Heard Tell

"Do you have enough principles and personal integrity to survive first contact with a viral video?"

On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew talks about the ICE raids in LA turning into rioting violence, and an escalation in the PR/news media/social media tv show that is driving the escalation on the streets. Why too many folks want escalation, what it all means, and where we are going from here with much more than just th...

On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew welcomes back Peter Pischke of CultureScape for a rousing discussion of how "nerd culture" should really just be called "the culture," how the traditional and political news media are missing the generational culture shift, misconceptions about content creation, the ongoing debate over disaffeted 18-34 year old males on the interwebs, and why the old terms and stereotypes a...

On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew shares some thoughts on yet another news story furthering the debate on the death penalty, and how a combination of judicial issues, moral difficulties, government accountability and ethics questions, and revealing that the push for "humane" execution is making the problem worse, not better, and exposing a whole bunch of cowardice underneath all the different policy and legal jargo...

On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew shares some thoughts on the news that former President Joe Biden has cancer, and how once again the news media, social media, and the interwebs just can't seem to discuss death, illness, mortality, politics, and and culture in the same sphere at the same time without everyone involved embarrassing themselves.

All that and more on this episode of Heard Tell.

Andrew's piece on the ...

On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew shares some thoughts on the current state of politics, politicians, people, places, and a whole bunch of money involving the Middle East. From the changing leadership and recognition of the Ahmed al-Sharaa led Syria, to President Donald Trump's deal making trip, to the GCC's role as counter to Iran, and why the Saudi and Qatari sovereign wealth funds and soft power plans are key to...

On this episode of Heard Tell host Andrew talks about the blame game that is a core of politics and pundits but reminds us that the finger pointing of news and social media means three fingers pointed back at ourselves. And since the legislative branch is the one that represents We, The People, it is time to have an honest conversation about what we are representing before we just blame all our ills on Washington. 

All that and ...

On this episode of Heard Tell host Andrew shares some thoughts on the NY Magazine article "Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College” and uses it to talk about higher education, why we should have a healthy skepticism of AI, why the learning part of education has been lost in the credentialism, what education ought to mean, and why he signed up for community college this past week.

All that and more on this episode of Heard...

On this episode of Heard Tell host Andrew shares some thoughts on the Signal scandal involving Trump administration officials using the messaging app as a group chat to discuss details of the recent Houthi strikes in Yemen, which included The Atlantic's Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a stunning series of events. From the sequence of events, to what might or might not happen next, and how the basic principle of "OPSEC e...

On this episode of Heard Tell host Andrew comes fresh of some talking heading to talk through the reported cuts coming for Veterans Affairs, the wider push for DOGE & “efficient/smaller” government, and the rhetoric that there should not be any “sacred cows” when it comes to spending cuts. Which is fine in theory, but when it comes to entitlement programs and the optics of veterans and other classes of folks losing their jobs, ...

On this episode of Heard Tell we are talking about the goings on at the Academy Awards. The Oscars are always a cultural moment to slather our political & cultural issues upon, so just how political did this year’s ceremony get and how much did politics affect who won and viral cultural moments affect who lost?

Film critic Luis Mendez returns to talk about the winners and losers on Oscar night, the cringe moments and the biggest...

On this episode of Heard Tell, we turn down the noise of the news cycle and get to the information we need on Canada being all over US news and politics. But instead of talking about Canada amongst ourselves, let's try something different and talk to Canada and the politics and economics thereof with Sabine El-Chidiac, Canadian Policy Associate for the Consumer Choice Center and an actual Canadian. Sabine and host Andrew talk t...

On this episode of Heard Tell, we turn down the noise of the news cycle and get to the information we need on the early days of the new Trump administration from the perspective of congress with congressional reporter and Washington Bureau Chief for The Independent Eric Garcia. Eric takes us behind the scenes and into the hallways of Capitol Hill for how the calendar & previous congress actions are dictating the new congress an...

There have always been bad faith media actors and conspiracy theorists, because human nature is undefeated and there is nothing new under the sun. But technology means that bad faith actors and conspiracy theorists are finding comfortable homes in social media and news media where a constant search for optimized niche content is the name of the game. “Everything is a conspiracy if you don’t understand how things work” is a filter w...

On this episode of Heard Tell, we turn down the noise of the news cycle and gets to the information we need as 2025 starts out with two terrible terrorist attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and some truly bad news media and social media coverage thereof. Host Andrew delves into the changing state of getting information to current events, parsing through social media, consequences of distrust of legacy media, and how all the issu...

On this Heard Tell turns down the noise of the news cycle and gets to the heart of the matter when it comes to President Joe Biden deciding to pardon his son Hunter Biden, despite publicly declaring he would not. Politics, personal feelings, and performative news and social media all play a part, and host Andrew Donaldson talks about precedent, known history of Joe Biden, what Donald Trump has to do with it, and the lesson to learn...

On this Heard Tell host Andrew Donaldson took a few days before responding to an article in The Economist entitled "American veterans now receive absurdly generous benefits" and subtitled "An enormous rise in disability payments may complicate debt-reduction efforts." Andrew talks through the nomenclature that is being misused, like the differences in "100% disabled", the good, bad, and often very indifferen...

On this Heard Tell host Andrew Donaldson talks post-election politics on Capitol Hill with senior Washington Correspondent at the Independent Eric Garcia, who takes us behind the scenes and into the halls of congress to discuss the incomiing 119th congress is going to look a whole lot like the 118th congress, changing leadership in the US Senate as the GOP takes the majority and elects new leadership, how Majority Leader Thune and ...

On this Heard Tell host Andrew Donaldson talks about Veterans Day and the cost of service, both the broad perspective of how the Department of Veterans Affairs is one of the largest parts of our government just to care for those that serve, and also the personal perspective of what those that servce pay in personal terms.

All that and more on this episode of Heard Tell.

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On this Heard Tell host Andrew Donaldson talks the aftermath of the 2024 election and talks the coalition that won it for the GOP and what Democrats need to do to rebuild theirs, looking ahead to how Trump administartion 2.0 success runs through a slim GOP House of Represenatives that hasn't shown itself to be particularly effective, and how the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential races are already underway.

All that and more on...