American Seances

Here’s the short version: in summer 1892, Carnegie was in Scotland, Frick built a fortified mill dubbed "Fort Frick," and a standoff between steelworkers and armed Pinkerton agents exploded into deadly violence on the Monongahela River. The clash left lives lost, the militia in town, and the union severely weakened.
Then an anarchist, Alexander Berkman, tried to assassinate Frick, which shocked the nation and shifted sympathy away from the workers. The strike collapsed, Carnegie’s reputation suffered, and the whole episode forced everyone to ask who was truly the radical: the workers demanding a voice, the managers defending property, or the bomber who thought murder would spark revolution.

Come with me back to the summer of 1877—when a 10% pay cut stopped the nation, trains became battlegrounds, and ordinary people found themselves up against the full force of the state. We'll walk through the chaos, the smoke in Pittsburgh, and the messy questions about who the government protects.
It’s a raw, human story about work, justice, and power—short, surprising, and timely. Tune in if you want a close, friendly look at the moment that reshaped American labor and politics.

Come back with us to 1887 and meet Albert Parsons — a former Confederate turned anarchist who was hanged after the Haymarket bombing despite no solid proof he threw the bomb. It’s a gripping mix of politics, prejudice, and the fight for an eight‑hour workday.
We’ll unpack how Parsons became a scapegoat for radical ideas, how Haymarket reshaped labor history, and why punishing beliefs instead of crimes still feels dangerously relevant today. It’s messy, emotional, and oddly timely — let’s dig in together.

Come hang out and meet Edward Bellamy, the novelist who dreamed up a future where capitalism had vanished and economic security was a public right — a story that actually sparked clubs, debates, and real political change.
It’s a cozy but provocative tale: imagine a national cooperative run like one big business, then watch how admirers and critics argued about freedom, bureaucracy, and what equality should really mean.

We wrap up our third episode on leverage with John Foster Dulles — the man behind "Massive Retaliation" — and a tough question: what do you get when you ease sanctions before the other side gives you something real in return?
Listen in as we compare 1950s brinkmanship to today's debates over Russian oil, diesel, and Ukraine, and ask whether lifting pressure is a bargain or just a reward. It's a short, sharp look at why leverage matters — and why you shouldn't surrender it without a solid deal.

This piece connects Smedley Butler’s blunt “War is a racket” callout to today’s messy choice: easing oil sanctions to calm fuel prices or keeping the economic pressure on Russia. It’s a quick look at who really wins (and who pays) when geopolitics and big money collide.
Read it like you’re catching up with a friend over coffee: ask who benefits, what concessions are on the table, and whether the promised peace will actually show up after the profits do.

This episode walks you through why oil is never just oil: it’s cash, clout, and negotiation power. We channel John D. Rockefeller to make sense of Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, Zelensky’s alarms, and how energy markets can reshape a war.
Short, sharp, and oddly personal — it’s the kind of geopolitical story that sticks with you and makes headlines feel a lot more human.

Episode five of Flock takes you through the surprisingly rich history of the U.S. Post Office, from Ben Franklin and the Constitution to the 1878 Ex Parte Jackson decision that said a sealed letter stays private even while the government delivers it.
We’ll talk about how a trusted mail system became a tempting surveillance tool, why the envelope’s outside isn’t the whole story, and what that old rule teaches us about today’s cameras and databases. It’s like a conversation over coffee—come listen in.

We went back to Madison and the founders to figure out what happens when the government can record everywhere you go just because it can. This is about more than finding a stolen car; it’s about whether collecting everyone’s movements is something the state needs to justify in advance.
We talk general warrants, Carpenter and Jones, and why the Fourth Amendment’s demand for particularity still matters when technology makes mass tracking cheap and easy.

Picture 1963: the Warren Court is grappling with whether organizations like the NAACP can protect members and use money to speak, and those rulings start to blur the line between association and corporate political power.
This episode walks through NAACP v. Alabama and Button, shows how justices wrestled with money, speech, and association, and explains why those tensions would later explode into the Citizens United debate — leaving the big question open: where does speech end and corporate power begin?