Mechanical Freak

Greg & Brian see what is the latest outrage that has conservatives shitting their pants before diving into some statewide measures that are on the ballot this February.

Munya and Brian get together to expand on some of the ideas covered in episodes 22, 23, & 24 as well as answer some listener questions. They talk Richard Nixon, foundational Marxist concepts, where healthcare went wrong, the antiwar movement, and why the Left disintegrated.

We talk a little football before asking if a car really needs a steering wheel to drive? Then we discuss the murder of Tyre Nichols at the hand of the police and go over the idiot reform ideas that are being proposed to soothe people conscious until the next murder… which has statistically already happened! Then we talk New York real estate and entertain the idea that maybe landlords lie sometimes.

We welcome esteemed sociologist Jerry Lembcke to talk about how the memory of the Vietnam War was both recreated and used in the 1980s and 1990s to unify public sentiment against the liberatory movements of the 1960s. Lembcke reminds us that even in the creation of memory, there is a political struggle for the future that needs to be waged.

Listen to the episode in its entirety on Patreon patreon.com/posts/77857911

The guys discuss the process of deindustrialization and corresponding financialization of the economy that took place in the 1970s. Was it a market-determined fait accompli? Or a political choice?

The end of an era. This week we bid farewell to Kshama Sawant who will not run for reelection to the Seattle City Council. She’s the greatest to ever do it, but after a decade on the council, there may not be another Kshama walking through that door.

Brian and Munya discuss the means by which the capitalist class in the United States was able to put the brakes on the Left in the 1960/70s. That’s right, it’s time to talk some COINTELPRO!

The boys discuss the recent MAGA redux in Brazil before discussing the “surprising” decline in larceny theft and murders on Fury Road.

Munya and Brian conclude their discussion of chapter 12 of Greg Grandin’s The End of the Myth by discussing the evolution of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr’s 1967 Riverside Speech, and MLK’s evolving legacy.

The gang takes a minute to reflect on all the ways that we plan to defile Dori’s corpse after we dig it up next week before discussing what the future might hold for two of our most beloved City Council Members.

Brian and Munya discuss how discrimination in postwar housing and Cold War militarism extended the life of the reservation system in the United States.

The gang is back on the boat again to talk about local power outages and what’s going on at Southwest Airlines and why it’s Jimmy Carter’s fault.

Munya and Brian discuss the evolution of housing in America after the Second World War. Will the country invest in its major cities? Will it abandon racial segregation? No, obviously, but there is still a lot to learn in the details!

We’re joined by friend of the show Shaun Scott to discuss the legacy of Mike Davis and urban history of Los Angeles. If you haven’t ever read the work of Mike Davis, there is no better time to start than now and City of Quartz is a good place to start.

Munya and Brian begin their discussion of Chapter 12 of Greg Grandin’s The End of the Myth by exploring the role that Cold War policy abroad affected civil rights policy at home. They also take a deeper look at the US relationship with Apartheid South Africa.

This week: a very spicy Seattle Sucks type episode with Greg and Brian. We’ve got SPD insanity, the Harrell Machine, naive local political heroes! We’ve got the Seattle Times patting itself on the back for assimilationist gay rights that are built on sand even as trans and queer people are increasingly targeted for political murder! Finally, we have for you one of the worst opeds maybe ever in the Times, wherein the Che of gay rights in WA recounts her story of the revolution (a lesbian wedding). To hear more about the history of gay Seattle and pride as a march and protest vs a marketing parade check out this old banger with Dr. Kevin.

In a follow-up to Ep 18, we discuss some of the other conflicts in the global cold war. We then talk about the historical roots of the violence in Indonesia and Vietnam, before discussing the consequences for world politics of counterinsurgency and mass killings.

Ending the Myth is back from our recent hiatus! And we are grimmer and more depressing than ever! This week Munya and Brian discuss America’s foreign policy in the first three decades of the Cold War by looking at the genocide in Indonesia and the American invasion of Vietnam. This part 2 of a two-part discussion of the early Cold War meant to pair with Chapter 11 of The End of the Myth.

Brian & Munya get together to congratulate their friend and new boss, Dr. Jennifer Posa, on her new promotion. Then they stick around to talk about the Democrats voting to break the railroad strike and give some thoughts on the mass shooting in Colorado.