Aesthetic Resistance Podcast

Participants: John Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, Brecht Jonkers, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: US mid-term elections, shifting demographics in flyover country and red states, nuclear threats against Iran, Iran’s preparation for being attacked by nuclear weapons, UK on the warpath, anti-communists’ accidental discovery of communist solutions, romanticizing the pre-smartphone era, prepare for an emergency but don’t expect to be using cash, technology fails but it doesn’t matter—its purpose is something else. Music track: “I’m So Glad” by Skip James (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, Brecht Jonkers, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: The anti-capitalists who can’t find socialism, a sudden worldwide warning to prepare for a three-day emergency, Trump’s mysterious new gay rhetoric, Norway and Finland PMs call Putin, Israel to Spain: “Hey, nice rail network you got there...” election result in Brazil, all the money and power with no brains or ideas behind it, Jews against Zionism, European chaos and the Ukraine war. Music track: “Crow Jane” by Skip James (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, Brecht Jonkers, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: upcoming documentary about Terry Ork, theft of the mid-term elections? Saudi Arabia-Yemen conflict, managing imperial decline, decline of the US empire? -->it must be demons, lizard people and aliens. Music track: “Where did you sleep last night?” by Leadbelly (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Brecht Jonkers. Music track: “Matchbox Blues” by Blind Lemon Jefferson (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Lex Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: The EU and China talk about their trade deficit, asset stripping of Europe, the botched execution of Christa Pike, Hegseth wants a televised execution, Zionism gone global, Brazil turns right, incompetents and incompetence in high places, inter-generational resentment, screen-based reality vs. what’s really happening in communities. Music track: “Magnolia Blues” by Charlie Patton (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: The botched execution of Christa Pike, the death-defying, reality-defying Lie Dubai flight to Tel Aviv, Mossad-staged protests in Iran (2026/01), the arrogant Western drive to fix the flaws of other nations, Weirdos and Beardos?–Hegseth’s reforms of the US military, did the world want communism, or did communism want the world? humanitarian interventions since the Crusades, justice system reform, the indifference of the comfortable majority to the suffering of those below. Music track: “Prayer of Death” by Charlie Patton (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, Brecht Jonkers, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: Tommy Tuberville and the furries, no protest as Trump violates the UN Charter in his speech to the General Assembly, Arc de Tr(i)ump for America, US think tanks call for moving US bases farther back from Japan, Japan doesn’t want to be classified as an “enemy state” anymore, Jon Stewart’s softball interview with Ari Emanuel, Greenland under US control, is Saudi Arabia collapsing? Taiwan buys more US weapons, Music track: “See that My Grave is Kept Clean” by Blind Lemon Jefferson (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, Brecht Jonkers, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: Ed Sheeran misreads the public mood on Zionist atrocities, Kash Patel’s unusual testimony in the US Senate, the history of Yemen and the Saudi-Yemen conflict, the importance of “meaningless” social interactions, customer service, what the Unabomber’s manifesto said about hobbies, the inexplicable tolerance of violence by police and ICE agents. Music track: “Denomination Blues—Part 1” by Washington Phillips. See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Dennis Riches. Topics covered: Trump in the rubble on 9/11, 2001? purge at the Smithsonian, the compatible left, the loss of cinema literacy, the problematic history of the IAEA, two histories of American empire—continental and global, report on the Commonwealth of World Chinatowns and the Penang Peace Dialogue, September 5-6, 2026, the myth of the thin blue line. Music track: “Chinatown” by The Mills Brothers (public domain). See Aesthetic Resistance on Substack for links to some sources mentioned in the discussion.

Participants: John Steppling, Brecht Jonkers, and Dennis Riches