Podcast for the New American Century: Recent Episodes
Erik and Ben
or "World on a Wire for stupid people". This is Grim Tones because Ben and Tim needed to do an emergency mini episode about "Beyond: Citadel" aka COOM (2025). Erik is back in the country and we will be back for real this time very soon <3
On the next Watching the End of History:
Ghost in The Shell (1995) b/w Ghost in the Shell (2017).
Happy ThanKKK$giving you hogs <3. Erik is finally back and the serious stuff will be returning soon. In the meantime, here is Ben and Tim sitting down and talking out another film made by an idiosyncratic weirdo who created something incredible that speaks to our hellish current moment and were hated for telling the truth.
Next on Watching the End of History:
Tim and Ben return to the true muse of the pod, Michael Fassbender as we discuss Justin Kurzel's 2016 film "Assassin's Creed".
Followed by: the return of Grim Tones:
SOMA (2015, dev. Frictional Games)
Erik is still gone so the horrors of the past and present will be waiting a little longer! In the meantime, Ben and Tim are lucky enough to be joined by both Molly O'Brien and Chris Wade (And Introducing, Infinite Cast). We tap into their shared expertise of both music and DFW's novel for a freewheeling chat about Luca Guadagnino's tennis love triangle drama Challengers, the total banger score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, David Foster Wallace's tennis magnum opus and plenty about the beautiful game (non-team division) itself. All of that plus Honeyduces, Skyline chili, Joe Jonas, awkward Bowie needledrops, Andre Aggasi's autobiography and the trauma of child sports. Enjoy the extra dessert, vegetables will return next week.
Join Tim and Ben during a happier time (before Israel killed Nasrallah) for the conclusion of Ridley Scott Summer. You know the drill, everyone thinks this movie sucks ass but actually we think it's good.
Erik, Ben and Tim are all together to celebrate another 9/11 along with the less crazy but still wild three year anniversary of the podcast. Everyone made the mistake of listening to Ben and we wound up watching and talking 2006’s bewildering Death of a President. We wade through an insanely twisty 96 minutes that left all us scratching our heads trying to figure out what the hell this movie is actually supposed to be about. We also talk Syria, Bush era derangement syndrome, Green Day. We marvel at James Urbaniak’s show stealing bit part, do competing W impressions and end with not one but two big announcements about the future of the show. Neither involves us quitting, sorry to the haters and nothing but love for the rest of you xoxo
Welcome to the week of 9/11, and the third anniversary of PNAC pod! As a special treat this week, we're releasing a bit of a prototype episode in which Erik does a solo scene talking about Gary Berntsen's 2005 book, Jawbreaker. This is the first in a rolling series of more book report episodes to come, hopefully each successive entry more streamlined than the last. Check back next week for 1-2 episodes in this same vein that will go a bit more indepth than this one on Patrick Seale's 1991 book, Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire.
Ben and Erik are joined all the way from Beiruit by independent journalist Séamus Malekafzali (@seamus_malek) to get a firsthand report of a week where Israel only continues to ramp up regional aggression and murder civilians (and journalists, and humanitarian aid workers). Together, we talk about the twin assassinations by Israel that sparked a response from Hezbollah while Iran continues to leave us all guessing. We also talk Sinwar hiding in women’s clothes (?), Rape Rebellion vets on the Israeli talk show circuit, Judith Miller, polio, and grim future plans for Egypt & Jordan. All that, plus US CENTOM goes looking for love in all the right places.
Check out Sèamus’ excellent substack: https://www.seamus-malekafzali.com/
And stay tuned some more fun guests as we celebrate the build up to the 3 (!!) year anniversary of us starting the show. Thanks as always for listening, some exciting news will be coming soon!
Classico PNAC, the boys get together to spin a yarn about a very cool Saudi businessman with 9/11 ties and some very cool kids and grandkids. This story has everything from interior design to combat sports to Israel and KSA normalizing relations over their love of really bad electronic music. Remember to follow us on Triller!
Dan Christensen article on Florida Bulldog: https://www.floridabulldog.org/2017/05/mysterious-saudi-businessman-in-911-puzzle-surfaces-online/
We're not exactly sure how this happened, but it seems like most of twitter decided to watch Prometheus at the same time Ben and Tim decided to do an episode about it while Erik was away.
Ben and Erik are back to discuss a round-up of best remembered current events from the last 3 weeks as the boys have been away. We actually buckled down and did our homework to discuss the KSM et al. Gitmo trial/plea deal/reversal story starring our favorite Defense Secretary. Shouts out to Carol Rosenberg for her articles covering the trial and all the work she does from Gitmo.
What even is time, anyway?
Apologies for the choppiness throughout, we were both experiencing connection issues while recording. Super producer Erik is of the belief that he did a good job cleaning it up.
Or “The Woman Who Was Cool”. The boys sit down with good friend of the show Gus to remind you that Todd Field invented Big League Chew and also that his movie Tár absolutely rules. We dare to ask “is Cate Blanchette good at conducting?”, spot ghosts, trying to enjoy Monster Hunter, playing the triangle right and “what this movie is actually about?” Watching the End of History will return next along with Hollywood Tim as we tackle another deeply weird Stephen Spielberg/Tom Cruise 00s sci-fi movie. This time though, a movie that is almost as obsessed with 9/11 as our show is: 2005’s War of the Worlds.
Transition bits include:
- Bernstein obsessing over the triangle section in rehearsal: https://youtu.be/ebf6_7nHciw?si=4Pf9cuzYp9r7raGh
- Bernstein lecturing on Mahler 5 from the piano: https://youtu.be/A7O5zcQPRQQ?si=OcB-xcprNZe9I_4P
- Bernstein conducting Mahler 5 with Vienna Philharmonic: https://youtu.be/Bj6KLv7kv2Q?si=6C_RBoOoJdR6pcu1
- Jacqueline du Pre playing the Elgar Cello Concerto under Barenboim: https://youtu.be/OPhkZW_jwc0?si=8_s1VcrFi288l03n
Oh shit. Oh no. No no no. Oh shit, fuck fuck fuck. Holy fuck, this ain’t good.
Ben also formally apologizes to our listening public for repeatedly confusing 747s and 767s. We will do better.
Atlantic article referenced: https://archive.ph/PomMR (that URL reads "P...o..m...not Po- you know what, nevermind). Anyway, this should get around any paywalls.
Tim read an ungodly amount of background material about Southland Tales, so we can consider this a followup to PNAC ep. 23 on Richard Kelly's masterpiece (https://podnac.libsyn.com/ep-23-pimps-dont-commit-suicide).
Apologies for our delay in releasing the second part of this episode, we got extradited yet again and lost wifi.
Ben is off reverse-engineering Baldur's Gate 3 to have even more girlfriends, so Erik and Tim are joined by PD to discuss John Woo's Paycheck. The PKD novel with the girl with the twin in her stomach is indeed Dr. Bloodmoney. The opening music is an excerpt from "Combat Cocktail" by Ville Kaillo from Cruelty Squad, the closing is "Starbucks, Dr. Seussism, and While Your Mac Is Sleeping" by James Ferraro
This one goes out to Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney. Two brave women who were heroes for as long as they were able to be.
We're continuing to host Super Producer Tim's show here on our feed because we want to and it rules and you should listen to him. So here we present: The first entry in Blue And White 00s Computer Movies! Spielberg and Tom Cruise team up to create the finest feature length Looney Tunes episode adapted from a Philip K. Dick story. Tune in to find out whether Fargo is a good movie. Intro Music: Only (Richard X Mix) by Nine Inch Nails. Outro Music: The Hand That Feeds (Photek Straight Mix) by Nine Inch Nails.
We recorded this one back in 2023 so I have no idea what gets covered besides a wild ass story involving Jackie Chan. Also, I was wrong in the intro and after 100 hours can say Baldur’s Gate 3 owns. We will return with another PNAC after Easter and then get back to the movies after that.
Jesus, I promised no more of these but if Starfield warranted one so did this. Journey back in time a month or so and listen to Ben and Tim sit down for a freewheeling discussing on the Cyberpunk universe, 2077 and it's 2.0 update along with the DLC Phantom Liberty. We spoil the shit out of everything so if it's still stuck in your backlog know that an actual episode of 9/11 will be back out next. Until then I gotta delta, stay nova my choom.
In part 2 of this epic, cyberpunk double feature we talk about good friend of the show and possible CIA asset Kathryn Bigelow's 1995 masterpiece Strange Days. This is one of Ben's favorite movies and he thinks you should watch it immediately if you have not seen it before.
Consider this proof of life. The PNAC boys still can't get a flight out of Khartoum after negotiations for our first live show went.... well not the way we wanted them to go. As we work tirelessly with the State Department here is some bonus content of the boys having a deliriously long conversation with producer Tim about 1995's Johnny Mnemonic for his show about computer movies Grim Tones. This was recorded like a year ago so I can't summarize shit but it was a lot of fun and you should listen. Look for more previously recorded content to drip out this weekend along with the last finished PNAC episode we recorded prior to this whole mess starting sometime within the week. Regular programming ought to resume shortly, thanks for sticking with us as always in the meantime.
If you find this an unpleasant bummer just remember it could have been The Devil’s Rejects. Also, this was recorded mere days before the A24 Death Stranding movie was announced and Ben and Tim are very excited while Erik still doesn’t understand what you actually do in that game. Next episode we are going back to where this show started, Tim Burton’s psychosexual Christmas time melodrama that boldly asks “Tim, you know this is a movie for kids right?”, Batman Returns (1992).
Welcome to a new season of PNAC! The boys are done with games and baby stuff and focus their attention back to the big wedding itself. We go back to the good ol days and sit down with the History Commens timeline and start by covering the day of 9/11/011 from midnight to ~6:30 AM EST. We repeat some stuff that's come up on prior episodes but have plenty of riffs and some real eyebrow raisers to set the table for what's to come. All that plus some nuanced ass rememberace of Henry Kissinger including an aside from Ben about Anthony Bourdain everyone can yell at Erik at. Also, we recorded this on 11/30 and REALLY jinxed the then ongoing ceasefire, our bad.
Tim gets to pick his first movie for our show and..... man where do we even begin. Join us as we lose our minds over the new craziest Biblical epic we have tackled to date. Our next two films will be Only God Forgives (2013) along with it's sister making of documentary My Life Directed By Nicholas Winding Refn (2014). You should really watch both the doc is like 50 minutes long and so damn funny. Next month we will be doing a Ben's Birthday pick with Rob Zombie's war on terror masterpiece The Devil's Rejects (2005). The first Metal Gear episode is done and will be out the week of Thanksgiving and a final, Christmas movie to end the year is still up in the air at the point. We hope you enjoy these as much as we enjoy making them and the 9/11 shit is coming back real soon, I'm already putting the notes together and will drive Erik absolutely mad.
Class is postponed bc the boys are too pissed off at the war that Israel has been waging war on the Palestinian people since Hamas committed their audacious attacks back on 10/7. With no end the killing in the boys talk about the attack itself, whistle signatures, the appalling Israeli response and the cowardly reaction by and large from the West. It’s still PNAC so we still find time to talk Verdi tuning, Alan Wake 2, Abu Nidal and our plans for the rest of 2023 including another attempt at manifesting a Judith Miller guest appearance. From the river to the sea.
Once again the boys are back and joined by friend of the show/WTEH third mic, Tim, to stare directly into the sun (Erik was reportedly staring directly into Cillian Murphy's eyes, actually) and lose our minds over Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 2007 thriller, Sunshine. If any references seem dated, it's because we recorded this thing back in like August. Erik and Ben will be back on the PNAC ish sooner rather than later and we'll have another WTEH out in a couple weeks on Darren Aronofsky's absolutely INSANE 2014 epic, Noah.
Friend of the show Jonah joins lone wolf Ben for a light chat that went way too long. They are calling this the worst episode in PNAC history. Unfortunately, stick around for some news about the future of the show (still not ending, sorry)
Finally liberated from a CIA black site in Poland the boys are speaking their truth. Honestly, this was recorded so long ago I don’t remember much but we will be asking the biggest question yet: what if a president gave a speech. Next movie episode soon and look for an update about the future of PNAC within the next week or so!
Bonus episode! The boys talk about the somewhat recent TMZ produced tv documentary about another plane that narrowly avoided being hijacked on 9/11. In the back half we are talking Turki and some recent disclosures that tie back to all our best friends of the show. All that plus the worst cold open we have done in nearly 2 years of the show. We will be having a Crisis of Confidence later this week so stick around and don’t panic, the President has read a self-help book.
In October of 1994, three student podcasters disappeared in the woods near Burkitsville, Maryland while recording an episode.
A year later their audio was found.
Ben
Erik
Tim
Have all been missing and presumed dead ever since. If you have any information about their disappearance please visit BringBenHomeAlive.biz. Also in 2 weeks we continue our summer of bangers with Danny Boyle’s Sunshine which is quickly shaping to be our most contentious episode to date.
PS: Link to the referenced NIN video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gV8yQc0m7g&pp=ygUNbmluIGhhcmQgY29weQ%3D%3D
I'd like to take a moment to apologize....TO ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE! PNAC BOYS DO WHATEVER WE WANT!! We keep reading Reaganland and go over the 1979 energy crisis. Next week we'll talk Iranian Revolution and Crisis of Confidence. I'm not writing anymore goddamn show notes. Ben, this is your job. I hope "having a gf" was worth it.
We are doubling up on WTEH this week because it's been too goddamn hot to organize our thoughts into a coherent proper episode! We will be back VERY soon to talk about gas shortages, nuclear, and Jane Fonda; we'll also be going over a bit of the Prince Turki news. Look for the new PNAC early next week. For now, here is Erik and Ben with friend of the show Collin going over Adam Wingard's 2014 BANGER, The Guest starring Cousin Matthew, that girl from It Follows, and the kid who looks homeless from The OA.
Hola, chica. The boys finally return with the Summer of Bangers. We are joined by Michael Mann scholar and good friend Connor to talk about Mann’s audacious, gritty reimagining of his classic 80s tv show. We also talk go-fast boats, Nazis, bespoke suits, and Grand Theft Auto.
Also a lot of moaning and groaning while trying to explain how impossibly beautiful this movie is. Later this week the catch up continues when another friend joins us to discuss the bugfuck insane 2013 horror/thriller The Guest.
Ben also gets the song wrong during the boat scene to Cuba it’s actually Moby and Patti LaBelle. We recorded late and I’ll do better.
The boys return for a loose holiday weekend dive back into 1979 with a look into the rise of the evgangelical right. We talk more shit about Tim Lahey, go even harder on Anita Bryant and talk megachurches, homophobia and Orson Welles and the concept of eternal return. All that plus the murder of Harvey Milk, the Twinkie defense, admitting Jim Jones had sauce and remembering yet again "holy shit, Dianne Feinstein is so old". Watching the End of History's Summer of Bangers will start this weekend with another good friend joining us to talk Michael Mann's 2006 vibes based masterpiece Miami Vice (theatrical cut).
The boys put on their cowboy hats and get on the bus to talk about one of Ben’s all time favorite movies: Kenneth Lonergan’s 2011 coming-of-age tale of trauma, Margaret. We get into PTSD, realizing your life isn’t a movie, and #ReleaseTheMartyCut; along with The Girlfriend Experience, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Zizek-pilled Jean Reno, and generally just get unbelievably real on this.
