Bigfoot vs. the Healthcare Desert: Why America Can’t Heal Its Kids
In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave talks with Victoria Casavecchia, founder of Empowered Victories Wellness, a Registered Nurse and Board-Certified Nurse Coach with nearly 30 years of experience in pediatric nursing. Victoria joins the show to talk about the youth mental health crisis, the rise in anxiety, depression, burnout, and disconnection among kids […]
Bigfoot vs. the Strongman: Putin’s Fairy Tales, American Myths, and the Fight for Democracy
🎙 Episode 2: Bigfoot vs. The Strongman (with Andrea Chalupa of Gaslit Nation) In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson sits down with author, journalist, and Gaslit Nation co-host Andrea Chalupa to unpack how Putin’s propaganda, right-wing disinformation, and American media echo chambers have reshaped global politics — and why authoritarian myths spread […]
The Myth of Meritocracy | The Bigfoot Manifesto Podcast
They told you to “work hard and you’ll succeed.” But what if that story was never true? In this episode of 🎙 The Bigfoot Manifesto, host Dave Pederson sits down with journalist and author Sarah Jaffe (Work Won’t Love You Back, From the Ashes) to expose one of America’s biggest fairy tales — the Myth […]
Opacity by Design: The Epstein Files and the Illusion of Transparency
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 […]
Everything Connected: The Architecture of the American Con
In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson is joined by fellow producer Jeff Mann and director Sean Claffey to revisit Americonned and ask a hard question: what has changed since the film first came out in June 2023? The episode returns to the film’s central warning that inequality, labor precarity, housing instability, political […]
The Thin Blue Myth: Policing, Power, and Accountability in America
In Episode 20 of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson sits down with former police chief, law enforcement consultant, educator, and DOJ reform expert Dr. Edward Dwain Denmark for a deep conversation about policing in America: how its myths are built, how power is protected, and why accountability so often breaks down. This episode digs into […]
The Sasquatch Paradox: Why AI Replaces Workers, Not Power | Paris Marx
Episode 19: The Sasquatch Paradox 2.0 — Why AI Replaces Workers, Not CEOs If AI is supposedly smart enough to replace drivers, writers, coders, designers, warehouse workers, and maybe even teachers, then why does it never seem to come for hedge fund managers, private equity executives, or the C-suite? In Episode 19 of The Bigfoot […]
Why Do People Need Bigfoot to Be Real? Bigfoot as Emotional Infrastructure
Guest: Kev LeStarge Is Bigfoot real? That’s not the question. In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson sits down with lifelong Sasquatch researcher and children’s author Kev LeStarge to explore something deeper: why people need Bigfoot to be real. Kev grew up in Wisconsin chasing the mystery of Sasquatch, eventually going on expeditions […]
Due Process Under Siege | ICE & Political Retaliation
“Due Process Under Siege” examines the growing threat to immigration rights and civil liberties in the United States. This episode looks at how deportation policy, ICE enforcement, and executive power, especially under Donald Trump, are testing the limits of constitutional law. This is not about partisan politics. It is about transparency, accountability, and whether due […]
Gnome-ageddon: Small Government Myths and Giant Systemic Failures (w/ David Dayen)
“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 […]