Operation Midnight Climax
Andy's Podcaster Podcasting Podcast #34
Intro Music
Andy
It’s Andy’s Podcaster Podcasting Podcast - EPISODE 34
Background noise - Periodic Cicadas from Brood X in the garden.
Andy
Hear that… Periodical Cicadas - the 17 year hatching of Brood X - reaching its climax now up in the trees… quite magical really. They started crawling out of their underground tunnels a couple of weeks ago. Then they shed their exoskeletons husks everywhere, then like butterflies fresh from the chrysalis they sort of hunker down and let their bodies and wings dry out. And then they start climbing up. They’re trying to make it up trees and they are not the best flyers - their body is too big for their wings so they’re kind of like insect blimps, so they sort of walk or float over to the trees and then slowly make their way up to the top for the big cicada party. They’ve been growing and hibernating for 17 years in the ground so the landscape is a little different. We had to cut down one 200 year old oak out back down and there’s a bunch of them on the stump. Walking around like - where’d tree go. And in other places their climbing up new kitchen extensions and truck tires. There are billions of them now all over the Eastern U.S. Typical insect strategy, quantity over quality, sheer numbers compensating for loss of life. The birds have been very happy. Watched a huge Pileated Woodpecker nosh them off our front Oak Tree the other day for a good five minutes. It’s really quite amazing. The kids have had fun too. They’ve invaded a few board games we’ve tried to play in the garden. Blaise gathered a load into the swing and developed an astronaut training program. Subjecting them to all kinds of tests before the winners won a spot in a shuttlecock and where hit into space. One small step for man - a giant disorientating ride onto the top of the shed for Brood X…
Funny sort of week really. Positive Covid test in Blaise’s class - meant they are back out of school and then Blaise and I tested positive for Covid ourselves. So we’re all back in quarantine. Happily, we’ve had no symptoms. Well, I’ve been a bit tired and I had a touch of erm, lets say, ‘soft serve’ for a couple of days last week. But otherwise totally fine. As you heard last episode, I got my vaccine - so the good news is - the vaccine works. The girls tested negative. So Sierra has been a bit frustrated having to miss in-person school and some outside play dates. But we’re good. And doing a little bit more than strictly required by the school and CDC recommendations to keep a part and stop community spread. So go get the vaccine, if you haven’t already. And they are starting to bribe us as well. Incredible. Get free burgers in New York. Krispy Creme doughnuts in DC. Beer in New Jersey. Governor here just told us all the vaccinated are entered in a million dollar lottery. I think a bunch of states are going the lottery way. So don’t throw a way your shot. It works, who knows how sick we could have been otherwise… just inconvenienced really, back in full quarantine - which means I’ve had to postpone my trip round the Trump Presidential Library market test prototype thing. Hopefully get that back on track in a couple of weeks. I think its still going to work out. So today I’m going to tell you about a new podcast I’ve just listened to, and recommend a few other episodes. It’s a new True Crime Show about the Central Intelligence Agency…
Music - Rise of the Black Centipede by Mario Rom’s Interzone
ANDY
It’s… Review… Time… Mwahahahahahahaha….
Reviewing Operation Midnight Climax… This is an eight part true crime podcast reviewing the dark history of CIA agent George White and his life’s work going from secret agent in the second world war to deliberately dosing hundreds of unsuspecting Americans with LSD and running a Brothel in San Fransisco - because as the logic goes with the pretty much every appalling CIA Operation in the cold war era - The Russians made us do it. Even though, they would have it that Socialism in any form is a flawed system doomed to collapse and yet they will kill, murder and even enable multiple genocides from fascist dictators to make sure it never gets a chance. The Russians made us do it! The monsters are coming so we must be worse than the monsters! And Especially when the business interests of wealthy tax dodging American elites can profit from it. From invading small countries and assassinating slightly left leaning democratically elected governments on behalf of Fruit Companies wanting to maintain indigenous slave work forces - like they did in Guatemala. To destabilizing the Middle East and worldwide coups, assassinations and colonial oil grabs… The Russians made us do it! From Hiring and rehabilitating Nazi’s after WW2 - to purging countries of center left opposition to facilitate Corporate colonial rape to enrich the pocket books of the Yale Princeton elites so entire regions are now controlled by fundamentalist dictators like they did in Iran and the Congo - The Russians Made us do it! And then of course, on the home front - Slipping acid into peoples drinks at bars around Greenwich Village New York and North Beach San Francisco - because - well - they want to work out how to control people, ahem - The Russians made us do it! Yes, there are so many conspiracy theories about the CIA - out there, but the truth is - the actual conspiracies they have actually copped to in Senate hearing after Senate hearing, for decades, from the 50’s onwards, solid accepted history - is enough to make the cover ups and scandals of the thousand year old Catholic Church look like - well - ahem - child’s play. No pun intended. So this podcast is made by I Heart Radio - the behemoth media company - recently known as CLEAR CHANNEL - and I’m not sure we should forget or forgive the damage they have done or continue to do by creating, bank rolling and promoting fascist assholes like Rush Limbaugh and the constant lies and evil propaganda of a hundred similar conservative Shock Jocks. But that said, this is actually a good little pod, it’s written by Jack Rossen and voiced by Noel Brown. And they’ve gone for this great Hard Boiled detective sound audio drama type sound, leading you by the hand down all the weird twists and tales CIA agent George White’s fabulous dark biography. And there’s a wonderful team of producers and sound designers behind it to make sure it really hits the spot. Being from ClearChannel there are a few more advert breaks than you might be used to. And big part of the source material is George White’s own attempt at writing his biography, so the tongue in cheek Mike Hammer / Raymond Chandler vibe is perfectly suited and because they are lacking first hand interviews since most of the story happened in the late 1950’s and was secret spy business they chose to enhance the story with small radio play dramatizations of meetings and events to add color and help paint the picture. And for the most part it’s good and seamless work. I’m sure you’ve all watched terrible History channel type shit, where they clearly don’t have footage of someone opening the mummies tomb or finding a box of letters or something and they use hammy dramatic reconstructions to build fake climaxes in the hope you will stick around through the commercial breaks - well they do the same sort of thing in this podcast, but the do it very well so its seamless and you barely notice it. Even if a lot of the scenes are of George White swishing ice cubes around in a martini and drugging some unsuspecting woman. And we don’t don’t know how many people he drugged and after a failed cover up - Senator Ted Kennedy forced the CIA to try and make amends and offer restitution to victims in the 70’s but in a very ‘limited hang out’ kind of way. The Limited Hang Out - is a CIA concept of admitting to a small amount of wrong doing, when forced to do so, to obscure a much larger ice berg of evil shit. SO George White was operating as part of the CIA’s MKULTRA program, which was supposedly their attempt to figure out human mind control using every available pharmaceutical and psychological torture methods at their disposal. And this podcast, Operation Midnight Climax is a very good trip - pun intended into learning about this strange piece of American history. 5 stars, 2 thumbs up and a flashback… (SKULLS SKULLS EVERYWHERE) If this show piques your interest into the CIA I think it should ideally be listened to in conjunction with a few episodes from a couple of other great podcasts you can download. I’ll list these with links in the transcript - but they are, the recent think you should start with Behind the Bastards - 3 parter into the Dulles Brothers and the foundation of the CIA from the superb Behind the Bastards podcast. This is from American journalist Robert Evans and I reviewed the show on my Syrian War podcast episode. In case you missed it - Behind the Bastards does incredible work here somehow managing to summarize the epic stories of all the Bastards that have shaped the modern world. And these three episode on the Dulles Brothers, these Nazi Sympathizing dudes who were born to the highest echelons of American society and were allowed to constantly fail upwards and create the CIA and set the world on fire is frankly essential listening. So yeah, I recommend listening to the 3 episodes of the Dulles Brothers and then I hit this fun 8 parter - Operation Midnight Climax for more individual color and a more dramatic sound… and then I think you should maybe go to Blindboys episodes on a couple of CIA operations - how they funded Abstract Art and also offered shady backup to the FBI COINTELPRO operations to destabilize and assassinate american left leaning dissidents groups like the Black Panthers. Great work all round. These Blindboy episodes are called - Abstract art and the CIA and Best Chestnuts. And of course - links in the transcript (underlined in text above).
Music - Rise of the Black Centipede by Mario Rom’s Interzone
Poem - ‘Soldiers of the Fortune 100’ - sound montage featuring ‘Hurt’ By Johnny Cash.
ANDY
Soldiers of the Fortune 100
Running Spies,
Telling lies,
Your bloody fingers,
In all the pies,
Framing patsies,
Recruiting Nazis,
Going all the way with Ike,
You’ve never met a fascist dictator,
That you didn’t really really like,
Sold your soul to men in suits
To save the slavers of United Fruits,
With a plan that could’ve been taken straight off Parlor,
The brutal rape of Guatemala
Killing Democracy,
Millions Dead,
Your only excuse:
‘Well, they might one day go red!’
But no monster,
Conjured in Lenin’s head,
Could hurt a fraction,
As you’ve killed dead,
‘Cause when you take your orders from the richest list,
Everybody starts to look like a communist
Money Laundering
Running drugs
Prostitution
Planting Bugs
Iran Contra
Web of lies
Arming terrorists
On both sides,
Lying lips,
Sinking ships,
Injecting steroids in the,
Horses of the Apocalypse,
9/11,
Bay of Pigs,
Your Sometimes as useful,
As powdered wigs,
But when the poor want freedom,
You pull out all the stops,
You’re nothing but glorified Plantation Cops,
C.I.A.
Your cover’s blown,
Swipe Left,
Send a drone
Music - Everything is Permitted - Mario Rom’s Interzone
Andy
That’s a wrap… hope you enjoyed the show, please take a second to give me five stars and review in whatever app you use to listen. And If you really want to help, click the link and buy me a coffee for a few bucks. Andy’s Podcaster Podcasting Podcast is sponsored by the American Shoe council. Celebrating over 40,000 years of Bi-pedal history - shoes - how else are you going to protect your feet?
Please let me know if you hear anything good. Take it easy. Have a great week, wherever you may be… BBBBBBBYE