<![CDATA[Firewalled Media]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xNil!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F72dc0181-a552-4f6c-8cfc-02cfe028eb1e_700x700.pngFirewalled Mediahttps://www.firewalledmedia.comSubstackWed, 20 May 2026 18:08:19 GMT<![CDATA[Losing Friends and Alienating People: Oman Edition]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/losing-friends-and-alienating-people-2c4https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/losing-friends-and-alienating-people-2c4Fri, 01 May 2026 13:01:46 GMTAudio Version

Donald Trump is a loser—not in a playground-insult sense, but a definitional one. Trump is a thing that loses; it is his function and his purpose. He is a finely-tuned machine that turns victory into defeat. He is enshittification made flesh.

For 79 long years this virtuoso has honed his craft, and we are blessed to witness his magnum opus. His unprecede…

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]]><![CDATA[Losing Friends and Alienating People: Oman Edition (Audio)]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/losing-friends-and-alienating-peoplehttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/losing-friends-and-alienating-peopleFri, 01 May 2026 08:45:36 GMTFor the lovely premium subscribers: the audio version! Thank you, as always, for your support.

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Here’s the map referenced in the recording:

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]]><![CDATA[What Is To Be Done?]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/what-is-to-be-donehttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/what-is-to-be-doneWed, 29 Apr 2026 21:05:50 GMTLast month, I had the opportunity all speakers dream of: the opportunity to craft a lecture on whatever I wanted for Reed College.

Here’s what I went with:

If you too are curious about What Is To Be Done: How To Take Action in Horrifying Times, you can get my take on the answer with the recorded version of that lecture, which includes a hefty Q&A at the e…

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]]><![CDATA[Our Universe Is Beautiful]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/our-universe-is-beautifulhttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/our-universe-is-beautifulTue, 07 Apr 2026 11:43:37 GMTUsually, the audio is a premium subscriber perk. For this article, it’s free

The earth is full of light, which means the stars are hard to see. I’ve only truly witnessed them in two places: Khost, Afghanistan and Stanley, Idaho. You see why the ancients named it the Milky Way when it’s blackout dark like that. A band of light, and each light is a star, a…

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]]><![CDATA[Why We're Really In Iran: Part 2]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/why-were-really-in-iran-part-2https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/why-were-really-in-iran-part-2Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:44:00 GMTAudio (Parts 1 and 2)

Part 1

Yesterday, we talked about the Very Clear Objectives Trump and friends have laid out for our “excursion” to Iran. With that fiction out of the way, let’s talk about the actual reasons we’ve decided to start the world’s stupidest war. They are, I’m afraid, very stupid, very misguided, and/or very downright evil. Like, cartoonishly so.

Let’s get into it:

1.…

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]]><![CDATA[Why We're Really In Iran: Part 1]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/why-were-really-in-iran-part-1https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/why-were-really-in-iran-part-1Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:50:04 GMTAudio Version (parts 1 and 2)

Say what you want about our objectives in Iran, at least they’re clear. “Crystal clear,” according to Admiral Brad Cooper. Everybody says so, and they say it all the time. “I don’t understand what the confusion is,” Marco Rubio told the press peevishly three days into the war. “Let me explain it to you, and I’ll do it once again as clearly as possible.”

…

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]]><![CDATA[Why We're Really In Iran (Audio)]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/why-were-really-in-iran-audiohttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/why-were-really-in-iran-audioMon, 23 Mar 2026 17:34:54 GMTFor the lovely premium subscribers: the audio version! I’ve combined both parts of the article into a single audio file for your listening…well, pleasure seems like a strong word, but your listening. For you to listen to if you would like to.

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]]><![CDATA[This Is All So Goddamn Unnecessary]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/this-is-all-so-goddamn-unnecessaryhttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/this-is-all-so-goddamn-unnecessarySat, 28 Feb 2026 15:05:04 GMT(writing this on my phone on a train so no audio today; I'll drop a recording tomorrow)

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]]><![CDATA[This Union's In A State!]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/this-unions-in-a-statehttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/this-unions-in-a-stateWed, 25 Feb 2026 09:23:11 GMTIf you’d rather read about two weird parties—one for a conservative magazine, the other sponsored by Pornhub—boy howdy do I have something for you:

My Latest for Slate

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]]><![CDATA[This Union's In A State (Audio)]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/this-unions-in-a-state-audiohttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/this-unions-in-a-state-audioWed, 25 Feb 2026 09:20:56 GMTFor the lovely premium subscribers: the audio version! Thank you, as always, for your support: I could not do this without you.

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]]><![CDATA[Won't You Be My Neighbor?]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/wont-you-be-my-neighborhttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/wont-you-be-my-neighborFri, 13 Feb 2026 12:30:30 GMTOn Wednesday, I wrote an article for Slate Magazine about Minneapolis residents standing up against ICE: why they do it, what that looks like day-to-day, and where they find the courage despite the danger. Please check it out if you would like to!

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And here’s a different article about the secret weapon that residents in Minneapolis are using against ICE…

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]]><![CDATA[Won't You Be My Neighbor? (Audio)]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/wont-you-be-my-neighbor-audiohttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/wont-you-be-my-neighbor-audioFri, 13 Feb 2026 05:23:28 GMTFor the lovely premium subscribers: the audio version, read by yours truly.

On Wednesday, I wrote an article for Slate Magazine about Minneapolis residents standing up against ICE: why they do it, what that looks like day-to-day, and where they find the courage despite the danger. Please check it out if you would like to!

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This article, which is not the same as the Slate article, includes a lot of pictures, and here they are:

IThank you, as always, for your support—I could not do this without you!

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]]><![CDATA[Minneapolis Execution ]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/minneapolis-executionhttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/minneapolis-executionSat, 24 Jan 2026 20:39:28 GMTThe video of ICE killing a man today is the worst thing I've ever seen.

There is no blood. It is not graphic in a traditional sense. The video is taken from a distance, you have to turn the sound on to understand what you are seeing. Or at least, I did. Sight alone wasn't enough for me to comprehend what I was witnessing: something I have never seen anyw…

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]]><![CDATA[That One Time ICE Hired Me]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/that-one-time-ice-hired-mehttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/that-one-time-ice-hired-meTue, 13 Jan 2026 14:31:46 GMTThose of you who watched my August AMA may recall a moment when someone brought up an ICE hiring event occurring later that month in Arlington, Texas:

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]]><![CDATA[How To Do Enough]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/how-to-do-enoughhttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/how-to-do-enoughMon, 12 Jan 2026 16:09:39 GMT

Audio Version

There’s a type of comment I hear on a fairly regular basis, both online and in everyday life. I got such a comment under my last article about fighting back against ICE and the Trump administration generally, and I hope the commenter won’t mind if I use it as an example.

Here’s the part I want to talk about:

I'm mentally ill-type disabled. I'm one of the …

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]]><![CDATA[How To Do Enough (Audio)]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/how-to-do-enough-audiohttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/how-to-do-enough-audioMon, 12 Jan 2026 16:08:26 GMTFor the lovely premium subscribers: the audio version! For once it’s not horrifically depressing, so there’s that.

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]]><![CDATA[The Law of the Gun]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/the-law-of-the-gunhttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/the-law-of-the-gunSat, 10 Jan 2026 04:14:45 GMTThis one’s important, so the audio is free:

Audio Version

You already know that an ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, in Minneapolis on Wednesday. If you watched any of the multiple videos of the incident with an interest in finding out what happened, you walked away with the same conclusion reached by the New York Times, Washington Po…

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]]><![CDATA[The Law of the Gun (Audio)]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/the-law-of-the-gun-audiohttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/the-law-of-the-gun-audioSat, 10 Jan 2026 04:13:12 GMTFor the lovely premium subscribers (and also the free subscribers, today): the audio version! Another heavy one, I’m afraid.

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Here are photos and links that the audio directly refers to:

murdered woman's glove compartment filled with stuffed animals
Click here to see the wider shot

Video: ICE points handgun at protester’s head last night

]]><![CDATA[Über Alles]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/uber-alles-9dbhttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/uber-alles-9dbWed, 07 Jan 2026 05:29:00 GMT

Audio Version

Let’s get one thing out of the way up top: America First was never an anti-interventionist slogan—not in the 1930s and certainly not today. That the slogan convinced millions of Trump supporters that they were voting against cavalier use of our military makes no difference. The shocking thing about January 3rd isn’t that Trump has decided to overthrow a…

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]]><![CDATA[Über Alles]]>https://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/uber-alleshttps://www.firewalledmedia.com/p/uber-allesWed, 07 Jan 2026 05:27:56 GMTFor the lovely premium subscribers: the audio version.

I’ve been tweaking and rewriting this one for three solid days. I was tweaking and rewriting it as I recorded it, and if I don’t publish it now I’ll be tweaking and rewriting it for the next several years. Here it is, for better or worse.

Dark one today, folks. As the title suggests.

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