Sean is joined by favorite guest and wife Rax King to discuss her upcoming essay in journalism cooperative Flaming Hydra on why organizing in the food service industry is so difficult but also so vital. What will it take for labor to break through in this industry? What can restaurant work teach us about labor in general? Why are these restaurant owners always clenching their jaws and sweating so much? Answers to these questions, an introduction to Rax's patented Nine Rigors system of becoming a human, an old fashioned gripezone and more on this special, last minute episode.

To support our work and get access to all our bonus material become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/thiswreckage

Check out Rax King's excellent newsletter for all her great writings: https://www.patreon.com/c/raxkingisdead/home

Come see Rax in person in NYC for the Veiled Prophet event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-veiled-prophet-nyc-book-event-tickets-1990109537198

As Sean and Varn reconvene we are faced with the unenviable task of trying to understand what the hell the Democratic Party is going to run on in 2026 and 2028, How to understand this economic moment? How to understand the various geopolitical crises around the globe? How are counterhegemonic actors like Graham Platner and Alex Jones going to politically confront the brave new world of AI? Stay tuned!

To listen to the entire episode including the bonus section become a supporter of our show at www.patreon.com/thiswreckage

To watch the video of this whole episode become a supporter of C Derick Varn at www.patreon.com/varnvlog

Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRqRb6xYtEQ

https://www.cio.com/article/4131876/data-center-capex-to-hit-1-7-trillion-by-2030-due-to-ai-boom.html

NEW EP! Was Trump's China trip a Nothing Burger or a soy slop?

Why does the Deep State care so much about Taiwan?

And Sean's NY☭ hat came from WHERE?

All that plus choo-choo talk (LIRR Strike) in the bonus! For the full episode, sign up at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/nyregion/lirr-strike-long-island-rail-road.html

https://nypost.com/2026/05/16/us-news/hochul-pushed-lirr-strike-to-pick-up-votes-on-long-island-from-gop-opponent-transit-union-chief/

De-Tuckerized version of Sean's hat: https://www.neoliberalhell.com/shop/p/mysterious-hat

Song: Misfits - She (Demo version)

NEWS EP! Sean reports back from the a Beverly Hills Hedge Fund summit. Europe goes solar punk. US debt passes GDP as Project Freedom fails, and the Mideast bases lie in ruin. Is America through, or just through being cool?

Billionaires Unfazed by Iran: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/19bda51e-fb62-4432-bc37-b9b425f19edd

Labor Market Unfazed by Iran https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/57482c61-164e-4f48-8214-370b269ac7b6

Europe Solar/Iran War: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/business/europe-solar-panels-iran-war.html

US Debt Milestone: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/business/us-debt-trump-policies-budget.html

This (US base) Wreckage: https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/01/world/video/us-military-bases-iran-strikes-images-invs-digvid

"Operation Trust Me Bro" : https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/05/07/top-iran-negotiator-mocks-operation-trust-me-bro-and-questions-reports-of-trumps-peace-proposal/

Saudi/Kuwait Cold Feet — Gulf states pulling back from US posture on Hormuz https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/us/politics/trump-strait-of-hormuz-saudis.html

Iran Economic Wreckage: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/world/middleeast/iran-economy-layoffs.html

America is through being cool? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/opinion/vintage-clothes-america-cool-culture.html

Song: Nirvana - Milk It

We're joined by Henry Wallis of the FORMS podcast to guide us through one of the most obscure and challenging, yet arguably most consequential Biblical texts: the Book of Revelations.

For the FULL episode, Discord access, and all bonus content support the show at http:///patreon.com/ThisWreckage

Written by a Christian exile on an Aegean Island in a time of intense imperial Civil War and internal repression of Jews and Christians, the text is interpreted by scholars as a coded polemic against tyranny and assimilation, and by end-times preachers (and US officials) as a description of contemporary events. Now, Henry, the Orthodox scholar, Sean, the occasional Church-goer, and Andy, the non-practicing Reddit Athiest, will take on the text with fresh eyes.

We read from the King James Bible and David Bentley Hart's translation of the New Testament

Song: Blind Willie Johnson - John the Revelator

Interviews from this past weekend's Upstate Anarchist Bookfair with Riot Act Books, Solarpunk writer Phoebe Wagner, Flock Off Ithaca, Bolshevik Tendency, and Warzone Distro

For an extended version of this episode, sign up for FREE at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

At the end I include a snippet of our Armed Love interview with Ben Morea, who passed away this weekend. Check out the full interview here: Part 1: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65595770?collection=87680 Part 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65563424?collection=87680

Critique of "win" narrative in Minneapolis: https://illwill.com/proto-politics-in-purgatory

Song: Another Dimension - Twilight Zone (Remix)

We take another break from WW3 and various attempted assassinations with a sojourn into some economic shit with our guest Nicolas D Villarreal, an independent researcher focusing on the capitalist political economy.

For the full episode, support the show at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

Full piece: https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/the-capitalist-in-the-21st-century/

Response https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-limiting-factors-in-capitalist-growth/

Counter-Response https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/04/letter-why-the-limit-is-not-a-lack-of-opportunity/

FT article in agricultural inflation: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/e13369c2-edb8-4418-adfb-3496d2fae185

CBS News' penny pinching tips: https://x.com/TheRealVarnVlog/status/2048217038443991052

Song: Kinks - Maximum Consumption

Sean and Andy are joined by researcher A.J.A. Woods to discuss their new book The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West.

How did this basket of conspiracies come together in the post-60s moment? Who was Lyndon Larouche and how did he provide a bridge from quasi-Leninist elitism to the Reaganite New Right? What does culture even mean for the right and how has it taken such outsized importance for them?

And, in the bonus for subscribers, what might an actual Marxism that is cultural look like and how many Beatles songs was Theodor Adorno responsible for writing?

Become a supporter of our work at www.patreon.com/thiswreckage

Song: Alien Nosejob - Kinks vs. Stones

&y & &ers celebrate weed's birthday with our annual reading of "Wally B" (Walter Benjamin)!

This year, we read Leon Wieseltier's weasel-tier preface to Benjamin's Illuminations, then "Unpacking My Library" and a section of Berlin Childhood.

For the full episode, subscribe at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage & listen to the end for a story of Anders' Benjamin-inspired direct action against Rahm Emmanuel.

Song: Eminem - Cleanin' Out My Closet (Slowed)

NEWS EP! Andy is a bestseller. Sean becomes a Luddite Gnome. Orbon is Or-gone. Situation monitoring Hormuz, and looking back at the Suez crisis.

In the bonus we discuss AI-generated Iranian propaganda. To hear that, support the show at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

Metropolitans B&N event with Noah Kulwin: https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062206054-0

‘Summer of Ludd’ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/style/lamp-club-luddites.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Orban Loss: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/us/politics/orban-trump-maga.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Audio of Iranian warning that scared away US Navy warship https://x.com/eternalphysics/status/2043309125572936047?s=46

Suez and Iran by Niall Ferguson https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/america-suez-crisis-trump-presidency-world-order-iran-cqrfs86z0

Central banks sell US Treasuries in wake of Iran war: https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/6fac51c8-b650-48d4-82eb-e6e66f75dd2fForeign

Iran plans permanent changes to world economy https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/04/10/766586/why-no-matter-can-undermine-iran-eternal-dominance-over-strait-hormuz

Catching up with Molly Crabapple about Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund, available TODAY!!

See also Molly's "My Great Grandfather was a Bundist" in New York Review of Books

Support the show / get bonus content at http://patreon.com/thiswreckage

Song: New Yiddish Chorale/Workers Circle Chorus feat. Adrienne Cooper - Barikadn (Barricades)