The Thin Blue Myth: Policing, Power, and Accountability in America

Bigfoot vs. the Healthcare Desert: Why America Can't Heal Its Kids

In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave talks with Victoria Casavecchia, founder of Empowered Victories Wellness, a Registered Nurse and Board-Certified Nurse Coach with nearly 30 years of experience in pediatric nursing. Victoria joins the show to talk about the youth mental health crisis, the rise in anxiety, depression, burnout, and disconnection among kids and teens, and why America's healthcare system often waits until families are in crisis before offering real help. The conversation covers how anxiety can show up physically, why parents are overwhelmed too, the role of sleep, food, movement, mindfulness, and connection, and where nurse coaching fits in the "missing middle" between toughing it out and emergency care. This isn't just about individual wellness. It's about a healthcare system that asks families to solve a public health crisis one private coping skill at a time. Because Bigfoot may be hard to find — but try finding affordable mental healthcare when your kid needs help right now. Guest: Victoria Casavecchia, RN, NC-BC Empowered Victories Wellness: https://www.empoweredvictorieswellness.com/ [https://www.empoweredvictorieswellness.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Helpful Links: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: https://988lifeline.org/ [https://988lifeline.org/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Find mental health or substance use treatment: https://findtreatment.gov/ [https://findtreatment.gov/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] NAMI resources for kids, teens, and families: https://www.nami.org/kids-teens-and-young-adults/ [https://www.nami.org/kids-teens-and-young-adults/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] SAMHSA National Helpline: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/helplines/national-helpline [https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/helplines/national-helpline?utm_source=chatgpt.com]

Bigfoot vs. the Monopoly Machine: Amazon, Dollar Stores, and the Fight for Local Power

What if the real monster eating Main Street isn't hiding in the woods — it's hiding in the checkout button, the delivery truck, the dollar store, the grocery aisle, and the corporate boardroom? In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson talks with Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, about monopoly power, Amazon, dollar stores, grocery consolidation, and the fight to rebuild local economies. Stacy explains how corporate concentration didn't just happen naturally. It was built through policy, protected by ideology, and sold to the public as convenience, efficiency, and low prices. But behind that story are small businesses getting squeezed, communities losing control, independent grocers disappearing, and towns being reshaped by corporate chains that extract wealth instead of building local prosperity. Dave and Stacy dig into Amazon's platform power, why small businesses are trapped by fees and logistics, what breaking up Amazon could actually look like, how grocery stores became a monopoly story, why the Robinson-Patman Act matters, and how dollar stores hollow out rural towns and urban neighborhoods. Because Bigfoot may be hard to find. But monopoly power? That thing has a storefront on every corner. Stacy Mitchell's Book: Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses Official book page: https://stacymitchell.com/front-page/ [https://stacymitchell.com/front-page/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Beacon Press: https://www.beacon.org/Big-Box-Swindle-P671.aspx [https://www.beacon.org/Big-Box-Swindle-P671.aspx?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/big-box-swindle-the-true-cost-of-mega-retailers-and-the-fight-for-america-s-independent-businesses-stacy-mitchell/321e5d8e3bf1e87b [https://bookshop.org/p/books/big-box-swindle-the-true-cost-of-mega-retailers-and-the-fight-for-america-s-independent-businesses-stacy-mitchell/321e5d8e3bf1e87b?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-box-swindle-stacy-mitchell/1100550462 [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-box-swindle-stacy-mitchell/1100550462?utm_source=chatgpt.com] For the full Libsyn description, replace the guest block with: Guest: Stacy Mitchell Organization: Institute for Local Self-Reliance Learn more: https://ilsr.org/ [https://ilsr.org/] Stacy Mitchell's Book: Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses Official book page: https://stacymitchell.com/front-page/ [https://stacymitchell.com/front-page/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Beacon Press: https://www.beacon.org/Big-Box-Swindle-P671.aspx [https://www.beacon.org/Big-Box-Swindle-P671.aspx?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/big-box-swindle-the-true-cost-of-mega-retailers-and-the-fight-for-america-s-independent-businesses-stacy-mitchell/321e5d8e3bf1e87b [https://bookshop.org/p/books/big-box-swindle-the-true-cost-of-mega-retailers-and-the-fight-for-america-s-independent-businesses-stacy-mitchell/321e5d8e3bf1e87b?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-box-swindle-stacy-mitchell/1100550462 [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-box-swindle-stacy-mitchell/1100550462?utm_source=chatgpt.com]

