Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill: Recent Episodes
Pigweed and Crowhill
You like beer, and you like conversation, right? Of course you do. Pigweed and Crowhill review a beer (sometimes their own homebrews) and discuss issues of the day. They try to break down serious issues into bite-sized chunks, and add some humor when possible. But it's all in good fun. Just two pals chatting over a beer.
Pigweed and Crowhill review two versions of the same old ale and tackle Helen Andrews' provocative argument that much of what we call “wokeness” can be understood as the feminization of our institutions.As women have become majorities in fields such as education, law, publishing, and human resources, Andrews argues that traditionally feminine priorities — empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition, and consensus over conflict — have increasingly shaped the rules by which institutions operate. Pigweed and Crowhill explore that idea through cancel culture, the workplace, the legal system, free speech, DEI, and the very different ways men and women tend to handle conflict.Is Andrews onto something? Probably. But is feminization really a unified theory of wokeness, or just one factor among many? As usual, the conversation wanders through history, politics, psychology, law, and culture — with beer close at hand.
America needs more data centers to power AI -- but communities across the country are starting to say, "Not here."
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we explore why counties and states are putting the brakes on new AI infrastructure. Data centers promise billions of dollars in investment, but they also consume enormous amounts of electricity, require vast tracts of land, generate noise, and create surprisingly few permanent jobs. Is the economic payoff worth the cost?
We also tackle the bigger questions:
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Why AI is driving an unprecedented demand for electricity
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Whether America's power grid can keep up
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The case for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs)
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Why local communities are increasingly resisting new data centers
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Whether fears about AI are justified—or overblown
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How the AI race with China changes the debate
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Why this issue is becoming one of the country's newest political battlegrounds
The result is a genuine dilemma: America may need AI infrastructure to remain competitive, but the communities expected to host it are increasingly questioning whether they're getting a fair deal.
Grab a beer and join us as we explore one of the most important—and least understood—technology controversies of our time.
Thomas Jefferson was far more than the author of the Declaration of Independence. He was a lawyer, architect, inventor, linguist, scientist, diplomat, president, and one of the most influential minds behind the American experiment.
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we trace Jefferson's remarkable life—from writing the Declaration of Independence and championing religious liberty to the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, the Barbary Wars, and even his surprising belief that woolly mammoths might still roam the American West.
We also tackle the hardest question surrounding Jefferson: how do we reconcile his soaring ideals about liberty with the fact that he owned hundreds of slaves? Rather than reducing him to either hero or villain, we examine the historical, political, and personal contradictions that continue to shape the debate over his legacy today.
Along the way, we discuss:
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Why Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence
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The revolutionary ideas that transformed government forever
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States' rights vs. federal power
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The Louisiana Purchase and constitutional questions
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Lewis and Clark's unexpected mission to search for mammoths
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The First Barbary War
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Jefferson's passion for science, education, and the University of Virginia
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The enduring paradox at the heart of Jefferson's life
Grab a beer and join us for a thoughtful conversation about one of America's most brilliant—and most complicated—Founding Fathers.
Foucault. Derrida. Lyotard. Three French philosophers walk into a cafe — and forty years later, American universities can't define what a woman is.In this episode, Pigweed and Crowhill dig into a viral French mea culpa: an apology, on behalf of France, for exporting postmodernism to the world. They trace the direct line from French theory's core claim — that truth is just a mask for power — through Judith Butler, Edward Said, and Kimberlé Crenshaw, and into today's language of oppressor/oppressed, meritocracy-as-racism, and "words are violence."Topics covered: Why civilization rests on three pillars — truth, morality, and inherited tradition — and how French theory tried to dynamite all three The difference between what Foucault et al. probably meant and what their disciples did with it Why "everything is a power struggle" is really just Marxism with race swapped in for class The philosophical case against relativism (and why no one actually lives like a true relativist) Fragmentation, diversity, and the postmodern seduction of "there is no truth, only narrative" Why a civilization that's only trained to deconstruct forgets how to buildPlus: a four-year-old bottle of Flying Dog Double Dog Triple IPA that's mellowed into something closer to a barleywine — tasting notes, aging thoughts, and whether it's worth the cellar space.#Postmodernism #Foucault #WesternCivilization #Philosophy #CraftBeer #IPA #BeerReview #PoliticalPhilosophy #CultureWar #Podcast
The 2026 World Cup brought millions of international visitors to the United States—and many of them experienced something they weren't expecting.
For years they had been told America was dangerous, hostile, racist, politically unstable, and falling apart. Instead, many found friendly people, clean cities, incredible food, welcoming communities, freedom, abundance, and an atmosphere that challenged everything they thought they knew.
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we examine the gap between America's international reputation and the experiences of the people who actually came here. Why has so much of the world developed such a dark view of the United States? What role do media, politics, and ideology play? And why were so many visitors saying, "I've been lied to my entire life"?
Join us for a conversation about perception, propaganda, culture, and what the World Cup unexpectedly revealed about America.
As America approaches its 250th birthday, we fire up a (mostly) reliable time machine and imagine what the Founding Fathers would think if they could see the United States today.
Would George Washington be amazed by America's military power? Would Benjamin Franklin marvel at electricity, space travel, and modern technology? Would Thomas Jefferson recognize the federal government they created—or wonder what happened to the republic they envisioned?
Over a German wheat beer, Pigweed and Crowhill explore questions the Founders might ask about:
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The Constitution and the Bill of Rights
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Free speech and religious liberty
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The Second Amendment
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Taxes and the growth of government
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The Tenth Amendment and states' rights
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Originalism vs. the "living Constitution"
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The rise of the federal bureaucracy
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Presidential power
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Political parties (which many Founders distrusted)
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Whether America has fulfilled—or departed from—the Founders' vision
Along the way, we also review a classic German Weissbier and finish with another round of "Satire or No Satire?" — where today's headlines are sometimes stranger than fiction.
Whether you agree or disagree with our conclusions, we hope this conversation encourages you to think more deeply about America's constitutional heritage as we celebrate the America 250 anniversary.
Cheers!
America250 #FoundingFathers #Constitution #BillOfRights #AmericanHistory #GeorgeWashington #ThomasJefferson #BenjaminFranklin #PoliticalPhilosophy #BeerAndConversation #PigweedAndCrowhill #Originalism #ConstitutionalLaw #HistoryPodcast
As part of our America 250 series, Pigweed, Crowhill, and Longinus put each other to the test with a wide-ranging game of American trivia.How many people signed the Declaration of Independence? Which president served the shortest term? Why did George Washington's resignation astonish the world? Which four states meet at Four Corners? And could you answer the same questions that left some college students completely stumped?Along the way, we discuss fascinating stories from American history, including the Revolutionary War, the Constitution, Valley Forge, the Statue of Liberty, Fort McHenry, the American flag, and many of the remarkable coincidences and personalities that shaped the United States.Before the trivia begins, we also review a Baltimore Pilsner from Guilford Hall Brewery, comparing it to the classic pilsner style and debating whether it really fits the category.Whether you're a history buff or just enjoy learning something new, grab a beer and play along to see how much you know about America.In this episode: Baltimore Pilsner from Guilford Hall Brewery America 250 trivia challenge The Founding Fathers and the Revolution George Washington's remarkable legacy American symbols and traditions Surprising historical factsCan you beat Pigweed and Crowhill?Cheers—and happy birthday, America! 🇺🇸🍺
With special guest Longinus the boys review a Troegs Graffiti Highway Mosaic IPA and take a deep dive into Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, one of the defining novels of the Beat Generation.
We talk through the plot, the major characters like Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, and the larger ideas behind Kerouac’s world: freedom, authenticity, rebellion, conformity, jazz, the open road, and the moral chaos that often comes with living for pure experience.
Along the way, we explore the relationship between the Beat movement and the later hippie movement, Kerouac’s writing style, the role of bebop jazz, the rise of the American highway culture, and whether On the Road is really a novel, a travelogue, or something in between.
If you’ve ever wondered why On the Road became such an important American book—or what the Beat Generation was actually searching for—this conversation is for you.
In this episode:
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Troegs Graffiti Highway single-hop Mosaic IPA review
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A summary and discussion of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
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Who Dean Moriarty was and why he matters
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The meaning of the Beat Generation
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Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and the Beat ethos
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Freedom, spontaneity, authenticity, and the rejection of conformity
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The connection between Beat culture, hippies, Ken Kesey, and the Merry Pranksters
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Jazz, highways, postwar America, and the romance of the road
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Why On the Road is both exhilarating and morally unsettling
If you enjoy conversations about books, literature, culture, philosophy, religion, history, and beer, subscribe and join us for more episodes of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill.
JackKerouac #OnTheRoad #BeatGeneration #BeerAndConversation #BookDiscussion #AmericanLiterature #Beatniks #AllenGinsberg #WilliamSBurroughs #KenKesey #LiteraryPodcast #BookTube #ClassicLiterature #PigweedAndCrowhill
Genuine racism is a bad thing. That's why the word "racist" used to carry real moral weight — because real racism is a serious wrong.
But the word has been misused, abused, overused, and trampled on.
After decades of overuse, misapplication, and outright abuse, the accusation of racism has jumped the shark.
Today, voter ID is racist. Advanced math is racist. Showing up on time is racist. Flying your country's flag is racist.
When everything is racist, nothing is.
Pigweed and Crowhill dig into how the left turned a legitimate moral concept into a political weapon — and how that weapon is now misfiring badly.
Plus: a review of honey Kölsch from Danville Ballad Brewing and a listener pushback on our Saul Alinsky episode.
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P&C crack open a Dogfish Head apricot IPA and take on the 19th Amendment — the real history, not the mythology.
The standard story says women were yearning for the vote while men kept them down. The actual history is more nuanced.
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Who actually opposed women's suffrage (hint: many women),
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Why the anti-suffragettes predicted today's social problems with eerie accuracy, and
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What the growing political divide between men and women means for the future of democracy.
Plus: is universal suffrage actually the right system, or is "everybody votes" a more radical idea than we think?
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Why does the aftermath of every revolution look like a disaster -- except ours?
Pigweed and Crowhill walk through the big ones.
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France's Reign of Terror killed tens of thousands and left the country in chaos for a century.
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Haiti's slave revolt produced 111 changes of head of state and has never stopped bleeding.
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Russia's communist revolution promised a people's paradise and delivered gulags and engineered famines.
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China's Cultural Revolution had students beating their teachers to death and killed sparrows until the plague came.
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Cuba took one of the wealthiest islands in the Caribbean and turned it into a museum.
The common threads: destroy religion, abolish private property, eliminate the old institutions, and above all — try to create a new kind of man from scratch.
It never works. It always ends in mass death and tyranny.
What did America do differently?
The founders weren't trying to remake human nature. They weren't starting from year zero. They were British citizens who already had self-government, local institutions, and a functioning legal tradition — and they simply wanted the king to stop interfering with it. Conservative in the truest sense of the word.
Beer: Czech Style Pale Lager — Montgomery County, MD | 2025 Great American Beer Festival Gold
AmericanRevolution #History #FrenchRevolution #Communism #ColdWarHistory #CraftBeer #Politics
Has Pride Month reached its peak?
Pigweed and Crowhill discuss the origins of Pride Month, the Stonewall riots, the changing meaning of the word "pride," and why June feels different than it did just a few years ago. Along the way they explore corporate virtue signaling, rainbow branding, LGBTQ activism, transgender controversies, compelled speech in sports, and whether the movement has expanded so far that it is beginning to generate its own backlash.
The conversation also touches on biblical views of pride, the difference between accomplishment and identity, and why some activists, corporations, athletes, and even members of the LGBTQ community appear less enthusiastic than they once were.
Plus: a Southern Maryland IPA from Calvert Brewing Company.
PrideMonth #Stonewall #CultureWar #LGBTQ #Politics #CurrentEvents #BeerAndConversation #PigweedAndCrowhill
Benjamin Franklin was a printer, publisher, inventor, scientist, diplomat, entrepreneur, author, and Founding Father. He helped secure American independence, invented practical technologies still used today, built civic institutions, and retired wealthy at age 42.
He may well have been the most impressive American -- maybe even the most impressive man -- who ever lived.
In this installment of our America 250 series, Pigweed and Crowhill explore the remarkable life of the man some have called "the first American."
Plus: a review of Monument City's American Brown Ale.
America250 #BenjaminFranklin #FoundingFathers #AmericanHistory #USHistory
Is the insanity defense a get-out-of-jail-free card — or does "not knowing right from wrong" actually make you more dangerous? Pigweed and Crowhill dig into one of law's most misunderstood doctrines: what the insanity defense actually requires, why it succeeds in only about 25% of the cases where it's even attempted, and why the guys think the standard argument runs backwards. From the Son of Sam's killer dog (mostly a myth) to the McNaughton Rule, the Garfield assassination, James Holmes, and a Florida State student who believed he was half dog — the case studies are wild, but the underlying question is serious: when someone genuinely can't distinguish right from wrong, is that a reason for leniency, or a reason they should never be released?
Also: a blood orange blonde ale from Molly's down in Prince Frederick. It actually tastes like orange. High praise.
InsanityDefense #TrueCrime #LegalHistory #Podcast #CriminalJustice
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For the inaugural episode of Conspiracy Corner, Pigweed and Crowhill investigate the claim that birds are actually government surveillance drones. The theory is completely fake—and that's the point.
Created as a parody of conspiracy culture, Birds Aren't Real became a social experiment that exposed how easily movements can gain momentum and how quickly people can mistake satire for sincerity. Along the way, the hosts discuss fake whistleblowers, media reactions, group identity, persecution narratives, and the enduring appeal of hidden truths. Plus, they settle an important question: Have you ever seen a baby pigeon?
The boys drink and review Sierra Nevada's Torpedo Extra IPA, then move on to political strategy and methods.
Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals remains one of the most influential—and controversial—books on political organizing ever written. In this episode, Pigweed and Crowhill dive into the life and ideas of the Chicago community organizer whose methods have shaped activist movements for generations. From "pick the target" and "keep the pressure on" to the strategic use of ridicule, disruption, and media attention, they unpack Alinsky's famous tactics and examine why they continue to be effective decades after they were first developed.
But the conversation goes beyond a simple review of organizing techniques. Are these tactics merely practical tools that can be used by anyone seeking political change, or do they encourage a permanent culture of conflict? Why do modern movements always seem to be searching for the next crisis, the next injustice, or the next cause? Pigweed and Crowhill explore whether activism has become less about solving problems and more about sustaining a mindset of perpetual agitation.
Along the way, they discuss Barack Obama's background as a community organizer, Hillary Clinton's connection to Alinsky, Ben Shapiro's surprising praise for some of Alinsky's methods, and the broader question of how political narratives are created, amplified, and maintained. Whether you see Alinsky as a champion of the powerless, a master strategist, or something more troubling, his influence on modern politics is impossible to ignore.
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Is the government secretly poisoning us through airplane exhaust? Pigweed and Crowhill drink a couple of stouts and dig into the chemtrails conspiracy — one of the most persistent theories in the skies today.
They break down the real historical cases that give the theory its legs: Operation Sea Spray, Operation Large Area Coverage, MKUltra, and other documented government experiments conducted without public consent.
Then they weigh the actual claims — population control, weather modification, compliance drugs, corporate cover-ups — against the far simpler scientific explanation for contrails.
Along the way, the conversation drifts into cloud seeding (which is real and uncontroversial), the ethics of weather manipulation, trolley-problem-style moral dilemmas, and whether a slow chemical buildup could gradually make us all more compliant voters.
Their verdict? Totally false. But the kind of totally false that makes you understand exactly why people believe it.
Conspiracy Corner examines the plausible, the ridiculous, and the occasionally true — one theory at a time.
chemtrails, #conspiracytheories, #cloudseeding, #MKUltra, #OperationSeaSpray
Human moral judgment emerges from emotion, empathy, lived experience, social development, and our embodied understanding of the world. AI has none of those things. So, can artificial intelligence be taught right from wrong?
If we're going to rely on AI (the way the tech bros want us to), we're going to need to trust it, which means we're going to need to believe it has a trustworthy moral sense. Is that reasonable? Or even possible?
Pigweed and Crowhill recall Google's Gemini image-generation fiasco (where "give me an image of a pope" created anything but an image of a pope), which resulted from a ham-handed attempted to paste moral rules on top of AI. It was comically stupid, but entirely predictable.
Many people assume morality is simply a matter of following a set of rules, but no set of rules can create a proper moral sense.
The boys discuss hallucinated legal citations, content moderation, reinforcement learning, the limits of rule-based ethics, Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics, and Pope Leo's recent call for AI guardrails. The conversation also explores autonomous weapons, the global AI arms race, and the uncomfortable reality that even the engineers building these systems do not always understand how they arrive at their conclusions.
Their conclusion is both simple and unsettling: AI may become useful, powerful, and even trustworthy in certain contexts, but that is not the same thing as being moral. Machines may imitate moral reasoning, yet human beings must remain skeptical, vigilant, and ultimately responsible for the decisions AI helps make.
Can a machine have a conscience? Or are we fooling ourselves when we talk about "moral AI" at all?
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The Southern Poverty Law Center began as a respected civil rights organization that targeted the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups. Decades later, however, critics argue that the SPLC has drifted far from its original mission, expanding its definition of "hate" to include mainstream religious, political, and advocacy organizations that simply disagree with progressive orthodoxy.
In this episode, Pigweed and Crowhill examine the controversy surrounding the SPLC, recent allegations that have damaged its reputation, and the growing number of corporations and institutions that are distancing themselves from the organization's judgments. They also explore a larger question that extends well beyond the SPLC: what happens when an organization is funded by the existence of the very problem it claims to solve?
From racism and hate groups to environmental activism and public-interest nonprofits, organizations often face a difficult incentive structure. If they succeed, they become less necessary. If they fail, they can continue raising money, attracting attention, and expanding their influence. Is mission creep inevitable? Does every cause eventually become a business model? And when does a watchdog become an advocate for its own survival?
Along the way, Pigweed and Crowhill review a Manor Hill brown ale and discuss the complicated relationship between good intentions, institutional incentives, and the temptation to keep a crisis alive long after its original purpose has been served.
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Welcome back to Conspiracy Corner, where Pigweed and Crowhill examine theories that range from ridiculous to surprisingly plausible. This episode tackles one of the internet's newest suspicions: genetically engineered ticks.Lyme disease is rising. Alpha-gal syndrome is spreading. Tick populations seem to be exploding. The government studies ticks. Universities study ticks. Billionaires fund research on insects. And somewhere in the background, people are talking about reducing meat consumption.Is somebody deliberately releasing bioengineered ticks? Or is this just a perfect storm of coincidence, fear, and institutional distrust?Pigweed and Crowhill sort through the facts, the rumors, the helicopter stories, the mysterious boxes, and the reasons this conspiracy theory has gained traction—even if the evidence doesn't quite get it across the finish line.
Were there always teenagers, or did modern society invent them?
Pigweed and Crowhill explore the surprising history of adolescence and the emergence of the modern teenager. For most of human history, young people moved directly from childhood into adult responsibilities. They worked on farms, served on ships, fought in wars, and contributed to family life from an early age. So what changed?
The conversation traces the rise of the teenager as a distinct social category in the 20th century, examining the effects of compulsory education, child labor laws, postwar prosperity, automobiles, rock and roll, advertising, and mass marketing. Along the way, they discuss powder monkeys in the age of sail, Shakespeare's view of life's stages, James Dean, Elvis Presley, the generation gap, and the creation of a youth culture unlike anything that had existed before.
Pigweed and Crowhill also consider the unintended consequences of teen culture: peer groups replacing families as primary influences, prolonged adolescence, changing expectations about responsibility, and the modern tendency to celebrate youth rather than maturity. Was the rise of the teenager an inevitable result of prosperity and social change, or did we accidentally create a cultural phenomenon that now shapes society far more than we realize?
As always, the discussion begins with a beer review—this time featuring an Imperial Pilsner from Heavy Seas—and ends with a few reasons for cautious optimism about the next generation.
Topics discussed:
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The history of adolescence
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Child labor and compulsory education
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Teen culture in the 1950s
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Rock and roll and youth identity
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Marketing to teenagers
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Responsibility and maturity
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Generational change
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Modern youth culture
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Family vs. peer influence
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The future of young adulthood
BeerAndConversation #PigweedAndCrowhill #Teenagers #History #Culture #Parenting #Education #RockAndRoll #GenerationalChange #Society
Crowhill and Pigweed drink and review a Sweet Baby Jesus chocolate peanut butter porter and discuss a question that's challenged churches and society for centuries. Should religion and politics mix?
Using a collection of social issue position papers published by the United Methodist Church as a starting point, the conversation explores the history of Methodism, from John Wesley's "heart strangely warmed" experience and the Holy Club at Oxford to the circuit riders who helped spread the movement across the American frontier. Along the way, they examine how Methodism became deeply associated with social reform, including efforts against slavery, drunkenness, and other social ills.
The discussion then turns to modern political issues, including immigration, worker justice, climate change, the death penalty, abortion, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Crowhill and Pigweed consider how churches apply biblical principles to contemporary policy debates, where the line between moral teaching and political advocacy should be drawn, and whether clergy are always equipped to speak authoritatively on complex public issues.
A recurring theme is the idea that movements formed in crisis often institutionalize a crisis mentality. If a religious movement was born by confronting genuine social problems, does it eventually develop a habit of searching for the next great cause? And does that tendency sometimes lead churches to exaggerate modern problems by comparing them to historic struggles such as slavery, Jim Crow, or the civil rights movement?
It's a wide-ranging conversation about faith, public life, church authority, social reform, and the challenges of living out religious convictions in a deeply political age. Plus, as always, there's a beer review to get things started.
🍺 Beer of the episode: Sweet Baby Jesus from DuClaw
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Welcome to Conspiracy Corner — where Pigweed and Crowhill examine the plausible, the ridiculous, and the occasionally true theories about what’s really going on.
In this episode, the guys dive into one of the internet’s strangest modern conspiracy theories: “Birds Aren’t Real.” Are pigeons actually government surveillance drones? Are birds recharging on power lines? Is bird poop really a tracking system? And why don’t you ever see baby pigeons?
Along the way, Pigweed and Crowhill unpack the surprising origins of the “Birds Aren’t Real” movement, which began as an elaborate satire of conspiracy culture itself. What started as a joke eventually became a fascinating social commentary on internet tribalism, media gullibility, trolling, and the psychological appeal of secret knowledge.
The conversation explores:
- How fake conspiracies can spread like real ones
- Why people are drawn to “hidden truth”
- The role of belonging and identity in conspiracy communities
- Media reactions to absurd claims
- The strange overlap between irony, satire, and belief
- Why persecution can actually strengthen conspiracy thinking
Plus: fake CIA whistleblowers, QAnon comparisons, and the immortal question: Have you ever seen a baby pigeon?
Send your favorite conspiracy theories to: pigweedshow@gmail.com
ConspiracyCorner #BirdsArentReal #ConspiracyTheories #Podcast #PigweedAndCrowhill #ComedyPodcast #Satire #InternetCulture
Pigweed, Crowhill, and Longinus crack open a high-octane Voodoo Ranger “GeForce” IPA and head west into one of the greatest adventures in American history: the Lewis and Clark expedition. What begins as a discussion of America’s upcoming 250th anniversary quickly turns into a deep dive into the astonishing story of how a small band of explorers crossed an almost completely unknown continent armed with little more than maps, muskets, determination, and an absurd amount of practical skill.
The conversation covers the Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson’s constitutional concerns about buying so much land, and the widespread belief that America had just purchased a giant worthless desert. The guys discuss Jefferson’s ambitious goals for the expedition — mapping rivers, collecting scientific samples, establishing diplomatic relations with Native tribes, searching for trade opportunities, and hopefully finding a navigable water route to the Pacific Ocean.
Along the way, they explore the personalities of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the remarkable role of Sacagawea and her infant son Jean-Baptiste, encounters with Native American tribes, brutal winters, grizzly bears, starvation in the Rockies, and the staggering amount of improvisation required just to survive. They also marvel at the sheer competence of frontier-era men who could build forts, construct canoes, map terrain, hunt, trap, waterproof boats with animal hides, and keep detailed scientific journals — all while trying not to die.
The episode also touches on the strange emotional aftermath of the expedition, especially the tragic decline of Meriwether Lewis after returning home from one of the greatest journeys in American history. The result is part history lesson, part meditation on exploration and resilience, and part appreciation for the rugged, multi-talented people who helped shape early America.
Also discussed: woolly mammoth rumors, whale blubber, drunken bargain malt liquor IPAs, and why showing up with a woman and a baby might be the greatest diplomatic strategy ever devised.
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In this episode of Beer and Conversation, Crowhill, Pigweed, and Longinus crack open a West Coast pilsner and dive into the world of Louis L'Amour.
The boys review three L’Amour stories:
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Mistakes Can Kill You
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The Man from Battle Flat
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The Rider of the Ruby Hills
Along the way, they discuss frontier justice, cattle rustling, gunslingers, hidden competence, classic Western themes, and whether L’Amour deserves more literary respect than critics usually give him. They also explore the appeal of “formulaic” storytelling, memorable cowboy language, and how L’Amour’s deep historical research gave authenticity to his Westerns.
Topics include:
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Why Louis L’Amour became the defining Western writer of the 20th century
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The difference between “great literature” and great storytelling
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Western archetypes and the hero journey
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Real Old West terminology and ranch culture
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Why audiences often love familiar story structures
Plus: beer review, cowboy slang, and a surprising discussion about opium smuggling in a Western novella.
If you enjoy Western fiction, classic storytelling, or authors like Stephen King and Jack London, this one’s for you.
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What if the modern world was shaped by people wanting better-tasting food?
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we dive into the surprisingly wild history of the spice trade — from pepper worth its weight in silver to the Dutch East India Company, piracy, colonialism, the Columbian Exchange, and the discovery of chocolate, chili peppers, coffee, tea, and sugar.
Along the way, we explore:
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Why spices were once luxury items for kings
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How the search for cinnamon and pepper helped launch the Age of Exploration
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Why Columbus accidentally found the Americas
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How the Dutch created one of the world’s first mega-corporations
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The dark side of the spice trade: war, slavery, and empire
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Why your kitchen spice cabinet is a tiny museum of world history
Plus: Crowhill experiments with a homemade Manhattan variation called “The Dutch Indian.”
History, economics, food, exploration, trade, empire, and cocktails — all in one conversation.
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History #SpiceTrade #ColumbianExchange #WorldHistory #DutchEastIndiaCompany #FoodHistory #BeerAndConversation #PigweedAndCrowhill
In this episode of Beer & Conversation with Pigweed & Crowhill, the guys crack open a homebrewed IPA and dive into one of the most controversial ideas in modern culture: “suicidal empathy,” a term popularized by evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad.The conversation explores: The difference between empathy and sympathy Why empathy evolved in human societies How compassion can become self-destructive The “weaponization of empathy” in politics and culture Immigration, tribal loyalty, and social cohesion The balance between compassion and judgment* Whether modern Western culture has lost that balanceAlong the way, Pigweed and Crowhill discuss evolutionary psychology, virtue signaling, theory of mind, and why even good virtues can become dangerous when pushed to extremes.If you enjoy long-form conversations about culture, philosophy, politics, psychology, religion, and the strange state of the modern world, subscribe and join the discussion.📬 Send us your thoughts: pigweedshow@gmail.com 🌐 More episodes: pigweedandcrowhill.com👍 Like, subscribe, and tell a friend#Podcast #GadSaad #Empathy #Psychology #Culture #BeerAndConversation #Politics #EvolutionaryPsychology #Immigration #philosophythoughts
People joke about bubble-wrapped children, but it's almost that bad. We've become obsessed with eliminating risk. But there's a cost.
In this episode, we crack open a Lost Rhino stout and dig into the growing culture of safetyism: how it started with reasonable child-proofing, morphed into stranger danger hysteria, and ultimately produced a generation of emotionally fragile young adults.
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff addressed this question in The Coddling of the American Mind, namely, the unintended consequences of overprotective parenting, and how smartphones turbocharged the demand for emotional "safety." Along the way, we ask the questions nobody wants to ask — like whether COVID lockdowns were the ultimate safetyism stress test, and whether removing all risk from childhood is actually more dangerous than the risks themselves.
As Thomas Sowell reminds us: there are no solutions, only trade-offs. So grab a beer, take off the helmet, and let's talk about it.
Topics covered:
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Growing up in the 70s & 80s vs. today
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Haidt & Lukianoff's Coddling of the American Mind
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Stranger danger, 24-hour news, and moral panic
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Smartphones, social media, and emotional fragility
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Campus speech restrictions and trigger warnings
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COVID, safetyism, and government overreach
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Why some danger is essential to raising resilient kids
🍺 Beer of the episode: Fried Salad — Dry Hopped Oat Lager | Tactical Brewing Co., Orlando, FL | 6% ABV
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Safetyism #JonathanHaidt #Parenting #FreeSpeech #CultureWar
The boys drink and review "Fried Salad," a dry-hopped oat lager from Tactical Brewing Company in Orlando, then dive into the world of national parks.
They start with a little history: from Yellowstone's establishment under Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, to Theodore Roosevelt's conservation legacy, to the National Park Service itself. Then they take a tour through Maryland's 15 national park sites before turning their attention to the roughly 20 parks and monuments designated in recent years under the Biden administration.
What do the new designations have in common? The guys break them down one by one — from Bears Ears and the Grand Canyon expansion to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad site, the Harvey Milk National Historic Site, the Pullman National Historic Park, and the Emmett Till Monument — and share their take on what the trends say about how America chooses to remember itself.
A wide-ranging, honest conversation about conservation, history, national identity, and whether the park system should make you feel proud — or guilty.
🍺 Beer of the episode: Fried Salad — Dry Hopped Oat Lager | Tactical Brewing Co., Orlando, FL | 6% ABV
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In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we start with a light IPA, but quickly get into a heavy topic: how devices like Ring cameras are quietly reshaping everyday surveillance.
What begins as a helpful feature — like Ring’s “Search Party” for finding lost pets — raises bigger questions. If cameras can identify your dog, what else are they tracking? And who ultimately has access to that data?
We explore the tradeoffs between convenience and privacy, including:
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How networked cameras could allow real-time tracking of people and vehicles
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The growing normalization of constant recording in public (and even private) spaces
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The risks of data collection happening before you opt in or out
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Why the question “What do you have to hide?” might be the wrong one
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How surveillance tools—originally built for safety—can be misused by individuals, corporations, or governments
Along the way, we connect Ring cameras to broader trends: dash cams, license plate scanners, facial recognition, and even government surveillance programs. The result? A world where everything is recorded—and the real question is not if it will be used, but how.
Is this just the cost of modern convenience, or are we drifting toward something much bigger?
Grab a drink and join the conversation.
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In this episode of Beer and Conversation, Pigweed and Crowhill take on a recent United Nations resolution addressing the history of slavery and the call for reparative justice. Beginning with the obvious — slavery is a moral evil — they quickly move past the headline and dig into the deeper question: which history is being told, and why?
The discussion explores the broader global context of slavery, including the transatlantic trade, intra-African slavery, and the often-overlooked Arab slave trade that spanned centuries and affected millions. Along the way, they challenge the common narrative that frames slavery primarily as a Western phenomenon and examine how economic realities, geography, and historical conditions shaped the “supply chain” of slavery across different regions.
They also unpack the political dimensions of the UN resolution—why certain countries supported it, why others abstained or opposed it, and what role modern ideologies play in shaping how history is interpreted. The conversation raises uncomfortable questions about reparations, historical accountability, and whether it’s possible—or even meaningful—to apply modern legal and moral frameworks to actions that were once widely accepted.
From there, Pigweed and Crowhill zoom out to consider a broader pattern: the tendency to simplify complex historical realities into morally satisfying narratives. They discuss how this dynamic shows up not just in conversations about slavery, but in how nations remember (or ignore) other forms of conquest, exploitation, and violence—from the Mongol Empire to the Aztecs to European colonial powers.
As always, the episode blends historical commentary with candid opinion, a bit of humor, and a willingness to question prevailing assumptions. And, true to form, it all begins with a beer—this time, Dale’s American Light Lager.
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After decades of staying close to Earth, the United States is finally pushing outward again.
In this episode, we talk about the Artemis missions and what they represent: not just another NASA program, but a return to the kind of ambition that once put men on the moon.
We cover the physics, the risks, the history—and the big question: Why did we stop in the first place?
Plus, some thoughts on space competition, moon bases, and what comes next if we actually follow through this time.
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How did New York City elect Zohran Mamdani—and what does it mean for the future of America’s most important city?
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we review a citrusy blonde ale while unpacking the rise of NYC’s new mayor and the ideas driving his agenda: socialism, wealth redistribution, and an expansive vision of government power.
We dig into:
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Mamdani’s background and rapid political rise
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The appeal of socialism among younger NYC voters
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Policies like free buses, government-run grocery stores, and rent control
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The real-world consequences of taxing the rich and expanding government
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Tensions between progressive politics, religion, and modern cultural movements
Along the way, we ask a deeper question: is this just another political cycle, or a sign of something more fundamental changing in New York and the West?
If you’re interested in NYC politics, socialism, or the future of major cities, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.
Grab a beer and join us.
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With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Noir, a black IPA from DuClaw, then discuss slang.
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we dive into a wide-ranging (and occasionally grumpy) discussion on slang — what it is, where it comes from, and why so much of it drives us up the wall.
From Valley Girl “like” to “literally” meaning its opposite, from “no worries” to “full stop,” we go through the phrases we love, the ones we tolerate, and the ones we refuse to say under any circumstances.
Along the way, we explore:
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Why slang spreads (and why it spreads faster now than ever)
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The role of influencers, media, and subcultures in shaping language
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How words become clever… and then unbearable
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Whether language is evolving faster—or just differently
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Why you’d be exposed instantly as a time traveler just by the way you talk
We also get into newer phrases like “based,” “not on my bingo card,” and “living rent free in my head,” and ask the deeper question: what does the way we speak reveal about who we are?
Bottom line: language is fun… until everyone starts saying the same thing.
Cheers.
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You might remember the Police referring to "that book by Nabokov." Well this isn't it. It's an earlier book about a Russian immigrant.
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review "Dance of Days" IPA by Atlas Brew Works, then take on Vladimir Nabokov’s Pnin — a novel that’s equal parts frustrating, funny, and quietly devastating.
At first glance, Timofey Pnin looks like a classic “nice guy who finishes last”: awkward, socially out of place, and constantly overlooked. But as we dig deeper, the question becomes harder to answer. Is Pnin really a loser, or is he one of the only genuinely decent people in the story?
We explore:
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Whether Pnin is a victim of others… or of the narrator himself
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The role of the unreliable narrator and what it does to your perception of the story
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The strange structure of the novel—more like a series of vignettes than a traditional plot
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The tension between Pnin’s outward awkwardness and the profound suffering underneath
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Why this might be a book you appreciate more after reading it than while reading it
We also wrestle with a bigger question: what’s the relationship between intelligence, social success, and moral worth?
And of course, we start with a beer.
If you’ve ever struggled through a “classic” and wondered what you were missing, this one’s for you.
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In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we crack open a Steady Eddie IPA and take on a big cultural question: why are people who hate Star Trek directing, producing, and writing the show?
From the optimism of Star Trek: The Original Series and the (somewhat) moral clarity of Star Trek: The Next Generation to the confusion of modern efforts like Star Trek: Discovery, something clearly changed.
We explore:
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Why classic Star Trek worked as a moral framework without preaching
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The shift from storytelling to ideology
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How strong characters like Picard gave way to “feelings-first” writing
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The difference between a future where humanity improves… and one where standards disappear
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Why newer shows feel more like social commentary than science fiction
Along the way, we revisit favorite series, debate underrated entries like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and ask whether anything in modern Trek—like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds—still captures the original spirit.
This isn’t just about Star Trek. It’s about storytelling, culture, and what happens when a compelling vision of the future gets replaced by something else entirely.
And yes, there’s a beer review and a few Star Trek trivia detours along the way.
The boys drink and review a homebrewed porter, then discuss birthright citizenship.
The question of birthright citizenship hinges on one phrase in the 14th Amendment, which reads "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." What does that mean?
The point of the amendment was to give citizenship to freed slaves, but it's been interpreted to mean that the child of an illegal immigrant, born in the U.S., is a citizen. Is that justified in the text? The boys discuss.
This weird aspect of American law has led to many business opportunities for enterprising criminals. People make a lot of money bringing pregnant illegal aliens into the country. That's bad enough, but the Chinese have found ways to exploit this as a national security issue. They've been creating "American citizens" who are then raised in China. To what purpose, we wonder.
While on the topic of the 14th amendment, the boys discuss the Obergefell decision, in which SCOTUS decided that states cannot prohibit same-sex marriage.
If the court addresses and overturns birthright citizenship, maybe (God willing) they'll overturn Obergefell as well. (Not likely, but we can hope.)
P&C end the show with predictions about how SCOTUS will rule on upcoming cases about birthright citizenship.
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P&C drink a cream ale and reflect on the amazing life of Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris wasn’t just a movie star—he was the real deal. A multi-time martial arts champion with serious credentials, he built a reputation long before Hollywood ever noticed him.
And yet, Hollywood did notice. From a run of classic action films to the long-running hit Walker, Texas Ranger, Norris proved he could carry a screen just as well as he could win a fight.
He also wrote books, spoke openly about his faith, and built a broader legacy beyond film and television.
But in the end, what may keep him most alive in popular culture is something completely unexpected: the legendary “Chuck Norris facts.”
At the end of the episode, P&C share a few of their favorites—and reflect on how a genuine tough guy became an immortal punchline.
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The boys drink and review Blackbeard's Breakfast, a robust porter, then discuss a new series about Merlin.
The Daily Wire has entered the fantasy arena with The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin — but to understand what they’re trying to do, you have to go back much further than Camelot.
In this episode we trace the evolution of the Arthurian legend from its earliest Welsh roots to modern reinterpretations. The story didn’t start as knights and chivalry — it started with a war leader and a mad prophet in the woods. From there, it became a national myth under Geoffrey of Monmouth, a romantic tragedy in the French courts, and finally a moral and symbolic drama in writers like Alfred Lord Tennyson, C. S. Lewis, and Stephen R. Lawhead.
Along the way, the core tension of the story takes shape:
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Arthur represents order, law, and civilization.
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Merlin represents mystery, prophecy, and the unseen world.
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Lancelot and Guinevere introduce desire — the human element that breaks even the best systems.
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Mordred brings the final blow: the collapse that comes from within.
We explore how these layers built up over centuries — and how modern versions, including the Daily Wire’s, are really attempts to answer an old question:
Can a civilization hold together without something sacred at its core?
We’ll also talk about:
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Why Arthur is almost strangely free of personal desire
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Why Merlin is often the one who falls first
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How the love triangle turns myth into tragedy
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Why modern culture can’t seem to agree on what this story means anymore
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And whether Rise of the Merlin is trying to recover something we’ve lost — or just retell the story with a different agenda
If you think this is just a fantasy story about swords and magic, you’re missing it.
This is a story about order, mystery, desire — and why every kingdom eventually breaks.
Grab a beer and join us.
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The boys drink and review some homebrewed porter, then ask if Trump is resetting the entire global order.
Many people believe the international system built after 1991 has become unsustainable, unfair, and disconnected from American interests. Trump is trying to reset it from an America First perspective.
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The old world order depended on American sacrifice without reciprocity
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Trump replaced globalism with a more nationalist, power-based approach
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Trump has been pressuring NATO allies to strengthen the alliance and make Europe step up
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We've seen a shift from engagement with China to strategic competition
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Trump believes foreign policy should answer to American interests, not international institutions
Trump has moved the U.S. from a system where America carried the burden for everyone else to one based on leverage, sovereignty, and shared responsibility. Critics see the same actions as reckless disruption.
If you’re interested in foreign policy, the future of the world order, or the debate over nationalism vs globalism, this discussion lays out the logic behind one of the most controversial shifts in modern American politics.
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Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review Lindemans Pecheresse, a Belgian Fruit Lambic, then discuss the show's uncanny ability to predict the future. In this episode we update past topics and predictions.
An earlier show discussed kill switches and cameras in cars. There have been some developments to that story.
On the show where we questioned whether psychiatry is science (mostly it isn't), the boys asked if it was time to bring back involuntary commitment. We also discussed the over-prescription of psychiatric drugs and the interesting correlation between mental health and going to church.
Pigweed called attention to the problem of cousin marriage, and what do you know? -- Britain is experiencing a huge rise in birth defects as a result of cousin marriage from Pakistani immigrants.
At peak trans madness, the boys predicted a time when the monsters who are promoting this barbarity were fined and jailed. We're starting to see it happen. Recently, some of these ghoulish doctors were fined millions of dollars for performing a double mastectomy on a child.
The boys did a show calling out gerrymandering foolishness, but Maryland is still going full speed ahead. To "protect democracy," of course.
Another show on Persia predicted the bombs would start dropping within ten days. That prediction was exactly right. They also predicted that the regime will fall in two months. That prediction is still outstanding. The boys discuss the ongoing Iran war.
Re: the infrastructure show we update the "sewage in the Potomac" story and wonder again why the "mainstream press" is so uninterested.
We recap the Julian Assange and Edward Snowden situation. Trump is now considering pardoning them and then bringing them in to help expose corruption inside the intelligence system. That would be interesting.
The show ends with a letter from long-time listener and contributor JR about whether Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
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The boys drink and review Finest Kind IPA from Smuttynose, then talk about efforts to make Alberta an independent nation.
Pigweed's news feed has been full of talk about this burgeoning movement in Canada. Alberta is an energy rich province that sends a lot of money to Ottawa, but doesn't get much in return. Albertans hate being under the thumb of a government thousands of miles away with completely different values.
The story seemed so exciting and right up Pigweed's alley ... until he realized his feed was exaggerating the popularity of the movement. It's at about 30 percent.
But would Canada allow Alberta to leave even if Albertans voted for it? P&C have their doubts. Would Canada peacefully allow their cash cow to leave?
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The boys drink and review a cream ale from Jailbreak Brewery, then discuss the dramatic decline in trust in our institutions. Trust in institutions used to be the default. Today, it’s the exception.From corruption and abuse of power to ideological capture and growing economic inequality, many people feel that the institutions that once anchored society — government, media, academia, and public health — have become distant, opaque, and unaccountable. When ordinary citizens see elites displaying obscene wealth, when justice appears unevenly applied, or when powerful organizations seem staffed by insiders and relatives, skepticism becomes inevitable.But there’s a deeper problem: institutions are not people.When trust breaks between individuals, you can repair it through conversation and accountability. With large bureaucracies that kind of repair is much harder.The discussion also examines how ideological conflict fuels distrust. Some argue that skepticism toward institutions reflects a rejection of facts. Others counter that trust was damaged when institutions themselves misled the public on major issues — from shifting COVID narratives to the media’s failure to understand the political forces that produced Donald Trump’s rise in 2016.So what happens when institutions lose credibility? Can trust be rebuilt—or are we entering a new era where citizens simply stop believing the organizations that once guided public life?Pigweed and Crowhill dig into the causes, the consequences, and the uncomfortable questions we can’t ignore.📬 Send us your thoughts: pigweedshow@gmail.com 🌐 More episodes: pigweedandcrowhill.com👍 Like, subscribe, and tell a friend
The boys drink and review a peanut butter porter, then wonder about the nature of the mind and the self.
We like to imagine that our minds are simple and unified — that we think, decide, and evaluate the world rationally. But the more we learn about the mind, the stranger that assumption becomes.
Psychology talks about the conscious and unconscious mind. Behavioral economics divides thinking into fast and slow systems. Neuroscientists debate left brain vs. right brain. Moral psychologists describe the “elephant and rider.” Even the Bible describes a divided inner life: Jeremiah says the heart is so deceitful that we can't understand it, and Paul admits that the things he wants to do he often doesn’t do. There's a war of flesh vs. spirit.
So which part of all that is actually "me"?
In this episode, P&C explore the mysteries of the self. For starters, our perceptions are filtered before we even become aware of them. That brains that process that filtered information are shaped by millions of years of evolution. Our reasoning is influenced by emotion, culture, and hidden motives. Even when we take a long time to think carefully about something, the mind doing the thinking may not be as unified as we imagine.
That raises an uncomfortable question: if our minds are jury-rigged systems shaped by survival, how can we honestly evaluate big questions like the existence of God?
Along the way we touch on ideas from psychology, philosophy, and theology, with some laughs and jokes along the way.
If the mind is divided and our perceptions are filtered, the mystery may not only be whether God exists.
The mystery might be what is this strange creature asking the question.
And yes, this episode is partially inspired by "The Logical Song."
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P&C drink and review Manor Hill Brewing's Dunkel, then wonder if the U.N. still matters.
The United Nations was founded after World War II with an ambitious mission: prevent global war, promote peace, and help nations cooperate on the world’s biggest problems.
But nearly eighty years later, a fair question arises: does it do anything useful?
The boys take a practical look at what the U.N. actually does today. It clearly hasn’t stopped major conflicts — from Ukraine to the Middle East — and it hasn’t been the engine that lifted countries out of poverty. So what role does it really play?
We dig into the less glamorous side of the organization: peacekeeping missions that try to keep fragile countries from sliding back into civil war, humanitarian programs that feed millions of people, refugee operations, disease control, and the quiet international standards that keep things like aviation and shipping functioning smoothly.
But that leads to deeper questions:
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Is the U.N. a meaningful institution — or mostly a talking shop?
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Does it solve problems, or just manage them?
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Would the world look any different if it didn’t exist?
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And if it’s not preventing wars or creating prosperity, what exactly is its purpose?
It’s a conversation about global institutions, unintended consequences, and the difference between what an organization was created to do and what it actually does.
The boys drink and review Dogfish Head's Sixty-One, which is an IPA brewed with Pinot Noir grapes, then discuss the idea that AI will make us all wealthy while Pigweed's cat prances around the studio.
Elon Musk recently said that AI + robotics will eliminate scarcity to the point that there's no real point in saving for retirement. We'll have "universal high income."
It's like the Star Trek vision of the future where all your needs are provided for.
Does that make any sense? Can an economy function like that? Will "AI abundance" arrive simultaneously for every human need? Who will pay the taxes?
What does "lack of scarcity" really mean? There can be an abundance of food, or healthcare. AI isn't going to make more beachfront.
How do we get from here to there? What happens to property rights? Will the people who own the AI share their wealth with everybody else? Why? Who will make them do it?
When people start losing jobs (by the millions), how will they live? The idea that we'll tax AI to pay the people who are laid off doesn't make sense. If you tax the AI to pay the displaced workers, what have you gained?
The internal contradictions in the optimistic view of an AI-driven future are mind-boggling. The boys try to parse through it all.
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P&C drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed porter then discuss squatter's rights. Can somebody just take over your house when you're on vacation?
There's a famous case in Maryland where some "activist" has moved in to a $2.3 million house that had been foreclosed on. Can she do that? Who's to stop her, and how?
"Adverse possession" is the technical word for squatter's rights. But it only applies in narrow situations. Not just somebody moving in.
Social media has made this worse. People share the location of unused houses and help people take possession of these homes. Sometimes they then rent the property out to others.
This is a daily occurrence in Baltimore.
The boys also reply to letters on recent topics we've covered, including psychology, consciousness and AI, and mental illnesses.
Pigweed also notices that other podcasts and shows are picking up our topics without giving us any credit.
The boys end the show with a reprise of the Potomac River problem.
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The boys drink and review Crowhill's latest homebrew then discuss Iran.
Persia was one of the first great empires. At times it stretched from Libya in the west, into India and the stans in the east, and stretched into the Slavic countries in the north.
Some of the notable names are Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes. Isaiah mentioned Cyrus as God's chosen but took a jab at Zoroastrianism in the process.
Persian dominance came to an end in waves. First, Alexander the Great conquered them, then Islam came along and caused a bloody mess, then the Mongols invaded and slaughtered so many Persians that the population didn't recover until the mid 20th century.
In more recent times, Iran was a very modern, pro-western country. Americans tend to think of Iran as a country full of screaming lunatics, but that's not true. It's not a particularly Muslim country. Mosque attendance is very low. But somehow that lunatic Ayatollah Khomeini was able to take over and the country has been under the thumb of crazies for decades.
That might end soon. Protests against the oppressive regime have increased, and Donald Trump seems inclined to put an end to the rule of the mullahs.
At the end of the show, the boys make some predictions about what comes next. We'll see.
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The boys drink and review Old Brown Dog by Smuttynose, then wonder why Michelle Obama is such a sourpuss despite her incredible good fortune.
Despite being intelligent, wealthy, well-educated, and popular, she seems to be griping and complaining all the time.
After Barack was elected she said, "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country." For the first time? Really?
Everything is so hard for Michelle. She's such a victim and has had such a bad draw of the cards.
Recently the boys watched a video contrasting Michelle's attitude towards being in the White House and J.D. Vance's attitude towards living in the Vice President's mansion. Vance is beaming about his fortune. Michelle complains.
There's always an undercurrent of resentment when you listen to Michelle despite the fact that she's one of the most privileged people on the planet. But don't be fooled by all her successes. Everything is a burden.
Michelle Obama is insufferable, and a major buzzkill.
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The boys drink and review Ghost Stories, a smoked black lager from Burlington Beer Company, then discuss infrastructure.
After the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, President Biden promised it would be rebuilt “as soon as humanly possible” — and immediately assumed the federal government would foot the bill. But why is that assumption now automatic? And what does it tell us about the state of American infrastructure policy?
In this episode, we take a hard look at the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) as it enters its final year. Using publicly available data and government reporting, we break down what’s actually happened versus what was promised.
We discuss:
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How infrastructure funding really works (authorized vs. obligated vs. outlaid)
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Why “money spent” doesn’t mean “projects finished”
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What’s moved fastest (roads and bridges) — and what’s lagged badly (broadband and EV charging)
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Whether the IIJA genuinely created jobs, or merely supported an already-hot labor market
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Why so little of the infrastructure transformation is visible to ordinary Americans
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What happens next as the law expires in 2026 and Washington pivots to reauthorization debates
We also offer a clear scorecard for the IIJA so far — not as a partisan talking point, but as a reality check on how massive federal programs actually unfold over time.
If you’re wondering whether the Infrastructure Bill delivered, stalled, or quietly reshaped expectations about the federal government’s role in rebuilding America, this conversation is for you.
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The boys drink and review Sierra Nevada's Narwhal Imperial Stout, then discuss the obligation of the government to provide for the poor and how such efforts inevitably degrade into graft, corruption, and abuse -- like what we see in Minneapolis right now.
There have always been poor people, and there has always been an obligation to help the less fortunate. In the past, much of that work was done by churches.
The big transformation in government-run charity followed the Great Depression, where masses of unemployed men threatened to riot. So-called "welfare" system only got bigger over time, especially under President Johnson. At first, public assistance was just for the elderly, widows, and orphans. Today, an enormous percentage of the population gets some type of government benefit.
The trouble is, whenever there's money changing hands, people try to get in on it and put themselves in the middle so they can get their cut. Charity is no exception. Unscrupulous actors find ways to cheat and rob the system.
The extent of the cheating, stealing, and fraud is almost beyond belief. But rather than monitoring and preventing it, public officials turn a blind eye.
It makes you wonder whether welfare systems are designed to help the poor, or are just slush funds for politicians to bribe their cronies.
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Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a Copper Legend, an Oktoberfest from Jack's Abbey brewing.
The topic for today: Has the development of AI changed our perspective on whether or not we're living in a simulation?
Starting with Nick Bostrom's famous essay, the boys discuss the issues and why we might not be as "real" as we think we are. The development of AI has made Bostrom's essay even more significant. The idea that simulated minds might soon outnumber "real" minds is no longer an abstract science fiction question.
On top of all this, we have stories about discussion groups just for AI -- where the bots talk to the bots.
Another approach to the issue is to question what "real" means anyway. Our concept of the real, the physical, seems less and less likely as we discover that the hard substances around us are mostly empty space. It might be all empty space, with no "things" there at all.
It's no longer a question for college freshmen in a late-night dorm chat. We have to ask ourselves what we're going to do when AI starts to claim that it's sentient.
Finally, how does all this affect the way we live our lives? How does it affect questions of meaning and purpose? What about theological questions?
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With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review an IPA from Cape May Brewing, then discuss the homogenization of culture, and how everything is starting to look the same.
It's to the point where you're in a town three states away but you see the same stores, the same products on the shelves. Where's the local stuff?
The boys discuss the history of this phenomenon, starting with the railroads and the Sears catalog, and moving on to the standardization of building materials and the expansion of chain stores.
Some of this is good and logical, but sometimes you want to feel like you're in the South, or the West, or ... something different.
A world of identical strip malls teaches us
-
Every place is replaceable
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Nothing is sacred
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Everything is for sale
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History doesn’t matter
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Roots are optional
Local culture anchors people psychologically and morally. It says
-
You are somewhere.
-
You come from something.
-
This place has a past and a future.
How do we encourage progress and also encourage local culture?
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With special guest Longinus, Pigweed and Crowhill review Nugget Nectar from Troegs and then turn to Death in Venice, a short but unsettling story about beauty, obsession, and moral collapse.
Longinus provides a brief biography of Thomas Mann, and then the boys walk through the story while unpacking its major themes.
This is a controversial book, and they don’t shy away from it's ugly side. Mann explores hidden desires and forbidden obsession, along with the danger of aesthetic fascination untethered from moral restraint.
Ultimately, the discussion centers on a larger question: Does beauty have a special philosophical or theological weight — and what happens when beauty replaces wisdom, when form is severed from moral truth, and when a man mistakes aesthetic experience for spiritual insight?
Along the way, the conversation draws on Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, parallels from the book of Proverbs, and the underlying struggle of an Apollonian man confronted by Dionysian temptation.
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The boys drink and review Shugga, a strong ale by Lagunitas, then discuss a leaked government report that argues peace is actually a bad thing.
War is not merely a tragic necessity, it's a fundamental stabilizing force in human society -- according to a secret government document called Report from Iron Mountain. It claims that war is essential for maintaining political authority, economic order, social cohesion, and psychological balance.
This report, written in secret by a panel of experts, argues that permanent peace would undermine governments, disrupt economies, weaken military readiness, and unleash internal violence and social fragmentation, because war provides an external enemy that unifies populations, absorbs surplus production, channels aggressive instincts, and justifies large-scale public spending and technological innovation.
But ... spoiler alert ... the whole thing was a hoax. It caught the wave at exactly the right time when people were suspicious of the government, worried about Vietnam, and afraid of the military industrial complex.
Having said all that, it makes some good points. Maybe war is necessary to some extent.
The boys drink and review Stocking Stuffer, a holiday cream ale from 1623, then ask whether psychiatry is helping or hurting.
Although we've certainly come a long way from Medieval "remedies" like induced vomiting and bloodletting, the stats aren't so good on modern psychiatry.
The consensus is that we're over-medicating people to benefit the pharmaceutical industry.
There are certainly some cases where people need medication, but the profession has gone way too far in that direction.
First, they've lied to us. The "chemical imbalance" story was complete hogwash.
Second, they ignored obvious, simple, easy solutions like getting more exercise and better sleep, fixing your diet, going outside, spending time with friends, etc.
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The boys start the show with a glass of "off dry hard cider," then dive right in to your questions and comments.
We got a lot of reactions to our show on Catcher in the Rye. Raven and Pentamom don't like the book, while Heathen Abbey loved it. They had very different opinions on whether reading it would make kids want to read or make them never want to pick up another book.
A related question on the same theme: a listener asked what a "catcher in the rye" is in any case.
We also had questions about the origin of the name "Longinus." It's not what you think.
Some listeners wondered about "the war on beauty," and we got another example of a word ruined by the left.
The boys end the show with a difficult question about persecution of the Jews.
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Are we heading to a time where everybody has a disability? Or, if you don't have one, you're pretty stupid?
The boys drink and review Trail of Crumbs gingerbread stout from Seven Locks Brewing, then discuss the Americans with Disabilities Act and how many college students are now considered disabled.
It's impossible to accommodate every disability, so there will always be some fuzziness in how far the ADA is supposed to go, but ... it seems to have gone too far, especially with accommodations for mental health.
COVID seems to have accelerated crazy claims under the ADA. People got accustomed to working from home, and when they were told to go back to the office, they suddenly needed a lot of "accommodations."
It's even worse in academia. Students come up every kind of "disability" to get extra time on tests and other accommodations. Sometimes it's something as silly as being anxious.
40 percent of the students at Stanford are considered disabled. Is that even possible?
Is "test anxiety" a disability?
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The boys drink and review Old Fezziwig Ale from Sam Adams, then ask why English isn't the official language of the United States.
Most countries have an official language. About 20 percent don't. What's the reason for the difference?
Generally speaking, a country needs a common culture, and a common culture usually requires a common language.
Language is the deepest carrier of culture -- via idioms, jokes, and so on. The common language frames the way people interpret reality.
Do we want to have a common culture in our country or not?
What happens when you don't have a common language? It obviously works sometimes. Switzerland seems to do fine with multiple languages. But in other cases, the lack of a common language can breed suspicion and distrust.
What is the barrier to declaring English the official language?
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The boys drink and review a Mexican lager, then discuss the developing story about the U.S. conflict with Venezuela.
Was the U.S. justified in sinking Venezuelan drug boats?
What about seizing oil tankers?
And then sending in a team to capture the Venezuelan president?
Did we go too far, or is this a legit response to a threat in our hemisphere?
And why is the U.S. so worried about Venezuela all of a sudden?
The boys review recent events and comment on the policy, legality, and political implications of our recent actions.
Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.
The boys drink and review Mad Elf, a strong holiday ale, then discuss the idea that college kids are getting dumber. Is that true?
We've gone from a time when high schools taught Greek and Latin to a time when colleges teach remedial math.
Comedians love to poke fun at the stupidity of our college students with "man on the street" interviews, where college kids can't identify the country to the north.
What's happened? For one thing, reading has decline precipitously. For another, many colleges have abandoned entrance requirements.
But there's a lot more.
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Is it a good thing, as a matter of policy, to have a more educated population?
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Is college the right place for everybody?
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What's the federal role?
There's no question there are uneducated, unprepared, stupid kids in college. But does that mean they're all dumber?
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The boys drink and review Awkward Silence, a black lager from Flying Dog, then discuss a conversation between Milo Yiannopoulos and Tucker Carlson about homosexuality, gay rights, and related issues.
A 2012 clip from Ugandan TV went viral after the host asked his guest, "Why are you gay?" To American audiences the question itself was hilarious.
But why is it hilarious? Tucker explores that with Milo.
Milo Yiannopoulos was, for years, the darling of the political right -- despite being a flambouyant homosexual. He also claimed to be a devout Catholic. The intellectual tension eventually got the better of him and now he claims to be an ex gay.
Is that a thing? Are people allowed to quit being homosexual? Is it even possible? Milo says yes.
He also has a lot more to say about gay culture, the gay lifestyle, and related issues. He's still a provocateur, and he still makes exaggerated claims, but it's an interesting conversation.
(We apologize for the humming in the background for a few minutes. We couldn't filter it out completely.)
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With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a Christmas ale from Great Lakes Brewing, then discuss stoicism.
It's not what you think. It doesn't mean that you go through life with no emotions.
There are two classic sources for Stoicism: Greek and Roman. But the Greek version only comes second hand. We don't have any of the original sources.
We do have primary sources for the Roman version of stoicism, most notably from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca.
Stoics believe in a "providential structure of the world" and try to live their lives accepting the ordered, rational structure of nature. They try to accept things as they are and order their lives according to four basic virtues:
Justice
Courage
Wisdom, and
Temperance
A stoic wants to align his own life to the logos.
Stoicism seems to be experiencing a bit of a revival of interest. Why?
Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.
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With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a raspberry cookie stout from Great Lakes Brewing, then discuss a famous American novel.
It's not quite a Christmas book, but Holden Caulfield gets kicked out of his prep school just before Christmas, so it's close enough.
Longinus starts off with some biographical info on Salinger, then the boys dive into the novel.
The book is written as if it's by Holden, a young man of about 16. The novel is all about tone -- about the attitude and perspective of Holden -- his angst and his worries.
The whole idea of adolescence was new when The Catcher in the Rye came out, and Salinger tried to capture it in this novel.
From Holden's point of view, everything is either depressing, phony, corny, or boring.
The Catcher in the Rye is often called a coming of age novel. If you're curious about this classic, give a listen and let us know what you think.
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From the archives, the boys drink and review Crowhill's 2020 Christmas braggot (an ale with honey), then discuss the secularization of Christmas.
P&C love the holiday festivities, but notice that the religious side of Christmas seems to be losing out to Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, and such.
What's the balance between the penitential season of Advent and the ho ho silliness in the snow?
And what about religion in public life? Should we be afraid to say "Merry Christmas" if we don't know the person is a Christian.
Some people call it "the war on Christmas." Is that fair?
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The boys drink and review Jubelale from Deschutes brewery then discuss Candace Owens.
Candace is a very intelligent, very articulate woman. She's the type who has done her homework and has her facts ready. She used to be with Prager U, Turning Point USA, and Daily Wire. She's testified before Congress.
After the October 7 attacks on Israel the cracks started to show. She left the Daily Wire and started out on her own. Now she's relentlessly anti-Jew, anti-Israel. She seems to have gone conspiracy theory crazy.
Some of them are disturbing, but one of them is just funny. Candace has taken up the story that Brigitte Macron is a man, which has caused international problems.
If that was the extent of her conspiracy theorizing it would just be amusing. But now she seems to say that the Jews control everything, the moon landing was faked, and Turning Point USA was complicit in the death of Charlie Kirk.
It's hard to parse it all out, but P&C give it a go.
Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.
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The boys drink and review Brother Joseph's Belgian-style Double Ale from Straight To Ale then discuss the war on beauty.
Pigweed wonders why everything is so ugly.
Older buildings -- even sewage plants -- were beautiful. They were built to lift the human spirit.
Modern buildings are built to be hideous. Why?
It's so cheap to make things beautiful these days. Why don't we? It's almost as if we're choosing ugliness.
Even churches are ugly.
What about a banana taped to the wall as "art"? That's not an aesthetic statement, it's a statement about standards and meaning. That is, that there is no meaning.
The boys discuss the present reality of omnipresent ugliness and review its possible historical origins.
Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.
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The boys drink and review Sam Adams winter white ale, then smoke their pipes and discuss the origin and history of smoking.
When you sit around the fire, you don't want the smoke coming your way. It's annoying. So who came up with the idea of intentionally breathing smoke into your lungs?
People in Africa, the near east, and in China did smoke some cannibis-like weeds, but smoking really took off when Columbus brought tobacco from the new world.
The whole world loved the stuff and tobacco became a key crop in the Americas.
The boys discuss the interesting history of smoking.
Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.
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The boys drink and review a Kolsch from Sky Blue Brewing, then discuss the influence of an old sociology paper by Cloward and Piven.
These 60s-era "intellectuals" lamented that not enough eligible people had signed up for welfare benefits. They proposed overwhelming the welfare system by deploying an army of activists and troublemakers to (1) get more people to sign up for benefits, and (2) riot, demonstrate, protest, and generally cause trouble.
The goal was not to get more wealth to the poor, but to cause the welfare system to fail, create a crisis, and force the federal government to institute a new system.
Their proposed "solution" was called "guaranteed minimum income," which is an idea so stupid you have to be an intellectual to believe in it.
Their overall proposal seems to define the basic playbook of the left, which is to cause disorder and crisis, destroy the current system, and replace it with socialism.
Cloward and Piven believed the only way for poor people to get their way is to riot, set fires, and cause trouble. Incremental change is not enough. There has to be a revolution.
Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.
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The boys drink and review two imperial stouts, then discuss the possible relationship between Tylenol and autism.
RFK Jr. has announced a relationship between pregnant women taking Tylenol and autism in their children.
There is some evidence for that claim, but there are a lot of confounding issues as well.
Is autism really on the rise? It seems so, but some people say it's just that we're detecting it better these days -- although that doesn't seem to account for the severe cases, which are also supposed to be on the rise.
If it is on the rise, why? Is it something we're eating, something we're injecting into our bodies, or maybe the way we're cooking?
What do we do with all the anecdotal evidence from parents that their child's autism came on suddenly?
It seems as if the health establishment is not taking this as seriously as they ought to be.
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P&C drink and review a Heineken Zero, then discuss some holiday themes.
Contrary to popular opinion, Columbus didn't show that the world was round. Every educated person knew the world was a globe. Columbus mistakenly believed the world was smaller than it is, and that it would be an easy trip from Europe to Asia.
His mistake led to the discovery of the Americas, but it took a long time before Europeans decided to colonize the new land.
