Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds {signals} in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos.
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I published a post yesterday outlining how Trump’s rebranding of the Department of Defense to the Department of War ties in with a phenomenon known as the Imperial Boomerang. I now present you: the podcast version.
If you’d prefer to read the piece, find that here:
The (Department of) War on American Cities, Ukraine, Gaza, and the Imperial Boomerang
President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War. Shortly thereafter, he posted to Truth Social threatening the city of Chicago, writing, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning…” and “Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” including an AI-genera…
Another episode you might like:
Everything Has Changed & You're Not Thinking Big Enough | Rapid Response #6
In January, in response to Donald Trump talking about making Canada the 51st state, Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, made a counteroffer: Canada would be happy to absorb California, Oregon, and Washington.
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CREDITS: This podcast is edited and produced by Adam Labrie and me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also directed, shot, and edited the video version of the podcast, which is available on YouTube. The podcast is presented by Reality Studies. If you appreciate the work I’m doing, please subscribe and share it with someone you think would enjoy it.
Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Past conversations include Taylor Lorenz, Lisa Messeri, Legacy Russell, William E. Rees, Renée DiResta, and more. Here is another recent episode on the role of art and storytelling in climate action with Liam Young:
