Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: children flying kites targeted in Gaza, writer for The Guardian admits he fabricated malicious lies about Iran, the fate of America with a president who is a malignant narcissist with dementia, the invisible commie threat, know-nothing know-it-alls in the commentariat, leftists who still can’t tell the truth about what happened in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Japanese WWII deserters who fought for Ho Chi Minh. Music track: “See My Jumper Hanging on the Line” by R. L. Burnside. See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, Lex Steppling, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: ICE agent brutality, frauds in academia, mutiny on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the US failure to prepare for rivals in possession of precision weapons arsenals, Senator Ossoff takes aim at Trump, the myth of surveillance camera infallibility, illiteracy and the decline of reading, the void of serious thinkers among liberals, Christopher Hitchens on The Odyssey. Music track “Trouble Will Soon Be Over” by Blind Willie Johnson (public domain).

Participants: John Steppling, Jeptha Storm, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: ICE agent excesses, mutiny on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Trump dodges assassination on Air Force One? Ukraine headed for its “South Vietnam (1975/04/30) moment”, Fauci still revered, still has apologists, demographic collapse—engineered or organically formed? the illiteracy of film creators and film audiences, the collapse of the Hollywood film industry, paradox: how to find a supportive audience for art without commodifying it. Music track “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” by Johann Uhrmann (public domain).

Participants: John Steppling, Lex Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: ICE agent excesses, the demonization of Ibrahim Traore, the rehabilitation of Freud’s work, demonization of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, no bang for the buck from the US military budget, liberals’ preoccupation with the vices of artists, Joan Baez still fawning over Anthony Fauci as he invokes his 5th amendment rights, which is more destructive: conservative wolves or liberal foxes? Michael Hudson: socialism is when a government uses money as a public utility instead of as a racket for rent extraction. Music track “God Don’t Never Change” by Blind Willie Johnson, circa 1927-1930 (public domain).

A Conversation with Guy Zimmerman & John Steppling: Theatre and Culture (Part 6) (Lecture 14)

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: ICE agent murderers and detention center abuses, the demonization of Ibrahim Traore, debunking liberal democracy as the pinnacle of socio-political evolution, plans to hand over the organizing of the World Cup to a Kushner corporation, Jakarta Method II for South America. Music track “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” by Blind Willie Johnson, circa 1927-1930 (public domain for non-earth inhabitants who listen to it beamed from the Voyager Interstellar Probe).

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: ICE agent murderers, the “Cuban threat to America”, Testosterone Pete’s Workout Videos, the Middle East protection racket fails to protect, the decline of reading and teaching to read, the rise and fall of societal solidarity. Music track “Lonesome Road Blues” by Sam Collins (public domain).

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: the 2026 World Cup: the fix is in, NATO summit in Ankara, the wars are back on again, the MoU was a farce, Jacques-Louis David’s “The Death of Marat”. Music track “Motherless Children Have a Hard Time” by Blind Willie Johnson (public domain).

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: the 2026 World Cup: the fix is in? Trump administration rejoices in the departure of the Iranian team, NATO leaders proud of their role in the war on Iran, the Western governance clown show, unqualified amateurs at the helm. Music track: “Chinatown” by The Mills Brothers (1932, public domain).

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: Zionist sadism, how Israel is worse than apartheid, questionable calls by referees in the 2026 World Cup, Israel calls out antisemitism everywhere but Ukraine—not a word about its glorification of Nazi collaborators, earthquakes on the same day in Venezuela and Japan, the media’s go-to explanation of crimes is antisemitism, was the Iran peace deal designed to moderate both Iran and Zionism? the decline of film criticism, the loss of cultural practices and education, Soviet and Chinese film archives on YouTube, Music track: “It Had to Be You” by Marion Harris (public domain).