Burn the Boats

Medal of Honor Recipient and conservative radio host David Bellavia talks about the recent shift in the Republican party, what makes a qualified candidate, and the differences between Democrats and Republicans.Staff Sergeant David Bellavia served in the Army and deployed to Iraq in 2004. During the Second Battle of Fallujah, Bellavia cleared a house filled with five insurgents in order to save his squad. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at a White House ceremony in 2019.In Bellavia’s new book, Remember the Ramrods, he reflects back on the events that earned him the Medal of Honor.After returning home, David ran to represent New York’s 27th district in the House of Representatives. Currently, he hosts the David Bellavia Show, a conservative call-in radio program.During the interview, David had this to say about partisan politics:“I give a person who disagrees with me politically more time than someone agrees with me because I'm bored with that. And I don't want to discover why liberals are wrong, I want to learn what it is that separates us. And for the life of me, I don't find any fundamental difference outside of personality and hubris and pride where people don't want to admit when they're wrong.”You can find David on Twitter @ssgBELLAVIA, and listen to the David Bellavia Show here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flipsyde member Jinho ‘Piper’ Ferreira talks about how his experiences as a police officer, rapper, and artist have influenced him.Piper was born and raised in Oakland, California. During his childhood in the 80’s and 90’s, Oakland was rife with crime, and police/community relations were at an all-time low. In 2002, Piper’s childhood friend Jihad Akbar was killed by police. This inspired him to create Flipsyde, a successful Hip-Hop group that toured worldwide in the early 2000’s. Their song Someday was chosen by NBC as the theme of the 2006 Winter Olympics. In 2009, Oscar Grant was killed by an Oakland police officer. The story resonated with Piper, and he decided the only way he could make an impact was if he was the one making the life or death decisions. During the interview, Piper had this to say about the difference between his reaction to the death of Jihad, and the death of Grant:“I didn't have any control over the cop that pulled the trigger. I initially put that pain into my music and ended up touring the world with my band. I tried what I could, according to the rules that I had known growing up and according to my values, until it became apparent that I needed to try something else.” Piper became an Alameda County Deputy Sheriff, and served in law enforcement for eight years. During that time, he helped create the Deputy Sheriff’s Activities League, which addresses policing problems by focusing on social equity and community-led economic empowerment. In 2014, he wrote a one man play titled Cops and Robbers that “highlights the frequently fraught relationship between police officers, the communities they serve, and the media.” It received critical acclaim. Check out the website for Marcus Books, which is mentioned in the episode, here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Astronaut Garrett Reisman discusses how the Ukraine Russia War, Elon Musk, and global warming are impacting space exploration.During the interview, Garrett talks about the development of conspiracy theories, from doubting the moon landing to doubting elections:“I could laugh at the guys in the tinfoil hats that said we didn't go to the Moon. But now that it's corrupting our society and amplified by social media, it's a clear danger to our democracy. And now any kind of conspiracy theorist, I just find it, really, no longer remotely a laughing matter.”Garrett is a former NASA astronaut who has been to space twice. After leaving NASA in 2011, Garrett joined SpaceX, where he served as the director of Space Operations. He's currently a senior advisor at the company and a professor of astronautical engineering at USC.To learn more about Garrett, visit his website, garrettreisman.com, and make sure to check out his podcast, Two Funny Astronauts. You can also find him on Twitter at @astro_g_dogg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Gerson was a presidential speechwriter for George W. Bush, and is now a powerful voice of dissent in the Republican establishment. Michael talks to Ken about what led him down this path of dissent, about the role of faith in motivating his decision to speak out, and about where he thinks our country is headed. Michael is a syndicated op-ed columnist for the Washington Post and host of “In Principle” on PBS. He is the author of “Heroic Conservatism” and co-author of “City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era” and you can find him on Twitter at @MJGerson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Representative Denver Riggleman discusses the January 6th committee, his experiences as a Republican during the Trump Administration, and his new book, The Breach.Denver Riggleman served in the Air Force for 15 years. Most of that time was spent as an intelligence officer and NSA advisor. From 2019 to 2021, Riggleman represented Virginia’s 5th Congressional District in the House of Representatives as a republican, but received extreme backlash from the far right for things like officiating a same-sex marriage, and joining the climate change caucus. These experiences pushed him away from the party, and he now no longer considers himself a republican.Denver discusses this period of his life in the interview:“I think Ken, really the same sex wedding was the beginning of opening my eyes to a bigger world of what was going on in the conspiracy world. And then that's when I really got involved and became the first Republican to go against QAnon and the first that Republican to do the QAnon resolution. And then nobody really gave a hell, I was completely alone until January 6th. I tried to tell people violence was coming, but there were a lot of people doing that. People just did listen. But Ken, it just got to the point that I just couldn't stand living in a facts challenged political party anymore.”To hear about all of this and more, check out Denver’s book, The Breach. You can learn more about him by visiting denverleeriggleman.com. Denver is on Twitter at @RepRiggleman, and on instagram at @DenverRiggleman.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anne Nelson talks about the November Midterm Elections, right-wing domestic extremism, and the direction of the Republican Party.Anne is an award-winning war correspondent and author. Her newest book, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, details the influence of the Council for National Policy, a powerful right-wing political coalition. In the interview, Anne talks about how the people who helped organize and execute the January 6th insurrection intended it to be much more subdued:“I don't think they meant for the invasion to be that violent. I don't think they meant for people to get killed. I think that it's quite possible that these aligned forces who are connected to QAnon and some of the Pentecostal, more fringe churches and the militias, came into the event and perhaps took it over. I would bet good money that the Council for National Policy did not want Mike Pence to be hung, for example. He's now a dues-paying member, so that wouldn't make sense. But the problem is that once you align yourself and agitate a mob, you don't always control it.”To hear more from Anne, listen to her previous interview on Burn the Boats.Also, make sure to check out her website, anne-nelson.com, and follow her on Twitter at @anelsona. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Senator Al Franken discusses the radicalization of the Republican party and the threats facing American Democracy. During the interview, Al had this to say about his Republican colleagues: “I stay in touch with some of my former Republican colleagues and I will give them crap. I'll text them and I send them Christmas cards. And I ask them about their families and I know them and we joke and stuff like that. I got along pretty well with my colleagues, I thought. I will just chide them and basically say, 'Why can't you just come out and say that Biden won the election?' And they'll be, blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It ultimately comes down to, 'I'd lose my primary.' That's what it comes down to. I finally get them to say that. And these guys, I understand. They want to be senators and they want to stay in power and they want to be senators.”Al Franken got his start as a stand up comedian, and was a writer on Saturday Night Live for 15 seasons in between 1975 and 1995. He won five Emmys during his time on the show, and also won two Grammys for his comedy and spoken word albums.Later in his career, Al noticed that conservative narratives dominated radio airwaves, so he created The Al Franken Show in an attempt to even the playing field. Al said this about creating the show: “I’m doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected.” The show aired on Air America Radio from 2004-2007.In 2007, Al announced he was running for the senate seat in Minnesota. He won the general election by only 312 votes. He served as senator from 2009 to 2018. Now, Al hosts the Al Franken Podcast, and is currently on tour. He is also the author of nine books, four of which were #1 New York Times Best Sellers. You can find them all here.You can find Al on Twitter at @AlFranken.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley talks about her Ohio gubernatorial campaign.Nan Whaley was first elected to the Dayton City Commission in 2005, and was one of the youngest women ever chosen for the seat. In 2014, she became the Mayor of Dayton, and held that position until earlier this year when she decided to run for governor.Nan is facing incumbent Mike DeWine this November, and abortion has become a key issue in the race. During the interview, she said this about the upcoming election:“Look, I think Ohio is definitely at a crossroads this election cycle. It has a choice to be a place where we can be inclusive, and we can protect freedoms, and women can grow and thrive in this state. Or it's going to be a place where women will run away from. If Mike DeWine is elected, that's what's going to happen. We're going to see even more population loss in the state, and it is going to be the doing of the sitting governor.”To learn more about Nan, or support her campaign, visit nanwhaley.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @nanwhaley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Hershovitz talks about his new book, Nasty, Brutish, and Short, in which he discusses philosophy with his children.Scott Hershovtiz is a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Michigan and former law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Scott’s new book, Nasty, Brutish, and Short, is a “romp through contemporary philosophy” led by his two young sons as they discuss ancient arguments, and ask their own questions. During the interview, Scott describes a conversation he had with his son, and how that influenced his book: “My son, when he was four years old, he went to the Jewish Community Center preschool, so he would learn about God and he'd learn about various aspects of Jewish religion. He had a lot of questions, and he would frequently ask if God was real. One night I was cooking dinner and he said, ‘Is God real?’ And I said, ‘Well, what do you think, buddy?’ He said, ‘I think that for real God is pretend and for pretend, God is real.’ I was just stunned by that. It was such a complicated thought. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘I think that God isn't real, but when we pretend, he is.’” You can find Scott on Twitter at @shershovitz.To learn more about Scott and his work, visit scotthershovitz.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kris, a combat vet, explains how he studies and disrupts fascism and white supremacism in the U.S.–Kris Goldsmith is an Iraq combat vet who studies disinformation and far right movements. He's the founder of Task Force Butler, an organization of veterans that aims to disrupt online extremist activity and radicalization, and encourage those who have fallen victim to its disinformation to leave that path of destruction.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices