The Department of Justice released three million pages of Epstein-related documents.

Twelve ZIP files.
Non-searchable PDFs.
No index.
No database.
No public search tool.

Technically public.
Practically unusable.

In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave is joined by investigative journalist Andrea Chalupa (Gaslit Nation) and civic technologist Patrick Duggan to unpack what transparency actually means when institutions release information in ways the public can't realistically access.

This isn't about conspiracy theories.

It's about "opacity by design" — when power releases the truth in a format that avoids accountability.

Patrick Duggan took 329,000+ Epstein-related documents and built a free, searchable public API after the DOJ failed to provide one.

Because sometimes the state releases the data…
And citizens build the flashlight.

Andrea Chalupa — Gaslit Nation
https://gaslitnationpod.com/

Patrick Duggan
https://dugganusa.com/

Epstein Files Search Tool (Public Index)
https://epstein.dugganusa.com/

The Epstein files aren't hidden.
They're buried alive.

And when citizens have to build tools just to understand what their government released, that's not transparency — that's abdication.

Bigfoot myths are harmless fun.
Opacity by design is how power survives scrutiny.

The Bigfoot Manifesto
Progressive Politics · Cryptid Truths
Unmasking capitalism one cryptid joke at a time.

"Small government" sounds comforting — a tidy garden where everyone minds their own business and freedom magically flourishes.

But while we're admiring the gnomes, something much bigger is climbing over the fence.

This week on The Bigfoot Manifesto, host Dave Pederson is joined by David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect and one of the sharpest reporters covering power, policy, and corporate capture in America today.

Together, they dismantle one of the most durable fairy tales in U.S. politics: the idea that shrinking government somehow shrinks greed.

From deregulation and austerity to Wall Street bailouts, healthcare profiteering, and the quiet consolidation of power, Dayen explains how "small government" rhetoric doesn't remove control — it transfers it. Markets don't become freer. They become dominated. Accountability doesn't disappear. It just moves out of public view.

The conversation digs into:

• Why "small government" remains politically seductive despite repeated failure

• How deregulation actually works in practice — not theory

• Why austerity is a policy choice, not an economic necessity

• How corporate power fills every vacuum government leaves behind

• Why crises are so often used to justify cutting the systems people rely on

Bigfoot may be fictional — but the damage caused by policy myths is very real.

David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect and an award-winning journalist who has spent decades investigating corporate power, financial corruption, and public policy failures. His reporting has helped expose foreclosure fraud, monopolization, and the quiet mechanisms that allow wealth and influence to concentrate at the top.

📰 The American Prospect
https://prospect.org/

📘 Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1620970393

📕 Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1620974550

🎙 The Bigfoot Manifesto

Gentrification isn't "organic change." It isn't inevitable. And it definitely isn't caused by coffee shops.

In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, we're joined by housing policy expert and author Samuel Stein to unpack how gentrification is built—by policy, finance, zoning laws, tax incentives, and real estate speculation—and why cities keep feeding a system that displaces the very people they claim to protect.

Using the metaphor of Frankenstein's monster, we explore how housing stopped being shelter and became a governing force, how cities quietly handed power to real estate markets, and why rising property values are treated as "success" even as communities are pushed out.

• How real estate became a political actor
• Why cities depend on speculation for survival
• The contradiction between rising property values and affordable housing
• Zoning, tax breaks, and development subsidies that fuel displacement
• Why homelessness and gentrification are policy outcomes—not accidents
• Whether cities can be governed democratically when capital is mobile

If you care about housing justice, rent control, zoning policy, urban planning, inequality, real estate capitalism, or the future of cities, this episode is essential listening.

Samuel Stein is a housing policy expert, urban planner, and author of Capital City, a definitive breakdown of how real estate finance shapes cities and democracy.

🔗 Samuel Stein (official site):
https://samuelstein.org

📘 Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State (Verso Books):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/282-capital-city

📕 A Right to Housing? — forthcoming from Verso Books (September 2026)

The Bigfoot Manifesto blends progressive politics, sharp satire, and investigative storytelling—because believing in Bigfoot makes more sense than believing housing markets will fix themselves.

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🦶 Smash capitalism gently, one cryptid metaphor at a time

Christianity isn't just a belief system — it's a training program.

In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, host Dave Pederson talks with author and former Christian James Aames about religious indoctrination, fear-based belief, and why leaving faith is so psychologically difficult.

James explains how Christianity spreads through childhood conditioning rather than adult choice, why doubt is framed as moral failure, and how religious thinking mirrors conspiracy culture and modern political extremism. From Sunday school to MAGA epistemology, this conversation traces how obedience, guilt, and fear shape belief long after faith fades.

We also discuss:

• Why most Christians never truly "choose" belief

• The fear of hell and the cost of deconversion

• Religion as a gateway to conspiracy thinking

• Why faith collapses under basic evidence standards

📘 How to Become a Non-Christian by James Aames
🔗 https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Non-Christian-Dismantling/dp/0578900114

Bigfoot myths are harmless. Religious myths come with consequences.

Bigfoot vs. Customer Service Hell – Why Everything is Broken

Customer service used to be a feature. Now it's a weapon.

In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, host Dave Pederson is joined by Jared Lerner, the creator of Customer Service Hell, a website documenting the most infuriating, absurd, and soul-crushing customer service experiences of modern capitalism.

Jared has spent nearly two decades working in client-facing tech roles, and he's seen firsthand how customer service has shifted from human support to intentional obstruction. Together, Dave and Jared break down why customer service feels worse than ever—and why that's not an accident.

We dig into:

• How long hold times, bad phone trees, and AI chatbots are designed to make you give up

• Why airlines, telecoms, Big Tech, and travel platforms are the worst offenders

• How outsourcing, underpaid workers, and executive decisions fuel the problem

• Why bad customer service has become a cost-cutting strategy, not a failure

• And how documenting these stories is the first step toward accountability

Bigfoot may be elusive, but at least people are still looking for him. Good customer service, on the other hand, has practically gone extinct.

👉 Check out Jared's site and contribute your own horror story:
Customer Service Hell
https://www.customerservicehell.com/

Takeaway:
Bad customer service isn't just annoying—it's a symptom of a system that prioritizes profits over people. And sometimes, the only way to survive that system is to laugh at just how broken it's become.

Progressive politics. Cryptid metaphors. Corporate nonsense exposed.
Welcome back to The Bigfoot Manifesto.

This week on The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson is joined by Andy Shernoff — founding member of The Dictators, songwriter, producer, and historian of the New York punk scene — for a wide-ranging conversation about music, technology, and who actually gets paid anymore.

Andy has lived through every major shift in the music industry: from vinyl and major labels, to DIY punk, to streaming platforms, to the current wave of AI-generated "artists." Together, Dave and Andy break down how the business of music has shape-shifted over the decades, why streaming has been brutal for working musicians, and what gets lost when algorithms replace people.

Along the way, Andy shares classic punk stories (including the infamous "ADNY" name origin), reflects on authenticity in art, and explains why the industry keeps finding new ways to underpay the people who actually make the music.

If you care about music, labor, creativity, or why Bigfoot probably refuses to put his album on Spotify — this one's for you.

Featured Andy Shernoff Videos & Music

🎸 Fuck Christmas
https://youtu.be/6YI3EIXj2IY

🎸 Festivus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVI0JE5oMuo

🎸 Are You Ready To Rapture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOKMl57WtK0

🎸 Born Hungry
https://youtu.be/9sZflmh9rNw

🎸 Sweet Joey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5415KDw1fso

Learn More

🌐 https://TheDictators.com
🌐 https://AndyShernoff.com

About the Show
The Bigfoot Manifesto is a podcast where progressive politics, culture, and conspiracy collide — with satire, skepticism, and the firm belief that believing in Bigfoot still makes more sense than believing streaming will ever pay artists fairly.

Sustainable Creativity, DIY Economies, and Fighting Corporate Control with Ethan Minsker

What responsibility do artists have in an era of climate crisis, corporate consolidation, and cultural disposability?

In Episode Ten of The Bigfoot Manifesto, host Dave Pederson speaks with artist, writer, filmmaker, and cultural organizer Ethan Minsker about sustainable art practices, DIY publishing, and resisting corporate control through community-driven creativity. Minsker's work spans books, zines, film, installations, and nonprofit arts organizing—and challenges the idea that art must be permanent to be meaningful.

This episode explores:

• Sustainable and biodegradable art practices

• Why artistic permanence is a myth in a finite world

• DIY economies, zines, and independent publishing

• Art as resistance to corporate and extractive systems

• Creating work that can safely degrade rather than pollute

A conversation about art, ecology, labor, and why making things still matters—even when nothing lasts forever.

Village Works — Books + Zines
https://www.villageworksnyc.com

East Village Vintage Collective — Books + Art
https://eastvillagevintagecollective.com

Instagram
@ethanminsker
https://www.instagram.com/ethanminsker

Website
https://ethanminsker.com

Art Pawn (Instagram)
https://www.instagram.com/artpawn

Films
Man in Camo — Tubi
https://link.tubi.tv/7V83Nn6XKYb

Scooter LaForge: A Life of Art — Tubi
https://link.tubi.tv/fWTHLwdYKYb

The Great Record Hunt (Pilot) — Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/244676698

Citizens for the Arts (Non-Profit)
https://www.citizensforthearts.com/