Death Becomes You: Drones, Part 3

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Certified Blood Work Listener Moment. Image: Larry Phillips Jr fires at police officers from the Laurel Canyon Boulevard Bank of America parking lot on February 28, 1997. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: An Opening ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO Gregk’s been under the weather this week, so we eschewed the usual news story hook and instead shared some thoughts on the GOP’s drubbing in the midterms, talked some brief shit about Rahm Emanuel, and explained why it was probably a bad idea to apply ‘Vox Populi, Vox Dei’ to a bunch of online anime pedophiles who believed they could rehabilitate shitty cinema by force of will.

We take a little look at the curious history of individuals who dared to achieve financial independence using one simple trick. Image: Notorious Great Depression bank robber John Dillinger (centre) poses for a photo with Lake County Prosecutor Robert Estill (left) at the Crown Point jail, Indiana, February 1934. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Panto Diplomacy ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week, some updates on Trump’s on-again, off-again war against Iran, which for the purposes of the pending midterm elections is off-again, but which for the purposes of Trump’s ego is also imminently on-again. Just try not to think about it too much.    Sources: Kathleen Belew (2018), Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America Jerry Clark and Ed Palattella (2015), A History of Heists: Bank Robbery in America Luc Cohen (Jul. 2023), ‘Crypto rapper 'Razzlekhan,' husband reach plea deal over Bitfinex hack laundering’, Reuters Bernard Condon (Nov. 2026), ‘FBI blames North Korea for stolen billions from Binance in biggest hack in history’, Associated Press Daryl C. McClary (2006), ‘Robert Jay Mathews, founder of the white-supremacist group The Order, is killed during an FBI siege on Whidbey Island on December 8, 1984.’, HistoryLink PBS, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army’, PBS Todd Kingstom Plummer (Oct. 2022), ‘John Wojtowicz and the Bank Robbery That Inspired an Oscar Nominated Film’, Avenue Magazine Aviva Stahl (Jan. 2018), ‘Christian Group That Pushed “Bathroom Bills” Is Taking Anti-Transgender Fight to Prisons’, The Intercept T. J. Stiles (2002), Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War Tim Weiner (2013), Enemies: A History of the FBI

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gregk & Thomas take their first dive into the Blood Work Mailbag to answer some of your questions and queries. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Big Tent Politics ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO There are weeks where myself and Tom go looking for an interesting news story to discuss for the week, and there are weeks when the story falls out of the sky right into our laps. And then, of course, there are the times the story crawls out of the sea, develops hind legs, marches across miles of open terrain, grows arms, grabs us, and begins repeatedly slapping us like something out of a Laurel & Hardy sketch. This was the third type of week.

This episode was produced in collaboration with Ten Thousand Posts This week, Hussein is joined by Tom and Greg from Blood Work, to talk about the 2010 film Four Lions, written and directed by Chris Morris. The boys talk about their impressions watching the film in their youth, and revisiting it as an adult, in the aftermath of the failed War on Terror. They talk about the film as a reflection on ageing and mid-life crises, a satire on the concept of the “good Muslim”, and how the film foreshadowed what vigilante extremism would look like in the future.  Listen and subscribe to BLOOD WORK: https://www.patreon.com/cw/BloodWorkShow Follow Greg on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gregk.co.uk Follow Tom on Bluesky:  https://bsky.app/profile/scamgoldin.bsky.social ------- LEBANON AID LINKS Here are some fundraisers to support collective rebuilding and survival efforts on the ground in Lebanon. -Beit El-Baraka started out as a food bank, but has grown to help people afford rent, cover their essentials, and live with dignity.  https://beitelbaraka.org/donate-directly/ or donate in general https://beitelbaraka.org/donate-now/ -LiveLove was a charity for a number of other matters, but since 2024 has been solely comitted to helping people displaced by Israeli attacks. https://livelove.org/donate -Lebanese Food Bank supports displaced and impoverished people https://lebanesefoodbank.org/take-action/donate/ Solar Powered Lebanon is an initiative to restore people's power using solar panels, since larger infrastructure is at constant risk of attack. https://fundahope.com/en/campaigns/solar-powered-lebanon ----- PALESTINE AID LINKS These are some general links you can support collective efforts with! -The Palestinian Communist Youth Union is doing a food and water effort, and is part of the official communist party of Palestine https://www.gofundme.com/f/to-preserve-whats-left-of-humanity-global-solidarity -Water is Life, a water distribution project in North Gaza affiliated with an Indigenous American organization and the Freedom Flotilla https://www.waterislifegaza.org/ -Vegetable Distribution Fund, which secured and delivers fresh veg, affiliated with Freedom Flotilla also https://www.instagram.com/linking/fundraiser?fundraiser_id=1102739514947848 ----- PHOEBE ALERT Okay, now that we have your attention; check out her Substack Here! Check out Masters of our Domain with Milo and Patrick, here! -------- Ten Thousand Posts is a show about how everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@HKesvani), Phoebe (@PRHRoy) and produced by Devon (@Devon_onEarth).

If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel Article 1: Ethiopia says it must defend itself against Eritrea's 'all-out invasion' Reuters – Oct 09, 2026 Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw Article 2: Eritrea asks UN to intervene in standoff with Ethiopia Reuters – Oct 10, 2026 Reporting by Reuters

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gregk and Thomas mark Blood Work’s first birthday with a casual discussion about what we learned in the year 1 AS (Anno Sangui). Image: A cupcake with a single candle being lit on fire with a handgun. I mean, I don’t know, I feel like this one’s pretty self-explanatory. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Look at Me ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter, we’ve got some thoughts about US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s expressed desire to publicly broadcast an execution, the long history of violence, justice and spectacle in American politics, and how this latest development sits in that tableau.

We close out our series discussing how drone warfare advanced a new military ethics in which the lives of combatants are sacrosanct, while civilian lives are expendable. Image: A photograph on an Israeli UAV dropping grenades from the sky. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Van Life ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week, we attempted to provide a neat summary of events which unfolded at RAF Fairford (Difficulty: Expert), and provided some general commentary on how politicians, police and the press have handled themselves.

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. On January 20, 1942, a group of SS officers and mid-level bureaucrats from the ministries of the Third Reich convened at a lakeside villa. The agenda: Genocide. Image: A photograph of one of the interior corridors of 56-58 Am Wannsee (Credit: Werner Zellien) Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Bozo Time ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO It was a bad week for anyone with a moral compass or semblance of a commitment to having consistent and coherent principles. In that spirit, we came through with two stories about two different groups of pigs, bozos and slobs, presented in the spirit of admiration about what a wonderful and cool world we have built, here, on this planet, together.

We return to Grégoire Chamayou’s Theory of the Drone to meditate on sacrifice, preservation, and what happens when warrior virtue must be retooled for riskless killers. Image: A photograph of the setup of the ‘shock generator’ equipment for Stanley Milgram's famous 1960s studies on authority and obedience. (Source: Stanley Milgram Papers (MS 1406). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library) Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: The Jean Claude Van Damme Military Academy for Attention Deficit Presidents ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week, Bloomberg published a weighty report on the cost of the US blockade on Iran—itself an outgrowth of the war which nobody wanted. We’re sharing a hefty excerpt from that report, along with some of our thoughts on where this all originated, and how predictable it was.  

This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Kelsey joins Gregk to discuss his ten-year beat covering military tech, drones and autonomous weapons and talk about emergent modes of war in the 2020s. For more from Kelsey D. Atherton: – Follow him on Bluesky – Preorder A World For All: New Visions of US Foreign Policy, out this October with OR Books – Check out the Center for International Policy (CIP) Image: The remnants of a commercial quadcopter drone manufactured by Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) shot down with an anti-drone laser produced by Raytheon. (Courtesy of Kelsey Atherton) Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: The Road Not Taken ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week, some thoughts on Ansar Allah’s rapid advance down Yemen’s western coast as they prepare to exact further costs on the US for its war of choice against Iran, followed by some brief meditations on September 11th and its consequences.