Death Panel

To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod Beatrice and Artie discuss a disturbing set of arguments that evidence of famine in Gaza—and genocide deaths themselves—can be invalidated by showing that the victims had “pre-existing conditions” or “underlying health conditions,” most brazenly demonstrated in a recent Free Press piece called “They Became Symbols for Gazan Starvation. But All 12 Suffer from Other Health Problems.” Donate links for projects mentioned in the episode: Gaza Funds - https://gazafunds.com/ Sameer Project - https://linktr.ee/thesameerproject Medical Campaign x Sameer Project - https://chuffed.org/project/136892-medical-campaign-x-sameer-project South Gaza: Tents, Food & Water (Sameer Project) - https://chuffed.org/project/113222-tent-campaign-the-sameer-project The Refaat Alareer Camp (Sameer Project) - https://chuffed.org/project/113327-refaat-alareer-camp-the-sameer-project North Gaza: Food, Water & Other Distributions (Sameer Project) - https://chuffed.org/project/help-us-deliver-vital-aid-to-gaza-families-in-need Gaza Municipality's Artificial Limbs and Polio Center - https://mogaza.org/campaign/2 Workshops for Gaza - https://www.workshops4gaza.com/workshops Workshops for Gaza Bookstore - https://open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/collections/workshops-4-gaza-bookstore Crips for eSIMs for Gaza - http://cripsforesimsforgaza.org/ Show Links: Health Communism is now out in paperback! Find it here or order at this link to add a donation to Sameer Project: https://open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/products/w4g-adler-bolton-beatrice-artie-vierkant-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Outro by Time Wharp: https://timewharp.bandcamp.com/track/tezeta As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/137338165 Beatrice and Tracy speak with journalist Rebecca Burns about how Trump’s takeover of D.C. and threats to send the National Guard into U.S. cities under the auspices of fighting a “crime emergency” and “endemic” homelessness echo the policy proposals and model bills of the Cicero Institute, a right wing think tank run by a co-founder of Palantir. Runtime 1:14:24 Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago, where we collaborated with conference organizers to host four discussions over the first weekend in July. All four recordings are now available for Death Panel patrons at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod For a longer discussion of some of the themes addressed in this session, see our episode Love in a Fucked Up World w/ Dean Spade (04/21/25), available in the patron feed here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/127162993 Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) feat. Beatrice, Dean Spade Session description: In a world unraveling under capitalism, climate catastrophe, and state violence, how do we build real care and solidarity? Dean Spade will discuss approaches to survival and resistance explored in his books Love in a F*cked Up World, Mutual Aid, and Normal Life—breaking through denial, confronting rising fascism, unlearning liberalism’s grip on our politics, rejecting the false promises of reform, and the urgent need to organize outside and against the state in order to cultivate community care in the face of collapse. Editor's Note: Beatrice's audio at the beginning is from backup audio, and gets better partway through the recording. Dean's audio is more clear and his presentation starts around 7 minutes into the recording. Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find 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

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/136779075 Beatrice speaks with Kathryn Olivarius about the economy and social structure that emerged around yellow fever in antebellum New Orleans, the ecosystem of deniers, capitalists, and novel theories of "immunity" that shaped it, and her book Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom. Runtime 1:42:12 Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. 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 Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago, where we collaborated with conference organizers to host four discussions over the first weekend in July. All four recordings are now available for Death Panel patrons at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod feat. Beatrice, Sophie Lewis, Melissa Gira Grant Session description: As the state intensifies its assault on gender, sexuality, and reproduction—criminalizing abortion, trans care, and pregnancy outcomes, dismantling government functions to fight "gender ideology," and defining "real women" under the guise of protection—how do we endure and resist? Under the shadow of a second Trump administration, the erosion of rights is not a glitch but a feature of a broader regime of privatization and control. Journalist Melissa Gira Grant, and authors Sophie Lewis and Beatrice Adler-Bolton discuss how today's attacks are part of a longer history of state repression, and how we can build resistance in an era of hyper-austerity and rising fascism. Editor's Note: About 8 minutes in, we had to temporarily switch to our local audio backup to restore a piece of the conversation that is absent in the livestreamed version. The audio quality gets better again around the 16 minute mark. Find our Socialism Conference 2025 sessions that have yet to be unlocked here: Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) — Bea, Dean Spade www.patreon.com/posts/134644217 Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find 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

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/136180934 Beatrice speaks with Chanelle Gallant and Elene Lam about their book Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice and the solidarities required to organize at the intersection of sex work, migrant justice, and disability justice. Runtime 1:38:37 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 Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago, where we collaborated with conference organizers to host four discussions over the first weekend in July. All four recordings are now available for Death Panel patrons at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod feat. Beatrice, Tracy Rosenthal, Marques Vestal Session description: Discussions of “surplus populations” often fixate on labor markets; those cast out of work, left idle, or deemed unproductive. This session explores how the state organizes surplus not just through production, but through property and confinement. From land enclosures to the prison-industrial complex, the management of “surplus” has always been a question of containment, racialized abandonment, and carceral exile. Drawing on histories of displacement, abolitionist thought, and housed and unhoused tenant organizing, the discussion will examine surplus not as a demographic misfortune, but as a structural necessity of capital, and as a flashpoint of resistance. What emerges is not a question of productivity but of place—who is allowed to belong, and who must be removed to keep property regimes intact. For a longer discussion of some of the themes addressed in this session, see our episode What We Burn w/ Marques Vestal (06/16/25): https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-we-burn-w-131635837 Find our Socialism Conference 2025 sessions that have yet to be unlocked here: Gender, Sexuality, Reproduction and the State: Fighting Back Against the So-Called Law (DP x S25) — Bea, Melissa Gira Grant, Sophie Lewis www.patreon.com/posts/134643775 Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) — Bea, Dean Spade www.patreon.com/posts/134644217 Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find 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

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135737340 Beatrice, Artie and Tracy discuss the potential impacts of a new Trump executive order called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” which threatens to dramatically expand involuntary psychiatric commitment and make it easier for the government to disappear people off the streets, allegedly in the name of “compassion.” Runtime 1:51:47 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 Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This week marks the 60th anniversary of Medicare. To mark the occasion, even as the Trump administration continues to assail health programs, today we bring you a DP classic: A Death Panel History of Medicare, originally released for patrons on July 5th, 2021. This week we also released a big rundown of the healthcare cuts in Trump's budget bill and what it means for the health struggle ahead. Find that episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/welfare-for-07-135176028 Original description: In today's episode, we survey the extremely messy history that led to the passage of original Medicare, the role private insurers and other industry groups played in its creation, and some of its unintended consequences we live with to this day. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod 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 Find 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

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135176028 Beatrice, Artie and Phil discuss the effects the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” will have on the healthcare system for years to come, the effects we’re already seeing, and why it’s one of the biggest blows to the US welfare state in modern history. Then we take a look at longtime Death Panel foil Ezekiel Emmanuel’s impressively convoluted proposal for the kind of health policy he thinks Democrats should pursue in response. Runtime 1:30:44 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: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent