What a Hell of a Way to Die
463 episodes - English - Latest episode: 27 days ago - ★★★★★ - 452 ratingsWhat a Hell of a Way to Die is a left-wing military and veteran podcast hosted by Nate and Francis, two extremely online combat veterans. Join us to hear discussion of veterans issues, defense news, and military culture — all from a lefty perspective.
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Episodes
*UNLOCKED* Fort Bragg Murder Swamp
May 27, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 67.7 MBThis is an unlocked Patreon bonus episode -- to hear more like it, sign up at https://www.patreon.com/Hellofawaytodie Warning: this episode contains strong depictions of intimate partner violence, murder, and fatal drug use This week, we're speaking with Rolling Stone journalist and Army veteran Seth Harp on the topic of a string of murders and unexplained deaths at Fort Bragg, NC. Did you know a Delta operator murdered a Green Beret in front of his family and no charges were filed? Did ...
Your Honor, Trump Made My Client a Moron
May 20, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 52.6 MBDadchat ends at 10:50 However, it’s followed by Britainchat, which ends at: 27:40 This week, Nate and Francis discuss a TPM article in which it is revealed that the January 6 riot participants are trying to make the case that they have diminished capacity because they watch too much Fox News and that Trump made them do it. Will it work? Who knows, but we also argue for accountability and against double standards, while also trying (maybe failing) to walk an anti-carceral line. For this...
We Had to Drone Strike Minnesota to Save It feat. Ken Klippenstein
May 13, 2021 04:01 - 55 minutes - 44.1 MBThis week, Nate speaks with Intercept journalist Ken Klippenstein about two recent stories of his -- one on the topic of the US DOJ threatening to prosecute MIT researchers for questioning allegations of fraud in Bolivia, and the other on the topic of CBP spending hundreds of millions of dollars on anti-drone technology, to include proposals for armed drones under their command. Sounds normal to me! For this week’s bonus, we're speaking with Rolling Stone journalist and Army veteran Seth...
The Generals Are Displeased: Europe Edition feat. Milo Edwards
May 06, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 48.9 MBThis week, Nate is joined in studio by friend of the show and repeat guest Milo Edwards (@Milo_Edwards) of the Trashfuture and Masters of Our Domain podcasts, to discuss the recent story about French generals threatening to do a coup against Emmanuel Macron if he isn’t even more Islamophobic. We also discuss a similar phenomenon in Britain, in which the specter of a military coup was wielded to threaten Jeremy Corbyn. Check out Milo’s live stand-up show (to be streamed over Zoom!) on May 3...
We’ll Definitely Spend that $800 Billion Responsibly
April 29, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 48.6 MBDadchat ends at 11:52! You have been warned! Have you heard that the Pentagon budget is going up more? Yes, even more. What is that spent on? Well, a lot of it is spent on dumb garbage that gets disposed of creatively, and we’re here to discuss it. However, before we talk about that, we talk about a story about an Army Major getting imprisoned in a Polish sex dungeon while blackout, in which strippers bit him to keep him awake while running his credit card. Field-grades: don’t let it ha...
One Down, The Entire System of Policing to Go
April 22, 2021 04:01 - 57 minutes - 46 MBThis week, we react to the news of Derek Chauvin’s conviction, discuss a story of a drill sergeant who got arrested for assault and battery of an unarmed Black man because he has a terminal case of cop brain, and all the reasons why it is incumbent on veterans to debaathify their own heads. For this week’s bonus, we ask important questions. Why does Missouri produce so many bonkers politicians? Why is it that, in order to get elected, you have to be full on blood-and-soil white nationalist...
We Promise, We’re Actually “Leaving” Afghanistan
April 15, 2021 04:01 - 58 minutes - 47 MBWell, they’ve said we’re leaving Afghanistan for good! This will certainly be different than all the other times we’ve supposedly left, because while there won’t be any “combat troops,” that won’t include special operations or any Afghan auxiliaries under the command of the CIA. So, that means we’re leaving, right? DadChat ends at 11:34! For this week’s bonus, we have to drop some knowledge on you: the cruise ship industry is weird and variegated. There's a 311-themed cruise, a cruise wh...
How Did This Class System Get Into My Imperial Navy?
