Never figured out how the deficit fearmongering wouldn't just backfire into "OK, then tax the wealthy and cut defense spending, deficit problem solved"

Got sent here right after I listened to a Chapo Patreon preview....Hmmm.

Doug Henwood on Pete Peterson in "The Baffler" right after PP croaked: https://thebaffler.com/latest/man-out-of-time-henwood

He was a creep and Pelosi is a creep-enabler.

The MAN IS DEAD and yet he still has power through all this propaganda nonsense.

Andrew, Branson, and Charles tell a bedtime story about the legend of Skunk Welcher.

E1 on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/e1podcast

172 - The Legend of Skunk Welcher

Subscribe today for access to all premium episodes!

www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Chapo Trap House

311 Teaser - Toon Bullets

“Science and religion fight over Hawaii's highest point,” one CNN headline puts it, “Desecrating sacred land or finding new frontiers?” BBC asks.”Science, Interrupted: Mauna Kea Observatories ‘caught in the middle,’” Pacific Business News writes. 

When tensions arise between native communities and the so-called “pursuit of science”, more often than not Western media presents these points of conflict as a symmetrical and simplistic case of “science vs. superstition.” Science is framed as a morally and politically neutral quest for truth––an objective and innovative good that will unequivocally benefit humanity. 

But Western “science”––despite its rank-and-file advocates' often best intentions–– has historically been used as the public relations vanguard of colonialism and white supremacy. A Trojan Horse presented as ideologically neutral, followed by an outpouring of exploitation, industry and the erasure of native peoples––both culturally and physically. 

While everyone can agree scientific research and progress are good things, the institution of “science” as such––from North America to Australia to Africa to Palestine-–has a long history of serving on the front lines of white, capitalist expansionism. This week we are going to discuss this history, how anti-colonial scientists are pushing back against these forces, and how we can expand human knowledge and understanding without weaponizing the enterprise to serve the interest of power.

We're joined on this episode by Nick Estes, Assistant Professor in the American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico.

                              

Ep. 90: How Western Media's False Binary Between "Science" & Indigenous Rights Erases Native People

“According to the Bipartisan Policy Center," "a recent study by the Concord Coalition disagrees," "One review of your budget by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says." We’ve seen these seemingly benign Official Sounding sources hundreds of times—from presidential debates to 60 Minutes to countless articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times. 

But what the average person can’t reasonably know is that these organizations—Bipartisan Policy Center, the Concord Coalition, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and PR projects like “The Can Kicks Back” and “America Speaks”—are all veiled front groups for a single, far-right billionaire whose entire life mission was to privatize social security, medicare and other entitlement programs under the auspices of fighting a so-called “deficit timebomb.” For decades, a web of Pete Peterson-backed front groups—often funded in concert with other like minded billionaires—has used the faux neutrality of think tanks, institutes, and academia to launder "anti-deficit" messaging for American pundits, reporters, and politicians, entirely capturing the narrative around deficits and their alleged pending destruction of society as we know it.

This week, we explore the origins of Pete Peterson’s austerity propaganda machine, his web of influence, how he helped co-opt both conservative and liberal knowledge production, and how he and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to undermine what little liberal government the United States has left.

We are joined by David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect.

Episode 104: The Pete Peterson Austerity Empire and the “How Will You Pay For It?” Lie

RIP Bernie 2020, Death to America

Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 141: In the Land of Uz

"Economists' forecasts for GDP growth in 2020 vary widely," says The Economist. "Algeria's GDP growth falls to 0.8% in 2019," one Reuters headline reads. "GDP — the broadest measure of economic activity — grew at an annual rate of just 1.9% during the third quarter," NPR warns. Everywhere we turn for economic news, the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is held up as the key proxy for prosperity and sound fiscal policy. 

Since its codification as the new gold standard for measuring prosperity at the Bretton Wood conference in 1944, the GDP has been the most popular metric used by American and British media when measure a nation’s prosperity. The GDP, and its close cousin, the Gross National Product, have not been without its critics for decades, but prying it from its top position as The Most Important Policy Goal has been an impossible task. Despite many labor activists, environmentalists and economists leveling critiques at its myopic, capitalist ideology, the metric has remained central to how the media and lawmakers determine fiscal policy. 

But what is the GDP exactly? How did it become the go-to proxy for prosperity in Western media? What are its ideological inputs, and how did post-war notions of colonialism and extractivism helps cement its place in our collective mindset? And what, more importantly, do activists argue we should replace it with? On this episode of Citations Needed we will explore these questions and examine how centralizing Gross Domestic Product––by its very design––obscures climate crisis, labor abuses, racism, drudgery, and a whole host of society's ills. 

We welcome economic anthropologist Dr. Jason Hickel back to the show.

Episode 108: How GDP Fetishism Drives Climate Crisis and Inequality

A bizarrely vague, cliquish letter demanding everyone be open-minded has no interest in explaining what, precisely, it wants.

News Brief: The Harper's Letter and Our Extremely Narrow, Self-Serving Definition of Cancel Culture

Our cultural context for understanding what we see on the news and hear in our politics, is often informed by the films and TV shows we’ve grown up watching. Pop culture is powerful and persuasive, and — for a century now — racist, Orientalist and cartoonish portrayals of Arabs and Muslims have littered our screens, big and small. This is the second episode in our three-part Citations Needed series on anti-Muslim racism in Hollywood. On Part I, we discussed big budget action and adventure films like Delta Force, American Sniper and True Lies, where Muslims get blown away at every turn.

But not every movie and TV show is quite so overt in its vilification of the designated enemy. Since the release of these movies, the state curated narrative in film has diversified, broadening to include savvier Oscar-bait productions in which anti-Muslim racism is dressed up in elaborate plot structures and supposedly nuance "debates".

Films like Argo, Syriana, and Zero Dark Thirty are lauded for their ostensible complexity, subtlety, and nuance, such as their willingness to suggest that government agencies like the CIA are bloated and bureaucratic. Instead of scenes with a tough action hero bodyslamming or mowing down teeming hordes of Muslim terrorists, these films are part of a smarter genre of jingoistic action film — the prestige thriller — featuring flawed protagonists, some meta comedy, and women CIA agents excelling in a historically male-dominated field of coups and torture. 

But ultimately, they project the same tired nationalism and ideology reinforcement just in a sleeker, more modern form. On this episode, we’ll examine how anti-Muslim and anti-Arab propaganda is disseminated through the contemporary prestige thriller genre.

We're joined by historian, artist and author Maytha Alhassen.

Episode 114: Anti-Muslim Racism in Hollywood (Part II) - Oscar-Bait Imperialism

We talk with historian and writer Daniel Bessner about Rand Paul, Graceland, international organizations, covid, climate change, and whether or not there is a future.

Follow him at @DBessner

PREVIEW: The Loop w/ Daniel Bessner

Pete Sugarbread (@intellegint), Douglas Fir (@necrobranson), and Danny Elfman Jr. (@charlesraustin) share their favorite things about Christmas and trade Christmas tales.

E1 on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/e1podcast

157 - Hallmark Presents Tales of Christmas: We're Christmas Crazy

We are joined by the creators of Preserving Worlds, a documentary series on Means TV that explores the process of archiving dying online game spaces like Second Life, Worlds Chat, and the Doom mod community.

PRESERVING WORLDS:
https://means.tv/programs/preservingworlds
https://means.tv/

DANIEL BESSNER'S FPS PIECE
https://www.thedriftmag.com/the-cultural-contradictions-of-call-of-duty/

BRIDGE MUSIC
Boss Theme by Sawsquarenoise on dojokratos
https://freemusicarchive.org/genre/Chiptune

KATE WILLETT'S BOOK
https://www.audible.com/pd/Dirtbag-Anthropology-Audiobook/B08W5FSQ1V?qid=1613952937&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=Z5VFRYRGPMG16EZH249G

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON (Bonus eps + Discord!)
Patreon.com/PodDamnAmerica

Librarypunk 2021 w/ Preserving Worlds

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.

Episode 104: The Pete Peterson Austerity Empire and the “How Will You Pay For It?” Lie

Citations Needed Podcast

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