Behind the Bastards – It Could Happen Here Weekly 206 (Nov 1, 2025)

Podcast: Behind the Bastards / It Could Happen Here

Host: Cool Zone Media (Garrison Davis) & guests

Episode Overview

This "It Could Happen Here" compilation episode offers a multifaceted exploration of political and social turmoil in the Americas and Europe during late October 2025. Major topics include the United States' drone campaign in the Caribbean, the escalating migrant crisis and its violent repression, union struggles inside U.S. bookstores, deep dives into global population anxieties, the intersection of occultism and culture in Berlin, and ongoing U.S. domestic chaos involving federal agencies, food security, and the 2026 election cycle. The episode features a roundtable of journalists, academics, and organizers dissecting the bizarre course of current events in a tone that blends outrage, skepticism, dark humor, and defiant solidarity.

Main Segments & Highlights

1. U.S. Drone Strikes in the Caribbean: Escalating Chaos

(02:51 – 38:20)

• Topic: The U.S. has begun drone striking small boats in the Caribbean, claiming to combat "narco-terrorism" with at least 32 people killed.
• Guests:
  • Garrison Davis (Host)
  • Michael Palberg (Political Science Professor)
  • Andrew Sage (Trinidad and Tobago correspondent)

Key Insights

• Targeted “Cartels” Are Not Drug Runners: Alleged drug smuggling vessels belong to gangs (Tren de Aragua), but these are extortion groups focused on the Venezuelan diaspora, not major cartels. “If they're striking boats with Trinidad agua...most likely striking migrant smuggling vessels, in which case the death count would likely be much higher.” (05:21, Michael Palberg)
• Regional Backlash and Political Fallout: Colombia’s President Petro, himself an ex-guerrilla, denounces U.S. actions amid spurious allegations from the Trump administration. Colombia withdraws diplomats.
• Local Reactions—Trinidad’s Government Complicit: Trinidad and Tobago’s government (United National Congress under Kamla Persad-Bissessar) aligns closely with the U.S., even as its citizens die in strikes:
  “She has called for the U.S. to kill them all violently, extrajudicially...perfectly aligned with what the U.S. is doing in the region despite its flagrant violations of international law.” (15:12, Andrew Sage)

Notable Quotes

• “America, y'all better wake the hell up. Bad things happen to good people in small towns.” (01:20, Garrison Davis)
• “Colombia's kind of gone back to war...return to fairly high-level armed insurgency.” (09:59, Michael Palberg)
• “We have gone from a state that was respected as a non-aligned entity...to a very clear pro-West stance that has alienated us from the region.” (13:12, Andrew Sage)

2. Venezuela’s Crisis: Election Theft, Regime Change Fantasies, and Opposition Divides

(18:22 – 41:27)

• Venezuela's “Election” a Farce:
  Maduro retains power via "subtle" fraud; U.S.-brokered opposition candidate wins in polls but is denied victory.
• Regime Change Not Imminent:
  • “It doesn't make sense from a counternarcotics standpoint...blowing up boats...has not done anything.” (26:25, Michael Palberg)
  • U.S. cannot repeat Panama invasion in Venezuela; real military regime deeply entrenched.
• Divided Opposition & International Maneuvering:
  Nobel Prize awarded to hardliner Maria Corina Machado (“closer to Margaret Thatcher than to the left”), perhaps as a U.S. bone.

Quotes

• “Why would someone in that position, you know, give up power? I think he saw what happened to Gaddafi.” (28:35, Michael Palberg)
• “Marie Corne Machado...very good organizer...and a very brave person. She has remained in the country at a time that most opposition leaders...have fled.” (30:49, Michael Palberg)

3. Solidarity With the Oppressed: Regional Voices and Strategies

(33:38 – 41:58)

• Regional Solidarity and Protest:
  Trinidad’s left organizes region-wide anti-war actions and pickets, but faces “eldritch” power of the U.S.
• Advice for the Global Left:
  Scholars urge solidarity with civil society, not regimes; point out the “campist” errors of parts of the Western left who excuse Maduro.
• Painting the Big Picture:
  Authoritarian tendencies are shared across left and right in Latin America; strongmen see themselves reflected in each other.

Notable Quotes

• “It is massively undermining any credibility they have when they associate themselves with regimes which willingly murder their own people...” (41:58, Garrison Davis)
• “If people, whether they identify as on the left or, or whatever, want to show solidarity, I think it should be with the Venezuelan people.” (38:20, Michael Palberg)

4. U.S. Labor Update: Seminary Co-op Bookstore Union in Chicago vs “Nonprofit” Management

(50:41 – 109:12)

• Union Fights for Survival:
  Booksellers at a “not-co-op, not-nonprofit” Chicago bookstore face attrition, union-busting management, and hazardous working conditions (“they are poisoning us with mold”).
• Tactics—Attrition, Regret, and Direct Action:
  Management won’t bargain in good faith, uses regressive bargaining, and hires union-busting lawyer Jenny Goltz. Staff wage work stoppages, pickets, and gain vital solidarity from other unions.
• Structural Ironies:
  Board is full of prominent progressives but shields management; “People who write about labor and resistance are busting our union.”
• Direct Action Builds Power:
  “I do think our most impactful direct actions have been the ones that have been noisy, that have been incredibly visible...students, like 19-year-olds, are so outraged by the amount of money I make as a grown person.” (81:10, Andrew Sage)

Memorable Moments

• “I take 5 Benadryl just to go to work...that kind of helps. And that's more just, I think, like, I mean, not more. That is in part, like my own health. But if I had the resources to be able to take care of my health and get what I need, maybe I could withstand the mold and the dust and the ducts a little bit easier.” (98:17, Andrew Sage)

• Petition and social media campaign: @uncoopbooksellersunion on Instagram; change.org petition in show notes.

5. The Population Panic—From “Population Bomb” to Fears of Decline

(114:01 – 144:31)

• Historical Population Trajectory:
  Growth from 5 million in 8000 BC to 8 billion in 2022, and now UN projects stabilization/decline.
• “Overpopulation” and Its Dark Legacy:
  • Fears stoked by Thomas Malthus, Paul Ehrlich’s "The Population Bomb."
  • Led to racist and violent population policies: forced sterilization, one-child policy, neo-Malthusianism.
• Conspiracy Theories & Fascism:
  Anti-vax, eco-fascist, “Great Replacement” ideas feed violence (ex: Christchurch), but ecological collapse is driven by rich countries’ overconsumption, not poor people’s fertility.
• Now: Fears of Demographic Collapse:
  Global fertility falls; governments panic, push natalist policies or reactionary anti-choice laws.
• Solidarity Approach:
  Immigration important, but must address root causes; focus on making life liveable in the global south.

6. Occulture 2025: Berlin’s Magical-Political Conference & Techno-Occultism

(148:59 – 198:04)

• Occult as Culture Jammer, Offensive Tactic:
  Conference explores “occulture”—the mutual infection between occult practices and pop/social culture.
  “A culture describes a process of cultural osmosis. The occult bleeds into and morphs culture, affecting everything from pop culture to politics and philosophy.” (~155:55, Garrison Davis)
• William S. Burroughs’ “Cut-Up” and “Third Mind”—Foundation of Modern Chaos Magic, AI-art Debate:
  • “When you cut into the present, the future leaks out.” (173:38, Ryan quoting Burroughs)
  • Modern AI art viewed with skepticism: real creativity is collaboration between minds, not algorithmic regurgitation.
• Role of Ritual, Hyperstition, and Reality Manipulation:
  “Media companies are currently cutting up reality to shape it in the image of the people who fund them.” (182:43, Elaine)
• Material Politics of Magic: Panelists interrogate labor, environmental, and ownership costs of generative AI, and the anti-capitalist roots of occult practice.

7. Electile Disorder: U.S. Domestic News Roundup (Weekly Wrap: Oct 22–30, 2025)

(202:32 – episode end)

Major U.S. News:

• SNAP Cutoff Crisis:
  40 million lose food benefits amid political gridlock; Gavin Newsom sends National Guard to food banks, which some communities refuse due to ICE/National Guard overlap increasing fear.
  • “One of the biggest problems is how much food banks get food also through these programs.” (205:41, Elaine)
• Graham Platner Scandals (ME Senate Democratic Primary):
  • Tattooed Nazi symbol, Blackwater service in 2018, and misogynist Reddit history emerge.
  • Despite this, retains youth support due to strong anti-billionaire, populist rhetoric, showing the unpredictable power of anti-elite messaging.
  • “Among young people, he's still well ahead, which I really just do think speaks more than anything to the strength of it's the rhetoric he has been using.” (219:07, James Stout)
• Federal Agencies Escalate Repression:
  • ICE/CBP/Border Patrol accused of brutality, disregard for court orders (body cams, use of force).
  • DHS reshuffles top ICE posts with Border Patrol hardliners.
  • “I would encourage people, if they want to get a sense of how Border Patrol sees itself, to go to the social media page that Bavino curates and has curated for a while...” (241:41, Garrison Davis)
• California Election Monitoring:
  Trump admin sends fed monitors; state responds with state monitors for oversight.
• Trade/Tariff Chaos:
  Trump gets giant golden crown in Korea, lowers China tariffs, slaps new ones on Canada after seeing a negative ad.
  • “That's just how tariff policy is set now—you pissed off the king and he decided to put a tariff.” (263:05, Finn)

Notable Quotes

• “Try not to be on a fishing boat anywhere south of the US Southern border. It's not safe right now.” (270:20, James Stout)
• “We reported the news. That sucks.” (270:42, Garrison Davis)

Recommended Sources & Further Reading

• Local Caribbean/Latin American newspapers for frontline reporting (esp. El País, Insight Crime)
• Grassroots Caribbean Instagram pages: @vintagecaribbean, @trinbagoforpalestine
• Seminary Co-op Booksellers Union on Instagram: @uncoopbooksellersunion
• Political essays by contributing academics (e.g., Center for National Policy)
• It Could Happen Here prior episodes for migration crisis background

Concluding Tone & Takeaways

Throughout the episode, the hosts and guests balance exhaustion, anger, dark humor, and resolve: the world is veering further into chaos, but hope and solidarity persist through grassroots action, sharp analysis, and direct action—whether fighting union-busting liberals, standing against U.S. imperial overreach, or dissecting the strange intersection of magic, technology, and political reality.

Most Memorable Quote

“It is massively undermining any credibility they have when they associate themselves with regimes which willingly murder their own people...I would like to see people stop doing that.” (41:58, Garrison Davis)

For timestamps and deep dives, see sections above. For more, follow the links and union campaigns in the episode notes.