Unf*cking The Republic

Omnibus (07-11-26).

Max and 99 are back for another round of Omnibus. They hit headlines on the left’s role in silencing Platner’s accusers, the ICE shooting of a Houston father, a parasite outbreak causing explosive diarrhea, and Meta using your Instagram photos to train AI. Then they tackle listener emails on the difference between socialism and social democracy, and creative vision versus collective collaboration. Enjoy! Note: The Meta AI decision was reversed after the time of recording. Details linked below. Chapters Intro: 00:00:10 Headlines: 00:10:31 Emails: 00:39:18 Beyond the Bullshit: 00:59:52 Memberships: 01:09:13 Outro: 01:10:32 Resources Support our friends at Straight White American Jesus PBS: A Mexican father was shot and killed by an ICE officer. His son is demanding an independent probe Chron: Did Houston ICE agents record fatal shooting? Body camera questions remain Rebecca Watson (Skepchick): The Leftists who Mocked Graham Platner’s Victims Wired: Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos in AI Images—Unless You Opt Out BBC: Meta pulls new AI image feature after days of backlash Yusuf/Cat Stevens: Father and Son UNFTR Resources Video: These ‘New Democrats’ Are Literally Aligned with Trump’s Plan. Video: Objectivism in The Bear: Elon Musk vs Zohran Mamdani -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New Republicrats: Snakes of the Democratic Party.

Ten sitting house democrats and five candidates just signed the “Promise to America” pledge ensuring the public they are not socialists. It has six banal points with no specifics, no plan, and no agenda that might actually help anyone. Of the six, five are limp, empty platitudes. The sixth is a Trojan horse to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. So either these “Democrats” are wholly and secretly aligned with the folks who wrote Project 2025, or they’re stupid. You decide. In this episode, Max rips apart the pledge, puts this so-called movement in historical context, grades the legislators who are signatories to it, and explains why they are so out of step with what their constituents truly desire. Resources Politicon: James Carville: What Just Happened In The NYC Primaries Fox News Clips: ‘WE’RE FOR CAPITALISM’: Moderate Democrat responds to socialist wins NBC News: ‘Mamdani is a threat to my constituents,’ says New York House Democrat Fox News Clips: Democrat TORCHES Mamdani: ‘Job-killing socialist’ Promise to America Newsweek: Democrats Launch Centrist Group as Trump Attacks Socialists, Communists Daily Kos: Promise to America: 15 Dems pledge surrender to the GOP Blue Dog PAC Wikipedia: New Democrat Coalition Problem Solvers Caucus Members The Peter G. Peterson Foundation: Chart Packs UNFTR Resources Video: These ‘New Democrats’ Are Literally Aligned With Trump’s Plan. Essay: The New Republicrats: Snakes of the Democratic Party. Series: The Clinton Years. Episode: Project 2025. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On The Record (07-07-26).

This week we asked whether 2026 is 2008 or something worse, and the answer is: different disease, same symptoms. The hiring freeze, the housing collapse, the credit stress all rhyme with the last crisis, but this time the economy is drowning in money that just isn’t moving, pooling at the top while the bottom quietly bleeds out. Then we pulled on the thread of where all that leverage actually lives, and found that the “safe” parts of the financial system—banks, money markets, insurers—are the ones funding the riskiest trades, all stacked on the same narrow AI bet. When it unwinds, the dampeners become the accelerants. Chapters Intro: 00:00:38 Quick Takes: 00:01:30 Max Notes: 00:08:43 Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:21:05 Chart of the Week: 00:23:01 Headlines: 00:27:41 Outro: 00:28:47 Resources Bloomberg Television: OpenAI Proposes Giving the US Government a 5% Stake, FT Says CNBC Television: Palantir CEO Alex Karp says ‘something has gone completely wrong’ with how AI is sold CBS News: Trump admits he called FIFA chief about Folarin Balogun’s red card: “That wasn’t a foul” Forbes Breaking News: Graham Platner Issues Video Statement After Allegation Of Sexual Assault Emerges The New York Times: Nearly a Million Investors Lost a Total of $3.8 Billion on Trump Crypto Coin MacroMicro: US - M1 & M2 Money Supply Current Affairs: Of Course The Founding Fathers Would Have Hated Trump Bloomberg: Leveraged ETFs Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg Truthdig: Was USAID Really Neocolonial? The Intercept: RFK Jr. Claims He’s Investigating Terrorism Now, Too MotherJones: “Morally reprehensible”: Prediction Markets Offer Bets on Wildfires UNFTR Resources Video: On The Record 07-07-26 (2008 Parallels | McConnell Still Missing & Platner Should Be) Essay: Is It 2008 All Over Again? -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bear and the American Male Archetype: Carmen Shrugged.

The hit series The Bear has finally concluded. The final episode is so uplifting that most reviewers appear to believe the arc of the show’s main character follows suit with a redemptive arc. But the connection to Ayn Rand’s famous book The Fountainhead might reveal the opposite meaning. The show’s main character Carmen Berzatto, portrayed beautifully by Jeremy Allen White, shows us a prototypical Randian archetype who understands everything and learns nothing. The deeper subtext of the show is the tension between the upper and working class, the pursuit of both greatness and a paycheck, and whether individual accomplishments supersede collective success. It’s a uniquely modern American theme being played out in real time between two of the most famous men in America. Elon Musk is the avatar of Rand’s objectivist theory, while Zohran Mamdani leverages his fame and status for the collective. Resources The Bear Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead The Bear, “Napkins” The Bear, “Replicants” Ayn Rand Institute: The Mike Wallace Interview with Ayn Rand Wednesday Journal: The Bear visits Oak Park’s Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio New Ideal: Howard Roark and Frank Lloyd Wright UNFTR Resources Video: Class War in The Bear: Individual Genius vs Collective Good Episode: Ayn Rand Was a Dick. Essay: The Bear and the American Male Archetype. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On The Record (6-30-26).

This week we mapped out how Wall Street has talked itself into a story it can’t stress-test—Accenture getting punished whether AI succeeds or fails, Saylor quietly selling the Bitcoin he swore he’d never sell, and the hyperscalers borrowing billions to fund a buildout that may be obsolete before it’s finished. Then we looked at the inflation numbers, which are stuck well above target, and the quiet methodology change coming this fall that’ll let everyone claim victory without prices actually moving an inch. Chapters Intro: 00:00:37 Quick Takes: 00:01:25 Max Notes: 00:07:06 Killer Left Take of the Week: 00:18:55 Chart of the Week: 00:21:06 Headlines: 00:26:00 Outro: 00:27:08 Resources PBS NewsHour: Stephen Miller says ‘America’s doors are closed fully to asylum seekers’ after SCOTUS ruling TMZ Clips: Dr. Oz Says Great American State Fair Crowd Is Huge, But Camera Pan Shows Otherwise CBS New York: Trump says NYC rent freeze will turn buildings “into ghettos and slums” ScotusBlog.com Motley Fool: Accenture Shares Plunged 50% This Year. Here’s What Investors Need to Know. Yahoo! Finance: Strategy Says It May Sell Up to $1.25 Billion of Bitcoin Yahoo! Finance: Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft are getting hooked on debt to fuel AI boom Reuters: Cheaper AI is better: Soaring bills are reshaping how businesses choose models TechTarget: Will data centers become obsolete? Breaking Points: “I’M DONE!” Carville, Dem Elites CRASH OUT, Demand Dem Divorce Macro Micro: US - Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index [PCE] U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis: Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index Farm Service Agency: Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) U.S. News: Methodology Changes Could Lower US May Core PCE Inflation, Economists Say Daily Kos: Thanks, GOP: Student borrowers face massive bills this week The Intercept: Abdul El-Sayed Becomes First Senate Candidate Backed by Pro-Palestine Jewish Group ProPublica: Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal. UNFTR Resources Video: On The Record 6-30-26 (Wall Street Insanity | White House Depravity | Zohran Crushing) Essay: Wall Street Is Cooked. Video: SpaceX IPO: What They’re Not Telling Retail Investors UNFTR Trivia UNFTR Newsletter 5 Non-Negotiables of the Left -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.