I'm pretty open, and not really looking for anything specific here aside from the usual "no liberal bullshit" rule. I did listen to a bit of Chapo for a hot second in 2018 but I could be persuaded to go back if theyre good.
So to that end, what are your favorite episodes of your podcast of choice?
I was looking at your seasons breakdown and thought "huh, 3 sounds good" before I read your final line. Thanks much!
Blowback is more like a series of audio documentaries. It makes every other podcast look like cumtown in comparison. The seasons do build on one another somewhat, so I'd just go from the start. Also thst way you can hear H Jon Benjamin as Saddam Hussein
I was sold before, but you just made me super excited for HJB
The first season also has a slightly different vibe than the later ones, I think because the Iraq war was so genuinely mind boggling that you can't help but laugh. There's funny moments in the later seasons but they do tend to treat the subject matter with a little more gravity imo. So if it feels too flippant in S1 you can jump ahead if you want.
But that being said I think every season is fantastic, I'm on my third or fourth relisten
The episode on the opiate epidemic is super depressing but convinced me that the Sacklers and all other opiate profiteers should be strung up with razor wire
JSUC, Permanent Uncle series, The Game series, Elon Musk/Tesla series, Utah series, Atomwaffen episode then find the police interview with the subject of the episode
I’ll probably edit more in as I remember more episodes
I’ve answered this question on hexbear before with links to the episodes if you’re willing to scroll through my comment history
you mean you haven't listened to the official podcast of hexbear.net, formerly chapo.chat? it offers some excellent, thorough breakdowns of various liberal/central narratives of how the world works in a way that makes it a good tool if you want to trying delibbifying people IRLHomie, I'm a liberal, I don't listen to anything except NPR
Any starting points you recommend?
My all-time favorite episode that I make other people listen to is episode 143 - How Silicon Valley Uses Hollow "Anti-Racist" Posturing to Sell Its Exploitative Business Model (covering how Uber got Prop 22, which lets them avoid giving benefits to their drivers in California, to pass). Even though Nima and Adam come prepared for their guest that episode, having already familiarized themselves with her writings, the guest knocks it out of the part with everything she adds to the ep.
https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-143-pr-and-prop-22-how-silicon-valley-uses-hollow-anti-racist-posturing-to-sell-its-exploitative-business-model
Citations Needed also transcribes their episode, in case you want to look for or reference part of their episode later. Transcript for 143:
https://12ft.io/citationsneeded.medium.com/episode-143-pr-and-prop-22-how-silicon-valley-uses-hollow-anti-racist-posturing-to-sell-its-d5b00f8b276c
One of my absolute favs from citations needed is the “perseverance porn” episode, I think it’s #23
Red Nation podcast. Indigenous discussion of past, present, and future struggles faced by indigenous communities with other topics thrown in like movie, TV, and book discussions. Real and honest indigenous leftist discussion. I first got turned onto it when host Nick Estes was on Rev Left Radio talking about the American Indian Movement.
If you want some history (my big jam right now):
-
Guerilla History covers various topics of proletarian history and gives great reading suggestions. Lots of good topics about international struggles against global capitalism that are often overlooked.
-
Changing Tides has host Patrick Wyman tackling watershed periods in history through the eyes of people who lived it. He runs through late medieval/early modern Europe and then goes back to prehistory. His series on the Italian Wars was a good lead in for "Hell on Earth" that Matt and Chris from Chapo produced (another solid recommendation).
-
You Must Remember This is fun for movie fans as it dives into the hidden/forgotten side of Hollywood history, often with an emphasis on the female experience. Not leftist, at least explicitly so, but it really shows how the sausage is made in old movies. I really like the "Dead Blondes" series and the more recent "Erotic '80s" and "Erotic '90s" series that she's doing now.
-
I'm currently relistening to Blowback to prep for Season 4. Each season covers the Iraq War, The Cuban Middle Crisis, The Korean War, and the new one that just started is about Afghanistan. Solid production, both chilling and entertaining, and interviews with primary sources are top notch.
Besides that I listen to
and 
to make me question reality on a daily basis.Also Trillbillies just because I love those two idiots and I would listen to Tom Sexton read the phone book.
Seconding Trillbillies!
My brother and I have a running joke about our "best friends" Terrence and Tom because we often talk about the show lol
Aaron still shows up occasionally, but Tanya got doxxed and quit I believe. Actually is a shame.
Did you listen to the "revolutions" podcast ? I've been listening to the Russian revolution series and it's pretty good.
I listened to the whole podcast, but once the Bolsheviks come to power in the last season Duncan falls back on Western anti-Soviet sources and biases so hard that I could barely finish it. Lenin's decline and death give way to a Game of Thrones level of terrible ending that sucks because overall the podcast is pretty great, but it broke my heart to hear "Stalin was just a paranoid maniac" when every other controversial revolutionary figure from every other period gets a square shake. At the end of the day, Mike Duncan is still just a lib who likes history.
-
Tucker Carlson on X. Next week's guest is a man who claims that he sucked me off in 2017
Spicy! I will subscribe to X Blue to make sure I do not miss the episode
Anything with Tom "tried to suck his own dick" Walker is great.
spoiler
To understand this reference, listen to the first(?) Free to a Good Home episode that has Tom as a guest. But really any of the several episodes he's on are great.
There are a couple of episodes on psychedelics but I'm guessing that it's
Dialectics & Psychedelics: Transformation and Social Struggles and Mental Health, Eco-Despair, & Revolutionary Optimism.
I really like the podcast Actually Existing Socialism and I think it doesn't get nearly the attention that it deserves.
They have guests on who are generally academics talking about historical and present day socialism in their field of specialisation, so you get a good rundown of the person's take which is often like a summary of books with editorial commentary alongside it.
If you want to get excited to read books about socialism but you need a lead-in to spark your interest or if you don't have the time or inclination to read books then this is the podcast for you.
They're on YouTube and most of the episodes are on their channel if you want to dip your toe.
here's one where their guest is the author of http://redsails.org/concessions
How the Soviet "Threat" Benefited Workers in the West w/ Alice Malone | Actually Existing Socialism
I like to listen to Behind the Bastards. It's a show where the host does deep dives into people who are quite terrible people.
As far as a favorite episode goes, I'd have to choose either the Vince McMahon multipart episodes or the one about Stockton Rush (the rich submarine guy who imploded).
I love the humor juxtaposed with learning about how terrible these people are.
I should mention that the podcast is headed by one Robert Fedvans, and one of the episodes is on Stalin.
The series on Kissinger is a must, but be prepared to get very angry.
Kissinger and McMahon have already been recommended so I'll recommend the episode(s) on L Ron Hubbard. Afaik it's the only person they've had to return to multiple times as they learned more and more insane things he did
You must listen to the Cars 2 episode. One of the best uses of 1 hour and 21 minutes of your time.
Ghost Stories for the End of the World
Description of the show from the author, commonly referred to as Ghost Boy by fans - “An occult history of post-war politics, deep state intrigue, true crime, and the spooks, gangsters, politicians and outright monsters who've shaped our unnerving reality.”
Fuck yeah, any particular episodes that are a good starting point?
Just from the beginning. I don’t remember which series are patreon premium but I can DM you (or anyone else reading this) a pirate link if you don’t have a few bucks to subscribe for 1 month and download them all. I don’t really want to post it publicly because he does such good work and deservers the $$
The Octopus/PROMIS/Inslaw Affair series is absolutely insane and horrifying, 10/10
Beep Beep Lettuce for marxists making stupid but often insightful jokes about world events. Any episode is good, most recent included.
https://beepbeeplettuce.podbean.com/
I enjoy Knowledge Fight. Focuses on analysis and crit of the right wing grifter sphere, particularly Alex Jones.
I like knowledge fight but Dan is, to be far too charitable, far too charitable.
I've never seen somebody spend so much time observing without drawing the obvious conclusions.
He's spent 10s of thousands of hours listening to the far right and still wildly understates their danger.
I rember on a recent one where Jones was talking about how we should be executing Trans people and Jordan said something along the lines of "he doesn't care if these people actually get killed he'd be happy to see it happen maybe he doesn't wanna personally pull the lever but he'd fully support the person who did" and Dan's response was basically "aww shucks I don't think he's that extreme I think it's a character"
100% agree, Knowledge Fight is honestly my favorite podcast because it keeps me in touch with the latest right wing Mindrot but Dan is too charitable. Jordan's heart is honestly in the right place for the most part.
I also like Q-Anon Anonymous for similar reasons, though Julian is actually an MLM.
Yea I hate how there's the running idea that Dan's the reasonable one that walks Jordan back when he's getting out of line. Dan does great research but he basically the white moderate when it comes to tamping down any time Jordan does any actual material analysis.
Yeah, that's the big problem with Knowledge Fight. On some level I don't really understand how they cover this much ground for that long and still maintain that sort of detachment. A little too prim and proper.
I honestly would want to see something like it, but with Matt just sitting there getting angry as shit like with the McArdle article the whole time. Something with some pathos to it.
Dan occasionally does get that proper vim in him, but otherwise I agree.
Dan, I'm not sure how he stays detached. Jordan I think has gotten more detached from his anger and fear over these things, and I think it's his insane number of hobbies and all the vacations he's taken.
Been hearing about them for ages! Any particular episode you like?
There's ..... 852 episodes. My recommendation is start from the beginning to get the full story.
Wacky Wednesdays, when they start doing those, are so fun.
The Deposition Episodes are incredible and would be good to listen to, but not their usual format.
Been going on a Matt Christman deep dive since his medical emergency. Never really listened to him before that.
Hell of Presidents and Hell on Earth both seem pretty good so far. More entertainment history with a materialist leaning than politics.
Someone here shared this playlist of cushvlogs that have fun ramblings. They're pretty vibey but have some interesting takes and sometimes the vibes just resonate. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoeYA94RJKaFDX515nIMFpynsu1LcXC-N
His guest appearances on other podcasts can be pretty good too.
what is TAFS now? is it just cumtown minus stav or have they changed the scope of the show?
adam and nick made an ironic talk show that became an actual talk show
I really liked their episodes on Black Wall Street:
https://blackmyths.libsyn.com/myth-black-wall-street-was-self-sustaining-the-black-myths-podcast
https://blackmyths.libsyn.com/myth-black-wall-street-was-self-sustaining-w-dr-jared-ball
The podcast is actually a Youtube channel and for these episodes, they reference a map of what happened. This is the report that the maps are from: https://www.okhistory.org/research/forms/freport.pdf
The gist of the episodes is that Black Wall Street actually wasn't self-sufficient and most Black people living in that district were poor workers, but when the massacre happened, the Black people living there weren't helpless victims but actually fought back. The massacre ended when the Black residents regrouped and started shooting back.
The myth does two things: (1) valorizes Black capitalism and (2) portrays Black non-capitalists (ie workers) as completely passive and helpless.
:
