Chapo Trap House

The boys spend their last night in LA sitting around the fire pit, gazing at the Pacific Ocean, talking about animals and riffing about the dang politics. Tickets to Chapo’s upcoming live show THIS SATURDAY at the FRQNCY1 streaming festival here: https://frqncy.live/frqncy1

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We’re joined by TrueAnon for a round table on Israel through two in-depth reading series. Can Americans have opinions on Israel and Palestine, despite it being outside our lived experiences? Is middle eastern peace calling out, siren-like, to Joe Biden? Find out inside. Tickets to Chapo’s upcoming live show June 5th at the FRQNCY1 streaming festival here: https://frqncy.live/frqncy1 And hang out with Chris and Dan Boeckner watching some live music on Chapo’s twitch this saturday at twitch.tv/chapotraphouse

Felix is joined by journalist for AJ+ Mohammad Alsaafin for a wide ranging discussion on Palestinian resistance and the future of Zionism and the Palestinian cause. Sorry for the slightly abrupt outro, we lost the last few seconds of Mohammad’s audio, but please follow him at @malsaafin and check out and share this concise video explainer on Israeli apartheid he produced for AJ+: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MknerYjob0w And follow @ajplus on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

We congratulate Felix on defeating the scary monsters of Dark Souls during his successful fundraiser stream over the weekend, and also note the tiny but noticeable fissures opening up in the usually stifling discourse on Palestine. We then take a look at Bill Gates’ bro time with Jeffrey Epstein possibly being the cause of his recent divorce. Finally, there’s more UFO stuff in the news: limited hangout? New way to sell endless arms buildup? Or do the aliens just want our kindest bud? You be the judge. If you missed the stream and would like to donate to our various Palestinian supporting orgs, links here: Movement to Safeguard Palestinian Communities: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/icareaboutpeace/ Islamic Relief of Canada Palestinian Emergency Appeal: https://www.islamicreliefcanada.org/emergencies/palest Eye On Palestine: https://m.facebook.com/eyeonpalestine.offical/ And of course, tickets still on sale for our upcoming live show at the FRQNCY1 streaming festival: https://frqncy.live/frqncy1

Will catches up with lawyer Steven Donziger as the Chevron-backed case against him finally goes to trial. For background on Steven’s case, check out episodes 418, 503 & 523 For more information, go to www.makechevroncleanup.com. To learn more about or get involved with Steven’s case, or even dial in and listen to his hearing on March 10, go to https://www.freedonziger.org. You can follow him on Twitter: @SDonziger.

Topics for today include: Bustin’; The Junkie Horse; Elon SNL; Keir Starmer: Born To Lose; Ongoing Israeli assault on Palestinians (we will have a more in-depth interview on this topic after Eid); Elizabeth Warren persists; Return to the Workplace, Or Else. Get the Sarah Vaccine on Means TV here: https://means.tv/programs/sarahvaccine And of course, get tix to FRQNCY1 here: https://frqncy.live/frqncy1 And tune in to Felix’s FromSoftware stream this Saturday on twitch.tv/chapotraphouse to benefit: Movement to Safeguard Palestinian Communities Islamic Relief of Canada Palestinian Emergency Fund eye.on.palestine

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Will and Felix report from their trip to the zoo. We review the woke CIA ad, and then discuss restaurants finding themselves hurting for employees when their lazy, entitled potential workers aren’t “economically coerced” to labor for “poverty wages”. We’re then joined by journalist Zack Kopplin to discuss his new piece on how corrupt mineral mining contracts have played a big part in our 20 year occupation of Afghanistan. Then, more zoos, animals & apes talk. Follow Zack on twitter: @ZackKopplin Check out Zack’s piece here: https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/how-afghanistans-president-helped-his-brother-secure-lucrative-mining-deals-with-a-us-contractor And get tix for our show at the FRQNCY1 streaming festival here: https://frqncy.live/frqncy1

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Grab your tickets to our live appearance at the FRQNCY1 streaming festival this June 5th here: https://frqncy.live/frqncy1 The first part of this show we have an interview with journalist Cerise Castle covering a fairly harrowing story she’s been reporting on the proliferation and criminal activities of white supremacist cop gangs in the LA County Sheriff’s department. Then we turn to the lighter side with some riffs on boats, ghosts, and Andrew Sullivan’s high-T journey. Follow Cerise: @cerisecastle Check out Cerise’s series on LA Sheriff’s gangs in the Knock LA: https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history/ And, the article on Bill Gates and vaccines Felix mentions: https://newrepublic.com/article/162000/bill-gates-impeded-global-access-covid-vaccines

Check out the first episode of Season 2 of Blowback. The new season of Blowback is on Stitcher Premium, and you can get a month free if you go to stitcher.com/premium, select a monthly plan and use the promo code: BLOWBACK. Once you sign up you can listen on your browser, or you can download the Stitcher app on your phone

Get tickets to FRQNCY1 Festival here: https://frqncy.live/frqncy1 Some more info about the festival and how it works here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50090694 Brendan and Noah return to the show to discuss BLOWBACK, SEASON 2. We talk about the history of the Cuban revolution and the American response, the involvement of the mafia and U.S. clandestine services, and ongoing tensions in U.S.-Cuban relations. Then, we have classic reading series wherein Thomas Friedman reflects on two decades of being wrong about Afghanistan. Get flat, folks! The new season of Blowback is on Stitcher Premium, and you can get a month free if you go to stitcher.com/premium, select a monthly plan and use the promo code: BLOWBACK. Once you sign up you can listen on your browser, or you can download the Stitcher app on your phone.

Adam McKay stops by the pod to hear Felix’s pitch for a political rom-com, talk presidential animals, and discuss his new podcast Death at the Wing. Death at the Wing uses a series of deaths among NBA players in the 80’s as a lens to discuss the Reagan revolution, the war on drugs, and America’s shifting social and political landscape during that era. We get into all those issues with Adam, plus raccoons, tapirs, and samurai swords. Check out Death at the Wing here: https://www.threeuncannyfour.com/show/death-at-the-wing/

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Will discusses a new documentary on the shockingly successful grassroots effort to expand Medicaid through ballot initiative in Idaho with our friends Jim and Laura Kamoosi. Watch the film through the Santa Barbara International Film Festival at www.sbiff.org Find more information about the film here: www.reclaimidahofilm.com/

We spend the first half of the episode peeling back the many, many weird & gross layers of the whole Matt Gaetz saga. Then, we’re joined by journalist Ken Klippenstein to discuss his reporting on leaked Amazon internal documents detailing their heinous work conditions and baffling anti-union PR campaign. Check out Ken’s Amazon article in The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2021/03/25/amazon-drivers-pee-bottles-union/

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Karina read all 353 pages of Biden’s proposed Immigration bill and joins Will to break down the good, the bad, and the same as it ever was in it. Follow Karina on Twitter: @KaryinBrooklyn

We discuss why everyone loves the big boat whomst stuck in canal, then talk about Joe Biden’s big press conference last week, as well as Biden firing of all his staffers dumb enough to report weed use on their background checks. Finally, we look at the Bessamer, AL Amazon union drive, and Amazon’s extremely ham-fisted public relations push against it.

It’s the Spring sex & relationships issue of Chapo! We’re joined by our Women’s correspondent Katherine Krueger who takes the popular TikTok trend “Questions for Boys” and applies it to the Dry Boys. We then turn to the National Review to ask why conservatives are suddenly so gaga about the Royal Family. Finally, we see if we can find common ground with Boss Ross Douthat about getting Americans horny. SMASH that preorder button for Amber’s new book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250269621 SUBSCRIBE TO DISCOURSE BLOG: get 30% off a new annual subscription to Discourse Blog at discourseblog.com/subscribe with code BIRTHDAY on Tuesday

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We take a look at Stars And Strife, a new Starz documentary by David Smick (“macroeconomic advisor to a select group of prominent global investment funds”). It’s a documentary cautioning against the dangers of populist extremism, featuring the sober, reasonable analysis of James Baker, Leon Panetta, Rahm Emanuel, Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers, among others, and is honestly just as wild and deranged as You Me Madness. This completes a kind of inadvertent trilogy of films exploring inside the dream world from the POV of the middle class (Can’t Get You Out of My Head), the wealthy cultural elites (You Me Madness) and now, economic-political elite (Stars and Strife)

This is a bonus episode of my series with Matt, Time For My Stories. I improperly mixed the audio at the beginning so you can't hear the promo code but it's TIME for a free month at stitcher.com/premium. not my fault btw.

For #InternationalWomensDay we review a film by Hollywood’s newest female auteur, who just happens to be the wife of former Treasury Secretary/Suicide Squad producer Steve Mnuchin. Yes, it’s Louise Linton’s “Me You Madness,” a film that dares ask the question “what if a bisexual woman HAD mental health issues?”

From episode 503, Will catches up with Steven Donziger, the human rights attorney who has been under house arrest for over 500 days as a result of his work suing oil giant Chevron for their reckless polluting of Ecuador. Since we last talked to Steven there’s been some movement in his case, so we’re getting an update and continuing to discuss the fairly obvious collusion between Chevron, private prosecutors, and the New York Judge involved. Catch up on Steven’s first appearance here: https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/418-the-cool-zone-feat-steven-donziger-41119 For more information, go to www.makechevroncleanup.com. To learn more about or get involved with Steven’s case, or even dial in and listen to his hearing on March 10, go to https://www.freedonziger.org. You can follow him on Twitter: @SDonziger.

Amber and Will are joined by author Catherine Liu to discuss her new book Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional Managerial Class. Amber takes us through her shopping guide of “PMC products” and we see what they can teach us about this class and its ideology. Check out Catherine's book here: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/virtue-hoarders

Chapo UK correspondent Adam Curtis returns to discuss the limits of individualism, goodies and baddies, conspiracies, manipulation, and dancing, all through the themes and characters of his new film series Can’t Get You Out of My Head.

Coming soon. Jagamesh.

Ayyyyyy look at us. Against all odds, personal, political, technological, logistical, uhhh, hygenic-al, we made it to 500 dang episodes. We’re taking a moment to bask in our own greatness, and got all our favorite friends, past guests, and fellow podcasters to send in some toasts and/or roasts of the show. Seriously, it’s been great and thanks to all who’ve been along for the ride with us.

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Matt and Liz Bruenig stop by to talk KIDS. First, Matt walks us through what’s going on with the stimulus package, AEI’s insistence that mothers must never stop working, and why liberals are addicted to tax credits. Then we get mad at the damn crotchspawn with r/childfree, read some dear Prudie letters, and finally hold children accountable for long history of abusive behavior. Check out the Bruenigs podcast here: https://www.patreon.com/thebruenigs And People’s Policy Project here: https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/ Shoutout to twitter's @demswatchdog for the $2000 check supercut. Our 500th episode is coming up and we’re putting together some best-of lists. Take a minute to vote for your favorite eps on this google poll. We’ll be collecting them into a top list and...I don’t know, doing something with them next week. Probably putting into a youtube radio stream. I’m just having fun here: https://forms.gle/4uouQHSY9vV3fo5JA

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A sampler platter of an ep as we talk about the Super Bowl, China’s “totalitarian” COVID response, the proudboy to Fed pipeline, and Nevada’s new proposal to allow blockchain companies to form municipal governments. Finally, we do our quarterly check-up on Rod Dreher to learn how he’s definitely NOT being blackmailed over pornography but definitely IS a stoolie. ALSO: We’re going to watch and do a live commentary on Mike Lindell’s “Absolute Proof” tomorrow night (Tues. 2/9), starting at 10 pm EST over on twitch.tv/chapotraphouse!

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Ben and Palma from Seeking Derangements stop by to discuss online harassment from Lincoln Project member John Weaver, Marjorie Taylor Green and the growing political power of Women Who Get Kicked Out of Places, and finally a reading series on the Bernie’s mitten privilege. Check out Seeking Derangements here: https://soundcloud.com/seeking-derangements And their Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/seekingderangements

A classic lo-fi no Will episode to relax/study to. We try to put some odds on various possible events of the Biden administration occurring, but mostly end up talking about casinos and marshmallow fluff and shit.

Will talks to David Osit, director of the acclaimed new documentary "Mayor,” a film about Musa Hadid, the charismatic mayor of Ramallah and the farcical Ianucci-like conditions that face municipal government under foreign military occupation. https://www.mayorfilm.com/

We discuss new developments around Saudi Arabia’s increasingly bizarre utopian megacity NEOM with writer Séamus Malekafzali. We then preview this week’s Biden inaugural ceremony, talk dem messaging around checks and wages, and examine one of the Trump administrations final acts of general bizarreness in its Statue Garden of American Heroes. Check out Séamus’ substack here: https://malekafzali.substack.com/ And subscribe to the damn youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/chapotraphouse

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A wake for @realDonaldTrump, one of the greatest posters of all time. Also, more fallout from the Capitol Hill riot, social media crack downs, pit bull moms & Hot Soup.

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We ring in the New Years with Trump’s second perfect phone call, Andrew Cuomo as Liberal Trump, Pelosi’s re-election, and end with some discourse on The Discourse.

Amber here with a quick plug for Labor Campaign for Single Payer, an organization of unions who are bringing more unions into the fight to win Medicare for All. Support links below: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/donate-to-labor-campaign-for-single-payer?source=website& While you're at it, also please give a pitch for our January 23-24 virtual strategy conference: https://www.laborforsinglepayer.org/medicare-for-all-strategy-conference/

We rub the magic wish dildo and review “Wonder Woman 1984”.

We all take our vaccine suppositories, discuss the stimulus, and talk Obama’s year-end TV list. But, most importantly, the Reading Series is back! We take a look at a recent New York Times op-ed that uses the Iliad to ask you to gently close your eyes and forget about all these pesky forever wars we seem to be embroiled in.

So, we’re talking about Joe Biden yelling at civil rights leaders, and the whole thing about Dr. Jill Biden’s title, and also the Jimmy Dore/AOC thing...but what’s important to note about this ep is it’s the one where Amber has a squirrel in her apartment. Kind of a more positive spiritual sequel to the cat shit episode.

After last week’s Cameron discussion we decided it was finally time to induct this film into the official Chapo Canon: it’s been a long time coming but here’s the AVATAR episode. Join us as we examine the most anti-imperialist blockbuster of the 21st century, argue that its subversiveness is precisely why this massive hit “made no cultural impact,” and explain how Avatar teaches us to shed our baby selves as we confront America’s role as the 9/11 do-er.

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We propose a revolutionary slate of Mario Kart reforms and innovations to potential future director of the Office of Budget and Management, Neera Tanden.