April 08, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 51.1 MBThis week, Nate and Francis discuss a viral story about a Navy officer based in Japan accused of writing a letter about why he doesn’t want to live among ‘deviant’ enlisted troops. Who knows if the letter is real? What we do know is that the Navy absolutely loves to segregate between officer and enlisted, more so than most other branches, and also it’s an opportunity for us to read the comments section on military dot com and find the true gems. DadChat ends at 12:47! For this week’s bon...
Contractually Speaking, the War Cannot End
April 01, 2021 04:01 - 52 minutes - 42.2 MBThis week, Nate and Francis discuss a recent CNN article that examines how the U.S. Government might be on the hook for billions of dollars in settlements or lawsuits if the war in Afghanistan ends on time. Why? Because the DOD has kept issuing contracts for services in Afghanistan that extend to 2026 and in some cases beyond. The CNN article is here: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/29/politics/pentagon-contractors-afghanistan/index.html DadChat ends at 9:40! For this week’s bon...
When Pop Pop Goes to War with the Deep State
March 25, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 49.5 MBWe were not entirely surprised to read the story this week about a man who looks like Saddam Hussein in a spider hole attacking a National Guard convoy in Texas. Although they haven’t gotten to the bottom of it yet, it’s pretty safe to assume it’s some Q sort of thing, and we discuss a lot about what the responsibility of tech platforms is versus arguments about free speech. DadChat ends at 10:57! For this week’s bonus, the Zoo Crew is back: Joe, Carey, and Francis review the 199...
Pay No Attention to Those Kids in Cages feat. Sam Knight
March 18, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 48.3 MBIn 2019 we had a bonus episode featuring Sam Knight of the District Sentinel (@TheDCSentinel) to discuss his predictions about the 2020 Presidential election. Well, at least in as far as the primary was concerned, he called it exactly right. So, we brought Sam back on to talk about what we’ve seen since Biden assumed office--all the good, bad, and ugly. Sam is also a correspondent for Means TVs “Means Morning News,” (@MMNonMeansTV), For this week’s bonus, we’re joined by the cas...
The Divine Right of Idiots feat. Cynthia Bethea
March 11, 2021 05:01 - 56 minutes - 45 MBWe figured that, if you’ve followed the news lately, you’ve probably heard about the recent debacle with the British royal family and the Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. This is an expressly anti-royalty podcast, but to discuss the particular dynamics of British racism and the experience of being a Black American woman married to a slightly younger redhead who is kind of a moron and fought in Afghanistan, Cynthia Bethea joins us this week. For this week's bonus...
The Divine Right of Idiots feat. Cynthia B.
March 11, 2021 05:01 - 56 minutes - 45 MBWe figured that, if you’ve followed the news lately, you’ve probably heard about the recent debacle with the British royal family and the Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. This is an expressly anti-royalty podcast, but to discuss the particular dynamics of British racism and the experience of being a Black American woman married to a slightly younger redhead who is kind of a moron and fought in Afghanistan, Cynthia Bethea joins us this week. For this week's bonus...
You Can’t Vaccinate a Rock, Drill Sergeant!
March 04, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 139 MBThis week, Nate and Francis discuss the recent news that the military may require service members to take the covid-19 vaccine (much like it requires other vaccines) now that the FDA has approved it. So, why does the military have, on average a 30% refusal rate for the vaccine? And what really is going on with vaccination in the US? (source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/03/01/military-may-revisit-making-covid-19-vaccines-mandatory-after-fda-grants-approval.html?fbclid=IwAR1AOgpM...
Should You Move to Alaska for the Money? (No)
February 25, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 82.9 MBThis was supposed to be an episode with a detailed, thought-out script. However, we got on the topic of bad weather and the state of Alaska, and by the end of it we found we’d devoted 40 minutes to The Last Frontier. So, it’s more of a DadChat than anything else! We do discuss a recent video of terrible CQB training at 10th Mountain, and why you should probably stop training if it looks like your soldiers are going to shoot each other (this conversation starts at 39:43). You can watch the ...
How Did Antifa Install These Wind Turbines?
February 18, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 49 MBFor any of this to make sense, it must be understood that Texas has a power grid comprised of 95% fossil fuel and nuclear sources. And yet somehow, in the minds of the chuds and Republicans, those wind farms are the reason that Texas’ extremely libertarian grid cannot function in a winter storm. Nate and Francis get to the bottom of this conundrum, to include a Marine Todd reading of a recent Texas mayor’s public statement. For this week’s bonus, you get a full hour of Francis, Shocks, and...
In Which We Become the Old Heads Complaining
February 11, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 48.9 MBWe took the time to discuss a recent Washington Post article about the military doing a stand-down day for combating white nationalism in the ranks. However, it took us about 30 minutes to get there, because we decided to talk about the weather, ‘90s alt-rock, the military’s secret plan for a ‘gay bomb,’ and much more. DadChat / fun chat ends at 27:56 You can read about the gay bomb here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_bomb You can get Francis’ ‘90s suburban white kid alt-rock playl...
Antifreeze Gets Me Lifted
February 04, 2021 05:01 - 59 minutes - 47.4 MBWhy on earth were 11 soldiers hospitalized at Fort Bliss, Texas for drinking ethylene glycol? Well, there’s a whole extended universe of ‘things soldiers do to get hammered in the field / on deployment’, and who better to examine this phenomenon than a huge nerd officer who never did anything illegal and the NCO who made gallons of prison wine in Iraq. We do a bit of DadChat at the beginning, but the main section starts at 7:27. This week’s bonus features Francis discussing bootl...
In Search of British Tom Cotton feat. Milo Edwards
January 28, 2021 05:01 - 56 minutes - 45.1 MBIt is the opinion of this show that the whole Tom Cotton Ranger thing is not a big deal or worth caring about. However, for the benefit of the doubt, Nate explains this in the episode with Milo Edwards (@Milo_Edwards), in which they also cover the types of British veteran politicians and why they’re weird and different to American eyes. Hope you enjoy! This week’s bonus episode features Francis in discussion with a Navy veteran about the topic that has so long puzzled us: what is the Navy, ...
Farewell to the Big, Wet President
January 21, 2021 22:46 - 1 hour - 50.4 MBLet us state for the record that we hate Trump and we are happy he’s gone. But we also feel it’s important to recount some the highlights/lowlights of his tenure, how absurd it’s all been, how much older and more exhausted we feel after 4 years, and so much more. Because here is a president who hates sharks, stares at eclipses, is obsessed with badgers, and is easily the dumbest man to ever breathe air. For this week’s bonus, Francis is talking anti-war organizing in military towns wit...
Facsism? In My Forever War?
January 14, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 51.5 MBWell, we’re a bit late to the party, as we were recording our episode last Wednesday prior to The Event. But you can rest assured that we were not surprised to discover that the mob on Capitol Hill included lots of veterans and active duty military. In this episode, we talk about what 20 years of war have done to the American psyche, and why we think the people who count themselves as ‘not part of the problem’ are simply mistaken. This week’s bonus is a special treat of labor history, as F...
Fascism? In My Forever War?
January 14, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 51.5 MBWell, we’re a bit late to the party, as we were recording our episode last Wednesday prior to The Event. But you can rest assured that we were not surprised to discover that the mob on Capitol Hill included lots of veterans and active duty military. In this episode, we talk about what 20 years of war have done to the American psyche, and why we think the people who count themselves as ‘not part of the problem’ are simply mistaken. This week’s bonus is a special treat of labor history, as F...
It’ll Be Different This Time!
January 07, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 48.9 MBThis week, we discuss the election results in Georgia, have a long aside about what America did in Central America in the 1980s, and genuinely predict that the Dems’ worst nightmare has come to pass: now they have to govern! We also had a bonus DadChat/New England Chat this week with Shocks and Joe Kassabian, and you can get it on the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/45820091 *SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT* We now have a storefront to sell the patches, buttons, and magnets that we also...
*UNLOCKED* Why Is Carl Higbie feat. Jasper Craven
December 31, 2020 05:01 - 48 minutes - 39 MBWe’re off this week, but we’ve unlocked a bonus episode from earlier in the year. Francis speaks with journalist Jasper Craven about the right-wing veteran mythos and why ex-SEAL Carl Higbie will probably survive the Trump administration and factor in our lives for a while, despite being a huge piece of garbage. Jasper has a substack and you should absolutely sign up for it: https://battleborne.substack.com/people/2318067-jasper-craven If you want more bonus content like this, access i...
*UNLOCKED* Cognitive Dungeons and Dragons Therapy feat. Jared and Elizabeth Kilmer
December 24, 2020 05:01 - 49 minutes - 39.3 MBWe're off this week, but we've unlocked a bonus episode from March in which Francis speaks with Jared and Elizabeth Kilmer from Game to Grow, an organization that uses tabletop gaming in therapy. Specifically, they discuss how they've seen tabletop gaming work to support therapy for veterans, and how roleplaying can be therapeutic in a variety of contexts. Hope you enjoy! If you want more bonus content like this, access it on our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/Hellofawaytodie *SPECIA...
Operation Bunker Busting New Brunswick
December 17, 2020 05:01 - 1 hour - 48.3 MBThe word on the street (by which we mean the feeds of extremely Q-pilled individuals on twitter) is that the Chinese PLA tried to invade Maine via New Brunswick but were stopped when their entire force was killed by one 14-ton bunker buster that left no trace. 50,000 PLA troops dead with all evidence obliterated. To assess the military significance of this, we decided to report on it. For this week's bonus, we've brought on our Zoomer correspondent Kevin Frint (@ItsAll_Bullshit) to dis...
The Fort Hood Report: Horrifying and Also Unsurprising
December 10, 2020 05:01 - 1 hour - 49.8 MBThe Army released a report into the handling of sexual assault prevention at Fort Hood, TX, and it’s proof that the institution doesn’t care about anything besides protecting itself. We offer our thoughts and why we feel it underscores our previous point: don’t enlist. You can read the report in its entirety here: https://www.army.mil/e2/downloads/rv7/forthoodreview/2020-12-03_FHIRC_report_redacted.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0JrfDs8rT-Y7OYdtvsT7FM2JORabaPIctk2Y-b35Le5AXdz8ftFqCRQgs We also talk about...
FRAGO: You Only Get to Drop Acid When We MKULTRA You
December 03, 2020 05:01 - 59 minutes - 47.9 MBThis week, we read a Task and Purpose article about how 2nd Division Marines are apparently really into doing LSD. Which, quite frankly, we support: for one because we think that by and large drugs are fine, and for another because this is the logical consequence of the military’s actual drug policy, which makes it almost impossible to use cannabis without getting caught, but makes it much easier to take harder drugs. Here is the article in question: https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-c...
When Your Veteran Coffee Isn’t Fascist Enough
November 26, 2020 09:59 - 1 hour - 50.3 MBThis week, we’re discussing the recent fall from grace that Black Rifle Coffee Company has experienced in the opinions of insane MAGA freaks--its core audience--because it refused to endorse or sponsor a 17-year-old accused of murdering BLM protesters. That’s right! The Big Racist Coffee Company wasn’t right-wing enough. The story we read from is available here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/black-rifle-coffee-was-maga-royalty-until-it-turned-on-kyle-rittenhouse Here is a li...
Cure Your Ennui with PTSD
November 19, 2020 00:07 - 1 hour - 49.7 MBWhy did the Marines make a video that basically says you should join in order to be less online? Why did the Army arrest a chaplain in Kuwait for wearing headphones? Why do we think it’s unlikely that anyone will ever fully withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan? This week, we dive into all of these, and more. Here is the article about the Kuwait arrest: https://www.armytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2020/11/17/army-national-guard-chaplain-deployed-to-kuwait-detained-by-mps-fo...
Poppygeddon Explained feat. Milo Edwards
November 12, 2020 05:01 - 1 hour - 54 MBWell, it seems Biden won and we’re settling back into the usual run of being outraged at the Dems being bad (while never forgetting that the Republicans are basically comic book villains). However, since we recorded this episode on the most troop-respecting of days, we decided to discuss Veterans Day and its British counterpart, Armistice Day. We brought on friend of the show Milo Edwards (@milo_edwards) of the Trashfuture podcast to discuss it. This week’s bonus features Francis, Shocks, ...
The Great White Cope
November 05, 2020 05:01 - 1 hour - 55.9 MBNo one knows what happened! We recorded this the morning after the election and we give our thoughts on what’s next given the tentative results of the election. This will either be a preview of things to come or a snapshot of a more innocent era. Hope you enjoy! The video from the Intercept that we mentioned about Black organizers in Philadelphia is here: https://theintercept.com/2020/10/29/philadelphia-black-voters/ For this week’s bonus, Francis speaks with Peter Lucier -- fel...
I Never Thought Q-Drops Would Eat My Face
October 29, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 50.2 MBIt’s hard riding a tiger. It’s even harder if you’re McHooyah the ‘I Shot Bin Laden’ guy and the Trump/QAnon people decide that actually Bin Laden is still alive because of a conspiracy theory. However, this does in fact dovetail into Francis’ theory that--due to the preponderance of cop-worship in the Trump era--troops are playing second fiddle to cops in the eyes of bonkers Americans. We do a little bit of DadChat/BritainChat at the beginning, but the regular episode starts at 8:26. ...
Joe Buck Is Sick of the Troops
October 22, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 52.8 MBWell, a lot of things are going away: the NYT’s ‘At War’ section, the Bombshell podcast from War on the Rocks, and the previous editorial direction of Task and Purpose (where Nate and Francis both got their starts, in different ways). Is America simply tired of respecting the troops? Well, apparently Troy Aikman and Joe Buck are. To which we can only say: this is a good thing. For this week’s bonus, Francis speaks with Marine veteran Di'Rico Baker (@rico_rants) on the topic of the poverty ...
*PREVIEW* TroopChat/BoatChat (Kandahar Giant Edition)
October 15, 2020 23:55 - 10 minutes - 8.7 MBFrancis wrote a radio play about the Kandahar Giant. It's deeply stupid, but that's what you signed up for. We brought on Joe Kassabian and Carey Shockey to read some of the parts, but before we get to the play, we just do a lot of war stories TroopChat. So, we hope you enjoy. If you want the whole thing, get it on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/42455226
POGStyle: Blood, Sweatshop, and Tears
October 15, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 53.4 MBMaybe you’ve encountered GruntStyle. Maybe you’ve been vicariously embarrassed by it. This week we do a deep dive (courtesy of a great article from the San Antonio Express News) about GruntStyle’s founder being an idiot. There is a big reveal that you will enjoy a lot! (source: https://www.expressnews.com/sa-inc/article/A-Reckoning-Grunt-Style-An-inside-look-at-San-15629615.php) This week’s bonus massively expands the DadChat format to include Joe Kassabian and Carey Shockey, plus we do a...
Trump Sowing / Trump Reaping
October 08, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBWhat does the future hold? What can we say about this final month of the US Presidential election? Why does it feel weirdly appropriate that Trump got covid after basically pretending it isn’t real and getting people to cough in his mouth to prove it? Well, we’re assessing it. We’re talking about him having the virus. We can’t get enough of it. We do some Britain Chat at the beginning—the episode starts in earnest at 10:30. For this week’s bonus, The TroopsChat circle has expanded again ...
How to Slingload an 1100 Pound Biblical Giant
October 01, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 147 MBThe internet is a wonderful thing. It lets us podcast, lets us make friends, and lets us share the 100 percent true and verified story about how, in 2002, the US Army did battle with a biblical giant. Who was the Giant of Kandahar? Why do people seem to think this is real? Should we rebrand as a military crypto-zoology podcast? All this and more, in this week’s episode. The absurd article we quote from is here: https://www.thexplan.net/article/378/The-Giant-of-Kandahar-And-The-Lost-Race-O...
On ‘Attack Surface’ and WiFi Fridges (feat. Cory Doctorow)
September 24, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 52.4 MBThis week, Nate and Francis are joined by sci-fi author and technologist Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) to discuss his new book ATTACK SURFACE. Are you getting spied on by your smart washing machine? Is your out-of-date WiFi printer going to hack the Gibson? Learn more about it on this episode. You can pre-order ATTACK SURFACE from your local bookstore here: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250757531 This week’s bonus features a solemn topic: Steve Bannon got arrested by the law enforcemen...
CGI Reagan and the War Crimes Simulator (feat. Kevin Frint)
September 17, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBThis week, Francis is on vacation and Nate is joined by the What a Hell of a Way to Die official zoomer correspondent Kevin Frint (@kevin_frint) to discuss the Call of Duty franchise. Didn’t we just discuss this on a bonus episode with Brock? Yes, but we’re not good at scheduling things. Anyway, in anticipation of the new COD installment, Kevin takes us through the storied and increasingly fascist story arcs of the entire series. This week’s bonus features Nate and Francis in combination w...
*PREVIEW* On the Subtle Art of the Technical feat. Well There's Your Problem
September 17, 2020 03:59 - 10 minutes - 8.02 MBIt's a combo episode of What a Hell of a Way to Die and Well There's Your Problem, in which we discuss the history of the technical and have a debate about what actually counts as one. You will love it hopefully as much as Uday and Qusay Hussain loved technicals. If you want to hear the whole thing, get it on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41575118
The Worst President You Know Just Made a Great Point
September 10, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 51.1 MBDonald Trump is at war with the generals. Well, not really, but he’s a big idiot and is lashing out at anyone he thinks is criticizing him -- which has led him to make the statement that the military rank-and-file love him, but the top brass don’t because they just want to go to war in order to make money for defense contractors. Now, we’re not saying we agree with him, and we don’t endorse him in any capacity, but this is perhaps an example of why our big wet baby leader is right for ...
Tik Tok and Army Lieutenants: Hell is Real
September 03, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 56 MBYou know what’s bad? The general concept of ‘military TikTok.’ You know what’s even worse? An active duty Army lieutenant posting a Holocaust joke on his TikTok with 3 million followers. But, as we point out in our discussion, he’s only telling the kind of jokes that anyone who grew up in a majority white and Christian part of America grew up hearing. We argue that the true reckoning should be asking yourself why people think jokes like that are funny. The story about said lieutenant is he...
SEAL Team S***poster: The McHooyah Story
August 27, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 51 MBWhy is it that there’s one particularly online SEAL, the guy who shot Bin Laden, and he won’t stop talking about it? Have you ever read his book? Well, Nate and Francis dug through the McHooyah story and have brought out some choice quotes for you to examine. We explore the deeply unwell psychology of the Navy SEALs and why this particular guy is just so much all the time. We do a bit of a DadChat at the beginning, but the regular discussion starts at 11:43. This week’s bonus features Fr...
Osprey: The Elevator of Death feat. Well There's Your Problem
August 21, 2020 17:20 - 1 hour - 70.8 MBWe did a joint episode with the cast of the Well There's Your Problem podcast (@wtyppod), covering the checkered history of the V-22 Osprey. We're going to do another bonus episode with WTYP soon, so check out the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/Hellofawaytodie *SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT* We now have a storefront to sell the patches, buttons, and magnets that we also give out as flair for our $10 tier. Buy some sweet gear here: https://www.hellofawaytodie.com/shop We have a YouTube ch...
The Audacity of No Hope for Anything Ever
August 20, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 55.6 MBThe DNC platform didn’t exactly make a strong impression on us, so we decided to discuss it in detail -- with specific emphasis on the stuff that pertains to America’s wars. We’re both really excited about ‘right-sizing’ our presence in combat zones! For this week’s bonus, Francis speaks with journalist Jasper Craven (@Jasper_Craven) about the right-wing veteran mythos and why ex-SEAL Carl Higbie will probably survive the Trump administration and factor in our lives for a while, despite be...
Don’t Mind Me, I’m Just an Ex-SEAL Chucking Pipe Bombs
August 12, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 48.6 MBThis week features a story that very few people outside of Oregon have seen fit to cover. The story of what appears to be an ex-Navy SEAL chucking pipe bombs at protestors in Portland and then bragging about it on LinkedIn. A tale as old as time: what is wrong with the Navy. (Source: https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/10/man-seen-in-area-of-homemade-explosive-at-portland-protest-ided-as-ex-navy-seal/?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true) This week’s bonus features Francis speakin...
DHS: The President’s Private Army
August 06, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 50.3 MBThis week, Nate and Francis are joined by special guest and friend of the show Ken Klippenstein (@KenKlippenstein), a reporter for the Nation who has become the master of leaks. We discuss his recent reporting about DHS’s “Fusion Cells” in Portland, their presence as masked goons disappearing people into rental vans, and how the entire structure of the agency is a holdover of Bush-era paranoia. This week’s bonus is a DadChat, and it’s available on Patreon at the $1 tier. Get it here: h...
Banning Recruiting on Twitch? How About Everywhere Else, Too
July 30, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 50.9 MBThis week, Nate and Francis discuss the amendment put forth by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to defund the military’s recruiting on Twitch and similar platforms. We talk about how recruiting worked when we were in school, how people get assigned to be recruiters, and why (once again) the correct position is Do Not Join. (source: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/budget-appropriations/509218-ocasio-cortez-calls-for-end-to-federal-funding-for) This week’s bonus features Joe Kassabian of the Lions...
It Sure Looks Like the Military Doesn’t Care About Sexual Assault (feat. Pat)
July 23, 2020 04:01 - 50 minutes - 41.8 MBThis week, Francis speaks with an Air Force reservist paralegal named Pat who takes us through the way that the military approaches sexual assault cases. As you might expect, it leaves an inordinate amount of leeway for commanders’ discretion. But we hope that this episode gives you a better idea of why things don’t seem to be getting better. Our bonus this week features Milo and Alice from Trashfuture on the topic of Britain’s peculiarities, and folks… you will like this one. Get it on Pat...