Un-history

Send us Fan MailKoji Steven Sakai takes the “Dead Air” machine into the darkest hours of American leadership. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the ultimate screen director of his own image, masking his wheelchair from a desperate nation. But as Koji points out, the real deception wasn't his health—it was his conscience. In this raw, deeply personal episode, Koji holds FDR accountable for the human math behind Executive Order 9066, the turning away of Jewish refugees on the MS St. Louis, and an executive betrayal of Black civil rights.THE AUDIT TRAILExecutive Order 9066 & IncarcerationThe Munson Report: The pre-war intelligence briefing confirming Japanese American loyalty: The Munson Report of 1941The Personal Cost: Direct testimony regarding the assembly centers and conditions at camps like Manzanar and Tule Lake: Densho Digital RepositoryThe Global & Domestic CompromisesThe MS St. Louis: The tragic account of the 937 Jewish refugees turned away from American shores in 1939: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumThe Anti-Lynching Filibuster: FDR's strategic choice to abandon the Costigan-Wagner Bill to appease Southern Dixiecrats: NAACP History: The Fight for Federal Anti-Lynching LawsThe Private LeaderThe Stamp Collection: A look inside FDR's lifelong, million-stamp escape from the burdens of statecraft: Smithsonian National Postal MuseumThe White House Press Pact: How the media and the Secret Service actively guarded the image of presidential physical perfection: The FDR Presidential Library & MuseumSOUND CREDITSGravel Footsteps (Sassaby): https://freesound.org/s/827831/Vicki Hamilton: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/394326/Freesound Community: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/48537/Freesound Community: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/34545/Pixabay Effect 240674: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/240674/Next Episode: Koji shifts the dial to examine the icons who built empires of moral authority on foundations of sand.Subscribe, review, and drop an audit of your own on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Send us Fan MailKoji Steven Sakai tunes the “Dead Air” signal to 1997 to pull the world’s most untouchable brand into a South Pasadena garage for an audit. Mother Teresa built a legacy on the "beauty of suffering," but the receipts tell a different story. From running 14th-century-style plague wards while seeking world-class cardiac care for herself, to her cozy relationships with dictators and a $1.25 million thrift-store scandal, Koji cross-examines the "small pencil" to see if her moral ledger actually balances out.THE AUDIT TRAILMedical Standards & The "Philosophy of Suffering"The Lancet Report: A medical critique of the "hospice" standards in Calcutta: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(94)92353-1/fulltextThe Scripps Clinic: Details on Mother Teresa's high-end heart treatments in California: https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/08/world/mother-teresa-is-hospitalized-with-pneumonia-and-heart-illness.htmlThe "Kiss of Jesus": The primary critique of her views on pain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Missionary_Position:_Mother_Teresa_in_Theory_and_PracticeThe Dictators & The DonorsThe Duvalier Connection: Her 1981 visit to Haiti to praise the "Baby Doc" regime: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/mother-teresa-sainthood-charles-keating/The Keating Letter: The actual letter sent by the prosecutor asking Mother Teresa to return stolen money: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/10/the-fanatic-fraudulent-mother-teresa.htmlThe Faith AuditThe Crisis of Faith: Her private letters revealing 50 years of feeling "no God": https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Teresa-Come-My-Light/dp/0307332078The Monica Besra "Miracle": The controversial medical evidence behind her canonization: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/20/india.religionSOUND CREDITSGravel Footsteps (Sassaby): https://freesound.org/s/827831/Vicki Hamilton: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/394326/Freesound Community: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/48537/Freesound Community: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/34545/Pixabay Effect 240674: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/search/240674/Next Episode: Koji goes back to the 1940s to audit FDR and the "Splendid Deception" behind Executive Order 9066.Subscribe and leave an audit (review) on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Send us Fan MailKoji Steven Sakai drags Thomas Jefferson into a South Pasadena garage for a long-overdue audit. Using the “Dead Air” signal, Koji cross-examines the Founding Father on the massive plot holes in his legacy—from his 600-person forced labor camp to the massive debts that kept his own children in the service entrance. It’s a deep dive into the man who wrote the script for freedom but couldn't afford to live it.The Audit Trail (References)Slavery & Labor:The Nailery: Monticello's "Nail Boys"Sally Hemings: Life at Monticello | PBS NewsHour1800 Election: The Three-Fifths ClauseFinancials & Gadgets:Jefferson Bible: The "Razor and Glue" GospelsThe Mammoth Cheese: 1,200lbs of SymbolismThe Polygraph: The 18th Century CC MachineWeather Logs: 50 Years of Daily DataSound CreditsPixabay: freesound_community, Vicki Hamilton, Hasin AmandaFreesound.org: Gravel Footsteps by Sassaby (CC0)

Koji Steven Sakai drags the Sage of Monticello into a South Pasadena garage for a long-overdue audit of the American mission statement. In this premiere episode, Koji uses the “Dead Air” signal to cross-examine Thomas Jefferson on the massive plot holes in his legacy—from squaring “all men are created equal” with a 600-person forced labor camp to the $2,000 wine habit that kept him in debt and his own children in the service entrance. It’s a deep dive into the macaroni-obsessed, weather-tracking Founding Father who gave us the vocabulary for freedom but couldn’t afford to live the script.