Ambitious Crossover Attempt

A podcast that ambitiously attempts to crossover various topics from the raw unfiltered feed of the internet. Noam Blum and Jen Monroe break down the past week's madness and explore the intersection points of different areas of online discourse.

Episode 205 - Dire Strait 03/16/2026

Episode 205 - Dire Strait Noam and Jen return to the war in Iran, after a detour into discussing if Tucker is lying or telling the truth about the CIA getting ready to bring a case against him. This of curse leads to a conversation about foreign influence in the right wing griftosphere, how Twitter isn’t a reliable place to make a living, and how those two things intersect. Moving back to Iran, we discuss the reporting that the Trump administration did not plan for Iran to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. We agree that there is a distinction to be made between if the closure was unexpected, or was assumed to work itself out somehow. Whichever it is, it's clear that this is a situation that is certainly not going to give Americans the warm fuzzies about continuing this war. We also discuss the attack on Temple Israel in Michigan, and how the word “Israel” seems to be very confusing to anti-Zionists. There is also the issue of calling attacks like this blowback for the war in Iran, which obviously makes no sense outside of excusing terrorism. For our WAWC, Noam has nothing but Jen has a YouTube video - . In essence, it’s a good primer on the Japanese court / criminal justice system, which is important for understanding a story arc in Jujitsu Kaisen. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/40493310

Episode 204 - Hit The BRICS 03/09/2026

Episode 204 - Hit The BRICS Jen and Noam return to the war (it’s a war now, the president said so) in Iran, including the additional strikes completed by Israel on the Assembly of Experts. What they are experts in we’re not sure, obviously not in Zoom. We also talk about how we still don’t have an explanation for why the US attacked Iran, let alone an idea of what all of this is supposed to accomplish or what the endpoint is. Not ideal for a situation where the president is flippantly discussing how people die in war. Speaking of war, TwitX has decided to declare war on AI slop war videos. Naturally, some people think this is some nefarious plot to hide from the world that Israel is destroyed, because surely the internet wouldn’t lie to them. Then again, Trump is posting that Iran is destroyed, so there is that. For our WAWC, Noam recommends Slay The Spire II which is finally out on early release on Steam. It has already consumed hours of his life, and we may not see him for a while. Jen recommends the anime Oshi No Ko and wonders about what makes a story ending bad vs just not what you wanted it to be. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/40361505

Episode 203 - Bye-atollah 03/03/2026

Episode 203 - Bye-atollah Noam and Jen discuss a little attack on Iran you might have heard about over the weekend, now that Noam is not on Emergency Pod duty for Commentary. Much like our discussion in the wake of the Maduro extraction, we talk about how you can be happy that something happened but have concerns about how it happened and what exactly will happen next. Obviously, this situation is both more extreme and more volatile than Venezuela, so we really hope someone knows what they’re doing (we don’t have much hope of that however) We also talk about the fight between the DOD and Anthropic over the DOD (allegedly) wanting to make killbots and spy on everyone effortlessly. There is a discussion to be had not just on the metis of this case, but on the use of AI in a battlefield or a criminal investigation. For our WAWC, Noam has two Korean reality shows produced by Jeong Jong-yeon, Devil’s Plan and Agents of Mystery. Jen recommends the anime Ninja Scroll (which, to settle a discussion on the pod, the movie came out in 1993 and the show was released in 2003). /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/40291525

Episode 202 - An Idiot Abroad 02/23/2026

Episode 202 - An Idiot Abroad Jen and Noam return to discuss the Supreme Court shooting down Trump’s “national emergency” tariffs, Jen’s hope for a restructuring of executive power, Tucker lying about his trip to Israel (well at least to the airport), lying for clout, America’s new figure skating darling Alysa Liu, journalists asking athletes dumb political questions, and being proud to be an American. For our WAWC, Jen recommends the new Sam Raimi film Send Help, and Noam (probably because he got tired of Jen badgering him to watch more anime) starts watching Hell’s Paradise. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/40195045

Episode 201 - White Culture War 02/17/2026

Episode 201 - White Culture War Noam and Jen record a special Presidents’ Day episode where we discuss important things, like Olympic controversies around fingering and penile enhancements. OK, we also discuss actual important things, like the fact that Jeremy Carl is for some reason nominated to a position in the State Department and how he can’t define white culture despite having written a whole book on the topic. This of course kicked off a whole debate on the internet about “white culture”, which in Carl’s defense nobody else can define either. At any rate, it’s a dumb concept that makes no sense. We spend a little time discussing ICE being pulled out of Minneapolis, but we got sidetracked by the WSJ article on the chaos within Kristi Noem’s DHS. And of course, we had to spend some time talking about how everyone hates Hasan Piker now, after his comments that Democrats are not better than Republicans on the topic of trans rights. Progressives overall are having a fit over the idea of Newsom being the candidate in 2028, but we agree he could totally mog Vance in a debate. Foe our WAWC, Noam pitches everyone on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms again (really he just wants Jen to start watching it), and Jen explains how everyone is trashing the new BookTok’d version of Wuthering Heights. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/40132335

Episode 200 - Superbol 02/10/2026

Episode 200 - Superbol Jen and Noam made it to episode 200! Hooray! We have another Super Bowl to talk about, one in which people are angry at the halftime show. Again. Certain people just really like to be angry at halftime shows. We also go over the Trump tweet - y’know, THAT tweet - and when does it all become too much to gloss over. And why does Trump get a pass at all, seeing as he’s the president. For our WAWC, Jen went and saw the Melania documentary. Yeah, that was an adventure. A weirdly foot focused view of the leadup to the second inauguration of Trump. Make of that what you will. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/40054245

Episode 199 - Everyone Emailed Epstein 02/02/2026

Episode 199 - Everyone Emailed Epstein Jen and Noam discuss a little bit of everything, since we recorded later than usual last week. We got another Epstein files drop, unqualified people in the Trump administration, Pretti’s prior run in with ICE / Border Patrol, Don Lemon getting arrested over the protest at a Minneapolis church, revelations about how Twitter works, and other random topics that come up as they do. For our WAWC, Jen contemplates seeing the Melania movie, and Noam recommends MIO: Memories in Orbit. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39958375

Episode 198 - ICE Storm 01/28/2026

Episode 198 - ICE Storm Noam and Jen discuss another shooting death in Minneapolis at the hands of ICE / Border Patrol (we can’t tell the difference anymore), the intense fallout from both the shooting itself and the Trump administration's reaction to it, who will or will not keep their job, does it even matter, bringing a gun to a protest, and how bragging about lying can backfire. We also discuss what we know about the situation in Iran, since it is still hard to get information on what is happening inside the country with protests and how many have been killed. However many it is, it is too many for the world to be this silent about it. There is a bit of good news to report - for the first time in over a decade, there are no Israeli hostages in Gaza. The last body was returned home this week, which was a relief given everything that has happened over the past few years. For our WAWC, Noam pitches you on watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and Jen finishes up the MAPPA trifecta by watching Hell’s Paradise. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39905305

Episode 197 - Give Me Greenland 01/19/2026

Episode 197 - Give Me Greenland Jen and Noam return to some of the topics from last week, since things keep going from bad to worse. The situation in Iran has gotten worse, Trump seems really insistent that the US should own Greenland, and ICE is ramping up in Minneapolis for no good reason. And so we wonder, where the hell is Congress and is anyone going to stop the insanity. For our What Are We Consuming, Noam explains how playing The Roottrees Are Dead made his online investigative skills better and Jen explains why you should watch Gachiakuta. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39779540

Episode 196 - ICE And Fire 01/12/2026

Episode 196 - ICE And Fire 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 we’ve ever seen on social media. On a brighter note, Noam explains why you should be watching the Korean cooking competition show Culinary Class Wars, and Jen celebrates the return of Jujitsu Kaisen for its third season. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39693160

Episode 195 - Maduro's Last Dance 01/05/2026

Episode 195 - Maduro's Last Dance 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 long time from now, unfortunately). Noam watched the final half season of Stranger Things, so we talk about that and the merits of shows that are written with a specific ending point from the beginning. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39610210

Episode 194 - Heritage Unamerican 12/22/2025

Episode 194 - Heritage Unamerican 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 everything is perfect but also completely wrong, and Manousos still making his way to Carol’s doorstep. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39491120

Episode 193 - Intifada Down Under 12/15/2025

Episode 193 - Intifada Down Under 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 realizing that 2026 may well be the end of the line for them. And Pluribus. Of course. This episode was a little different though, more of a meditation on what loneliness is and how nobody is truly an island unto themselves. Even incredibly stubborn, dickish people. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39406205

Episode 192 - Corpse-Wringing 12/08/2025

Episode 192 - Corpse-Wringing 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, is anyone ever going to talk to Carol again? /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39318615

Episode 191 - Making The Call 12/01/2025

Episode 191 - Making The Call 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, what’s under that tarp? /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39216020

Episode 190 - The Geocide 11/25/2025

Episode 190 - The Geocide 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. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39161010

Episode 189 - Dead Man Talking 11/17/2025

Episode 189 - Dead Man Talking 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 Carol isn’t the best human but she’s the human we’ve got. Warning - there are some spoilers for E3 but nothing too consequential. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/39054985

Episode 188 - Shabbat Dinner Theater 11/10/2025

Episode 188 - Shabbat Dinner Theater 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 - /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38973405

Episode 187 - No Enemies To Your Right 11/03/2025

Episode 187 - No Enemies To Your Right 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? /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38891690

