This is our first conversation with independent filmmaker Christopher Jason Bell. We with him again about the feature length release, Failed State, which he co-directed.

Miss Me Yet is a chronicle of the George W. Bush presidency, which means that it also documents the early days of the War on Terror, beginning with 9/11. Chris draws us back into the early 2000s by painstakingly splicing together archival footage of Bush interspersed with commercials that amplify the cultural moments.

It seems appropriate to rerelease this episode, not just because it's the 200th anniversary of 9/11 (or whatever), but because the seeds of so much we've grown to live with and so much of what we've become numb to were planted in those years. Trump used an Iraq War era Congressional authorization for the legal pretext to assassinate Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

Of course, as we've seen many times recently, we've moved well past the need for annoying legal authorizations. Arguably though, we might not have become so inured to extrajudicial violence if we weren't first used to Congress rubber stamping it. Congress' approval was never even requested for the recent US attacks on nuclear sites in Iran.

From the original episode description:

In this episode, we talk with filmmaker Christopher Bell about his docuseries Miss Me Yet. Chris brings the horror and absurdity of the George W. Bush years back to life as he tells the story of a political heir who becomes president, is branded a liar and war criminal by many, and finally drifts into the semi-reclusive painterly life. 

Miss Me Yet is currently showing on Means TV.https://means.tv/programs/missmeyet

Find Chris bell on Twitter:https://twitter.com/UpdateTheGrids

Watch some of Chris' other films:https://linktr.ee/christopherjasonbell

Music:Airglow - Spliff and Wesson (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

We're unlocking this ep for a while because everyone should get to know Chris and hear about his docuseries Miss Me Yet.

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