Safe for Democracy

Here it is, the end of the last real battle of the French war: Dien Bien Phu. After this it’s just Geneva and the transition from French ignobility to American monstrosity. That all comes next time th...

Finally we’re here, at the end of the French War, at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Some cool show news: we’re registered for the People’s Choice Podcast Awards. Which means I filled out a form at podca...

And here we are, finally, finally making it to the end of the French War. We still have Dien Bien Phu and the denouement to wrap up, which we’ll do in the next episode, maybe in the fastest-ever-produ...

I’m trying something a little different with these show notes, especially since, with that interim show about Kennan already done, I don’t have any other story I want to be telling apart from the cast...

Like I said at the end of last episode, there were some broader Cold War issues that I wanted to talk about and some history that I wanted to churn through that didn’t quite fit into the framework of ...

We’re getting into the French War proper now, and we’ll make it almost all the way to the outbreak of the war in Korea by the end of this one. I’ve got some videos whose audio I couldn’t use, for vari...

Hey folks, I thought I’d try something new with the show notes this time around and just give you the script. The only time I give this a real thorough proofread for typos, etc, is when I’m recording ...

Well, we’re making time now, and I hope that keeps up. I’ve got some interesting stuff to show you today. First is the cover image for the show. That’s Ho Chi Minh on the left and Vo Nguyen Giap on th...

Hey folks, in lieu of notes this time, I’m going to give you the full outline that Rob and I were ostensibly working off in the show. Which should be enlightening, especially as we spend a lot of time...

Like it says in title, there’s no show this Monday, but there is going to be a show this week. Rob Morris, Ernie Piper, and I are going to be broadcasting another live show this Thursday from 11am to ...

It’s a day late but nowhere near a dollar short (except, I guess, in terms of what I’m paid for these shows; in that case it’s several thousand behind: Ho Chi Minh’s entrance into our story. I don’t h...

I’m back from down south in Oaxaca, and I’ve got the cut-down of the show that Rob Morris and I did, along with my buddy Ernie Piper, about a month ago. I met Ernie during a very brief stint in Istanb...

Hey folks— It’s a longish show where myself and some Peace Corps friends of mine talk about two of the last few shorts, Liberal Arts, Again and Land and Food and Capitalism. The audio isn’t anything I...

Hey Folks, We’re back to a mix of history and short shows, which means we’re back to quick intros on the smaller episodes. It looks like I’m finally going to pull together that shorts discussion with ...

We're starting, literally, with the dawn of human history and carrying it all the way up to the 1700s. Like the folks over at Blank Check, we're connoisseurs of context, and to get Vietnam right in a ...

Writing on the first script starts in earnest this week, and I thought everybody deserved to know more or less where we’re headed. This episode gets into all that, and, for anybody following along, ge...

It’s the last of all news shows, folks, and it’s barely newsy at all. We’re talking about monopolies in the American economy, which was, incidentally, the subject of Robert Reich’s last book, Saving C...

I’m getting back on track after my internet outage, and as promised, here’s a make-up of a sort for those last couple of weeks. This is the show that Rob and I recorded back in December, and which wen...

Hey folks, Boy do we have some housekeeping. You probably noticed there hasn’t been a show the last two Mondays. That’s because fourteen full days ago, my internet went out, and it didn’t come back un...

I’ve been saying, for longer than it was exactly true, that everything’s bad and it’s only getting worse. The world’s come around to my point of view though, and at least in the US, almost a year out ...

Well, my face isn’t totally unstuffed-up yet, but I think the nasal quality has dropped out enough to record, and I want my shows to hit the top of the week again. Check out our Patreon! Talk to me on...

I’m sick, basically, and my voice is gross. Show’ll be out as soon as I can speak again....

We’re talking about capitalism, and specifically the ways in which unrestrained, industrialized, late-stage capitalism like ours works to destroy, reconstitute and commodify widely-available goods, us...

I have a whole new show all written up but between family stuff and, well, more family stuff, I haven’t been able to find a time to actually record and edit it here in Tennessee. Tomorrow, though, I’m...

It’s pretty straightforward on this one; October’s news show on Corruption just in time for December. Enjoy folks. Patreon people, appreciate the patience while I’m on my monthlong, sabbatical-type tr...

Hey Everybody— The folks on Patreon have voted the news shows into wider circulation, so they’ll be coming out either regularly or when we have a blank Monday to fill. That should make it easier for a...

Hey folks, This show’s coming to you on a Tuesday just because of that new job I mentioned and because Thanksgiving happened on a Sunday this year in Mexico. What I’d like to talk to you about now, th...

We’re covering a pretty long period in this one, from half or most of the way through the war with Iraq all the way up to the present, although it’s a pretty quick hustle from Khomeini’s death in 1989...

Hey folks— It’s explained in the show, but the tortured titling here comes from that I promised the last Iran show this week, and in what’s to me the most important sense, I delivered. It’s written, r...

No show today folks, just some straight dope on what's happening here at SFD...

Matching ends to means, the Kennedy Administration, and the War on Terror...

Hey Folks, This one’s number twelve, and while we’re not done with Iran yet, number thirteen, Iran VIII and the very last Iran show, come hell or high water, is gonna be here in three weeks or less. I...

Not a whole lot of news this time out. The title of the post is obviously drawn from the essay in Hannah Arendt’s Crises of the Republic. Which we should all read, but if the point of this show is tha...

Alright, here we are, finally. The Iranian Revolution of 1979. There’s still some groundwork to be laid, but we’re getting there this episode, full stop. Let’s take a look at some of the folks coming ...

What the next Mexican President can and ought to do about the US's drug problem....

More like Rex KILLERson...

Hey Everybody— Like I said up on the FB page on Monday, I wasn’t skipping this week, I just had a date with Rob Morris yesterday. Short show notes, but remember: Rate and review the show on iTunes, St...

Hey Everybody— I was on the road a little longer than I thought I’d be and I missed last week’s show and for that I’m sorry. But I’ve got one this week, and I’ll be away from rural Tennessee and back ...

  I’ve been thinking about patriotism in the US for a long time, long enough to have written this for the College Dems’ newspaper back at Georgetown. There’s something about how everybody wants to be ...

This is another one of those topics I’ve been thinking about for a long while, at least since I wrote this cute little essay sophomore year: And I think it ties in with what we were talking about a co...

Hey all, I had this chat with Rob back in June, when some of you might have caught it live or on Rob’s Youtube channel, the More Freedom Foundation. I didn’t get it re-edited and trimmed down for a po...

Well, this is the tenth short, which means we’re putting out a helluva lot more content this year than last, and I hope that’s to the good. Our very first Patreon-exclusive news analysis show is going...

Hey folks, Not much to report but that the next Iran show is coming along and that my first Patreon-exclusive show is going up probably early next week. We’re talking this time around about TR Fehrenb...

Well, like I can’t remember if but might have said last week, we’re back from hiatus and onto regular production again, which means a show for you this Monday. It’s kind of an experimental one today, ...

Here we are, the absolute last episode (I promise) before we get to the Iranian Revolution and, I think, the Iran-Iraq War. In this episode, we’re covering the Shah’s White Revolution, the new liberal...

Hey folks, I know I’m running a little late on the next Iran show, but with some law school stuff, a family reunion, and a neat little piece I’m putting together on Ancient Aliens for The Awl all done...

Hey folks, does just about what it says on the box. We’re having another conversation with Robert Morris of the More Freedom Foundation, a YouTube Channel (and a website) dedicated, at the moment, to ...

Hey everybody, so two things I’ve mentioned coming to fruition this week. First, I’m gonna be having another conversation with Rob Morris of the More Freedom Foundation like the one we did a few weeks...

“Well, now that we have seen each other,” said the Unicorn, “if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.” —Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass Another SFD short brought to you already by SFD. I...

Hey folks. We’re getting on with it, but research and length got away from me again, and it’ll be another episode before we’re edging up towards Revolution. For now, though, we’ve got the reign of the...