Sponsored Halloween

In one of the most personal Pod Damn Americas yet, Anders talks with someone from a past life: former Scientologist and anti-cult activist Ian Rafalko. Son of YouTube chiropractor Dr. Berg and brother of someone who was once very important to Anders, Ian talks about being raised in Scientology, its abusive practices, Dr. Berg's relationship with RFK jr., the movie "Digger", Tom Cruise, becoming radicalized and more. For the full episode and more, subscribe to our bonus feed at Patreon.com/poddamnamerica

I talk about Lenin's 1920 work Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder an hour into this podcast about the internet. MERCH poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com PATREON + DISCORD patreon.com/poddamnamerica

We discuss the 2026 midterm elections. For the full episode subscribe to our bonus feed at Patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Midterms, face sitting, satanic panic, and raising hell. MERCH poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com PATREON + DISCORD patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Greetings, party ghouls! For Halloween this year, Jamie brought in her brother in darkness Jake Flores to discuss the original Hellraiser (1987) as well as a couple of spooky short stories from Clive Barker's 'Books Of Blood' anthology series: "The Body Politic" and "In The Hills, The Cities." How was Barker, a gay man, intervening in media narratives around HIV/AIDS with his interdimensional leather daddy BDSM demons? Is the body horror prevalent in Barker's short stories driven by fear of Soviet collectivism? And what do the cenobites do all day while they wait for someone to solve the puzzle box? FULL EP AT patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Jake discusses Achilles Mbembe's 2019 text Necropolitics but first, Turnstile, Lula, basketball, Nithya Raman, and ass.

We talk about MADD, drunk driving and how the United States' uniquely stupid, yet weird to care too much about drinking age of 21 came about. Primary source: https://www.rittlit.com/andrew-barr-books/drink-a-social-history-of-america

We're joined by journalist Kylie Cheung to discuss her new book Playing the Victim: How the Powerful Deny and Attack Survivors of Violence, from Domestic Abuse to Genocide. But first, Brazilian debate mogging, French uprising coverage and Jake might start taking schizophrenia pills. Get Kylie's book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/826796/playing-the-victim-by-kylie-cheung/ Her other work: https://www.kyliewrites.net/ Subscribe to our bonus feed to support the show and get extra episodes: Patreon.com/poddamnamerica

Essay on: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma by Jane Shoenbrun Embracing Alienation: Why We Shouldn't Try To Find Ourselves by Todd McGowan Jokes

We talk about Ukraine's airstrike on a Russian bot-farm as well as big tech's impact on the Brazilian election, ICE, Zohran and Tisch and Anders' deep dive on NYPD and Minneapolis Police Department reformer Tony Bouza. ALSO Jake interviews Anders about his new movie Kitchen Conversations. Shameless plugs: Sign up for Means TV with promo code ANDERS: https://means.tv/ Tony Bouza article: https://racketmn.com/reexamining-the-legacy-tony-bouza-the-in-your-face-progressive-reformer-who-once-led-mpd Paid Protest Thursday: https://qedastoria.com/products/paid-protest?event=2026-10-15T21:00:00 Outro Music: Close to Me by Little Sun