Normal service to be resumed soon.  In the meantime, Daniel and Jack continue their series on movies about the presidency by considering Oliver Stone's baffling 2008 movie W., an aggressively irrelevant and annoyingly whimsical dramady biopic of blood-soaked war criminal George W. Bush.  The movie stars Josh Brolin as the charming mass murderer, and a host of respected American actors doing impressions of neocon profiteer warmongers in what looks weirdly like a bloated SNL sketch.  Both your hosts find their dusty old rage about the 'War on Terror' (and the myriad other vicious and authoritarian horrors of the Bush administration) suddenly reawakened.

Links to clips included:

Naomi Klein on the Iraq invasion as an orgy of privatisation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ejNylVztk

Greg Palast on the Republican conspiracy to rig the 2000 for Bush in Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcFgRkCIh00

Vice on corporate profits from the Iraq invasion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oElN3xkfTNc

Brown University report on the death toll of the Bush wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVr0MSEW2SU

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

Public Bonus: W. (Oliver Stone, 2008)

In a companion piece to the last public bonus, Daniel and Jack discuss Adam McKay's Vice from 2018, a dense metafictional dramedy biopic of Dick Cheney, unofficial president during the George W. Bush years and architect of the 'War on Terror'.  An interesting movie, possibly as flawed as it is brilliant.  

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

Public Bonus: Vice (Adam McKay, 2018)

We begin our seventh year (!) with a conversation with special guest Teddy Wilson, the journalist behind Radical Reports, on the state of the January 6th convictions, prosecutions, and investigations in the looming shadow of a second Trump presidency.

Episode Notes:

https://bsky.app/profile/reportbywilson.bsky.social 

https://bsky.app/profile/radicalreports.bsky.social

https://www.radicalreports.org/

Teddy's previous IDSG appearances:

https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/123-moms-for-liberty-with-teddy-wilson

https://idontspeakgerman.libsyn.com/bonus-hanging-out-with-eiynah

Show Notes:

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

127: January 6th and the Second Trump Presidency, with Teddy Wilson

Jack is joined by friend (and friend-of-the-show), the writer George Daniel Lea, to talk about the online phenomenon known as 'Estranged Parents' or the 'Estranged Parents Movement'.  George did a deep dive and is here to tell us about what he found.  It turns out to be a lot more relevant to IDSG than it might seem at first glance!

George's site http://www.strangeplaygrounds.com/

George on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:luidqaapyfdytwkv6eivrfid

George on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@ExaggeratedElegy

In researching this episode, and compiling a suite of clips of the infamous Estranged Parent content creator Diane, Jack made extensive use of the work of Maximmino on YouTube, who has covered this subject at length.  https://www.youtube.com/@Maximmmino

Here is Maximmino's video on Diane's infamous deleted video, from which Jack harvested several clips. https://youtu.be/SpSRkNYUiAw?si=Af4kRPvMg2PQJ57i

Show Notes:

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

Public Bonus: Estranged Parents, with George Daniel Lea

With apologies for our latest recent hiatus, here's an old bonus episode - formerly just for patrons - in which Daniel and Jack chat about 1992's A Few Good Men, a military courtroom drama written by Aaron 'West Wing' / 'Social Network' Sorkin, and starring Kevin Pollack and some other people probably.

We're still alive and the show will be back.  We appreciate your patience.

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay independent.  

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

UNLOCKED! Bonus 13: A Few Good Men (1992)

Daniel and Jack chat about the eventful millennia that have passed since they last convened.

News Brief: The First Ten Million Years of the Second Trump Presidency

Jack and Daniel welcome to the show Craig A. Johnson - academic, researcher, antifascist, and host of the (excellent) podcast 15 Minutes of Fascism - to chat about his (excellent) new book How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism, a primer on today's fascist and far-right, in all their styles and iterations, aimed at people worried that a young person in their lives (most especially a young man, obviously) is being sucked into the darkness.

Episode Notes:

How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism, book. https://www.routledge.com/How-to-Talk-to-Your-Son-about-Fascism/Johnson/p/book/9781032472539?srsltid=AfmBOorOzPyYMPFjEm3y9xOxz4r33uGlnQNnvD-XTKS2-B3uLZpS6Rpk

15 Minutes of Fascism at Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/user-627234964

IDSG on 15MoF https://soundcloud.com/user-627234964/special-episode-interview-with-i-dont-speak-german

Craig's bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/cajohnson-craig.bsky.social

Craig's Patreon https://www.patreon.com/FifteenMinutesofFascism

Show Notes:

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

128: How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism, with Craig A. Johnson

Our series on 'movies about presidents' continues with a fun discussion of this 1997 'thriller', written by legendary Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman based on the debut novel of David Baldacci, starring/produced/directed by noted chair-interviewer Clint Eastwood, and boasting a splendid cast - including recently-deceased screen legend Gene Hackman - none of whom are given anything very interesting to do. Clint plays a suave cat burglar - with the unlikely name of Luther Whitney - who accidentally witnesses the president of the United States sexually assaulting a woman (far-fetched, right?) and getting her killed. All Hell then persistently threatens but repeatedly fails to break loose. Instead we get a slow, aimless, half-baked movie filled with good elements that don't cohere or go anywhere special. It sparked an amusing conversation though, as we hope you will agree.

Full episode exclusive for Patreon subscribers.

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

Bonus 38 Absolute Power (1997)

Trump released all the remaining secret JFK files!  Except not really.  And they're full of revelations!  Except not really.  (They're mainly full of people's social security numbers which, it transpires, is pretty much all the remaining redactions were hiding.)  Anna Paulina Luna (R, FL) is leading a new congressional investigation!  Er... no, she's inviting conspiracy theorists into Congress to confirm her ill-informed beliefs.  The mystery is solved!  Or deepens!  Except nope nope and nope.

In this impromptu News Brief, Jack and Daniel jump off from a supremely stupid clip of reactionary conspiracybrained shitheads Bill Maher and Andrew Sullivan to ponder the changing political meaning of the conspiracy theories around the Kennedy assassination, why it has migrated from a left preoccupation all the way over to being an obsession of MAGA and the far-right. 

Along the way we encounter the peculiar and controversial author Gerald Posner, who is able to debunk JFK conspiracy theories but apparently unable to see the problems with Israel's policies in Gaza, Elon Musk doing seig heils, or Gender Criticals who think the Trans movement is all funded by evil rich Jews (or possibly alien lizards).

Yes, this is the world we live in folks.

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts

Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true

IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod

Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper

Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_

Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social

IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Posner#Controversies

https://www.justthefacts.media/

https://www.justthefacts.media/p/the-ressurection-of-oliver-stone

https://www.justthefacts.media/p/hitler-musk-and-the-art-of-the-smear

https://www.justthefacts.media/p/the-transgender-money-pipeline

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/LGB_Alliance

https://web.archive.org/web/20211009112830/https://twitter.com/christapeterso/status/1368635513775689728

https://web.archive.org/web/20211029170407/https://twitter.com/LGBAlliance_CA/status/1368988077901905925

https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2022/02/fears-of-creeping-transhumanism-give-space-for-overt-conspiracism-in-gender-critical-communities/

https://progressive.org/magazine/antisemitism-meets-transphobia-greenesmith-lorber/

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/donald-trump-bill-maher-real-time-b2732092.html

https://youtu.be/aE9mTr2uI10?si=4OaFzGM27Y1lots9

https://youtu.be/KAMC9cxEPzo?si=4SMhZoH9XKWLcaQ5

https://youtu.be/UJ28qfIR_8M?si=-rDyDFG70OvE3--x

https://youtu.be/-Lo1ButCuqE?si=tNl46hKnHyXdfvnO

Sean Munger: Oswald Acted Alone Part 1: https://youtu.be/DC8tO16xdrY?si=jhWAKR-GzJHnQacz

Part 2: https://youtu.be/Ptt1ti63IiE?si=Dkr3Nd75Jjlv6j95

News Brief: The JFK Files

In this immediately out-of-date episode, Daniel and Jack discuss the 2024 movie Conclave in light of the (at the time of recording) underway 2025 Conclave in the Vatican to choose a new Pope.  Both your hosts talk a little about their own religious backgrounds, review the film, and then get onto the politics of the Catholic Church, particularly the integration of right-wing US bishops with American reactionaries.

Episode Notes:

https://www.ncronline.org/culture/book-reviews/playing-god-traces-history-catholic-conservatism-gone-extreme
https://publicseminar.org/2024/08/the-catholic-new-right-and-project-2025/
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/catholic-right-celebrity-conversion-industrial-complex?srsltid=AfmBOooTq0kt0MevV9R8VfOMTL3vn5n2JBO1URs0O1qbA9760WPUWsRa
https://www.politico.eu/article/vaticans-church-catholic-pope-francis-hard-right/
https://sojo.net/magazine/march-2019/rise-catholic-right
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/28/maga-catholics-vatican-pope-conclave
https://youtu.be/Mb3zYyhrUWg?si=d1UG7bpGi16WAaRo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKW-0fIDHdw&t=220s

Show Notes:

Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes.

Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts
Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true
IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod
Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper
Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_
Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social

Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social
IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1



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