Listen Now: Dan Taberski’s Manifesto

Summary

---

Business Movers: Listen Now – Dan Taberski’s Manifesto

Podcast: Business Movers by Wondery
Host: Dan Taberski (Guest Host)
Episode: Listen Now: Dan Taberski’s Manifesto
Release Date: July 13, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this special episode, “Business Movers” spotlights Dan Taberski’s Manifesto, a new six-part podcast series examining the provocative and transformative role of manifestos throughout history and culture. Taberski, known for “Hysterical” and “Missing Richard Simmons,” invites listeners to reclaim the idea of the manifesto from the darkness surrounding mass shooters and nihilists, restoring its roots among artists, radicals, visionaries, and everyday people with something to declare.

By blending gripping storytelling with societal analysis, Taberski’s aim is to explore:

• Why manifestos incite action, for better or for worse
• How outrage can be transformed into activism or, dangerously, into violence
• Whether inspiration and change can occur in today’s world without resorting to extremism

The episode features personal insights, cultural commentary, and a powerful primer of the series’ first episode, raising the question: How close can we get to our rage before it overtakes us?

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power and Peril of Manifestos

• Reclaiming "Manifesto":

  • Taberski opens by stating his intention: “This project is my attempt to take the Manifesto back for mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the artists and the warriors, the visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of crazy who’ve got something to say and the guts to say it.” (00:15)

• Anger as a Creative Catalyst:

  • The host candidly addresses his own struggle with anger and the broader issue of societal rage: “I find myself seething underneath all the time. My patience has become strained, my temper too short, my ability to hear anyone has..." (04:14)

Real-Life Manifesto: The Christopher Dorner Case

• Setting the Scene: Southern California (2013)

  • Amid personal reflection, Taberski introduces the chilling true story of two young professionals, Keith Lawrence and Monica Kwan, murdered in their car in Irvine, California. Early signs suggest a targeted crime, not a robbery. (02:13)

• Police Hunt and Public Fear:

  • Detectives quickly connect the case to Christopher Dorner, an ex-LAPD officer and Navy reservist, triggering alarm across Southern California. (03:15)

• The Dorner Manifesto:

  • A multi-page manifesto left by Dorner reveals his intent and motives: “There’s reason to believe that he’s going to kill again, that maybe he already has...and we know this because Christopher Dorner left something behind.” (03:32)
  • The document catalyzes a citywide manhunt and serves as a stark illustration of the manifesto’s dangerous side: “It scares the hell out of me.” (04:08, news clip)

Manifestos as Vehicles of Outrage, Action, and Change

• Personal Manifesto Moments:

  • Taberski shares a seemingly trivial act of rebellion—jamming a shopping cart coin lock—to illustrate where emotion translates into action, highlighting the micro to macro spectrum of manifesto-driven behavior. (05:51 - 06:23)

  "That space right there where emotion becomes action when you’re inspired to just do something already. That is the stuff of manifestos." — Dan Taberski (06:33)

• Historical Manifestos: The Black Panther Ten Point Program

  • The episode underscores the enduring power of manifestos for justice and reform. Bobby Seale’s reading of the Black Panther Manifesto is featured:

    "We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people." — Bobby Seale (06:51)
    "We want all black men held in counties, states, federal jails and prisons to be released because they have not had a fair trial, because they’ve been tried by all white juries. And that’s just like being tried in Germany, being a Jew." — Bobby Seale (07:06)

• Manifestos as Threats and Promises:

  • Taberski reflects: “Manifestos aren’t just pretty poems. They are, in a sense, a threat. A hard-packed snowball of grievance and timing and nerve...when a manifesto catches fire, it can change our world.” (07:23)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Just how cozy can we get with our rage before it takes on a life of its own?” — Dan Taberski (00:43)

• “That feeling of discontent that I’ve had in shopping at supermarkets...all of a sudden there was that one moment when I said, ‘fuck it, I’m not gonna do this anymore.’” — Anonymous speaker, reflecting on quotidian rebellion (05:34—06:16)

• “Manifestos aren’t just pretty poems. They are, in a sense, a threat...it can rewrite our future. But there’s a hitch.” — Dan Taberski (07:23)

---

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Introduction & Manifesto Mission: 00:00–01:55
• The Lawrence/Kwan Double Homicide & Dorner Backstory: 01:55–03:32
• Manifesto Discovery & Public Reaction: 03:32–04:14
• Personal Anger and Supermarket Anecdote: 04:14–06:16
• Jamming the Shopping Cart Lock—A Small Manifesto: 06:16–06:33
• Manifestos in Action: Black Panther Ten Point Program: 06:51–07:23

---

Conclusion

This episode serves as a compelling preview for Dan Taberski’s Manifesto, threading together gripping crime reporting, cultural critique, and personal introspection. Taberski challenges listeners to think deeply about the sources and consequences of our discontent, the line between righteous anger and destructive outrage, and the enduring potential of manifestos to shape our lives—sometimes at great cost.

Listeners are invited to consider:

• When does anger inspire genuine change, and when does it spiral into something unrecognizable?
• What role can manifestos play in today’s turbulent world?

All episodes of Dan Taberski’s Manifesto are available ad-free on Audible.

---

Transcript

[A]

Hey, Dan Taburski here. You might know me from podcasts like Hysterical or Missing Richard Simmons. And now my latest adventure, Dan Taburski's Manifesto. This project is my attempt to take the Manifesto back for mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the artists and the warriors, the visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of crazy who've got something to say and the guts to say it. I compare notes with radicals, secessionists and Internet trolls out for a laugh and punk singers screaming their guts out, all trying to turn their anger into the world that they want to see. And along the way I write my own manifesto about manifestos. But the question that rises up pretty quickly Just how cozy can we get with our rage before it takes on a life of its own? From Audible Originals and Please and Thanks Productions, this six part series explores the power and precariousness of the Manifesto and asks can we get inspired again and can we do it without a bullet? I'm about to play a clip from Manifesto. You can listen to Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Manifesto ad free right now. Start your Audible subscription on the Audible app or on Apple Podcasts. February 2013 Venice, California. It's my last few months in Los Angeles before I move back east. I'm in my late 30s, living by the beach, learning to surf the crumbly waves on my longboard. My skin smells like the ocean all the time. I feel amazing. I look amazing. I look amazing. But I'm not taking you back in my time machine because of how good I looked. Which was very it's because of what happened next in Southern California that cut through that dreamy scene and swapped it out with harsh reality.

[B]

Police in Irvine, California are investigating the double murder of a young couple in the parking lot of their apartment complex.

[A]

Reports of a homicide in Neighboring Orange County.

[B]

27 year old Keith Lawrence and his fiance, 28 year old Monica Kwan, were found shot to death in Lawrence's car late Sunday night.

[A]

Two young people, a couple, recently engaged. The guy was a public safety officer at USC and she was an assistant basketball coach at a local university, murdered while parked in their white Kia Optima.

[B]

Investigators do not yet have a suspect

[A]

description or motive and immediately the details of the crime begin to add up to something bigger than a one time thing, like when their bodies are found by the police. The victim's necklace is still on her neck. Her new engagement ring is still firmly on her finger. Which means this isn't a Robbery. Also, investigators find evidence of 14 shots having been fired. That's a lot of bullets for just two people cornered in their car. But the number of neighbors who actually heard those 14 shots, zero. So maybe there was a silencer on the gun, which would mean the killer probably isn't new to this, that maybe they're a professional.

[C]

Irvine detectives have been working day and night since this tragedy.

[A]

The Irvine police chief takes to the podium to tell the people of Southern California that they are going to have to buckle up for a ride today.

[C]

We have identified Christopher Dorner as a suspect in this double homicide because the

[A]

suspect, Christopher Dorner, is no ordinary suspect.

[C]

Dorner was an LAPD officer through 2009 and a reservist for the United States Navy.

[A]

Dorner is a former LAPD cop and he's still out there. And there's reason to believe that he's going to kill again, that maybe he already has. And we know this because Christopher Dorner left something behind.

[C]

A particular interest at this point in the investigation is a multi page manifesto in which the suspect has implicated himself in the slings.

[A]

And this manifesto on Facebook is 11 pages long. Trace this manifesto from this suspect who's targeting cops. It's stunning. It is stunning, Shep.

[C]

And it says he's been very well trained. You know, lapd, some of the best trained officers in the country. And I tell you, this manifesto, it

[A]

scares the hell out of me. I'm Dan Tabursky from Audible Originals and please and thanks Productions. This is Manifesto Episode 1 2America. Subject Last Resort. I am in the market for a manifesto. I have been for a while now, to be honest. The world is on fire. I'll spare you the details. We've all got our own faves and I mean, really, what fresh words could be left to describe what fresh hell we're presented with day after day? But even more concerning for me, even more surprising, has been my own reaction to it and how difficult it's been to get a handle on how angry it has all made me. I'm not an angry person. I am a relatively happy guy, but I find myself seething underneath all the time. My patience has become strained, my temper too short, my ability to hear anyone has. It happens at, of all places, a supermarket where the whole economic order is reduced down to cans on a shelf where you can buy two of crap you don't need for the price of one.

[D]

And this feeling of discontent that I've had in shopping at supermarkets, you know, for years and years before that, and being dissatisfied with the whole feeling of walking in there and having the choices that they're giving me and the way that I. It just felt like something that I don't want to do. But I kept on doing it.

[A]

He goes to grab a shopping cart. Only it's one of those setups where you got to insert a coin to get the cart, and you only get the coin back if you return the shopping cart. As if none of us can be trusted.

[D]

You know, basically, they asked me to sort of use the shopping cart, put the coin in and take the coin back and put it back to where it belongs. Then all of a sudden, there was that one moment when. When I sat, he said, fuck it, I'm not gonna do this anymore, and I'm not gonna stop other people from doing it as well.

[A]

So he takes a coin and he jams it into the slot so it won't come out. So now no one's playing the stupid shopping cart game, are they?

[D]

And it felt so good. It felt like. Like. It felt like a moment of liberation.

[B]

That.

[A]

That space right there where emotion becomes action when you're inspired to just do something already. That is the stuff of manifestos. Individuals, groups, entire swathes of society use it as the funnel to focus their erupting rage.

[E]

Number seven. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.

[A]

This is activist Bobby Seale reading the Black Panther Manifesto in 1968. They called it the Ten Point Program.

[E]

We want all black men held in counties, states, federal jails and prisons to be released because they have not had a fair trial, because they've been tried by all white juries. And that's just like being tried in Germany, being a Jew.

[A]

Manifestos aren't just pretty poems. They are, in a sense, a threat. A hard packed snowball of grievance and timing and nerve and real impact, a sparking of real, honest to God, change is the longest of long shots. But when it happens, when a manifesto catches fire, it can change our world. It can rewrite our future. But there's a hitch. Binge all episodes of Dan Taburski's manifesto ad free right now on Audible. Start your Audible subscription in the Audible app or on Apple Podcasts.