Episode 196 - ICE And Fire
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Noam and Jen…well they try to keep this pod from going on for hours, so they had to be a little selective with there was a baker’s dozen topics to discuss from the past week. We start by checking in on Iran and the latest series of uprisings taking place. While this is certainly not the first time we’ve discussed an uprising in Iran, this one feels a little different. Then we have to move on to the ICE shooting that took place in Minneapolis this past week. There is quite a lot to discuss, from the legality of the shooting itself to the reactions, which we both agree are the worst...
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Episode 195 - Maduro's Last Dance
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Jen and Noam were going to discuss the Somali Medicaid fraud story coming out of Minnesota and CBS News spiking a story about the US sending people to CECOT, but Trump ruined all of that by arresting Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Since nobody anywhere is talking about that, we tackle the topic of What Does It Mean and What Will Happen Next now that Maduro is in a jail cell in Brooklyn (yeah we don’t get that one either really). And we also have to talk about the season finale of Pluribus, if it did hold up for the whole season, and when season 2 will air (a...
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Episode 194 - Heritage Unamerican
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Noam and Jen unfortunately had to cancel their special podcast plans due to the death of Noam’s grandfather, but we still recorded an episode nonetheless. We certainly had plenty to discuss; the solved yet unsolved mystery of the Brown University - MIT shooter, the TPUSA conference, how the USS Liberty incident is indeed irrelevant to any conversation in 2025, Ben Shapiro, how the Heritage American conversation is heading to some dark places, and how America is pretty damn cool. On the Pluribus front, there’s the reveal of what the Big Plan is for the hivemind, Carol struggling with how...
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Episode 193 - Intifada Down Under
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Jen and Noam discuss the depressing news out of Australia - a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach was targeted by shooters, leaving (as of this writing) 16 dead and over 20 injured. We talk about the alarming rise of antisemitism in both the US and abroad, what globalizing the intifada means, and how every attack on Jews brings a wave of conspiracy theories. We also spend some time talking about how Candace Owens and Tim Pool are pleading poverty over having to “hire security” to deal with “threats” they receive, how everyone is getting tired of Candace, and if MAGA influencers are...
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Episode 192 - Corpse-Wringing
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Noam and Jen are back to discuss the never ending use of Charlie Kirk’s death by his “friends” to gain clicks and downloads, the FBI announcing they have found the person responsible for planting the pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC headquarters back on 1/5/2021 (remember that?), an unplanned but very good discussion on the idea of using Palantir-type data scraping tech to find and build a case against a suspect, and FIFA inveting an award to give to Trump because he’s 12. And yes, more Pluribus talk, this time about HDP and how it fits in with moral veganism. But really, ew. Also,...
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Episode 191 - Making The Call
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Jen and Noam return after a holiday week where the news did not take a holiday. We’ve got Hegseth calling to leave no survivors behind during these “kinetic strikes” on boats in the middle of the ocean, Witkoff calling the Kremlin and coaching them on how to best get what they want from Trump, the shooting of two National Guard members in DC, calling their deaths before either was dead, how Comfortably Smug got his comeup, and the death of trust in anyone or anything. Also, because this is now a Pluribus fan pod, we discuss episode 5 and how cinematography ain’t dead yet. And,...
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Episode 190 - The Geocide
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Noam and Jen discuss the thing we’ve been asking for TwitX to do for ages - publicly display the country of residence for accounts and if the account is connecting via a VPN. Spoiler alert; we’re pretty happy about it. We also chat about the ongoing Nuzzi scandal that now has a new participant, Trump rolling out the red carpet for MBS and becoming a Mamdani stan, try to figure what the hell is going on with the Ukraine peace deal, and more Pluribus because it’s a good show and you should watch it.
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Episode 189 - Dead Man Talking
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Jen and Noam discuss the new(ish) information about the seedy world of Jeffrey Epstein, his qualifications for judging evil, the MAGA breakup nobody saw coming, and what’s going to happen this week when the House finally votes on releasing the full Epstein files. We also travel to China - well, actually, Hasan travelled to China, and we make fun of him for it. Plus, we touch on the end of the government shutdown and how Democrats completely botched the messaging on both the shutdown and the re-opening. To finish, we talk some more about our new favorite show, Pluribus, and how...
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Episode 188 - Shabbat Dinner Theater
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Noam and Jen discuss attending Shabbat dinner at the Mandels, who declined to attend, the ongoing situation at both the Heritage Foundation and the conservative movement as a whole, how Kevin Roberts and Megyn Kelly are liars, weird Israeli drama, and other ephemera. We also discuss the new Apple TV Pluribus, which is shaping up to be the next big show to watch. Bonus - quite possibly the greatest video you will see this year, or at least the most satisfying -
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Episode 187 - No Enemies To Your Right
Ambitious Crossover Attempt
Jen and Noam discuss the Great Reckoning taking place in conservative circles due to the Carlson-Fuentes interview, the fallout from that, Heritage Foundation president (for now) Kevin Roberts’ defense of Carlson, and the fallout from that. Also, is acknowledging antisemitism the new land acknowledgement? Are all opinions equally valid and worthy of debate? Is MAGA speedrunning its own version of wokeness?
info_outlineNoam and Jen did an extra long episode, because it was an extra long week. We start by discussing the tea on Tea, the vibe-coded app that was long on 2018 nostalgia but short on information security. Aside from the irony of repeating past mistakes, we discuss the shortfalls of relying on LLMs to do your heavy lifting for you, especially if you don’t have the knowledge needed to check the outcome.
We move on to discussing the Macrons suing Candace Owens over the flagrantly insane (but also defamatory) things she has said about Brigitte. While the Macrons are completely within their rights to sue Owens and are justified in doing so, it also gives her more material for her content mill. So what to do? We also take a brief detour into the Mehdi Hasan vs MAGA trainwreck that demonstrated how siloing can rot your sense of reality.
Gaza is back in the news again, over an impending famine, and whose fault is it anyway? Also, the NYT published a piece citing one anonymous IDF source saying that they have no proof that Hamas has stolen humanitarian aid regularly, which is all some folks needed to blame Israel. Does it make sense? No, but when has that ever mattered.
The Trump-Epstein story keeps getting further off the rails, this week with the news that Bondi informed Trump he is mentioned in the DOJ’s investigation files. And maybe Ghislaine Maxwell is getting a deal to testify that Trump did nothing wrong? Or maybe Obama will be arrested?
Finally, we get to the movie part of the pod because we saw two movies this week, Eddington and Fantastic Four - First Steps. There is a lot to unpack with Eddington, but not as much with Fantastic Four.