Conspiracy You Can Believe In

In 1973, the democratically elected socialist government of Chile under Salvador Allende was toppled by a far-right coup. What followed was 17 years of oppression under a reactionary, sadistic military dictatorship. Through decades of investigations, court cases, and declassification of records, we know now how the Pinochet regime came to power: through the CIA and the U.S. State Department. SOURCES: The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability by Peter Kornbluh https://thenewpress.com/books/pinochet-file The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein https://naomiklein.org/the-shock-doctrine/ The True Verdict on Allende by E. Bradford Burns https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/true-verdict-allende/ The ‘Chicago Boys' in Chile: Economic Freedom's Awful Toll by Orlando Letelier https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-chicago-boys-in-chile-economic-freedoms-awful-toll/ Giant Rally Marks Allende Anniversary by Jonathan Kandell https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/05/archives/giant-rally-marks-allende-anniversary-professional-workers-strike.html

In 1957, Ghana became one of the first countries in Africa to free itself from European rule. As the country's leader, Kwame Nkrumah, began to advocate for a pan-African confederation, US intelligence services would close in. The CIA and the old colonial rulers would try to sabotage independence movements across the continent. SOURCES White Malice: The CIA and the Covert Neocolonization of Africa by Susan Williams: https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/susan-williams/white-malice/9781541768284/ The Assassination of Lumumba by Ludo de Witte: https://www.versobooks.com/books/792-the-assassination-of-lumumba Who Killed Hammarskjöld?: The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa by Susan Williams: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/who-killed-hammarskjold-2/ The Intelligence Coup of the Century by Greg Miller of the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/ Strike Against Government's Austerity Programme by Keesing's Record of World Events: http://web.stanford.edu/group/tomzgroup/pmwiki/uploads/1417-1961-11-KS-a-RCW.pdf

On November 11, 1975, Gough Whitlam was removed from office as Prime Minister of Australia. He was dismissed by his own Governor-General, John Kerr, a man who held what was largely believed to be a ceremonial position as the representative of the British Crown. The Dismissal would spark decades of debate in Australia. But recently unearthed records show that Kerr did not act on his own. He had the full support of the country's conservative establishment, encouragement from US and Australian intelligence, and advice from Buckingham Palace. SOURCES The Palace Letters: The Queen, the governor-general, and the plot to dismiss Gough Whitlam by Jenny Hocking https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-palace-letters-9781922310248 The Dismissal: 40 years on by Paul Daley https://dismissed.moadoph.gov.au/hashtag-dismissal-1975.html The Dismissal - 10th Anniversary by Australia Channel 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm8HFJ9ZC8U The Kerr Palace Letters - National Archives of Australia https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/kerr-palace-letters In the 1970s, a Soft Coup Removed Australia's Left-Wing Prime Minister by Guy Rundle https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-australia Gough Whitlam's Government Was the Victim of a Right-Wing Coup by Conor Flynn https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/06/gough-whitlam-australian-labor-party-right-wing-coup-john-kerr Rundle: proving the CIA-backed conspiracy that brought down Whitlam by Guy Rundle https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/11/25/rundle-proving-the-cia-backed-conspiracy-that-brought-down-whitlam/ CIA, Kerr, Barwick and 1975 by Humphrey McQueen https://labourhistorycanberra.org/2016/07/cia-kerr-barwick-and-1975/ Australian House of Representatives Debates - 4 May 1977 http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1977/19770504_reps_30_hor105/ CIA Issue Enters Australian Crisis by Fox Butterfield special to the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/06/archives/cia-issue-enters-australian-crisis-whitlam-says-an-opposition-chief.html How Australia Won Universal Healthcare - and How Workers Saved it with a General Strike by Anthony O'Donnell https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/08/australia-universal-health-care-whitlam-administration-medibank-medicare-alp-actu-strike

During this bonus episode, we'll give a condensed history of the Spanish Civil War: the major players, what caused the conflict, the course of the war, and the consequences of Franco's victory. SOURCES Spain in our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild https://www.harpercollins.com/products/spain-in-our-hearts-adam-hochschild?variant=39936156172322 The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/309382.The_Spanish_Civil_War The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1931-39 by Gabriel Jackson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/308404.The_Spanish_Republic_and_the_Civil_War_1931_39

Spain, 1936: After the the left-wing Popular Front coalition achieved victory at the polls, a confederacy of right-wing generals plotted to defeat it on the battlefield. Francisco Franco and his fascist allies in Italy and Nazi Germany would eventually defeat the democratically elected government of Spain. But they did it with plenty of support from an American oil company--Texaco. SOURCES Spain in our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild https://www.harpercollins.com/products/spain-in-our-hearts-adam-hochschild?variant=39936156172322 The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/309382.The_Spanish_Civil_War The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1931-39 by Gabriel Jackson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/308404.The_Spanish_Republic_and_the_Civil_War_1931_39 Oil: Exit Rieber, Time Magazine https://web.archive.org/web/20101014080648/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764502,00.html

On November 13, 1974, a nuclear lab technician named Karen Silkwood was reported dead in a single-car accident just outside Oklahoma City. Silkwood was on her way to meet a reporter from the New York Times to deliver evidence that her employer, Kerr-McGee, was hiding records of defective nuclear fuel rods. This evidence has never been found. Shortly after the crash, Karen's friends and co-workers began to question the official record of her car accident. Further investigation would reveal that her death might not have been an accident after all. SOURCES: The Killing of Karen Silkwood: The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case by Richard Rashke https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1193179.The_Killing_of_Karen_Silkwood Karen Silkwood: The Case of the Activist's Death by Howard Kohn https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/karen-silkwood-the-case-of-the-activists-death-52287/ Karen Silkwood Remembered 1946--1974 by Tony Mazzocchi, BMWE Journal, November/December 1999 https://www.bmwe.org/journal/1999/12dec/b04.htm Paper in Nashville Dismisses Writer Linked to the F.B.I. by David Burnham, New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/08/archives/paper-in-nashville-dismisses-writer-linked-to-the-fbi-newspaper-in.html

In the 1890s, the two-party system in Alabama nearly cracked open. A brutal economic depression and a rising wave of labor agitation and agrarian unrest helped create a viable new party: The People's Party. Learn how the Populists nearly took power in Alabama, why they failed, and what their legacy means for the modern South. To support the striking UMWA miners of Warrior Met Coal, visit https://umwa.org/news-media/news/support-umwa-miners-on-strike-at-warrior-met/ SOURCES: Populism to Progressivism by Sheldon Hackney http://uapress.ua.edu/product/978-0-8173-8532-3-Populism-to-Progressivism-In-Alabama,4881.aspx?skuid=2200 Birmingham Coal District Strike of 1908 by Encyclopedia of Alabama http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/Article/h-1478 Arsenal for Democracy - American Money: Part IV The Cross of Gold http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/2021/10/04/american-money-part-iv-the-cross-of-gold-arsenal-for-democracy-ep-398/ Subtreasury Plan by James L. Hunt, NCpedia https://www.ncpedia.org/subtreasury-plan Ambushed in Eufaula: Alabama's forgotten race massacre by Kyle Whitmire https://www.al.com/news/2022/01/ambushed-in-eufaula-alabamas-forgotten-race-massacre.html

In 1901, 155 delegates gathered in Montgomery, Alabama to create the dumbest constitution in American history, then ratify it through a sham election. This is the story of Alabama's state constitution, still in use to this day. SOURCES: Alabama's Shame: The Historical Origins of the 1901 Constitution by Wayne Flynt https://www.law.ua.edu/pubs/lrarticles/Volume%2053/Issue%201/Flynt.pdf Populism to Progressivism by Sheldon Hackney http://uapress.ua.edu/product/978-0-8173-8532-3-Populism-to-Progressivism-In-Alabama,4881.aspx?skuid=2200 Reconstruction Constitutions - Encyclopedia of Alabama http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-4192 The less you make, the more you pay: Alabama's taxes remain upside down by Chris Sanders of Alabama Arise https://www.alarise.org/news-releases/the-less-you-make-the-more-you-pay-alabamas-taxes-remain-upside-down/

Harvard is the oldest university in the United States--with the largest endowment fund in the world. With an investment portfolio of over $40 billion, Harvard is no stranger to financial scandals in its recent past. SOURCES: Right on the Money: The George Bush Profile by Charles Lewis https://publicintegrity.org/politics/right-on-the-money-the-george-w-bush-profile/ Bush, Harken, and the Public's Right to Know by the Center for Public Integrity https://publicintegrity.org/environment/bush-harken-and-the-publics-right-to-know/ A Brief History of Bush, Harken, and the SEC by John Dunbar https://publicintegrity.org/environment/a-brief-history-of-bush-harken-and-the-sec/ Harken's Ivy League Underwriter by John Dunbar https://publicintegrity.org/environment/harkens-ivy-league-underwriter/ Bush Cautioned on Harken Sale by Peter Behr https://old.post-gazette.com/nation/20021103bushharken1103p5.asp Bush Baggage in His Business Past? by Chris Bury https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=87043&page=1 Securities and Exchange Commission Documents by Center for Public Integrity https://web.archive.org/web/20071022061753/http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=206 How Harvard Lost Russia by David McClintick https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b150npp3q49x7w/how-harvard-lost-russia The Tragedy of Russia's Reforms by Peter Reddaway and Dmitri Glinski https://www.usip.org/publications/2001/02/tragedy-russias-reforms The Harvard Boys Do Russia by Janine R. Wedel https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/harvard-boys-do-russia/ IKEA's Forest Recall by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/4990-ikea-s-forest-recall ‘Timber Mafia' threatens the future of Romania's ancient forests by Glenn Ellis https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/11/26/romania-disappearing-forests Investigation: Thousands of trees illegally felled to build IKEA's flat pack empire by Alex Thomson https://www.channel4.com/news/investigation-thousands-of-trees-illegally-felled-to-build-ikeas-flat-pack-empire

In the years following President Jean-Bertrande Aristide's second removal from power in 2004, everyday Haitians experienced a brutal military occupation, two devastating earthquakes, and a degradation of the democratic society they tried to build through the Lavalas movement. SOURCES: Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment by Peter Hallward https://www.versobooks.com/books/524-damming-the-flood A Glittering Industrial Park in Haiti Falls Short by Jonathan M. Katz http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/10/a-glittering-industrialparkfallsshortinhaiti.html Haitian Leader's Power Grows as Scandals Swirl by Frances Robles https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/world/americas/haitian-president-tightens-grip-as-scandal-engulfs-circle-of-friends.html Clinton's Long Shadow by Nikolas Barry-Shaw https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/haiti-elections-hillary-clinton-fraud-corruption-earthquake-martelly/ Haiti's Eroding Democracy by Jake Johnston https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/haiti-election-democracy-neoliberal-clinton-jovenel-moise-martelly-aristide-preval-duvalier/ Haiti's Permanent Resistance by Kim Ives https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/04/haiti-hillary-clinton-elections-martelly-fraud/ Were Haiti's Capitalists Behind the Assassination of President Moise? by Kim Ives https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/07/haiti-assassination-president-moise-petrocaribe Haiti's Fatally Flawed Election by CEPR https://cepr.net/documents/publications/haiti-2011-01.pdf Clinton Emails Reveal "Behind the Doors Actions" of Private Sector and US Embassy in Haiti Elections by Jake Johnston https://www.cepr.net/clinton-emails-reveal-behind-the-doors-actions-of-private-sector-and-us-embassy-in-haiti-elections/ Aristide Returning to Haiti Despite Delay Sought by Obama - NBC News https://www.cepr.net/clinton-emails-reveal-behind-the-doors-actions-of-private-sector-and-us-embassy-in-haiti-elections/ In Haiti, a Factory Where Big Money, State Department and Clintons Meet https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/haiti-factory-big-money-state-department-clintons-meet/story?id=42729714

Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the most popular politician in Haiti. He helped lead a grassroots movement against far-right dictatorship and military rule in his country, and earned the support of millions of voters. So why was he forced out of office--twice? SOURCES The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by CLR James https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/775985.The_Black_Jacobins Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment by Peter Hallward https://www.versobooks.com/books/524-damming-the-flood Inter-American Commission on Human Rights-OAS--The Attack on St. Jean Bosco Church http://www.iachr.org/countryrep/Haiti88eng/chap.2e.htm Our Man in FRAPH - Behind Haiti's Paramilitaries by Allan Nairn https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-3UeW4hbOCNQYZpOT/Our%20man%20in%20FRAPH%20-%20Behind%20Haiti%27s%20paramilitaries%20%28The%20Nation%2C%2024%20Oct%201994%29_djvu.txt

How do the experiences of average Russians during the tumultuous 1990s explain the way the country is today? And what does the popular narrative in the U.S. about Vladimir Putin get right--and wrong? SOURCES: Russia Without Putin by Tony Wood https://www.versobooks.com/books/3040-russia-without-putin The Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy by Peter Reddaway and Dmitri Glinski https://www.usip.org/publications/2001/02/tragedy-russias-reforms Russia Responds to Anti-Migrant Riots by Arresting Migrants by Simon Shuster https://world.time.com/2013/10/14/russia-responds-to-anti-migrant-riots-by-arresting-migrants/

In 1996, it was hard to believe that Boris Yeltsin had ever been a popular leader. Years of economic devastation, corruption, and war tarnished the image of Russia's first president, leaving him with an approval rating in the single digits, and little chance of winning re-election. Miraculously, Yeltsin would go on to win a second term that year--with a little help from the U.S. government and the International Monetary Fund. SOURCES: The Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy by Peter Reddaway and Dmitri Glinski https://www.usip.org/publications/2001/02/tragedy-russias-reforms Russia Without Putin by Tony Wood https://www.versobooks.com/books/3040-russia-without-putin Clinton Digital Library: Declassified Documents Concerning Russian President Boris Yeltsin https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/57569 PRESS SOURCES Election meddling in Russia: When Boris Yeltsin asked Bill Clinton for help by David Shimer https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/26/russian-election-interference-meddling/ The Harvard Boys Do Russia by Janine R. Wedel https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/harvard-boys-do-russia/ Bearing Gifts, Yeltsin Gains Ground by Lee Hockstader https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russvote/main/art2.htm IMF Approves $10.2 Billion Loan For Russia by Michael Dobbs https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1996/03/27/imf-approves-102-billion-loan-for-russia/6820c3ac-496a-482f-a01e-500c2e6a7d40/ Yeltsin drunk, near-naked, outside White House --AFP wire story https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-09-23/yeltsin-drunk-near-naked-outside-white-house/1438342 Rewriting Russian History: Did Boris Yeltsin Steal the 1996 Presidential Election? by Simon Shuster http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107565,00.html

During South Africa's transition to democracy in the 1990s, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was tasked with holding public hearings on crimes against humanity committed during the turbulent years of Apartheid. Here, we cover only a few of the atrocities carried out by the Apartheid regime in South Africa. SOURCES: TRC Special Report broadcasts https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/ Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme by United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research https://unidir.org/publication/project-coast-apartheids-chemical-and-biological-warfare-programme Quest to Solve Assassination Mystery Revives an AIDS Conspiracy Theory by Matt Apuzzo https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/world/africa/hammarskjold-south-africa-aids.html South Africa's Dr. Death by Benjamin Pogrund https://web.archive.org/web/20210409142855/https://www.haaretz.com/1.5424386 South Africa: ‘Dr Death' discovered to still be practising medicine by Olivier Marbot https://www.theafricareport.com/63661/south-africa-dr-death-discovered-to-still-be-practising-medicine/

Shortly after midnight, on September 18, 1961, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash just outside the Congo. Hammarskjöld was on his way to broker a peace settlement for the Congo Crisis, a conflict that pitted the UN against the proponents of white minority rule in central and southern Africa. It could have been what got him killed. SOURCES: Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa by Susan Williams https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12657762-who-killed-hammarskj-ld-the-un-the-cold-war-and-white-supremacy-in-afr Cold Case Hammarskjöld by Mads Brügger and Göran Björkdahl https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9352780/ The Assassination of Lumumba by Ludo de Witte https://www.versobooks.com/books/792-the-assassination-of-lumumba U.N. Report Bolsters Theory That Hammarskjold Plane Was Downed https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/world/africa/dag-hammarskjold.html

When Phil Donahue was offered a prime-time slot on MSNBC in 2002, he was already a household name. The person who developed the format of the daytime talk show would now be the face of the network that was gearing up to be the biggest competitor to Fox News. But seven months later, his show was canceled. The official explanation given was poor ratings. But a series of insider memos and emails from the network revealed the real reason Phil Donahue was forced back into retirement: he was too critical of America's coming war with Iraq. SOURCES: Phil Donahue and the Art of Remembering by Maria Bustillos https://www.cjr.org/public_editor/msnbc-public-editor-phil-donahue-and-the-art-of-remembering.php Chasing Fox by Gabriel Sherman https://nymag.com/news/media/68717/#print Phil Donahue on MSNBC Firing by Jack Mirkinson and Marc Lamont Hill https://www.huffpost.com/entry/phil-donahue-chris-matthews-msnbc-firing_n_2926643 The Surrender of MSNBC by Rick Ellis (archived) https://web.archive.org/web/20130824023817/https://allyourscreens.com/index.php/features2/760-the-surrender-of-msnbc Battling for the Soul of Donahue by Rick Ellis (archived) https://web.archive.org/web/20030314191429/http://www.allyourtv.com/0203season/news/03042003buyersregret.html MSNBC Cancels Donahue by Bill Carter https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/business/media/msnbc-cancels-donahue.html Phil Donahue on His Firing from MSNBC by Democracy Now https://www.democracynow.org/2013/3/21/phil_donahue_on_his_2003_firing Countdown to Big Ratings by Stephen Battaglio (archived) https://web.archive.org/web/20110517134556/http://www.tvguide.com/biz/Countdown-Big-Ratings-35184.aspx Phil Donahue and his Show by Dr. James Todd Uhlman http://daytonarenahistory.org/project/phil-donahue-and-his-show/ Donahue cold open source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIa1UgSpJAE&ab_channel=PhilosophyandEsoterica

In 1863, a regiment of black soldiers steamed out of Boston Harbor for the front in South Carolina. The 54th Massachusetts would distinguish themselves at multiple battles--including the bloody assault of Fort Wagner--even though they didn't enjoy the full rights of citizenship or even full pay. Listen to the story of the brave troops who helped deliver the death blow to the Slave Power. SOURCES: A Brave Black Regiment by Luis F. Emilio https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2497915.A_Brave_Black_Regiment Retouching History: The Modern Falsification of a Civil War Photograph by Jerome S. Handler and Michael L. Tuite, Jr. http://people.virginia.edu/~jh3v/retouchinghistory/essay.html#2 Black Confederates: Truth and Legend by Sam Smith https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/black-confederates-truth-and-legend The Old Flag Never Touched the Ground by Ronald S. Coddington https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/the-old-flag-never-touched-the-ground/ Harriet Tubman's Great Raid by Paul Donnelly https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/harriet-tubmans-great-raid/ The Whole Land is Full of Blood: The Thomas Sims Case https://www.nps.gov/articles/-the-whole-land-is-full-of-blood-the-thomas-sims-case.htm The Postal Record: Postal Pioneers https://www.nalc.org/news/the-postal-record/2020/september-2020/document/Postal-pioneers.pdf

One of the motivations behind the anti-slavery movement in the 1850s in the United States was the belief in the Slave Power conspiracy. Abolitionists and their allies argued that a confederation of powerful slaveholders secretly plotted to capture the federal government of the US and direct its might towards the preservation and extension of slavery. The abolitionists were wrong about one major thing: it wasn't that much of a secret. SOURCES Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War by Eric Foner https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/free-soil-free-labor-free-men-9780195094978?cc=us&lang=en& Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35100.Battle_Cry_of_Freedom This Vast Southern Empire: Slaveholders at the Helm of American Foreign Policy by Matthew Karp https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674737259 The Slave Power Conspiracy: 1830-1860 by Russel B. Nye https://www.jstor.org/stable/40399768?seq=1 The Appeal of the Independent Democrats https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss15610.028_0602_0607/?sp=2 Thomas Morris' speech in the Senate http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=006/llcg006.db&recNum=430&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field%28DOCID%2B%40lit%28cg0062%29%29%3A%230060683&linkText=1 JQ Adams' Speech on the Slave Power https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/1848-03-10/ed-1/seq-1/ George Fitzhugh's Horace Greely's Lost Book: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/acf2679.0031.003/239:9?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image Fitzhugh's Sociology For the South: https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/fitzhughsoc/fitzhugh.html James Henry Hammond's Mudsill Speech: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3439t.html John C. Calhoun's Slavery a Positive Good Speech https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/slavery-a-positive-good/

I appeared on Arsenal For Democracy with Bill and Nate to talk more about Vance Packard's The Waste Makers, planned obsolescence, and recent victories at the polls for the right to repair the things you own. Listen to more episodes of Arsenal for Democracy here: http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/

Do you ever wonder why you have to replace a perfectly good smartphone after a software update? Do things in your home seem to fall apart before their time? Was your grandpa right when he said "They just don't make 'em like the used to?" If you think that somewhere, someone is making some of the products you buy wear out on purpose, you're not crazy. They are. It's called planned obsolescence. SOURCES The Waste Makers by Vance Packard https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250912.The_Waste_Makers The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy by Markus Krajewski https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/dawn-of-electronics/the-great-lightbulb-conspiracy The Story Behind The Story Behind "The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy" by Jean Kumagai https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/history/the-story-behind-the-story-behind-the-great-lightbulb-conspiracy Farmers Fight John Deere Over Who Gets to Fix an $800,000 Tractor by Peter Waldman and Lydia Mulvany https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-03-05/farmers-fight-john-deere-over-who-gets-to-fix-an-800-000-tractor We Can't Let John Deere Destroy the Very Idea of Ownership by Kyle Wiens https://www.wired.com/2015/04/dmca-ownership-john-deere/ Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware by Jason Koebler https://www.vice.com/en/article/xykkkd/why-american-farmers-are-hacking-their-tractors-with-ukrainian-firmware

Uptown, Chicago in the 1960s was a neighborhood struggling with poverty. Thousands of poor white Southerners migrated to the community in the 50s and 60s in search of work, but were met with low-paying jobs, substandard housing, and brutality from the police of the Summerdale precinct. A group of young Southern migrants called the Young Patriots worked with the Black Panthers and others to organize the community around these issues, building a unique identity of left-wing hillbilly nationalism in Chicago. SOURCES: Melville House Books interview with Hy Thurman: https://www.mhpbooks.com/revolutionary-hillbilly-an-interview-with-hy-thurman-of-the-young-patriots-organization/ Rising Up Angry (with links to back issues): http://www.risingupangry.org/about Belt Magazine: The Young Patriots and the Fight for the Working Class in Uptown https://beltmag.com/young-patriots-working-class-chicago/ Chicago Magazine: Hank Williams Village: Chicago's Best Urban Plan That Never Happened https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/June-2013/Hank-Williams-Village-Chicagos-Best-Urban-Planning-Idea-that-Never-Happened/ Chicago Magazine: Chicago's Hillbilly Problem During the Great Migration https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/January-2012/Chicagos-Hillbilly-Problem-During-the-Great-Migration/ Young Patriots Tour of Uptown in Chicago led by Hy Thurman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8G2t2VcsLw&ab_channel=Unjustified

For two years in the late 1950s, an almost nightly series of burglaries cleaned out homes and businesses across Chicago's North Side. The robbers cracked safes, stole jewelry, made off with store merchandise, and emptied houses of expensive furniture. But this wasn't the work of the city's crime syndicates or ordinary street gangs: the heists were all planned by a group of uniformed Chicago Police. SOURCES: To Serve and Collect: Chicago Politics and Police Corruption from the Lager Beer Riot to the Summerdale Scandal by Richard Lindberg https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2399218.To_Serve_and_Collect Richard Lindberg's article on Summerdale: http://www.richardlindberg.net/articles/summerdale.html Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago by Mike Royko https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55322.Boss To support the Civilian Police Accountability Council: https://www.caarpr.org/stop-police-crimes

Leopold II's actions in the Congo left the country a ruin, with his soldiers and administrators committing some of the worst atrocities in human history. Patrice Lumumba attempted to forge a new, fully independent Congo after the Belgians left, a mission that ended in his own arrest and murder. How are these two men viewed by history today, and what does it mean for the Democratic Republic of the Congo? SOURCES: King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40961621-king-leopold-s-ghost The Assassination of Lumumba by Ludo de Witte: https://www.versobooks.com/books/792-the-assassination-of-lumumba

In June of 1960, Patrice Lumumba was the first democratically elected prime minister of the Congo. By September, he would be removed from power. By December, he would be a prisoner, and by January of 1961, he would be dead. Why was this popular fighter for Congolese independence assassinated, and who was behind it? SOURCES: The Assassination of Lumumba by Ludo de Witte: https://www.versobooks.com/books/792-the-assassination-of-lumumba King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40961621-king-leopold-s-ghost

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, the Russian state was thrown into chaos by civil war, social collapse, and famine. In this episode, we explore what happened after the death of Tsar Dmitry in 1606, including the appearance of two more False Dmitrys and a national uprising to expel a Polish invasion. SOURCE: Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty by Chester Dunning https://books.google.com/books/about/Russia_s_First_Civil_War.html?id=9NUYtSJaO8cC

Russia, 1591: Dmitry, the young son of the long-dead Tsar Ivan the Terrible was killed in a suspicious accident. Some suspected the regent, Boris Godunov, to be responsible for the boy's death. Just over a decade later, a man calling himself Dmitry would return, claiming he escaped the clutches of Boris, and would take back the throne of his father. This so-called Dmitry ruled as Tsar of Russia for only a year, and his true identity has never been established. Nearly everyone today agrees he was a pretender to the throne...but what if the False Dmitry was telling the truth about who he was? SOURCES: Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty by Chester S. Dunning Sir Thomas Smythes Voiage and Entertainment in Rushia

In the 1850s, the political party system of the United States was disrupted, and a new Republican Party was born in opposition to the Slave Power. But what existed just before that. What is a Whig, anyway? And why did they suddenly collapse? SOURCES: Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35100.Battle_Cry_of_Freedom Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men by Eric Foner: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/132914.Free_Soil_Free_Labor_Free_Men The Strange Stillbirth of the Whig Party by Lynn L. Marshall: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1859236?read-now=1&seq=1 Who Were the Southern Whigs? by Charles Grier Sellers, Jr.: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1843625?seq=1 Why Abraham Lincoln Was a Whig by Daniel Walker Howe: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0016.105/--why-abraham-lincoln-was-a-whig?rgn=main;view=fulltext

In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act left the territory of Kansas open to the possibility of slavery. Pro- and anti-slavery settlers swarmed to Kansas, resulting in a low-intensity civil war that would drag on for years. Pro-slavery supporters were outnumbered in the territory, so they relied on help from Washington to rig elections, draft a phony constitution, and attempt to establish Kansas as a slave state, against the wishes of the majority. Today, we'll focus on the Lecompton Constitution: an instance of massive voter fraud and corruption that implicated state officials, U.S. Senators, and even the President himself. SOURCES: Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-illustrated-battle-cry-of-freedom-9780195159011?cc=us&lang=en& Kansas Historical Society: https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/calhoun-s-candlebox/10180

When he was mayor of Chicago, Richard J. Daley was known as staunch supporter of law and order to put down civil unrest. But when he was 17 years old, many people his neighborhood participated in a brutal attack on Chicago's Black Belt, and nobody knows for sure if Daley took part. Today we'll take a closer look at a question that Chicagoans have asked for decades: did Mayor Daley take part in a race riot? Sources: Boss by Mike Royko: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316191/boss-by-mike-royko/ American Pharaoh by Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-316-83403-2 The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel WIlkerson: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/190696/the-warmth-of-other-suns-by-isabel-wilkerson/ The Negro in Chicago: a Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot: https://archive.org/stream/negroinchicagost00chic#page/2/mode/2up Belt Magazine: Commemorating Chicago's Red Summer of 1919: https://beltmag.com/1919-race-riots-chicago-photos/

For eight years, Alabama was ruled under the iron fist of a guy named Fob. Take a look into the life of one of the most colorful governors of Alabama: Republican-turned-Democrat-turned-Republican-again Fob James, and how his tenure reflects a watershed moment in Southern politics. SOURCES: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1469 https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/keyraces98/stories/al061698.htm https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/16/archives/the-new-governor-of-alabama-forrest-hood-james-jr-man-in-the-news-a.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/gov/articles/062798al-gov.html

On the night of February 28th, 1986, an assassin shot and killed Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. The murder went unsolved for 34 years. Last month, Swedish police announced they believed the Prime Minister was the victim of a lone gunman, and officially closed the case. But is that the whole story? What can Olof Palme's battle against Apartheid in South Africa tell us about who had him killed? SOURCES: Blood On the Snow, by Jan Bondesson: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801479366/blood-on-the-snow/#bookTabs=1 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Special Report series, especially episode 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTnY5SQYAro and episode 28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCrNQaabtlM Peter Caselton interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrmcui1mr9M NEWS SOURCES Eugene de Kock at Stockholm airport: https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-witness/20150413/281590944088399 Accusations from Coetzee & others: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19961018&slug=2354793 Coetzee obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/world/africa/dirk-coetzee-dies-at-67-led-apartheid-era-killings.html de Kock trial: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/27/world/south-african-links-top-spy-to-the-slaying-of-olof-palme.html Sweden aid to ANC: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/10/19/swedens-secret-anc-aid-made-enemies-in-pretoria/78985bc3-9f82-4560-9356-29332e74f3a2/ Abramoff & Red Scorpion: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/meet-conservatives-who-campaigned-apartheid-south-africa/

On Alabama's election night of 2002, it looked like Democratic governor Don Siegelman had won a second term by a razor-thin margin. Until he didn't. Thanks to a voting machine computer glitch in a single county, the election results were suddenly reversed. What really happened on the night of one of the most controversial elections in Alabama history? Patrick Winegar breaks down this conspiracy that might have actually happened. SOURCES: Dr. James Gundlach's paper: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Gundlach_Paper.pdf Glynn Wilson's account of election night: http://blog.locustfork.net/2007/06/how-the-2002-el/ Encylopedia of Alabama: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3300 Tuscaloosa News interview: https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/DA/20050703/News/606113203/TL AP election report: https://apnews.com/336c06179e9894dfc379a1044b124c53 USA today election controversy report: https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2002-11-07-siegelman_x.htm LA Times report on Bill Pryor ruling: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-nov-09-na-alabama9-story.html