Journalist Carlos Berríos Polanco talks with James, outlining the United States' overseas colonial empire and how it was started by a quest for bird poop. 

Sources:

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State edited by Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231241274187

https://fortune.com/2026/07/27/hormuz-fertilizer-guano-islands-act-fertilizer-empire/ 

https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/navassa-island-the-uss-160-year-forgotten-tragedy

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-09-26/almost-half-of-americans-dont-know-puerto-ricans-are-us-citizens-poll 

https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/politicatypes 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/30/puerto-rico-independence-movement 

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-CARIBBEAN/MILITARY-BUILDUP/egpbbnzyrpq/ 

https://www.nminewsservice.com/cnmi-covenant-united-states-50th-anniversary-explainer-timeline/ 

https://apnews.com/article/american-samoa-voting-citizenship-alaska-trump-eda6c32ce0fcdca6edb22efac26e403d 

https://www.nminewsservice.com/cnmi-covenant-united-states-50th-anniversary-explainer-timeline/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/how-us-controls-iraqs-oil-revenues-2026-01-23/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/magazine/venezuela-empires-colony.html 

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-state-trump-rodriguez-chavismo-silence-634203c885803b018ecd8ac012bb249d 

https://time.com/article/2026/06/02/trump-annex-canada-51st-state-rhetoric-carney-us-partnership-message/ 

https://theconversation.com/us-territories-have-a-voice-in-congress-but-no-vote-heres-why-283547

https://www.usace.army.mil/Media/Fact-Sheets/Fact-Sheets-View/Article/4463352/154-the-longe
st-blackout-in-us-history-hurricane-maria/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-was-serious-about-trading-hurricane-stricken-puert
o-rico-greenland-n1237336

https://www.democracynow.org/2001/8/3/as_navy_pounds_vieques_with_largest
“Nationals” but not “Citizens”

https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/nationals-but-not-citizens-how-the-u-s-denies-citizenship
-to-american-samoans