A Gentlemen’s Disagreement

Ricky spent the last two weeks serving on a jury for a murder trial. He had a lot of thoughts on the process, so we talked about it. A bit of a different episode, but one we think is both interesting and valuable.

We are joined this week by legendary tv reporter and radio host Dan Rea (3:00-53:10). We talked to Dan about how media has evolved over the course of his half-century in the business, his reflections on the time he spent with President Carter, his thoughts on President Trump's tenure, his current candidacy, and possible indictment, and many other stories, including an incredible story about Dan fighting for and, ultimately, helping to free a wrongly convicted man.

 

A fairly momentous week, as we discussed the 20 year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq (9:59-44:09), the historic impending arrest of former President Trump (44:17-55:03), and Xi Jinping's visit to Russia (55:04-1:04:00).

This episode is all about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank--the second largest bank collapse in U.S. history--and the federal government's response to it. We begin by talking about what we know about the collapse, and then spend much of the episode talking about what we want to know: namely, whether this is an isolated incident brought on by a specific set of circumstances or the sign of something much greater, and much worse, to come.

 

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine reaching the one year mark this week, we decided to take stock of where that conflict stands. We discussed the U.S. involvement thus far, the current domestic and global opinions of that involvement, and how the conflict might conclude. We are joined for that discussion by Dan Fishman, the former executive director of the Libertarian Party, the former executive director of People for Liberty, and currently of Let.Live (5:10-1:10:25).

We are back with our third annual Presidents Day Mount Rushmore-style snake draft. We are joined for the draft, once again, by our friends Dan Gonzalez and Joe Webster, and this year we are drafting the most significant dates in U.S. history. A really fun episode for any lovers of U.S. history.

We begin by discussing the big story of the week: the U.S. shooting down the alleged Chinese spy balloon, as well as three other unidentified objects (2:57-25:39). We then share our thoughts on Biden's State of the Union address (25:44-44:11), and reflect on the terribly tragic earthquake in Turkey and Syria (44:19-51:27).

We are joined this week by former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift (3:03-1:22:03) for a wide-ranging conversation about education, her time in the Massachusetts Senate, as Lieutenant Governor, and, ultimately, as an historic Governor, and what she has been up to since leaving office. 

Ricky is back from India, and we have a lot to talk about. We begin by discussing George Santos (9:40-21:50) and then move into the drama surrounding the election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House (21:50-34:35). We next talk about the latest in recurring tragedies including gun violence, police brutality, and antisemitism (34:40-51:55) before wrapping up by considering the U.S. reaching its debt ceiling (51:55-59:50) and the U.S. decision to send tanks to Ukraine (59:50-1:08:00).

 

We are joined this week by Jacquetta Van Zandt (5:50-55:11) to discuss all things Massachusetts politics. Jacquetta is a veteran of many campaigns at the local, state, and federal levels, and currently comments on Massachusetts politics on both her own podcast and on television. We reflect on the past eight years in Massachusetts under the outgoing Baker administration, preview the next four years under the incoming Healey administration, and analyze Mayor Wu's first year as the mayor of Boston, among other topics.