Free bonus episode!
California is always on my mind, but especially lately because it has become a site for many wicked problems: not only the raging wildfires, but also the closely related issues of overdevelopment in unsuitable locales, billionaire corruption, and the climate crisis.
In a live-streamed crossover episode of Un-Diplomatic with the Bang-Bang Podcast (the show about war movies, with an anti-imperialist twist), Lyle and I sat down with Rowan Wernham, the co-writer and director of a great 2024 documentary called Pistachio Wars. There is no military style war in the film, but there’s plenty of class war, from above. And as we discuss in the episode, California’s favorite agricultural oligarchs actually do play a role in American militarism, especially toward Iran!
Enjoy this special crossover episode wherever you get podcasts (also here), and stream the full film at home: