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Radio War Nerd EP #539 — "A Cosa Serve?" Wayward Parrots & Tariffs, Gaza Nightmares, Wasps (Patreon)

Published:
2025-08-02 01:55:10
Imported:
2025-08
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Recorded: August 1, 2025

The War Nerd asks "A cosa serve?" - What's the use? In the world of wars, not much, not for anything good. This episode, we discuss:01:09 - A cosa serve?02:38 - Ames' lost parrot07:25 - Raiders follies11:13 - Tariffs, Trump & Deadocrats35:55 - Gaza, GHF & genocide denial53:35 - MAGA splits, Israel & Iraq War1:04:46 - Netanyahu & Zelensky1:08:36 - Radioactive wasps & Cicada Killers

Total time: 1:13:33Direct link to this episode's mp3 here

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Sound production by Telescope Audio

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Order your print or ebook of John Dolan's new book Erdogan Pizza: Dispatches from a Violent & Grotesque World

Files

Comments

JoR

Didn’t listen yet obviously but ANY Raiders tirades/stories on the show are always the best lol let’s goo

HP

Dudes, that story about the bird made me so happy. Maybe the best thing I’ve ever heard on a podcast. Or maybe the world is just that bad right now, lol. Either way, thank you

Kawaii Leonard

Love the timestamps and the topics discussed therein, guys

CR

Real energy prices went up 35%. That’s what the real inflation rate has been since Covid. Unemployment will hit 10% this year. It’s a shame there’s no opposition party or anything. But there are two gangs of culture war dipshits who would do the world a favor if they just died.

Jimmy B

“Stalin as a Raiders fan” got me good

CR

The democrats hate the poor. It’s the party of rich college grads and doesn’t care about anything but personal enrichment of the made men in their gang. I fucking told you years ago. I swear to fucking God one day people may pay attention. Tucker and those guys are 100% genuine and they are the only functional class warriors in the U.S. now that sheepdogs like Bernie and AOC have given up their sham. Anyway. You should be nicer about our first female president, MTG or her Latina equivalent. As far JD’s quote, to counter, Neil Gaiman wrote when he was just a sex pest vs demon, “It has always been prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. “But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.” — The Sandman

CR

The Lancet also published Andrew Wakefield so democrats and liberals and others won’t give a rat fuck. Or say it’s proof of reality being a lie. I made my position clear. The France demands. The Hasbara. This is not folding. This is doubling down on hamas is evil and they made us do this to them. Anyway. Trump immediately started using 1.5 million when talking about Gaza once he was sworn in. That’s conservative at this point.

Podconsoomer

Doesn’t nyt have a bunch of “former” idf working there

a clash of purple

The Democrats are a 'big tent' party, meaning that, currently, they're composed of basically everyone who is politically active who isn't a Trump worshipper. There are Democrats who genuinely want to help the poor, who want to end the genocide in Gaza, etc.. There are also Democrats who are exactly the kind of people you're talking about. And there are also Democrats who were Republicans a couple of election cycles ago. I mean, Chomsky loved to say that the Republicans were no longer a conventional political party so much as a Christian apocalypse cult, but what is anyone supposed to make of the Democrats? They basically want to somehow include every American voter who isn't for Trump (a losing proposition). Individual Democrats are all over the place when it comes to their beliefs and ideology, and the leadership offers nothing except "Things will continue to get worse, but they won't get as bad as fast as they would under Republicans, we promise." It goes back to Annibale talking about Berlusconi's era in Italian politics. When the only two options are "Berlusconi" and "not-Berlusconi," it's the side that doesn't actually stand for anything and doesn't offer anything except "We aren't the bad ugly rude man" that's going to lose.

a clash of purple

I have liberal friends who to this day will argue with a straight face that Hillary Clinton not only should have won, not only "deserved" to win, but that she would have been "the greatest President of all time" if she won. These are the same people who scoffed at me when I would quip that Biden should either pack the Supreme Court or abolish it, while he had the chance. I don't think culture war is the *only* thing on Republicans' and Democrats' minds. They have real grievances (which their leaders blatantly ignore). But they are definitely dipshits, at least when it comes to politics. Only immediate, total, and aggressive communism can save us now. It all goes back to something I think Ryan Grimm said once, either on RWN or on Chapo Trap House: a lot of Americans, including even some elected officials, flatly refuse to let go of the stupid bullshit they learned in middle school civics class. They cannot understand or accept that the U.S. government and its institutions can be anything other than what their textbooks told them when they were children. They just sort of stare blankly and babble something about "Well these guys are doing government wrong!! They're not allowed to do that! Why isn't my grade school teacher putting them in time-out??"

a clash of purple

Why is it apparently so much easier for people to feel empathy for animals rather than other human beings? To me, these kinds of stories are just, like... there are humans starving and suffering in the world, and people don't even react. Helping them is either a tedious chore or an embarrassing waste of time that deserves to be mocked. But toss a fucking dog a bone and it's the most heartwarming thing ever. They make whole TV shows about rescuing animals, calling them babies and children and obsessing over finding them a 'family,' while nobody gives a shit about actual children in need. I donno. I guess it's like being religious. There's some wrinkle in the brain that I have, or don't have, and I can't feel that level of empathy or whatever with an animal. Frankly it seems ridiculous to me (except for elephants, but that's because they're smarter and better than humans). Like, animals don't give a shit about humans, except that we've taught some of them that if they behave in a certain way, we'll give them food. But people's 'fur babies' would happily eat them, if it came to that. And yet, at the same time, maybe it's that empathy for animals that has allowed humanity to be so successful as a species, because it probably helped us to domesticate them? So who knows... Maybe I'm the crazy one. I wonder if it's genetic. My parents aren't animal people either; they've never had or wanted a pet.

GoyBulletStopper

Everywhere does. Facebook, Twitter, all msm. All have unit 8200 veterans

Nate Wood

Love the timestamps

a clash of purple

I would not object if the only episodes RWN did in the future were covering either the American Civil War or Tolkien. There's certainly enough wars to talk about in Tolkien's universe. Even some insurgency/counterinsurgency campaigns, at some points; Túrin Turambar leading his people under Easterling occupation and leading a daring commando raid to kill Glaurung the dragon comes to mind. Tolkien certainly understood the power of cavalry (he was a cavalry officer in WWI), as exemplified by the Rohirrim and taken to the extreme with the Nazgûl on their flying beasties and the Haradrim with their Mûmakil.

HP

Man, honestly, your reply is kind of hilarious. It really gets roaring when you get to the bit about your chosen (arbitrary) exception in elephants. I don’t think it’s easier for people to feel empathy for animals. Our natural empathy for humans is the source of our moral stirring and the root of most of our pain. To be blunt and perhaps a little simplistic (this is a comment, after all), animal stories and animals are a pleasure for most of us because they make easier feel-good fiction. Like, I ate half a chicken at dinner before I heard Ames’s story. I don’t give a fuck about the chicken. I’m still happy for the parrot. Life is often terrible, and it’s nice to be happy. Turns out I’m crazy as hell, just like the rest of us.

Chubby Justin

It's very convenient that tucker and all of his fans have decided to sour on Trump in the second half of his second term.

Jack Ross

You guys should do another Q&A some time

Terry Dunk

Pronunciation pedant here again : Lu-*LA*, Mark, Lu-LA, not Lulu (lol)

Terry Dunk

someone needs to show up in the stands this season in the full Stalin get-up all silver and black with the eyepatch

mike

Tucker is positioning his audience to blame jews generally for what's happened, thereby absolving the US state and Trump. Thats all thats going on there. I don't think anyone involved in state craft believes Iraq or Gaza will have been a mistake, thats stuff they tell their base. The neocons got and are continuing to get everything they wanted for pennies on the dollar with a middle east in total disarray, save for our 51st state.

JoR

Bring back the voicemail questions!

Jon

On Jeremy Bowen, I will defend him to a limited extent. He has always given a fairly neutral perspective in his reports and is pretty open about what the IDF does and doesn't allow him to report on. He seems to have a conscience and has been quite creative in, for example, visiting the "viewing platform" that has been set up near the Gazan border to give as much perspective as possible while obviously not being allowed to travel freely

Austin Mettler

Very entertaining episode glad the war nerd is feeling better and mark found his bird!

Benj

There is a recent Mondoweiss article outlining the idf influence

Seth

TikTok just made a “former” idf head of their hate speech dept

a clash of purple

Shrug. I've had this conversation with friends who love animals, and it's always pointless. I mean, I like animals fine, I get along with them (my friends would not be my friends if I was a jerk to their pets or whatever), but I can't invest myself into them. It's just a case of mutual unintelligibility, I guess. The way you feel is as incomprehensible and silly to me as the way I feel is to you. Though I would push back rather strongly on the idea that people naturally feel empathy for other humans, and that leads them to feeling empathy for animals. There's no evidence for that. In fact (anecdotally) most animal-lovers I've talked to are pretty open when they say they like animals much better than people, and I think it's pretty clear at this point, especially in the context of this podcast, that most people are not very empathetic towards their fellow humans.

Pavel Abramov

Thank you for the happy news. Especially post raccoon massacre, i needed some good news

Muirneach

Is Seth Harp coming on to promote his new book?

Robert Geroux

I am probably echoing the comments of others, but I enjoyed this one a lot. I am just appalled by the depths of the NYTimes and other MSM sources (BBC e.g.) on Gaza. Their latest "retraction" story on that poor child who starved to death was just awful, perhaps even a nadir, until the next worst thing they do. I am also stunned that elements of MAGA are now running to the left of the centrist Dems; like many who grudgingly respect a realist view of international relations, I no longer understand how supporting Israel is in *anyone's* interest. It should be a global pariah. As a state it needs to go the way of Rhodesia or the old South Africa.

Robert Geroux

also, like others here I appreciate the Ames' family love for animals. glad the parrots are safe.

JoR

I just remembered, has it officially been 10 years of the show? First episode was August 17th 2015. I know it probably only reminds you both of your mortality but we need some sort of 10 year anniversary ep lol

Doug Cartel

Anne Frank died of Typhus, Eric Garner died from being fat, Heather Heyer died from being fat and starving kids die from whatever condition they had before they starved. I want to take these hair-splitters and split their heads open

Philippe Duhart

The reason why there’s been a turn on Gaza is simple: CNN and the New York Times can publish photos of starving Palestinian children, while they can’t publish photos of dead, Palestinian children. Our political and media elites have the moral intellect and integrity of small children.

Mark Ames

need a v-chip to zap me every time I make that mistake, otherwise I just won't learn

James

Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are our allies on the biggest issues and anyone who says otherwise is trying to “divide and rule” us.

James

If Tucker wants to “blame Jews generally” why is he friends with Dave Smith?

Demented Avenger

The Democrats are doing nothing because they have no incentive anymore to do anything. The party not holding the White House picks up House seats in off-year elections over 90% of the time going back to 1870. Without any event or trend to the contrary (like 9/11), the Democrats will just sit back and take control of the House. The Democrats won't do diddly-squat after this because they like the cuts Musk and Trump made, and the worst that will happen to them is that they'll lose a Presidential election. As long as they have control of the other head of the American amphisbaena, they'll pick up donations and be happy. Fuck them.

Demented Avenger

Trump revealed the death totals in Gaza as far back as January, when he was talking about the Trump Gaza Riviera. He said that 1.7 to 1.8 million people would have to move, which is considerably less than the 2023 Gaza population figure of 2.2 to 2.3 million.

