
Death Panel
Politics, culture, and public policy from the left. Stay alive another week.
w/ Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Artie Vierkant, Phil Rocco and Jules Gill-Peterson.
https://www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod
Latest episodes

Jun 12, 2025 • 1h 17min
Seizing the Means of Reproduction w/ Annie Powers & Tracy Rosenthal (Re-Air)
Note: This episode was originally released November 14th, 2024 and is being re-aired today in solidarity with the actions taking place in Los Angeles and elsewhere. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod
Beatrice and Tracy Rosenthal speak with Annie Powers about how our organizing can meet the moment, with lessons from homeless, landless, and poor people’s movements from the 1930s, 1980s, and today.
Annie Powers is an organizer with Union de Vecinos, the Eastside Local of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, and a scholar of landless people’s political movements in the United States. She studies the history of housing and homelessness, and poor people’s urban land struggle, in the US and the world.
Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' new book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny
Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent
Preorder Phil's new book, Counting Like a State, here: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639687/
Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch
As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Jun 9, 2025 • 1h 53min
Sick Sad World w/ Vicky Osterweil (Unlocked)
Vicky Osterweil, an author and writer known for her book 'In Defense of Looting', joins the conversation to unpack the political climate during Trump's second term. They discuss the alarming rise of fascism and mass deportations, emphasizing the importance of grassroots movements. Vicky critiques how health is weaponized against marginalized communities, advocating for resilience and community organizing. As they reflect on existential joys, the duo urges listeners to find everyday revolutionary actions that foster hope and change in challenging times.

Jun 5, 2025 • 1h 21min
Mad World w/ Micha Frazer-Carroll (Re-Air)
Micha Frazer-Carroll, an author and journalist known for her book 'Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health,' delves into the complexities of mental health in this discussion. She challenges traditional notions of care, advocating for a more inclusive approach beyond standard therapy. The conversation critiques capitalist influences on mental health diagnoses and treatments, emphasizing the need for peer-led support and community collaboration. Frazer-Carroll also highlights the intersection of activism and mental health, pushing for innovative, human-centered care models.

Jun 2, 2025 • 17min
Teaser - The Pro-Infection Presidency w/ Jane Thomason (06/02/25)
Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/130544835
Beatrice speaks with Jane Thomason of National Nurses United (NNU) about the Trump administration’s disbanding of the CDC’s HICPAC committee, the body that oversees infection control practices across the healthcare industry — and a committee that Jane was briefly involved with as part of an advisory workgroup since last summer. We also discuss the Trump administration’s staggering cuts across NIOSH, a key agency for workplace health and safety protections, and their significance within the broader “MAHA” agenda.
Jane Thomason is NNU’s lead industrial hygienist. She was last on the show in March 2024 and August 2023 to speak about a campaign against proposed infection control cuts being considered by HICPAC, after which she was added to a HICPAC workgroup that May. Jane returns today now that, with HICPAC disbanded, she’s once again able to speak more openly about committee deliberations.
Find NNU's call to action letter about NIOSH here:
https://nnu.org/saveniosh
Runtime 1:09:48
Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week.
Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' new book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny
Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

May 29, 2025 • 1h 15min
Refusing Genocide, from Palestine to Pandemic w/ Rasha Abdulhadi (Re-Air)
Note: We are back from parental leave! This episode was originally released September 27th, 2024 and is being re-aired today in solidarity with Palestine, and to be able to re-share Rasha's guided reflection near the end of the discussion (beginning 44:55).
To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod
Original description:
Beatrice speaks with Rasha Abdulhadi about how, as we near 11 months and 100+ years of genocidal settler colonial violence in Palestine, it is vital to remain steadfast in our demands for Palestinian liberation. We discuss turning away from despair towards patience and boldness in our actions, why our demands must push for and beyond “ceasefire,” and draw connections between settler colonialism here and in Palestine; inviting us all to become more skillful in keeping each other alive.
This episode was originally recorded at the 2024 Socialism Conference. We will be returning for this year's 2025 iteration for our third annual collaboration with the conference organizers, in Chicago the weekend of July 4th. (Masking required!) Details at https://socialismconference.org/
Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' new book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny
Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch
As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

May 26, 2025 • 24min
Teaser - Here Come the Long Knives (05/26/25)
Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/129947873
Beatrice and Artie discuss the “GOP Murder Bill” just passed in the House of Representatives, with a particular focus on why adding work requirements to Medicaid is so dangerous, and how brazen the attacks on trans care are under the bill. Then we discuss Vinay Prasad and Marty Makary’s attempts to use the FDA to make it impossible to get a covid vaccine.
Runtime 1:26:00
Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week.
Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' new book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny

May 21, 2025 • 1h 28min
RFK, Health Capitalism and the Myths of Wellness (Re-Air)
Note: We are back from parental leave! This episode was originally released for patrons November 18, 2024 and is being re-aired today with a new brief intro from Artie at the top of the episode. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod
Original description:
Beatrice and Artie discuss Trump’s nomination of prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency overseeing healthcare, infectious disease, food safety, and more. We discuss some of RFK’s more unseemly beliefs, the responses to his nomination so far, and how his nomination doesn’t come out of nowhere, but instead follows decades of struggles over the political economy of health that have laid the groundwork for a figure like him to come into power.
Find the episode "Health Fascism Descends" here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/health-fascism-128800850
Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' new book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny
Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch
As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

May 19, 2025 • 28min
Teaser - There Is No Place For Us w/ Brian Goldstone (05/19/25)
Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/129388051
Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Tracy Rosenthal speak with Brian Goldstone about how we intentionally undercount the homeless in America, and what life looks like for those that don’t make the official count; the myths of homelessness and personal responsibility that draw attention away from the demise of public housing and rise of neoliberalism; and Brian’s new book There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America.
Find Brian's book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645871/there-is-no-place-for-us-by-brian-goldstone/
Runtime 1:42:01
Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week.
Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' new book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny

May 14, 2025 • 2h 31min
Nathan Tanks the Economy: An Oral History of 100 Days of DOGE w/ Nathan Tankus (Unlocked)
Note: We are back from parental leave! This episode was originally released May 5th for Death Panel patrons and is being unlocked today for the first time. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod
Beatrice speaks with Nathan Tankus to walk through an oral history of the early months of DOGE's ongoing infiltration of the Treasury payments system and Social Security, why the "Trump-Musk Payments Crisis" threatens a bigger fundamental threat of US economic breakdown than even Trump's tariffs, and why Nathan tried (and failed) to crash the stock market.
Transcript: www.deathpanel.net/transcripts/doge-nathan-tankus
Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' latest book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny
Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch
As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

May 12, 2025 • 27min
Teaser - Health Fascism Descends (05/12/25)
Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/128800850
Beatrice, Artie and Phil review the early months of the second Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, with health agencies undergoing mass purges, Medicaid cuts looming, millions declared administratively “dead” by the Social Security Administration, and top officials asserting “healthy people don’t consume healthcare resources.” We discuss the false claims that each of these attacks are attempts to target “waste, fraud and abuse” and why it is that health is such a particular target of the administration this time around.
Runtime 1:30:03
Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week.
Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
Find Jules' new book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny