Eric Blanc joins us to talk about a recent essay he wrote assessing the break that founded the UK Labour Party, of which there are tremendous resonances with the socialist movement in the U.S., today. 

***Support this podcast by becoming a patron today: http://www.patreon.com/deadpundits ***

Tune in for this wide-ranging and informative discussion.

You can find the essay here: https://jacobinmag.com/2021/02/labour-party-uk-lessons-socialists

Thanks, Patrons!

Taking Lessons from the Break That Founded the Labour Party w/ Eric Blanc

And introducing WE POD ECONO: an Our Band Could Be Your Life miniseries! We are taking a journey through Michael Azerrad’s chronicle of the 1980’s American underground rock scene, continuing today with Chapter Five: Husker Du! We’re joined by culture critic Steven Hyden to set the Land Speed Record of podcasting and do the Dü.

Check out Steven’s books here: https://www.amazon.com/Steven-Hyden/e/B01H0F6IDU%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
And check out his writing on Uproxx: https://uproxx.com/author/steven-hyden/

Songs in order:
Hüsker Dü - Gilligan’s Island
Hüsker Dü - New Day Risingl (Live 1987)
Hüsker Dü - It’s Not Funny Anymore
Hüsker Dü - Chartered Trips
Hüsker Dü - Something I Learned Today
Hüsker Dü - I Apologize
Hüsker Dü - The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
Hüsker Dü - Books About UFOs
Hüsker Dü - Flexible Flyer
Hüsker Dü - The Baby Song
Hüsker Dü - Crystal
Hüsker Dü - Standing In The Rain

And Introducing

#90 HÜSKER DÜ! (ft. Steven Hyden)

“'Right-to-work' means freedom and choice,” a Boston Globe op-ed explains. “As housing costs rise, some people are choosing to live on the road instead,” a Fox Business headline states. “If your insurance company isn’t doing right by you, you should have another, better choice,” reads Joe Biden’s campaign platform. 
We’re told repeatedly that “freedom of choice” is essential to a robust economy and human happiness. Economists, executives, politicians, and pundits insist that, the same way consumers shop for TVs, workers can choose their healthcare plan, parents can choose their kids' school, and gig-economy workers can choose their own schedules and benefits. 

While this language is superficially appealing, it’s also profoundly deceitful. The notion of “choice” as a gateway to freedom and a sign of societal success isn’t a neutral call for people to exercise some abstract civic power; it’s free-market capitalist ideology manufactured by libertarian and neoliberal think tanks and their mercenary economists and media messaging nodes. Its purpose: to convince people that they have a choice while obscuring the economic factors that ensure they really don’t: People can’t “choose” to keep their employer-provided insurance if they’re fired from their jobs or “choose” to enroll their kids in private school if they can’t afford the tuition. 

In this episode, we examine the rise of “choice” rhetoric, how it cravenly appeals to our vanity, and how US media has uncritically adopted the framing--helping the right erode social services while atomizing us all into independent, self-interested collections of “choices.” 

We are joined by Jessica Stites, executive editor of In These Times.

Episode 95: The Hollow Vanity of Libertarian "Choice" Rhetoric

As COVID-19 continues to endanger the health of people throughout the world, it also magnifies a long-existent global humanitarian crisis: The use of sanctions by the United States and other powers as a weapon of war. In Iran, one of the countries most devastated by the contagion, sanctions have strangulated the supply of medical equipment crucial to testing the population and treating those who are infected, inspiring some members of the political establishment to call for sanctions to be eased.

While these pleas are necessary, they’re woefully inadequate and long overdue. Sanctions aren’t just a problem when there’s a pandemic. Iran had been subjected to U.S. and UN-imposed sanctions long before the appearance of the contagion—as had Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Iraq, and far too many other countries deemed Official Enemies of the United States and its allies, resulting in economic destabilization, vulnerability to U.S. militarism, starvation, illness, and mass deaths. 
Amid these life-or-death stakes, media and think tanks’ responses to sanctions range from mere handwringing to outright bloodlust. Rather than decisively condemning sanctions as ruthless acts of economic warfare, American media largely perpetuates the narrative that sanctions are a necessity, and often a force for good, in the effort to punish and “change the behavior” of some perceived “rogue” government. Meanwhile, little criticism is offered outside of tepid suggestions that those sanctions should be tweaked. 

On today’s show, we’ll examine how the U.S. levies sanctions to undermine countries opposed to U.S. hegemony, how sanctions are laundered as benign in the media, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the preexisting, decades-long barbarism of U.S. foreign policy. 

We are joined by guests Keyvan Shafiei and Hoda Katebi.

Episode 106: The Sanitization of Sanctions

Adam and Ben chew on some of the toughest questions facing the left in the summer of 2020 with style, class, and a whole lotta sass. Thanks for tuning into DPS, now airing exclusively on the WB in 1999. 

-Join the DPS Patreon today for access to this week's B-Side: http://www.patreon.com/deadpundits

Harper's article: https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/


------------
Follow DPS on social media:
http://www.twitter.com/deadpundits

What Does It Mean to Be a Socialist in 2020?

The gang is joined by Christian Parenti, who talks about the birth of actually-existing capitalism narrated in his latest book, Radical Hamilton. We open by discussing a series of new cancellations and why this moralistic approach to politics lets institutions and the powerful off the hook. Next, we're joined by Christian who makes a spirited case for revisiting the Developmentalist model of Hamilton's "American School." 

*** Become a patron to hear the remainder of this interview: http://www.patreon.com/deadpundits *** 

Find out more about this book here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3186-radical-hamilton

Hamilton and the Invention of Actually-Existing Capitalism w/ Christian Parenti

Australian Celebrity Chef/Conspiracy Theorist Pete Evans is back and he's crazier than ever! You'd need a state of the art Biocharger NG to cure what's making him post white supremacist memes! We've also got Monster Wolf Robots, Redditor wedding trouble and another installation of Dutchwatch.

EPISODE 175: How To Kill Your Baby In Ten Days Or Less

Get bonus episodes

And introducing, from Iceland, our NATO ally to the north, it’s BJORK. The most famous musician from the isolated northern island, Bjork has built an incredible career and international  fame from her unique voice and genre-exploring, endlessly idiosyncratic music. And today we’ll be exploring all things Bjork from her coffee table book BJORK and a 2004 Bjork New Yorker story called “Bjork’s Saga”.

Songs in Order:

CarlosAndres90 - Army of Me (YouTube FL Studio cover)
Bjork - Ruby Baby
Recordings of Bjork at age 11:  https://www.openculture.com/2014/09/the-album-bjork-recorded-as-an-11-year-old.html
KUKL - Dismembered
The Sugarcubes - Birthday
Bjork - Human Behavior
Bjork - Army of Me
Bjork - Alarm Call

#82 BJÖRK!

Elements inside the Democratic Party establishment raised a mutiny against AOC last week and we should probably talk about it... Joining us to do just that is Alex Samman, staff writer at The American Prospect. We break it down and try to suss out just what the hell is going on.

***Support this project by becoming a patron today: HTTP://www.patreon.com/deadpundits ***

See his article here: 
https://prospect.org/politics/establishment-strikes-back-aoc-versus-centrist-democrats/

The Establishment Strikes Back w/ Alex Samman

Lucy, Andrew, and Ben talk about getting parenting advice from the man who stole your car, the cow that stayed at-large from authorities for far too long, big fish dicks, and living at the airport Kirbying the security guards.

Read Jesse's paper here: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v658/feature/

Outro music: Fish - Mr Scruff
***
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***
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EPISODE 183: Fuck Around And Find Trout

Bonus Episodes

That was too close! We were almost a Podcast sandwich!

This is the real wrap up to our Resident Evil mini-series! We talk about the Resident Evil gaming experience with Kyle and Kay from All Gamers are Bastards. If you want to check out part one fo this conversation, you can catch it on their podcast!

History may be over, but discussing Resident Evil with us on Twitter never is! twitter.com/HorrorVanguard

You can support the show for less than the cost of replacing all podcasting infrastructure with a complicated network of psychic mold on our Patreon page: www.patreon.com/horrorvanguard

133 - Resident Evil Video Games With All Gamers Are Bastards

Forging a new left agenda in the midst of our neoliberal hellscape -- Join us weekly for the best news and analysis from a left perspective.

What Does It Mean to Be a Socialist in 2020?

Dead Pundits Society