Welcome to season 3. In which Erik and Ben go toe to toe with end boss Bush/Cheney/Rummy etc. We power walk down memory lane catching you up on world history since the end of the Second World War. Spider networks, World War 3, anti communist extermination campaigns all bring us to the fateful year where the wheels truly start to come off the bus. Plus we talk Adam Curtis, the NBA playoffs, and reach back into the PNAC vault to read some throwback election analysis from friend of the show and former twitter user "not the real Marina Oswald". Pardon Erik's moronic and incessant laughter throughout the episode, he was strung out on no sleep and fresh morning air after recently adopting a stray kitten.
Just when you thought he was out, he's back in: Tha Sexual Chessmaster aka PD is back with the PNAC crew to discuss Zack Snyder's 2009 Watchmen. Next WTEH will be Margaret (2011) and we'll be back soon with PNAC as we get into a jaunt down the year of 1979 and all the insane shit that happened that year.
We are joined by Canadian correspondent and good friend of the show Ambrose Sylvan to discuss their new article on Saudi Arabia, Qatar and their ties to Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter last year. We ask what the Canadian 9/11 was and talk Arab Spring, Saudi sportswashing and get get into Jack Teixeira and the Discord Papers. We also make fun of Matt Taibbi, cancel Hitler, and decide if Ben can change Noor Bin Laden.
Ambrose's CovertAction Magazine article: https://covertactionmagazine.com/2023/04/06/flipping-the-bird-site-how-elon-musks-twitter-builds-a-pipeline-from-the-alt-right-to-salafi-extremists/
For more of Ambrose's writing, visit their site "Liminal States": https://liminalstates.politics.blog/
Live from Golgotha it is the PNAC boys. We celebrate Easter the only way we know how, by dipping into Mel Gibson’s deranged Bush era snuff film The Passion of Christ. Plus this time around we are also talking S Craig Zahler, Terri Schiavo, Left Behind along with holding Mel accountable for some frankly unbelievably antisemitic content. In 2 weeks we have returning champion/sexual chess master PD joining us to talk Zach Snyder’s Watchmen and Ben is so ready to be yelled at.
And in the second half of our double header we have podcast dad Adam Fitzgerald back to wrap up our season 2 investigation as we separate fact from fiction with regards to Urban Moving Systems, the infamous Dancing Israelis and further links between Mossad and the larger 9/11 universe. Plus we look back at 20 years since the invasion of Iraq and Ben gets really pissed off at NPR as a result. We are back to our regular schedule and will be blessing you next Easter Weekend with a new Watching The End of History on Mel Gibson’s 2004 snuff film The Passion of the Christ. Keep an eye out for a preview in the coming week or so for our next investigation because in order to fight our greatest battle we must first gaze backwards into the abyss of the past.
The boys are back and this time are joined by the man who first put the sickness that is Richard Blee’s name into our heads all those years ago Ben Howard (@housetrotter). We dig into a newly unredacted and often very spicy filing from the Guantanamo 9/11 hearings. We are catching up on all your favorites here folks; Bandar, Omar, Alec Station and of course a return to the bad food restaurant. All that and a super import update on the immediate future from Ben to kick off the show.
Links:
Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/housetrotter
Seth Hettena article in SpyTalk: https://www.spytalk.co/p/exclusive-fbi-agents-accuse-cia-of
Ben's article with Peter Dale Scott and Aaron Good in CovertAction Magazine:
Pt. 1: https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/11/the-twenty-year-shadow-of-9-11-u-s-complicity-in-the-terror-spectacle-and-the-urgent-need-to-end-it/
Pt. 2: https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/13/the-twenty-year-shadow-of-9-11-part-2-why-did-key-u-s-officials-protect-the-alleged-9-11-plotters/
Pt. 3: https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/27/stepping-out-of-the-shadow-of-9-11-start-by-ending-the-post-9-11-states-of-emergency/
Back with a slightly wonky show order the boys use the recent headlines as an excuse to dive into JC Chandor’s 2011 debut Margin Call. We also fondly recall NBC’s The Slap, lament Kevin Spacey’s insane heel turn, along with the nosedive that became Chandor’s career. All that plus a fight over whether or not Frances Ha sucks that gets so intense, the show nearly ends for good. But we will be back Easter weekend with Mel Gibson’s ode to ass kickings: The Passion of the Christ from 2004.
Ben didn't give me show notes, but we talked about the TRUE STORY of Benghzai as only Michael Bay could deliver. Join us in discussing the SOY CIA, our beautiful operators, and that SHIT CAN known as Libya.
Live from the back of a panel van parked across the street from the FBI's Dallas field office it's the PNAC boys. We continue diving into the Shea Memo by examining the largest foreign spy ring ever discovered in the United States. We lay out the evidence from both the memo and the famous declassified DEA report on the frankly incredible number of weird stories of deeply sus folks peddling the worst art in the world. We recorded this just before Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was announced but just know Ben has a lot of thoughts about Saint Trina (we all know it's Miquella -Erik) that will be covered at length down the road.
We are joined this time around by good friend of the show Tim for an "Oops! All Tangents" romp through Renny Harlan and Shane Black's wild 1996 Lady Jason Bourne thriller, The Long Kiss Goodnight. We will be back in 2 weeks with another friend of the show to talk Ronald Emmerich's 2004 climate disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow which nearly two decades later holds up wonderfully!
From the counter of a New Mexico roadside dinner the boys are back and talking Oliver Stone’s 1994 psycho killing love story Natural Born Killers. We got a spicy one after a largely lockstep first 2 episodes. We are also talking this week Tarantino, Skinamarink, Devil’s Rejects, Dave McGowen, the Michael Keaton episode of King of the Hill plus SO MUCH talk about Charles Whitman. We will be back in 2 weeks with our first guest so have fun watching the 1996 Renny Harlin/Shane Black thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Fair warning there’s a fair bit of sexual violence referenced in this
As always on PNAC, in order to go forward we must go back. So we invited a friend to join us and discuss the broad history of Palestinian settlement and occupation going back to 1915-17 through the Oslo Accords. Thank you to our friend for joining us and thanks to Slavic intern Sammy for helping set up this opportunity!
Erik & Ben are back at the movies with something that could not be more in our combined wheelhouse. We dig into Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama, a style drenched terrorism/siege thriller from 2016. We break down the dumbest Bojinka plot variant, remember the 2015 Bataclan attack and also talk more Kubrick, John Wick, Danny Boyle & Alex Garland plus Ben's thoughts on The Last of Us TV show (as he needs to badly justify watching in the first place). We'll be back in 2 weeks to get as 90s as possible with Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers.
We accidentally refer to the version of "My Way" used in this film as being performed by Nancy Sinatra. It's actually Shirley Bassey and please do not get mad at us, we record these late at night and will endeavor to do better.
Season 2 baby!!
We kick off our new investigation by beginning our deep dive into the 2004 Gerald Shea Memo which asks the question: "What the hell was the Israeli government getting into leading up to 9/11?"
In this first episode we lay out the history of Shea himself and his memo; then, we walk through the preliminary findings as a way of setting the table for the stories to come. This episode also features the debut of PNAC Poetry Corner or, "How Erik Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Wichita Vortex Sutra", shit is gonna get emotional on this one folks.
All of that along with John Ashcroft's personal email!? You'll have to tune in and find out!
EYES WIDE SHUT (1999), or, Episode One: Life Goes On...Until It Doesn't!
Your good friends at PNAC Productions are happy to present: "Watching The End of History: Cinema from 1991 - 2016". Over the last few months, it has become abundently clear how difficult it can be to reliably produce quality weekly episodes; so the 2023 compromise will be something slightly more laid back compared to the main show as we intersperce regular movie episodes from the American Century.
Shout-out to Ben's brother who made the intro music!
Lord help us, we are unbelievably back on our bullshit.
(Stay tuned for something completely different later this week as well!)
It's Ben's birthday again and that means PNAC is going back to the movies! Join us as we dig way too deeply into Richard Kelly's 2006 magnum opus Southland Tales. Unlike last year we actually have a blast and wind up largely defend the ravings of an absolute madman whose brain had been broken by 9/11 and the PATRIOT Act. We go almost as long as the movie but have a lot of fun in one of our loopier episodes. We are also talking Messi, Ken Loach, net gain fusion; and spend frankly a shocking amount of time discussing if we think The Last of Us tv show is going to be good or not. Back to the serious stuff soon, watch this space.
The boys are finally back and joined by super fan/Slavic intern Sammy to dig into the recently published, long awaited interview notes between W, Dick Cheney and the 9/11 Commission. Lots of lying plus we are talking are talking (probably too much) World Cup, Elon Musk being lame as fuck, fantasize of Bill Clinton and Kim Jong-Il meeting in the 90s and Ben tries to explain the plot of Chantal Akerman's "Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles" to a blank faced Erik! Speaking of movies come back next week for another Benny Birthday Movie Ep, it is going to be chaotic and watch this space for a season 2 preview sooner than later.
Ben is poolside at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh this week for a chat with journalist and writer Brian McGlinchey (28Pages.org, Stark Realities). We are talking about the fabled 28 Pages along with Operation Encore, some new Saudi names that have slipped out by mistake; plus the Saudi lobby, JASTA, and the current relationship between America and the Kingdom (everything is fine, thanks for asking). All that plus call centers, Neom, Newcastle United, and the charming idea of Irish 9/11.
Brian’s Substack:
https://starkrealities.substack.com/
https://twitter.com/_starkrealities
RIP Gal Costa 1945-2022 (outro music)
Previously recorded at the tail end of spooky season the boys are joined by friend of the show pd to dive into SK Bain's "The Most Dangerous Book In the World". Everyone tends to blame 9/11 on radical Islam but this book presupposes this notion, maybe it's the Devil instead? This is maybe the most loopy PNAC ep to date and we cover a wide range of topics that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic at end but we still had fun doing that, and isn't that what truly matters? We'll be back soon with another interview that should be slightly more in our lane but enjoy the chaos in the meantime.
The boys are back after a brief hiatus, the Russia material at the start hit at the time okay, and we are finally done reconnecting the dots this time around. We follow the FBI's final frantic search for Alhazmi and Almihdhar which goes great assuming you have been in cryosleep for the last 20 years. For everyone else, join us as we suffer severe psychic damage learning about Robert Fuller's stellar detective work. Also, we are talking hotels, Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico shit, the Hitman videogames and of course Alistair Overeem's physique.
“If this guy is in the country, it’s not because he’s going to fucking Disneyland!”
Coleen Rowley Memo: https://web.archive.org/web/20161205021024/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/politics/full-text-of-fbi-agents-letter-to-director-mueller.html
This one started out as a movie episode but the news just does not stop folks. Encore, do you want more? We are catching up over the latest FBI releases and talking about Hamza Al-Ghamdi's posthumous flight plans in an extended opening grab bag. Then it's on to the 2015 documentary "Taliban Oil". We are finally indulging Ben and going deep on oil pipeline politics, Enron, Christmas with the Taliban in the suburbs of Houston, find at least one person to compare to a Metal Gear Solid character and some other shit I can't tell you about because I don't speak Norwegian. The Al-Hazmi/Al-Midihar story will reach it's climax come next week and in the meantime I'm on eBay hovering over "buy it now" for a copy of the "Women of Enron" edition of Playboy Magazine.
Adam Fitzgerald on YouTube (Operation Encore): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEn5k3bJkVU&t=209s
Adam Fitzgerald on YouTube (Omar al Bayoumi's Notebook; rate of descent calculations): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX3DHYeNwuc
This one started out as a movie episode but the news just does not stop folks. Encore, do you want more? We are catching up over the latest FBI releases and talking about Hamza Al-Ghamdi's posthumous flight plans in an extended opening grab bag. Then it's on to the 2015 documentary "Taliban Oil". We are finally indulging Ben and going deep on oil pipeline politics, Enron, Christmas with the Taliban in the suburbs of Houston, find at least one person to compare to a Metal Gear Solid character and some other shit I can't tell you about because I don't speak Norwegian. The Al-Hazmi/Al-Midihar story will reach it's climax come next week and in the meantime I'm on eBay hovering over "buy it now" for a copy of the "Women of Enron" edition of Playboy Magazine.
Adam Fitzgerald on YouTube (Operation Encore): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEn5k3bJkVU&t=209s
Adam Fitzgerald on YouTube (Omar al Bayoumi's Notebook; rate of descent calculations): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX3DHYeNwuc
Podcast dad and host of The Darkened Hour Adam Fitzgerald is back with the boys on the eve of 21 years since The Big Wedding. We are talking about the life and times of FBI agent John O’Neill, who more than anyone wanted to stop 9/11 from happening but the world (and quite possibly fate) had other ideas. Listen to us talk about someone you should be hearing a lot more about this time of year. It’s Adam so naturally we talk about a million other things from speculating about TWA800, give more really good ass movie picks and also ask if this is all actually Iran’s fault after all (classic no one knows the difference between Shia and Sunni). I also totally forgot to mention on the show but the Queen wound up dying on Lyndon LaRouche’s birthday, lmao.
Links here:
@_AdamFitzgerald
https://adamfitzgerald.podbean.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_P75FsKQocF-NBt6-jRcgw/videos
#SammyStrong
Podcast dad and host of The Darkened Hour Adam Fitzgerald is back with the boys on the eve of 21 years since The Big Wedding. We are talking about the life and times of FBI agent John O’Neill, who more than anyone wanted to stop 9/11 from happening but the world (and quite possibly fate) had other ideas. Listen to us talk about someone you should be hearing a lot more about this time of year. It’s Adam so naturally we talk about a million other things from speculating about TWA800, give more really good ass movie picks and also ask if this is all actually Iran’s fault after all (classic no one knows the difference between Shia and Sunni). I also totally forgot to mention on the show but the Queen wound up dying on Lyndon LaRouche’s birthday, lmao.
Links here:
@_AdamFitzgerald
https://adamfitzgerald.podbean.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_P75FsKQocF-NBt6-jRcgw/videos
#SammyStrong
The FBI arrests Zacarias Moussaoui at last and congratulations! By listening to a podcast you have stopped 9/11 from happening, you should be very proud. If you check New York City on Google Maps and the Towers are still missing then damn, guess you will just have to listen in to find out what the hell went wrong this time around. Come back next week and remember someone at the FBI who was actually good at their job, mostly because he wore a pinky ring and had a lot of sex to boot.
The FBI arrests Zacarias Moussaoui at last and congratulations! By listening to a podcast you have stopped 9/11 from happening, you should be very proud. If you check New York City on Google Maps and the Towers are still missing then damn, guess you will just have to listen in to find out what the hell went wrong this time around. Come back next week and remember someone at the FBI who was actually good at their job, mostly because he wore a pinky ring and had a lot of sex to boot.
PNAC is back: We're reporting live from London, England and Norman, OK respectively and it's Erik (codename: Shaquil) and Ben (codename Zuluman Tangotango) here to talk to you about Zacarias Moussaoui. We take a step back in time to look at the early life of Moussaoui, tracing him from London in the early 1990s to Norman, OK and Minneapolis, MN in August of 2001 until his arrest. This one took multiple attempts and several restarts due to computer failures: the New World Order is out to get us, folks. Enjoy!
PNAC is back: We're reporting live from London, England and Norman, OK respectively and it's Erik (codename: Shaquil) and Ben (codename Zuluman Tangotango) here to talk to you about Zacarias Moussaoui. We take a step back in time to look at the early life of Moussaoui, tracing him from London in the early 1990s to Norman, OK and Minneapolis, MN in August of 2001 until his arrest. This one took multiple attempts and several restarts due to computer failures: the New World Order is out to get us, folks. Enjoy!
PNAC is back...Ben's off watching footie, so I have the pleasure of writing this weeks shownotes. We watched Syriana and it took us nearly the length of the movie to figure out what the hell was happening in it. Listen along as we go over the 2005 Clooney classic that was described as "conspiracy-theory filmmaking of the most bravura kind", which "requires a viewer to work actively for comprehension, and to chalk up any lack of same to his or her own deficiency in the face of something so evidently smart."
The news doesn't stop and there is a lot to talk about this week on PNAC. The boys say goodbye to the good doctor Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who died like a dog at the hands of one Looney Toons ass bomb. We're also talking corruption in Puerto Rico, Elden Ring patch notes and of course much more about all the panicking and ass covering taking place in summer of 2001. We end this episode by finally tying up our ongoing story with a nice, tidy bow and are absolutely not pivoting into a brand new angle that is going to take another 6-8 weeks to fully flesh out.
Ayman Al-Zawahiri 1951 - 2022 (or maybe like 2013 idk)
Erik is back from his day job at the CIA, we recorded this before Ayman al-Zawahiri died like a dog but make sure to thank him for his service on Twitter. Anyway, we are once again chasing Al-Hazmi and Al-Midihar down the road to 9/11 and their incredible run of good luck will continue as only it can. We're also talking drones, Putin's 9/11 warnings, what a real piece of shit John Ashcroft and our psychic war against Richard Blee really starts to kick into gear. All that, plus a lot of powerful people who really wanted to spend Summer 2001 reminding you about Pearl Harbor!
Erik's return to PNAC is short lived as he has been returned to the Haqqani Network for being too annoying. In his place Ben is joined for an in depth interview with filmmaker, researcher, and musician Nelson Martins aka DJ Thermal Detonator. We talk about his past work, his series "The Hidden Path to 9/11" which is being released over the course of this summer along with the Muslim Brotherhood, Bojinka, Michael Moore and WTCs 93 and 01. This was recorded during a brutal heatwave in a room without AC so if it sounds like I am dying by the end just know I do it all for you. Also, if you find yourself asking "hasn't it only been 1 week since the last episode" and you would be right! We are officially moving to a weekly schedule going forward so join us next week and we continue to reconnect the dots.
Follow Nelson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DJThermalD
Subscribe to Nelson on YouTube where you can find all of his documentary work: https://www.youtube.com/c/TrutherTVOriginal/featured
Support Nelson's work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thermaldetonator/
The boys are joined by comedian and brother in podcasting arms Sean P McCarthy to talk about insider trading and all of the dirty money swirling around 9/11. We get into t-bonds, calls, puts and whatever the hell a M1 aggregate is. Plus a lot of fun talk about Larry Silverstein, dudes named Mayo and Buzzy, the oldest NFL cheerleader and some other folks who according to the 9/11 Commission did absolutely nothing wrong and were in fact just very lucky. All that plus we dip into the “Sicario was a documentary” files with the arrest of Rafael Caro Quintero, this is a fun one!
Re: Deutsche Bank Alex Brown and 9/11 Insider Trading:
https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/02/23/re-deutsche-bank-alex-brown-and-911-insider-trading/
Chesney et al paper (Swiss Financial Institutes): https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1522157
Wong, Thompson, Teh paper (National University of Singapore, University of Wisconsin-Madison): https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.734.6487&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Allen M. Poteshman paper (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign): https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1086/503645.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A3c43a8b506df93803782ebcc455ece0c&ab_segments=&origin=&acceptTC=1
Sean P. McCarthy, “9/11 Is The Litmus Test” on substack: https://seanpmccarthy.substack.com/p/911-is-the-litmus-test
Sean P. McCarthy is NOT on twitter at: @NOTSeanMcCarthy; His website is www.seanpmccarthy.com which will link to his Substack articles; Out For Smokes Pod is at outforsmokes.podbean.com or on Patreon at www.patreon.com/OutForSmokes
PNAC is back and the boys are pissed off! We are continuing to build up the wall of madness around us as we talk wormy spook Tom Wilshere, the New Girl Maggie G and the most wrong woman in America Dina Corsi and the CIA’s battle with the FBI to seemingly let 9/11 happen. This one gets really heated folks, lots of hooting and hollering and you will get why.
