These days Patrick Stewart fully embraces his role.

As we enter 2023, it's time for our annual look back on the movies that defined our podcast over the past 12 months. In our third Year-in-Review Extravaganza, we're handing out awards for Best Movie, Worst Movie, Best End-of-History Movie, Thing We Liked Growing Up That Holds Up Relatively Well, Best Tubi Movie, and more. Will Alexandra Pelosi win an award? Will Dinesh D'Souza go home empty-handed? What about Trump vs. the Illuminati? Tune in to find out!

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Michael and Us

#391 - The Third Annual Michael & Us Year-in-Review Extravaganza

Historian Aaron Good explains the final years of the Dwight Eisenhower administration, including the start of the CIA's war on Cuba's revolutionary government and the coup against Congo's anti-colonialist leader Patrice Lumumba.

This is PART 17 of the Empire and the Deep State series Geopolitical Economy Report editor Ben Norton is co-hosting with Aaron Good and Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7nuSZN2GU

PLAYLIST with past episodes in the series here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNArLl765PXe8tsTKmOciGL

Behind the CIA war on Cuba and coup in Congo (with historian Aaron Good)

Biden’s administration used an Air Force F-22 Raptor jet fighter and Raytheon’s Sidewinder missile, to shoot down a meandering Chinese balloon on Saturday. Republicans in Congress called the balloon a “show of force,” and Biden canceled Secretary of State Blinken’s trip to China.

Brian is joined by Dr. Ken Hammond, professor of East Asian and Global History at New Mexico State University, founding director of the Confucius Institute at New Mexico State University, and leading organizer with Pivot to Peace.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

The War Drive Against China Keeps Ballooning

George Orwell's popularity is at a new high in the post-Trump era, and he's been claimed by both the left and right. We discuss NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR (1984, Michael Radford's feature-film adaptation of Orwell's most famous novel, and try to rescue a self-described socialist from the Dave Rubins of the world.

Listen to us discuss Orwell's writing in episode #190 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/190-lion-and-44728064

#408 - My Orwell Left or Right

We mark the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War by revisiting some of the classic clips from our cowed and deferential news media circa 2003. PLUS: What is artificial intelligence and what does it mean for the future? Pulitzer-winning columnist Thomas Friedman doesn't know, but that didn't stop him from writing about it.

#414 - Artificial Intelligence

It’s a fan cam episode for our favorite tech columnist, Brian Merchant, who had two pieces come out recently that are back-to-back bangers. First is about why all the people making and selling AI keep talking about being afraid of their own creations. It’s Frankenstein meets sorcerer's apprentice but as a marketing strategy for their own power (and their unique ability to control that power). Second is about what all these people should actually be afraid of. As history shows us, there is more than one way to crash a computer.

Article we discuss
••• Afraid of AI? The startups selling it want you to be | Brian Merchant https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-03-31/column-afraid-of-ai-the-startups-selling-it-want-you-to-be
••• Silicon Valley elites are afraid. History says they should be | Brian Merchant: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-03-24/column-how-afraid-should-silicon-valley-be 

Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills   

Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

245. Shook Ones (Tech Style)

A Christian boy goes up against his sinister atheist philosophy teacher (played by Kevin Sorbo!) in GOD'S NOT DEAD (2014), one of the biggest Evangelical blockbusters of all time. Luke and guest host Alex Shephard discuss the film's tone-deaf depiction of academia and its particular streak of right-wing sadism. PLUS: What's next for Tucker Carlson? And is there any life at all in the ol' Ron DeSantis?

Watch the whole damn movie for free on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ek2LEoSut0&ab_channel=Se%C3%B1iorFroggy

"Tucker Carlson Has Already Lost His War With Fox News" by Alex Shephard - https://newrepublic.com/article/172274/tucker-carlson-twitter-video-lost-war-fox-news

Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

#424 - Know Thyself (w/ Alex Shephard)

Learn about China's economic model with Beijing-based scholar Roland Boer, a professor at Renmin University and author of the book "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners".

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mgcyqkEOhQc

Understanding China's economic system: Socialism with Chinese characteristics

We begin with a rundown of recent events, from the Coronation to the CNN Trump town hall to the Liberal Party of Canada's recent convention, before discussing this month's Superdelegate pick: the beloved comedy GALAXY QUEST (1999). We situate the film's satire in the context of 1999-era fan culture, and hash over our own respective histories with the Star Trek franchise. PLUS: a dive into a young Tucker Carlson's journalism.

Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

#426 - By Grapthar's Hammer

Charles and Alex evaluate a bunch of rock'n'roll conspiracy theories. Fortune Kit on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fortunekit

164 - J. Edgar Hoover Wrote All the AC/DC Lyrics

We are joined by Quinn Slobodian — author of Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy — to discuss the libertarian extremism that forms the intellectual foundation for right-wing movements. We can see how the fringe beliefs of anarcho-capitalists — like Murray Rothbard (neo-confederate secessionist) and David Friedman (medieval LARPer) — are gaining broader influence, even becoming mainstream. On one hand, they are raving lunatics, ideological zealots, and explicit racists. On the other hand, the utopias they desire can be found manifested in the zones and policies — like gated communities and gutted education systems — that have been surging for decades.

••• Quinn’s book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250753892/crackupcapitalism 
••• Quinn’s twitter: https://twitter.com/zeithistoriker 

Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills   

Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

283. Nerds of the Lowest Order (ft. Quinn Slobodian)

A podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world. Hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Exclusive subscriber-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus/overview

#426 - By Grapthar's Hammer

Michael and Us

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