Show Notes
We are excited to announce that we are launching a brand new series called “Down by Law.” In it, we are going to talk about how laws and legal systems that create and enforce them are put in place to serve the ruling class, while producing a spectacle of “justice” to distract and pacify the masses. We believe that, despite the law’s ultimate impotence to bring about the type of revolutionary change needed to ensure collective survival for humanity, it is important to understand how the law functions in society. This series is our attempt at political/legal education, jumping between various areas of law that purport to regulate behavior in “civilized nations." It is certainly true that the legal system - from statutory legislation to the vast regulatory state to the judiciary - does impose restrictions on actors at all levels of the socioeconomic pyramid. We are not implying that the wealthy and powerful are entirely unfettered by the law. That would be an overstatement and would not reflect reality. But the law, too, operates as spectacle. And to a larger degree than most lawyers, government bureaucrats, and policy wonks would like to admit, the real function of the law is spectacular. It serves to inflate the illusion of justice. In reality, the legal system plays referee between factions of the ruling class, while ensuring that overall control of the systems of power remain in the hands of that same class. We start our legal dig site with a dig into immigration and the modern legal regime for asylum. Even though you’d never guess it by the federal government’s utter lack of regard for human rights in the administration of the immigration system, the USA is a party to the 1967 protocol to the treaty on the rights of refugees. That means it is “the supreme law of the land” - with which even the federal government must comply as with the Constitution itself - to afford broad rights to asylum-seekers in danger of death or serious harm in their home countries. We recorded this before the DC National Guard shooting put asylum into the headlines, but the issue is more salient than ever. As Trump essentially seeks to end asylum as we know it, we trace the bipartisan roots of the whittling-away of immigrant rights, spiking especially under the Obama administration. Put on your lawyer hats, it’s time to get down by law. If you want to hear the full episode, head over to Patreon.com/fourthreicharchaeology and sign up today!
More from Fourth Reich Archaeology
This week we step back out of our historical narrative and into the present day once more. But fear not, this is not yet one more election episode regurgitating the same basic talking points about what to expect from the midterms. Instead, we zoom out and look at the whole electoral charade as Spectacle, asking not what policies are up to a vote, but rather what narratives are being promoted as the two permissible poles for popular discourse. We promise we’re not libbing out, but we are encouraging people to think practically about how this moment of utter overreach and unpopularity on the extreme right has created a political vulnerability that an organized left could exploit. Just think about it! We hope you enjoy. Socials: @fourthreichpod Email: [email protected] Patreon: patreon.com/fourthreicharchaeology
This week we are picking up where we left off in our ongoing series within a series about the two women who, in September 1975, pointed their pistols at President Gerald R. Ford. Our focus in this series as of late has been on the second of these two female assassins, the one who actually took a shot at the accidental president, Sara Jane Moore. In this episode, we continue our discussion of Sara Jane’s husband #3, John O. Aalberg, the 10-time Oscar nominee and RKO executive Sara Jane lovingly called “Big John.” Now, this is Fourth Reich Archaeology, so you know that we couldn’t really paint a complete picture of John Aalberg without diving a little deep into RKO, his longtime employer, and its eccentric owner, the aviator himself, Howard Hughes. It’s got the Fourth Reich written all over it. And that’s not all folks! In the second half of this episode, we read directly from Sara Jane’s 1979 prison interview transcript, with excerpts we humbly submit put together the pieces and show that not everything is what it seems when it comes to John Aalberg. In fact, nothing is what it seems. Because according to Sara Jane herself, Big John was not just an academy man, but also a company man. So get out your Vistavision glasses, ladies and gentlemen. It is time to go to the movies! Email: [email protected] Socials: @fourthreichpod
We are back to our series-within-a-series, She Harvey Oswald (a Jerryworld Series). And boy are we excited. When we last left her, Sara Jane Moore had dumped husband #2, Sydney Manning, and sent her three kids from her California home back to her parents in West Virginia. This week we move on to husband #3, still in Southern California–indeed, in Hollywood!--the RKO Pictures sound wizard, 10-time Oscar nominee, John O. Aalberg. In Side A, we gave the “official narrative” of Sara’s and “Big John’s” romance, drawing largely on Geri Spieler’s biography of Moore. Now it’s time to dig beneath the surface… John Aalberg was a veteran of WWI and lifelong mega-patriot. He perfected a recording technology in 1928 that enabled precise and easy cutting of sound in films. One of the technologies that bridged the gap to the widespread adoption of talking pictures. But moviemakers aren’t the only people interested in recording and editing technology: Aalberg was recruited to the Army to assist its pictographic works during WWII (in fact, starting even before Pearl Harbor by several months). And he remained involved in the armed services during the Cold War as well, besides busying himself as a reserve member of the LA County Sherriff’s Office as a literal “posse” member. It’s a great tale and we think you’ll like it. It’s got material and connections that have really not been reported before, and we thank you ever so kindly for supporting our work! We couldn’t do it without you. Email: [email protected] Socials: @fourthreichpod “I Put a Spell on You” performed by Angelina Jordan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXOPpwucDYw&list=RDgXOPpwucDYw&start_radio=1
We are back to our series-within-a-series, She Harvey Oswald (a Jerryworld Series). And boy are we excited. When we last left her, Sara Jane Moore had dumped husband #2, Sydney Manning, and sent her three kids from her California home back to her parents in West Virginia. We had questioned whether “Syd” might have been a handler of some kind, considering that (1) he was a psychiatric professional working in a facility while she was a patient undergoing treatment and analysis, (2) he was 17 years her senior, (3) he knew her only a short time before tying the knot, and (4) she had exhibited abnormal psychology, suffering fainting spells and bouts of amnesia, making her an ideal subject for just the type of experiments the CIA was doing at the time under Project Bluebird. This week we move on to husband #3, still in Southern California–indeed, in Hollywood!--the RKO Pictures sound wizard, 10-time Oscar nominee, John O. Aalberg. We begin by giving the “official narrative” of Sara’s and “Big John’s” romance, drawing largely on Geri Spieler’s biography of Moore. Even the truncated and largely superficial story told by Spieler is interesting if, for no other reason, it is pretty wild that Sara Jane Moore was married to the guy who did the sound for Citizen Kane! And if you are listening on the free feed, that is where we leave things off. There’s more at Patreon, otherwise, you’ll have to wait to hear the rest of the story… Patreon.com/fourthreicharchaeology Email: [email protected] Socials: @fourthreichpod Outro song performed by Angelina Jordan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXOPpwucDYw&list=RDgXOPpwucDYw&start_radio=1
This week, Dick and Don are back together talking about a topic that seems to have fallen out of the media spotlight lately, but that is more than deserving of serious attention and concern. Deportation numbers are breaking records each month, due process is being whittled away, hundreds of thousands of people are losing legal status with the stroke of a pen based on what country they’re from. Even as the policies around mass deportation decline in popularity (even among Trump voters), administration officials continue to peddle mask-off Nazi rhetoric to dehumanize the most marginalized members of society. All in service of the classic fascist maneuver of prioritizing a hardcore base of support among ideological extremists - white nationalist eugenicist racists, in this case. Side B will include an interview with Alex, a veteran immigration lawyer, who shares her perspective on the insanity from the center of the Maelstrom. Head on over to Patreon if you’d like to get at it sooner!