Episode 186 - Ballroom Blitz 10/27/2025

Episode 186 - Ballroom Blitz Noam and Jen discuss the practice of eating food with your hands, if a ballroom is a good idea, if this ballroom in particular is a good idea, Nazi tattoos, extrajudicial executions on the high seas, the rule of law, and if we are doing a regime change in Venezuela. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38788090

Episode 185 - Your Mom 10/22/2025

Episode 185 - Your Mom Jen and Noam have a nice chat about how your mom jokes only work when deployed correctly, why young conservatives can’t act normal in group chats, are young conservatives even normal anymore, the very normie No Kings protest where nothing bad happened, the situation in Gaza and how nobody really knows what is happening, Hasan’s continued crashout and how young people are not equipped to deal with the internet. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38736370

Episode 184 - Coming Home 10/14/2025

Episode 184 - Coming Home Noam and Jen discuss the most obvious thing for them to discuss this week; the return of the living hostages from Gaza and the possible end to the Israel-Gaza war. We discuss the reactions to the news, and our own personal feelings about seeing the hostages come home. To lighten the mood, we wrap up with a little talk about Hasan Piker using a shock collar on his dog and how it may be his ultimate downfall. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38573290

Episode 183 - Riyadh-politik 10/06/2025

Episode 183 - Riyadh-politik Jen and Noam discuss the comedians who attended the Riyadh Comedy Festival for the money that they didn’t need, what happened to the food on the Global Sumud Flotilla, the chances of Trump’s ambitious plan to end the war in Gaza gaining legs, the people who don’t seem to want to end the war in Gaza, and the increasingly awful deployments of ICE / National Guard in US cities. We wrap up the episode with some recommendations. Noam’s favorite guilty pleasure, Love Is Blind, is starting its Denver season, and Jen recommends Perfect Blue for the 167th time in this podcast’s history. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38475630

Episode 182 - The Agony Of Now 09/29/2025

Episode 182 - The Agony Of Now Noam and Jen discuss…well how everything sucks right now. From the shooting at a Dallas ICE facility, nihilism, how political affiliation doesn’t explain much anymore, online brainrot, Tylenol, and the Comey indictment, things aren’t looking so great. But in an effort to cheer ourselves up, we talk about two things that don’t suck: the long-awaited Silksong drop and the manga / Netflix anime The Summer Hikaru Died. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38388420

Episode 181 - Kimmel Culture 09/24/2025

Episode 181 - Kimmel Culture Jen and Noam manage to get past their (technical) issues and record an episode on the Jimmy Kimmel Saga now that it’s over (?), the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, and news of a shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas that we don’t have any details on yet so it’s best to just wait for details instead of speculating. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38344110

Episode 180 - Turning Point? 09/17/2025

Episode 180 - Turning Point? Noam and Jen finally return from their hiatus (it’s all Noam’s fault; he moved) just in time to discuss the murder of Charlie Kirk. While there is still a lot to unpack, we give our thoughts on the immediate aftermath of the shooting, focusing on the online reactions to the news. We spend some time discussing how internet culture is starting to seep into the real world and the consequences that have brought, from political violence to people who view internet famous people as characters in a show, to the inability to tell when someone is being serious. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/38247150

Episode 179 - Policing Gone A-Rye 08/18/2025

Episode 179 - Policing Gone A-Rye Jen and Noam discuss the ongoing situation in DC and the agents from…well we can’t tell which agency they’re from since they don’t have ID and their faces are completely covered. Of course, we can’t not talk about the infamous DC Subway attack and the staged re-arrest of sandwich thrower Sean Dunn. From there, we move to GQ’s ill-advised profile of Hasan Piker and the quest to make him the left wing Joe Rogan. Unfortunately for Piker, this doesn’t go well. We wrap up by talking a bit about the new horror movie Weapons (warning - there are spoilers!) and the tendency modern audiences have to read into a movie more than what is actually there. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/37861795

Episode 178 - Piece Talks 08/12/2025

Episode 178 - Piece Talks Noam and Jen return to discuss the back half of last week, which had more going on than most full weeks. We talk about the Gaza occupation that may or may not happen, the upcoming peace summit with Putin and Trump but not Zelensky, how Noam is not a Mossad agent sent to infiltrate American social media, and the ick of online sports betting. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/37774235

Episode 177 - Jean Therapy 08/06/2025

Episode 177 - Jean Therapy Jen and Noam record a late episode this week discussing the American Eagle nontroversy and the end of the culture war, Trump firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn’t like the job numbers, Jim Acosta's insane decision to interview a dead kid, and the ongoing situation in Gaza. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/37697900

Episode 176 - Spilling The Tea 07/28/2025

Episode 176 - Spilling The Tea Noam 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. /episode/index/show/ambitiousxover/id/37572720

Ambitious Crossover Attempt

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