Hi everyone,
Sorry the timing has been all over the place lately. I’ve been very busy with other projects but I hope to keep a steady stream of new stuff coming for you. Over the last few weeks there have been a lot of new podcast episodes and a few new articles.
The highlight was probably my long-gestating (and frequently revised) essay Political and cultural transformation in the era of massive psychic damage, which, barring some kind of future mental health crisis (tbd), is probably the closest I’ll get to releasing a manifesto. The essay outlines what I think are the main cultural problems facing the American Right and offers a few suggestions on how to solve them. It’s been pretty well-received so far, which I’m very happy about.
Another article, which was just cool, was a copy of the obituary of Dietrich Navall, the author of a book discussed in a recent (free) podcast episode about the sad fate that befell Dutch Mennonites during the Russian Civil War. The tragedy of the Dutch Mennonites I think dispels a lot of the “Ruralite Retreat” fantasies that people seem to fall in in out of all the time. After escaping the war, Navall became a Languages professor at Pepperdine University in Southern California (which sadly was driven out of its original campus by violence from Civil Rights protestors).
As engagement bait I also released two free podcast episodes on sci-fi hot topic films Dune 2 and Starship Troopers. The Dune 2 one might get me killed, so I rewatched the film (I think this is tax deductible) and am currently editing a (Paid-exclusive) sequel episode with further thoughts.
On a final note, I wanted to take the chance humbly and very pathetically beg for more subscribers. Paid subscribers really do make a big difference in my life. If you read this Substack or listen to the podcast regularly, please consider becoming a paid subscriber right now. It’s only $5 a month and you get access to all the paywalled material (listed below). I’m reinstituting the Reign of Terror (tm), so all upcoming content is going to be Paid-exclusive for the foreseeable future. Please upgrade to Paid, it really does help me out a lot.
Here are all the podcast episodes available now (most are paywalled):
Ep1: Redditors of the Reddit Moon (Paid)
Ep2: Robocop: Rogue City review (Free)
Ep3: "War to the Knife" takes a shit on your stupid Civil War 2 fantasy (Free)
Ep4: "The Glorious Cause" is the best book on the American Revolution (that I've found) (Free)
Ep5: Your opinion on The Killer (2023) determines whether or not you have bad taste (Paid)
Ep6: Bitter master director Ridley Scott takes his time shitting out historical epic no one wanted (Free)
Ep7: This is the one (1) movie that you absolutely need to watch literally right now (Paid)
Ep8: Revenge thriller episode (Paid)
Ep9: Ride with the Devil (1999) is the best Civil War movie that I know you haven't seen yet (Free)
Ep10: 🚨ALERT🚨 Japanese launch devastating surprise attack on moviegoers' heartstrings (Paid)
Ep11: Total Recall (1990) was the sci-fi slaughterhouse America needed and deserved (Paid)
Ep12: I watched a bunch of the new DailyWire+ original movies last week... (Paid)
Ep13: If you don't force your family to watch this movie for Christmas, they will despise you (Paid)
Ep14: Emergency surprise free Christmas review of the Prometheus Engineer chronicles (2012) (Free)
Ep16: Someone finally made a good Afghanistan War movie and nobody noticed (Paid)
Ep17: If you don't watch this new movie in theaters, you are betraying me and yourself (Paid)
Ep18: Michael Mann’s Ferrari is the death-song of Esoteric Boomerism (Heat is overrated btw) (Paid)
Ep19: This forgotten Russian Civil War memoir shows why "Ruralite retreat" localism is dumb (Free)
Ep20: "In ‘First Man,’ Triumph for White Male Dreams" -The Harvard Crimson (Paid)
Ep21: Hunt: Showdown is a late 1800s horror-shooter that simulates normal life in Maryland (Paid)
Ep22: COMBAT DROP! Surprise Emergency Free Starship Troopers (1997) Sunday Show (Free)
Ep23: Dune 2 was unironically really bad and you’re actually stupid if you enjoyed it (Free)
Ep24: Witness (1985) is a masterclass in the lost art of the popular thriller (Paid)
Here are the paid-exclusive history articles:
Communists opened fire on a Veteran's Day parade in Washington, 1919. 4 dead, 4 wounded (Paid) - Details the Centralia Massacre, a mass shooting committed by members of the far left labor union the International Workers of the World, and the subsequent cover-up which saw all of the shooters legally exonerated on dubious grounds and then released from prison
Forgotten Counterrevolution: The Boston Police Strike of 1919 (Paid) - Recounts the infamous 1919 Boston Police Strike, three days of terror inflicted on Boston by an alliance of immigrants, labor unions, and street criminals that were only ended by State Guardsmen and rightwing vigilantes flooding the city
America’s “Fighting Mayor” vs the 1919 Seattle General Strike (Paid) - Provides an introduction to the 1919 Seattle General Strike, which in my mind represents a good “opening shot” to the failed (and largely forgotten) leftist revolution attempted in 1919. The crisis was successfully resolved due to the heroic efforts of Mayor Ole Hanson, a very interesting figure in his own right who is also profiled in the article
In March 1914, socialist mobs invaded and shook-down churches all over New York City (Paid) - Provides an introduction to the socialist/anarchist International Workers of the World union by detailing a series of violent “protests” they staged in New York City during an economic downturn, targeting local churches. It turns out that people didn’t like the “Wobblies” for pretty understandable reasons
Anarchists almost blew up St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1915 (Paid) - Gives an introduction to anarchist terrorism of the period by recounting the fall of the “Bresci Circle” after a conspiracy to blow up a cathedral in New York City was discovered and infiltrated by the (then brand-new) NYPD bomb squad. The investigation itself is interesting but the trial afterwards, in which liberal lawyers created a bogus civil rights controversy to distract from the bombings, is perhaps more revealing
Sacco and Vanzetti were always guilty (Paid) - Provides an overview of the Sacco and Vanzetti case, placing it within the context of the surrounding leftwing terror wave and other unrest. Although a “wrongfully accused” narrative has been built around the pair over the last century, it turns out that the evidence against them was pretty overwhelming and they were both members of a terrorist network
The 1932 Bonus Army scandal was always communist propaganda (Paid) - Gives a rundown of the infamous gathering of 20,000 veterans with 20,000 other followers in Washington, DC that ended with the US military running everyone out at bayonet point. Surprise: it was a communist psyop
How Marshal Mannerheim saved his country by quitting and telling everyone to fuck off (Paid) - An introduction to the 1918 Finnish Civil War (more on this to come) and the actions that led to Marshal Mannerheim, the national hero of Finland, rising to his role of supreme commander of anti-communist forces
I've been a paid subscriber for less than a week and I've gotten the value back at least tenfold. These topics hit a vibe that has manifested in the post Covid era in my choice of content consumption. Niche, esoteric, but overall just unabashed and sincere. It resonates with the shift I've had in character and values. (Pre covid me and post covid are two distinct entities) You might be having an unstable schedule in content release but in the end I, and I'm sure many others, will appreciate the output all the same.
we should round up all non subscribers