Podcasts about mencken

There are things that distinguish MAGA for me, and support of Trump is one.The second involves two things: First, you must believe that the 2020 election was stolen and voter fraud is real. Second, you must believe that J6 was contrived by Democrats.What is our belief system? I saw article that I want to discuss and like the panic happening in CA in the governor's race, and possibly for LA mayor. But a bigger issue is looming, and one that would collapse the Democrat at their core.And it involves two lies they have promoted for over a decade. First, about the election of 2020 and that of J6.And these lies come down to a fundamental question of belief systems. There are moments in history when a country argues over taxes, budgets, or foreign policy. Then there are moments when a country argues over reality itself. America has entered the second category. We aren't simply debating policies anymore. We are debating first principles, foundational truths, and whether this nation is fundamentally a Constitutional Republic or just a giant emotional suggestion box with Wi-Fi.

News of the Bogus: 0:43 – Oh No! Now A Federal Bill Wants OS-Level Age Verification for Everyone in the USA https://itsfoss.com/news/os-level-age-verification-across-us/ 5:57 – The Internet’s Most Powerful Archiving Tool Is in Peril https://www.wired.com/story/the-internets-most-powerful-archiving-tool-is-in-mortal-peril/ 11:05 – A note from Re:Create: Think Before Reshuffling Copyright Agencies https://recreatecoalition.org/a-note-from-recreate-think-before-reshuffling-copyright-agencies/ 15:50 – Biggest Bogon Emitter: Maine Maine to pause big bit barns as local opposition spreads https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/16/maine_pulls_bit_barn_brake/ Sanford Data Center Plan Draws Concerns Despite Self-Generated Power Proposal https://www.themainewire.com/2026/02/sanford-data-center-plan-draws-concerns-despite-self-generated-power-proposal/ 19:52 – Idiot Extraordinaire: Eric Swalwell Eric Swalwell ends California gubernatorial bid after accusations of sexual assault https://reason.com/2026/04/13/see-ya-swalwell/ Eric Swalwell misconduct claims: Katie Porter under scrutiny, too https://thehill.com/opinion/robbys-radar/5829026-swalwell-porter-controversy-california/ This Week’s Quote: “When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental—men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand.” —H.L. Mencken 🔊Pᴏᴅᴄᴀꜱᴛ: https://podcast.bogosity.tv/💬Dɪꜱᴄᴏʀᴅ: https://discord.bogosity.tv/▶️YᴏᴜTᴜʙᴇ: https://www.youtube.com/shanedk▶️Oᴅʏsᴇᴇ: https://odysee.com/%24/invite/@shanedk:4▶️Rᴜᴍʙʟᴇ https://rumble.com/c/shanedk💰Dᴏɴᴀᴛᴇ ᴏʀ ꜱᴜʙꜱᴄʀɪʙᴇ: https://donate.bogosity.tv

Chris flies solo today, without Mitzi on this Monday, but still manages to keep it (mostly) on the sunny side! Today, on National Tartan Day, and the year’s 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, we explore the fascinating history and linkage between our Declaration, and the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath, along with a special bonus surprise anniversary connection of the “Triumphal Entry” of Jesus Christ on Apr 6, 32 AD (10th of Nisan) spoken of in all four Gospels! If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. – John 8:36 KJV Triumphal Entry – in all four Gospels! Mat 21:1–11 Mar 11:1–10 Luk 19:28–40 Jhn 12:12–19 From the National Tartan Day Time and Date page: The Scottish Declaration of Independence was signed on April 6, 1320. The American Declaration of Independence was, in fact, modeled on this particular document. Almost half of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent. The US Senate Resolution on National Tartan Day was passed on March 20, 1998. From that point onward, National Tartan Day was designated as a day for all Americans, particularly those of Scottish descent, on April 6 each year. From the summary of John King Bellassai’s Two Declarations with a Common Purpose: The Link between 1320 and 1776: Tartan Day in the United States is April 6th, which is also the anniversary of the signing of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath. The significance of this date is the striking similarities in phrasing and intent between the Declaration of Arbroath and the Declaration of Independence. A key to understanding this link is the fact that the American Revolution came right on the heels of the Scottish Enlightenment. While Scottish immigrants were a small part of the general colonial population, their influence on the worldview held by the educated segment of the colonial population, most notably Thomas Jefferson was very influential. Several other key events including the fact that Jefferson's mother's family were of Scottish decent of one of the signers of the Declaration of Arbroath and his Scottish William & Mary professor William Small, whom Jefferson described as his mentor, most notably also played a role in the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Links Videos / Clips [x] = Played [x] Braveheart Theme with Highland Bagpipes (the way it should have been) [x] @josephtawadros “Thank you for replacing the Ayatollah…” [x] @cheesyandthebears and @troycaylak “America vs. Europe 2” [x] Braveheart – Motivational Speech – Inspirational Speech – William Wallace – HD Quality [x] Declaration of Arbroath [x] The 1320 Scottish Declaration of Arbroath Explained… [x] Braveheart: Scotland is Free (HD CLIP) NAR – The Series An Unholy Alliance With Israel – NAR the Series S01E02 [x] 0:00--7:04 Scottish Guy reads The DECLARATION OF ARBROATH for the first time Scotland's Origin Story – What You Never Realised about The Declaration of Arbroath Walter Williams: Why the Founders Did Not Want a Democracy – YouTube The Rest [x] = Mentioned / Discussed [x] Braveheart – Wikipedia Wars of Scottish Independence – Wikipedia First War of Scottish Independence – Wikipedia [x] Battle of Falkirk – Wikipedia [x] United States Declaration of Independence – Wikipedia [x] Declaration of Arbroath – Wikipedia Magna Carta – Wikipedia S.RES. 155 | Congressional Chronicle | C-SPAN.org Text – S.Res.155 – 105th Congress (1997-1998): A resolution designating April 6 of each year as “National Tartan Day” to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish Americans to the United States. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress H.RES. 109 | Congressional Chronicle | C-SPAN.org Text – H.Res.109 – 107th Congress (2001-2002): Recognizing the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath and supporting the establishment of a National Tartan Day to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish Americans to the United States. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress H.RES. 514 | Congressional Chronicle | C-SPAN.org Text – H.Res.514 – 108th Congress (2003-2004): Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a day should be established as “National Tartan Day” to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish Americans to the United States. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress [x] John Adams, letter to William Tudor, Quincy (Jun 1, 1818) When general counsels and deliberations commenced, the objects could be no other than the mutual defence and security of every individual for his life, his liberty, and his property. To suppose them to have surrendered these in any other way than by equal rules and general consent was to suppose them idiots or madmen, whose acts were never binding. To suppose them surprised by fraud, or compelled by force, into any other compact, such fraud and such force could confer no obligation. Every man had a right to trample it under foot whenever he pleased. In short, he asserted these rights to be derived only from nature and the author of nature; that they were inherent, inalienable, and indefeasible by any laws, pacts, contracts, covenants, or stipulations, which man could devise. [x] John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law – Teaching American History In a word, let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a-flowing. The encroachments upon liberty in the reigns of the first James and the first Charles, by turning the general attention of learned men to government, are said to have produced the greatest number of consummate statesmen which has ever been seen in any age or nation. The Brookes, Hampdens, Vanes, Seldens, Miltons, Nedhams, Harringtons, Nevilles, Sidneys, Lockes, are all said to have owed their eminence in political knowledge to the tyrannies of those reigns. The prospect now before us in America, ought in the same manner to engage the attention of every man of learning, to matters of power and of right, that we may be neither led nor driven blindfolded to irretrievable destruction. Nothing less than this seems to have been meditated for us, by somebody or other in Great Britain. There seems to be a direct and formal design on foot, to enslave all America. This, however, must be done by degrees. The first step that is intended, seems to be an entire subversion of the whole system of our fathers, by the introduction of the canon and feudal law into America. The canon and feudal systems, though greatly mutilated in England, are not yet destroyed. Like the temples and palaces in which the great contrivers of them once worshipped and inhabited, they exist in ruins; and much of the domineering spirit of them still remains. The designs and labors of a certain society, to introduce the former of them into America, have been well exposed to the public by a writer of great abilities; and the further attempts to the same purpose, that may be made by that society, or by the ministry or parliament, I leave to the conjectures of the thoughtful. But it seems very manifest from the Stamp Act itself, that a design is formed to strip us in a great measure of the means of knowledge, by loading the press, the colleges, and even an almanac and a newspaper, with restraints and duties; and to introduce the inequalities and dependencies of the feudal system, by taking from the poorer sort of people all their little subsistence, and conferring it on a set of stamp officers, distributors, and their deputies. But I must proceed no further at present. The sequel, whenever I shall find health and leisure to pursue it, will be a “disquisition of the policy of the stamp act.” In the mean time, however, let me add, — These are not the vapors of a melancholy mind, nor the effusions of envy, disappointed ambition, nor of a spirit of opposition to government, but the emanations of a heart that burns for its country's welfare. No one of any feeling, born and educated in this once happy country, can consider the numerous distresses, the gross indignities, the barbarous ignorance, the haughty usurpations, that we have reason to fear are meditating for ourselves, our children, our neighbors, in short, for all our countrymen and all their posterity, without the utmost agonies of heart and many tears. [x] H. L. Mencken – Wikiquote Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. – Prejudices, First Series (1919) Ch. 6, “The New Poetry Movement” Audience Contributed [x] Magnus Magnusson – Wikipedia [x] Scotland : the story of a nation : Magnusson, Magnus : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive On This Day Events April 2026 Calendar of Public Holidays | Office Holidays Holidays and Observances in the United States in 2026 What day is it today? Important events every day ad-free | United States OTD On This Day – What Happened on April 6 Today in History: April 6, United States enters World War I | AP News What Happened on April 6 – On This Day What Happened on April 6 | HISTORY April 6 – Wikipedia What Happened On April 6 In History? 06 | April | 2020 | Executed Today Holidays Easter Monday National Tartan Day12345 Sorry Charlie Day – Fun Holiday Historical Events 2017 – U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an “aggression”, adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties. 2016 – First baby born with DNA from three parents through mitochondrial transfer in Mexico 1994 – Rwandan genocide begins: The assassination of Rwandan President, Juvénal Habyarimana, and Burundian President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, killed when the jet they were riding in was shot down by surface-to-air missiles as it attempted to land in Kigali, Rwanda abruptly ending peace negotiations and sparking the Rwandan Genocide, triggered a mass slaughter of ethnic Tutsis with up to 1 million victims. Those responsible have never been identified. 1980 – Post-it Notes first sold: 3M begins sales of Post-it Notes. The canary yellow sticky pads quickly become one of the best-selling office supply products in history and a ubiquitous staple in schools and offices around the world. 1970 – Sam Sheppard, the inspiration for “The Fugitive,” dies: Sam Sheppard, a doctor convicted of murdering his pregnant wife in a trial that caused a media frenzy in the 1950s, dies of liver failure. After a decade in prison, Sheppard was released following a re-trial. His story is rumored to have loosely inspired the television series and movie The Fugitive. 1968 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Party leadership election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon afterward. 1965 – First commercial communications satellite is launched: Intelsat I, also known as Early Bird, facilitated the first live TV broadcast of a spacecraft splashdown when Gemini 6 landed in the Atlantic Ocean. 1954 – Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow's broadside against him on “See It Now,” claimed in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.” 1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.” 1929 – Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives. 1924 – First successful around-the-world flight begins: A team of aviators begins the first round-the-world flight in history. Four aircraft left Seattle on a westbound route around the globe. 157 days later, two of them reached the same location. 1917 – World War I: The United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson. 1909 – North Pole Expedition: Robert Peary and Matthew Henson allegedly become the first people to reach the North Pole. Peary’s claim has never been verified and is widely contested. The first undisputed journey to the North Pole was the 1948 Soviet Sever-2 expedition. 1896 – First modern Olympic Games are opened in Athens, Greece: 241 athletes from 14 countries took part in the First Olympiad. The event took place over 1500 years after the last ancient Olympic Games, which originated in Olympia in south-western Greece. 1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956. 1865 – American Civil War: [better known as the War of Eastern European banking aggression] The Battle of Sailor’s Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign. 1862 – American Civil War: [better known as the War of Eastern European banking aggression] The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston, as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the following day. 1860 – Mormon LDS cult: The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois. 1841 – John Tyler inaugurated as 10th U.S. President: John Tyler is sworn in as president. Tyler was elected as William Henry Harrison's vice president earlier in 1841 and was suddenly thrust into the role of president when Harrison died one month into office. He was the first vice president to immediately assume the role of president after a sitting president's untimely exit and set the precedent for succession thereafter. 1830 – Mormon LDS cult: Joseph Smith and others met in Fayette, New York, to form the Church of Christ — now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France. 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America’s first millionaire. 1800 – The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. (Under the Old Style calendar then still in use in the Ottoman Empire, the treaty was signed on 21 March.) 1772 – Beard… Tax…? Empress of Russia Catherine the Great ends the tax on men with beards, enacted by Tsar Peter the Great in 1698 1652 – Cape Colony, the first European settlement in South Africa, is established by the Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck 1320 – Tartan Day:12345 The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish “Declaration of Independence”. The day is increasingly renamed Declaration Day, since 2016, and associated with events commemorating the Declaration of Arbroath and other aspects of Scottish history. Tartan Day has expanded into an entire Tartan Week in New York City and Angus, and into multi-day events in some other locations, including Washington, DC. The name Scotland Week has also been promoted in Scotland. The events typically have parades of pipe bands, Highland dancing, and other Scottish-themed activities. In 1998, the efforts of the coalition and the Caledonian Foundation (led then by JoAnne Phipps), with the legislative sponsorship of Senator Trent Lott, resulted in United States Senate Resolution No. 155 (introduced March 6, 1998) to adopt April 6 as National Tartan Day. The resolution passed March 20, 1998, “to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish Americans to the United States”; it also referred to the predominance of Scots among the Founding Fathers of the United States and claimed that the American Declaration of Independence was “modelled on” the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath. The now quasi-official National Tartan Day was held annually thereafter; The Washington Times reported in 2000 on the event, by which time it was already growing into a three-day affair in Washington, DC. Births 1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress (50) 1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor (57) 1964 – Tim Walz, American politician, Governor of Minnesota & vice presidential candidate (62) 1952 – Marilu Henner, Greek-Polish American actress and author (74) 1942 – Barry Levinson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (84) 1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2016) 1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer (89) 1931 – Ram Dass (Richard Alpert), American theosophist, cult leader (died 2019) 1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (died 1741) 1135 – Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer (March 30 also proposed, died 1204) Deaths 1992 – Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer (born 1920) 1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1882) 1528 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (born 1471) 1520 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (born 1483) 1199 – Lionheart Richard, The Stranger King: Richard I of England, King of England, also known as Richard the Lionheart. Richard the Lionheart, Robin Hood's king is considered one of the great English monarchs. Yet he cost his country a fortune and barely lived there. (born 1157) 2014 – Mickey Rooney, American soldier, actor, and dancer (born 1920) 2014 – Massimo Tamburini, Italian motorcycle designer, co-founded Bimota (born 1943) 2015 – James Best, American actor, director, and screenwriter, best known as the bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the action comedy series The Dukes of Hazzard, which originally aired on CBS from 1979 to 1985. (born 1926) 2015 – Ray Charles – the other Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (born 1918) 2017 – Don Rickles, American actor and comedian (born 1926) 2025 – Jay North, American actor best known for his role as the good-natured but mischievous Dennis Mitchell on the CBS situation comedy Dennis the Menace (1959–1963), based on the comic strip created by Hank Ketcham. (born 1951) Wikipedia Contributors. “Tartan Day.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Apr. 2026, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan_Day. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026. ↩↩ “National Tartan Day 2026 in the United States.” Timeanddate.com, 2026, www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/national-tartan-day. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026. ↩↩ “History of National Tartan Day”. NationalCapitalTartanDay.com. National Capital Tartan Day Committee. 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023. ↩↩ “National Tartan Day” (PDF). Congressional Record – Senate. United States Senate. March 20, 1998. p. S2373. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2023 – via Library of Congress. ↩↩ Bellassai, John. Two Declarations with a Common Purpose: The Link between 1320 and 1776. Mar. 2022. Archived at National Capital Tartan Day, Issue Papers. www.nationalcapitaltartanday.com/issue-papers/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026. ↩↩

Parts of this show were made in a hurry. If we didn't tell you that, we're not sure you'd know as the bits we made are pretty good. The bit of the show that's really good is the killer guest mix from Rockin' Rachel at Haunted Jukebox. We've linked her profile on Mick's Cloud below. You should check out her show. It's mint.No live show next weekend due to reasons. We'll try and get something out for the live crew to enjoy.As always though, get in touch with requests, recommendations and guest mix inquiries!https://www.instagram.com/radionighttrain/https://bsky.app/profile/thenighttrain.co.ukDon't forget, we're also available for family functions, weddings, funerals, boat launches and more.SHOW NOTESRockinRachelRoll | Mixcloudhttps://www.mixcloud.com/RockinRachelRoll/Tortoise | TNT Full Set | Midwinter 2019https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwJf5fw57YoStevenage (Documentary, 1971)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvDqYHhdKaATRACKLISTINGThe Feelies - The High RoadKing Curtis - Night TrainStereolab - Emperor Tomato KetchupChain and The Gang - Certain Kinds of TrashSlint - Breadcrumb TrailBob Dylan - Till I Fell In Love With YouMartyn - ef40Pizza Hotline- VR Missions (Tim Reaper Remix)Senior Soul - Is It Because I'm BlackJackie Mittoo - black organPaul Blackman - Earth Wind & Fire (Prince Fatty version)Paul Blackman - Earth Wind & Fire (Prince Fatty dub)Mr Scruff - Honeydew [Instrumental]Haunted Jukebox Guest MixPrince Jammy - InterfaceThe Apostles of Music - Wade In The WaterNightmares On Wax vs. Adrian Sherwood - You BlissTerekke - l8r h8rBeastie Boys - I Don't KnowTortoise - In Sarah, Mencken, Christ, and Beethoven There Were Women and MenNala Sinephro - DawnAphex Twin - XtalFugees - Zealots

News of the Bogus: 0:43 – Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Ensures an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides for National Security https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-ensures-an-adequate-supply-of-elemental-phosphorus-and-glyphosate-based-herbicides-for-national-security/ Promoting the National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/02/promoting-the-national-defense-by-ensuring-an-adequate-supply-of-elemental-phosphorus-and-glyphosate-based-herbicides/ 4:56 – Reply to Response to Motion – #44 in Pitts v. United States (N.D. Ga., 1:26-cv-00809) https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72267501/44/pitts-v-united-states/ 12:51 – Google Invokes First Amendment to Shield Gmail Users from Piracy Subpoena https://torrentfreak.com/google-invokes-first-amendment-to-shield-gmail-users-from-piracy-subpoena/ 18:07 – Biggest Bogon Emitter: RFK Jr./Anti-Vaccers As Measles Cases Pass 1,000 for the Year, Experts Urge Vaccination https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/120027 Measles Cases and Outbreaks | Measles (Rubeola) | CDC https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html 23:20 – Idiot Extraordinaire: Persona Hackers Expose Age-Verification Software Powering Surveillance Web https://www.therage.co/persona-age-verification/ This Week’s Quote: “Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.” —H.L. Mencken 🔊Pᴏᴅᴄᴀꜱᴛ: https://podcast.bogosity.tv/💬Dɪꜱᴄᴏʀᴅ: https://discord.bogosity.tv/▶️YᴏᴜTᴜʙᴇ: https://www.youtube.com/shanedk▶️Oᴅʏsᴇᴇ: https://odysee.com/%24/invite/@shanedk:4▶️Rᴜᴍʙʟᴇ https://rumble.com/c/shanedk💰Dᴏɴᴀᴛᴇ ᴏʀ ꜱᴜʙꜱᴄʀɪʙᴇ: https://donate.bogosity.tv

Guest: Brenda Wineapple. The defense suffered a major setback when the judge ruled that their scientific experts could not testify before the jury, forcing them to read affidavits into the record instead. H.L. Mencken, the acerbic journalist who dubbed the event the "Monkey Trial," covered the proceedings. Sympathetic to Darrow and critical of Bryan's"fanatic" views, Mencken influenced public perception, though the jury remained shielded from the scientific evidence the defense hoped to present.1960 FREDERIC MARCH AS WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN "INHERIT THE WIND"

SHOW SCHEDULE1-19-20261914 FLAG DAY WITH WILSON, BRYAN, ROOSEVELT Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. Carwardine discusses President James Buchanan's January 4, 1861, national fast day, intended to unite a fracturing nation through prayer and repentance. While old-school Presbyterians like Charles Hodge supported this call for divine intervention, the effort largely failed to forestall war. The event highlighted three distinct groups of religious nationalists: conservative Unionists, anti-slavery Republicans viewing slavery as a national sin, and pro-slavery theologians defending the institution on scriptural grounds. Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. Carwardine explains that President-elect Lincoln did not view Republicans as overly aggressive, positioning himself as a constitution-respecting centrist rather than a radical. Lincoln opposed slavery's expansion but acknowledged its constitutional protection where it already existed, believing the South was misled by elites and would eventually return to the Union. Ironically, Lincoln and Buchanan, though political opposites, worshiped at the same Washington church, sharing an old-school Presbyterian background. Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. In September 1861, Lincoln proclaimed a fast day, carefully avoiding specific references to slavery to maintain political unity. Carwardine details the conflict surrounding General Frémont's unauthorized emancipation order, which Lincoln revoked to prevent losing loyal border states like Kentucky. Consequently, anti-slavery nationalists used the pulpits to criticize Lincoln's caution, demanding the war become an explicit crusade against the "gigantic crime" of slavery rather than just a restoration of the Union. Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. The discussion turns to Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens' "Cornerstone Speech," which explicitly defined racial inequality as the Confederacy's foundation, a stance widely condemned in the North. Carwardine notes that despite earlier tensions, Lincoln viewed his fast days as successful, utilizing them and meetings with religious delegations to gauge public sentiment and prepare the ground for eventual emancipation. Lincoln valued these interactions to influence and learn from denominational leaders. Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. Carwardine details the intense political opposition Lincoln faced in 1863 following the Emancipation Proclamation. He highlights Clement Vallandigham, a "Peace Democrat" leader who viewed the war as unwinnable and Lincoln as a "Puritan despot." Carwardine explains that the Democraticcoalition was fractured by religion, specifically between Catholics and Protestants, yet united in opposing the administration. Lincoln ultimately banished Vallandigham to the Confederacy to neutralize his influence. Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. Carwardine discusses James McMaster, the Catholic editor of the Freeman's Journal, characterizing him as an extraordinary polemicist who was imprisoned for his "vituperations" against the war. McMaster argued the war denied the rights of free men and refused to retract his views upon release. The segment also features Samuel "Sunset" Cox, a Democrat who famously attacked New England Puritanism as the source of the nation's meddling and moral extremity. Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. The discussion turns to the Union's "low point" in August 1864, where Lincoln expected to lose the election to Democrat George McClellan. Carwardine describes the Democraticcampaign as "brokenbacked" for pairing a general with a peace platform. However, the fall of Atlanta revived Union hopes. Carwardine emphasizes how pastors articulated a "higher cause"—the preservation of a unique republican government—to justify the war's terrible "bloodletting" and sacrifice. Guest: Professor Richard Carwardine. Carwardine analyzes the war's conclusion and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, which framed the conflict as divine judgment for the shared offense of slavery. He notes that Lincoln intended a Reconstruction based on charity and "absence of malice," rather than punishment. By 1865, Lincoln's views had evolved to support citizenship for African American veterans, though his assassination left the specific blueprint for the nation's reintegration unfinished and uncertain. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. In 1925, the Tennessee legislature passed the Butler Act, banning the teaching of evolution in public schools. At Robinson's drugstore in Dayton, local booster George Rapier and others recruited 24-year-old science teacher John Scopes to violate the law as a test case to generate publicity for the town. Although Scopes was knowingly guilty, the ACLU backed the defense to challenge the law's constitutionality regarding the separation of church and state. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. The ACLU, seeking to defend religious liberty and raise its profile, seized upon the Scopes case. While the board considered prestigious constitutional lawyers, the notorious Clarence Darrowvolunteered his services pro bono because he viewed the Butler Act as bigoted. Despite the ACLU's hesitation regarding Darrow's controversial reputation from the Leopold and Loeb trial, Scopes insisted on having the "street fighter" Darrow defend him against William Jennings Bryan. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. Clarence Darrow was a celebrated attorney known for his "downhome" jury appeals and defense of the marginalized. Mentored by progressive John Altgeld, Darrow built a reputation defending labor unions, socialists like Eugene Debs, and the poor against powerful corporations. However, his career suffered a "bad patch" following the McNamara brothers' bombing case in Los Angeles, where Darrow himself faced trials for allegedly bribing a juror, leaving him with a checkered reputation. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. Three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan joined the prosecution to revive his political career and defend fundamentalism. Famous for his populist "Cross of Gold" speech, Bryan had become rigid in his views, advocating for prohibition and a literal reading of the Bible. He viewed the trial as a platform to combat the theory of evolution, which he believed deprived children of a moral center and denied the miracles of creation. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. Fundamentalist Judge John T. Raulston presided over the trial, enjoying the publicity brought by loudspeakers and radio coverage. The defense included civil liberties lawyer Arthur Garfield Hayes, a secular Jew, serving as a constitutional anchor. Meanwhile, William Jennings Bryan arrived as a celebrity in a pith helmet, though Scopes noted Bryan ignored his own diabetes by overeating at dinner, revealing a disconnect between his fundamentalist beliefs and medical science. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. The defense suffered a major setback when the judge ruled that their scientific experts could not testify before the jury, forcing them to read affidavits into the record instead. H.L. Mencken, the acerbic journalist who dubbed the event the "Monkey Trial," covered the proceedings. Sympathetic to Darrow and critical of Bryan's "fanatic" views, Mencken influenced public perception, though the jury remained shielded from the scientific evidence the defense hoped to present. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. During a stifling heatwave, the trial moved outdoors where Darrow executed a shocking maneuver by calling prosecutor William Jennings Bryan to the witness stand. Darrow interrogated Bryan on his literal interpretation of the Bible, questioning stories like Jonah and the whale. Bryan faltered, admitting creation "days" might be metaphorical periods, which undermined his fundamentalist position and allowed Darrow to humiliate him regarding his knowledge of history, geology, and world religions. Guest: Brenda Wineapple. The trial ended abruptly with a guilty verdict, denying Bryan his closing speech; he died days later, likely due to heat, stress, and diabetes. John Scopes eventually became a geologist and lived a reclusive life, refusing to exploit his fame. Darrow's later career fluctuated, including a controversial defense in the racially charged Massie trial in Hawaii, before his death in 1938, leaving behind a complex legacy beyond the "Inherit the Wind" narrative.

Support Us:Donation Page – LibriVox Free AudiobooksFriedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)Translated by H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)Save for his raucous, rhapsodical autobiography, Ecce Homo, The Antichrist is the last thing that Nietzsche ever wrote, and so it may be accepted as a statement of some of his most salient ideas in their final form. Of all Nietzsche's books, The Antichrist comes nearest to conventionality in form. It presents a connected argument with very few interludes, and has a beginning, a middle and an end. The reason to listen to this version is that H.L. Mencken, the famous journalist, turned Nietzsche's German into such direct, plain-spoken American English that it puts the haranguing philosopher right up in your face.Genre(s): *Non-fiction, Atheism & AgnosticismLanguage: EnglishKeyword(s): literature (1956), philosophy (970)Support Us:⁠Donation Page – LibriVox Free Audiobooks⁠

Good morning! On today’s show, Matt Swaim and Anna Mitchell welcome Derek Rotty to discuss how Fulton Sheen might respond to the cynicism of H.L. Mencken. Other guests include Karlo Broussard from Catholic Answers with more thoughts on the Communion of Saints, and canon lawyer Fr. Philip-Michael Tangorra. Plus news, weather, sports, and more… ***** St. Jerome’s Prayer for God’s Mercy O Lord, show Your mercy to me and gladden my heart. I am like the man on the way to Jericho who was overtaken by robbers, wounded and left for dead. O Good Samaritan, come to my aid. I am like the sheep that went astray. O Good Shepherd, seek me out and bring me home in accord with Your will. Let me dwell in Your house all the days of my life and praise You for ever and ever with those who are there. Amen. ***** Cincinnati Right to Life is online at cincinnatirighttolife.org. Derek Rotty, author of Prophet of Hope: Fulton Sheen Responds to the Modern World Full list of guestsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  The Sacred Lie: Enlightened Masses, Media Manipulation & Digital Pentecostalism In this sharp-edged, high-density solo episode of the Toddzilla X-Pod: Escaping the Cave, Todd Thompson takes a sledgehammer to the sacred myth of democratic wisdom. Are “the people” really wise and self-governing—or are they dopamine-driven echo chambers manipulated by narrative engineers? Using thinkers like Walter Lippmann, H.L. Mencken, Edward Bernays, Jacques Ellul, Jonathan Haidt, and Neil Postman, Todd dissects the machinery of consent and the myth of the Enlightened Voter. He explores how social media rewires brains, how propaganda evolves into an ecosystem, and why moral outrage trumps rational thought in the Age of the Algorithm. Highlights include: The myth of the rational electorate and the machinery that exploits it Bernays' vision of democracy as a theater of persuasion Jonathan Haidt's “elephant and rider” model as the operating system of tribal politics Tristan Harris, humane tech idealism, and why you can't out-design human nature Digital Pentecostalism, identity marketplaces, and the religion of The Crowd A scathing rejection of both populist saviors and technocratic elites The call for epistemic rebellion and radical individual thought in a conformist age Fast-paced and intellectually packed, this episode hits propaganda, technology, digital addiction, tribal identity, and ideological theocracy in under 30 minutes. Not for the faint of thought.   Stream now and don't miss Todd's weekly shortwave show on WBCQ The Planet—Mondays at 10PM Eastern on 7490 kHz. More audio and written content on Substack and YouTube.

In this episode, Todd continues dismantling the transformation of modern political movements into ideological religions—complete with dogma, heresy, excommunication, and a mob-ready priesthood of online enforcers. Drawing on figures like H.L. Mencken, Joan Didion, Noam Chomsky, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, he explores how belief systems—left and right—have become substitute faiths, powered by dopamine, hashtags, and performative outrage. Todd weaves in cognitive science (via Nicholas Carr and neuroplasticity), propaganda theory (via Jacques Ellul and Edward Bernays), and personal experience to reveal how the digital age has eroded attention spans, critical thought, and individual conscience. Social media becomes the new pulpit. Echo chambers replace dialogue. Heresy now means thinking for yourself. At the core is a warning: intellectual autonomy now requires personal and moral courage. The courage to be disliked. To reject tribalism. To say, “That's bullshit”—especially when it comes from your own side. From Mencken's skewering of revivalist mobs to the modern cancellation of NPR apostate Uli Berliner, Todd paints a bleak but brutally honest picture of conformity culture, urging listeners to reclaim their minds—even if it means exile. This is not a feel-good sermon. It's a call to arms for the heretical unicorn.   *Recorded in Southwest Michigan and blasting worldwide on WBCQ 7490 starting next week! Details inside.   Like it? Rate, review, and share it? Hate it? Embrace equity! Listen anyhow! More: https://toddzillax.substack.com/ Vids: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdLR140l--HufeRSAnj91A/?themeRefresh=1    

The boys drink and review Brookeville Beer Farm's Dew Point Pale Ale then discuss the 100th anniversary of the Scopes monkey trial. Called "the trial of the century," the Scopes trial pitted tradition against modernism. Due to the influence of H.L. Mencken, who covered the trial, it was one of the first big media events. It became a cultural flashpoint whose influence went far beyond the details of the case, which was the fact that John Scopes violated Tennessee law by teaching evolution in school. Mencken ensured that the trial was seen as a clash between modernism and religious fundamentalism. Key players were Clarence Darrow, for the defense (pro evolution), and William Jennings Bryan, for the prosecution (anti-evolution).

This fascinating conversation with writer Sheluyang Peng explores the profound influence of Friedrich Nietzsche on American thought. From Emerson's impact on him to the way his philosophy found similarities with American pragmatism to his role in shaping modern political and cultural landscapes, this episode uncovers Nietzsche's surprising connections to American philosophy, theology, and even infamous historical events like the Leopold and Loeb case. Yang shares insights into how Nietzsche's ideas resonate with both the left and the right, and why his philosophy remains relevant today.(00:00 - Introduction) (01:03 - Why Yang Got Interested in Nietzsche: A Preacher's Kid Perspective)(03:30 - Nietzsche's American Connection: Ralph Waldo Emerson's Influence)(05:12 - American vs. European Views of Nietzsche)(06:53 - Nietzsche's Role in American Pragmatism)(08:02 - H.L. Mencken and Popularizing Nietzsche in America)(10:33 - Nietzsche and the Leopold and Loeb Murder Case)(13:47 - Nietzsche's Surprising Influence on Christian Thinkers)(18:58 - Nietzsche in Modern American Politics)(20:56 - Bronze Age Pervert and Right-Wing Nietzscheanism)(25:27 - Nietzsche and René Girard's Mimetic Theory)(28:56 - Is Nietzsche Whatever You Want Him to Be?)(30:14 - The Future of Nietzschean Thought in America)(31:27 - Closing Remarks and Where to Read More)SHELUYANG PENG LINKS:

KMO is joined by Brent, author of The Absurdity Sim Substack, for a wide-ranging discussion that opens with the simulation hypothesis. They explore the idea that human consciousness may be either central to reality or merely an unintended byproduct of a system running for someone else's amusement—perhaps a cosmic reality show. This sets the tone for a conversation that blends philosophy, cultural critique, and lived experience with wry humor.From there, the conversation shifts to the decline of attention spans and the rise of short-form dopamine-driven platforms like TikTok, contrasted with the promise of Substack as a space for thoughtful writing and dialogue. Brent reflects on his own motivations for launching a Substack: channeling his inner curmudgeon in the spirit of H.L. Mencken and Mark Twain, offering sardonic but grounded takes on American decline.KMO shares his experience using Substack as an audio-first medium and laments the collapse of the internet's early promise—recalling a time when text-heavy forums fostered substantial, idea-driven exchanges rather than engagement-optimized performance. Together, they reflect on the role that algorithmic social media plays in distorting public discourse, and how platforms increasingly populate your feed with AI-generated personalities disguised as human users.The conversation then pivots to Brent's real-world experience with government construction contracting and the disruptive power of AI. He describes how ChatGPT already accelerates tasks like analyzing construction plans, generating submittal registries, and cross-referencing thousands of pages of specs. Brent anticipates a near-future where human project managers and administrators are largely replaced by AI, even in complex fields like federal infrastructure work. KMO builds on this, discussing how AI will reshape military logistics and global power, especially as the U.S. and China race to control both space and artificial general intelligence.By the end of the hour, the discussion has covered the erosion of cultural cohesion, the post-2008 shift toward institutional impunity, and the psychological toll of a society that flatters rather than elevates. Brent introduces the idea that intelligence distribution—not race, not ideology—helps explain the collapse of discourse and taste in the age of mass media. The two agree that the early internet, for all its flaws, was simply smarter and more sincere—and that today's platforms are built for distraction, not understanding.

Matt Crawford speaks with Andrew Holter about his book, Going Around: Selected Journalism Murray Kempton. A courtly man of Southern roots, Murray Kempton worked as a labor reporter for the New York Post, won a Pulitzer Prize while at Newsday, and was arrested at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago along the way. He wore three piece suits and polished oxfords and was known for riding his bicycle around New York City while listening to his CD Walkman and smoking a pipe with wild red hair that later turned white. He developed a taste for baroque prose and became, in the words of Robert Silvers, his editor at The New York Review of Books, ''unmatched in his moral insight into the hypocrisies of politics and their consequences for the poor and powerless.'' He went to court proceedings and traffic accidents and funerals and to speeches by people who either were or wanted to be rich and famous. He wrote about everything and anybody—Tonya Harding and Warren Harding, Fidel Castro and Mussolini, Harry Truman and Sal Maglie, St. Francis of Assisi and James Joyce and J. Edgar Hoover. From dispatches from a hardscrabble coal town in Western Maryland, a bus carrying Freedom Riders through Mississippi, an Iowa cornfield with Nikita Krushchev, an encampment of guerrillas in El Salvador, and Moscow at the end of the Soviet Union (these last two assignments filed by a reporter in his 70s), Kempton's concerns and interests were extraordinarily broad. He wrote about subjects from H.L. Mencken to Tupac Shakur; organized labor and McCarthyism; the Civil Rights and Black Power movements; presidential hopefuls and Mafiosi; frauds and failures of all stripes; the “splendors and miseries” of life in New York City.

How historic are Trump 2.0's first few weeks? For the veteran correspondent, Nick Bryant, the longtime BBC man in Washington DC, what the Trump regime has done in the first few weeks of his second administration is as historic as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It's the end of the America we haver known for the last seventy years, he says. Bryant describes Trump's rapprochement with Russia as Neville Chamberlain style appeasement and notes the dramatic shifts in U.S. foreign policy, particularly regarding Ukraine and European allies. He sees Trump's actions as revealing rather than changing America's true nature. Bryant also discusses the failures of the Dems, the role of Elon Musk in the administration, and structural changes to federal institutions. Despite all the upheaval, Bryant suggests this isn't so much "goodbye to America" as a revelation of the cynically isolationist forces that were always present in American society.Here are the five KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation with Nick Bryant:* Historic Transformation: Bryant sees Trump's second term as a pivotal moment in world history, comparable to the fall of the Berlin Wall, with rapid changes in global alliances and particularly in America's relationship with Russia, which he characterizes as "appeasement."* Democratic Party Crisis: He analyzes how the Democrats' failures stemmed from multiple factors - Biden's delayed exit, Kamala Harris's weak candidacy, and the lack of time to find a stronger replacement. While Trump's victory was significant, Bryant notes it wasn't a landslide.* Elon Musk's Unexpected Role: An unforeseen development Bryant didn't predict in his book was Musk's prominent position in Trump's second administration, describing it as almost a "co-presidency" following Trump's assassination attempt and Musk's subsequent endorsement of Trump.* Federal Government Transformation: Bryant observes that Trump's dismantling of federal institutions goes beyond typical Republican small-government approaches, potentially removing not just bureaucratic waste but crucial expertise and institutional knowledge.* Trump as Revealer, Not Changer: Perhaps most significantly, Bryant argues that Trump hasn't changed America but rather revealed its true nature - arguing that authoritarianism, political violence, and distrust of big government have always been present in American history. FULL TRANSCRIPT Andrew Keen: Hello, everybody. About eight months ago, we had a great show with the BBC's former Washington correspondent, Nick Bryant. His latest book, "The Forever War: America's Unending Conflict with Itself," predicted much of what's happening in the United States now. When you look at the headlines this week about the U.S.-Russia relationship changing in a head-spinning way, apparently laying the groundwork for ending the Ukrainian war, all sorts of different relations and tariffs and many other things in this new regime. Nick is joining us from Sydney, Australia, where he now lives. Nick, do you miss America?Nick Bryant: I covered the first Trump administration and it felt like a 25/8 job, not just 24/7. Trump 2.0 feels even more relentless—round-the-clock news forever. We're checking our phones to see what has happened next. People who read my book wouldn't be surprised by how Donald Trump is conducting his second term. But some things weren't on my bingo card, like Trump suggesting a U.S. takeover of Gaza. The rapprochement with Putin, which we should look on as an act of appeasement after his aggression in Ukraine, was very easy to predict.Andrew Keen: That's quite a sharp comment, Nick—an act of appeasement equivalent to Neville Chamberlain's umbrella.Nick Bryant: It was ironic that J.D. Vance made his speech at the Munich Security Conference. Munich was where Neville Chamberlain secured the Munich Agreement, which was seen as a terrible act of appeasement towards Nazi Germany. This moment feels historic—I would liken it to the fall of the Berlin Wall. We're seeing a complete upending of the world order.Back at the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, we were talking about the end of history—Francis Fukuyama's famous thesis suggesting the triumph of liberal democracy. Now, we're talking about the end of America as we've known it since World War II. You get these Berlin Wall moments like Trump saying there should be a U.S. takeover of Gaza. J.D. Vance's speech in Munich ruptures the transatlantic alliance, which has been the basis of America's global preeminence and European security since World War II.Then you've seen what's happened in Saudi Arabia with the meeting between the Russians and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, completely resetting relations between Washington and Moscow. It's almost as if the invasions of Ukraine never happened. We're back to the situation during the Bush administration when George W. Bush famously met Vladimir Putin, looked into his soul, and gave him a clean bill of health. Things are moving at a hurtling pace, and it seems we're seeing the equivalent of a Berlin Wall tumbling every couple of days.Andrew Keen: That's quite dramatic for an experienced journalist like yourself to say. You don't exaggerate unnecessarily, Nick. It's astonishing. Nobody predicted this.Nick Bryant: When I first said this about three weeks ago, I had to think long and hard about whether the historical moments were equivalent. Two weeks on, I've got absolutely no doubt. We're seeing a massive change. European allies of America are now not only questioning whether the United States is a reliable ally—they're questioning whether the United States is an ally at all. Some are even raising the possibility that nations like Germany, the UK, and France will soon look upon America as an adversary.J.D. Vance's speech was very pointed, attacking European elitism and what he saw as denial of freedom of speech in Europe by governments, but not having a single word of criticism for Vladimir Putin. People are listening to the U.S. president, vice president, and others like Marco Rubio with their jaws on the ground. It's a very worrying moment for America's allies because they cannot look across the Atlantic anymore and see a president who will support them. Instead, they see an administration aligning itself with hard-right and far-right populist movements.Andrew Keen: The subtitle of your book was "America's Unending Conflict with Itself: The History Behind Trump in Advance." But America now—and I'm talking to you from San Francisco, where obviously there aren't a lot of Trump fans or J.D. Vance fans—seems in an odd, almost surreal way to be united. There were protests on Presidents Day earlier this week against Trump, calling him a tyrant. But is the thesis of your book about the forever war, America continually being divided between coastal elites and the hinterlands, Republicans and Democrats, still manifesting itself in late February 2025?Nick Bryant: Trump didn't win a landslide victory in the election. He won a significant victory, a decisive victory. It was hugely significant that he won the popular vote, which he didn't manage to do in 2016. But it wasn't a big win—he didn't win 50% of the popular vote. Sure, he won the seven battleground states, giving the sense of a massive victory, but it wasn't massive numerically.The divides in America are still there. The opposition has melted away at the moment with sporadic protests, but nothing really major. Don't be fooled into thinking America's forever wars have suddenly ended and Trump has won. The opposition will be back. The resistance will be back.I remember moments in the Obama administration when it looked like progressives had won every battle in America. I remember the day I went to South Carolina, to the funeral of the pastor killed in that terrible shooting in Charleston. Obama broke into "Amazing Grace"—it was almost for the first time in front of a black audience that he fully embraced the mantle of America's first African-American president. He flew back to Washington that night, and the White House was bathed in rainbow colors because the Supreme Court had made same-sex marriage legal across the country.It seemed in that moment that progressives were winning every fight. The Supreme Court also upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare. You assumed America's first black president would be followed by America's first female president. But what we were seeing in that summer of 2015 was actually the conservative backlash. Trump literally announced his presidential bid the day before that awful Charleston shooting. You can easily misread history at this moment. Sure, Trump looks dominant now, but don't be fooled. It wouldn't surprise me at all if in two years' time the Republicans end up losing the House of Representatives in the congressional midterm elections.Andrew Keen: When it comes to progressives, what do you make of the Democratic response, or perhaps the lack of response, to the failure of Kamala Harris? The huge amount of money, the uninspiring nature of her campaign, the fiasco over Biden—were these all accidental events or do they speak of a broader crisis on the left amongst progressives in America?Nick Bryant: They speak of both. There were really big mistakes made by the Democrats, not least Joe Biden's decision to contest the election as long as he did. It had become pretty clear by the beginning of 2024 that he wasn't in a fit state to serve four more years or take on the challenge of Donald Trump.Biden did too well at two critical junctures. During the midterm elections in 2022, many people predicted a red wave, a red tsunami. If that had happened, Biden would have faced pressure to step aside for an orderly primary process to pick a successor. But the red wave turned into a red ripple, and that persuaded Biden he was the right candidate. He focused on democracy, put democracy on the ballot, hammered the point about January 6th, and decided to run.Another critical juncture was the State of the Union address at the beginning of 2024. Biden did a good job, and I think that allayed a lot of concerns in the Democratic Party. Looking back on those two events, they really encouraged Biden to run again when he should never have done so.Remember, in 2020, he intimated that he would be a bridge to the next generation. He probably made a mistake then in picking Kamala Harris as his vice presidential candidate because he was basically appointing his heir. She wasn't the strongest Democrat to go up against Donald Trump—it was always going to be hard for a woman of color to win the Rust Belt. She wasn't a particularly good candidate in 2020 when she ran; she didn't even make it into 2020. She launched her campaign in Oakland, and while it looked good at the time, it became clear she was a poor candidate.Historical accidents, the wrong candidate, a suffering economy, and an America that has always been receptive to someone like Trump—all those factors played into his victory.Andrew Keen: If you were giving advice to the Democrats as they lick their wounds and begin to think about recovery and fighting the next battles, would you advise them to shift to the left or to the center?Nick Bryant: That's a fascinating question because you could argue it both ways. Do the Democrats need to find a populist of the left who can win back those blue-collar voters that have deserted the Democratic Party? This is a historical process that's been going on for many years. Working-class voters ditched the Democrats during the Reagan years and the Nixon years. Often race is part of that, often the bad economy is part of that—an economy that's not working for the working class who can't see a way to map out an American dream for themselves.You could argue for a left-wing populist, or you could argue that history shows the only way Democrats win the White House is by being centrist and moderate. That was true of LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton—all Southerners, and that wasn't a coincidence. Southern Democrats came from the center of the party. Obama was a pragmatic, centrist candidate. Kennedy was a very pragmatic centrist who tried to bring together the warring tribes of the Democratic Party.Historically, you could argue Democrats need to move to the center and stake out that ground as Trump moves further to the right and the extremes. But what makes it harder to say for sure is that we're in a political world where a lot of the old rules don't seem to apply.Andrew Keen: We don't quite know what the new rules are or if there are any rules. You describe this moment as equivalent in historic terms to the fall of the Berlin Wall or perhaps 9/11. If we reverse that lens and look inwards, is there an equivalent historical significance? You had an interesting tweet about Doge and the attempt in some people's eyes for a kind of capture of power by Elon Musk and the replacement of the traditional state with some sort of almost Leninist state. What do you make of what's happening within the United States in domestic politics, particularly Musk's role?Nick Bryant: We've seen American presidents test the Constitution before. Nobody in the modern era has done it so flagrantly as Donald Trump, but Nixon tried to maximize presidential powers to the extent that he broke the law. Nixon would have been found guilty in a Senate trial had that impeachment process continued. Of course, he was forced to resign because a delegation of his own party drove down Pennsylvania Avenue and told him he had to go.You don't get that with the Republican Party and Donald Trump—they've fallen behind him. FDR was commonly described as an American dictator. H.L. Mencken wrote that America had a Caesar, a pharaoh. Woodrow Wilson was maximalist in his presidential powers. Abraham Lincoln was the great Constitution breaker, from trashing the First Amendment to exceeding his powers with the Emancipation Proclamation. Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase was unconstitutional—he needed congressional approval, which he didn't have.There's a long history of presidents breaking rules and Americans being okay with that. Lincoln has never been displaced from his historical throne of grace. FDR is regarded as one of the great presidents. What sets this moment apart is that constraints on presidents traditionally came from the courts and their own political parties. We're not seeing that with Donald Trump.Andrew Keen: What about the cultural front? There's talk of Trump's revenge, taking over the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., revenge against traditional scientists, possibly closing some universities. Is this overdramatic, or is Trump really taking revenge for what happened between 2020 and 2024 when he was out of power?Nick Bryant: Trump is in a vengeful mood—we always thought Trump 2.0 would be a project of vengeance. Republican presidents have always thought parts of the administrative state work against them, and Trump is dismantling it at warp speed. Elon Musk is going into various government departments acting like he's heading a hostile takeover of the federal government.Reagan launched a rhetorical assault on federal government, which was really a creation of the New Deal years under FDR. That period saw massive expansion of federal government into people's lives with Social Security and the welfare net. We haven't seen this kind of assault on federal government since then. Trump is also trying to dismantle what he regards as America's cultural establishment, which he sees as too white, too elitist, too intellectual. He's trying to remold America, its government, and cultural institutions in his own image.Andrew Keen: You've mentioned Reagan. I came to the U.S. like you—you came as a grad student to study American history. I came in the '80s and remember the hysteria at UC Berkeley over Reagan—that he would blow up the world, that he was clueless, a Hollywood actor with no right to be in politics. Is it conceivable that Trump could be just another version of Reagan? In spite of all this hysteria, might this second Trump regime actually be successful?Nick Bryant: You can't rule out that possibility. The mistake made about Reagan was seeing him as a warmonger when he really wanted to be a peacemaker. That was the point of ending the Cold War—he wanted to win it, but through gambles on people like Gorbachev and diplomatic moves his advisors warned against.There are analogies to Trump. I don't think he's a warmonger or wants to send U.S. troops into countries. He's described some surprising imperial ambitions like taking over Greenland, though Harry Truman once wanted that too. Trump wants to make peace, but the problem is on what terms. Peace in Ukraine, in Trump's view, means a massive win for Vladimir Putin and the sidelining of the Ukrainian people and America's European allies.There wasn't a big cost to Reagan's peacemaking—the European alliance stayed intact, he tinkered with government but didn't go after Social Security. The cost of Trump is the problem.Andrew Keen: The moral cost or the economic cost?Nick Bryant: Both. One thing that happened with Reagan was the opening of big disparities in income and wealth in American society. That was a big factor in Donald Trump's success—the paradox of how this billionaire from New York became the hero of the Rust Belt. When the gulf between executive pay and shop floor pay became massive, it was during the Reagan years.You see the potential of something similar now. Trump is supercharging an economy that looks like it will favor the tech giants and the world's richest man, Elon Musk. You end up worsening the problem you were arguably setting out to solve.You don't get landslides anymore in American politics—the last president to win 40 states was George Herbert Walker Bush. Reagan in '84 won 49 out of 50 states, almost getting a clean sweep except for Mondale's home state of Minnesota. I don't think Trump will be the kind of unifying president that Reagan was. There was a spontaneity and optimism about Reagan that you don't see with Trump.Andrew Keen: Where are the divisions? Where is the great threat to Trump coming from? There was a story this week that Steve Bannon called Elon Musk a parasitic illegal immigrant. Is it conceivable that the biggest weakness within the Trump regime will come from conflict between people like Bannon and Musk, the nationalists and the internationalist wing of the MAGA movement?Nick Bryant: That's a fascinating question. There doesn't seem to be much external opposition at the moment. The Democrats are knocked out or taking the eight count in boxing terms, getting back on their feet and taking as long as they can to get their gloves up. There isn't a leader in the Democratic movement who has anywhere near Trump's magnetism or personal power to take him on.Maybe the opposition comes from internal divisions and collapse of the Trump project. The relationship with Elon Musk was something I didn't anticipate in my book. After that assassination attempt, Musk endorsed Trump in a big way, put his money behind him, started offering cash prizes in Pennsylvania. Having lived at Mar-a-Lago during the transition with a cottage on the grounds and now an office in the White House—I didn't anticipate his role.Many people thought Trump wouldn't put up with somebody who overshadows him or gets more attention, but that relationship hasn't failed yet. I wonder if that speaks to something different between Trump 2.0 and 1.0. Trump's surrounded by loyalists now, but at 78 years old, I think he wanted to win the presidency more than he wanted the presidency itself. I wonder if he's happy to give more responsibility to people like Musk who he thinks will carry out his agenda.Andrew Keen: You've been described as the new Alistair Cooke. Cooke was the father of Anglo-American journalism—his Letter from America was an iconic show, the longest-running show in radio history. Cooke was always very critical of what he called the big daddy state in Washington, D.C., wasn't a fan of large government. What's your take on Trump's attack on large government in D.C.? Is there anything in it? You spent a lot of time in DC. Are these agencies full of fat and do they need to be cut?Nick Bryant: Cutting fat out of Washington budgets is one of the easy things—they're bloated, they get all these earmarks, they're full of pork. There's always been a bloated federal bureaucracy, and there's a long historical tradition of suspicion of Washington going back to the founding. That's why the federal system emerged with so much power vested in the states.Reagan's revolution was based on dismantling the New Deal government. He didn't get that far in that project, but rhetorically he shifted America's views about government. He emphasized that government was the problem, not the solution, for four decades. When Bill Clinton became president, he had to make this big ideological concession to Reaganism and deliver Reaganite lines like "the era of big government is over."The concern right now is that they're not just getting rid of fat—they're getting rid of expertise and institutional knowledge. They're removing people who may be democratic in their thinking or not on board with the Trump revolution, but who have extensive experience in making government work. In moments of national crisis, conservative ideologues tend to become operational liberals. They rely on government in disasters, pandemics, and economic crises to bail out banks and industries.Conservatives have successfully planted in many Americans' heads that government is the enemy. Hillary Clinton saw a classic sign in 2006—a protester carrying a sign saying "get your government hands off my Medicare." Well, Medicare is a government program. People need government, expertise, and people in Washington who know what they're doing. You're not just getting rid of waste—you're getting rid of institutional knowledge.Andrew Keen: One of the more colorful characters in these Trump years is RFK Jr. There was an interesting piece in the National Review about RFK Jr. forcing the left to abandon the Kennedy legacy. Is there something symbolically historical in this shift from RFK Sr. being an icon on the left to RFK Jr. being an icon on the libertarian right? Does it speak of something structural that's changed in American political culture?Nick Bryant: Yes, it does, and it speaks to how America is perceived internationally. JFK was always seen as this liberal champion, but he was an arch pragmatist, never more so than on civil rights. My doctoral thesis and first book were about tearing down that myth about Kennedy.The Kennedys did inspire international respect. The Kennedy White House seemed to be a place of rationality, refinement, and glamor. JFK embodied what was great about America—its youth, dynamism, vision. When RFK was assassinated in California, weeks after MLK's assassination, many thought that sense of America was being killed off too. These were people who inspired others internationally to enter public service. They saw America as a beacon on a hill.RFK Jr. speaks of a different, toxic American exceptionalism. People look at figures like RFK Jr. and wonder how he could possibly end up heading the American Health Department. He embodies what many people internationally reject about America, whereas JFK and RFK embodied what people loved, admired, and wanted to emulate.Andrew Keen: You do a show now on Australian television. What's the view from Australia? Are people as horrified and disturbed in Australia as they are in Europe about what you've called a historic change as profound as the fall of the Berlin Wall—or maybe rather than the fall of the Berlin Wall, it's the establishment of a new kind of Berlin Wall?Nick Bryant: One of Australia's historic diplomatic fears is abandonment. They initially looked to Britain as a security guarantor in the early days of Australian Federation when Australia became a modern country in 1901. After World War II, they realized Britain couldn't protect them, so they looked to America instead. America has underwritten Australia's security since World War II.Now many Australians realize that won't be the case anymore. Australia entered into the AUKUS deal with Britain and America for nuclear submarine technology, which has become the basis of Australia's defense. There's fear that Trump could cancel it on a whim. They're currently battling over steel and aluminum tariffs. Anthony Albanese, the center-left prime minister, got a brief diplomatic reprieve after talking with Trump last week.A country like Australia, much like Britain, France, or Germany, cannot look on Trump's America as a reliable ally right now. That's concerning in a region where China increasingly throws its weight around.Andrew Keen: Although I'm guessing some people in Australia would be encouraged by Trump's hostility towards China.Nick Bryant: Yes, that's one area where they see Trump differently than in Europe because there are so many China hawks in the Trump administration. That gives them some comfort—they don't see the situation as directly analogous to Europe. But it's still worrying. They've had presidents who've been favorable towards Australia over the years. Trump likes Australia partly because America enjoys a trade surplus with Australia and he likes Greg Norman, the golfer. But that only gives you a certain measure of security.There is concern in this part of the world, and like in Europe, people are questioning whether they share values with a president who is aligning himself with far-right parties.Andrew Keen: Finally, Nick, your penultimate book was "When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present." You had an interesting tweet where you noted that the final chapter in your current book, "The Forever War," is called "Goodbye America." But the more we talk, whether or not America remains great is arguable. If anything, this conversation is about "hello" to a new America. It's not goodbye America—if anything, America's more powerful, more dominant, shaping the world more in the 2020s than it's ever done.Nick Bryant: It's goodbye to the America we've known for the last 70 years, but not goodbye to America itself. That's one of the arguments of the book—Trump is far more representative of the true America than many international observers realize. If you look at American history through a different lens, Trump makes perfect sense.There's always been an authoritarian streak, a willingness to fall for demagogues, political violence, deep mistrust of government, and rich people making fortunes—from the robber barons of the late 19th century to the tech barons of the 21st century. It's goodbye to a certain America, but the America that Trump presides over now is an America that's always been there. Trump hasn't changed America—he's revealed it.Andrew Keen: Well, one thing we can say for sure is it's not goodbye to Nick Bryant. We'll get you back on the show. You're one of America's most perceptive and incisive observers, even if you're in Australia now. Thank you so much.Nick Bryant: Andrew, it's always a pleasure to be with you. I still love the country deeply—my fascination has always been born of great affection.Nick Bryant is the author of The Forever War: American's Unending Conflict with Itself and When America Stopped Being Great, a book that Joe Biden keeps in the Oval Office. He was formerly one of the BBC's most senior foreign correspondents, with postings in Washington DC, New York, South Asia and Australia. After covering the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, he left the BBC in 2021, and now lives in Sydney with his wife and children. Nick studied history at Cambridge and has a doctorate in American history from Oxford.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Originally Recorded December 2nd, 2024About Dr. Darryl G. Hart: https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/darryl-hart/Check out Dr. Hart's book, Damning Words: The Life and Religious Times of H.L. Mencken: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802875631/damning-words/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit musicallyspeaking.substack.com

The vibe for this recording was solemn even if the co-hosts  Korey Maas (Lutheran), Miles Smith (Anglican), and D. G. Hart (Presbyterian) were also excited for the upcoming marriage of our only confessional Protestant bachelor (sorry ladies). The reason for the somber mood was Miles Smith's piece at MereOrthodoxy on evangelicals and politics.  There he suggests that American Protestants have lost a sense of nations sitting under God's judgment. In which case, the presidential campaign and the results could be less a story of redemption than they reveal God's rebuke of an errant society.    From that starting point, conversation ranged to the degree to which confessional Protestants suffer from viewing the United States as a redeemer nation, how millennialism affects nationalism, differing estimates (Augustinian or Eusebian) of Christian government, and even whether Christians can learn a tragic sense of politics from H. L. Mencken.  No sponsors, but it should have been Joy dishwashing detergent. 

SERIES 3 EPISODE 67: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: "No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the plain people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly." H.L. Mencken (1926). Nice of Hispanic males to vote for the guy who will deport all their relatives and friends and namesakes and when they run out, deport them. Also: the anti-Trump conservative who's trying to be optimistic: at least now Trump won't try another coup! And Jeff Bezos congratulates Trump because if they're still blackmailing Bezos on Trump's behalf, this is what it would look like! And details on the future of this podcast (yes, it has one). B-Block (20:51) SPECIAL COMMENT TWO: My theory of The Lifeboat and how it explains who voted for Trump and why. C-Block (34:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Darrell Castle talks about the announced plan of Kamala Harris to "fix" the American economy along with a discussion of that most undemocratic of institutions, the Democrat Party. Transcription / Notes THE HARRIS PLAN TO “FIX” THE ECONOMY Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today's Castle Report. This is Friday, the 23rd day of August in the year of our Lord 2024. I will be talking about the announced plan of Kamala Harris to “fix” the American economy along with a discussion of that most undemocratic of institutions, the Democrat Party. Why do I refer to the Democrat Party as undemocratic. There are many reasons but primarily that Party seems to regard the will of the people as nothing but a nuisance to keep the ruling elite of the Party from having their way. For example, Hillary Clinton received more primary delegates than Barack Obama but he was nominated because he had more “super delegates.” The current nominees, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz received no delegate votes at all, not a single vote but they have the nomination and not Joe Biden who received 14 million primary votes. Far a perfect explanation of American politics, and the entire election process I turn to the incomparable H.L. Mencken: “The state—or, to make matters more concrete, the government—consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advanced auction on stolen goods.” I search in vain for a finer explanation of the American political system and American politicians than Mencken's, but what of Kamala Harris and her solutions to our troubles. I will focus my attention right here at home for now because we have so many issues and despite the dangerous climb up the escalation ladder abroad, I look inward for today. Home where our families live and home where we struggle to feed them in spite of various government decisions which try to keep us from doing so. Inflation is obviously a problem right now and Kamala Harris wants us to know that she is aware of it and intends to fix it. Her solutions are even more interesting since she is now vice president and has been in that office while inflation was embedding itself in the economy.  The consumer price index has charts available that tell us what inflation is and how it affects our daily lives and our ability to maintain our standard of living. When we notice, little by little, that our living standard is slipping away the information from the consumer price index tells us at least partially, why that is true. For example, a U.S. dollar from 1971 is equivalent to $7.77 in 2024 an increase of 677%. So, the real value, or purchasing value of a dollar decreases over time. Does your income increase correspondingly because if not then your standard of living is declining. In some areas of the country, Ms. Harris's California for example, the change has been even more pronounced. Politicians such as Kamala Harris will try just about anything to solve the problem of inflation except the only solution that will actually work. The only solution is cut public spending drastically or raise taxes drastically or both but those things will not buy very many votes. The great economist Milton Friedman famously put it like this, in his dictum, “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary problem.” In other words, if you've got inflation as we have today, you are printing too much money. Who wants to live within their means in this day and age of empire and entitlement. We want to run the world and we want to stay in power a...

“It's much more impactful to think about what we are doing with our days to make those land deeper and more significant onto our soul.” ~Dr. Maggie Augustyn Inspired by a powerful quote from H.L. Mencken, Everyday Practices Dental Podcast co-host Dr. Chad Johnson and guest Dr. Maggie Augustyn discuss the true essence of life - not just its length, but its depth and meaning. They discuss the balance between extending our lifespan and enriching the days we have, considering how our choices, connections, and relationships shape the richness of our existence.

"Does it really make any difference if you do believe something, but are at the same time intolerant of someone who does not agree or concur in your beliefs?" Key Moments 01:27  Meeting Freeman Tilden. 09:42 Starting a Career with Park Service at age 58. 11:54 Freeman Reevaluates National Park Service Principles and Writes "Interpreting Our Heritage" at age 71 14:59 Aiming for Visitor Engagement, Not Just Facts .17:00 Becaming a Team for National Park Service 22:58 Lasting Impact of 47 years of Documented Experiences. 26:06 Focusing on Environment, Change, and Tolerance. 27:03 Human Interference with Nature, Moral Poverty, and Creating Positive Experiences 33:03 Presentation about Freeman Tilden at Ranger Rendezvous 47 Resources Ranger Rendezvous Information National Park Service Bio of Freeman Tilden www.parkleaders.com https://parkleaders.com/about/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/theparkleaders/ Interpreting Freeman Tilden In this episode, Walt Dabney returns to share share his extraordinary experience as a student trainee. Walt is the retired director of Texas State Parks and a former National Park Service employee who held various roles during his distinguished career. He even spent an entire year working closely with the legendary Freeman Tilden. Tilden was an author and is known as the Father of Heritage Interpretation. Throughout his career, he wrote works like "Interpreting Our Heritage" and "The World in Debt," and collaborated with notable figures like H. L. Mencken. Imagine traveling 30,000 miles across the United States by car and train, visiting national parks, and engaging with park staff, colleges, and universities—all while being under the mentorship of one of the most influential figures in park interpretation. That's what Walt experienced in 1970. In our conversation, Walt reflects on the invaluable life lessons he learned from Freeman, the lasting friendship they forged, and how Freeman's teachings continue to influence park professionals and leaders to this day. For example, he emphasized the importance of personalized storytelling in park interpretation.  Tilden also believed that the National Park Service played a crucial role in the moral fabric of the country, advocating for self-improvement and quality over materialism. Freeman Tilden's insights go beyond just park interpretation. His guidance on self-change and passion-driven impact remains valuable life advice for us all. Make sure to listen to this episode to learn about the profound impact of Freeman Tilden on park interpretation and learn why his wisdom extends beyond parks to life itself. Thank you to Walt Dabney for taking us on a journey back to those transformative times and sharing insights into your own years interpreting Freeman Tilden.

Guests: Richard Samuelson, Jonathan Eller, & D.G. Hart   Host Scot Bertram talks with Richard Samuelson, Associate Professor of Government at Hillsdale College's Washington, D.C., campus, about the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Jonathan Eller, chancellor's professor of English at Indiana University's School of Liberal Arts and author of a three-volume biography on Ray Bradbury, discusses Bradbury's life and legacy in writing. And D.G. Hart, associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, completes a short series on the life and works of journalist and cultural critic H.L. Mencken. This week, Hart focuses on Menken's political views.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many saw the dark side of the American dream, but none wrote about it like Jim Tully. Having spent six years of his childhood in a Cincinnati orphanage, Tully returned to his hometown of St. Marys, Ohio before climbing aboard a freight train in 1901. Drifting across the country as a "road kid," he spent his teens, sleeping in hobo jungles, avoiding railroad cops, and haunting public libraries. After six years on the road, he settled in Kent, Ohio where he boxed professionally and began to write. Following a move to Hollywood where he worked for Charlie Chaplin, Tully issued a stream of critically acclaimed books that serve as a dark and astonishing chronicle of the American underclass. Having established himself as a major American author, he turned his attention to Hollywood writing dozens of articles about the movies, often shocking the Hollywood establishment. Along the way, he picked up such close friends as W. C. Fields, Jack Dempsey, H. L. Mencken, and Frank Capra. He also memorably crossed paths with Jack London, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, and Langston Hughes. My guests are Mark Dawidziak and Paul Bauer, authors of "Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler". They not only share details from Tully's wild life, but talk about two infamous Hollywood murders that he was connected to. Paul Bauer's Archer's Used and Rare Books: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/archersbookscom-kent Mark Dawidziak's website: https://www.markdawidziak.com/ Jim Tully Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100050314553406 The Most Notorious Podcast website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inherit the Wind (1960) is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial," where a local teacher is prosecuted for teaching about human evolution in public school in violation of state law. The film was directed by Stanley Kramer and is based on a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. It stars Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond (patterned after celebrated defense attorney Clarence Darrow), Frederic March as the prosecutor Matthew Harrison Brady (patterned after famous three-time presidential candidate and renowned fundamentalist Christian spokesperson, William Jennings Bryan); Dick York as Bertram T. Cates (patterned after high school science teacher John Scopes), and Gene Kelly as reporter E. K. Hornbeck (patterned after H.L. Mencken). Fans of the TV series M*A*S*H  will also enjoy seeing Harry Morgan as the trial judge. The film not only provides a glimpse into the role of religion in public life in American in the 1920s; it also contains important messages about conformism and freedom of thought directed at the McCarthyism of its own era—messages that continue to reverberate today. My guest to talk about Inherit the Wind is film critic Nell Minow (bio  here).Timestamps:0.00     Introduction4:52     The era of the Scopes “monkey trial”8:34     The Scopes trial as a “test” case12:25   The decision to exclude evidence of evolution18:40   The later theory of “intelligent design”20:30   Clarence Darrow's classic cross-examination of William Jennings Bryan23:27   Miracle on 34th Street and how courts resolve disputes about faith24:40   The film as a response to the McCarthy era26:14   The verdict and aftermath30:10   The power and methods of the religious right today 34:22   The impact of Inherit the Wind and other “issue movies”37:06   The film's continuing relevanceFurther reading:Austerlitz, Saul, "Rethinking Stanley Kramer: How a message-movie humanist became an auteurist punching bag," Moving Image Source (Aug. 25, 2010)Farrell, John F., Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned (2011)Minow, Nell, “‘An Idea Is a Greater Monument Than a Cathedral': Deciding How We Know What We Know in ‘Inherit the Wind,'” 30 U. San Fran. L. Rev. 1225 (1996)National Center for Science Education, “Ten Major Court Cases about Evolution and Creationism” (June 6, 2016)Sprague de Camp, Lyon, The Great Monkey Trial (1968)Uelman, Gerald F., “The Trial as Circus: ‘Inherit the Wind,'” 30 U. San Fran. L. Rev. 1221 (1996)Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/faculty/full-time/jonathan-hafetz.cfmYou can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.comYou can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilmYou can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

Eliot and Eric welcome Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest, non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, and author of America Last: The Right's Century Long Romance with Foreign Dictators. They discuss the origin story of "America First" during the First World War when critic and satirist H.L. Mencken and German-American propagandist (and paid agent) George Sylvester Viereck led the charge against American intervention in the Great War and how both played roles in the 30s and early 40s America First movement to prevent FDR from aiding the Allies. They discuss the hostility of America Firsters to the liberal tradition in America, its connection to anti-Semitism, William F. Buckley's role and evolution on anti-Semitism, Jeanne Kirkpatrick's views on authoritarianism and totalitarianism and the left's own tradition of admiration for tyrants as well as how these tendencies are reflected in today's MAGA movement. America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators https://a.co/d/91qv3YA Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

What would Nietzsche say… about today's divisive issues and debates? I spoke with Glenn Wallis, author of the new book, Nietzsche Now!, on how the Great Immoralist guides us in understanding democracy, identity, civilization, consciousness, religion, and other urgent topics of our time. Wallis identifies six guiding principles in Nietzsche's work that help navigate today's concerns: curiosity, humor, courage, distance, solitude, and humor. Steeped in Nietzsche but never academic, dogmatic, or pious (which Nietzsche would have hated!), Wallis explains with infectious enthusiasm and meticulous care the reasons why Nietzsche may be the most relevant thinker for our time. Glenn Wallis is the editor and translator of The Dhammapada and Basic Teachings of the Buddha (Random House), and the author of A Critique of Western Buddhism (Bloomsbury), An Anarchist's Manifesto, and How to Fix Education (both with Warbler Press). He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has taught at several universities, including Brown University, and at the University of Georgia as a tenured professor. He is the founder and director of Incite Seminars in Philadelphia. Nietzsche Now! The Great Immoralist on the Vital Issues of Our Time (Warbler Press, 2023) is now available wherever books are sold. Other Think About It episodes mentioned in this podcast: Béatrice Longueness on Immanuel Kant's What is Englightenment? Melissa Schwartzberg on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract Glenn Wallis on Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Threats to Democracy and H. L. Mencken's Notes on Democracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

What would Nietzsche say… about today's divisive issues and debates? I spoke with Glenn Wallis, author of the new book, Nietzsche Now!, on how the Great Immoralist guides us in understanding democracy, identity, civilization, consciousness, religion, and other urgent topics of our time. Wallis identifies six guiding principles in Nietzsche's work that help navigate today's concerns: curiosity, humor, courage, distance, solitude, and humor. Steeped in Nietzsche but never academic, dogmatic, or pious (which Nietzsche would have hated!), Wallis explains with infectious enthusiasm and meticulous care the reasons why Nietzsche may be the most relevant thinker for our time. Glenn Wallis is the editor and translator of The Dhammapada and Basic Teachings of the Buddha (Random House), and the author of A Critique of Western Buddhism (Bloomsbury), An Anarchist's Manifesto, and How to Fix Education (both with Warbler Press). He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has taught at several universities, including Brown University, and at the University of Georgia as a tenured professor. He is the founder and director of Incite Seminars in Philadelphia. Nietzsche Now! The Great Immoralist on the Vital Issues of Our Time (Warbler Press, 2023) is now available wherever books are sold. Other Think About It episodes mentioned in this podcast: Béatrice Longueness on Immanuel Kant's What is Englightenment? Melissa Schwartzberg on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract Glenn Wallis on Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Threats to Democracy and H. L. Mencken's Notes on Democracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

What would Nietzsche say… about today's divisive issues and debates? I spoke with Glenn Wallis, author of the new book, Nietzsche Now!, on how the Great Immoralist guides us in understanding democracy, identity, civilization, consciousness, religion, and other urgent topics of our time. Wallis identifies six guiding principles in Nietzsche's work that help navigate today's concerns: curiosity, humor, courage, distance, solitude, and humor. Steeped in Nietzsche but never academic, dogmatic, or pious (which Nietzsche would have hated!), Wallis explains with infectious enthusiasm and meticulous care the reasons why Nietzsche may be the most relevant thinker for our time. Glenn Wallis is the editor and translator of The Dhammapada and Basic Teachings of the Buddha (Random House), and the author of A Critique of Western Buddhism (Bloomsbury), An Anarchist's Manifesto, and How to Fix Education (both with Warbler Press). He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has taught at several universities, including Brown University, and at the University of Georgia as a tenured professor. He is the founder and director of Incite Seminars in Philadelphia. Nietzsche Now! The Great Immoralist on the Vital Issues of Our Time (Warbler Press, 2023) is now available wherever books are sold. Other Think About It episodes mentioned in this podcast: Béatrice Longueness on Immanuel Kant's What is Englightenment? Melissa Schwartzberg on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract Glenn Wallis on Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Threats to Democracy and H. L. Mencken's Notes on Democracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

What would Nietzsche say… about today's divisive issues and debates? I spoke with Glenn Wallis, author of the new book, Nietzsche Now!, on how the Great Immoralist guides us in understanding democracy, identity, civilization, consciousness, religion, and other urgent topics of our time. Wallis identifies six guiding principles in Nietzsche's work that help navigate today's concerns: curiosity, humor, courage, distance, solitude, and humor. Steeped in Nietzsche but never academic, dogmatic, or pious (which Nietzsche would have hated!), Wallis explains with infectious enthusiasm and meticulous care the reasons why Nietzsche may be the most relevant thinker for our time. Glenn Wallis is the editor and translator of The Dhammapada and Basic Teachings of the Buddha (Random House), and the author of A Critique of Western Buddhism (Bloomsbury), An Anarchist's Manifesto, and How to Fix Education (both with Warbler Press). He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has taught at several universities, including Brown University, and at the University of Georgia as a tenured professor. He is the founder and director of Incite Seminars in Philadelphia. Nietzsche Now! The Great Immoralist on the Vital Issues of Our Time (Warbler Press, 2023) is now available wherever books are sold. Other Think About It episodes mentioned in this podcast: Béatrice Longueness on Immanuel Kant's What is Englightenment? Melissa Schwartzberg on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract Glenn Wallis on Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Threats to Democracy and H. L. Mencken's Notes on Democracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Today's poem–a layered, jokingly-serious response to one of last week's–comes from Ogden Nash, dubbed the ‘Laurate of Light Verse.' Which banner would you rally under–Nash or Byron?One of the most widely appreciated and imitated writers of light verse, Frediric Ogden Nash was born in Rye, New York, on August 19, 1902, to Edmund Strudwick and Mattie Nash. He came from a distinguished family; the city of Nashville, Tennessee, was named in honor of one of his forbearers. Nash attended Harvard College, but dropped out after only one year. He worked briefly on Wall Street, and as a schoolteacher, before becoming a copywriter. In 1925, he took a job in the marketing department with the publishing house Doubleday.Nash's first published poems began to appear in the New Yorker around 1930. His first collection of poems, Hard Lines (Simon & Schuster), was published in 1931. The book was a tremendous success; it went into seven printings in its first year alone, and Nash quit his job with Doubleday. That same year, he married Frances Rider Leonard; they had two children. Nash worked briefly for the New Yorker in 1932, before deciding to devote himself full-time to his verse.Nash considered himself a "worsifier." Among his best known lines are "Candy / Is dandy, / But liquor / Is quicker" and "If called by a panther / Don't anther." His poems also had an intensely anti-establishment quality that resounded with many Americans, particularly during the Depression. Nash was a keen observer of American social life, and frequently mocked religious moralizing and conservative politicians. His work is often compared with other satirists of the time, including Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and H. L. Mencken. He appeared regularly on radio and on television, and he drew huge audiences for his readings and lectures.Nash was also the author of three screenplays for MGM, and with S. J. Perelmen, he wrote the 1943 Broadway hit One Touch of Venus. In the 1950s, Nash focused on writing poems for children, including the collection Girls Are Silly (Franklin Watts, 1962). He died on May 19, 1971.-bio via Academy of American Poets Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for tuning in to tonight's episode of Bore You To Sleep. Before we dive into our soothing story, I'd like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who support this podcast. Your kind words and encouragement truly keep me going. Tonight, let's embark on a journey through "Notes on Democracy" by H. L. Mencken, published in 1926. This insightful piece offers a unique perspective on democracy in the Western world, inviting us to ponder its complexities and nuances. But first, a quick reminder that this podcast is made possible by listeners like you. If you enjoy our content and would like to support us, there are a few ways you can do so: Follow the podcast in your favorite podcast app. Consider becoming a subscriber for just $2.99 a month to enjoy ad-free episodes on Spotify. Leave a review and rating in your podcast app—it only takes a moment and makes a world of difference. Connect with us on our website, BoreYouToSleep.com, or on social media @BoreYouToSleep. Remember, sharing this podcast with a friend in need is a wonderful way to spread the gift of peaceful sleep. Now, let's unwind together as we delve into "Notes on Democracy" by H. L. Mencken. Close your eyes, relax your body, and let the gentle rhythm of the story guide you into a restful slumber. Sweet dreams, and until next time, this is Teddy signing off. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/boreyoutosleep/message

(LANGUAGE) HOW TO STOP BEING SO DAMN STUPID! GOERGE CARLIN, HL MENCKEN, DAVE HODGES

Guests: Paul Moreno, Amity Shlaes, & D.G. Hart Host Scot Bertram talks with Paul Moreno, the William and Berniece Grewcock Chair in Constitutional History and professor of history at Hillsdale College, about the life and legacy of groundbreaking baseball player Jackie Robinson on the anniversary of his birth. Amity Shlaes, chair of the Coolidge Foundation and author of Coolidge, explains president Calvin Coolidge's legacy and how he navigated challenges like ours today. And D.G. Hart, associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, continues a series on the work of H. L. Mencken. This time, he focuses on Mencken's dedication to the principle of free speech.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we talk about all that's wrong with schools and a bit about the project Maxim is working on: https://www.greatman.com/publish/posts/detail/140740355   Ideology, Ethics, and Global Opportunities: Maxim's Substack: http://greatman.com Join our email list to get Special reports and updates: https://dougcasey.substack.com/about  Connect with us on Telegram: https://t.me/dougcasey  Today we join Doug Casey live to address education, ethics, international opportunities, and his personal intellectual journey. Explore the challenges infiltrating today's education system, specifically 'wokeness' and indoctrination strategies, and their implications on morality. Opportunities in Russia and Africa for young individuals. Doug's intellectual voyage, shaped by H. L. Mencken, Barry Goldwater, Ayn Rand, Henry Hazlitt, and the Tannehills, and understand the influence these figures had on his worldview.   Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and Starting the Conversation 01:04 Discussing the Impact of Smoking Laws 02:52 The Shift in Language and Society  03:29 The Importance of Sound Check and Audience Interaction 03:50 The Degradation of Education and Its Impact 04:41 The Influence of Media and Politics in Education 05:20 The Struggle for Accountability in Private Schools 06:01 The Personal Experience of Public School 10:13 The Challenge of Accessing Curriculum Information 11:38 The Consequences of a Lack of Personal Responsibility in Education 19:54 The Importance of Personal Ethical Codes 39:55 The Impact of Socialism on Education 43:12 Discussing the Potential of CBDC in Uruguay 44:33 The Impact of CBDC on Tax Evasion and Crime 45:08 Exploring the Reasons Behind Drug Use 46:10 The Pros and Cons of Moving to Africa 52:01 The Question of Argentina and Uruguay Joining BRICS 54:03 The Potential of Living and Working in Bermuda 01:14:00 The Importance of Work-Life Balance 01:17:37 The Development of Free Market Capitalism Ideals 01:24:48 Final Thoughts and Wrap Up

On this day in 1917, Baltimore journalist Henry L. Mencken published a faux history of the bathtub titled “A Neglected Anniversary.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A colorful "history" of the bathtub, as told by H. L. Mencken.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A century ago, journalist H. L. Mencken provocatively stated in Notes On Democracy (new edition by Warbler Press, 2023) that anti-democratic behavior is not only not shocking but that we should in fact expect democracies to give rise to un- and even anti-democratic forces. Mencken doubted that such the evils of democracy will be cured by more democracy, which usually means elections and ‘fostering democratic norms and behaviors. So what is to be done? I spoke with NYU Professor and political commentator Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the current threats to democracy posed by populism, the media's role in shaping political views, what historical precedents of strongmen can teach us about today's threats to democracy, and what is crucially missing from today's political landscape. Find the texts: Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (Norton, 2021) by Ruth Ben-Ghiat Notes On Democracy (1926) by H. L. Mencken Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a distinguished expert in the history of fascism and is appointed at NYU as Professor of History and Italian. A leading authority on the contemporary challenges facing democracies globally, she frequently provides insights as a commentator for various news networks and contributes as an MSNBC opinion columnist. In her newsletter, Lucid, she delves into the critical issues threatening democracy. Her work has been recognized with Guggenheim, NEH, Fulbright and other fellowships. Her latest book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present explores the regimes and rise to power of authoritarian leaders, while proposing strategies for their defeat. Follow her here: Twitter @RuthBenGhiat; Instagram @RuthBenGhiat. Ulrich Baer teaches literature and photography as University Professor at New York University. A recipient of Guggenheim, Getty and Humboldt awards, in addition to hosting "Think About It” he hosts (with Caroline Weber) the podcast "The Proust Questionnaire” and is Editorial Director at Warbler Press. Email ucb1@nyu.edu; Twitter @UliBaer; IG: @thinkaboutit.podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A century ago, journalist H. L. Mencken provocatively stated in Notes On Democracy (new edition by Warbler Press, 2023) that anti-democratic behavior is not only not shocking but that we should in fact expect democracies to give rise to un- and even anti-democratic forces. Mencken doubted that such the evils of democracy will be cured by more democracy, which usually means elections and ‘fostering democratic norms and behaviors. So what is to be done? I spoke with NYU Professor and political commentator Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the current threats to democracy posed by populism, the media's role in shaping political views, what historical precedents of strongmen can teach us about today's threats to democracy, and what is crucially missing from today's political landscape. Find the texts: Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (Norton, 2021) by Ruth Ben-Ghiat Notes On Democracy (1926) by H. L. Mencken Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a distinguished expert in the history of fascism and is appointed at NYU as Professor of History and Italian. A leading authority on the contemporary challenges facing democracies globally, she frequently provides insights as a commentator for various news networks and contributes as an MSNBC opinion columnist. In her newsletter, Lucid, she delves into the critical issues threatening democracy. Her work has been recognized with Guggenheim, NEH, Fulbright and other fellowships. Her latest book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present explores the regimes and rise to power of authoritarian leaders, while proposing strategies for their defeat. Follow her here: Twitter @RuthBenGhiat; Instagram @RuthBenGhiat. Ulrich Baer teaches literature and photography as University Professor at New York University. A recipient of Guggenheim, Getty and Humboldt awards, in addition to hosting "Think About It” he hosts (with Caroline Weber) the podcast "The Proust Questionnaire” and is Editorial Director at Warbler Press. Email ucb1@nyu.edu; Twitter @UliBaer; IG: @thinkaboutit.podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A century ago, journalist H. L. Mencken provocatively stated in Notes On Democracy (new edition by Warbler Press, 2023) that anti-democratic behavior is not only not shocking but that we should in fact expect democracies to give rise to un- and even anti-democratic forces. Mencken doubted that such the evils of democracy will be cured by more democracy, which usually means elections and ‘fostering democratic norms and behaviors. So what is to be done? I spoke with NYU Professor and political commentator Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the current threats to democracy posed by populism, the media's role in shaping political views, what historical precedents of strongmen can teach us about today's threats to democracy, and what is crucially missing from today's political landscape. Find the texts: Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (Norton, 2021) by Ruth Ben-Ghiat Notes On Democracy (1926) by H. L. Mencken Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a distinguished expert in the history of fascism and is appointed at NYU as Professor of History and Italian. A leading authority on the contemporary challenges facing democracies globally, she frequently provides insights as a commentator for various news networks and contributes as an MSNBC opinion columnist. In her newsletter, Lucid, she delves into the critical issues threatening democracy. Her work has been recognized with Guggenheim, NEH, Fulbright and other fellowships. Her latest book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present explores the regimes and rise to power of authoritarian leaders, while proposing strategies for their defeat. Follow her here: Twitter @RuthBenGhiat; Instagram @RuthBenGhiat. Ulrich Baer teaches literature and photography as University Professor at New York University. A recipient of Guggenheim, Getty and Humboldt awards, in addition to hosting "Think About It” he hosts (with Caroline Weber) the podcast "The Proust Questionnaire” and is Editorial Director at Warbler Press. Email ucb1@nyu.edu; Twitter @UliBaer; IG: @thinkaboutit.podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

A century ago, journalist H. L. Mencken provocatively stated in Notes On Democracy (new edition by Warbler Press, 2023) that anti-democratic behavior is not only not shocking but that we should in fact expect democracies to give rise to un- and even anti-democratic forces. Mencken doubted that such the evils of democracy will be cured by more democracy, which usually means elections and ‘fostering democratic norms and behaviors. So what is to be done? I spoke with NYU Professor and political commentator Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the current threats to democracy posed by populism, the media's role in shaping political views, what historical precedents of strongmen can teach us about today's threats to democracy, and what is crucially missing from today's political landscape. Find the texts: Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (Norton, 2021) by Ruth Ben-Ghiat Notes On Democracy (1926) by H. L. Mencken Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a distinguished expert in the history of fascism and is appointed at NYU as Professor of History and Italian. A leading authority on the contemporary challenges facing democracies globally, she frequently provides insights as a commentator for various news networks and contributes as an MSNBC opinion columnist. In her newsletter, Lucid, she delves into the critical issues threatening democracy. Her work has been recognized with Guggenheim, NEH, Fulbright and other fellowships. Her latest book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present explores the regimes and rise to power of authoritarian leaders, while proposing strategies for their defeat. Follow her here: Twitter @RuthBenGhiat; Instagram @RuthBenGhiat. Ulrich Baer teaches literature and photography as University Professor at New York University. A recipient of Guggenheim, Getty and Humboldt awards, in addition to hosting "Think About It” he hosts (with Caroline Weber) the podcast "The Proust Questionnaire” and is Editorial Director at Warbler Press. Email ucb1@nyu.edu; Twitter @UliBaer; IG: @thinkaboutit.podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Guests: Matthew Spalding, Timothy P. Carney, & D.G. Hart Host Scot Bertram talks with Matthew Spalding, vice president of Washington operations and dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale in D.C., about a recent article he wrote on how the United States should educate its citizens. Timothy P. Carney, senior political columnist at the Washington Examiner, discusses the demographic dangers of America's dropping birthrates and his upcoming book Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be. And D.G. Hart, associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, begins a short series on the life and works of journalist and cultural critic H.L. Mencken.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the release of the remaining Jan 6 footage this past week, it's very clear that the Jan 6 Committee had no intention of finding the truth. Especially since that new footage shows Capitol police inciting the crowd to fight and later helping people tour the Capitol. The ruling class is a bit shell-shocked today because a libertarian named Javier Milei has won the presidency of Argentina. Federico N. Fernández explains why Milei isn't simply a Trump clone. A story that is constantly being pushed by the corporate press in Idaho is that OB/GYN doctors are leaving that state due to its strict abortion law. John Green says, there's a crisis all right--but it's not stemming from lack of abortion. The greatest danger of covid wasn't from the virus itself, it was from governments attempting to "contain and combat" the virus. Jeffrey A. Tucker describes how nearly all governments in the world met their match. Article of the Day: There aren't many writers like the late H.L. Mencken. Gary M. Galles introduces us to the "Sage of Baltimore" and how Mencken exposed government's rotten core with wit and wisdom. Sponsors: Life Saving Food  TMCP Nation Climbing Upward Quilt & Sew

It seems that the higher up you are in the organization, the better idea you have of what really goes on. Our guest Keaton saw first hand the control, racism, and lack of accountability during his time working with different churches. When you've exhausted all options and done all you can do, what is the true breaking point? “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his income depends on his not understanding it.” —H.L. Mencken

11/03/2023 PODCAST Episodes #997 - #999 GUEST: Courtney Kramer, Johnny Vieira, Dr. Peter McCullough, Dave Brat, Judge Carolyn Carluccio, Baxter Ennis, Rabbi Yaakov Mencken + YOUR CALLS! at 1-888-480-JOHN (5646) and GETTR Live! @jfradioshow #GodzillaOfTruth #TruckingTheTruth   Want more of today's show? Episode #997 DEMS Communist Scabs Ripped Off Episode #998 No God, No America Episode #999 Rapid fire Roundtable with Carolyn Carluccio, Baxter Ennis, Rabbi Yaakov Mencken   https://johnfredericksradio.libsyn.com/

⭐ My guest today is Steven Rothstein, the founding Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. Previously, Steven ran the world-renowned Perkins School for the Blind, as well as Environmental Futures, Citizen Schools, and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. ---

John Singer Sargent, Henry Cabot Lodge At the 1920 Republican Convention the journalist and H.L. Mencken observed with great amusement and interest the behavior of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the chair of the convention. “Lodge's keynote speech, of course, was bosh,” wrote Mencken, “but it was bosh delivered with an air…Lodge got away with it because he was Lodge—because there was behind it his unescapable confidence in himself, his disarming disdain of discontent below, his unapologetic superiority. This superiority was and is quite real. Lodge is above the common level of his party, his country and his race, and he knows it very well, and is not disposed toward the puerile hypocrisy of denying it.”  It is extraordinary, given how Mencken saw Lodge, that we are much more likely to know who H.L. Mencken was then to recognize the name of Henry Cabot Lodge. Of a prominent seafaring family, he received one of the very first PhDs granted by Harvard, was involved in Massachusetts politics from 1880, and in 1892 was elected to the United States Senate—where he served until his death in 1924. He was one of the great political personalities of his age, alongside Theodore Roosevelt, his friend of 35 years, Theodore Roosevelt. Together, as Laurence Jurdem describes in his new book, The Rough Rider and the Professor: Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and the Friendship that Changed American History, they formed an unbeatable team, with Roosevelt thrusting ahead, while Lodge offered canny tactics and strategy, serving as Roosevelt's one man think tank and advisory group. Though their friendship was threatened by Roosevelt's third-party run for the White House, their final years were warmed by their mutual detest for Woodrow Wilson.  Laurence Jurdem is currently an adjunct professor of history at Fairfield University and Fordham College's Lincoln Center campus.  The author of Paving the Way for Reagan: The Influence of Conservative Media on U.S. Foreign Policy, he is a frequent commentator on American politics. For Further Investigation Think of this conversation as begin the third of a Summer 2023 trilogy on late 19th century American politicians and political culture. It began with President Garfield, then moved backward to describe the context and foundation of "Civil War politics" in the "Age of Lincoln", and now moves out of the Age of Lincoln with two men who were very much born in the Age of Lincoln, but then shaped the foundations of progressivism. Henry Cabot Lodge, Alexander Hamilton–some have said that Roosevelt was one of the few people to respect Hamilton between his death and the late twentieth century. If so, he learned to do it from Lodge, for whom Hamilton was symbolic of what he desired to be as a politician and a policymaker. Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt, Hero Tales from American History–a co-written book, composed of biographical essays they wrote for The Century Magazine. Lodge's heroes are George Washington, Gouverneur Morris, John Quincy Adams, Francis Parkman, Grant at Vicksburg, Robert Gould Shaw, James Russell Lowell, Sheridan at Cedar Creek, and Abraham Lincoln. With the exception of Grant and Sheridan, it's a collection of Federalists and Bostonians, which is about right. I quoted several times in the podcast from H.L. Mencken's "Lodge", an essay that he included in his A Mencken Chrestomathy. Very much worth seeking out.  H.W. Brands, T.R: The Last Romantic Two by Patricia O'Toole, The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and  his Friends, 1880-1918, and  When Trumpets Fade: Theodore Roosevelt After The White House John Garraty, Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography William H. Harbaugh, Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt

Our guest this week is Andy Borowitz. Andy is an award-winning comedian and New York Times bestselling author. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Harvard College, where he became President of the Harvard Lampoon. In 1998, he began contributing humor to The New Yorker's “Shouts & Murmurs” and “Talk of the Town” departments, and in 2001, he created “The Borowitz Report,” a satirical news column, which has millions of readers around the world. In 2012, The New Yorker began publishing “The Borowitz Report.” As a storyteller, he hosted “Stories at the Moth” from 1999 to 2009. As a comedian, he has played to sold-out venues around the world, including during his national tour, “Make America Not Embarrassing Again,” from 2018 to 2020. His new book Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber is now available. Review “How did we slide into the abyss of liking our politicians to be—or to act—dumb rather than smart? In this funny but serious book, Andy Borowitz chronicles our embrace of anti-intellectualism.” —Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker “This is one of these brilliant books that makes you laugh until you cry. Borowitz masterfully throws light (and shade) on the confederacy of dunces who have fumbled their way into power. His writing has never been smarter, sharper, or more necessary.” —Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book “A devastatingly funny takedown of a veritable Mount Rushmore of incompetents . . . In the hallowed tradition of Will Rogers, Mark Twain, H.L. Mencken, Ambrose Bierce, and other clear-eyed satirists, Borowitz skewers all manner of chronically befuddled, willfully ignorant dolts. . . . Ravaging this seemingly endless rogues' gallery of buffoonery and corruption, Borowitz marshals mind-boggling, breathtaking evidence. . . . While there are countless laughs in the book, they have a rueful edge given that we are all affected by such widespread ignorance.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Readers may laugh, cry, or swear under their breath (sometimes all at once) with this scathing survey of the seemingly increasing ignorance of American politicians. Borowitz, a writer of page and screen and satirist for The New Yorker, humorously examines the ever-increasing, lowering-of-the-bar expectations of presidential candidates' knowledge and beyond in this book that is perfect for fans of The Daily Show or John Lithgow's “Dumpty” series. . . . For readers who have ever looked at the political landscape and asked how or why, this is a book that will inform and infuriate.” —Library Journal (starred review) “Andy makes me laugh out loud, that's a given. In this book he has also made me think out loud. Profiles in Ignorance is hilarious, original, scary, prescient and a wake-up call for us all. A must read.” —Susie Essman, HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm “[Borowitz] sheds light on the cultural and economic trends that gave intellectualism a bad name and identifies the political operatives . . . who facilitated the rise of ignorance. Fans of The Borowitz Report will gobble this up.” —Publishers Weekly --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/alyssa-milano-sorry-not-sorry/message