War as a Subsidy for Capitalism: Iran, Venezuela, and the Business of Empire

Is war a glitch in the American system — or is it how the system works? In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson talks with historian, foreign policy analyst, and American Prestige co-host Daniel Bessner about U.S. empire, war, sanctions, oil, the national security state, and the political economy hiding underneath the language of "freedom," "stability," and "democracy." Using Iran and Venezuela as case studies, Dave and Daniel explore how American foreign policy often protects markets, energy flows, military contractors, and elite power — while ordinary people pay the cost. They also discuss sanctions as a form of warfare, the role of the Strait of Hormuz, the bipartisan consensus around empire, and what a serious working-class foreign policy might look like. Because sometimes the real conspiracy isn't hiding in the woods. It's hiding in the defense budget. Guest: Daniel Bessner Host of American Prestige https://americanprestigepod.com/ [https://americanprestigepod.com/] Daniel Bessner's books: Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501785078/democracy-in-exile/ [https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501785078/democracy-in-exile/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Imperialist Realism: Politics and Culture at the End of the American Century https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Imperialist-Realism/Daniel-Bessner/9781803414805 [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Imperialist-Realism/Daniel-Bessner/9781803414805?utm_source=chatgpt.com] The Bigfoot Manifesto Progressive politics. Cryptid truth. Zero billionaire BS. Subscribe, rate, and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

AI Singularity & Human Extinction: Dr. Peter Solomon on the Machine God

Is AI still just a tool — or have we started worshipping the machine? In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson talks with Dr. Peter Solomon, author of 100 Years to Extinction and 12 Years to AI Singularity, about artificial intelligence, human extinction, Henry Adams, technology as a secular religion, and whether humanity can survive the technologies it has created. The conversation begins with Henry Adams' "The Dynamo and the Virgin" and the idea that modern society may have replaced older moral systems with a new faith in machines, speed, efficiency, and power. From there, Dave and Dr. Solomon discuss AI singularity, sentient machines, climate collapse, nuclear risk, genetic engineering, social media algorithms, corporate power, job loss, and the political failure to put guardrails around technologies that could reshape civilization. Dr. Solomon argues that AI represents a fork in the road: it could help humanity build a more harmonious future, or it could accelerate our worst instincts unless society, politics, and democratic institutions catch up. Bigfoot may be hiding in the woods. The machine is hiding in plain sight. Learn more about Dr. Peter Solomon and his work: https://100yearstoextinction.com/ Dr. Solomon's books: 100 Years to Extinction: The Tyranny of Technology https://100yearstoextinction.com/100-years-book/ 12 Years to AI Singularity: A Harmonious Future with Artificial Intelligence or War https://100yearstoextinction.com/12-years-to-ai-singularity/ Subscribe to The Bigfoot Manifesto for conversations about politics, power, propaganda, technology, capitalism, and the strange stories shaping our world.

Everything Connected: The Architecture of the American Con

In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson is joined by fellow producer Jeff Mann and director Sean Claffey to revisit Americonned and ask a hard question: what has changed since the film first came out in June 2023? The episode returns to the film's central warning that inequality, labor precarity, housing instability, political capture, and the collapse of the middle class were never separate problems, but parts of one larger con. Dave, Jeff, and Sean look back at what the film was really trying to say, why its message hits even harder now, and how billionaire power, AI job disruption, housing unaffordability, weakened labor power, and economic anxiety have only deepened since release. They also discuss why now is the right time to relaunch Americonned and what they hope new audiences will see more clearly in this moment. This is a conversation about the American Dream, the architecture of power, and why the story Americonned tells is not old news. It is still happening. For updates on the relaunch of Americonned, visit Americonned.film.