Bryan tags in for my absentee cohosts and Matt & Felix stop by to talk TV and tease their new Stitcher Premium show: "Time For My Stories" 

Time For My Stories:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/time-for-my-stories

Episode 189: Chaos Walking, The Kurt Sutter Story(w/Bryan Quinby, Felix Biederman, & Matt Christman)

"Yemen war: Joe Biden ends support for operations in foreign policy reset," reports the BBC. "Trump: US will be out of Afghanistan by Christmas 2020," cheered Military Times. "Trump Orders Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Northern Syria," the New York Times told us.

For decades, the United States has very often appeared to have "ended" wars that do not, in fact, end at all. Open-ended jargon like "residual counter terror forces," "Vietnamization," "military advisors," along with deliberately ambiguous timetables, process criticisms––all are used to confuse the average media consumer. America's politicians know the American public broadly dislikes war and empire––and thus wants to see it restrained––but these same politicians don't really want to end wars so they have a frequent PR problem: How do you make it look like you’re ending a war or occupation without really doing so?

To solve this conundrum, American political leaders have perfected the art of fake-ending a war. Which is to say, announcing a war is going to end, typically around election time, only to––once the headlines make a big splash––backtrack, obfuscate, claim the "situation on the ground has changed" or the military involvement will only be in a "limited" or "defensive" capacity, shuffle troops around or find other thin pretexts to continue the war or occupation.

In this episode, we discuss the United States' history of fake-ending wars, who these pronouncements are meant to please, why troops levels are often impossible to know, and why so many of our so-called "wars" are not really wars at all, but military occupations that are never really meant to end.

Our guest is Shireen Al-Adeimi, assistant professor at Michigan State University.

Episode 133: The Art of Fake-Ending Wars

In this episode, we are joined by Chapo Trap House cohost Matt Christman to discuss the rehabilitation of Bush, the future of America, and the growing possibility that Hillary Clinton ushers in Purge Night.

To support the show and get access to more content, become a patron at: https://www.patreon.com/expandthediscourse

BUSH DERANGEMENT SYNDROME ft. Matt Christman

Will and Matt talk to journalist Vincent Bevins about his new book “The Jakarta Method,” detailing the U.S.’s involvement in the mass killings of leftists in Indonesia in the 60’s, and how it set the stage for American-backed violent anti-communist action throughout the cold war.

Buy The Jakarta Method: https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/vincent-bevins/the-jakarta-method/9781541742406/ 
Follow Vincent on twitter: https://twitter.com/Vinncent 

Outro is Shark Move's "Evil War" off the excellent Indonesian 70's psych-rock comp "Those Shocking Shaking Days": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71ZCZElkWKM&list=PL5075D7AE3D47F1BA&index=4

Chapo Trap House

Bonus: The Jakarta Method feat. Vincent Bevins

We're joined by Robbie Martin of Media Roots Radio to discuss the 2001 Anthrax attacks in the United States and explore the case of Matt Dehart, an incarcerated hackactivist who claims to have received documents linking the bio-terrorism event to elements of the CIA. It's a story so bizarre that you might not believe it but listen to our overview of the official government investigation and the shutdown of any follow up and tell us you don't have questions.

You can find Robbie on twitter @FluorescentGrey

You can listen to the Media Roots Radio podcast on the anthrax attacks here:
https://soundcloud.com/media-roots/schrodingers-super-patriot-the-2001-anthrax-mystery-pt-1-of-2

And view his short documentary on it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PqU7dXEirU

Episode 196: The Anthrax Attacks feat. Robbie Martin

This week we discuss the theory of NEOFEUDALISM, company towns, EPCOT center, and the gig economy.

SOURCES
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/neofeudalism-the-end-of-capitalism/
https://lingojam.com/EnglishtoShakespearean
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPCOT_(concept)

HELP THE GEORGIA SENATE FIGHT:
https://Janemcalevey.com

ALEX'S MOVIE SPACE TRASH:
https://vimeo.com/295924793

MERCH:
Poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON EPS
Patreon.com/PodDamnAmerica

GIVE ME FUEDALISM GIVE ME FIRE GIVE ME THAT WHICH I DESIRE

We take a dive into the life of automotive software billionaire Robert Brockman and his recent indictment for what has been called the largest tax fraud in US history. Accused of dodging taxes on more than $2 billion in income he had an assist from an old episode subject, billionaire Robert F. Smith, of promising to pay off the debt of the graduating class of Morehouse fame. On this part 1 of 2 we provide an update on Smith and walk through the basics of the court case and the story of just how Brockman ended up in this situation.

You can read the full federal indictment here:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1327921/download

You can read more posts from the anonymous Reynolds and Reynolds whistle blower here:
https://reynoldswhistleblower.blogspot.com/

Episode 202: Robert Brockman and the No Good Very Big IRS Tax Fraud (Part 1)

We are joined by LA comedian Sarah Squirm and SF tenant organizer Shanti Singh to talk about CALIFORNIA and her various PROPS and JOWLED GHOULS.

SARAH SQUIRM
@SarahSquirm

SHANTI SINGH
@uhshanti
https://www.gofundme.com/f/room-keys-for-unhoused-folks-during-covid

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON
patreon.com/poddamnamerica

CALIFORNIA UBER ASS w/ SARAH SQUIRM & SHANTI SINGH

We are joined by Breht from Rev Left Radio and Brynn Nieboer from Beep Beep Lettuce to discuss Vladmir Lenin's 1901 pamphlet, What Is To Be Done?, and how it relates to how we currently need to do things.

BREHT
@RevLeftRadio
@Red_Menace_Pod
https://www.revolutionaryleftradio.com/

BRYNN NIEBOER
@WeedPod
@GenLossPod

THAT INTERSTITIAL MUSIC WAS
STAY DEAD
by
DOG MAN PIZZA PARTY
https://dogmanpizzaparty.bandcamp.com/track/stay-dead

NYC DRIVER'S CO-OP FUND
https://ioby.org/project/help-nyc-drivers-launch-platform-cooperative

MERCH
PodDamnAmerica.BigCartel.Com

PATREON FOR BONUS EPISODES
Patreon.com/PODDAMNAMERICA

@PodDamnAmerica
@feraljokes
@ptakjokes
@andersleehere

What Is To Be Done? Do We Need To Do Things? Let's Find Out! w/ Rev Left Radio & Brynn Nieboer

the HELL YEAR 2020 DUMPSTER FIRE© is gone but not forgotten. We here at Comedy Central's PDA@ decided to send off the WORST YEAR OF ALL TIME the only way hardcore Comedy Store© Belly Room© comics like us know how. By having a SICK. FUCKING. ROAST. OVER. ZOOM.

THE DAIS:

Jake Flores
Anders Lee
Alex Ptak
Ben Wasserman @benwassertweet
Alex Collyard @alexcollyard
Rose Vineshank @RVineShank
David Sitrick @DavidSitrick
Melissa Rocha @Melisshious
Otto Fernandez @ottofernandez
Naomi Karavani @NaomiKaravani
Kate WIllett @KateWillett
David Spector @Spectordeforce

OUTRO MUSIC BY AL JOLSON

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON
patreon.com/poddamnamerica

PDA Presents: The Comedy Central ROAST of 2020

"Elon Musk sent a thank-you note to Tesla's workers returning to work," Business Insider squeals. Walmart teams up with UPS to air an ad "thanking essential workers." "Jeff Bezos Just Posted an Open Letter to Amazon Employees About the Coronavirus. Every Smart Business Leader Needs to Read It," insists an article in Inc.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate leaders, politicians and celebrities have been quick to paint "essential workers," and those often described as "frontline" workers, as heroes — laborers conscripted, presumably against their will, into a wartime-like scenario of heroism and sacrifice as our country battles the ongoing coronavirus scourge.

The sentiment behind this rhetoric is understandable, especially from everyday people simply trying to express their deep appreciation for the underpaid labor doing the work to feed, house, care for and treat everyone else. But when deployed by powerful politicians and CEOs, the "essential workers as heroes" discourse serves a more sinister purpose: to curb efforts to unionize, preemptively justify mass death of a largely black and brown workforce, protect corporate profits and ultimately discipline labor that for a brief moment in spring of last year, had unprecedented leverage to extract concessions from capital.

As Wall Street booms and America’s billionaires see an increase of $1.1 trillion in wealth since March 2020 — a 40% increase — while the average worker suffers from unemployment, depression, drug abuse and a loss of healthcare, it’s become increasingly clear that “essential” never meant essential to helping society at large or essential to human care or essential to keeping the bottom from falling out, but essential to keeping the top one percent of the one percent’s wealth and power intact and as it turned out to be the case, massively expanded.

Indeed, 2020 saw the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in decades, a transfer largely made possible by the essential worker as hero narrative, with little discussion or debate. In March 2020 everyone agreed in this wartime framing that was going to send off millions of poor people to their deaths for a vague, undecided greater good of the quote-unquote "economy," when really it was for the seamless maintenance of Wall Street profits.

On this episode, we explore the origins of the concept of "essential work" and those deemed "essential workers"; how it's been used in the past to discipline labor during wartime; how hero narratives provide an empty, head-patting verbal tip in lieu of worker protection and higher pay; and why so few in our media ask the more urgent question of all: whether or not low wage retail, food, farming, and healthcare workers ever wanted to be heroes in the first place.

Our guest in Ronald Jackson, a worker and organizer with Warehouse Workers For Justice.

BUSH DERANGEMENT SYNDROME ft. Matt Christman

The Discourse

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