Category: Podcast

No, seriously, Sean and Paul spend the better part of half an hour waxing lyrical about the technical marvels and liberatory potential of frozen, TV dinners. But first they discuss the recent brouhaha over the World Socialist Web Site’s interviews with prominent early American and Civil War historians about the New York Times‘s 1619 project. Sean also brings an update from a recent labor conference, “Bargaining for the Common Good,” surprising Paul with yet another area of political overlap.

If you’ve ever wondered why people in the 1800s thought TB patients were so damn hot, this episode is for you! Check out Paul and Sean’s discussion of Victorian America’s Cult of the Consumptive, then stay tuned as they bid adieu to Beto “The Cursing Candidate” O’Rourke and catch up on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Later, Paul dishes the dirt on his recent trip to Elysium (i.e. giving tours of rich New Jerseyans’ mansions) and gushes over Shared Security Accounts. Finally, Paul and Sean wrap the episode by providing some uninformed commentary on Kanye’s new album.

Paul checks in after another visit to Tech Crunch Disrupt. Spoiler alert: this year’s conference involves far less urine. Then, the boys take stock of the fast-developing impeachment news. Finally, Sean convinces Paul that, after a half century of severely-limited social and political ambitions, Americans are rediscovering their old-timey sense of utopian optimism.

In which Sean realizes he’s part of the Koch-topus, reviews the movie Angel Has Fallen, and discusses car refueling etiquette. Meanwhile, Paul tries to get Sean as obsessed with the Baumol Effect as he is.

Links:

Paul’s interview with Alex Tabarrok about the Baumol Effect.

PDF of Tabarrok’s booklet, Why Are the Prices So Damn High?

Angel Has Fallen trailer.

Impolitic bids adieu to billionaire / policy failure David Koch. Sean explains Joe Biden’s frontrunner status as a collective act of Democratic self-delusion. Then, the boys bust out their Philosophy 101 textbooks to discuss conservative reactions to the NYT’s 1619 Project. Has Erick Erickson neglected John Calvin? Has he forsworn the right’s traditional mission of balancing Locke and Hobbes? Finally, Paul dives into Ronald Reagan’s racist shoe fetishism, and Sean explains why the National Labor Relations Act was possibly a big mistake.

This week, Paul describes his encounter with nativist blowhard Nigel Farage at a libertarian conference. Then Sean and Paul discuss the idiocy of blaming the El Paso shooting on video games and the possible use of the ICE raids in Mississippi to retaliate against a labor union organization drive.

Paul’s off doing ideology (aka public lectures), so Sean sits down with higher ed labor organizer (and friend of the show!) Timothy Tia. Sean and Tim discuss the wave of union organizing campaigns currently sweeping Florida colleges and the challenges of building fighting unions in right-to-work states. Longtime listeners may remember Tim as “the guy who made us watch the Karl Marx anime.”

Sean is back from France and Italy and has THOUGHTS. (He also cheers for France over team USA in the World Cup, so take with a grain of salt.) The guys also discuss the uninspiring first Democratic debate and additional ways Twitter sucks before ending with Paul exploring the origins of the term “Judeo-Christian.”

Paul got in a Twitter fight about his relationship to the Kochs. In response, the Impolitic boys do a thorough postmortem on the spat, exploring everything from funding’s role in shaping knowledge to the effect of social media on political discourse. At the episode’s end, they talk about Ben Shapiro’s misadventures with mood affiliation.

This week, after a short discussion of the Mueller Report, Paul and Sean do a little more arguing than usual as they debate the Green New Deal’s vision of a carbon neutral future. It’s a must listen if you love either salt mines, ducks, or cement. (As you can tell, Impolitic specializes in giving the people what they want, as long as what they want involves heavy industry or quacking.)