JoR

I agree. Has any Dem party elite lost a job after losing 24? Did anyone even get a quasi demotion?? Like you said, even if they lose, they get their donor $ and to stay in power. Plus it’s relatively easy to be the opposition in the US.

JoR

Honestly have to agree. I can understand why that makes people uncomfortable or upset considering their social views. But anyone who “tisks tisks” them and their audience for their views on Gaza because “it came too late” or “because they’re anti trans” is simply going to alienate the many conservatives who are , genuinely,anti Israel right now. Wasn’t this a slogan of the provisional IRA that they talked about ? “When someone from the other side finally joins us, even for one issue, do NOT scold them, encourage them for the viewpoint”

mike

Tucker and Owens are content creators, they exist to make sense of the world for the lumpen reactionary by absolving the role of the US in the genocide. They aren't on your side and they won't change the situation in Gaza because they are American nationalists, they just think the gaza genocide isn't in the US interest. Supporting or not supporting them is largely irrelevant for us. By us I mean regular Americans with no political power.

cstenzy

Tolkien ep would be great! On the contrary what I've noticed (in explicitly left/progressive circles online at least, so not the best source sample) is people *over*-ascribing left politics to Tolkien

W McCarthu

Wondering if you guys can post the transcripts on here so i can highlight and post the real zingers

Annibale

There's also Tolkien hatred for imperialism / colonialism

Jason Thompson

I’d also love a Tolkien ep. I remember right after JK Rowling came out as anti-trans some Twitter Tolkien fan cheerfully advertised “Why not join our Tolkien reading group? One of the great things about him is is, Tolkien is dead!!”

Jason Thompson

At the same time most people will happily eat animals, and even pets get euthanized if they become bitey or cost too much money. Even the most beloved animals are, at best, conditional humans. Sadly, most people probably see many other humans as conditional humans too.

Matelda

1. At least one of the publicized starving children outed as having other disabilities ("genetic disorders") only had defects resulting from malnutrition during pregnancy. So obviously who cares, but it was just the type of hasbara meltdown that somehow still blows your fucking mind. 2. I love Tolkien. The books are a problematic fav but also rightwingers do not understand it and their takes on it are ridiculous.

Ben

As a lifelong Seahawks fan, love hearing an update on the Carroll-era Raiders from you guys

Isaac Crone

Great episode I love all the different topics especially when you guys talk football

j

Oh my god mark, when I was a child my family had the exact same King Kong style parrot rescue attempt for one of two Amazonian green parrots we had in like 2006. It was an absurdly overbuilt steel cage, made for pigs but adopted for parrots. We wheeled it down two blocks to the tree where one had escaped, hoping it wojld Join their lover… they definitely preferred their freedom, and coincidentally, the second escaped a couple weeks later. We were in this South Bay, so I found solace in telegraph hill fantasies, and they were definitely not socialized.

Mark Ames

Just saw this - sounds like a harrowing memory. They both got out? They had a much better chance there than out in WNY at least, there are parrot colonies along coastal Cali.

j

Definitely better odds out here. The first one’s escape was a chance accident. We’d let them fly freely in a big converted garage, one abnormally tall for an Eichler, so they had lots of altitude to dive from. I came home, face numb from dentist anesthetic, through an outside door of the garage, which spooked one. My babushka had just come through another door at the same moment and it zipped past her and through the sliding door to freedom. It was pretty ridiculous, I couldn’t speak because of the anesthetics so I just blubbered relentlessly. I’m definitely the sensitive-over-animals type. As to the second one, I suspect my babushka l intentionally freed her out of pity a few days later, but nobody else was around. Anything to do with those parrots was odd. My father, a expat in Baja, purchased them there off the side of the road, and we “brought” them in a box, submerged in luggage, across the border. We stayed one night in a motel off highway 99 and let them fly/shit freely in the bathroom for a night… Pardon the story, I just haven’t heard of anyone trying to coax one bird with another like we tried. I got a lot of parrot trauma to process as those two were effectively wild birds…