Half the Answer

Caitlin and Trent chat with linguistics scholars Savi Namboodiripad and Daniel Midgley on what word most exemplifies 2025. Was it a new coinage? A pre-existing word that gained a new meaning or usage this year? A word that seemed to be on everybody's lips in 2025?Resources:https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year"6 7" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xpV4ix2K8https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/27/more-than-20-of-videos-shown-to-new-youtube-users-are-ai-slop-study-findshttps://www.economist.com/culture/2025/12/03/and-the-economists-word-of-the-year-for-2025-ishttps://www.dictionary.com/articles/word-of-the-year-2025https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-dictionary-reveals-word-of-the-year-2025https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lovers/collins-word-of-the-year-2025-ai-meets-authenticity-as-society-shifts/https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2147118/is-that-grocery-product-really-canadian-or-is-it-maple-washing"getting sendy" song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYAQEJyqR7Egroup 7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/10/27/tiktoks-group-7-meme-explained/https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/lore https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/unchttps://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/choppedhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/huzzhttps://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-performative-male-how-young-men-are-experimenting-with-masculinity-online-268742https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051221126040https://dailyillini.com/opinions-stories/columns-opinions/culture/2025/10/25/opinion-unmasking-performative-male/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kianbakhtiari/2025/09/28/performative-males-gen-z-irony-and-the-death-of-sincerity/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/us/rapture-tiktok-sept-23.htmlEpstein's email simulator https://www.jmail.world/https://othermeans.io/p/the-glonzo-strategyhttps://www.theverge.com/policy/798491/frog-portland-trump-national-guardhttps://the-monsters.fandom.com/wiki/The_Monstershttps://lafufu.art/blog/labubu-vs-lafufuhttps://www.thelist.com/1817157/what-is-mar-a-lago-face-who-has-tried-the-trend/https://bsky.app/profile/canadiandictionary.bsky.social/post/3m7tf3jm2fc2chttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/oprah-podcast-no-contact-adult-children-parents_n_69389e85e4b0fb6244b0daa8https://fortune.com/2025/12/29/trump-tariffs-cost-25000-per-month-small-business-importers-center-american-progress/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/us/politics/doge-musk-trump-analysis.htmlhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-doge-government-spending-2025-b2890243.htmlhttps://www.vox.com/culture/376401/r-word-slur-return-euphemism-treadmill-cyclehttps://www.lawdork.com/p/the-kavanaugh-stop-50-days-laterhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/05/30/politics/trump-taco-angry-tariffhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/abbyzinman/canadians-elbows-up-explainerhttps://pen.org/banned-words-list/https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2025/03/15/these-197-terms-may-trigger-reviews-of-your-nih-nsf-grant-proposals/https://www.dailydot.com/memes/everythings-computer-trump-quote-meme/https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trump-promises-harsher-ice-crackdownshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/27/chatgpt-suicide-openai-raine/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/snap-welfare-queen-ai-memes-1235460824/https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/10022/who-coined-the-phrase-rapid-unscheduled-disassembly#10219https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/rapid-unplanned-disassembly-rudhttps://becauselanguage.com/131-wotwoty-2025/

Trent and Caitlin catch up with Greg Sargent from The New Republic about his recent piece exploring the family history and ideology of Stephen Miller. How did the product of Russian Jewish refugees come to see today's refugees as incapable of integration in American society? What are the white nationalist positions on who is a real American, and how does Miller navigate his position in relation to those ideologies? Why do these unlovable jerks insist on the myth that community and empathy are suicidal?Resources:The New Republic: https://newrepublic.comThe Daily Blast Podcast: https://newrepublic.com/podcastsGreg's piece on Miller: https://newrepublic.com/article/204191/stephen-miller-maga-terror-state-dark-plotStephen Miller on Somali immigrants: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/politics/stephen-miller-trump-immigration-law-somaliaFacts about Somali community in MN: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/5-things-to-know-about-the-somali-community-in-minnesota-after-trumps-attacksHatemonger: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780062986726 When The Clock Broke: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781250390417 Furious Minds: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9780691255262 DHS Twitter Account: https://archive.ph/Vg8c7Stephen Miller's cousin: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stephen-miller-cousin-alisa-kasmer/

Caitlin and Trent speak with Mark Copelovitch, a political science professor from University of Wisconsin–Madison. They discuss the problem of a world power going rogue, the lack of viable responses for countries like Venezuela and Denmark, and the costs to international trust when the US is so unreliable.Resources:https://polisci.wisc.edu/staff/mark-copelovitch/https://www.markcopelovitch.com/https://bsky.app/profile/mcopelov.bsky.socialhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfXZxn2z8U0https://archive.is/OriWG

Trent and Caitlin check in with the Handbasket’s Marisa Kabas about the year that has been the first week of 2026. What are we doing in Venezuela, and why is corporate media being so weird about it? What are the ethics of publishing scoops that involve military actions? Why are we doing our war crimes from a resort ballroom in Florida?Resources:https://www.thehandbasket.co/https://www.semafor.com/article/01/03/2026/new-york-times-washington-post-held-off-on-reporting-venezuela-raidhttps://www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/politics/video/trump-mar-a-lago-war-room-maduro-venezuela-vrtchttps://www.wsj.com/world/americas/trumps-donroe-doctrine-aims-to-dominate-the-americas-b31208dd?mod=Searchresults&pos=3&page=1

Trent and Caitlin talk with philosophy of science expert Nathan Oseroff-Spicer about his review of the book "The War On Science," how the book misses the mark, what strategies its authors use to downplay the threats from the right and fabricate a threat from the left, and what motivations could possibly lead thirty-nine scholars to create such a meritless collection of propaganda under the leadership of someone like known pest Lawrence Krauss.Resources:https://www.liberalcurrents.com/wars-on-science-real-and-otherwise/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/warscience/https://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/administration/breaking-this-hurts-unl-eliminates-4-programs-despite-faculty-student-pleas/article_e0d11a61-0fcc-4e66-b364-d16e89bea336.htmlhttps://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-chatbot-journal-research-fake-citations-1235485484/https://blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/13/llm-usage-and-manipulation-in-peer-review/https://www.advocate.com/news/second-ou-instructor-suspendedhttps://www.facebook.com/OUNightlyTV/posts/pfbid02nieL7PmXwUDAnNcHzK9HLBWdCQ1EyjA7S1pDvrRxEaGw7qkqAR3oGtjXwFXkb4KBlUPDATE: grad student no longer teaching https://www.koco.com/article/samantha-fulnecky-professor-graduate-instructor-no-longer-at-ou-oklahoma/69841882https://pen.org/trumps-compact-for-higher-education-faq/https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-pares-down-grant-review-process-reducing-influence-outside-scientistshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/17/aap-hhs-funding-rfk/https://bsky.app/profile/crampell.bsky.social/post/3ma7aivcros2ahttps://hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-shutdown-has-led-to-hundreds-of-thousands-of-deaths/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/rumeysa-ozturk-what-i-witnessed-inside-an-ice-womens-prison?srsltid=AfmBOoqRks5pzgFv2QyjsvuUvNt6E41InSCPQmXwWOoFvxftjMoRvkSyhttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/judge-releases-palestinian-student-at-columbia-who-was-arrested-at-citizenship-interviewhttps://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/11/20/columbia-denies-mahmoud-khalil-sipa-24-campus-access-for-planned-events-citing-security-reasons/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-emails-reveal-ties-to-prominent-scientists/

Caitlin and Trent talk with Matthew Sheffield about his experiences as a former Republican strategist and the information he wants progressives to know about their strategies and successes.Resources:https://plus.flux.community/p/what-republicans-knowhttps://www.patreon.com/posts/142008768?utm_campaign=postshare_fanhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4qwwk0g0yohttps://www.seattletimes.com/business/sinclair-known-for-conservative-political-tilt/https://deadline.com/2025/12/nexstar-trump-tegna-merger-trump-1236642435/https://www.xfang.studio/books/we-are-definitely-human-wcnat

Trent and Caitlin catch up with journalist Amanda Moore to hear about her tour of American cities that have been targeted for ICE and Border Patrol operations.Resources: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/broadview-ice-cbp-gregory-bovino/https://www.clippings.me/users/noturtlesoup17https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/29/us/illinois-broadview-ice-protesters-chargedhttps://abcnews.go.com/US/border-patrol-commander-admitted-lied-tear-gas-incident/story?id=127283392 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-top-border-patrol-goon-gregory-bovino-roasted-for-nazi-look/ https://www.npr.org/2025/12/02/nx-s1-5627502/national-guard-shooting-latesthttps://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-plastic-whistles-are-becoming-an-anti-ice-resistance-tool-chicago-2025-10-23/https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-orleans-immigration-raids-operation-catahouls-crumch/

Caitlin and Trent talk with Jonathan Howard, a neurologist, psychiatrist, and author of *Everyone Else Is Lying to You* and *We Want Them Infected*, both books analyzing the policies and discourses around the COVID-19 pandemic.ResourcesScience-Based Medicine website: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/*Everyone Else Is Lying to You*: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781959346999*We Want Them Infected*: https://bookshop.org/a/115699/9781959346036Zeb Larson, "Propaganda, Rather than Pandemic Policies, Caused the War on Public Health" https://www.liberalcurrents.com/propaganda-rather-than-pandemic-policies-caused-the-war-on-public-health/"crank magnetism" https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/crank-magnetism-weston-price-foundation

Trent and Caitlin talk with journalist and author Jonathan Katz about the gangsters of capitalism, the imperial boomerang, and the moral injuries inflicted when officers, agents, and soldiers engage in the inhumane and depraved acts that are demanded of them.ResourcesJonathan's book https://jonathanmkatz.com/gangstershttps://theracket.newshttps://www.tiktok.com/@katzonearth?lang=enhttps://www.instagram.com/katzonearth/?hl=enimperial boomerang https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/4383-the-imperial-boomerang-how-colonial-methods-of-repression-migrate-back-to-the-metropolis?srsltid=AfmBOorPodSS76ia1ZcpE5D7F77PSU84p0owKWfM2ukUp0s1E10FaYmrthe wrongest war https://theracket.news/p/the-wrongest-warmoral injury https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/cooccurring/moral_injury.aspLA agents drive away with toddler https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-04/ice-border-patrol-dodger-stadium-parking-lotUS-Mexico restriction https://www.cbsnews.com/news/warning-signs-mexico-beach-us-department-of-defense-property/Controlled Pod Into Terrain https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNrA2-FWoOnpgOS-ywSQlowThumbnail image https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/unauthorized-us-signs-on-mexican-beach-along-texas-border-lead-to-international-dispute-mexico-president-trump-military-action-marines-drug-war-rio-grande

Trent and Caitlin speak with journalist Spencer Ackerman about the CIA, DHS, and other parts of the US government ostensibly protecting us from terrorism. How have they achieved this level of impunity? What are the precedents for the intolerable level of human rights and privacy violations we see today? What have we allowed to be done to the “other” in the past and present?Resourceshttps://www.forever-wars.com/Spencer's upcoming book https://www.forever-wars.com/book-two-majid-khan-iran-troops/Spencer’s Iron Man issue https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/114934/iron_man_2024_1Homan Square https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-siteUSS Gerald Ford in Caribbean https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uss-gerald-r-ford-caribeean-venezuela-rcna244193Sexual abuse in ICE detention https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/hundreds-of-immigrants-have-reported-sexual-abuse-at-ice-facilities-most-cases-arent-investigatedCIA abusive practices https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/enhanced-interrogation-tactics-included-lunch-tray-gruesome-force-feeding-methodsSusan Sontag https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/09/24/tuesday-and-after-talk-of-the-townStellar Wind https://www.theguardian.com/nsa-inspector-general-report-document-data-collection"surveillance capitalism" https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/03/harvard-professor-says-surveillance-capitalism-is-undermining-democracy/Palantir and the CIA https://www.fastcompany.com/91446398/cia-police-palantir-alex-karp-predictive-peter-thiel-paypal-sequoia"white innocence" https://www.dukeupress.edu/white-innocence