Behind the Bastards

It Could Happen Here Weekly 205

October 25, 2025

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  • Land ownership, historically established through violence and legitimized by law, is fundamentally linked to state domination, making squatting a persistent historical tactic of resistance against this structure. 
  • The proposed Trump 20-point peace plan for Palestine is characterized as authoritarian conflict management that conditions Palestinian self-determination on compliance, while ignoring accountability for alleged Israeli war crimes and lacking meaningful Palestinian buy-in. 
  • The global demand for tariffs, exemplified by the US and EU matching 50% steel tariffs, is structurally driven by issues like Chinese steel overcapacity, which is itself a complex and politically charged metric tied to local cadre performance incentives within the CCP. 
  • Chinese steel overcapacity is structurally driven by local cadre performance evaluations prioritizing GDP growth, which incentivizes economically dubious production, and by wealth distribution leading to underconsumption. 
  • Global steel overcapacity is a long-standing phenomenon rooted in the Marxist concept that overproduction and underconsumption are doubly constructed by the wage relation, reflecting a secular crisis in capitalist accumulation. 
  • New border wall construction, including proposals for double walls and expanded infrastructure, threatens critical wildlife migration corridors and sacred indigenous sites, while community resistance and mutual aid remain vital responses to escalating border militarization. 
  • A Substack report claiming ICE purchased "chemical weapons" and "guided missile warheads" was fact-checked and found to be based on misinterpretation of federal procurement codes, where "chemical weapons" referred to pepper spray (OC Spray) and "guided missile warheads" referred to distraction devices like flashbangs. 
  • The lack of editorial oversight in independent journalism platforms like Substack incentivizes sensationalism, contrasting with traditional media structures where editors provide crucial fact-checking and hole-pointing. 
  • Right-wing figures, including those at a White House roundtable, are actively seeking to frame left-wing and anarchist groups as an organized terrorist network ("Riot Inc.") funded by NGOs, leading to concerns about increased infiltration and pretextual crackdowns. 

Segments

GLP-1 Mythbusting Introduction
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(00:00:19)
  • Key Takeaway: Certified health coach Allie Egan addresses common misconceptions about GLP-1 drugs.
  • Summary: Introduction to mythbusting regarding GLP-1 drugs, covering whether they are a long-term solution, if they fix metabolism, and if they cause muscle loss.
Podcast Introduction and Format
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(00:02:30)
  • Key Takeaway: This episode of Behind the Bastards is a compilation of the week’s content with fewer advertisements.
  • Summary: Robert Evans announces the episode is a compilation. Hosts Andrew Sage and James Stout introduce themselves and the topic of ‘polycrisis,’ focusing on housing.
Land Ownership and Squatting History
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(00:03:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Land ownership is historically rooted in violence, leading to resistance practices like squatting.
  • Summary: Discussion on the housing crisis, the concentration of land ownership, and the natural human inclination to occupy unused land, which is now criminalized as squatting.
Violence Underpinning Property Rights
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(00:06:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Modern property ownership is legitimized violence, mirroring structures of feudalism and colonialism.
  • Summary: The hosts argue that land ownership emerged from violence (conquest, slavery) and is maintained by state repression, citing anarchist thinkers who criticized this structure.
Post-WWII Squatting by Veterans
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(00:04:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Direct action by veterans post-WWII solved a housing shortage the bureaucracy could not, forcing the government’s temporary retreat.
  • Summary: Detailing how ex-servicemen, led by Harry Cowley in Brighton, squatted abandoned army camps, housing over 45,000 people by 1946.
Bangladeshi Immigrant Squatting in the 70s
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(00:05:12)
  • Key Takeaway: Organized squatting by Bangladeshi immigrants in the 1970s successfully pressured the council to rehouse them locally.
  • Summary: Explaining the Catch-22 faced by single men needing housing to bring over families, leading them to squat empty council flats until the council conceded.
Queer and Black Radical Squatting in Brixton
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(00:06:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Squats in Brixton served as vital refuges for queer people and Black radicals, fostering community and resistance.
  • Summary: The Gay Liberation Front and activists like Olive Morris and Liz Obie used squats as communal homes, which became centers for solidarity amidst rising hostility.
Chinese Cadre Performance Evaluations
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(01:08:23)
  • Key Takeaway: Local Chinese officials are ranked by performance evaluations heavily weighted on GDP metrics.
  • Summary: Discussion of how Chinese government cadres are evaluated, emphasizing that hitting targets, especially GDP numbers, is the path to advancement, and poor performance leads to demotion.
GDP Metrics and Steel Overcapacity
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(01:09:51)
  • Key Takeaway: The focus on GDP incentivizes useless production, like making steel nobody wants, contributing to overcapacity.
  • Summary: Explaining that GDP is a ‘weird number’ that can be artificially boosted by unprofitable activities, specifically citing the overproduction of steel as a consequence of cadre evaluation incentives.
Wealth Inequality and Consumption Crisis
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(01:12:17)
  • Key Takeaway: Upward wealth distribution in China lowers consumption, creating structural overcapacity.
  • Summary: An economist’s argument that low consumption, due to wages not keeping pace with productivity gains and profits going to capital owners, causes structural overcapacity.
Geopolitical Framing of Steel Overcapacity
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(01:14:48)
  • Key Takeaway: The common Western narrative blames Chinese state subsidization, deflecting from global economic contradictions.
  • Summary: Analyzing the argument that China floods the world with cheap steel due to SOE subsidization, contrasting this with the structural causes of overcapacity.
Global Overproduction and Underconsumption
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(01:17:33)
  • Key Takeaway: Steel overcapacity is a global phenomenon resulting from a global economy that cannot support current production levels.
  • Summary: The host argues that overcapacity is a global issue since the 60s/70s, leading to a zero-sum production environment. This is explained using Marxian theory where overproduction and underconsumption are unified by the wage relation.
Capitalist Accumulation and Automation Crisis
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(02:11:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Capitalist accumulation driven by automation leads to structural unemployment and a crisis of overproduction/underconsumption.
  • Summary: Explanation of Marx’s general law of capitalist accumulation: increasing automation lowers the rate of profit, reduces labor demand, kicks workers into informal economies, and exacerbates the crisis of too much supply and too little purchasing power.
Border Wall Construction and Environmental Impact
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(01:34:03)
  • Key Takeaway: New border barrier plans threaten remote, sacred wilderness areas with severe environmental damage.
  • Summary: Interview with Eric Mesa about CBP soliciting comments for 9.7 miles of new barrier west of Tecate, detailing expected impacts like blasting, road widening, and harm to wildlife migration corridors.
Debunking ICE Weapon Claims
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(02:17:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Claims of ICE buying chemical weapons and guided missiles were false; they were distraction devices and pepper spray.
  • Summary: The hosts analyze a Substack report claiming ICE purchased chemical weapons and guided missile warheads, tracing the product codes to distraction devices (flashbangs) and OC spray (pepper spray). They criticize the reporting for being dishonest and misleading.
Media Incentives and Editorial Oversight
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(02:21:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Substack writers have a direct financial incentive to create sensational claims, unlike established media structures that employ editors for fact-checking.
  • Summary: The speaker discusses the financial incentives in media, contrasting their structure with Substack authors who benefit from alarming content. They stress the importance of editors in catching factual holes, such as misinterpreting procurement codes.
National Guard Deployment Update
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(02:28:49)
  • Key Takeaway: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Trump administration, halting an order denying the deployment of the Oregon National Guard to Portland.
  • Summary: An update on the legal battle regarding the deployment of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, noting a two-to-one ruling by a three-panel hearing with two Trump-appointed judges.
Marine Corps Birthday Mishap
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(02:29:50)
  • Key Takeaway: A 155mm howitzer shell prematurely detonated during a Marine Corps 250th celebration rehearsal, damaging a police car in JD Vance’s security detail.
  • Summary: The hosts discuss the Marine Corps 250th celebration, noting the playing of Helldivers music, and report on the accidental detonation of an artillery shell near Camp Pendleton that damaged a car assigned to JD Vance’s security.
Inflated DHS Deportation Figures
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(03:03:58)
  • Key Takeaway: DHS deportation numbers are inflated, including turnaways, and the 1.6 million ‘self-deported’ figure originates from the SPLC-designated hate group, CIS.
  • Summary: The hosts critique DHS claims regarding deportation numbers, explaining that figures include airport turnaways. They highlight that the widely cited 1.6 million figure comes from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which they note is a Tanton-funded organization adjudicated as a hate group.
Right-Wing Influencers Meet at White House
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(03:09:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Right-wing influencers met with Trump officials to discuss Antifa theories, signaling a likely increase in infiltration and entrapment attempts against left-wing groups.
  • Summary: Following a previous episode, right-wing influencers gathered at the White House for an ‘Antifa roundtable.’ The hosts warn listeners to expect increased infiltration attempts by federal actors seeking pretexts for crackdowns, citing examples of activists being targeted.
Riot Inc. Funding Theory
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(03:11:48)
  • Key Takeaway: A researcher presented a theory of a ‘Riot Inc.’ network funded by NGOs and taxpayer money supporting radical organizations, which Trump asked attendees to report on.
  • Summary: Seamus Bruner discussed his theory that a network of NGOs funds an ecosystem supporting Antifa, including legal and research groups. Trump urged attendees to hand over information on funders to authorities like Pam Bondi.
US-China Trade War Escalation
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(03:14:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Trump announced a massive resumption of the trade war, including a potential 100% tariff, in response to China restricting rare earth metal exports.
  • Summary: The hosts detail the re-escalation of the trade war, noting Trump’s threat of a 100% tariff and a potential software export ban. They also mention that this policy is angering key Republican bases like soybean farmers.
Alaska Climate Refugee Crisis
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(03:17:08)
  • Key Takeaway: A massive storm left over a thousand Alaska Natives without shelter, highlighting decades of ignoring indigenous warnings about the climate crisis.
  • Summary: The hosts discuss the humanitarian crisis in Alaska where a typhoon destroyed homes, leaving thousands homeless at the start of winter. They note the prior cancellation of a $20 million flood protection grant by the Trump EPA.