
222 episodes

Unf*cking The Republic UNFTR Media
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4.8 • 586 Ratings
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Unf*cking The Republic® (UNFTR) is a series of audio essays on the grand American experiment lovingly curated and presented by a quasi-anonymous political writer.
Each essay reflects on a singular topic that is generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called “powers that be.” As we know, history is written by the victors and can be perilously manufactured to favor destructive world views. These views become intractably ingrained in the public consciousness and pervert public policy, oftentimes with horrific results.
As of this podcast’s founding, we find ourselves living in a true kakistocracy. The disconnect between what we believe and what is actually happening below the surface or in plain sight is where this podcast lives.
Together we’ll upend conventional wisdom, blow up narratives on the left, right and center and use magical devices like facts, logic and reason to explain how exactly we arrived in bizarro America, the funhouse mirror version of what was originally intended. #UNFTR
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Show Notes [Strike!]
99 is back in this episode of Show Notes; her and Max talk Taylor Swift, unions + strikes, and read some opposing view feedback from Unf*ckers. Enjoy!
Chapters
Intro: 00:00:20
Headlines: 00:17:43
Emails: 00:42:42
Buy Me A Coffee Memberships + Donations: 01:28:04
Outro: 01:30:55
Headlines
The Intercept: House Republicans Are Hurtling Toward the Most Pointless Shutdown Ever
Resources
UNFTR Facebook Group
House Delegate: Matt Christman: The Founder and Capitalism
Weiner
UNFTR: Republican Rehab
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If you like the pod version of #UNFTR, make sure to check out the video version on YouTube where Max shows his beautiful face! www.youtube.com/@UNFTR
Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com.
Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565
Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee® at shop.unftr.com.
Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic® at unftr.com/blog to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week.
Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP.
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.
Unf*cking the Republic® is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99.
Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic®."
Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unftr
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Strike! Reality checking the labor movement.
Strike! Union actions are everywhere. High profile work stoppages from the Screen Actors Guild to the United Auto Workers have put the labor movement front and center in ways we haven’t seen for decades. How powerful is the impact of these actions? You’re not going to like my take on it. But we need to have some authentic dialogue about the labor movement, the corporate class and new strategies required to stem the tide of increasing inequality.
Chapters
Intro: 00:01:15
Post Show Musings: 00:33:21
Outro: 00:45:05
Resources
Associated Press: United Auto Workers threaten to expand targeted strike if there is no substantive progress by Friday
Automotive News: GM CEO Mary Barra's 2022 compensation: $29M
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Annual work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers, 1947 - Present
St. Louis Fed: Civilian Labor Force Level
Detroit Free Press: GM to reinstate a dividend and start stock buybacks, signaling confidence
GM Authority: GM Employees Receive Record $12,750 Profit-Sharing Check
Social Security Administration: National Average Wage Index
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung: The French Labour Paradox
AFL-CIO: Collective Bargaining
NBER: Impacts of Right-to-Work Laws on Unionization and Wages
OECD: United States: Main indicators and characteristics of collective bargaining
Forbes: Remote Work Statistics And Trends In 2023
MckInsey & Company: Freelance, side hustles, and gigs: Many more Americans have become independent workers
CNBC: 61% of Americans say they are living paycheck to paycheck even as inflation cools
NLRB: Board Issues Decision Announcing New Framework for Union Representation Proceedings
Democracy at Work
Mondragon
The New Yorker: How Mondragon Became the World’s Largest Co-Op
Economic Policy Institute: CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460% since 1978: CEOs were paid 399 times as much as a typical worker in 2021
Aspen Institute: Building and Sustaining Worker Cooperatives in the US
Worker Participation: Countries
UNDP: How Do Labor Unions Affect Inequality And Efficiency In Latin America And The Caribbean?
UNFTR Episode Resources
Understanding Socialism: Part One.
Labor Unions: From Pullman To Kellogg’s. Labor’s Long, Hard Road
The Clinton Years (Parts I, II, And III)
Corporate (Ir)Responsibility: Part One.
Book Love
Nelson Lichtenstein: State of the Union: A Century of American Labor
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If you like the pod version of #UNFTR, make sure to check out the video version on YouTube where Max shows his beautiful face! www.youtube.com/@UNFTR
Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com.
Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565
Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee® at shop.unftr.com.
Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic® at unftr.com/blog to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week.
Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP.
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.
Unf*cking the Republic® is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99.
Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic®."
Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unftr
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Show Notes [Understanding Socialism: Part Five.]
Max flies solo in this episode of Show Notes while 99 is out with consumption (COVID). He covers AOC + Socialism feedback, goes on a Boebert rant, and reads tons of Unf*cker feedback. Enjoy!
Chapters
Intro: 00:00:20
Headlines: 00:02:54
Emails: 00:07:41
Facebook Shout Outs: 00:33:03
Instagram Shout Outs: 00:41:13
YouTube Shout Outs: 00:41:43
Buy Me A Coffee Memberships + Donations: 00:54:13
Outro: 00:55:00
Headlines
Mother Jones: New Report: One-Third of States Have an Election Denier Overseeing Elections
Current Affairs: The Strong Towns Movement is Simply Right-Libertarianism Dressed in Progressive Garb
Resources
Naomi Klein: Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World
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If you like the pod version of #UNFTR, make sure to check out the video version on YouTube where Max shows his beautiful face! www.youtube.com/@UNFTR
Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com.
Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565
Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee® at shop.unftr.com.
Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic® at unftr.com/blog to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week.
Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP.
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.
Unf*cking the Republic® is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99.
Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic®."
Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unftr
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Understanding Socialism: Part Five. 1871 to 1917. Revolutionary Divide.
This is technically the final installment of our series “Understanding Socialism” where we cover the period between the Paris Commune in 1871 and onset of World War I, which precedes (and leads to) the Russian Revolution in 1917. We’re going to cover the Russian Revolution briefly in an epilogue that speaks to the divergence from classical Marxism from the Revolution forward and where socialist movements stand today. This final episode brings new figures into the spotlight such as Karl Kautsky and Rosa Luxemburg and crosses the pond to introduce the likes of Emma Goldman and Eugene Debs.
Chapters
Intro: 00:02:05
Chapter Ten: 00:07:16
Chapter Eleven: 00:22:43
Chapter Twelve: 00:50:52
Book Love
Joseph A. Schumpeter: Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
John M. Thompson: Revolutionary Russia, 1917
Bernard Harcourt: Critique and Praxis
Ray Ginger: The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene Victor Debs
Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx: Das Kapital
Michael Harrington: Socialism: Past and Future
Victor Serge + Natalia Ivanovna Sedova: Life and Death of Leon Trotsky
Anne Sebba: Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy
Peter Kropotkin: The Conquest of Bread
Staughton Lynd + Andrej Grubačic: Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism, and Radical History
Emma Goldman: Anarchism and Other Essays
Anthony J. Nocella II, Mark Seis and Jeff Shantz: Classic Writings in Anarchist Criminology: A Historical Dismantling of Punishment and Domination.
Resources
The Collector: What do Hegel and Marx Have in Common?
Socialist Alternative: Robert Owen and Utopian Socialism
Marxists.org: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Events
Washington State University: Introduction to 19th-Century Socialism
Howard Zinn: Commemorating Emma Goldman: 'Living My Life'
Stanford: Hegel's Dialectics
The History of Economic Thought: Cesare Beccaria
Stanford: Jeremy Bentham
Foundation for Economic Education: Robert Owen: The Woolly-Minded Cotton Spinner
Stanford: Karl Marx
Central European Economic and Social History: Economic Development In Europe In The 19th Century
Marxists.org: Encyclopedia of Marxism
The New Yorker: Karl Marx, Yesterday and Today
Marxists.org: Glossary of Organisations
Northwestern Whitepaper: The Second Industrial Revolution
The Collector: Revolutions of 1848
Chemins de Mémoire: Franco-Prussian War of 1870
Journal of Modern History: 1870 in European History and Historiography
JSTOR: Paul Avrich: The Legacy of Bakunin
Marxists.org: Bakunin
The Anarchist Library: The Federative Principle
The Anarchist Library: Property Is Theft
The Collector: What do Hegel and Marx Have in Common?
Socialist Alternative: Robert Owen and Utopian Socialism
Marxists.org: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Events
Washington State University: Introduction to 19th-Century Socialism | Common Errors in English Usage and More
Howard Zinn: Commemorating Emma Goldman: 'Living My Life'
Stanford: Hegel's Dialectics
The History of Economic Thought: Cesare Beccaria
Stanford: Jeremy Bentham
Foundation for Economic Education: Robert Owen: The Woolly-Minded Cotton Spinner
Stanford: Karl Marx
Central European Economic and Social History: Economic Development In Europe In The 19th Century
Marxists.org: Encyclopedia of Marxism
The New Yorker: Karl Marx, Yesterday and Today
Marxists.org: Glossary of Organisations
Northwestern Whitepaper: The Second Industrial Revolution
The Collector: Revolutions of 1848
Chemins de Mémoire: Franco-Prussian War of 1870
Journal of Modern History: 1870 in European History and Historiography
Jacobin: Why Kautsky was Right
The New Yorker: Dreyfus Affair
The Jacobin: John Dewey
Marxists.org: Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism
Spartacus Ed: Karl Kautsky
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If you like the pod version of #UNFTR, make sure to check out the video version on YouTube where Max shows his beautiful face! www.youtube.com/@UNFTR
Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: -
Hands Off AOC: Reply to the Slandering of a Revolutionist.
AOC. The country continues to obsess over the bright light of the progressive caucus and most high profile member of “The Squad.” From day one, AOC has been the subject of harsh criticisms steeped in misogyny and class resentment; mostly from the right. Oftentimes, however, the criticisms have come from inside the Democratic Party establishment. Recently, however, she’s been in the crosshairs of the far left end of the spectrum. Some of this isn’t new, but it seems to be growing. In this episode we look deeper at her record, set a few things straight about the nature of politics in America and make a haunting comparison from history that serves as a warning.
Chapters
Intro: 00:00:32
Post Show Musings: 00:20:03
Outro: 00:36:33
Resources
The Militant: Hands of Rosa Luxemburg
Vanity Fair: Unearthed Video Shows Marjorie Taylor Greene Has Been Psychotically Stalking AOC for Years
Politico: From agitator to insider: The evolution of AOC
AOC's Pathetic Biden Endorsement
New York Magazine: AOC Is Just a Regular Old Democrat Now
Pod Save America: Exclusive: AOC Talks Honestly About Joe Biden, The Supreme Court, and the 2024 Presidential Election
Office of Congressional Ethics: OCE Referral Regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The New York Times: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Apologizes for Vote on Iron Dome Funding
Clerk: Roll Call 275 | Bill Number: HR 5323
Jacobin: Railroad Workers United: “We Would Never Concede Our Right to Strike”
Mother Jones: Railroad Workers Kept Applying Pressure For Sick Days. It’s Working.
Global Project Against Hate and Extremism: Robert F. Kennedy Tweet Mobilizes Neo-Nazis
Jacobin: AOC and the Squad’s List of Left-Wing Accomplishments Is Quite Long
LR 132: Evaluating The Squad w/ Branko Marcetic + @MinionDeathCult on the UPS Vote
UNFTR Episode Resources
April 2021 Quickie: AOC & the Lying Men Hydra
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If you like the pod version of #UNFTR, make sure to check out the video version on YouTube where Max shows his beautiful face! www.youtube.com/@UNFTR
Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com.
Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565
Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee® at shop.unftr.com.
Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic® at unftr.com/blog to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week.
Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP.
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.
Unf*cking the Republic® is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99.
Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic®."
Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unftr
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Show Notes [What is Bidenomics?]
Max and 99 are reunited in this episode of Show Notes! They talk Bidenomics, Phone A Friend, and sharting. (Sorry.)
Chapters
Intro: 00:00:20
Headlines: 00:16:41
Emails: 00:27:51
Facebook Shout Outs: 00:47:00
Buy Me A Coffee Memberships + Donations: 01:04:24
Reviews: 01:06:04
Outro: 01:06:21
Headlines
HRW: “They Fired on Us Like Rain”: Saudi Arabian Mass Killings of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen-Saudi Border
World Socialist Web Site: BRICS to expand to counter US dollar dependence
The New York Times: America Is Draining Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow
Resources
Oliver Anthony: Rich Men North Of Richmond
Billy Bragg: Rich Men Earning North of a Million
What Next Podcast: What’s Vivek Ramaswamy’s Deal?
The New Yorker: Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule
UNFTR: F*ck Milton Friedman
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If you like the pod version of #UNFTR, make sure to check out the video version on YouTube where Max shows his beautiful face! www.youtube.com/@UNFTR
Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com.
Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565
Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee® at shop.unftr.com.
Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic® at unftr.com/blog to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week.
Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP.
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.
Unf*cking the Republic® is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99.
Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic®."
Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unftr
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Customer Reviews
Always thought provoking
Max and his crew never talk down to listeners. Their shows are in depth and knowledge-filled.
I like the YouTube offerings too.
Awesome podcast!
This my favorite podcast! The information mixed with the entertainment make it the best one out there! Thanks for all the work you folks do!
The best out there
Max and his team produce in my opinion of the best, most informational podcasts in the podosphere. He is extremely articulate, concise, and most of all, honest. He explains abstract concepts about our democracy and the current political climate in a way that is digestible and easily understandable. You should absolutely give his series a listen as I got hooked 2 years ago and have not stopped. 10/10