The Political Orphanage

Comedian Michael Loftus has written for "Anger Management" with Charlie Sheen and "Kevin Can Wait" on CBS. He's also the former host of the conservative political satire show "The Flipside". He joins Heaton to talk about working in Hollywood as a conservative, and how he hopes the next few years will shake out culturally.

Gerrymandering is a time-honored and artistic craft wherein politicians get to pick their voters instead of having an actual competitive election. Reason's Eric Boehm joins Heaton to discuss ways to neuter the skullduggery. (Possibly involving robots.)

Heaton tries to convince comedian Chad Prather to run against Representative Steve King in Iowa. King has been removed from committee assignments (and presumably GOP happy hours) after his latest dip into white nationalism.

Deanna Easley, host of the "Black in the Day" podcast, returns to talk about microaggressions, and also to tell Heaton specific words and phrases he should quit using.

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and the author of several books, including "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion." He joins Heaton to talk about how progressives, conservatives, and libertarians have different "moral tastebuds," and about his concerns for the future of academia. Plus, Heaton takes a morality test and is revealed to be a deeply empathetic person who also has no gag reflex, tribal loyalty, or deference to authority.

Is congressional gridlock related to trench warfare? Apparently. Andrea Jones-Rooy returns to discuss. Plus, Heaton invents a new chamber of Congress

Commander Dale Brown is the founder and operations director of the Detroit Threat Management Center, a private security firm. He talks to Heaton about the difference between the police and private security, why he doesn't use guns at work, and common misperceptions about urban crime.

The first Movie Club episode! Brian Brushwood and Heaton review "Vice," the Dick Cheney biopic. Brian makes the case that it's a great film, if understood as a ghost story told inside of an echo chamber.

Justin Young of "Politics Politics Politics" joins to discuss the government shutdown, how alarmed and/or irritated citizens should be, and what can be done to fix it. Plus a brand new show sponsor!

The show's principle sponsor funds an entire holiday special, in exchange for allowing its waitstaff to write the entire script.