Fear, Honor, and Interest

This week, David and I discuss dog whistles! See if you can hear us! (Note: This episode was recorded on March 3rd)

This week David and I have a new sense of urgency as we try to come to grips with the national emergency currently occurring at our southern border. (Well, my southern border; David is currently safe in Turkey.) We mentioned many articles we need to link in the show notes! The article on the Zadroga bill: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/kirsten-gillibrand-james-zadroga-september-11 The article on sources of border wall funding: https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-authorities-president-trump-using-build-border-wall The interview with Victor Davis Hanson: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-classicist-who-sees-donald-trump-as-a-tragic-hero

This week, David and I try to have a productive conversation instead of talking about distractions from the real issues! Do we succeed? Listen to find out! As always, send your feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I discuss the how embarrassed one should be by early takes that turn out to be incorrect. Does it matter if you reached a hasty judgment but did nothing about it before later information makes you rethink it? As always, send your feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I give in and discuss the Gillette ad. I, of course, had avoided watching it ... As always, send your feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com! UPDATE: After we recorded this episode, serious questions arose about what really happened during the incident concerning a Native American elder and his encounter with teenagers from the March for Life. During the episode we stated our opposition to doxxing and harassing the students involved even based on the initial reports; our commentary should still be valid.

This week, David and I discuss the nature of intelligence. We also look at what kind of factual errors by politicians should set off red flags about their knowledge. As always, send feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I discuss the shutdown, and all the time it's given me not to edit and post the podcast. As always, send your feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

On this special bonus episode, I talk with my friend Christine Rousselle to get her very different perspective on the issues we discuss on the show! As always, send your feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week David and I discuss the end of the Weekly Standard and the prospects for intelligent conservatism in a Trumpist world. As always, you can reach us via email atfearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com

David has moved into his apartment and has internet, so we can record again! This week we discuss the midterms and the legacy of George HW Bush. As always, you can email us feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

With so much happening in just the two weeks since we last did an episode, David and I decided to do a Lightning Round...except we aren't constitutionally capable of that kind of speed. So instead, we present the Thunder Round - sound and fury, signifying nothing. Enjoy! As always, send your questions and comments to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I discuss the recent hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. We plan to talk about its broader implications next week, so today we talked about it as a moment in our culture. As always, send your questions and comments to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com.

David and I do our first mailbag episode! A listener provided some feedback on our discussion on guns and we do our best to clarify/improve/rationalize our comments! As always, send listener feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I mourn the death of John McCain by discussing the human need for heroes and the ways in which the late Senator fulfilled that need.

This week, David and I try to act on frequent listener requests that we disagree more! As always, please send listener feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week (or, well, last week, as we recorded this approximately 100 news cycles ago) David and I discuss partisanship and geographic voting systems. We do not discuss ancient Persia. As always, send your feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I earn our explicit tag with a discussion about Trump's relationship with NATO. As always, tell us how we're wrong by sending feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I express our outrage at the administration's family separation policy. For reasons unknown to me, my side of the audio seems to "crackle" a bit during this episode. Hopefully it will not make it too hard to listen to! Send feedback and "here's what you did to the audio, you idiot" advice to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com.

On this week's episode of "Barely Scratching the Surface," David and I follow up on last week's discussion by talking about the principles of a functioning democracy. As always, send listener feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com

This week David and I discuss democracy! We did not take a vote on whether that should be the topic. As always, send feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I discuss morality while protecting kittens. Also, our first musical sign-off. Send your critiques of my singing to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I discuss the morality of a depressing topic - but we promise you there are kittens at the end! As always, send us your feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week David and I ponder whether character should be the primary basis for electing politicians. But then we spend the whole time debating what character is. Enjoy! As always, you can email us feedback to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week, David and I discuss priorities. How should we talk about an issue when parts of it are important and other parts are merely salacious? The Bari Weiss article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/opinion/were-all-fascists-now.html?smid=tw-share As always, send listener mail to fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com

This week David and I discuss cinema and Russian meddling, the most natural combination imaginable.

This week, David and I discuss the somber topic of school shootings. We talk about how much we don't know about guns, and what we do know about the political cycle these tragedies follow. As always, if you want to provide us with feedback, you can email us at fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com - we will especially welcome information on things we got wrong this week, since guns aren't our most familiar topic.

When the government shut down (last time), it reopened so quickly I didn't have the time I thought I would have to get caught up on tasks like editing and posting this podcast. Well, here it is! The opening where I talk about the government having just shut down is pretty evergreen, though. This episode is about political character! Listen to us try to define it.

A few weeks back, David and I had Monday free so we recorded a late night podcast ... with beer. This is the result. SPOILER WARNING: Do not listen if you haven't seen every Star Wars movie up to The Last Jedi. Except Caravan of Courage.

We have two episodes taped that need some editing first - and I've been too busy to do it yet - so we're releasing today's out of sequence! Enjoy the references to things that happened in episodes you haven't heard yet!

On this week's episode, David and I come up with an idea, then go off on a bunch of things that, at first glance, would appear to be tangents, only to bring them all together and prove our mantra: There are no tangents.

This week, David and I can't agree on a topic. But we come in under an hour again! For listener feedback and/or questions, email fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com

After a few weeks apart for traveling and the holidays, David and I catch up on some of the recent news, particularly the new movement towards revealing sexual misconduct and the new GOP tax bill. Reductress: http://reductress.com/ As always, if you have questions or feedback, email us at fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com !

This week, David and I discuss America's possible futures. We horrifically fail to keep it under an hour (but only by a few minutes!), but that extra time is worth it because I make some truly great puns at the end. Links: Michael Kruse's article on Trump supporters - https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/08/donald-trump-johnstown-pennsylvania-supporters-215800 One of Stephen Skowronek's books - https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Presidents-Make-Leadership-Clinton/dp/0674689372

This week, Murat and I solve America's cultural divisions, or at least those concerning individual effort versus structural barriers. We recorded this on a different program because of difficulties with my cohost being back in Istanbul for a week, so my apologies if the audio sounds strange. BUT we kept it under an hour again!

This week David and I talk about his experience living in Turkey and Pakistan to assess the way the world views America. BONUS: We tried really, really hard to make this come in under an hour - and it worked!

This week, David and I discuss men's fashion.

Coming back after an unexpected two-week break for illness and travel, we kick off our arc on America by talking about what America is as a concept. In case our pronunciations made spelling his name difficult, here is the Wiki page for Ibn Khaldun, who was actually from the 14th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun Bonus: Our first listener mail! If you TOO would like your mail read aloud on the air, email us your thoughts at fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com!

This week David and I try to discuss President Trump by talking about "red flag" personal characteristics for leadership. We go ... far afield. If you have any comments you'd like us to hear OR READ ON-AIR, we now have a gmail account set up for feedback - fearhonorandinterestpodcast@gmail.com Obscure reference corner: in wrestling, a "heel" is the bad guy you root against, and the "face" is the good guy you root for. Or something. This really isn't my area.

After taking an unplanned week off, David and I return for a special, double-length episode! This episode is ostensibly about places where we disagree with the left on policy, but we delve right into our biggest dispute of the whole show - are a cat's claws tools? Links! Paul Krugman's blog post on zoning, which came out after our last episode but hit many of the same points, only better: https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/zoning-both-sides-get-it-wrong/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body Other zoning links: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/09/houston-flooding-zoning-development.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/opinion/hurricanes-climate-capitalists-wealth-.html The book David talked about: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/books/review/democracy-in-chains-nancy-maclean.html The article about Richard Post:http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/jailers-show-a-paraplegic-whos-boss-6445591

This week David and I discuss the areas where we disagree with the standard liberal positions. Because this episode runs long, we are largely keeping it to cultural issues - safe spaces, trigger warnings, secularism, and so on - and will focus on policy issues next week. (Spoiler alert: our take on safe spaces is actually somewhat hipster, focusing on how they've moved away from their roots) I believe this is the article David mentions: https://projects.propublica.org/houston-cypress/

David and I return from our separate vacations last week for a discussion of "bothsides-ism" and "whatabout-ism," two concepts that have been much in the news since the tragedy in Charlottesville while we were away. Rather than delve into the specifics of the present controversy - which you have no doubt heard enough of by now - we step back and discuss the general concepts in an effort to understand what they accomplish and when (if ever) they should be used. Bonus: We learn what David's impression of a Southern Belle sounds like (it makes less sense in context). Links: The WaPo article on similar statues - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-those-confederate-soldier-statues-look-a-lot-like-their-union-counterparts/2017/08/18/cefcc1bc-8394-11e7-ab27-1a21a8e006ab_story.html?utm_term=.fca53fab3b94 The First Total War - https://www.amazon.com/First-Total-War-Napoleons-Warfare/dp/0618919813

David and I are both traveling this weekend, so we could not record a show. Instead, last week we recorded a bonus sign-off - the first of Angry David's Movie Reviews! Here he shares his ... unorthodox ... views of the recent Wonder Woman movie. Get your copies of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces ready!

On this week's episode, David and I discuss leadership. It's a broad category, and we intend to do many more visits to this topic in the future; this week, we talk about being a leader versus being an administrator. This leads to quite the exploration of the metaphor of the "ship of state."

In this week's episode, David and I discuss the bizarre sequence of events that led to the demise of the "skinny repeal" bill in the Senate. Somehow this results in an extended discussion about cognitive dissonance and support on the left for Robert Mueller. I can't explain it; you'll just have to listen. The National Review (NOT Weekly Standard) article about Mitt Romney and masculinity that I mentioned: https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/313504/boss The full Silmarillion quotation: "In all the deeds of Melkor the Morgoth upon Arda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Sauron had a part, and was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another and not himself." - from the last paragraph of the Valaquenta

In this week's episode, David and I discuss one of the great works of history - Thucydides's writings on the Peloponnesian War. We talk about why this text is so beloved in international relations and military circles, how it sheds insight on modern problems, and how it gave us the name of the show. Additional links: Background on Bannon and Thucydides -http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/21/why-the-white-house-is-reading-greek-history-215287 A piece criticizing populists using Thucydides - https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/07/the-summer-of-misreading-thucydides/533859/?utm_source=twb A piece refuting the notion of a "Thucydides Trap" - http://supchina.com/2017/06/12/no-thucydides-trap/

In our third episode, David and I discuss conservatives who took a #NeverTrump line.

In this week's episode, David and I (that's right; Charles writes the show notes) discuss the course the GOP has taken during our lives. We talk about the things we like in conservative ideas, while lamenting how those ideas have been expressed in the last twenty years. We were barely able to scratch the surface in just an hour, but will likely return to many of these issues in the future. Additional notes: I switched from talking about the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal") to the Constitution ("we the people") in a way that makes it sound like I was discussing the same document. The full text of the Ninth Amendment is "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." I also somehow had my microphone set to my computer's internal one and not my headset's for the first half. We continue to learn!