The Political Orphanage
Politics minus bile plus jokes. Comedian and avowed independent Andrew Heaton interviews authors and thought leaders about policy and big thinky stuff.
Episodes
Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and the author of the book "The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After Age Fifty." He joins to discuss the reality, economics, and neurology of midlife crises.
Find his book at www.mightyheaton.com/featured
John Romulus Brinkley became wealthy, famous, and powerful as one of America's most colorful, ludicrous quacks. He made his fortune by "curing" male impotence by sewing goat testicles into clients. As well as becoming a radio tycoon, politician, and more.
Check out more on the podcast Losers, Pretenders & Scoundrels
Last week a New York court found former president Donald Trump guilty on thirty-four felony counts. Is this rule of law in action, or a corrupt judiciary undermining the law?
Paul Townsend and Anna Gorisch join to sort things out.
What are the insecurities of the Working Class, and what policies hurt or exploit them? Batya Ungar-Sargon is an editor at Newsweek and the author of Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women.
BOOK AT: www.mightyheaton.com/featured
Batya’s handle: @bungarsargon
Heaton & Batya on Heaton’s TV show:
...Daniel J. Fox, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in Texas, international speaker, and multiple-award winning author. He has been specializing in the treatment and assessment of individuals with personality disorders for over 20 years in the state and federal prison system, universities, and in private practice.
Dr. Rainer Zitelmann is the author of "How Nations Escape Poverty: Vietnam, Poland, and the Origins of Prosperity." He joins to discuss the efficacy of international development aid, and what we can learn from the economic growth of Asia vs. that of Africa.
Book at: www.mightyheaton.com/featured
Dr. Zitelmann on Nazi Economics: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-nazis-thought-about-eco...
Jeffrey Rosen is a legal scholar and the President of the National Constitution Center. He’s the author “the Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.”
Book at www.mightyheaton.com/featured
Protests over Israel and Hamas have become so heated at Columbia that it’s canceled in-person classes the rest of the semester.
Anti-Israel protests are becoming not just a flashpoint in America’s culture war, but within Blue Team itself.
What’s happening?
The World’s Smartest Podcast Network assembles to discuss: Andrew Heaton, Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy, and Michael Ira Kaplan.
James Judkins started out as a circus worker, eating swords and fire, then working up to ringleader and manager. As a talent scout operating in other countries, he became professionally involved in sorting visas foreign countries, then eventually transitioned to a full-time visa agency. He joins the show to discuss 1) what it’s like working at the circus, and 2) how temp visas work for seasonal workers, and how they could work bett...
There’s a pervasive idea that in the 1950s America had single-earner families who could more easily afford housing, car payments, groceries and college, so maybe we should go back to the political economy of that era? In this special, we visit Fiftiesland and see how it stacks up to modern America.
Support the show! Patreon.com/andrewheaton
Venmo: @andrew-heaton-1
Tom Merritt of Daily Tech News joins to discuss the underlying technology of AI and Large Language Models, and what people get wrong about both.
Pre-order Tom’s book at: www.tomsnewbook.com
SUPPORT THE SHOW! www.patreon.com/andrewheaton
Heaton and Nick sketch comedy: mightyheaton.com/vagabonding
Bonus Episode: How to Use AI for Work https://www.patreon.com/posts/bo...
Jennifer Doleac is Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, a major funder of criminal justice research and reform in the United States. She joins to discuss trends in crime, causes and deterents of crime, and cheap or easy ways we can make the country safer.
Support the show! www.patreon.com/andrewheaton.
Adam Andrzejewski is CEO and Founder of Open The Books, an organization which files thousands of FOIA requests each year to document and expose government budgets and employee salaries, to identity waste and fraud.
Website: https://www.openthebooks.com/
Donald Trump is being prosecuted under RICO law in Georgia, wherein District Attorney Fanni Willis has charged him and parts of his campaigns as criminal conspirators in a criminal enterprise.
What is RICO law, and does Trump qualify for prosecution under it? Attorney Paul Townsend rejoins to discuss.
Xi Xinping, the leader of China, has dramatically consolidated power and extended his reign indefinitely. What does he think and what does he want? Steve Tsang is the Director of the SOAS China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is the author of “The Political Thought of Xi Xinping,” and joins to discuss.
Rudyard William Lynch is the host of WhatifAlHist, a popular history channel on YouTube.
He joins to discuss how the origins and circumstances of America’s regions permanently imprinted on its cultures and political outlooks.
Colin Woodard's Map: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-11-nations-of-the-united-states-2015-7
Rudyard's Map: https://preview.redd.it/cultural-map-of-america-done-by-whatifalthist-on-youtube-v0-7clddg9nunpa1...
Alain Bertaud is a feted urbanist, who before becoming a professor at NYU, worked in city planning in communist China, as well as on projects in Algeria, Cuba, and his native France. He joins to discuss what work and results look like in top-down command economies.
Alan Bertaud from City Week:
Is AI biased towards a particular viewpoint, and if so, how does it affect national sentiment and elections? Maxim Lott has built an AI tracking website that charts the political orientation of Large Language Models, and watches their development in real time. He joins to discuss.
Maxim’s Website: trackingai.org
Maxim’s Substack: https://maximumtruth.substack.com/
Political Compass Quiz: https...
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