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Serious Inquiries Only

Latest episodes

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Aug 20, 2020 • 1h 6min

SIO251: Dimensions of Political Identity

I've got thoughts and lots of them. How do we as progressives criticize Democrats without damaging our future? Is someone who thinks the DNC is corrupt more left than I am, or more.. something else? No prison stocks didn't go up because of Kamala Harris. Julian Assange is an absolute crap. And lots more.
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Aug 13, 2020 • 59min

SIO250: James Lindsay's "New Discourses" Funded By Far Right Christian Nationalist

Today I'm joined by philosopher Aaron Rabinowitz of Embrace the Void and Philosophers in Space to discuss the some revelations about James Lindsay's organization "New Discourses." If you're a long time listener, you'll remember James Lindsay from this show back when he didn't totally suck. Well he now very much sucks, and to no one's surprise, he's being propped up by right wing Christian Nationalist Michael O'Fallon. PZ Myers has a good writeup of it on his blog. Aaron and I talk about that, our history with James, and what to make of all this.
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Aug 6, 2020 • 58min

SIO249: Can Trump Refuse to Leave? with Andrew Torrez

Here's part 2 of my discussion with Andrew Torrez of Opening Arguments! This time we focus on (hopefully) wild and unlikely scenarios if Trump refuses to leave office. Find out if any of them scare the expert and always optimistic P. Andrew Torrez, Esquire!
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Jul 30, 2020 • 41min

SIO248: Can Trump Steal the Election? with Andrew Torrez

Hey folks, this is one of those unintentional 2-parters! I originally intended to have Andrew on to discuss the scary (and hopefully unlikely?) ways that Trump might try to stay in power even if he lost, but before we even got to that discussion, we go through the ways that Trump and the Republicans are cheating to try to win. Is vote by mail safe? What's the deal with poll-watchers? Those questions and more became part 1, and next episode we talk about the scary theories of how Trump could potentially try to remain president.
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Jul 18, 2020 • 60min

SIO247: Reflections on White Fragility and How To Be An Antiracist

It's a solo show today. I have a lot of thoughts on two books I've read - White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. The monopoly example I used I should have credited to Kimberly Jones.
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Jul 9, 2020 • 59min

SIO246: That Harper's Letter, with Eli Bosnick

A lot of prominent writers, journalists, thinkers, etc, have signed an open letter about "Cancel Culture." New dad and world's funniest podcaster Eli Bosnick is back on the show to break it down! Here are links we discuss: brilliant New Republic Article; James Bennet Resigns as New York Times Opinion Editor; Harper's Editor Fired Over 'Sh*tty Men in Media' Story; Longtime Deadspin editor fired after controversial internal memo; Jeanine Cummins Syndrome; Pittsburgh Newspaper Bars Black Reporter From Covering Protests; UCLA Poli Sci Department Condemns Lecturer for Reading MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail, Showing Video About Lynching; White professor investigated for quoting James Baldwin's use of N-word.
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Jun 18, 2020 • 1h 1min

SIO245: Brandon J. McKoy on #defundthepolice

We're joined this week by Brandon J. McKoy! He's the president of the New Jersey Policy Perspective, a think-tank whose focus is policy change to advance economic justice and prosperity. We discuss what #defundthepolice means to different advocacy groups, what it might look like in practice, and what other potential policy might lead to better policing in this country.
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Jun 11, 2020 • 1h 4min

SIO244: On Publishing Fascist Op-Eds, with Bryan W. Van Norden

The New York Times recently published an Op-Ed by Tom Cotton advocating a severe crackdown on the protests. The piece sparked a giant backlash and even a bit of a civil war within the Times. The Opinion editor officially stepped down. Joining us today is Professor Bryan Van Norden, who has written about why not all opinions deserve to be heard. Much of the justification people use tends to derive from Mill's On Liberty, but does that essay really justify platforming fascism? Links: Bryan's Op-Ed, Bryan's lecture on political discourse, Mill's essay, Marcuse's essay, exposure to false claims increases likelihood to believe them.
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Jun 4, 2020 • 1h 4min

SIO243: Alix Jules

It has been far, far too long since we've heard from Alix Jules on this show. I can't think of a more perfect guest to help us better understand the mayhem happening around the country right now.
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May 28, 2020 • 57min

SIO242: Jane Roe's Deathbed Confession

Jamie and I are on to discuss the pandemic, the attacks on abortion rights coming from the right, and Jane Roe's deathbed conversion. Jamie's links: http://yellowhammerfund.org, http://bwhi.org, http://prochoice.org, http://lilithfund.org, http://prochoicetexas.org, http://teafund.org, http://westfund.org

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