Start with a word we all hear too much: fascism. Now ask why, with the term everywhere, our understanding keeps getting worse. That’s the puzzle we dig into as Sudip Bhattacharya joins C. Derick Varn to dissect how American punditry flattens history, confuses categories, and protects the status quo with buzzwords instead of analysis. From cable news panels that treat any state action as “authoritarian,” to former neocons who reinvent themselves as respectable anti‑Trump voices while dodging their own records, we map the machinery that makes bad takes inevitable.

The conversation moves from media habits to concrete stakes: Israel‑Palestine as a settler colonial project, the perverse weaponization of antisemitism, and the bizarre spectacle of far‑right figures courting Israel while trafficking in bigotry. We examine how this fog invites real antisemitism to grow and erases anti‑Zionist Jewish voices. Then we turn local: the Cuomo vs. Mamdani showdown in New York, where Islamophobic tropes, AI smear ads, and institutional panic collided with a multiethnic, youth‑driven coalition that showed what organizing can do. The story isn’t about a savior candidate; it’s about constituencies learning to convert movement energy into votes and power.

Along the way, we chart the collapse of elite “competence”—tech barons LARPing masculinity, markets priced on fantasy, and leaders who cannot restore a fading consensus. That might sound bleak, but it’s also an opening. We talk windows of opportunity: shifting public opinion on Palestine, younger voters rejecting old scripts, and the practical tools needed to make fast‑moving crises count—unions, tenant groups, legal defense, and media with memory. Precision beats panic. Structure beats vibes. If punditry sells amnesia, we trade in context: how we got here, what the rails look like, and where to lay new track.

Listen, share with someone who’s tired of vibes without history, and leave a review with the sharpest question this episode raised for you. Your notes shape what we tackle next.

Link Discussed: https://revolpress.substack.com/p/comfortable-lies-how-pundits-enable

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Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
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Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

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Daniel Tutt returns to continue our series on intellectuals. The hardest truths are the ones that feel personal. We take Robert Michels’ “iron law of oligarchy” into the engine room of the SPD and ask why organizations built for emancipation so often drift into elite rule. From the paradox of proletarian vs bourgeois intellectuals to the cultural gravity of anti-socialist repression, we trace how habitus, patronage, and safety nets shape who gets to be “militant”—and who can’t afford to be.

Then we pivot to Jacques Rancière’s worker poets and autodidacts, setting aesthetic emancipation against “scientific socialism.” Do movements need science to map capital, or dignity to sustain courage—and can they live without either? Along the way, we pressure-test managerial class narratives from Burnham and Michael Lind, explain why pluralist fixes fail without leverage over capital, and pull hard lessons from Chile’s experiment: provisional leadership, worker coordination, and a sober reckoning with the violence embedded in class order.

With mass politics hollowed out into cartel parties and charisma’s glow fading, we sketch practical designs that resist capture: rotation and recall, sortition to break patronage, transparent conflicts-of-interest, democratic unions with real guardrails, and para-academic spaces that spread rigorous tools beyond the university’s segregating incentives. Overproduced elites complicate the picture; some can bridge worlds, but leadership must be constrained by accountability and class rootedness, not résumé prestige.

This is not resignation masquerading as realism. It’s an argument for building institutions that expect drift and correct it in real time—where dignity anchors motivation and scientific analysis sharpens strategy. If that sounds like the synthesis you’ve been looking for, press play, save the reading list, and tell us: which guardrails would you make non-negotiable? Subscribe, share with a comrade, and leave a review with your top design ideas for anti-capture organizations.

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Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

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Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube

Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian

What if the Renaissance wasn’t a rebirth at all, but a survival strategy dressed in marble and Latin? We sit down with historian and novelist Ada Palmer to unwind the stories that turned a chaotic, war-ridden Italy into a “golden age” and explore why those stories still shape our politics, schools, and museums. Ada shows how nineteenth-century nationalism carved custom Renaissances for each country, how rulers redefined legitimacy as “having Roman stuff,” and why art, libraries, and Latin became tools of intimidation in a Europe full of insecure thrones.

Step inside Florence with a visiting envoy and feel how a courtyard of emperor busts, a child reciting Greek, and a bronze that looks alive can flip alliances overnight. Follow the printing press not as a spark but as a response to a library boom, amplified by Venice’s trade networks and the first book fairs. Track how Europe exported “no columns, no culture” across empires, pushing colonized elites to argue their rights in Ciceronian Latin because that was the only language of power the conquerors respected. And watch the myth of superiority assemble itself, piece by piece, into a worldview that still colors public debate.

Ada also challenges the feel-good claim that destruction breeds creation. Michelangelo’s own letters describe years lost to stress and war; peace and stability, not crisis, are what grow output and invention. Think of history as a river: trickles, leaf-widths, canoe-widths, all real beginnings depending on what you measure. Along the way, we touch on Machiavelli’s brutal eyewitness era, the Ottoman refusal to play a game Italy would always win, and the practical mechanics of censorship—past and present—that rarely resemble Orwell.

If you’re ready to rethink the Renaissance, question neat timelines, and see how propaganda becomes common sense, this conversation will give you new lenses. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves history myths, and leave a review with the one “truth” about the past you’re now willing to revisit.

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Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
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Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

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You can find the additional streams on Youtube

Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian

Start with the headlines and everything looks simple: a “crown prince” trending on social feeds, viral clips of pre-revolution Tehran, and bold claims that one more round of pressure will tip the balance. Look closer and the picture changes. We unpack Iran’s internal stalemate and Syria’s shifting lines with a clear eye on what’s driving events: sanctions that harden the regime’s patronage networks, diaspora psyops that mistake nostalgia for strategy, and the vanishing space for any liberal or left alternative that might organize hope into power.

We walk through how Iran’s formal elections and parliament sit under real veto points from the Supreme Leader and security services, why the reformist track keeps collapsing, and how dollarization and elite access to cheap currency rig the economic playing field. That material strain feeds youth despair, anti-religious backlash, and polarizing street slogans the regime can exploit. Outside the borders, expected lifelines don’t arrive. Russia and China prefer stability at low cost. The “axis of resistance” has limits and its own priorities. Israel and Turkey maneuver in Syria while the SDF faces pressure to retreat from Arab-majority areas. Once again, Kurdish politics become the lever many states pull to consolidate authority.

We also scrutinize the information environment: Saudi-backed outlets, AI-washed propaganda, and English-language punditry that often substitutes for real reporting under an intense blackout. When verification fails, certainty thrives—and that’s a gift to hardliners. Instead of romantic solutions or regime-change fantasies, we outline realistic levers that protect lives and keep political possibilities open: unions and professional associations setting bright lines, targeted pressure that hits elite rents rather than civilians, and media practices that prioritize verification over virality. It’s not flashy. It’s the kind of strategy that sustains pluralism after the hashtags fade.

If you value sober analysis without cheerleading, hit follow, share this episode with a friend who loves geopolitics, and leave a review with the one question you want answered next. Your questions shape where we take this conversation.

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Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

Support the show

Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube

Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian

A lot of people call it populism, but the engine driving today’s politics is anti-politics: the organized channeling of frustration without a stable program for governing. Joseph Sciortino of the Rabble Report and I dig into why that matters for socialists, progressives, and anyone trying to turn protest into power—and why the effort so often stalls once it hits the wall of debt, police unions, and low-turnout city halls. Using New York and Zohran Mamdani as a focal point, we unpack DSA fractures, backroom deals, and the deeper contradiction of running as a disruptor while needing the very machinery you promised to challenge.

From there, we widen the lens. We trace the rise and fall of mass parties into today’s catch-all, cartelized party systems that govern the state more than they represent society. That shift helps explain why left populism rarely lasts in office, why the right is often better positioned to capitalize on anti-state sentiment, and why the working class keeps drifting from parties that talk redistribution but deliver management. Along the way, we compare Corbyn and the Brexit realignment, Macron’s narrowing options against the French far right, and Morena’s pragmatic coalitions in Mexico—an uncomfortable, useful counterexample for American left expectations.

We also wrestle with the hard stuff: policing and recallability, standing armies versus civic defense, NGOs as pseudo-public power, and the fiscal constraints no mayor can wish away. If socialism is society’s self-organization—not just nationalization or technocratic administration—then the first task is rebuilding institutions and habits that live outside state offices. Without that base, anti-politics only deepens; with it, opposition can become leverage instead of mere posture.

If this conversation helps you see the terrain more clearly, tap follow, share it with a friend who’s frustrated by “vibes” politics, and leave a quick review. Your notes shape what we dig into next.

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Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

Support the show

Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube

Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian

A “small revolt” doesn’t topple an institution—people do. We dive into the 1824 Chumash uprising and show why it belongs with the era’s great revolutions, not the margins of a mission field trip. With historian-journalist Joe Payne, we map how three missions became a battleground for emancipation, how labor withdrawal and horse control shattered the mission economy, and why a four-pound cannon and a privateer raid still echo through California’s historical memory.

We zoom out to the age of independence to read Alta California against Mexican constitutional turmoil, counter-revolution, and the casta system that structured everyday power. You’ll hear how Franciscans trained militias they couldn’t control, why disease and livestock were imperial weapons, and how Chumash technology—canoes, acorn processing, shell currency—supported dense settlements and regional politics that Spanish officials struggled to categorize but quietly feared. The story doesn’t stop at the gates: inland flight, alliances, and repeated uprisings helped doom the mission system itself.

We also confront how the past is staged. Rebuilt missions and tidy exhibits often freeze the Chumash at contact and sideline their leadership, while modern policy offers “sanctuaries” offshore and roadblocks on land. Joe details present-day sovereignty fights, internal debates over identity, and the promise of Chumash-run cultural centers that tell a living story in their own voice. Along the way, we question European categories like nation and state, challenge simplistic gender readings, and make room for complexity without losing the plot: indigenous history is ongoing, and this revolution still speaks to power, place, and who gets to define both.

If this conversation expands your map of California, share it with a friend, subscribe for more deep dives, and leave a review telling us the biggest myth you were taught about the mission era.

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Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

Support the show

Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube

Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian

In Part 2 of our series on intellectualls, Daniel Tutt returns to talk Bourdieu. Start with the feeling that “merit” is natural and fair—and then watch it fall apart. We take Pierre Bourdieu’s sharpest tools—habitus, field, cultural capital, symbolic power—and use them to expose how universities, media, and taste quietly reproduce class while insisting it’s all about talent. From Homo Academicus to Distinction to the Algeria studies, we clear up the biggest misconceptions: cultural capital is more than style, symbolic violence is more than rude behavior, and habitus is embodied history adapting to shifting fields.

Our conversation travels through the crisis of the scholarly habitus—leisure packaged as labor, prestige buffered by adjunct exploitation—and the awkward truth that DEI can deepen stratification when it diverts resources and legitimizes existing hierarchies. We connect Bourdieu’s hysteresis to today’s culture wars: fields change fast, bodies adapt slow, and the resulting frustration feeds irrationalism. His study of Heidegger becomes a cautionary tale about stalled elites and seductive anti‑rational philosophies. Meanwhile the working class loses a stable habitus in a gigged‑out economy, making organizing harder and resentment easier to weaponize.

We balance Bourdieu with a Marxist insistence on production and power. The best use of his map is practical: reveal the hidden rules, rebuild class independence, and design para‑academic and organizing projects that out‑perform the academy on rigor and relevance. Expect clear definitions, concrete examples, and straight talk on credentialism, elite infighting dressed as populism, and why making class legible again is the first step toward changing material life. If you’ve ever felt the system deny its own history while sorting your future, this conversation will give you language—and a plan—to push back.

If this resonates, follow the show, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with the sharpest insight you took away. Where do you see symbolic power at work today?

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Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

Support the show

Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube

Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian

What if today’s most powerful AI systems are closer to a free-floating hippocampus than to a thinking mind? We dive into the messy borderlands between neuroscience, semiotics, and political economy to ask what LLMs really do, why they feel authoritative, and where their limits begin. Along the way, we explore how humans negotiate meaning in real time while models operate in a frozen field of correlations, why that matters for education and writing, and how the surveillance stack turns our lives into tidy sequences for machines to memorize.

Together with our guest, we unpack grid cells, place cells, and the hippocampus as a vivid analogy for sequence modeling. Then we press on the big claims: can a next-token engine think, or does it merely interpolate? Why do these models stumble on math unless we bolt on tools? And how did the training corpus—heavy with ad copy, business speak, and now model-made text—nudge outputs toward a bland, consensus voice that can be tuned to institutional aims?

None of this unfolds in a vacuum. We follow the money to examine power costs, chip monopolies, and a rush to constant capital that favors server farms over genuine productivity gains. The result looks like a bubble stitched to state-capital priorities and fragile cloud infrastructure, not an inevitable march toward “superintelligence.” If planning is back on the table, we argue it needs new objectives: replace the one-size value function with interpretable quotas for health, learning, resilience, and ecological limits, and design cybernetic feedback that respects agency instead of erasing it.

Curious about a future where meaning stays alive and tools stay honest? Listen, share with a friend who’s wrestling with AI’s promises and pitfalls, and leave a review to tell us where you stand.

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Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to Bitterlake

Support the show

Crew:
Host: C. Derick Varn
Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.
Intro Video Design: Jason Myles
Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn

Links and Social Media:
twitter: @varnvlog
blue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.social
You can find the additional streams on Youtube

Current Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian