Last Born In The Wilderness

Clare Follmann, M.E.S., joins me to discuss her new book, Scapegoat: What the Invasive Species Story Gets Wrong, from AK Press. Follmann examines the invasive species story, identifying the language and metaphors used to categorize certain sets of species as “invasive”—as invading and destroying habitats—often framed in the militaristic and xenophobic rhetoric of border nationalism and racial purity. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/clare-follmann // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast [ EP 402 / REC 03.28.2026 / REL 04.16.2026 ]

Clare Follmann, M.E.S., joins me to discuss her new book, Scapegoat: What the Invasive Species Story Gets Wrong, from AK Press. Follmann examines the invasive species story, identifying the language and metaphors used to categorize certain sets of species as “invasive”—as invading and destroying habitats—often framed in the militaristic and xenophobic rhetoric of border nationalism and racial purity. // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Journalist Peter Byrne joins me to discuss the burgeoning and sprawling military AI industry, its consortium of players, and its relationship with the warmaking and surveillance powers of the United States government, explicated in his extensive 10-part Military AI Watch series for Project Censored. Furthermore, Byrne elucidates how AI systems are being used in the now weeks-long US-Israel war on Iran, both in the decision to launch this war and in the day-to-day decision-making of military strategists. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/peter-byrne // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Journalist Peter Byrne joins me to discuss the burgeoning and sprawling military AI industry, its consortium of players, and its relationship with the warmaking and surveillance powers of the United States government, explicated in his extensive 10-part Military AI Watch series for Project Censored. // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

For episode 400 of Last Born In The Wilderness, Dare Carrasquillo returns to discuss the world of Red Dust. This concept of Red Dust provides a useful frame for understanding the dizzying, heartrending, numbing, enraging, and maddening churn of events we experience and witness daily. As crises accentuate and accelerate in their intensity, so do our responses to them. // Episode notes + transcript: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/dare-carrasquillo-3 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Dare Carrasquillo returns to discuss the world of Red Dust. This concept of Red Dust provides a useful frame for understanding the dizzying, heartrending, numbing, enraging, and maddening churn of events we experience and witness daily. As crises accentuate and accelerate in their intensity, so do our responses to them.  // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

I'm joined by Dr. Špela Šalamon, Nuclear Medicine Specialist Physician and biomedical scientist. She has contributed to global efforts in understanding and mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 and published several papers addressing the risks following COVID-19 infections, emphasizing the necessity for proactive health measures. In October of last year, she co-authored and published the AJPM Focus review article, COVID-19 is “Airborne AIDS”: provocative oversimplification, emerging science, or something in between? The review compares and contrasts “observations of the immunological impacts of COVID-19 and HIV infections […] examining shared and distinct mechanisms, such as immune dysfunction, vulnerability to opportunistic infections, accelerated aging and neurocognitive disorders, […] highlight[ing] critical parallels and their implications.” // Episode notes + transcript: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/spela-salamon // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Dr. Špela Šalamon joined me to provide an evidence-based comparison of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, based on a review she co-authored and published for AJPM Focus: COVID-19 is “Airborne AIDS”: provocative oversimplification, emerging science, or something in between? // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Writer, researcher, and movement strategist Ben Lorber returns to the podcast to discuss his recent deep dives into the ascendancy and growing influence of the groypers, led by the charismatic, tenacious, and odious Nick Fuentes—a significant part of the rising and contentious anti-Israel wing of the America First movement. // Episode notes + transcript: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/ben-lorber // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Writer, researcher, and movement strategist Ben Lorber returns to the podcast to discuss his recent deep dives into the ascendancy and growing influence of the groypers, led by the charismatic, tenacious, and odious Nick Fuentes—a significant part of the rising and contentious anti-Israel wing of the America First movement. // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Journalist and author Omar Zahzah joined me to discuss digital settler colonialism, hegemony, and the Palestinian liberation struggle in the digital age. Zahzah is the author of Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle, published by Seven Stories Press. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/omar-zahzah // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Journalist and author Omar Zahzah joined me to discuss digital settler colonialism, hegemony, and the Palestinian liberation struggle in the digital age. Zahzah is the author of Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle, published by Seven Stories Press. // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Investigative journalist and pediatrician Eli Cahan joined me to discuss the magnitude of the long Covid crisis in the youth population of the United States, addressed in his October Rolling Stone piece, Long Covid Is Real—And It’s Changing an Entire Generation. Eli Cahan takes the time to speak to his dual position as a pediatrician and investigative journalist and how they intersect. He takes us through the struggles many families are dealing with, the human-level hardships that are unique to each child and their families, indicative of a much wider and pervasive long Covid crisis. This kind of journalism is as humanizing as it is deeply informed—a call to action against a generational injustice that will continue to cascade unless we improve the conditions not just for long Covid sufferers, but for everyone. We are all vulnerable to this pandemic. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/eli-cahan // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donat

Investigative journalist and pediatrician Eli Cahan joined me to discuss the magnitude of the long Covid crisis in the youth population of the United States, addressed in his October Rolling Stone piece, Long Covid Is Real—And It’s Changing an Entire Generation. // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Max Perry Mueller, professor of religious studies and author, joined me in this sweeping interview to discuss his new book, Wakara's America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West, published by Basic Books. Our discussion covers some of the thematic sweeps and details of Mueller’s incredibly well-written and rich history of the American West and one of its central, oft-forgotten, and overlooked founders, Wakara—intersecting with indigenous ecological knowledge and management systems, settler-colonialism, and Mormonism. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/max-perry-mueller // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Max Perry Mueller, professor of religious studies and author, joined me in this sweeping interview to discuss his new book, Wakara's America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West, published by Basic Books. Our discussion covers some of the thematic sweeps and details of Mueller’s incredibly well-written and rich history of the American West and one of its central, oft-forgotten, and overlooked founders, Wakara, intersecting with ecological knowledge and management systems, settler-colonialism, and Mormonism. // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

I speak to the enormously successful campaign of Zorhan Mamdani, his charisma, the very practical policy goals set by his run for mayor of New York City, and how you will be disappointed. "I just want to be really transparent and honest about the fact that I, too, feel many of the feelings that people have about this, while also having this other part of myself, which I don't want to describe as pessimistic as much as just realistic." // Become a free or paid Patreon supporter and listen to the full post: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Author and journalist John H. Richardson joins me to ruminate on his new book, Luigi: The Making and the Meaning, published by Simon & Schuster. In line with the book’s title, we discuss the making and the meaning of Luigi Mangione, currently on trial for the alleged killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In his full book treatment of the case, Richardson follows the breadcrumbs Mangione left behind, painting a vivid picture of his influences and thinking, situating this violent act within our revolutionary moment. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/john-richardson-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

Author and journalist John H. Richardson joins me to ruminate on his new book, Luigi: The Making and the Meaning, published by Simon & Schuster. // Support the work + listen to the full interview: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness

Journalist and author Shane Burley joined me to discuss the specter of political violence in the United States, remarking on the recent assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and the fallout of that event. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/shane-burley-8 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast