I Don't Speak German

Daniel Harper is a researcher who goes where few others can bear to go: he listens to what the reactionaries - from the IDW to the modern day Nazis - say to each other in *their* safe spaces! In this timely and shocking - but entertaining - anti-fascist podcast, Daniel tells his friend, online writer Jack Graham, all about it.

News Roundup: Jeffrey Epstein and the MAGA Civil War; Mehdi Hasan and Jubilee 07/26/2025

UNLOCKED! Bonus Ep38 Absolute Power (1997) 07/15/2025

133: The Mamdani Reaction 07/13/2025

133: The Mamdani Reaction After a brief review of Grok becoming 'MechaHitler', we chat about the hysterical meltdown that ensued upon Zohran Mamdani's victory in the Democratic primaries to become candidate for Mayor of New York. Jack brings his researches into the New York Times smear story and the fascist eugenicist blogger Jordan Lasker (AKA Cremieux) who gave the Times the leaked info. Daniel brings clips of Megyn Kelly's unhinged Islamophobic response to Mamdani on her podcast, including a conversation with Charlie Kirk in which racism wars for inanity for supremacy. Content warnings. Episode Notes: NBC News, Asked to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ Mamdani says mayors shouldn’t ‘police speech’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggV2SeiGrVw Zohran Mamdani told director mom Mira Nair to pass on Harry Potter movie https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/zohran-mamdani-mira-nair-harry-potter-namesake-b2778144.html "'She explained that she was just a month away from filming The Namesake when Warner Bros. reached out to her. Nair said she felt compelled to attend the meetings with the studio because her son had learned to read through J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. However, she didn’t want to give up on working on her own film, so she asked her then-14-year-old son what to do. “He said to me, ‘Mamma, many good directors can make Harry Potter, but only you can make The Namesake,’” Nair recalled. “And it was such a liberating and clarifying statement, and it kind of is about how I lived my life. Like, what can I do that is so specific that you cannot do? How to make my distinctiveness my calling card.'" The Times of India, Why MAGA Is Losing Its Mind Over Zohran Mamdami Eating Rice With His Hands https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/why-maga-is-losing-its-mind-over-zohran-mamdani-eating-rice-with-his-hand/articleshow/122209140.cms "First, let’s get one thing straight: eating with your hands isn’t dirty, weird, or backward. It’s normal. In India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, parts of the Middle East, and even in some parts of Europe, using your hands to eat is a sign of connection—to the food, to your senses, to tradition. But in the video of Mamdani eating with his fingers, Gill and his supporters saw something else. They didn’t see heritage. They saw a threat. Because in their worldview, anything outside the “white, Western” norm becomes fair game for mockery or suspicion. It wasn’t about rice. It was about power." Megyn Kelly Episode 1098: Tacky Celeb-Filled Bezos-Sanchez Wedding, and Zohran Mamdani's Fake Origin Story, with Walter Kirn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hj1yAA3Dqo&pp=ygUbbWVneW4ga2VsbHkgdGFja3kgYW5kIGdyb3Nz Tweet from The Charilie Kirk Show on the value of eating with utensils. https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1940114312124862947 Megyn Kelly (From Episode 1095): What It Means That Radical Socialist Muslim Zohran Mamdani WINS NYC Mayoral Primary, w/ Charlie Kirk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c09GVJu_Xn0&pp=ygUbY2hhcmxpZSBraXJrIHpvaHJhbiBtYW1kYW5p The Times of India, Why MAGA Is Losing Its Mind Over Zohran Mamdami Eating Rice With His Hands https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/why-maga-is-losing-its-mind-over-zohran-mamdani-eating-rice-with-his-hand/articleshow/122209140.cms "First, let’s get one thing straight: eating with your hands isn’t dirty, weird, or backward. It’s normal. In India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, parts of the Middle East, and even in some parts of Europe, using your hands to eat is a sign of connection—to the food, to your senses, to tradition. But in the video of Mamdani eating with his fingers, Gill and his supporters saw something else. They didn’t see heritage. They saw a threat. Because in their worldview, anything outside the “white, Western” norm becomes fair game for mockery or suspicion. It wasn’t about rice. It was about power." Mediaite, ‘Take it Down’: Fox News Host Scolds Charlie Kirk Over ‘Gross and Islamophobic’ Post "'Tarlov shot back, “I’m not afraid to say that I don’t think Mamdani’s vision for the city is a good one and I think a lot of his policies are crazy – NYC is the home of capitalism, not socialism. I want more police funding, not to defund. BDS is repellent. We can’t freeze rent, making everything free. But none of that has to do with him being Muslim.'" The Lauren Southern interview we reference: Vance follows Lasker Capitolhunters thread on the Lasker academic paper scandal The ADL identify “every damn/single time” as antisemitic trope Lasker on Hanania’s podcast Show Notes: Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent. Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes. Daniel's Patreon: Jack's Patreon: IDSG Twitter: Daniel's Twitter: Jack's (Locked) Twitter: Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social IDSG on Apple Podcasts: /episode/index/show/idontspeakgerman/id/37388800

News Roundup: Groks and Bills and Alligators 07/08/2025

132: Why to Learn Spanish, with Craig Johnson 06/30/2025

131: Trump and South Africa, Duolingo and AI 05/28/2025

131: Trump and South Africa, Duolingo and AI A News Roundup episode, and an episode of two halves. We start with a discussion of the recent public Oval Office meeting between Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa, in which Trump harangued the South African president with accusations of 'white genocide' based on 'evidence' which tracks straight back to people in our usual wheelhouse. Then we move on to a chat about the recent decision by language learning app Duolingo to replace loads of their contributors with AI, plus some dismaying news about Babbel, leading to a discussion of the impending AI jobs crisis. Then we cap it off with an odd flex for us... a feel good story! Episode Notes: Trump spreads racist South African Farm Murders Memes in meeting with Ramaphosa Trump/Ramaphosa meeting: Response: * A check of Trump's false claims about white genocide in South Africa | Reuters Trump’s evidence of South Africa ‘white genocide’ contains images from DR Congo – The Irish Times Trump confronted South African president with ‘evidence’ of genocide – here’s what the video really showed | The Independent Trump ambushes South African president with video and false claims of anti-white racism | Trump administration | The Guardian What's Behind Trump’s South Africa Obsession? | Benjamin Fogel | TMR South Africa to offer Elon Musk Starlink deal ahead of Trump meeting | Business Insider Africa White Nationalists Praise Trump’s Promotion Of White Genocide Conspiracy Theory – Angry White Men Exclusive: Trump Shared Racist, Flat-Earth Facebook Account With South African President Roaming Charges: White Lies About White Genocide - CounterPunch.org DR Congo: Killings, Rapes by Rwanda-Backed M23 Rebels | Human Rights Watch As Goma ceasefire largely holds, Congo rushes to bury bodies from rebel offensive | Reuters A white nationalist moved to Idaho in search of an ‘ethnic enclave.’ He’s not alone. * Duolingo Replacing Contract Workers With AI The Verge, “Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI” “AI isn’t just a productivity boost,” von Ahn says. “It helps us get closer to our mission. To teach well, we need to create a massive amount of content, and doing that manually doesn’t scale. One of the best decisions we made recently was replacing a slow, manual content creation process with one powered by AI. Without AI, it would take us decades to scale our content to more learners. We owe it to our learners to get them this content ASAP.” von Ahn’s email follows a similar memo Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke sent to employees and recently shared online. In that memo, Lütke said that before teams asked for more headcount or resources, they needed to show “why they cannot get what they want done using AI.” Fortune, “Duolingo CEO walks back AI-first comments: ‘I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do’” “To be clear: I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do (we are in fact continuing to hire at the same speed as before),” he wrote. “I see it as a tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality. And the sooner we learn how to use it, and use it responsibly, the better off we will be in the long run.” Babbel quietly ending Babbel Live Babbel Support, “Discontinuation of Babbel Live” “Babbel Live was introduced in 2021. Knowing the power of human teachers, we aimed to offer our learners this experience from their homes. Over time, however, we did see a clear trend: the majority of them did not accept Babbel Live as part of their language learning path, making it impossible for us to sustain it as a business. This change will help us achieve our goal of helping you become fluent in your new language quickly by enabling us to focus on improving our app, which most learners, especially beginners, prefer.” Boycott Over Upcoming E-sports Event in Riyadh Makes Geoguessr Change Its Stance Geoguessr Community Protests Esports World Cup by Disabling Popular Maps. Statement from Feneb, one of the World Championship players, about his decision to boycott the Riyadh event. “The decision to participate in the Esports World Cup, which is directly funded by the Saudi Arabian government in an effort to distract public attention from the above human rights violations, is thus directly incompatible with any stated aims by GeoGuessr to promote an inclusive and diverse community, and extremely disappointing. I also do not want to dismiss the issue of hosting a tournament in Saudi Arabia, regardless of whether the event is directly run by the Saudi government or not. It is completely unnecessary to host a tournament in a country which some current or possible future world league players would be unable to travel to safely.” Statement from Geoguessr regarding their decision to reverse the event in Riyadh (Reddit) Geoguessr challenge links: (Standard) World Map An Official World A Community World * The AI jobs crisis is here, now - by Brian Merchant Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market - The Atlantic Show Notes: Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent. Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes. Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper/posts Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618&fan_landing=true IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper Jack's (Locked) Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_ Jack's Bluesky: @timescarcass.bsky.social Daniel's Bluesky: @danielharper.bsky.social IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1 /episode/index/show/idontspeakgerman/id/36750495