Heard Tell

Heard Tell

Turning down the noise of what we are hearing in the news cycle, social media, and the discourse to get to the information on culture, politics, and the issues of the day we need to properly discern the times we live in. Hosted by Andrew Donaldson

Episodes

August 29, 2025 69 mins

On this episode of Heard Tell, we turn down the noise on on the growing reaction to HHS Sec RFK, Jr's and President Trump's comments on Autism at the recent cabinet meetin. Reporter Eric Garcia, who usually joins us to talk his coverage of congress joins to talk about the danger of losing 50 years of progress in advocating and understanding Autism and related issues due to the revisionist histories, online conspiracies theo...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, we're back "across the pond" to check in on our United Kingdom friends with Oliver Dean joining us from the UK. What's going on in UK politics with a two-party system that for the first time in hundreds of years faces a real third threat in Reform, the flailing Labour government under PM Keir Starmer, and how there is a real pessimism that has lingered after that last election that has...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, we turn down the noise on US Senator Bernie Sanders visiting West Virginia as part of his current tour with reporter and founder of Wheeling Free Press Justice Hudson who was in the room and working the crowds during the Wheeling rally. Since Justice reports on local issues from city council meetings and homeless ordinance debates to major disasters and election coverag...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, we turn down the noise on economic headlines and the interwebs and talking head reaction to them, by asking our economist friend Dr. Stephen Popick to explain them so well even host Andrew can understand it. Why wages are what they are including the living wage and minimum wage debates, rent vs mortgage debate, why the housing crisis is also a political crisis, why inflation and high prices are and ar...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, we focus on one of the most strategically important and geopolitically challenging areas of the world: The Black Sea Region. Joining us from Romania is Antonia-Laura Pup, policy fellow with Young Voices Europe and a Fulbright Student at Georgetown focusing on China’s increasing influence on the economy and security of the Black Sea. Antonia talks us through understanding a region that is more than jus...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew talks with Sabine Benoit, the Canadian Policy Associate at the Consumer Choice Center about the current state of affairs on both sides of the US-Canada border. Why tariffs are the overriding issue in relations, how Canadians really feel about their southern neighbors and President Donald Trump, and what's coming next. Plus, the CCC's airport index, how commerce a...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew talks and our film critic friend Luis Mendez of the Mendez Movie Report break out their lifelong wrestling fandom to talk the passing of Hulk Hogan from worldwide superstar, to reality tv star, to viral video infamy of sex tape and racist comments, to Gawker lawsuit, returning to wrestling, and more that lead him to being boo'd and rejected in his last WWE appearance. Plus, Luis talks ...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew talks with our friend and congressional reporter Eric Garcia who takes us beyond the headlines and inside the halls of Congress. Eric breaks down what Speaker Johnson shutting down the House for August recess really means, how much the "Epstein Files" is really affecting Washington, and how passing the One Big Beautiful Bill exhausted GOP political capital. Plus, the real reason re...

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On this episode of Heard Tell, host Andrew talks with our friend and certified film critic Luis Mendez of the Mendez Movie Report on why this year's box officeis way up from last year's historically bad Memorial Day weekend to this year's historically great one. Plus, we talk about why live action remakes are controversial with critics but audiences make up their own minds, Snow White's failure vs Lilo & Stitchs...

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"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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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, ...

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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...

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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...

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