Ep 223: The Empire Strikes First, Part II — ‘Abundance’ Pablum as Counter to Left Populism

In this public News Brief, we break down the selling of an unpopular, disastrous war in record speed. 

News Brief: Pundits Speed-run 15 months of Iraq War Propaganda for Iran in Five Days

A Mom’s For Liberty ‘Legislator of the Year” winner arrested for sexually abusing children and distributing CSAM. A horrifying politically motivated assassination. Julian dives into the disturbing details in charges filed against State Representative RJ May III and Travis debunks right wing claims that shooter Vance Luther Boelter is a Democrat.


Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
https://patreon.com/qaa


Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com




QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.


A Time For Assassins and Pedophiles (E329)

In this News Brief we break down recent bad faith attacks on the Democratic nominee for New York mayor, the ADL's DO YOU CONDEMN extortion racket and the broader "antisemitism scandal" playbook to derail moderate social democratic politics and any criticism of Israel.

News Brief: ADL,Corporate Media, Dem Elites Manufacture "Antisemitism" Scandal to Discipline Mamdani

Many Trump voters were under the naive impression that his administration would release information about Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators in his child trafficking operation. So it came as a shock when the DOJ released a memo claiming that they couldn’t find any “client list,” there is no evidence of Epstein blackmail activities, and they did not find “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.” 

Not even MAGA loyalists are buying this.

Jake, Julian, and Travis try to make sense of the DOJ’s blundering attempt to put an end to Epstein chatter, discuss how the memo contradicts previous statements by FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and explore whether this is scandalous enough to fracture Trump’s base for good.

Thanks for subscribing to QAA on patreon.

Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com

Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes: www.patreon.com/qaa


///

We’ve launched a new podcast miniseries network: Cursed Media. The very first Cursed Media miniseries is Science in Transition. 

Science in Transition is an investigation into the intellectual origins of the contemporary right wing backlash against transgender acceptance. Through six deeply-researched episodes, hosts Liv Agar and Spencer Barrows unearth a bizarre coalition of well-meaning clinicians, aristocratic sexologists, militant feminists, right-wing culture warriors, headline-chasing journalists, and conservative politicians.

Listen to the first two episodes of Science In Transition and the rest of the six episodes as they are released weekly by subscribing through this link.

www.cursedmedia.net/

Subscribers to Cursed Media get access to three new podcast series per year, plus every episode of QAA’s existing mini-series (properly organized!)

////


REFERENCES

DOJ Epstein Memo
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline

Metadata Shows the FBI’s ‘Raw’ Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Was Likely Modified
https://www.wired.com/story/metadata-shows-the-dojs-raw-jeffrey-epstein-prison-video-was-likely-modified/

Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York
https://oig.justice.gov/reports/investigation-and-review-federal-bureau-prisons-custody-care-and-supervision-jeffrey

Deputy FBI Director Bongino has told people he is considering resigning amid Epstein files fallout, sources say
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/11/politics/bongino-consider-resigning-epstein-files


The Great Epstein Backstab (E332)

Episode 225: How US Media Frames Democracy that Actually Helps People as "Buying Votes"

Crime, Ozzy & Hulk Hogan, Rerun, Drake & Kendrick, Paranormal beliefs, Eddington, how we need a new separation of church & witchcraft, the new trad pop song burning up the streets, we live in hell

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 402: The Secret Wisdom Of The Ages

We start off this week with some light discussion regarding a few items in the news lately, then pivot to a more serious discussion expanding on Monday's Patreon episode about the ongoing catastrophe and genocide in Gaza. We end with a lighthearted but still somewhat concerning article about a new AI school in Texas.

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 403: War Boy Academy

Osita Nwanevu stops by to discuss his new book The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding. Osita leads us through his case that American “democracy” as it currently stands isn’t that democratic at all. We discuss the real intentions of the founders, the actual American revolution of the Civil War, and the stalled re-founding of reconstruction. We also look at the potential for economic democracy, the political reforms needed to re-found the country, the problem of the judiciary, and the challenges of a new media environment to democratizing movements. Yes, today the wacky morning DJ actually does say democracy’s a joke.

Pick up Osita’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/704686/the-right-of-the-people-by-osita-nwanevu/

AND, we’ve secured ONE MORE WEEK to get your pre-order in for YEAR ZERO: A Chapo Trap House Comic Anthology at badegg.co/products/year-zero-1

957 - Democracy Soon! feat. Osita Nwanevu (8/4/25)

"Exclusive Look at Life in War-Ravaged Gaza," reads the title for a CNN interview with correspondent Clarissa Ward. "'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid," report Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg for Ha'aretz. "I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It," argues Omer Bartov in The New York Times.

These stories have something in common: they’re vital pieces of journalism about Gaza, or Palestine more broadly, published in Western and Western-aligned outlets. This is, obviously, important. Reporting like this keeps Western audiences informed about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, fortifies sympathetic Westerners’ solidarity with Palestine, and serves as an essential counter to the pro-Israel PR machine powering so much other Western media coverage.

But while these pieces have made a splash among their audiences, in many cases, they’re building upon points that Palestinian journalists, writers, and activists had been making weeks, months, even years before. So why is the reporting of Palestinian journalists–especially their reporting on what’s happening within their own country and cities–so often ignored, only to be heeded after it gets the Western stamp of approval?

On this episode — our Season 8 finale and also the second part of our two-part series on “The Importance of Seriousness, or Why Palestinians Can’t Be Witness to Their Own Genocide” — we explore the discrepancies in the alleged credibility between Western and Israeli journalists and Palestinian and other Arab journalists, especially when it comes to reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We’ll look at how, by Western standards, journalists don’t build legitimacy by being correct, so much as by being in close proximity to the political and media establishments.

Our guest is writer and organizer Kaleem Hawa.

Ep 227: The Importance of 'Seriousness,' or Why Palestinians Can't Be Witness to Their Own Genocide (Part II)

In 1998, the world was ruled by Rayman. You could not go anywhere without seeing Rayman street art. Thousands of children died attempting to cut their own limbs off and suspend them from midair. All that changed when Solid Snake was brought into the third dimension.

Brendan and Felix kick off their journey through the greatest story ever told by surfacing onto Shadow Moses. This is where Solid Snake realized he could be more than just a paid killer, Meryl Silverburgh witnessed the ugly reality of war, Roy Campbell was promoted from uncle to father, and Liquid Snake didn’t actually achieve much of anything besides scoring some sunglasses off of a former member of his dad’s love triangle.

Put on your sneaking suit, let some strange woman shoot some crap into your arm, and soak your cardboard boxes in urine. It’s time to fight your brother through various states of undress.

The Players Club Episode 1: Metal Gear Solid (1998) - Am I My Brother’s Streaker?

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 223: The Empire Strikes First, Part II — ‘Abundance’ Pablum as Counter to Left Populism

Citations Needed Podcast

Related tracks