The return of Mark Jacobson. We expand on our previous conversation to talk about the zeitgeist. We get into QAnon, the Ghost Dance, and of course, Bill Cooper. Mark Jacobson on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palehorseriderbook/ Pale Horse Rider music video by William Cooper (the rapper): https://youtu.be/Mp5pSU5jYC0 Joseph L. Flatley website: https://www.lennyflatley.net Joseph L. Flatley twitter: https://twitter.com/lennyflatley Coming soon! My latest book, New Age Grifter. Available for...
Jan 17, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 38
We are living in a time of unprecedented distrust in America… Faith in the government is at an all-time low, and political groups on both sides of the aisle are able to tout preposterous conspiracy theories as gospel, without much opposition. “Fake news” is the order of the day. This book is about a man to whom all of it points, the greatest conspiracist of this generation and a man you may not have heard of. A former U.S. naval intelligence worker, Milton William Cooper published his manifesto ...
Jan 17, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Jared Yates Sexton has been an important voice decrying the little Hitler in the White House (for one more week) and the future, not-so-little Hitlers that are on the horizon if we don't wise up quick. His message is more important than ever, so I'm reposting two of his appearances here in case you missed 'em the first time... Check out Jared's Bourbon Talk podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jsexton3 ...and, of course, follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JYSexton Jared's Muc...
Jan 15, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 36
So, we couldn't go a week into the new year without a constitutional crisis... I'm disappointed in us, but I'm not surprised. In order to help understand what the hell exactly happened, I spoke to William Arkin, veteran national security reporter and prolific author. He's been on top of this story from the very beginning (indeed, from before the beginning) and you can see his reporting in the pages of Newseek or on its website: https://www.newsweek.com/authors/william-m-arkin-1 In this episode I...
Jan 08, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 33
There is an internet community of people that call themselves Targeted Individuals. These people claim that they're being surveilled and harassed by the U.S. government or other unknown entities. Sometimes this activity is called "gangstalking" because, unlike traditional stalking, the harassment involves teams of people. Fears of gangstalking seem to me to be motivated by, among other things, the same anxieties that create UFO abduction narratives and QAnon theorists. This episode of FSU featur...
Dec 11, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Are we living in a failed state? And if so, so what? Between the environment, pandemic, and everything else that 2020 has given us, I think it's probably high time that we look at ourselves in the mirror and decide what's really important. And if you're of a spiritual or metaprogrammatical bent, you could probably learn a thing or several from Antero Alli. His latest book, State of Emergence, covers his experiments in group ritual. It's one part Jerzy Grotowski, one part Carl Jung, and 100% mind...
Dec 06, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 30
If you know anything about the assassination of JFK, the odds are good that you learned it from Oliver Stone. Even if you haven't seen JFK (1993), the claims made in the film — claims made by the likes of homophobic New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison and antisemitic conspiracy theorist Fletcher Prouty — have kind of seeped into the mainstream and become part of our common understanding of the tragedy. In his latest book, On the Trail of Delusion , author Fred Litwin turns the clock back ...
Nov 22, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 29
In this action-packed episode of FAILED STATE UPDATE, I break out a certain conspiracy theory-themed trivia board game ("Conspiracy Theory" by Neddy Games) and host an action-packed competition between four fascinating dudes. Come for the conspiracy questions! Stay for the learned discursions! With internet celebrities Joseph Matheny, JG Michael and Jon Marsh (and one international man of mystery, Kirk 'Mad Dog' Cooke). Conspiracy Theory by Neddy Games: https://shopneddy.com/products/conspiracy-...
Nov 16, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Pearse Redmond is a podcaster, writer, and one of the leading figures of the Jeffrey Epstein research community. For years, when no one in the mainstream media cared, Pearse and his cohort were diving deep into Epstein-world, trying to figure out what the man was up to and how to get him put in the slammer for good. In this episode of Failed State Update, we discuss some of the more bizarre aspects of the Epstein case and why it took the mainstream media so long to catch up with the conspiracy t...
Nov 11, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 26
What we have here is my first ever presentation to a conference, in which I use the story of The Finders—a small commune unfairly maligned as a "cult"—to discuss the political dimension of conspiracy theories. The talk also covers the story of Ted Gunderson, who went from being an FBI-COINTELPRO guy to a major figure in conspiracy theory culture. And of course, I tie this all back to QAnon. Ends with a brief discussion of Grey Faction, the group that sponsored the conference. There's a lot of in...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Very excited to once again have author, academic, and political commentator Jared Yates Sexton on the show to address the (failed) state of the union. He has a new book out called American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World But Failed Its People , and it's one you're definitely going to want to check out, as it lays bare all the myths and falsehoods that Keep America Great Again for the 1%. Podcast up this episode of FAILED STATE UPDATE to hear about political cults, the Third Reich as an Am...
Oct 04, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 23
In this episode of Failed State Update I'm joined by film critic, artist, and social media provocateur Dylan Coleslaw to discuss cTom's 2011 film Song of the Blind Girl . There are underground filmmakers, and then there's cTom—or Tom Charley, as he's also known (both are pseudonyms, actually). cTom has directed four films, all of which are ham-handed polemics against elite pedophilia and other crimes against the republic. But there are two things that make these films stand out: The fact that th...
Sep 21, 2020•52 min•Season 1Ep. 22
On the latest episode of Failed State Update, journalist and author Alexander Zaitchik discusses the profound implications of capitalism-run-amok on the pharmaceutical industry and the battle against COVID-19. It's one heck of a wild ride! Alexander Zaitchik's website: https://www.zaitchik.com/ Joseph L. Flatley website: https://www.lennyflatley.net Joseph L. Flatley twitter: https://twitter.com/lennyflatley Failed State Update Newsletter: https://lennyflatley.substack.com MUSIC: "5 Million Ways...
Sep 08, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In 2002, Richard McCaslin raided the elite Bohemian Grove campground in disguise as his alter ego, The Phantom Patriot. His plan was to prevent the kind of ritualistic child sacrifice that Alex Jones had talked about in the film Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove . Luckily, there was nothing of the sort going on. He would spend the next six years in jail for the armed raid. Author Tea Krulos, who knew McCaslin personally, joins me in this episode of FAILED STATE UPDATE to discuss McCaslin, Alex ...
Aug 30, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Tim Schwab is a freelance journalist based in Washington DC and 2019 Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow. Tonight he's visiting the Failed State to talk about his latest for Columbia Journalism Review, "Journalism’s Gates Keepers." In the post-Covid world, where Bill Gates is seen as something of a technocratic foil to Trump's science-blind political posturing, it's important to examine the Gates's eponymous foundation with a critical eye. And that's what' Schwab has been doing, in articles for C...
Aug 27, 2020•59 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Mark Laxer is an author and former follower of the cult leader Frederick Philip Lenz. He broke away from Lenz some time ago, only to realize recently that Trump's base is going through the same process that he went through as a member of a destructive cult. Mark has written about this in two books: Take Me for a Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive Cult (1993) and his latest, Rama Trauma Trump: I Left the Cult and Now Look What Happened . Mark Laxer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marklaxer Read...
Aug 23, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Has "cancel culture" hit the UFO scene? Probably not. But MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) has had a few controversies over the years, including a recent one where the State Director of Vermont and Rhode Island lost his position for some really messed up Facebook posts. To shed some light on what's happening there, I spoke with Eric Smith, a MUFON field investigator based in Rhode Island. He says that the UFO scene is getting increasingly younger and more progressive — and that MUFON doesn't seem to b...
Jul 12, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 16
NOTE: I've fixed the wonky audio 30 minutes in and updated the file. I've always been fascinated by the weird, parallel Christian media universe, so for this episode, I figure we'd consult the experts. Boys Bible Study is a podcast known for its hilarious and insightful reviews of faith-based movies (a fair amount of which involve Kevin Sorbo somehow). In this episode of Failed State Update, I will be joined by the Bible boys: Ash, Julian, and Scott, as we discuss The Reliant (2019). This film o...
Jul 07, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 15
From my other podcast, The So-Called Prophet From Pittsburgh about a UFO cult in Arizona and its leader, Gabriel. Joshua Lilly (spiritual name: VanMon) was brought into the Global Community Communications Alliance as a kid, kicked out as a teenager, and joined again as an adult. Practically his entire family is still in the group. In this in-depth conversation, Josh relates the path that drew him to Gabriel of Urantia (twice). We also discuss cult members' motivations, cult "mind control" techni...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 14
For this episode, I spoke with two pretty smart dudes. First off, Jared Yates Sexton (a political analyst, associate professor, and author of the forthcoming book American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World but Failed Its People ) discussed authoritarianism, both in the Trump White House and in the hearts of too many of us. We also covered the role of conspiracy theories in... well, almost everything. After that, my interview with Shane Burley (author of Fascism Today: What It Is And How To ...
Jun 18, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 12
For fifteen years, Jim DeRogatis was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times . It was while there that Jim and his colleague Abdon Pallasch became the first reporters to expose R. Kelly's sex trafficking cult. His book Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly both exposes what rich people get away with in this country and gives the reader a first-hand account of the work that investigative journalists do. I think it's one of the most important books of 2019. Jim DeRogatis on Twitter: https://t...
Jun 10, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 11
I'm a veteran of the anti-globalization movement, but sadly these days COVID-19 and some seriously messed up lungs have turned my activism into slacktivism. When I wasn't busy yesterday Venmo-ing my donation to the Pittsburgh Freedom Fund (see "Pittsburgh Jailbreak," below), I spent about 12 hours monitoring Twitter feeds, live streams, and my handy police scanner to try to get an idea of what was going on during the Battle of Pittsburgh. On this episode of Failed State Update, I will ponder par...
Jun 01, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 9
UPDATE: The latest on the story of THE SO-CALLED PROPHET FROM PITTSBURGH is available now from Please Kill Me Online : https://pleasekillme.com/cosmopop/ Ed Opperman is like a character in a movie: Private investigator, native New Yorker, conspiracy researcher, and former Yippie. It was a pleasure to talk to him on his radio show recently about the UFO cult I'm investigating (including some new wrinkles in the story, available here for the first time). We also spoke at some length about this pod...
May 26, 2020•45 min•Season 1Ep. 7
This episode of Failed State Update is about the intersection of government spies and ETs. As far as I can tell (and who can really tell? ) the UFO community has been encouraged to pursue and promote some wacko ideas over the years by the United States Air Force to distract them from the shitty things the government is doing (and the scary weapons their government is creating). The best evidence supporting this hypothesis is the story of a defense contractor named Paul Bennewitz who we will disc...
May 19, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Laura Johnston Kohl grew up as an activist in Washington, D.C., and watched as many of her heroes were assassinated in the 1960s. She attended college in Connecticut and continued her commitment to work for change and to make a difference. While exercising her civil rights to protest peacefully, she was tear-gassed while protesting the war in Vietnam. After a brief marriage, a visit to Woodstock, and a stint working with the Black Panthers, she moved to California to join her sister. Soon after ...
May 10, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In the second episode of Failed State Update, we check in on Christian Smalls, the ex-Amazon employee who lost his job fighting to protect his coworkers from Covid-19. And then we'll have a wide-ranging conversation with J.P. Sottile, the journalist behind the influential Rundown newsletter, about the strange political and psychological times we've found ourselves in. Topics include the generation gap, fascism, nuclear war, and looking at the bright side of the system's collapse. [CORRECTION: I'...
May 03, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In the premiere episode, Joseph "Lenny" Flatley talks to J.G. Michael of Parallax Views about the politics of the anti-quarantine movement and the tragic canceling of Insane Clown Posse's 2020 Gathering of the Juggalos music festival. He also speaks to Christian Yingling of the Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia and John "Wagz" Wagner of the PA Lightfoot Militia about the militia movement's response to Covid-19. NEW! Failed State Update newsletter: http://lennyflatley.substack.com/ Parallax Views: h...
May 02, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 1