Folks, we lost Erik. While I try to negotiate his release the show must go on and we have another guest! Writer and researcher Darin Harvey takes us up the long road to 9/11 with a fairly free-flowing primer of Islamic fundamentalism through the 90s. We are talking WTC 93, the Blind Shiek, Ramzi Yusef and all kinds of plots. We got airlines, landmarks, the new Millenium and Bojinka! Join us next time to wrap up some recurring plot lines before we turn our eyes to sunny Florida. Assuming I can get proof of life for Erik by then at least.
https://twitter.com/harveydarin26
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUB5eB2JcLhhRdTqWORuH8g
https://911skepticsvstruth.wordpress.com/2021/06/26/millennium-plot-the-original-9-11-doomsday/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd9iv9sHPm8 [Nelson Martin’s WTC93 film mentioned]
The boys are back and this time around we have our deboonking hats on as we check out some 9/11 urban legends that fall under the category of "huh, I guess that really happened?" We're talking spooky children predicting the attacks, everyone else knowing what was coming too along with the weirdness surrounding an Israeli instant messaging company. Erik gets really pissed off at Snopes, which is good because they suck. We're also looking into first responders looting jeans, ask if there are connections between Al Qaeda and the Wu-Tang Clan plus Ben tries to explain at one point what post-rock is to Erik. https://retrologist.com/post/31215494887/photos-the-stories-behind-the-haunting-relics-of [Warner Brothers store under WTC] https://researchdestroy.com/#new-yorks-worst-responders-nypd-and-9-11 [Worst Responders Zine) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-2-Jpveo3Q [Billy Joel on 9/11]
PNAC is back and we are justifying our hiatus with one hell of an interview. We are joined by the host of The Darkened Hour, Adam Fitzgerald to talk about everything from the recent FBI releases to close friend of the show Omar Al Bayoumi and continue to try and figure out who the hell is to blame for all this 9/11 business anyway. We also talk the nature of conspiracies, the awkwardness of telling people you have a 9/11 podcast, the war in Ukraine and some really good stuff about the 1996 World Series that unfortunately didn't make it into the episode. Honestly, we talk about so much stuff you will really just have to listen, we had a blast and hope you enjoy as much as we did. Please listen to Adam's show because it is awesome and follow him on twitter @_AdamFitzgerald. We will be back in 2 weeks talking about something that is probably covered in here and in the meantime follow us on Twitter @PNACPod (until Erik gets that account banned too).
Erik and Ben go to the movies! Live from their respective FEMA camp quarantine cells the boys catch up before getting back into the swing of things with the old podcast classic. That’s right baby, we both watched a movie and are going to talk about it for 90 minutes. Join us on a journey back through Kathryn Bigelow's 2011 CIA love letter, Zero Dark Thirty. We talk torture, killing Bin Laden, and all the vile, manipulative bullshit this movie pushes as the truth along with some funny stuff about Glenn Greenwald too I think.
Ben and Erik are back and squatting in a conference room at the American consulate in Jeddah. Instead of countries, agencies or organizations we take a more human approach as Ben tells the tale of the American consular official who issued a total of 12 visas to future 9/11 hijackers. We talk the Saudi visa program, secret passport indicators, Operation Cyclone and ask “Shayna, what the fuck are you doing?!”. If you have ever done a really, really bad job at work only to find yourself promoted and rewarded for it then we have the episode for you.
Join us next time, unless they change the wi-fi password, for our introduction to Al-Qaeda and our attempts to answer the biggest question in this story: was Osama Bin Laden really 6’5”? Ben promises that at no point will he be referring to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as “pimp”.
Remote station chiefs Erik and Ben liaison for another episode and check in with the Central Intelligence Agency and what it was up to in the 90s when it wasn’t dodging questions about BCCI. We introduce the cast of characters including bearded lunatic/podcasting brother Mike Scheuer, professional ghost Richard Blee and blood drinking vampire Cofer Black. We laugh at some of the more harebrained early schemes to kill Osama, talk about the toxic culture of Alec Station and set the table for a petty slap fight with the FBI that ends with ~3,000 dead Americans. Pus Ben proposes a bold podcast exchange program with Two Mikes.
Join us next time for a brief interlude before we get to know Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. In which Ben drives himself insane telling the story of a young American woman who just wanted to do her best working at a US Consulate in Jeddah.
Music by: Tristan Cappel
Ben and Erik are back, live from their black site detention centers in Poland and Lithuania respectively. The boys talk about some timely new tranches released by the FBI and use that as an entry into discussing some of the real friends we made along the way (to 9/11). We get a Gofundme going for Majeda Dweikat, talk about the friendliest spy in SoCal Omar Al-Bayoumi and check in with fan favorite Bandar Bu$h. All of that plus the 28 Pages, Operation Encore and a bank that might have had to pay $9 Million in reparations for Victims of Pinochet. You really hate to see it.
Join us next week when we will be talking about the CIA, who have never done anything bad or wrong since the 50s so this should be a quick episode at least! We will have absolutely nothing but praise for Alec Station, aka the Manson Family, introduce you to your new favorite bearded lunatic and get really, really pissed off about the whole thing.
Music by Tristan Cappel.
Erik and Ben step off their first class flight from Bangkok to LAX and start back down the Road to 9/11. We reflect on the brightest, bluest Tuesday in recorded human history and go over our own personal experiences as freshly traumatized middle school children. After laying out both what this show will and will not be about we then catch you up on just what happened that fateful day (I will save you the suspense, it sucked major ass). We then lay out our cast of characters in a blame game lightning round: Al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia, The CIA, Israel…. the gang’s all here folks. All that and “holy shit, Richard Blee face reveal??” on this debut episode of Podcast For the New American Century.
Join us next week for lunch at the worst Middle Eastern restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. The FBI might say that the food is “not very good” and “the service is poor” while Yelp may call it “permanently closed”. We still have a corner table and a heaping, hot plate of truth with extra garlic sauce.
Music by Tristan Cappel.