TrueAnonPod

Episode 294: Bodies And Spaces

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.

Ep. 175: Selective Humanitarianism and the US Role in Afghanistan's Post-Occupation Famine

Citations Needed Podcast

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