From the Bomb Shelter

The Empire’s veneer is finally crumbling as the corruption of the ultra-wealthy and those who feed off them is revealed in real-time. It’s a reminder that, as Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber says,

Originally, apocalyptic literature existed not to scare the bejesus out of children so that they would be good boys and girls, but to proclaim a big hope-filled idea that dominant powers are not ultimate powers. Empires fall, tyrants fade, systems die, God's still around. In Greek, the word apocalypse means “to uncover, to peel away, to show what’s underneath.” That's what this country has been experiencing in recent months.

Rev. Bolz-Weber was actually talking about the Me Too Movement back in 2018, but her words are no less relevant today. Yes, this apocalypse is messy and painful, but it’s also an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and grow something better from the Empire’s ashes.

Join us for a conversation about how the existence and suppression of the Epstein Files, the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, and the gutting of the U.S. Department of Education all point to the same thing: propaganda and divide-and-conquer politics meant to distract the masses from the systemic oppression inflicted on us by the ruling class.

In part two of this episode, we continue our exploration of the increasingly technocratic impulses of Palantir, the company helping the Trump regime expand the surveillance state by mining Americans’ private data. There’s a reason they’ve tried to make woke a dirty word: They know the first step toward revolution is understanding how they’re controlling us. What comes after that is up to us.

On June 30, Robert Reich published an op-ed in The Guardian entitled ‘Peter Thiel’s Palantir poses a grave threat to Americans,’ in which he wrote,

In JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a “palantír” is a seeing stone that can be used to distort truth and present selective visions of reality. During the War of the Ring, a palantír falls under the control of Sauron, who uses it to manipulate and deceive.

Palantir Technologies bears a striking similarity. It sells an AI-based platform that allows its users – among them, military and law enforcement agencies – to analyze personal data, including social media profiles, personal information and physical characteristics. These are used to identify and surveil individuals.

In March, Trump signed an executive order requiring all agencies and departments of the federal government to share data on Americans. To get the job done, Trump chose Palantir Technologies.

In this second of a many-part series, we look at… 

* the New York Times’ recent analysis of the potential danger posed by the increasingly concerning partnership between Palantir/Peter Thiel and the Trump regime

* a letter to Palantir from a coalition of 10 Democratic senators (including Ranking Member on the Finance Committee Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, & Jeff Merkley) demanding more transparency around how they plan to ensure compliance with federal privacy and tax law in light of the Trump regime’s abuse of power

* Palantir’s defensive and opaque response to the letter

Greetings, fellow apocalyptees. In this first of a many-part series, we begin to explore the potential danger posed by the increasingly concerning partnership between Palantir/Peter Thiel and the Trump regime.

But first, we open with a brief discussion of some top stories:

* The assassination of Minnesota’s Democratic Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their dog Gilbert (Katie attended the visitation at the State Capitol, where the family laid in state)

* SCOTUS’s ruling on nationwide injunctions via a case about birthright citizenship (Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had some choice words in her dissent)

* A $150 billion line item in Republicans’ so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” with extremely concerning implications for biotech surveillance that potentially involves not only Peter Thiel/Palantir, but also RFK/NIH, Elon Musk/Neuralink, the state of Florida, and possibly even the concentration camp that just opened there in the Everglades

That last story takes us into Part 2 of the episode: An exploration of Palantir’s contracts with the federal government and the Trump regime’s expanded use of the company’s technology to track Americans’ data and share it across federal agencies by compiling a “mega-database” that could include taxpayer records, health/medical information, social media information, biodata, and more

Our resident cybersecurity expert Jillian Ratliff filled in for Katie as cohost again yesterday to help Keith debrief the week’s many developments.

* Millions of Americans rallied against the Trump regime in all 50 states for No Kings Day

* Old Yam Tits’ military birthday parade was a big embarrassing flop

* Another right-wing terrorist committed horrifying political violence in Minnesota, assassinating House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, almost murdering Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife and child, and planning much more according to his manifesto and target list

* More political violence: Salt Lake City shooting, rally-goers struck by vehicles in Virginia and San Francisco

* The unfolding Israel-Iran situation: strikes, counter-strikes, and the world responds

Almost immediately after the election in 2024, Yale historian Timothy Snyder published a piece called 'Decapitation Strike: Preserving America from Trump's Appointments,’ in which he warned that Americans must see past our outrage at each individual candidate Trump proposed as head of federal a agency to look at the ‘larger pattern,’ the plan being enacted by those who ‘wish to destroy the United States’:

‘There is a history of the modern democratic state.  There is also a history of engineered regime change and deliberate state destruction.  In both histories, five key zones are health, law, administration, defense, and intelligence. These people, with power over these areas of life, can make America impossible to sustain.’ 

In this episode, we break down what’s happening in each of these ‘key zones,’ and how it fits into the broader goal of ‘destroying the American government from the top, leaving the body politic to rot, and the rest of us to suffer.’ 

Rather than allowing the inundation of horrific news to overwhelm and demoralize us, which plays right into their plan, we must use the available information to empower ourselves. We must organize and analyze what is happening so that we can make resistance sustainable. As Snyder says, ‘We have to get through the surprise and the shock to see the design and the risk. […] Of course we are outraged. But our own reactions can distract is from the larger pattern.’

Episode Part 2:

Administration (Destruction of Infrastructure):

* Elon Musk & DOGE’s hacking & gutting of federal agencies

* The threat of crypto to the economy

* Proposed cuts to food stamps & Medicaid (+ Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s ghoulish response to constituents’ outrage)

Defense (Abuse of Military Powers):

* Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth’s changes to military code and requirements for Naval enlistment

* Trump’s military birthday parade

Intelligence (Leaks, Disinformation):

* Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, ‘spreader of Syrian and Russian disinformation’

* SignalGate

Final thoughts from Timothy Snyder

Anti-colonial mental health practice for surviving the apocalypse

Almost immediately after the election in 2024, Yale historian Timothy Snyder published a piece called 'Decapitation Strike: Preserving America from Trump's Appointments,’ in which he warned that Americans must see past our outrage at each individual candidate Trump proposed as head of federal a agency to look at the ‘larger pattern,’ the plan being enacted by those who ‘wish to destroy the United States’:

‘There is a history of the modern democratic state.  There is also a history of engineered regime change and deliberate state destruction.  In both histories, five key zones are health, law, administration, defense, and intelligence. These people, with power over these areas of life, can make America impossible to sustain.’

In this episode, we break down what’s happening in each of these ‘key zones,’ and how it fits into the broader goal of ‘destroying the American government from the top, leaving the body politic to rot, and the rest of us to suffer.’

Rather than allowing the inundation of horrific news to overwhelm and demoralize us, which plays right into their plan, we must use the available information to empower ourselves. We must organize and analyze what is happening so that we can make resistance sustainable. As Snyder says, ‘We have to get through the surprise and the shock to see the design and the risk. […] Of course we are outraged. But our own reactions can distract is from the larger pattern.’

Episode Part 1:

Attacks on Health (Updates on RFK Jr., Department of Health & Human Services):

* Buttload of food recalls amid gutting of FDA food safety inspections: watch

* Roll-backs on Covid-19 boosters  

* HHS cancels funding for development of Bird flu vaccine, cancer treatments

* RFK Jr threatens ban on federal scientists publishing in top journals

* What can you do to keep your family safe?

Attacks on the Rule of Law:

* Pay-for-play pardons of rich criminals

* What about the Tiger King??

Citizens united against racist, fascist billionaires & corporations:

* Kiandria Demone takes on Stripe, the payment processor for Shiloh Hendrix’s racist GiveSendGo fundraiser

* Stripe CEO Patrick Collison’s connection to Peter Theil, one of the architects of the current fascist coup

* Ways to join the fight

More People Power:

* Secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem gets kicked out of Springfield IL

* Cops get pushed back by anti-genocide protestors at University of Washington

Nervous System Care Under Fascism: Somatic, anti-colonial regulation and healing practices from a radical Black therapist

There’s been so much bad news over the past five months. It can be really overwhelming. This week, we wanted to focus on all the ways Americans are fighting the good fight against fascism and highlight recent WINS:

* Salty old white guys (& Pedro Pascal) calling out the Mean Girl in Chief, Orangina George

* Nottoway Plantation: burn, baby, burn

* The Big Beautiful Budget Bill Bust

* Badass blue states bringing the heat

* Federal agencies saying, “No! Bad DOGE!”

* SCOTUS sucking less

* Crushing ICE one “fuck you” at a time

Keith was joined by our resident cybersecurity expert Jillian this week so Katie could have Mother's Day off. They discussed the week's news, including the eugenic overtones of the RFK Jr autism study, the ICE raid on Worcester, MA where a mother was ripped from her child as onlookers tried to intervene; the arrest of the Mayor of Newark outside of an ICE facility in his community; the threats by Tom Homan and the DHS to arrest the US Representatives at that event and Baby Goebbels (Stephen Miller) threats to end Habeas Corpus or the right to challenge your arrest in court. Also - are those REALLY ICE agents in these raid or are they Proud Boys/Three Percenters/Patriot Front Ebay Commandos throwing children to the ground. The nation is facing a stark choice and we talk about what we can do.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s dangerous depiction of autism as a “tragedy” and a “preventable disease” should be a red flag to all Americans, one in five of whom will experience “mental illness” in their lifetimes according to the National Institute of Mental Health. But knowing about the danger does no good if we don’t also act.

In Part 2 of this episode, we discuss what Americans can do to push back against this dehumanizing rhetoric, which has historically been a dangerous first step on the path to genocide. We also welcome Special Education teacher Joanna, who has a Master’s in autism and has been working with high-support-needs autistic children and their families for over 15 years. She tells us about her experiences with these students and how they will be affected if the Trump regime succeeds in its efforts to shutter the Department of Education and defund Medicaid.