Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Happy Mothers’ Day!HH:

* The Southern Poverty Law Center get targeted by the Trump DOJ

* The FBI drops an unnerving anti-terrorism strategy document targeting “Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists”

* Trump has a golden statue made of himself

* A Israeli Real Estate Expo illegally selling land in the West Bank embarrasses Mamdani

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

* The Supreme Court has shredded the Voting Rights Act

Artifact:

Palantir has posted a very bizarre and rather unimpressive manifesto on X even though no one asked them to.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

* Israel assassinated a Lebanese journalist

* The Trump admin brings back execution by firing squad

* A radical centrist tried to attack the White House Coorespondent’s Dinner

* Happy May Day!

Artifact:

We tackle trad-wifery via Rickie Ho’s reel about Nara Smith.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

* Iran craziness continues

* The Strokes make a statement at Coachella

* Obama visits Mamdani

* Voucher system well on its way to killing public education in Cedar Rapids

* Congress unanimously votes to continue FISA (for now)

* Kash Patel has gone missing

Artifact:

The Bankrupt Catholicism of JD Vance by Dana Vachon.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

* Ceasefire Talks Break Down

* Economic Shocks Headed for US

* Orban gets ousted

Artifact:

“Will the Art World Go Post-Woke in 2025?” by Ben Davis via Artnet

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

(An earlier version of this podcast had some audio markup left in, apologies)

HH:

* Bondi gets the boot

* Trump’s pulls back from genocide

* The Supreme Court gives the green light to “conversion therapy

* Israel passes an explicitly racist execution bill

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

HH:

* Another No Kings weekend

* US troops amass in the Middle East, making ground operations in Iran more likely

* The FBI and NYPD stop a plot to assassinate a Palestinian activist

* ICE has started operating out of airports

* An Russian Oil tanker is going to make it to Cuba

Artifact:

As podcasters we are contractually obligated to discuss Clavicular and “looksmaxxing” so we read Christine Emba’s piece in the NYTs: “The Reason Gen Z Isn’t Dating”

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

* Fascism scores a victory in Prairieland

* The partial gov’t shutdown makes itself felt

* Cesar Chavez turns out to have been a real jackass

* The oil embargo of Cuba becomes deadly

Artifact:

JP and Simone explore the fascist mindset of Hegseth and co via Emma Brockes Gaurdian article: Is anyone as ill-suited for great office as Donald Trump? Yes, Pete Hegseth – that’s why Potus likes him

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

* Mid-East war expands to Lebanon

* Troops complain about being thrown into “Holy War”

* NLRB under attack

* WI Governor signs “Heartbeat” law

Artifact:

King’s College of London found that “Almost a third of Gen Z men agree a wife should obey her husband,” among other troubling findings.

RDP Articles mentioned:

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

* War in Iran looking not so good

* Control of all things cyber handed to Hegsdeath

* The Americas have a Shield

Artifact:

The Trump Administration edges ever so close to open fascism via a chilling speech delivered by Rubio at the Munich Security Conference.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Snowflakes in NYC

OpenAI sells out humanity

Trump continues to strangle Cuba (and inspires a little terrorism)

An indie car race is being set for DC

Investigation of Epstein drug trafficking ring suppressed by Trump admin

And of course, Trump attacks Iran

P.S. Please share, like, comment, and so on. It really helps us in our war with the algorithm. We are ~150 follows away from 1k followers on TikTok, which will allow us to link our pod, so if you’re a TikToker head on over, share our videos with your friends, and help us get over the top!

Check out our LinkTree to find us on the other socials.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Anyway, stay tuned for our AI artifact episode later this week and blame the teachers' unions for school vacation getting in the way of editing.

HH:

* Mexico/US collaborate on assassinating El Mencho

* Tucker Carlson asks Mike Huckabee a bunch of gotcha questions, and wouldn’t you know it, got ‘em

* Trump wonders aloud why Iran isn’t capitulating

* Trump crashes out on Supreme Court tariff ruling, almost as badly as John Barron

* Teacher Unions threaten to pull pension funds from Epstein buddies Leon Black and Marc Rowan of Apollo Global Management

* Kash Patel invited himself into the locker room of the US National Hockey team.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

HH:

* The draw down in the Twin Cities is real; where to next?

* The Board of Peace is activated

* Pam Bondi “testifies” to Trump’s greatness

* DHS concentration camps for pregnant girls

* Iowa law threatens to put doctors in jail for life for performing abortion

* CDC cuts funding for blue states

* Trump admin escalates Cuba Embargo

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

We’re also trying a new thing: instead of releasing Horrible Headlines and our Artifact of the Week together in one episode, we are going to start releasing them separately as two episodes within the same week, so stay tuned for e23 on Fascism later this week.

PS: JP apologies for his terrible cough

HH:

* Superbowl Commercials

* Bad Bunny vs Kid Flop

* Trump disses US Olympian

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

HH:

* A drawdown from ICE? Or a temporary strategic retreat?

* The Government shuts down again (partially)

* Another Epstein file dump

* The US escalated tensions with Iran

* Trump Admin blusters about Mark Carney’s Davos speech

Artifact:

Leah Hazard on MOTHER-podcast, hosted by Karina Vazirova

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission: “Karm But Ready To Be Excited” by Radioontheshelf, Licensed under CC BY 4.0

HH:

* ICE commits another murder in Minneapolis

* Bovine-o gets the boot

* A “framework” for Greenland is announced

Artifact:

Canadian PM Mark Carney gives a very interesting speech to Davos about the future of middling powers in an era of great power rivalry.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission: “Queen Of Karma ft. Michelle Noel" by Zep Hurme, Licensed under CC BY 4.0

* Trump DOJ comes after Renee Good’s wife

* CBS lies about Good’s murderer suffering from “interal bleeding”

* Neo Nazi Jake Lang gets run the fuck out of Minneapolis

* The new Venezuelan president capitulates to the US

* Would-be opposition leader Machado pathetically hands over her Nobel Peace Prize

* Another US war crime is discovered

Artifact:

Simone and JP talk birth rate and child rearing as a social good via NPR’s As birthrates tumble, some progressives say the left needs to offer ideas and solutions.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission: “Weather You Want It or Not” by Admiral Bob, Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Please forgive the many interlopers in this episode as well as JP’s terrible Trump impression.

Please enjoy!

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

We will be releasing an extra long artifact special covering the new National Security Strategy document later this week.

Solidarity with all the heroes in MN fighting the Federal brownshirts however they can.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

HH:

US Imperialist on the march in Latin America.

Trump moves to punish student loan debtors.

Right Wing Youtuber does an op in MN.

Artifact:

The Narco-Terrorist Elite by Maureen Tkacik

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission: “Music free” by Audioknap

For our last episode of the year, we decided to do a whole episode on Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.”

Looking forward to seeing you in 2026!

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

HH

* Gaza continues to suffer Genocide at the hands of the Israeli government

* Infighting at Americafest

* More Epstein drips

* Bari Weiss exercised her editorial power to protect the Trump Administration

Artifact

Epstein party goer David Brooks makes a very uncompelling case about why you shouldn’t count out the Neocons with his new piece in the Atlantic, “The Neocons Were Right.”

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: “For P” by ilyatruhanov via Pixabay

Please support this project by subscribing for updates and new episodes!

HH:

* 2 mass shootings

* Trump forces through a national AI regulatory regime

* The FBI revolts against Kash Patel

* The US engages in a little light piracy

Artifact:Harper’s Liberal Totalitarianism by Pankaj Mishra

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: “Sweet Life (Luxury Chill)” by Alex Grohl via Pixabay

Thanks for all your support! Please like and share and consider become a paid member today (funds are used for childcare for activism activities and so on).

Horrible Headlines:

* DC shooter redux

* “SSecretary of War” does a(nother) war crime

* Luigi might go free?

Artifact:

We discuss Scott Galloway’s new book Notes on Being a Man via his interview with Steve Rose at the Guardian: Scott Galloway on the masculinity crisis: ‘I worry we are evolving a new breed of asexual, asocial males’

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: “Her Brave Travel Diary” by illia_reznikov

Horrible Headlines:

* Mamdani visits the White House

* MTG resigns

* Two National Guardsmen are shot

Artifact:

An episode of “What Fresh Hell” featuring Gordon Nuefeld and Gabor Maté, reflecting on the dangers of “peer orientation” among modern kids.

(Special thanks to Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables for allowing us to use clips of their episode)

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: “Isla De Mallorca (One Step)” by musikpirat, Licensed under CC BY (2025)

* The UN rubberstamps Trump’s plan for Gaza

* SC proposes an extremely draconian abortion bill

* Starbucks workers on strike

Artifact:

Nathan J. Robinson of Current Affairs lambastes the failing NYTs over its continued warmongering, this time setting its sights on Venezuela.

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: “I Gotto to Be Me” by Rewob, Licensed under CC BY 4.0

She was cranky and demanding and interrupted a lot.

It may seem like we were ignoring her, but please trust that the family dog was entrusted with her care (though he didn’t really do a very good job).HH:

* Epstein Emails

* Government Shutdown is Over

* Tucker Carlson Platforms Nick Fuentes

* Tesla agrees to pay Elon Musk $1 Trillion

Artifact:

New York Times: Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace? A debate between Helen Andrews and Leah Libresco Sargeant, hosted by Ross Douthat

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: “Uphill Town” by Japertine

-Simone tries to convince Jean-Paul not to be an ultra-leftist about Zohran Mamdani

-Violence continues in the West Bank

Artifact:

Anna North, writing for Vox: Are fewer young people identifying as trans?

(Trigger warning: discussion of government taking kids away)

Theme Music: “Mock the Afflicted” by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: “Locust” by Chill Rasta Reggae

• Ireland has a new President, I guess
• 4 AI execs enter the Army Reserve
• Genocide is underway in Sudan
• Gaza ceasefire is tested

Artifact:

J. P. Hill (New Means): Millions are about to go hungry. We need to build power with them.

Theme Music: "⁠⁠⁠Mock the Afflicted⁠⁠⁠" by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: "72 Goetic Demons And They All Do Basically The Same Thing (feat. CandyMane & Hoose)" by Nurgul Jones & The School Shooter Society, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

• Trump calls Colombian President Gustavo Petro a drug dealing thug
• ICE shoots a famous TikToker in LA
• Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo is exposed

Artifact:

The Washington Post cautions MAGA not to underestimate No Kings... relating it, somehow, to the Tea Party...

Theme Music: "⁠⁠Mock the Afflicted⁠⁠" by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: "Blind Love Dub" by Jeris, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

⁠This week's artifact⁠: A reel from johnmacivergage⁠

Theme Music: "⁠⁠⁠Mock the Afflicted⁠⁠⁠" by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: "Faith and Hope" by Radioontheshelf, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Sorry. This one's a little long.

This week's artifact⁠

Theme Music: "⁠⁠Mock the Afflicted⁠⁠" by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: "City view from Torni" by Brylie Christopher Oxley, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Clip from Reel by User “yusufvaw”

Clip from Al Jazeera

This week's artifact

Theme Music: "⁠Mock the Afflicted⁠" by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: reel audio from everydaypalestine

Then, Simone explains what a large language model actually is before we dive into digital romance with Patricia Marx's article for the New Yorker, Playing the Field with My A.I. Boyfriends.

Theme Music: "Mock the Afflicted" by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0

Intermission Music: "Mystic Mars" by Rewob, Licensed under CC BY 4.0

On our first episode, we dissect a video by Tad Stoermer, an American scholar of resistance history at the University of Southern Denmark, on the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the bizarre reaction by liberals like Ezra Klein.

[Theme song: "Mock the Afflicted" by Robert Warrington, Licensed under CC BY 3.0]