Show Notes
Gregk speaks to the award-winning national security journalist Spencer Ackerman about the long shadows of 9/11 and the War on Terror, how America’s response to those events contributed to its current condition, the media’s role in justifying and legitimating state violence, and much more.Spencer Ackerman is a national security journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Wired, The Nation, Zeteo and many other publications, and whose career has spanned almost the entirety of the Global War on Terror. In 2014, he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for his work at The Guardian on Edward Snowden’s disclosures surrounding the NSA’s global surveillance programme. In 2021, he published Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump. He also recently wrote a ten-issue run on IRON MAN for Marvel Comics, currently available in two trade paperbacks. His latest book is The Torture and Deliverance of Majid Khan: A Father, A Son and the War on Terror, forthcoming from Penguin. Spencer is also the founder and proprietor of FOREVER WARS, an ongoing chronicle, investigation and interrogation of the continuities, departures and permutations of the War on Terror If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter
Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE – DEI-Codi For this week’s newsletter, Gregk shares some of his thoughts on the extra-judicial killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 7, 2026, and reflects on the homologies between the Trump administration’s paramilitaries and the death squads that operated in Central and South America during the latter half of the twentieth century – in many cases backed, trained and coordinated by the United States. Image: U.S. Military Police guard detainees within Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 2002. (Shane T. McCoy/U.S. Navy/Getty Images)
More from Blood Work
This episode was produced in collaboration with Ten Thousand Posts This week, Hussein is joined by Tom and Greg from Blood Work, to talk about the 2010 film Four Lions, written and directed by Chris Morris. The boys talk about their impressions watching the film in their youth, and revisiting it as an adult, in the aftermath of the failed War on Terror. They talk about the film as a reflection on ageing and mid-life crises, a satire on the concept of the “good Muslim”, and how the film foreshadowed what vigilante extremism would look like in the future. Listen and subscribe to BLOOD WORK: https://www.patreon.com/cw/BloodWorkShow Follow Greg on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gregk.co.uk Follow Tom on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scamgoldin.bsky.social ------- LEBANON AID LINKSHere are some fundraisers to support collective rebuilding and survival efforts on the ground in Lebanon. -Beit El-Baraka started out as a food bank, but has grown to help people afford rent, cover their essentials, and live with dignity. https://beitelbaraka.org/donate-directly/ or donate in general https://beitelbaraka.org/donate-now/ -LiveLove was a charity for a number of other matters, but since 2024 has been solely comitted to helping people displaced by Israeli attacks.https://livelove.org/donate -Lebanese Food Bank supports displaced and impoverished peoplehttps://lebanesefoodbank.org/take-action/donate/ Solar Powered Lebanon is an initiative to restore people's power using solar panels, since larger infrastructure is at constant risk of attack.https://fundahope.com/en/campaigns/solar-powered-lebanon ----- PALESTINE AID LINKS These are some general links you can support collective efforts with! -The Palestinian Communist Youth Union is doing a food and water effort, and is part of the official communist party of Palestinehttps://www.gofundme.com/f/to-preserve-whats-left-of-humanity-global-solidarity -Water is Life, a water distribution project in North Gaza affiliated with an Indigenous American organization and the Freedom Flotillahttps://www.waterislifegaza.org/ -Vegetable Distribution Fund, which secured and delivers fresh veg, affiliated with Freedom Flotilla alsohttps://www.instagram.com/linking/fundraiser?fundraiser_id=1102739514947848 ----- PHOEBE ALERT Okay, now that we have your attention; check out her Substack Here!Check out Masters of our Domain with Milo and Patrick, here! -------- Ten Thousand Posts is a show about how everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@HKesvani), Phoebe (@PRHRoy) and produced by Devon (@Devon_onEarth).
If you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel Article 1: Ethiopia says it must defend itself against Eritrea's 'all-out invasion'Reuters – Oct 09, 2026Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw Article 2: Eritrea asks UN to intervene in standoff with EthiopiaReuters – Oct 10, 2026Reporting by Reuters
This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gregk and Thomas mark Blood Work’s first birthday with a casual discussion about what we learned in the year 1 AS (Anno Sangui). Image: A cupcake with a single candle being lit on fire with a handgun. I mean, I don’t know, I feel like this one’s pretty self-explanatory. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Look at MeALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOFor this week’s newsletter, we’ve got some thoughts about US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s expressed desire to publicly broadcast an execution, the long history of violence, justice and spectacle in American politics, and how this latest development sits in that tableau.
We close out our series discussing how drone warfare advanced a new military ethics in which the lives of combatants are sacrosanct, while civilian lives are expendable. Image: A photograph on an Israeli UAV dropping grenades from the sky. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Van LifeALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOThis week, we attempted to provide a neat summary of events which unfolded at RAF Fairford (Difficulty: Expert), and provided some general commentary on how politicians, police and the press have handled themselves.
This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. On January 20, 1942, a group of SS officers and mid-level bureaucrats from the ministries of the Third Reich convened at a lakeside villa. The agenda: Genocide. Image: A photograph of one of the interior corridors of 56-58 Am Wannsee (Credit: Werner Zellien) Blood Work is a Scam Goldin ProductionThis episode was produced by Thomas O’MahonyOur theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis TronOur artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode:– Support Blood Work via Patreon– Leave a rating or review on your podcast app– Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Bozo TimeALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIOIt was a bad week for anyone with a moral compass or semblance of a commitment to having consistent and coherent principles. In that spirit, we came through with two stories about two different groups of pigs, bozos and slobs, presented in the spirit of admiration about what a wonderful and cool world we have built, here, on this planet, together.