

Death Panel
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
w/ Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Artie Vierkant, Phil Rocco and Jules Gill-Peterson.
https://www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 8, 2025 • 19min
Teaser - Dead Kennedys (09/08/25)
Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/138451663
Artie breaks down the Trump administration's latest attacks on covid vaccines, key moments from RFK's heated Senate testimony last week, and why calls to force RFK out of HHS need to include removing many of the figures he's managed to bring in with him.
Find the past episode mentioned near the beginning here: RFK, Health Capitalism, and the Myths of Wellness (11/18/24): https://www.patreon.com/posts/rfk-health-and-116273220
Runtime 1:20:00
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

Sep 4, 2025 • 1h 39min
Not Your Rescue Project w/ Chanelle Gallant and Elene Lam (Unlocked)
Note: This episode was originally released August 11th 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 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.
Find the book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2258-not-your-rescue-project
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
Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch
As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Sep 1, 2025 • 5min
Teaser - The Birth of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex w/ Claire Dunning
Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: www.patreon.com/posts/137338165
Beatrice, Phil, and Jules speak with Claire Dunning about the complex history of how nonprofit organizations became so pervasive in US political life and the issues with how the non-profit system promises to address big, structural problems while at the same time structurally constraining what these groups are and aren't allowed to do.
Note: This episode was originally released for patrons on September 4th, 2023, and is being re-released today for Labor Day. We'll be back with a new episode in the patron feed next week.
Runtime 1:31:00
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

Aug 28, 2025 • 1h 15min
Can the Subaltern Starve? (08/28/25)
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

Aug 25, 2025 • 20min
Teaser - The Cicero Institute and the Making of the Fascist City w/ Rebecca Burns (08/25/25)
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

Aug 21, 2025 • 38min
Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25)
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

Aug 18, 2025 • 4min
Teaser - Immunocapitalism w/ Kathryn Olivarius (Re-Air)
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

Aug 14, 2025 • 51min
Gender, Sexuality, Reproduction and the State: Fighting Back Against the So-Called Law (DP x S25)
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

Aug 11, 2025 • 25min
Teaser - Not Your Rescue Project w/ Chanelle Gallant and Elene Lam (08/11/25)
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

Aug 7, 2025 • 45min
The Proletariat Has No Homeland: Property and the Surplus Class (DP x S25)
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