The Industrial Revolution gave birth to the Luddites – mostly artisan weavers and textile workers – who fought to defend their livelihoods and communities against the upheavals caused by mechanization. Jathan Sadowski, a professor of information technology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia explores these connections in his new book The Mechanic and the Luddite. He spoke to Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer.
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Next, we examine the hidden machinery of empire, the structural decay of the so-called “War on Terror,” and its lasting impact abroad and at home. Matt Kennard, author of Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals, explains how all the troops needed to sustain the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations led the U.S. military to lower enlistment standards—allowing white supremacists, gang members, and more to receive state-funded combat training. He begins with the phenomenon of the “Irregular Army,” thousands of extremists who served in the Middle East and have since returned to the United States.
Investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg situates this within a broader shift toward special forces warfare and the normalization of atrocities, tracing it back to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and subsequent interventions across West Asia.
We share an excerpt of Matt Kennard’s and Kit Klarenberg’s conversation with Karim Bettache and Peter Beattie, hosts of BettBeat Media.
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According to Dr. Peter McCullough and other critics of the US health bureaucracy’s actions during the COVID 19 public health crisis, early treatment was deliberately suppressed to spur and then compel mass vaccination. This has created one of the great medical scandals of modern history. One can expect this tactic in the future: pandemic pathogens will be presented to the public as “untreatable,” with the only solution being a government-issued genetic vaccine.
In the United States, such work falls under a web of research categories called gain of function research, Pathogen Enhancement Research of Concern (PERC) and Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC). All of these – gain of function, PERC, and DURC have drawn heavy scrutiny due to their possible overlap with bioweapons capabilities. The U.S. Biodefense Network spans dozens of federal, military, private corporate, and university laboratories INCLUDING the National Institutes of Health NIH, particularly the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases NIAID previously run by Dr. Anthony Fauci. This body funds major dual use pathogen research under the banner of pandemic preparedness.
What follows is a summary report from Dr. McCullough about U.S. biolabs working on pathogens of dual pandemic potential, i.e. biological agents and research programs that involve pathogens capable of causing a pandemic AND preventing one, depending on how the knowledge or technology is used. His report can be found at The McCullough Report on America Out Loud Network, dated 29 December 2025.
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We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Steve Zeltzer, Polina Vasiliev, and Thomas O’Rourke.
You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.
Thanks for listening.
Music:
David Rovics, performed by AI Tsuno, “From Dawn to Dusk to Dawn”
David Rovics, performed by AI Tsuno, “A Great Day to Leave the Army”
