This Is Hell!

Our Best of 2023 series continues with Stefania Maurizi, an investigative journalist currently contributing to the major Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano after working for the last 14 years for la Repubblica, consistently rated among the top two Italian newspapers, and for the italian newsmagezine l’Espresso. She has worked with Julian Assange and his organization WikiLeaks since 2009, teaming up with large teams of international media to cover and investigate all of WikiLeaks' secret documents. Stefania speaks with host Chuck Mertz about her book "Secret Power: WikiLeaks and Its Enemies" recently published by Pluto Press: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745347615/secret-power/ After the interview, more of your answers to the Question from Hell and a Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Today's episode features our second-most played interview of 2023, according to SoundCloud's data. Reporter, public records requester, researcher Julia Rock joins us to discuss her article at The Lever, "How Big Pharma Actually Spends Its Massive Profits: New research shows that pharmaceutical companies have spent more on enriching shareholders than drug research and development over the past decade." After the interview, we read more of your answers to this week's Question from Hell and an all-new installment of Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Julia's article here: https://www.levernews.com/how-big-pharma-actually-spends-its-massive-profits/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Back by popular demand in our Best of 2023 series: Journalist Christopher Ketcham who co-wrote The Intercept piece, "The Shutdown of “Luxury Emissions” Should Be at the Center of Climate Revolt." After that, Sebastian Wuepper returns with a new The Past Inside the Present. Check out Christopher's article here: https://theintercept.com/2022/12/13/climate-protest-private-jets-schiphol-airport/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Brian Mier returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his recent publication, "Anticorruption and Imperialist Blind Spots: The Role of the United States in Brazil’s Long Coup," in Latin American Perspectives. This is the first peer-reviewed study confirming that the United States played a crucial role in Brazil's long coup, which threw the left out of power in 2016 and brought about far-right rule in 2018 under the guise of anti-corruption. After that, the rest of your answers to the Question from Hell, including the week's winner, and another Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen. Check out Brian's article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0094582X231213614 Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Olivia Riggio on her Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting article, “Blaming Mass Shootings on Mental Illness Doesn’t Address Either Issue: Rationalizing the horrors of a mass shooting by emphasizing the perpetrator’s mental state does little to address the larger issue,” followed by Rotten History. Check out Olivia's article here: https://fair.org/home/blaming-mass-shootings-on-mental-illness-doesnt-address-either-issue/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Christopher Ketcham on his Harper's Magazine article, "The Machine Breaker: Inside the mind of an ‘ecoterrorist’." Then a Past Inside the Present with Sebastian Wuepper. Check out Christopher's article here: https://harpers.org/archive/2023/11/the-machine-breaker/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Kay Gabriel on her n+1 magazine article, "The Anti-Trans Panic and the Crusade Against Teachers: The goal is to crumble popular support for public education." Plus, a Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen and Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Kay's article here: https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/the-anti-trans-panic-and-the-crusade-against-teachers/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Susan Neiman on her The New York Review of Books essay, "Germany on Edge: In recent weeks, Germany’s reflexive defenses of Israel and suppression of its critics have assumed a fevered pitch." Then another installment of The Past Inside the Present with Sebastian Wuepper. Check out Susan's article here: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/11/03/germany-on-edge-israel-palestine/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Pooja Bhatia Agarwal joins This Is Hell! to discuss her recent Baffler article, "Deadly Strain: How the UN sought to deny its role in Haiti’s cholera epidemic." Plus, another dose of Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Pooja's article here: https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/deadly-strain-bhatia Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Intercept's Nick Turse joins This Is Hell! to discuss his just-published report, "Civilian Harm Secret Pentagon Investigation Found No One at Fault in Drone Strike That Killed Woman and 4-Year-Old." In the undeclared drone war, nobody is accountable. Check out Nick's report here: https://theintercept.com/2023/11/12/somalia-drone-strike-civilian-deaths/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Saree Makdisi returns to discuss his n+1 article, "No Human Being Can Exist: How can a person make up for seven decades of misrepresentation and willful distortion in the time allotted to a sound bite?” Then, Sebastian Wuepper returns with a new The Past Inside the Present. Check out Saree's article: https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/no-human-being-can-exist/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Bloomberg's Faye Flam on her Noema Magazine article, “The 'Man the Hunter' Myth Won't Go Away: Persistent myths about strictly defined social roles for humans in the past only limit what it means to be part of society today.” Also, a 'Moment of Truth' from Jeffrey Dorchen. Check out Faye's article here: https://www.noemamag.com/the-man-the-hunter-myth-wont-go-away/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Shane Burley on his writing at Waging Nonviolence on white nationalists manipulating the Gaza crisis. Plus 'Rotten History.' Check out Shane's article, "How the far right is trying to manipulate the crisis in Gaza": https://wagingnonviolence.org/2023/11/far-right-try-manipulate-gaza-crisis/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

We had to reschedule today's guest, Nick Turse, whose article on American drone strikes and civilian casualties in Somalia remains to be published. We will let you know when that interview will take place as soon as we know. Today's episode features a timely interview from our archives. On February 15, 2015, just months after Israel's last invasion of Gaza, Middle East scholar Norman Finkelstein joined This Is Hell! to discuss the mechanisms of Israeli occupation, and the internal politics that sustain the country’s periodic massacres in Palestine. He is the author of the then-recently published book, _Method and Madness: The Hidden Story of Israel’s Assaults on Gaza_ from OR Books. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

George Monbiot returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his recent article, "The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed People: The astonishing story of how a movement’s quest for rural simplicity drifted into a formula for mass death." Check out George's article here: https://www.monbiot.com/2023/10/04/the-cruel-fantasies-of-well-fed-people/ Jeff Dorchen plays the Jew card in his latest Moment of Truth. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Sophia Goodfriend discusses her Baffler article, "Blunt Force: 'Precision' warfare does not exist," on the war in #Gaza. Also, 'The Past Inside the Present" with Seb Wüpper on Money.

Center for Economic and Policy Research's Mark Weisbrot on his article, "Ecuador’s Election Could Have Lasting Consequences," which was originally posted at Common Dreams: https://www.cepr.net/ecuadors-election-could-have-lasting-consequences/ Also, Jeffrey Dorchen with a 'Moment of Truth,' and we are announcing this week's Question from Hell! winner. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Institute for Policy Studies' Phyllis Bennis on her recent writing, “As Israel and Gaza erupt, the US must commit to ending the violence — all the violence,” at The Hill and, “Both Israelis and Palestinians Are Victims of Israel’s Apartheid System," at InsideSources. We will also have this week's Hangover Cure, Question from Hell, and Rotten History. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Karen Greenberg, Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law, joins This is Hell! to discuss her latest article, "Closing Guantánamo?: Yes, at a Snail's Pace...but a Pace," published in TomDispatch. Seb returns with another installment of The Past Inside the Present. Check out her article here: https://tomdispatch.com/closing-guantanamo/ Check out the United Nations 2023 special report on GITMO here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-terrorism/us-and-guantanamo-detention-facility Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

openDemocracy's Chrissy Stroop on Twitter's death and what it means for the 2024 presidential election, and anti-trans activists taking a page from the anti-abortion movement's winning playbook. Also, a note about Gaza and Chuck's adventures with media polls.