Gadfly

Welcome back, y'all! This week we end the chapter of the New Alliance Party: the (alleged) Marxist-Leninist-therapy cult that also just so happened to have a relatively amazing 1988. But what happens when a cult leader has to make the choice between running a serious political party or pushing his people even deeper into leader worship? Support the show

Hey, y'all! We are back and continuing the weird, weird tale of the New Alliance Party. Sure, they might maybe be a cult, but that's not going to get in the way of the political ambitions of Lenora Fulani and "therapist" Fred Newman. Support the show

Hey, y'all! Welcome back to a freaking adventure of an episode.  What if I told you there was a party that's whole purpose was to represent people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, and women? That they wanted to make food, employment, shelter, and medical care a constitutional right? And that this party had been around and active throughout the 1980s?  Well, the New Alliance Party was that party a...

Welcome back and Happy New Year's, y'all!  To kick off 2021, we have a story that will more than likely set the tone for 2022. While he hasn't run for office yet, pillow "genius" Mike Lindell appears to be all set to make his first political campaign for governor of Minnesota. And Mike just happens to be amongst a whole pack of Trumpists ready to make their move in the upc...

Welcome back, y'all! This week we are closing out 2020 with the story of the badass, in every sense of the word, Juliet Stuart Poyntz.  Join us as we discuss Communism, Russian history, and what the even fuck are the Wisconsin Dells. Support the show

Hey, y'all! Welcome back to the final installment of the tale of one Lt. Col. Bo Gritz. The man has already had one bonkers bit of a life. Supposedly Rambo is based on him. He's invaded Laos more times than 95% of the nations on Earth. And he sort of ran for Vice President whilst diving super hard into every conspiracy theory possible and getting real into Christian Identity (aka Oops! A...

Welcome back, y'all as this week we continue into part two of the life of Lt. Col. Bo Gritz. Its 1986 and Bo's career of private invasions into Laos have come to an end. What's a man to do when his first passion is over? Dive into the new passions of  political campaigns, conspiracy theories, and maybe even a little bit of acting, of course. Support the show

Hey, y'all! This week we are diving back into the world of 3rd parties and talking about a man who became the poster image of the true American soldier back in the early 1980s: Lieutenant Colonel Bo Gritz. Join us as we discuss Bo's childhood, his military career, and his shift into privately funded armed raids into Laos. Support the show

Hey, y'all! This week, Gadfly is here to do our patriotic Chicago duty and talk about our beloved city and it's real scammy political history. Join us this week as we talk about how Chicago got this way, how we both liked Wicker Park before it wasn't cool anymore, and the man who would become known as the Hipster Alderman, Proco Joe Moreno III. Support the show

After a brief Election Week Hiatus, we're back, y'all! This week, join us as we recap the results of the 2020 election for the various third parties in America.  Following that, we dive into our main topic: the story of a complicated Senator from Wyoming, Lester C. Hunt, and the three bastards who took it upon themselves to try and ruin his family's lives, all for the sake of potent...

Hey, y'all! Hop into our time machine to the current present, because Oona and I are about to talk about the three third party candidates that have the best chances of full on winning their major electoral races. Join us as we explore the races for US Senate in Alaska, the Gubernatorial race in Indiana, and finish up with another Senate race in Arkansas.  Support the show

Hey, y'all. We're back this week with the further tales of everyone's favorite 19th century hipster newspaperman, Horace Greeley. Support the show

Hey, y'all! Welcome back to a huge tone shift as we talk about the morally-decent life of Horace Greeley. Join us as we discuss the adventures of the 1830s Millennial Hipster experience,  ultra-specific newspapers, and we reveal our brand new right-wing grift. Support the show

Hey y'all! We're back and after spending a solid month in some deep history dives, we are treating ourselves to the junk food of political discussion: alt-right grifter and 2020 congressional candidate, Laura Loomer. Join us as we discuss early 2000s late-night reality TV, Shakespeare gimmicks, & the real meaning of Minnesota Nice. Support the show

We're back y'all and it's time to bring this electoral epic to an end. It's a five-way battle royale and, yeah, we all know Lincoln wins. But does he? Are you sure you're remembering that right? Maybe Stephen Douglas won and just dressed like Lincoln for five years. Join us this week as Stephen Douglas, John Breckenridge, John Bell, and Sam Houston find every way humanly p...

We are back with Part 3 of our 1860 Election Series (feat. Abraham Lincoln) and this week, we get to the 1860 primaries and candidates! Will Abe Lincoln walk away with the nomination? Will Stephen Douglas fulfill Joseph Smith's prophecy? Does every young white dude lawyer from this time move to the West and become a US Congressman by 30? Find out all this, and MORE, in our newest of episodes....

Gadfly is back and it's part two of the What Led to the Lincoln Election Saga. This time 'round we will be discussing the 1854 Midterm Election, the badass that is Charles Sumner, but If this episode had a star, it would be the worst completed presidential term in American history, that of 15th President James Buchanan.  Join us as we discuss the importance of the surname apostrophe, Sov...

Hey y'all! This is a topic that historians describe as "a big 'un."  For the next few weeks we're going to be talking about the election of Abraham Lincoln and all of the things that had to happen for a brand new political party go from upstart troublemakers to having control of the House, Senate, and Presidency in the span of six years.  In part one, we're going full...

Welcome back to Gadfly! This week we did a deep dive into the phrase "America First," which is why we are talking about the worst person we have featured to date: minister Gerald L.K. Smith. TW: We are going to be talking a ton about antisemitism and racism. To skip over 99% of it, you can jump ahead to the 49:00 mark of the podcast. Join us as we discuss the importance of brevity when n...

Welcome back, y'all! This week join us as we talk about the Battle of Aspen: a classic battle against that ole demon called Gentrification.  Only this time the fight is between out-of-state land developers, local businesspersons, & fervent anti-communists vs. a bunch of hippies, bikers, heads, and one drug-loving, compound-owning, Freak Power journalist. Support the show

Welcome back to Gadfly, y'all! This week, we are talking about one of the founding fathers of the Green Party himself, this year's 2020 Presidential nominee, Howie Hawkins. Join us as we discuss undergraduate foreign language requirements, the various nicknames of the city of Syracuse, and invent the newest male-centric synonym for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Support the show

This week, we begin the final of the big three third-party conventions with the Green Party. This year, the race for the party nomination was a bit more contentious than usual, so set your phasors for Drama. Support the show

This week the invisible hand of the free market pushes us back into the 2020 Libertarian Convention and we focus on the three candidates who made it onto the fourth, and final, ballot. Join us as we discuss the joys of anarchist absurdity, the fury brought on by over-optimistic capitalism, and the real-time sadness of finding out someone probably supports the boogaloo movement. Support the show

It's mid-June and, whoo boy, we are already so deep into the third party political season! This week, we are talking about the 2020 Libertarian Party Convention and the three candidates who didn't quite make it onto the final ballot. Join us as we discuss the awesomeness of micronations, ways to make a physical cryptocurrency, and a movie that is the Libertarian answer to The Room. Suppo...

This week we return to the Constitution Party Convention to discuss their 2020 nominee for president, former coal company president and felon Don Blankenship. Join us as we discuss the dark history of mining coal, internal-organ based Ponzi schemes, and ponder just how awful one person can really be. Support the show