This Is Hell!

Today's episode features our second-most played interview of 2023, according to SoundCloud's data. Reporter, public records requester, researcher Julia Rock joins us to discuss her article at The Lever, "How Big Pharma Actually Spends Its Massive Profits: New research shows that pharmaceutical companies have spent more on enriching shareholders than drug research and development over the past decade." After the interview, we read more of your answers to this week's Question from Hell and an all-new installment of Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Julia's article here: https://www.levernews.com/how-big-pharma-actually-spends-its-massive-profits/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Back by popular demand in our Best of 2023 series: Journalist Christopher Ketcham who co-wrote The Intercept piece, "The Shutdown of “Luxury Emissions” Should Be at the Center of Climate Revolt." After that, Sebastian Wuepper returns with a new The Past Inside the Present. Check out Christopher's article here: https://theintercept.com/2022/12/13/climate-protest-private-jets-schiphol-airport/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Brian Mier returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his recent publication, "Anticorruption and Imperialist Blind Spots: The Role of the United States in Brazil’s Long Coup," in Latin American Perspectives. This is the first peer-reviewed study confirming that the United States played a crucial role in Brazil's long coup, which threw the left out of power in 2016 and brought about far-right rule in 2018 under the guise of anti-corruption. After that, the rest of your answers to the Question from Hell, including the week's winner, and another Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen. Check out Brian's article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0094582X231213614 Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Olivia Riggio on her Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting article, “Blaming Mass Shootings on Mental Illness Doesn’t Address Either Issue: Rationalizing the horrors of a mass shooting by emphasizing the perpetrator’s mental state does little to address the larger issue,” followed by Rotten History. Check out Olivia's article here: https://fair.org/home/blaming-mass-shootings-on-mental-illness-doesnt-address-either-issue/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Christopher Ketcham on his Harper's Magazine article, "The Machine Breaker: Inside the mind of an ‘ecoterrorist’." Then a Past Inside the Present with Sebastian Wuepper. Check out Christopher's article here: https://harpers.org/archive/2023/11/the-machine-breaker/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Writer and author Kay Gabriel discusses the agenda of organizations like Moms for Liberty and their efforts to undermine public education. The podcast explores the attack on public education by Republicans and conservatives and debunking baseless claims made against the trans community. It highlights the tension between parental control and the agency of young LGBTQ+ individuals and addresses the expensive cost of ambulance services in the US. The chapter also explores the effects of the COVID lockdown on our minds and discusses the tensions and resentment among a group called 'pusker stankles'.

Susan Neiman on her The New York Review of Books essay, "Germany on Edge: In recent weeks, Germany’s reflexive defenses of Israel and suppression of its critics have assumed a fevered pitch." Then another installment of The Past Inside the Present with Sebastian Wuepper. Check out Susan's article here: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/11/03/germany-on-edge-israel-palestine/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Pooja Bhatia Agarwal joins This Is Hell! to discuss her recent Baffler article, "Deadly Strain: How the UN sought to deny its role in Haiti’s cholera epidemic." Plus, another dose of Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Pooja's article here: https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/deadly-strain-bhatia Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Intercept's Nick Turse joins This Is Hell! to discuss his just-published report, "Civilian Harm Secret Pentagon Investigation Found No One at Fault in Drone Strike That Killed Woman and 4-Year-Old." In the undeclared drone war, nobody is accountable. Check out Nick's report here: https://theintercept.com/2023/11/12/somalia-drone-strike-civilian-deaths/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Saree Makdisi returns to discuss his n+1 article, "No Human Being Can Exist: How can a person make up for seven decades of misrepresentation and willful distortion in the time allotted to a sound bite?” Then, Sebastian Wuepper returns with a new The Past Inside the Present. Check out Saree's article: https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/no-human-being-can-exist/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell