This week’s Gaslit Nation explores narrative warfare, from Russia’s Stalinist revisionism (now including an attack on Andrea’s film Mr Jones!) to the “both-sidesing” of the Holocaust in US schools, to the memory-holing of the Capitol attack.

Gaslit Nation with Andrea Chalupa and Sarah Kendzior

The Polonium Tea Party

It has now been over nine months since the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and none of the key perpetrators – Trump, Bannon, Flynn, Stone, etc – have been held accountable. And now they are dodging and defying subpoenas! What the Democrats are showing is that you cannot fight hate speech with weasel words, and you cannot fight accelerationism with inertia. This whole gang is running out the clock – the GOP and the transnational crime syndicate that backs them.

Running Out the Clock

The US government may have avoided a shutdown, but Facebook did not! On Monday everyone’s least favorite data-mining, genocide-abetting tech behemoth had the longest shutdown in its history, less than a day after an explosive interview with a Facebook whistleblower aired on “60 Minutes.” We speculate on what Zuckerberg and his dirty partners were doing in their offline interim period and discuss what should be done about this mass surveillance and propaganda system posing as a social media site.

The Sociopath Network

The government may be shutting down – again! Thanks to fatuous GOP concern about the debt ceiling, the government may be shutting down and the Treasury may be out of money by October 18. This is part of a long and destructive pattern.

Morally AND Literally Bankrupt!

Today we examine the most powerful person in the United States -- Elizabeth MacDonough! Who, you might ask? Why, the Senate Parliamentarian, of course! You know, that person who you stood outside for hours in line in a plague waiting to vote for, the person whose policies you studied and advocated and critiqued…oh wait, that’s Joe Biden, the helpless inhabitant of the White House! Once again, the Biden administration agenda is being held up by the thumbs down recommendation of the Parliamentarian.

Parliamentarian Fu*kadelic

Remember back in April when we described Joe Manchin as a “an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a lot of money”? Well, the Dem’s most annoying kleptocrat obstructionist isn’t so mysterious anymore! We discuss who’s funding him and why, the illicit and evil business activity in which his daughter is engaged, the attempt to buy off his wife with a government position, and his cavalier attitude toward the destruction of US democracy, infrastructure, and voting rights.

Quid Pro Joe

This week’s episode is devoted to the Texas state attack on reproductive rights and civil rights and its ramifications – not just for Texans, but for all Americans. This authoritarian attack codifies violent vigilantism, will inspire baseless reporting of citizens for political reasons, cultivates an atmosphere of vengeance and paranoia, and is backed by a Supreme Court packed with multiple corrupt justices installed by a career criminal Kremlin asset president. The Texas attack on reproductive rights is where theocrats, kleptocrats, authoritarians, white supremacists, misogynists, and secessionists all meet – much like they have in the Trump administration and its GOP backers. Texas is a hostage state, and we encourage you to support the Texans fighting back against their oppressive legislature. We are all Americans and we must support vulnerable Americans threatened by this abuse of power and corruption of law.

FURY

On August 31, the War in Afghanistan – a war that has been going on for nearly our entire adult lives – came to an end, at least officially. We discuss the ramifications of twenty years of war and how different political entities worldwide are exploiting the situation. We situate Afghanistan in the history of other quagmire wars – Vietnam, Iraq – and revising Eisenhower’s 1953 speech on the military-industrial complex, “A Chance for Peace”, a prescient warning which would today be reviled as radical.

The Chance for Peace

This week we discuss Angela Merkel’s recent trips to Russia and Ukraine while getting played by Putin and his merry band of Western blood money lobbyists, finally some hope in the Congress for democracy-saving legislation (it's going to be a make-it-or-break-it fall!), and the latest with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the US evacuation. We detail why we need a comprehensive investigation of the entire twenty years of war instead of letting Republicans politicize the humanitarian crisis.

Merkel Betrays Navalny, the Congress Steps Up, and More!

We break down myths about “the unvaccinated” vs the anti-vaxxer propagandists and discuss the institutional distrust that have made a diverse crowd of Americans hesitant about the vaccine. We go through twenty years of horrific policy decisions that enabled a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan, wasted trillions of tax dollars, and led to war crimes and tens of thousands of Afghan civilian casualties. And we end with hopeful words from our December 2019 interview with Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Hold Onto Your Humanity

The corruption in our broken and abusive systems won't change until we change them ourselves. That's why we need you -- yes, you -- to serioiusly consider running for something. Don't know where to start? Meet Amanda Litman, author of the essential roadmap to running for office Run For Something: A Real-Talk Guide to Fixing the System Yourself, a book that will hold your hand and help you through the entire process.

Run for Something: The Amanda Litman Interview

With so much ominous news about the climate crisis heralding the man-made apocolypse, we need leaders like the women highlighted in the must-read book All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis. Co-edited by Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, climate author and teacher, and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist and founder of the non-profit think tank Urban Ocean Lab, this soul-hugging anthology provides a breathing space. Dr. Wilkinson joins us for an unforgettable discussion.

All We Can Save: The Katharine Wilkinson Interview

Nelson George set off to become the greatest music writer in the world. Given his strange relationship with Prince who summoned him to listen to new music, George achieved his dream. George contributed to the bohemnian renaissance of Spike Lee turning Brooklyn into a global brand, living the explosion of Black culture across film, music, art, and more at the close of the 20th century and looks back at this groundbreaking time in a sweeping and important discussion of why art matters.

Art Matters: The Nelson George Interview

In this eye-opening discussion to kick off the Gaslit Nation Summer Reading Series: Essential Conversations with Leading Experts on How to Protect Our Democracy, running mid-July to mid-August, Bill Browder discusses the ongoing threat of Putin’s aggression and what to do about it. We ran an excerpt of our interview with Browder in May. This is the full interview.  

Red Notice: The Full Bill Browder Interview

After examining the latest voter suppression situation in the United States, we do a deep dive into mercenary Erik Prince. After committing war crimes in Iraq, this Blackwater founder has been building up his "blood money" business, including teaming up with Russia and Gulf States to make dirty deals involving the 2016 election and now attempting to build a private army in Ukraine.

Prince of Darkness

Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa are experts on authoritarian states who warned America about election hacking years before 2016. Here, they take a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs.