COEXIST INC

Why does the statistically insignificant subject of trans women in sports get such outsized attention? 

The cruel marketing campaign of Enes Kanter and Royce White opting into the 2027 WNBA draft has reignited the perennial debate of trans women participating in sports, creating a problem where there was none. It's not unlike the premise of the movie Airbud's "because there's no rule that says they can't." 

So why do we (especially cis-het white men) care so much? 

To understand better, Brother Isaac is joined by Laura (@freudwasframed) to get a the root of our culture's misguided obsession with gender. 

We are also joined by a former NCAA women's swimmer to discuss her experience competing against trans women. 

Brother Isaac sat down with Dan Bilzerian to talk about his congressional race against Randy Fine for the 6th district of Florida. But they don't end up talking about Florida at all. Rather, they speed run through every Jewish conspiracy on the internet. Bilzerian claims to have abandoned his hedonistic life of gambling and sex addiction in favor of a higher calling: finding a "solution" to Jewish supremacy. When Brother Isaac tells him that he is Jewish halfway through the interview, Bilzerian says that he is actually "12 percent Jewish." 

So watch these two Jewish kings get all Talmudic about the Jewish question in the wake of Bilzerian's electoral defeat. 

Was Japan destined to be fascist? 

Eyes Wide Open joins us to talk about his 10-part series on the rise of fascism in modern Japan. The series explores the dissolution of feudal Japan and the subsequent rise of its extraordinarily bloody imperialism. Japan is the focal point of the oft ignored anticommunist efforts during the cold war in Asia. 

And don't forget to sign up for the next book club: God Forgives, Brothers Don't, which will be hosted by its author Jasper Craven on August 25th. Shoot me an email or dm to reserve your spot. 

Minnesota won the battle. Now they must win the war. 

The US government is not invincible. Minnesota showed us how to drive American fascist forces out of their city. But the Trump administration are sore losers. They cannot have a city give the people a template for victory. So ICE is back and arresting citizens who fought back. 

Exit North returns to tell us what happened in the wake of Minnesota's winter success and what the people are facing today. 

Minnesotan organizations are in desperate need of cash. If you have the money to spare, consider donating. Here's a link: https://chuffed.org/project/186570-minnesota-15-legal-defense-fund

And don't forget to sign up for our upcoming book club: God Forgives, Brothers Don't with author Jasper Craven on August 25th. Shoot me a DM or an email to secure your spot. 

Our dear friend Herman Wakefield (@doomscroll_forever) returns to us to talk Jimothy and Clavicular. He also provides us with fiduciary investment advice. 

In order to be put on a government terrorist watchlist you have to be “nominated.” At the beginning of Trump’s second term in office, there were 6,000 names on that list. Most of them were Muslim. Now, according to today’s guest Daniel Boguslaw, there are more than two million. There are only about 4.5 million Muslims in all of America. I do not think they put half of American’s Muslim population the last (as much as they would like to). 

No, now we are on the list. And it doesn’t take much to get on there anymore. Dan will tell you how speaking negatively about technology might get you nominated. We also do some shit talking about other journalists. 

Support Dan’s good work here. 

And if you’d like to join the upcoming book club for Jasper Craven’s God Forgives, Brothers Don’t, to yell at him about Graham Platner, send me an email. 

Journalist DJ Byrnes was arrested for sending an Ohio State Senator a picture of Shrek's penis (message me and I'll show you the picture if you're brave enough). He now faces jail time because the Ohio judicial system likes to do favors for those in power. 

This is both very funny and very serious. This is a first amendment case. Say what you will about those dandy founding fathers of ours, but they did enshrine in law our right to psychically torture our elected officials. If DJ goes to jail, this will set an incredible precedent. We will all have to rally behind Shrek's green hog (and DJ). 

We also talk about the Vivek Ramaswamy's pathetic campaign for governor of Ohio (he might lose!) and how you, too, can be a journalist gadfly at your local government buildings. 

Please show DJ some love and support his work over at The Rooster. 

There was something unique I noticed about Platner’s campaign. 

Unlike Mamdani with his polished, quick and highly produced videos, Platner would speak into a front facing camera with no cuts to say he is sorry. Each time he had to address some past scandal, his drinking, his womanizing, his Nazi tattoo, he would look into his camera, apologize, and his poll numbers would go up. Why? 

I realized that it was this front facing confession of his sins that put us in the position of a priest. Platner, instead of denying or doing the corporate dem meaningless word salad, was saying he was wrong and was asking for forgiveness. And We were on the receiving end of his apology and we were given the power to grant him grace. 

But we are not priests. We are Americans. The blood is on our hands. Platner is just a mirror. He is the avatar of our guilt, of our sins. If a man who was a soldier in a criminal war, a man who was an abusive drunk toward women, a man who served the mercenary machine and fed it blood can be redeemed, then maybe there is hope for us all. Because deep down I believe that Americans know we are living wrong. 

To discuss this further, I am joined by journalist Jasper Craven who recently interviewed Graham Platner in the New Yorker. Craven has written extensively about the culture and psychology of American veterans, most notably in his excellent new book, God Forgives, Brothers Don't, which we will be doing a book club on the very near future, so if you haven’t got yourself a copy, make sure you do. 

As always, thank you thank you for your continued support. Send me messages of things you’d like me to talk about, criticisms of what I could do better, because I’m in it for the long haul. Enjoy the show. 

“I suddenly began to realize that everybody in America is a natural born thief.” - Jack Kerouac, On the Road

America is a country of thieves. We stole the land from the people who stole the land. And we love of our romantic criminals. Who doesn't enjoy a good heist? 

So why so much fearmongering around shoplifting? They will tell you there is a sticky finger epidemic in America. That's why they have the deodorant behind plexiglass veils. That's why there are cameras absolutely everywhere. That's why they need to implement more facial recognition technology at the self-check outs. They will tell you that American companies lost more than $112 billion to shoplifting in 2022 alone. 

This is a lie. 

There is a lot of money to be made telling and selling the idea that corporations are victims. 

Slate reporter Alex Sammon's latest piece dives into the world of anti-shoplifting technology and the multibillion dollar industry behind it. He joins the show to talk about how we shoplift, why we shoplift, and how you can get away with it.

Read the story here. 

What makes a national anthem good? Why does the Star Spangled Banner suck? 

Ben and Jordano of Remember Shuffle help Brother Isaac rank a good chunk of the world's anthems.