Fourth Reich Archaeology

This week’s episode focuses on the Pentagon’s propagandist-in-chief, Sean Parnell.  Parnell is someone we suspect you may never have heard of, but we think, upon thorough examination, he perfectly encapsulates a certain character type that could only really thrive in the Fourth Reich. Parnell is a self-described victim of “horrific” childhood bullying, which led him to an adolescence and young adulthood filled with self-described binge drinking, dirty living, and little awareness of what was even happening around him.   That all ended with 9/11. No, really. The guy actually credits the 9/11 attacks for his political awakening and decision to enlist in the army. So he enlisted and went to Afghanistan and later bragged about how many people his unit killed. 
Parnell’s affect is like that of a whinier J.D. Vance. It's like they cooked him up in the same factory as Vance, but he fell off the assembly line before production was complete. You can tell he doesn’t have the Ivy League polish the way Vance does, and he thinks that’s a good thing. But his performance is to act like he is an authentic guy who’s just as smart, if not smarter than the Ivies, when in fact he is tremendously, colossally dumb. He, of course, wrote a memoir with a “co-author” as a pathway to a political or media career before epically failing upward towards his current position as the official spokesperson for the Department of Defense. 
In Side A, we set the table on Parnell and provide some much-needed context.  Stay tuned for Side B, in which Don interviews a friend of the pod, Matt Farwell, about his coverage of Parnell. 
Let’s Get Digging.

Well, it’s been almost 4 months since we’ve issued an episode in our Contra Iran series (not about Iran Contra), and yet it feels like there has been no real change in the status of the so-called “war” in Iran. (Of course, we eschew calling the US/Israeli illegal invasion without provocation a “war” at all.) Things seem trapped in a cycle of - fake ceasefire → stock market bounces → (usually) Israel keeps on bombing, burning, and looting ceasefire be damned → Iran asserts control over the strait of Hormuz → Trump says “no I’m gonna blockade YOU!” → Trump’s threats are empty and he backs down → rinse, repeat.
We talk about the actual factual updates that have taken place over the past couple of months to illustrate just how insane this operation really is. We think it is important to have some information at the ready to support the obviously correct communist position against this imperial war.  If we are going to have any success opposing the war from a Marxist perspective, we must first analyze it using the tools of dialectical historical materialism. So that’s just what we do: who’s doing what, who’s benefiting, where are the potential weaknesses in the imperialists’ armor. 
We then take stock of where things stand now, the lamentable state of affairs besetting the people of Iran, and the people of Lebanon, of Palestine. And we even get into a little prognostication about what might be coming down the pike. How will the cycle be broken? By peaceful transfer of power away from Trump? We also consider the continuity between both parties, and the recurrence of the type of mendacity we see from the Trump administration throughout history.
Don’t miss it!!! Let’s get digging. 
www.patreon.com/fourthreicharchaeology 
Email: fourthreichpod@gmail.com
Socials: @fourthreichpod

It's our birthday! Hooray for year two! And considering the monumental occasion, we decided it is time, yet again, for some R&R. This week, we shut off our lamps, hang up our hard hats, and take some time to reflect on the past year, the present moment, and what’s to come.  We also take this occasion to revisit a highlight reel of some of our favorite mashups, clips, and cold opens from the past year. 
Since our very first episode, our view has been that it is high time that we wise up and realize that there is a complete disconnect between the purported ideals of the United States and the reality of the actions taken by the American government, namely the horrific history of enslavement, exploitation, and the series of successive genocides.  It is now, more than ever, difficult to square the American ideals of truth, justice, and equality with the American actions of slavery, genocide, and forced migration. In this episode, we take it back to the basics and reflect on what this project means to us and what we consider its core values.  As a result, we think this episode is another good one to help new listeners dip their toes in our project.  Because we walk through the foundational pillars, new listeners will leave with a capsule course on what Fourth Reich Archaeology is all about. 
And what it is all about is friendship. As we say many times in this episode, this project is powered by friendship–the friendship shared between Dick and Don, but equally important is the friendship we've forged with all of you who tune in week after week and, dare we say it, year after year. 
Here is to a happy birthday and to many returns!

We are back this week with Side B of our ninth installment of She Harvey Oswald. And as we laid out in Side A, from here on out our series-within-a-series on the two would-be female assassins who set their sites on President Gerald Ford is going to get increasingly and precipitously weirder. 
In Side B we pick up just as Sara Jane’s marriage to her suss ass second husband–a Captain in the U.S. Air Force with connections to the psy-war Sydney Lewis Manning–was on the rocks. We continue connecting dots that others who’ve covered the assassination attempt didn’t even see.            
Before signing off on this one we read into the record excerpts from the 1979 prison interview (on file with the hosts), which offer the only record evidence of Sara Jane addressing the issue of her early life and marriages. Her answers may lead much to be desired in factual content, but they may give insights into how her mind works. 
We think you will really enjoy this one, and humbly submit it as one of our most eye opening episodes to date. 
Let’s get digging. 
www.patreon.com/fourthreicharchaeology 
Email: fourthreichpod@gmail.com
Socials: @fourthreichpod

This week we’re back in the hellworld of 2026 where the US government has launched the greatest (if dumbest) crusade against communism in over half a century. We dig into the historical roots of the latest iteration of the red scare and cover the landscape of current anticommunist action from the Trump administration.
In particular, we examine how (and why) a generation of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab discourse developed in the global war on terror has been repurposed to put communists back in the crosshairs of the state. Spoiler alert: the line goes straight through Palestine. We then take a survey of some of the latest outrages that have come out of this administration in the name of anticommunism, including the further demonization of Cuba by the State Department and the persecution of Fergie Chambers. Will this overreach finally spur some resistance? We consider the question, and much more. Dig in!
www.patreon.com/fourthreicharchaeology 
Email: fourthreichpod@gmail.com
Socials: @fourthreichpod