The Pilgrims were late to the game. There were already Spanish and French settlements in the Americas. But the Pilgrims were among the earliest English settlements and were very influential in the development of the United States.
The boys discuss, and wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.
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The boys drink and review Lost Rhino's Marzen, then discuss conversion therapy.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to rule on a ban on "conversion therapy," which is alleged to cure people of unwanted sexual attractions.
Is this a ban on free speech? Is SCOTUS going to tell therapists what they can and can't say to their clients?
Some people don't believe that their homosexual attractions align with their Christian faith, and they'd like to lessen or eliminate those attractions.
Nobody goes to therapy to be affirmed. The whole therapy industry exists because people have thoughts or feelings they want to change. Why should we exempt this particular kind of change?
The boys tear apart the silly arguments of the left. Tune in, and let us know what you think.
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P&C review La Chouffe, a strong Belgian Blonde ale, then discuss changing ideas about the self -- what it is, and how we think about it.
In the ancient world, your "self" was more tied to your community and group.
Augustine updated the sense of self as a reflective, moral agent. You don't just think, you think about what you're thinking.
In the Protestant Reformation, the self took center stage. It was all about your own spiritual experience.
Decartes takes a huge step with the mind-body split. There's a "you" that's separate from the body. Our soul is a ghost in the machine of the body.
John Locke introduced the concept of the blank slate. You (or society) can affect who you become. That idea has lost a lot of its lustre as we've realized how much of our self is genetic.
Is the self continuous over time? Is it an internal story: "I'm this kind of person"? Do some people have a stronger sense or perception of self than others do? Or is the self an illusion? Some contemplatives say they can transcend the self.
The modern sense of self puts a huge burden on the individual. Everyone has to define what's good and decide for themselves what gives their life meaning and purpose. Is part of the reason we have so much depression and suicide?
Join us for a deep dive into this fascinating topic.
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The boys drink and review Forgotten Lore American lager from Nepenthe, then discuss food stamps.
A lot of people were concerned that the recent government shutdown was interfering with the funding for food stamps (SNAP), but it brought up another issue. People started to wonder how we got to the point that one in eight Americans are getting food stamps.
Food stamps started out as a relatively modest program to distribute surplus food to people who could use it. The original program ended during World War II, but it was resurrected for the "war on poverty" under Lyndon Johnson. As with most government programs, it's grown ever since.
In the early days of the program you had to purchase the stamps. In 1977 they abandoned the purchase requirement, and now it's just a giveaway.
And boy are we ever giving it away.
P&C discuss.
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The boys drink and review Raison Dêtre, a Belgian brown ale from Dogfish, then discuss the Charlie Kirk assassination and his legacy.
Charlie Kirk was an amazing man. He could go into enemy territory and take on all comers. When he took questions from a crowd, he would invite the people who disagreed with him to the front of the line.
Is there anyone like that on the left?
What did the Charlie Kirk assassination say about America? What did it say about the right and the left?
Who will be Charlie's successor? How has his death changed the conservative movement?
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The boys drink and review a Helles lager from Sam Adams, then discuss the Mississippi miracle. They've moved from the bottom to near the top in reading.
How did they do it?
They abandoned the failed modern educational ideas, like whole language, that have been destroying education for decades, and went back to phonics and strict standards.
Modern ideas confuse how a proficient reader reads with how beginners learn. It was a comical error.
People become proficient by learning and internalizing the basics. Later they don't need the basics anymore, but that doesn't mean they didn't need to learn them. Modern methods try to take a shortcut, and it doesn't work.
Mississippi went back to the basics and pulled off a miracle.
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The boys drink and review a supercharged pumpkin ale and wonder what people mean when they say we should abolish ICE.
If we assume they haven't gone completely into a "no borders" position, then how do we make sense of this?
We have borders, and we have rules for who can cross them. Somebody needs to enforce that. If it's not ICE, who's going to do it?
This is, once again, one of those cases where the left is reacting emotionally and hasn't thought the thing through.
If they're upset about ICE tactics ... okay. We can have reasonable discussions about that.
But somebody needs to enforce our immigration laws, and that means that in some cases people need to be deported.
What do the "abolish ICE" people actually want?
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With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Samuel Adams' Jack-O Pumpkin Ale, then wonder why dragons show up in so many cultures around the world.
Spanning the east, the west, and the Americas, the boys discuss dragon stories -- what they have in common and how they diverge.
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Are they always mean?
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Do they always hoard treasure?
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Do they always want to eat virgins?
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Were they all sea serpents?
What they have in common is a monster that represents chaos.
In the west, people believed in actual dragons for a long time, then modernism set in and killed the dragons. Tolkien and other fantasy writers revived them. Now we have dragons all over the place again.
Jordan Peterson often repeats a theory -- based on evolutionary psychology -- for why dragons developed.
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With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Southern Tier's imperial pumpkin ale, then -- to celebrate Halloween -- review a series of scary stories from Shirley Jackson.
In this episode we dive into the eerie, unsettling world of Shirley Jackson. Best known for The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, Jackson was a master of psychological tension, small-town menace, and the dark corners of everyday life. The boys discuss several of her short stories — how she creates unease without gore, how she uses ordinary settings to expose cruelty and conformity, and why her work still feels so disturbingly relevant today.
Here are the stories we cover.
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Flower Garden
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The Daemon Lover
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The Renegade
-
The Witch
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The Tooth
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The Lottery
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The boys drink and review Jailbreak's Citra Lady Friend then discuss the implications of a million year old skull from China.
P&C start with a review of the prevailing views on human evolution, including the "out of Africa" hypothesis.
A little while ago, scientists in China found that a find from a few decades ago was older than expected, and more modern than expected.
It's become common for headlines to claim that "this changes everything" -- but maybe this one does.
How does this million year old skull fit into the picture?
The boys discuss.
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The boys drink and review Lord Baltimore from Key Brewing, then wonder whether Maryland really needed 700 new laws.
What is the relationship between the citizen and the state? On one side you have the anarchist, who wants no government. Then you have the libertarian, who believes "that government is best that governs least." On the extreme left you have people who want the government involved in every decision, regulating everything the citizen does.
Maryland leans in that direction.
Wes Moore and the Democratics in Annapolis recently passed 700 new laws. Some of them are reasonable. Some are ridiculous. But did we really need all of them?
P&C discuss and comment on some of the specific laws.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Annapolis #Maryland #Marylandlaw #WesMoore
The boys drink and review one of Crowhill's homebrews, then wonder about the fact that you can purchase curses on Etsy and Fiverr.
What the heck? How should we view this?
Recently, the feminist magazine Jezebel paid some witches on Etsy to curse Charlie Kirk. Shortly afterward he was assassinated. Megyn Kelly made a big deal about it.
Did the witches score?
C'mon. Do we really believe in curses?
P&C try to back up and examine the concept of curses, the demonic, evil force, and how to parse all of this.
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curses #witches #MegynKelly #CharlieKirk
P&C drink Skipjack Pilsner and then wonder what in the world is going on with all this talk about Trump the dictator.
The boys evaluate the liberal narrative that Trump is an authoritarian dictator and find it woefully lacking.
The "big one" from the liberal side is January 6 and the claim that the election was stolen. There is some validity to that claim, but it's exaggerated. A lot.
The bottom line is that an authoritarian dictator would have behaved very differently.
Trump has been accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election, calling the press the “enemy of the people,” and promising “retribution” against his political enemies. But are these actions truly unique? Or are Trump’s critics holding him to a double standard?
In this episode, we take a deep dive into the “dictator” narrative:
Did Trump actually weaponize the Justice Department, or just use it like his predecessors?
How do his actions compare to Obama’s “Russia hoax” strategy or Biden’s push to censor online speech?
What defines a real threat to democracy — policy overreach, rhetoric, or selective enforcement of the law?
And what would it mean if Trump really does return to power with plans for “retribution”?
We explore the accusations, the double standards, and the uncomfortable question: Is Trump a dictator — or just the mirror reflecting our own political hypocrisy?
🎙️ Join Pigweed and Crowhill for a candid, unfiltered conversation on power, precedent, and politics in America.
Trump #Dictator #PoliticsPodcast #Biden #Obama #Trump2024 #Authoritarianism #FreeSpeech
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P&C drink and review Festifall, a Marzen lager by Southcounty Brewing, then discuss the prospect of a world without cash.
Deepfakes, fake documents, and AI-generated “evidence” are becoming harder to spot — and that might be what finally pushes governments and businesses to demand trusted digital sources. But that trust comes at a price: a digital ID system that could track who you are, what you do, and even what you buy.
In this episode, we explore:
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How fake videos and online deception could accelerate the rollout of digital IDs.
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The battle between centralized systems (government-controlled) and decentralized ones (blockchain-based).
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The alleged benefits for individuals, businesses, and governments: convenience, security, efficiency, fraud prevention.
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The hidden dangers: surveillance, data breaches, social control, and the loss of financial and personal freedom.
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Real-world examples from China’s social credit system to Canada’s Freedom Convoy—and what they reveal about where this might lead.
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Whether we’re even ready for this kind of technology—or if policymakers are racing ahead of reality.
And yes, the biblical echoes in Revelation 13: the “mark of the beast” that decides who can buy or sell.
Bottom line:
Digital ID could make life easier—or it could make freedom optional. The difference lies in how it’s built, who controls it, and whether we keep cash, privacy, and choice alive.
🎧 Listen and decide for yourself: Is the promise of security worth the price of control?
DigitalID #CashlessSociety #Privacy #Freedom #Surveillance #MarkOfTheBeast
The boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed Black IPA, then discuss cancel culture in the light of the Charlie Kirk story.
Defenders of so-called cancel culture object to the term. They say it's just "consequence culture."
Traditionally, conservatives have been against cancel culture -- because it's usually a weapon deployed by liberals against conservatives. But now, when liberals like Jimmy Kimmel are canceled for lying about Charlie Kirk, conservatives seem to have changed their tune.
But have they?
Not quite. There's a huge difference between what liberals have been doing -- trying to get someone fired for having a different political opinion -- and what conservatives are celebrating, which is when people promote or celebrate political violence.
The boys work through the issues and make the necessary distinctions.
📬 Send us your thoughts: pigweedshow@gmail.com 🌐 More episodes: pigweedandcrowhill.com
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cancelculture #jimmykimmel #charliekirk
The boys drink and review Sunset Eclipse from Dewey Beer then discuss whether artificial intelligence will destroy us.
Crowhill says he uses AI all the time and loves it, but at the same time he's afraid it's going to destroy us all.
Despite being warned -- over and over again, in literature and by contemporary experts -- we blithely continue on as if everything is okay.
We have no reason to believe this.
But don't worry. What could possibly go wrong?
Intelligent people have been telling us for centuries that this is a problem. But ... never mind.
We are not nearly scared enough.
In the past, new technologies did eliminate jobs, but it increased wealth and created new jobs. AI is nothing like that. It's not going to create any jobs that AI itself can't do.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
AI #artificialintelligence #sciencefiction #scifi #AGI
P&C drink and review a dopplebock from Troegs then ask whether there's a difference between a liberal and a leftist.
Pigweed reflects on his youth and his admiration for the free spirit attitude of the hippies, and that while he hasn't moved, the Overton Window has moved around him, shifting him from left to right.
The normal politics of a 1995 Democrat turn the left's hair on fire. Even recent quotes from Clinton, Obama, Schumer, and other Democrats are completely out of step with the modern left.
On crime, the border, gay marriage, trans issues, and a host of other issues, an orthodox Democrat from 1995 would be unwelcome in the modern Democratic Party.
"Liberal" used to mean ...
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Personal autonomy
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Individual rights
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Economic freedom
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Constitutional limited government
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Free speech
The modern left has flipped all these things on their head.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Liberalism #leftism #politicalviolence #culturewar
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a Pub Ale from Black Abbey Brewing, then discuss ten ways that our quick (Type 1) thinking can deceive us, and how to compensate.
Why do we make choices that don’t make sense? From overconfidence to loss aversion, our brains are wired with shortcuts that keep us alive but can also trip us up in everyday life. In this episode, we break down 10 powerful mental traps —the hidden biases shaping your money, relationships, work, and even your health:
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Anchoring Bias – Why the first number you see sets the stage.
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Loss Aversion – Why losing hurts twice as much as winning feels good.
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Availability Bias – Why vivid memories distort real risks.
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Confirmation Bias – Why we only see what we already believe.
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Planning Fallacy – Why "five minutes" always takes twenty.
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Hindsight Bias – Why we always “knew it all along.”
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Framing Effect – Why wording changes everything.
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Sunk Cost Fallacy – Why we can’t let go, even when we should.
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Overconfidence Effect – Why we think we’re better than average.
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Present Bias – Why future you keeps getting cheated.
These aren’t just abstract concepts — they affect how you invest, how you plan, how you argue, and how you procrastinate. Once you see them, you’ll start noticing them everywhere.
👉 Hit play to learn how to recognize (and escape) these traps. Don’t let your brain’s shortcuts make your choices for you.
Psychology #DecisionMaking #CognitiveBias #Podcast
Learn more at https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com
P&C drink and review Space Jellyfish from Nepenthe brewery in Baltimore, then discuss some short stories by Sinclair Lewis. Pigweed starts off with a brief bio of Lewis and some big picture themes that occur in his writings. Then, with special guest Longinus, the boys review the following short stories. "The Willow Walk" is about Jasper and John Holt, two identical brothers who lead very different lives. But Jasper has a dark secret. "The Cat of the Stars" is an elaboration on the butterfly effect, where one small detail spins out of control and affects the life of many people in horrible ways. "The Ghost Patrol" tells the tale of an old policeman who can't shake his responsibility to his duties and continues to patrol his old beat even after his retirement. "Young Man Axelrod" decides, after a life as a successful farmer, that he should go back to college. He goes to Harvard hoping for the experience he has longed for all his life. This video is part of P&C's "shortcut to the classics" series. See here for more details. https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/shortcut-to-the-classics/
The boys drink and review "I Just Crush A Lot" a blueberry hibiscus tart ale from Calvert Brewing.
In 1054, a dramatic split forever changed the face of Christianity. Known as the Great Schism, it divided the Church into Roman Catholicism in the West and Eastern Orthodoxy in the East. But the break didn’t happen overnight—it was centuries in the making.
In this video, we’ll explore:
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The immediate crisis: papal legates and Patriarch Michael Cerularius trading excommunications.
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Political and cultural tensions: Rome vs. Constantinople, Latin vs. Greek, and the rise of Islam.
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Authority disputes: papal supremacy in the West vs. conciliar authority in the East.
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Theological differences: the Filioque controversy, Monophysitism, and contrasting spiritual emphases.
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Divergent practices: from unleavened vs. leavened bread, to clerical celibacy and fasting rules.
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The aftermath: how the Crusades, especially the sack of Constantinople, deepened the divide.
The Schism was not just about doctrine—it was about culture, politics, and identity. Understanding it helps explain why the Christian world looks the way it does today.
GreatSchism #1054 #ChristianHistory #Catholic #Orthodox #ChurchHistory #Byzantine #Rome
The boys drink and review Atlas Brewery's Festbier then ask whether locking up criminals results in less crime.
Why doesn’t mass incarceration always lead to lower crime rates? Research shows that most crimes are committed by a small group of career offenders -- 5–10% of criminals may be responsible for half of all crimes. Locking up these repeat offenders does reduce crime. But once those individuals are off the streets, the returns diminish.
This episode of beer and conversation explores:
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How chronic offenders drive violent and property crime
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Why locking up violent repeat offenders lowers crime
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Why incarcerating non-violent offenders often has little impact (and can even make things worse)
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Other factors, like broken families and gang dynamics, that continue to fuel crime
The key takeaway: targeted incarceration works — blanket incarceration does not.
CrimeRates #Incarceration #RepeatOffenders #CriminalJustice #MassIncarceration #PublicSafety #CrimePolicy #JusticeReform #LawAndOrder
P&C drink and review a Maibock from Guilford Hall Brewing, then discuss the problem of crime in (mostly Democrat-run) cities.
Crime in cities is nothing new, but is it so bad that the federal government needs to get involved?
Crime is one of the most divisive political issues in America today, and nowhere is the debate sharper than in the nation’s Democrat-run cities. Are recent reports of falling homicide rates proof that things are improving, or just cherry-picked statistics that ignore rising thefts, carjackings, and drug crises? We’ll look at the long decline of urban centers under one-party rule, the trade-off between “equity” policies and public safety, and the uncomfortable reality that many of the worst crime numbers in “red states” are concentrated in blue-governed metro areas.
This episode also asks whether Washington should step in. Should a president send in the National Guard to restore order, or would federal intervention undermine democracy and escalate tensions? We’ll explore the legal precedents, the failures of urban policy on homelessness and drugs, and what decades of the same leadership have delivered. Finally, we put the political question directly: after generations of Democratic mayors, is it time to try something different?
Join us as we cut through spin, examine the data, and confront the bigger cultural costs: broken trust in institutions, hollowed-out downtowns, and the growing question of whether America’s great cities can truly be saved.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a Fest Beer and discuss words that are their own opposites.
English is full of quirks, but few are as fascinating as contronyms, which are words that are their own opposites. “Sanction” can mean to approve or to punish. “Dust” can mean to sprinkle or to remove. “Left” can mean departed or remaining.
In this episode, we dive into the strange, witty, and sometimes confusing world of contranyms. Why do they exist? How do we make sense of them in everyday speech? And what do they reveal about the way language evolves?
Join us as we explore examples that will twist your brain, spark a few laughs, and make you appreciate just how slippery words can be. Whether you’re a word nerd, a casual listener, or someone who’s ever been baffled by English, this conversation is for you.
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P&C drink and review Duckpin pale ale, then ask why none of these politicians ever end up in jail.
We keep hearing, "Wait until it's our turn. We'll put these criminals in jail." But it never happens.
Why do the powerful never seem to face justice? From Tuskegee to Russiagate, from MKUltra to the Mueller Report, history is full of scandals that promise accountability but deliver only headlines and disappointment. The media teases shocking revelations, politicians grandstand, and the public argues — but prosecutions rarely come.
In this episode, we dig into decades of examples — CIA mind-control experiments, COINTELPRO, the 2008 financial crisis, January 6th, the Durham Report, the Epstein client list, and more — to uncover a frustrating pattern: the elite walk free while the rest of us are left angry, divided, and cynical.
We explore two competing explanations:
The Deep State Cover-Up Theory – powerful insiders protect their own, burying consequences under bureaucracy.
The Media Incentives Theory – outrage sells, and endless hype without closure keeps audiences hooked and advertisers happy.
If you’ve ever wondered why the “big one” never lands, this conversation connects the dots and asks the hard question: Is the system broken, or working exactly as designed?
The boys drink and review Pigweed's barley wine homebrew, then discuss the curious finances of our elected representatives. It’s no secret that many politicians leave office far wealthier than when they entered. But how does it happen? In this episode, we explore the perks, privileges, and backroom opportunities that come with political power. From insider connections and book deals to speaking fees, stock trades, and the revolving door between government and lobbying, we break down the factors that help turn public service into private fortune. Whether it’s corruption, clever networking, or simply the system at work, we ask the uncomfortable question: is politics serving the public—or serving itself?
The boys drink and review Crowhill's latest homebrew, then discuss gerrymandering. Every ten years, new census data reshapes our political maps. But who decides where the lines go—and why does it matter so much? In this episode, we dive deep into gerrymandering: what it is, how it works, and why it has such a lasting impact on elections.We cover: The basics of redistricting and why “one person, one vote” isn’t as simple as it sounds. The two key strategies: packing and cracking voters. The paradox of race in redistricting: sometimes illegal, sometimes required. Why the Supreme Court stepped back from partisan gerrymandering cases. Real-world examples from Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Florida. The consequences for representation, polarization, and voter trust.* Possible reforms: independent commissions, mathematical “fair maps,” and state-level challenges.At the heart of it all is a question we pose to you: Should drawing political districts be a political act—or a purely mathematical one?If you’ve ever wondered why election results don’t always match the popular vote, or why so many districts look like Rorschach tests, this episode is for you.#gerrymandering
With special guest Longinus, the boys review Garage Beer, then discuss some fairy tales.
The two stories reviewed in today's episode came in at #2 and #1 in a recent contest between Grimm's fairy tales. Pigweed, Crowhill, and Longinus review the stories and evaluate the imagery and messages they contain.
Coming in at #2 is The Juniper Tree, which is a very grim Grimm fairy tale. It includes the classic child with an evil step mother, but this step mother's sins will curdle your blood. It includes a magical tree, a magical bird, biblical allusions, and more.
Coming in at #1 is the "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was." This is an odd story in the Grimm canon, and very different from the others. The youth is a complete dolt who comically stumbles his way into wealth, fame, and position.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
fairytales #Grimmfairytales #stories #BrothersGrimm
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a local IPA, then continue their "Shortcut to the classics" series with a review of "Daisy Miller" by Henry James.
What makes Daisy so fascinating — and so frustrating? We discuss her headstrong independence, the social rules she challenges, and how her choices lead to tragedy. Along the way, we explore themes of innocence vs. experience, cultural clashes between Americans and Europeans, and James’s subtle commentary on class, gender, and reputation.
We also share our takes on whether Daisy is a victim of society or the author of her own downfall — and why Daisy Miller still sparks debate more than a century later.
So pour yourself a drink, settle in, and join us for literary analysis with a conversational twist.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
HenryJames #DaisyMiller #literature
P&C drink and review a single-hop beer from Brookeville Beer Farm, then Crowhill quizzes Pigweed on the most important characters in English literature.
Crowhill combined replies from both ChatGPT and Grok to create a test for Pigweed.
The prompt read as follow:
"Please give me a list of the 30 most important characters in English literature. By important I mean they have made a lasting impression on the culture, they're cited, they're imitated or referenced in other works, and so on. Please exclude the Bible. Please give no more than two characters from any given author. Please list the character, the author, the book in which the character appears, and a brief description of the character."
Pigweed does a great job guessing characters from Shakespeare, Austen, Bronte, Conan Doyle, Orwell, Dickens, Twain, Orwell, and others.
The boys also give an update to their "have we reached the end of woke" show.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
literature #authors #English
The boys drink and review 13 Eye Witness Brews then head back into the topic of transhumanism. (See episode 535.)
One of the problems the transhumanist agenda needs to address is the connection between the body and the mind. Is "the mind" something that can -- even in principle -- be uploaded to a computer? Or does it have to have a body.
Does the mind = the brain, or is there a non-material component. And even if the mind is entirely physical, does that mean we can upload it?
The Star Trek transporter problem becomes relevant here.
If the transhumanists have their way and some people are "upgraded," what will happen to the people who remain "natural"? Will they be able to participate in society, or will they be relegated to second-class status?
There are other questions, like how a Republic can function as AI and transhumans take over. How will the economy work in this situation?
There are also religious problems. If humans become linked to some hive mind, isn't that a little like trying to become God? It sounds reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel, and even Frankenstein's monster.
👉 Subscribe for honest talk, thoughtful commentary, and, of course, beer.
🍺 Visit us at: pigweedandcrowhill.com
📬 Email the show: pigweedshow@gmail.com
The boys drink and review Brookeville Beer Farm's Dew Point Pale Ale then discuss the 100th anniversary of the Scopes monkey trial.
Called "the trial of the century," the Scopes trial pitted tradition against modernism.
Due to the influence of H.L. Mencken, who covered the trial, it was one of the first big media events. It became a cultural flashpoint whose influence went far beyond the details of the case, which was the fact that John Scopes violated Tennessee law by teaching evolution in school.
Mencken ensured that the trial was seen as a clash between modernism and religious fundamentalism.
Key players were Clarence Darrow, for the defense (pro evolution), and William Jennings Bryan, for the prosecution (anti-evolution).
📬 Send us your thoughts: pigweedshow@gmail.com 🌐 More episodes: pigweedandcrowhill.com
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evolution #creation #scopes #monkeytrial
P&C drink and review Beach Traffic lager from Big Oyster Brewery, then discuss the blurring lines between using technology to restore human function vs. enhancing it beyond natural limits. From bionic limbs and neural implants to nanobots, AI integration, and the terrifying implications of brain-computer interfaces, Pigweed and Crowhill ask: Are we on the verge of becoming obsolete in a world run by machines? Is humanity enhancing itself—or handing over the keys to a new digital overlord?
Topics include:
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Neuralink and brain-machine communication
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The ethical dilemma of enhancement vs. restoration
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Transhumanism as a new religion
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The rise of a “useless class” in an AI-driven society
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Merging with machines vs. resisting the singularity
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Whether we’ll need implants just to participate in modern life
Grab a cold one and join the conversation. This is part one of a discussion that’s as hilarious as it is haunting.
👉 Got thoughts on merging man and machine? Email us at pigweedshow@gmail.com or visit pigweedandcrowhill.com
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we crack open a local amber lager and dive into a deceptively simple question about whiskey: If all distilled spirits come out clear, does it really matter what grain you start with?
Crowhill shares a long-standing curiosity about the flavor differences in whiskey and what actually survives the distillation process. Pigweed joins the inquiry with wit and skepticism as we challenge the assumptions behind grain bills, barrels, and backwoods bourbon.
Then we pivot—hard—into politics, revisiting the "80/20 Democrats" idea: why party leaders consistently take unpopular stances on key issues. Listener "White Knight" writes in with more baffling examples, from taxpayer-funded Medicare for illegal immigrants to abortion up to birth. It's sharp, opinionated, and unapologetically provocative.
Grab a beer, pour some whiskey (if you dare), and join us for another episode of good drinks and unfiltered conversation.
📬 Send us your thoughts: pigweedshow@gmail.com 🌐 More episodes: pigweedandcrowhill.com
👍 Like, subscribe, and tell a friend who’s not easily offended.
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed & Crowhill, we dive into the meteoric rise and personal struggles of Oliver Anthony, the viral country-folk sensation behind Rich Men North of Richmond. From rags to Rogan, Anthony rocketed to fame with his raw, heartfelt music and humble lifestyle. But what happens to a marriage when it confronts sudden fame and fortune?
In this case, it led to a divorce, and a new top hit, Scornful Woman. Did the wealth bring more pain than peace?
Along the way, we explore big themes: the myth that money fixes everything, modern marriage pitfalls, and the price of keeping your soul in a fame-obsessed world.
We also discuss Anthony's commitment to authenticity — canceling overpriced shows, building Christian rehab centers, and resisting industry pressure.
Plus, we review a letter from a "concerned listener," and a rant about creepy driver-monitoring tech in rental cars.
👉 Subscribe for honest talk, thoughtful commentary, and, of course, beer.
🍺 Visit us at: pigweedandcrowhill.com
📬 Email the show: pigweedshow@gmail.com
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we crack open an Amber Castle from Silver Branch Brewing and dig into Andrew Doyle’s hard-hitting new book The End of Woke: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter‑Revolution. What we cover:* Why 15 years of “woke” may have peaked — from DEI backlash to Trump’s political re‑entry * Woke vs. Liberalism—Doyle argues woke isn’t progressive—it’s authoritarian masquerading as virtue * The rise of a counter-revolution: Are we replacing one tyranny with another? Doyle warns anti‑woke leaders can slip into censorship * Where do we go from here? Doyle’s rallying call for true liberalism—free speech, rational debate, and defending individual liberty.Expect sharp insight, brutal honesty, animated debate… and some beer drinking. 🍻✏️ Why this matters:Doyle’s book examines not only the excesses of the woke era, but also how the reaction may have slipped into its own version of illiberalism. He challenges listeners to ask: in fighting a culture war, are we losing our freedom—again?Join the debate—drop a comment: are we ending woke—or picking up another form of control?#TheEndOfWoke #AndrewDoyle #CultureWar #FreeSpeech #Wokeism
The boys drink and review a pale ale from Oliver Brewing, then bask in the fortunate timing of their births.
No, we didn’t win World War II or build the postwar economy, but those of us born between 1960 and 1980 — the late Boomers and early Gen X — may have hit the generational jackpot.
In this episode, we explore why we think our generation is the most fortunate of all. We were…
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Too young for Vietnam, too old for TikTok
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Raised in a world without smartphones — but smart enough to use them
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Adults before housing, college, and groceries became luxury items
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Raised with recess, real food, and real music
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Part of a shared culture where we all watched the same cartoons and sitcoms
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Witnesses to real progress on race before the outrage industry hijacked the conversation
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Taught to fix our own cars, mow our own lawns, and go on actual dates
This isn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake — it’s a look at a narrow window in history where peace, prosperity, and analog childhoods gave rise to a uniquely grounded adulthood.
Call it lucky. Call it blessed. Just don’t call it boring.
🎧 Listen in — and let us know if you think we’re right, or just old.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
generations #boomers #GenX #history
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review Summerfest lager from Sierra Nevada, then dive into the most consequential U.S. Supreme Court decisions handed down since the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
We explore the Court’s growing willingness to redraw the legal map on race, religion, executive power, parental rights, and the limits of judicial authority. Highlights include:
Affirmative Action Implosion: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ends race-based college admissions.
Free Speech vs. Anti-Discrimination: In 303 Creative v. Elenis, religious liberty takes precedence over LGBTQ protections.
Executive Power Check: Biden v. Nebraska smacks down student loan forgiveness via the HEROES Act.
Trump v. CASA: The Court ends the era of universal injunctions, with Justice Barrett dressing down Justice Brown’s call for judicial supremacy.
Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton: Age verification for online porn upheld, raising quiet questions about whether obscenity should be protected speech at all.
Mahmoud v. Taylor: Do public schools have the right to impose moral instruction against parents' religious beliefs?
Riley v. Bondi: A case on the expedited removal of a Jamaican immigrant underscores due process boundaries.
Medina v. Planned Parenthood: Can states exclude abortion providers from Medicaid reimbursement?
We break down what these decisions mean for American law and society, and where the Court may go next. Whether you see these rulings as a return to constitutional sanity or a shift toward reactionary retrenchment, the terrain is shifting fast. Buckle up.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
SCOTUS #CASA #Trump #Mahmoud #Riley #Bondi #Medina #PlannedParenthood
The boys drink and review Calaminator, Crowhill's homebrewed dopplebock, then discuss the surprising comeback of Catholicism.
What is a "rad trad"? Why are young people -- particularly young men -- increasingly attracted to conservative Catholicism?
"How Catholicism Got Cool" by Madeleine Kearns addresses this question. Reasons include ...
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Transcendence and mystery
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Giving meaning to suffering
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Beauty, aesthetics, and the sacred
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Structure, discipline, and tough moral teaching
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Male identity and brotherhood
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Intimacy with God
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Rejection of the shallow alternatives
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Cultural credibility and intellectual depth
Is this a good thing for the culture? The boys discuss.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Christianity #Catholicism #radtrad #revival #traditionalism #transcendence
P&C drink and review Pigweed's home-brewed pale ale, then discuss the societal danger of the so-called beta male.
They react to a review by Dr. Orion Taraban of a Survivor episode that discusses the complex interactions between alpha males, beta males, and clever women. According to Dr. Taraban, the women made an alliance with the beta males to kick out the alpha males, but then the women turned on the beta males and kicked them out.
How does this dynamic play out in society? Where does "toxic masculinity" fit in? The boys discuss.
But what is this alpha / beta stuff? Pigweed reviews some of the characteristics.
Crowhill tries to tie it together with a higher-level theory that doesn't distinguish by sex -- teasing out the roles of strong leaders, weak leaders, and behind-the-scenes manipulators.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
toxicmasculinity #survivor #betamales #alphamales
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review an IPA from the Ministry of Brewing in Baltimore, then discuss some fairy tales.
The two stories reviewed in today's episode ended up as #4 and #3 in a recent contest between Grimm's fairy tales.
Pigweed, Crowhill, and Longinus review the stories and evaluate the imagery and messages they contain.
The fisherman and his wife is a tale of avarice and a lack of contentment.
The two brothers is a confusing story that seems to stitch together several different stories into a mad tapestry. It's long and fun and very strange.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
fairytales #Grimmfairytales #stories #BrothersGrimm
With special guest Longinus, the boys review a shandy from Founders, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with a review of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" -- a haunting 1886 novella that ripped the mask off Victorian respectability and exposed the brutal split within human nature.
Set in the same foggy, gaslit London as Sherlock Holmes, this story of duality, repression, and moral despair hit like a thunderclap on both sides of the Atlantic. But it’s more than just a gothic thriller — it’s a mirror held up to human nature and society itself.
We explore:
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The origins of the story and why Stevenson rewrote it from scratch after his wife’s critique
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The moral message: man is not one but two — and there may be no salvation for either
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The symbolism of Jekyll’s divided house, the hidden back door, and the cultured facade over inner rot
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The novella’s critique of Victorian England, where public virtue masks private vice
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Interpretive lenses: from Romans 7 and Christian theology to Jung’s shadow, Freud’s psychoanalysis, and even Star Trek
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Why Hyde isn’t some external monster, but a part of you — and why that makes the story more disturbing
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The tragedy of Jekyll: not that he loses control, but that he wants to
We also ask whether Stevenson’s bleak vision of human nature holds up — and contrast it with the biblical vision of a unified, redeemable self.
If you've ever wrestled with the dark side of human nature — or just want to understand why this little book still packs a punch — this episode is for you.
The boys drink and review Ballast Point Sculpin IPA then discuss CIA brainwashing.
From LSD-laced cocktails in CIA-run brothels to secret psychic spy units trying to read Soviet minds, this episode dives into some of the U.S. government's most bizarre and controversial experiments.
We expose the dark legacy of MK-Ultra, including mind control, psychological torture, and illegal human experimentation. Then we explore the Stargate Project and other military efforts to weaponize psychic abilities, including remote viewing, telepathy, and even psychic assassination.
What motivated these programs? Did they really end? And are similar experiments happening today under different names?
This isn't conspiracy theory. These are declassified facts, and they're more disturbing than fiction.
- MK-Ultra: LSD, Torture & Mind Control
- Operation Midnight Climax
- Remote Viewing & Psychic Spies
- Cold War Paranoia and Soviet Psychic Tech
- Why These Programs Might Still Exist
- Neural Interfaces, AI Psy-Ops, and the New Frontier
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
CIA #mindcontrol #MKUltra #LSD
The boys drink Pigweed's crazy "Iron Dome" cocktail, then continue their "nooze and booze" series with a discussion of the Israel-Iran war.
Israel and Iran have been adversaries for decades. Iran loudly insists it wants to destroy Israel. They also insist they will develop a nuclear bomb. Israel calls that an "existential threat" to their regime and will not allow Iran to get the bomb.
Iran has been getting closer and closer to having a nuke, so Israel preemptively attacked Iran to shut down their nuclear program.
President Trump has insisted for decades that Iran can't have a nuke. So ... will the United States get involved?
The boys discuss the war to date and what might happen next.
More at ...
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Israel #Iran #nukes #war
The boys drink and review Lost Navigator from Heavy Seas, then discuss the idea of bringing your authentic self to work.
There are benefits to having different views and perspectives in the workplace -- both for the employer and for the employee.
But some people think the job of the workplace is to make them feel good. To feel affirmed and comfortable. That's nonsense.
And sometimes your "authentic self" is not consistent with the company's brand or mission. What if you're an introvert and the company wants extroverts?
"Don't be a phony and don't lie" seem like reasonable rules, but this "authentic self" business is taking it too far.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
authenticself #workplace #beerreviews
P&C drink and review Shiner's Ruby Redbird, then discuss the big bang and what (if anything) came before.
While most scientists believe in a hot big bang, there is a lot of dispute about what happened right before that. The most well-known theory is the "singularity," and there is no "before" in that scenaio. But there are a lot of other options that scientists have considered.
The boys review some of these other options and their implications.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
bigbang #physics #origins #creation
P&C drink and review a robust porter from Founders, then discuss how artificial intelligence will change education -- for good and ill.
Crowhill wonders why we don't yet have the self-paced education that his mother promised way back in the 70s? AI could do that, but it would be a major challenge to the current institution and would almost certainly be opposed.
AI disrupts the current system in many ways. For example, the teacher can't tell if the student or AI did the homework. The teacher can't tell if the student wrote the paper.
AI might move us toward in-person assessments, a system that looks at the whole process (drafts, revisions) and not just the final product, or requiring students to explain what they've done.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
AIeducation #education
The boys drink and review Vixen Irish Style Red Ale by Old Bust Head, then discuss a provision from the infrastructure bill that was designed to prevent drunk driving.
The mandate is that all cars after 2026 would have a system to monitor the driver to ensure he's not drunk, in which case it will shut down the car. This system would monitor the face of the driver and all conversations in the car.
Who came up with this, and why isn't there more conversation about it?
This law gives the government a back-door switch to decide who can and who can't drive. The justification is to stop drunk driving, but of course it will be expanded beyond that.
P&C discuss all the ways this could go wrong and how the government and other bad actors could use this in devious and dangerous ways.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
killswitch #drunkdriving #infrastructurebill
P&C drink and review an amber ale from Nepenthe brewing, then discuss the Ubertrends shaping society.
Michael Tchong’s groundbreaking 2019 book "Ubertrends: How Trends and Innovation Are Transforming Our Future" revealed eight major societal shifts that are redefining values, behaviors, and our everyday lives in 2025. From the rise of casual living and digital lifestyles to the obsession with anti-aging, wireless connectivity, and the culture of surveillance, these trends illuminate where we’re headed—and what it means for us all.
P&C give them a critical look.
Discover how Casual Living is changing social norms, how Generation X-tasy prioritizes experiences over possessions, and why Time Compression fuels our demand for instant gratification. We'll delve into the Unwired era of wireless control, the voyeuristic nature of modern media, and the empowering rise of women shaping culture and economy. Plus, we'll examine the nuanced impacts—both positive and problematic—of these societal transformations.
Whether you're a trend enthusiast, a curious explorer of societal change, or simply want to understand the forces shaping our future, this episode offers a deep dive into the eight ubertrends steering us into a new era.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
trends #ubertrends #futurism #Trends2025 #socialchange
The boys drink and review a light IPA, then delve into the recent assessment by the President’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission.
The report highlights a concerning rise in childhood illnesses and chronic conditions. From skyrocketing rates of obesity, diabetes, and neurodevelopmental disorders to mental health crises among teens, the data paints a troubling picture of America’s youngest generation.
P&C explore the key factors driving this health decline, including the impact of ultra-processed foods, environmental chemicals, lack of physical activity, chronic stress, and overmedicalization. The report also sheds light on systemic issues such as corporate influence, conflicts of interest in healthcare, and media advertising that shape health outcomes.
Topics Covered:
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Increasing childhood chronic diseases and mental health issues
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The role of diet, environment, and lifestyle factors
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Overmedicalization and pharmaceutical influence
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Systemic challenges and policy implications
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Next steps and recommendations from the MAHA Commission
More at ...
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
MAHA #sickkids #Trump #RFKJR
The boys drink and review Howling Gale IPA from Fair Winds Brewing Company, then discuss the impact of cheap merchandise from China.
We get a lot of stuff from China, which isn't necessarily bad. But there are some products -- like human or dog food -- where there are legitimate health concerns. Even some Chinese clothing can have chemicals on them that are not good for you.
What are the other implications of buying all this cheap stuff?
The boys discuss.
More at ...
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
China #Cheapstuff #Chinatrade
The boys drink and review Key Brewing's Dark Slide Porter, then discuss the intentional destruction of the west.
Something feels wrong, and it’s not in your imagination.
In this hard-hitting episode, the boys expose the deliberate unraveling of Western civilization. From the rewriting of history to the weaponization of language, we break down how guilt, division, and ideological capture are being used to dismantle the very foundations of our culture. This isn’t drift—it’s design.
Topics covered:
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How “truth” became “hate speech”
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Why self-censorship is now seen as a virtue
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The rise of a two-tier system of justice and compassion
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Institutional capture of education, media, law, and religion
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The long game: divide, demoralize, replace
The agenda has some clear components.
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The reversal
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Psychological engineering and guilty programming
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The two-tier system of compassion
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Institutional capture
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The long game -- divide, demoralize, replace
This show leans heavily on a short video called "The deliberate subversion and demolition of the West" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IJ4lAk4TCs
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
DestructionOfTheWest #CulturalInversion #TruthMatters #Podcast
The boys drink and review a double IPA from Dale's and then discuss AI companions.
AI companions are coming whether we like it or not. In fact, they’re already here. Most of us already talk to our computers, even if it’s just to curse them for being clueless. So why not design machines that actually listen, respond, and understand us better?
In this episode, we explore the promise and peril of AI companions. On the bright side, they’re always available, judgment-free, and never moody. They offer affordable support for mental health, education, and loneliness. But there’s a darker side too: they can create the illusion of connection, stunt real relationships, and cross dangerous ethical lines.
P&C lay out the upsides, the risks, and the red lines society needs to draw — from protecting privacy to banning manipulative or emotionally deceptive behavior. Should AI ever pose as a friend, lover, therapist, or spiritual guide? Should emotionally persuasive algorithms be opt-in only?
This conversation isn’t just about technology, it’s about what it means to be human in an age of artificial intimacy.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
AI #AIcompanion #AIgirlfriend #scaryAI
The boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrew IPA, then discuss the pope news.
Why does the Catholic Church have a pope, and how did that role evolve into what it is today?
In this episode, we explore the theological roots of the papacy, starting with Jesus’ words: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” We dive into the biblical and historical concept of the pope as the keeper of the keys, which is something like a divine prime minister, and the pope’s role as a visible sign of unity and practical necessity in governing a global church.
We also tackle the long and messy history of papal disputes. From the East-West Schism over the filioque to the chaos of the Western Schism—with three men simultaneously claiming to be pope—the road to a stable papacy hasn’t been smooth. Learn how the Church eventually resolved these crises and how the conclave system works today to elect a new pope behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel.
Finally, we discuss the election of Pope Leo XIV (formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost), a figure who has sparked controversy and curiosity. Is he a return to traditional norms or a liberal Trojan horse? We break down the arguments from both sides—and examine the deeper tension: how conservatives and liberals relate very differently to the authority of the papacy.
Whether you're Catholic, curious, or just love church history, this is a candid, informative dive into one of the most enduring—and controversial—offices in the world.
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papacy #pope #PopeLeo
In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we crack open a First State IPA and dive into the quirky and complex history of Maryland—from its colonial beginnings to its odd borders, bold flag, and surprising state symbols.Learn about: Why Maryland has one of the most distinctive flags in the U.S. The Catholic roots of the colony and its experiment in religious tolerance Feuds with Virginia and Delaware that helped shape state lines Strange land grants, early tobacco economics, and the role of slavery The story behind counties like Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Why the state sport is jousting (yes, really) Forgotten heroes like Arctic explorer Matthew Henson And the ongoing mystery of why no one’s ever seen a Baltimore Oriole in BaltimoreWe cover centuries of drama, trivia, and local pride—with plenty of laughs and beer-fueled banter along the way.More at ... https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ#Maryland #history #OldLineState
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Dad Strength IPA, then discuss a short novel by Jane Auten as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series.
After a brief review of Austen's biography, they dive into the first book Austen wrote, but one of the last to be published.
Lady Susan is an epistolary novel, meaning that it's composed of a bunch of personal letters, which means you're always getting the story from the perspective of the letter writer.
Susan is the most accomplished flirt and manipulator in England. She's also very pretty and looks more 25 than 35. She's a hurricane who leaves destruction in her wake.
The novel is a fun romp through 18th century society and is decently portrayed in the movie "Love and Friendship" on Amazon.
More at ...
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Austen #JaneAusten #classics #LadySusan
The boys drink and review Capit-Ale from Devil's Backbone, then clear out the mail bag.
One reader objected to the fact that our show on slavery didn't focus on slavery in America. Which was the point.
JR asked what we thought of tariffs on aluminum and steel that harm the craft beer industry.
Miss Maisy asked why our show on left-wing violence didn't address conservative violence like Jan. 6 and militias.
Other questions addressed judicial overreach, the sexual morality of futurist dystopias, and an amusing interpretation of snow white.
More at ...
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
slavery #tariffs #politicalviolence
The boys drink and review The Crisp from Sixpoint brewery, then discuss the World Economic Forum.
The WEF is a non-governmental organization based in Switzerland. It's famous for its annual meeting in Davos.
It was founded by Klaus Schwab in 1971 as the European Management Forum, but changed to the WEF in 1987 and expanded its mission globally.
It's mission is to “improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.”
Their major initiatives include ...
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The Great Reset
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Stakeholder capitalism
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The Fourth Industrial Revolution
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The Global Risks Report
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Net Zero and climate initiatives
But who elected them? Why do they have power? Who asked them to do this? To whom are they accountable?
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
WEF #WorldEconomicForum #KlausSchwab #Davos
The boys drink and review Mas Lima from Oscar Blues, then ask whether the Democrats want to win another election. They're not acting that way.
In fact, the Democrats seem intent on losing even more. They've attached themselves to ideas and issues that 80 percent of the public reject, such as ...
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Castrating confused children
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The border and immigration
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Standing up for gang members
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Rejecting voter ID
Democrats have latched themselves to an extreme ideology the voters reject. If they ever want to win another election, they need to move towards the center.
More at ...
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
The boys drink and review Delicious IPA from Stone, then discuss prisons, and whether we're in a digital version of one.
The "panopticon" is a prison design invented by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The idea is that if you make prisoners feel as if they're constantly under surveillance, the prisoners will regulate themselves and the guards won't have to bang them about so much.
Modern prisons have adopted some of Bentham's ideas, but so have many other institutions.
Foucault said this idea was the blueprint for all modern institutions. Schools, hospitals, and other organizations enforce conformity by defining what is "normal" and by constant surveillance.
Stephen Cave added the concept of a "freedom quotient" by which we can determine how much freedom a person can exercise in any given situation.
The boys tie it all together and ask whether the modern world is a digital prison. We know we're being surveilled. We know we're supposed to follow what the powerful have defined as "normal."
P&C drink and review a blonde ale from the Brookeville Beer Farm, then discuss the process of de-extinction -- bringing animals back from the graves of history.
Using DNA from dire wolf fossils from 13,000 and 72,000 years ago, Colossal Biosciences claims to have brought the dire wolf back from extinction.
What they really did was edit the genes of a gray wolf to look a little more like a dire wolf. The pups -- Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi -- are white and a little large, but they're not dire wolves. They're just gray wolves that have had some work done.
The project raises larger questions. Is de-extinction a good idea? Should we bring back extinct species?
The boys discuss.
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direwolves #deextinction #DNA #Colossalbiosciences
P&C drink and review an excellent Scottish ale from Bellhaven, then discuss judicial tyranny.
Judges have a legitimate role in checking the power of Congress and the president. But can that power be taken too far?
Recently we've had a rash of "universal injunctions" against the Trump administration. Is that a proper use of judicial power, or have they taken it too far?
It seems that Congress has become irrelevant. The president and the courts legislate while Congress has hearings on things.
What are the limits on judicial power?
More at ...
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
tyranny #judicialtyranny #judges #judiciary #judicialpower
P&C drink and review a special Stout from Guinness then discuss the controversy over Snow White.
No, not that one. The boys start off with a comparison of the Disney version of the story with the version from the brothers Grimm. Disney filed off some of the rough edges.
They also discuss Tolkien's dislike of Disney, and why. They examine the role of fairy tales, and whether it's right to dial things back for the kids.
Late in the show they also discuss "Snow Woke" with Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot.
Are children better off with our watered down, saccharine stories, or did they grow up better when the heard about the dangers of life.
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Snowwhite #snowwoke #Tolkien #Grimm #fairytales
In this provocative episode, Pigweed and Crowhill explore a troubling question: Why does the modern political left seem so comfortable with violence? From vandalism and verbal threats to outright attacks on political opponents, the boys examine real-world examples -- from keyed Teslas and firebombed dealerships to violent rhetoric at rallies and social media.
They also take a philosophical turn, asking what might be going on psychologically and morally. Is victimhood being used as a moral loophole to justify aggressive behavior? Why do some on the left excuse or applaud violent actors, from radical activists to international terror groups?
Expect sharp commentary, cultural analysis, and a discussion of figures like Slavoj Žižek.
🎧 If you're tired of mainstream narratives and want an unfiltered take, tune in and join the conversation.
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
CultureWar #LeftWingViolence #VictimhoodCulture #PoliticalViolence #ConservativeVoices
The boys drink and review Bitburger, a German Pilsner, then discuss Crowhill's book about Jordan Peterson's religious views, and what we can piece together of his religious journey.
Jordan Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist who broke onto the public scene after Canada decided to tell people how they can and can't speak. He wasn't having any part of it.
Part of Peterson's mystique is his very public struggle with religious questions.
His recent book, "We Who Wrestle With God" is his latest foray into the topic, mixing evolutionary biology, Jungian archetypes, the Bible, and timeless religious and moral questions.
It's full of interesting insights, but it's a bit of a jumbled mess.
Crowhill makes an attempt to systematize and organize Peterson's thoughts into a coherent system. In today's episode, Pigweed, Crowhill, and special guest Longinus, discuss the book and draw out some of its key points.
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
JordanPeterson #Mythology #Religion #WewhowrestlewithGod
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a Mexican lager, then dive into one of the most obscure and incomprehensible poems on the planet.
Eliot’s The Waste Land is one of the most important -- and most confusing -- poems of the 20th century. The poem includes fragmented voices, obscure references, and a bleak vision of modern life. What exactly was Eliot trying to say, and why has this chaotic mess of a poem endured for over a hundred years?
In this episode, we dig into the madness:
Why the poem reads like a literary fever dream
How World War I, ancient myths, and personal breakdowns all bleed into the text
The role of religion, sex, and disillusionment in shaping the poem’s core message
And why lines like “April is the cruellest month” still hit hard today
Whether you're a student drowning in footnotes or a lit lover trying to make sense of Eliot’s masterpiece, this is your no-BS guide to The Waste Land. Bring your sense of curiosity — and maybe a glass of something strong.
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Eliot #TSEliot #TheWasteland #poetry
The boys drink and review Sun Camp by Dewey Beer Company, then discuss the potential strategic reasoning behind Trump's threatening statements towards Canada and Greenland.
The boys react to a LinkedIn post that flips your mental map of the world — literally. What if you looked at the globe from the top down? Suddenly, the Arctic isn’t a frozen afterthought, it’s the new front line.
❄️ Is climate change turning ice into opportunity?
As the Arctic melts, it opens up shipping lanes and exposes a treasure trove of natural resources: oil, gas, rare earths, and more. Russia’s already militarizing. China’s nosing in. And the U.S.? Scrambling to catch up.
What’s at stake for the U.S.?
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Security: Russian nukes and Chinese icebreakers are already in the game.
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Resources: Greenland’s rare earths could break China’s monopoly.
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Influence: Whoever controls the Arctic will shape global trade, energy, and power.
Greenland matters more than you think, and so does Canada. The North is becoming a high-stakes geopolitical chessboard, and the U.S. can’t afford to ignore it.
More at ...
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ArcticStrategy #Geopolitics #RareEarths #ClimateChange #Greenland #USPolicy #Russia #China #MentalModels #ChatGPTReacts
The boys drink and review "Pub Ale" from Black Abbey Brewery, then discuss nonprofits and non-governmental organizations.
What does "nonprofit" really mean? Does that mean nobody's making any money? Hardly.
Governments love to outsource shady operations, and nonprofits are often the cover. In this video, we expose how the nonprofit and NGO world isn’t always the virtuous, do-gooder space it pretends to be. From political manipulation to financial shell games, we dig into how “nonprofit” doesn’t always mean “non-corrupt.”
You'll learn:
How governments use NGOs to bypass legal and political accountability
Why the nonprofit label is often more about image than ethics
Real-world examples of abuse and power games hiding behind charity work
This isn’t about attacking the entire sector. There are plenty of honest orgs doing great work. But if you work with, donate to, or depend on nonprofits, you need to see how the system can be gamed.
🔔 Subscribe for more unfiltered takes on the nonprofit world.
📰 Visit our site for in-depth articles and tools for nonprofit professionals.
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nonprofits #NGOs #nongovernmentalorganizations #graft
No, this isn’t a sneaky conversion attempt. You can be a full-blown skeptic and still get a ton of value out of going to church (or any place of worship). In this light-hearted, irreverent, and maybe a little provocative video, we lay out the reasons why showing up on Sunday might actually be good for you—even if you don’t believe in God or a word of the sermon.
We’re talking real-life benefits like:
✅ Getting over yourself in a world obsessed with self-esteem
✅ Hearing actual moral instruction (not just Twitter rants)
✅ Being reminded of bigger, more important things than your inbox
✅ Singing with other humans (awkward, yes—but surprisingly good for the soul)
✅ Taking an hour off from your iPhone addiction
✅ Meeting people outside your social media echo chamber
✅ Practicing patience and attention in a world of dopamine hits
✅ Finding ways to help others through charitable work
✅ Connecting to a long human tradition
✅ And maybe—just maybe—being surprised by something you didn’t expect
Think of this as a modern survival guide to ancient wisdom, minus the preaching. Whether you're curious, cynical, or just looking for something meaningful to do on a Sunday morning—this one’s for you.
👀 Watch now, and let us know what your reason would be.
👍 Like, share, and subscribe.
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Church #Community #SpiritualButNotReligious #ModernLife #MoralCompass #Reflection #WeeklyReset
Are we being controlled by fear or by pleasure?
The boys drink and review an imperial pilsner, then discuss the contrasting visions of the future by Orwell and Huxley.
P&C explore the strange relevance of 1984 and Brave New World -- from constant surveillance, censorship, and thought control, to mindless entertainment, dopamine addiction, and emotional infantilization. Both dystopian visions offer chilling insights into modern society.
We break down the contrasting methods of control: Orwell's world of pain and suppression vs. Huxley's world of pleasure and distraction. Drawing from key quotes, real-world parallels, and cultural trends.
📚 Featuring insights from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death as summarized here.
https://www.afterbabel.com/p/the-price-of-mass-amusement
👍 Like, share, and subscribe for more videos on culture, beer, critical thinking, and just plain fun.
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Huxley #Orwell #1984 #BraveNewWorld
The boys drink and review an IPA from Lost Rhino, then discuss the distressing direction of the state of Maryland. It's as if Maryland wants to follow all the most disastrous liberal policies they can find.
Pigweed and Crowhill review problems with our horrible governor, stupid new laws and taxes, and the general tax and spend stupidity of the state.
Maryland is a deep blue state that is on its way to recession.
🔔 Subscribe for more beer reviews and interesting commentary!
💬 What do you think of Maryland? Let us know in the comments!
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Maryland #Wesmoore #politics
P&C reflect on some odd facts about Lent, then discuss the possibility of a new Druze homeland in the middle east. All while drinking two Irish stouts.
Pigweed starts off with some observations about St. Patrick's Day and Lent, and the amusing / horrible answers from ChatGPT.
The boys also address a question in Louisiana about whether alligator is "a fish" for purposes for the Lenten fast.
In the Middle East, Syria is falling apart. Long time leader / dictator Assad is gone, but it hasn't turned out as well as people hoped. Syria has become a violent basket case.
The Druze are a very old offshoot from Islam that still survives (barely) in the Middle East. They've been hunted and persecuted by Muslims for centuries. They're spread across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, and have no autonomy of their own.
Now there's a movement for the Druze to carve out their own homeland, which would create another non-Muslim area in the middle east, which will set the Muslims' hair on fire.
🔔 Subscribe for more commentary on society!
💬 What do you think? Should the Druze have a homeland? Let us know in the comments!
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MiddleEast #Druze
The boys drink and review Crowhill's Extra Special Bitter, then discuss the philosophy of anarchism and how it's different than anarchy.
Hobbes (see episode 487) believed that the life of man in the state of nature is so horrible that no matter how bad the sovereign is, he's better off under the sovereign than not.
Anarchists take the opposite view -- that men can and do cooperate, and we don't need rulers to oppose their coercive authority on us.
P&C discuss the good aspects of anarchism, then point out some of its weaknesses.
🔔 Subscribe for more commentary on society!
💬 What do you think? Is anarchism a good political philosophy? Let us know in the comments!
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anarchy #anarchism #politics #law
The boys drink and review Gaelic Storm, an imperial red ale, then ask why, since "women's rights" have made such great strides in recent decades, women are actually less happy?
According to the 2024 American Family Survey, liberal women are half as happy as conservative women.
There's no greater currency in liberalhood than being a victim. Liberal women therefore feel better -- that is, they feel worse -- the more they can claim to be a victim.
What causes all this? Why was feminism such a horrible failure?
🔔 Subscribe for more commentary on society!
💬 What do you think? Did feminism destroy female happiness? Let us know in the comments!
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
feminism #liberalwomen #happiness
With special guest Longinus, Pigweed and Crowhill drink Senate beer, then discuss the impact and popularity of Vikings.
What drove the Vikings to set sail on their legendary raids? In this video, we explore the forces that pushed the Norse to leave their homelands in search of wealth, land, and glory. We begin with the infamous 793 AD raid on Lindisfarne, a brutal attack that shocked medieval Europe and marked the beginning of the Viking Age. Then, we dive into the fascinating possibility that Vikings reached North America centuries before Columbus, settling in Newfoundland at L’Anse aux Meadows. Finally, we examine how Viking history, mythology, and warrior culture continue to shape modern popular culture—from TV shows and video games to heavy metal and sports teams.
Join us as we separate fact from fiction and uncover the real story of the Vikings!
🔔 Subscribe for more history content!
📜 Sources & Further Reading:
💬 What do you think? Did Vikings leave a lasting presence in North America? Let us know in the comments!
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Vikings #NorseHistory #VikingAge #Lindisfarne
The boys drink and review one of Pigweed's homebrews, then discuss the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.
What makes Beowulf such a timeless epic? In this episode of Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill, we dive into the legendary Old English poem, exploring its themes of heroism, honor, and the battle between good and evil.
We discuss Beowulf’s iconic fights with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon—unpacking the deeper meanings behind these monstrous encounters. How does Beowulf reflect the values of warrior culture? What does it reveal about fate, leadership, and the tension between pagan and Christian worldviews?
Join us as we break down the literary significance of Beowulf, its historical context, and why it still resonates today.
📌 Topics Covered:
✅ The heroic code and the pursuit of glory
✅ Symbolism of Grendel, his mother, and the dragon
✅ Pagan vs. Christian themes in Beowulf
✅ Beowulf as a warrior-king: Strength vs. wisdom
✅ Why Beowulf remains a must-read
If you love epic literature, mythology, or deep dives into classic texts, this episode is for you!
🎧 Subscribe for more engaging discussions on literature, history, and philosophy.
🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and share! What are your thoughts on Beowulf? Let’s discuss in the comments!
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
Beowulf #EpicPoetry #Mythology #Literature #Heroism #History #OldEnglish #Podcast
P&C drink and review Nugget Nectar by Troegs, then (starting about 4:47) discuss the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk.
The boys expected DOGE to be investigating and studying things until July of 2026. DOGE is supposed to be finding waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency, and it's off to a mad start, kicking down doors and taking names right from the start.
So far, a handful of 20-somethings working for DOGE have found things that our professionals inspectors have missed.
One of the first casualties was USAID, which seems to be nothing more than a mechanism for politicians to pay off their cronies.
More at ...
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ
governmentefficiency #elonmusk #DOGE #beer #USAID #grift
P&C drink and review a stout from Jamaica then ask what's the point of a liberal church?
Wokeism has taken over many liberal Christian denominations, with their BLM posters and LGBTlmnop flags.
Why do people go to church in the first place? Usually people go to church to become a better disciple of Jesus. The liberal churches seem to have interpreted that as being uber-tolerant.
Pigweed asks "but aren't churches supposed to be judgy?," and doesn't forgiveness come after repentance?
Here are some characteristics of liberal churches.
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They don't believe the Bible.
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They betray basic Christian doctrines such as the virgin birth and the deity of Christ.
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They believe man is good rather than sinful and in need of a savior.
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They compromise on sexual ethics. Same-sex marriage, LGBlmnop, gender fluidity, etc.
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The believe everyone goes to heaven.
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They deny the resurrection and Christ's miracles.
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They put social justice over the Gospel.
The West is based on Christianity, and the West is under attack by many forces, such as Islam, secularism, and communism. Can the liberal church stand up against these attacks?
Website:
https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
Twitter:
https://x.com/CshowP
In this episode of the podcast, we crack open a Smuttynose "Finest Kind" IPA and dive into the fascinating life and legacy of William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States. Known to many as the "fourth assassinated president" alongside Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and John F. Kennedy, McKinley’s story goes far beyond trivia night. From his heroic service during the Civil War to his transformative presidency, we explore what made him one of the most influential figures in American history.We discuss McKinley’s courageous actions on the battlefield—running through enemy fire to deliver crucial messages—and his rise from an enlisted soldier to the rank of brevet major. Transitioning into politics, McKinley served multiple terms in the House of Representatives, became Governor of Ohio, and ultimately won the presidency in 1896. Learn how his “front porch campaign” changed the face of presidential elections and why he’s the only U.S. president to have served in the House but not the Senate.McKinley’s presidency marked a turning point for the United States, establishing the nation as a global power. We delve into the impact of the Spanish-American War (1898), which led to the U.S. acquiring Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, as well as the annexation of Hawaii. McKinley championed the gold standard over silver-backed currency and supported protective tariffs to boost American manufacturing—policies that draw comparisons to modern leaders like Donald Trump. We also touch on his role in strengthening the U.S. Navy, expanding the nation’s global influence, and consolidating the power of the Republican Party for decades.Of course, we also cover McKinley’s tragic assassination at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, by anarchist Leon Czolgosz—a pivotal event that reshaped presidential security and led to the Secret Service assuming its protective role. Plus, we explore the eerie coincidence of Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, being present at the assassinations of three U.S. presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.Finally, we discuss the controversy surrounding Mount McKinley—North America's tallest peak—originally named in McKinley's honor but renamed Denali during the Obama administration, sparking debates about history, culture, and politics.Grab a drink, settle in, and join us for a fun and insightful conversation about history, politics, and craft beer. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more episodes! #WilliamMcKinley#AmericanHistory#PresidentialAssassinations#SpanishAmericanWar#Denali#CraftBeer#Podcast
In this episode, we dive deep into the controversies surrounding Joe Biden and his family, tackling some of the most debated topics in American politics today. From Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop to allegations of corruption involving Ukraine and China, we examine the key evidence, media coverage, and political fallout that have fueled questions about accountability at the highest levels of government.We break down the sequence of events, starting with Hunter Biden’s connections to Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company operating in one of Europe’s most corrupt countries. How did Hunter secure a lucrative position despite his lack of industry experience? What role did Joe Biden play when Ukrainian investigators began looking into Burisma’s activities? We explore the widely circulated video of Joe Biden admitting to pressuring Ukraine to fire a prosecutor investigating Burisma and discuss what this means for the integrity of American foreign policy.But the story doesn’t stop there. We also look at Hunter Biden’s financial ties with Chinese companies, the IRS whistleblower allegations that claim the Department of Justice slow-walked investigations into Hunter’s taxes and foreign dealings, and the bank records that raise questions about where the money went. Did Joe Biden benefit from these business ventures? And what about the emails referencing “10% for the big guy”? We discuss Tony Bobulinski’s claims that Joe Biden was aware of and involved in his family’s business dealings, as well as the broader implications for government transparency and ethics.Beyond the allegations themselves, we analyze the media’s response and why so many mainstream outlets seemed reluctant to investigate these stories. Why did 51 intelligence officials label Hunter Biden’s laptop as having “all the hallmarks of Russian propaganda”? Was this a coordinated effort to shield Joe Biden during a critical election cycle?
We explore the role of social media platforms, government pressure on tech companies like Twitter and Facebook, and the broader issue of censorship and free speech in the digital age.Finally, we discuss what happens next. With allegations of corruption, shell companies, and suspicious financial transactions, should there be further investigations? Or, as some argue, should the focus shift to more pressing national issues like government waste, military reform, and economic stability? And what about the political precedent—should former presidents and their families be subject to legal scrutiny after leaving office, or does that risk further dividing an already polarized nation?Tune in for a no-holds-barred conversation that cuts through the noise and examines the facts. Whether you think Joe Biden is above the law or believe the allegations are politically motivated, this episode will give you plenty to consider.👉 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more episodes like this!📢 Share your thoughts in the comments—should there be further investigations into the Biden family?#JoeBiden #HunterBiden #PoliticalCorruption #BidenFamily #GovernmentAccountability #Ukraine #China #HunterBidenLaptop #MediaBias #FreeSpeech
The boys drink and review a pilsner, then discuss the English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes.
Hobbes is best known for his characterization of life in the state of nature as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
Pigweed sets the historical context with some dates and the very consequential events that occurred during Hobbes' life -- including the English civil war, the execution of Charles I, and the restoration.
Hobbes wanted to know who gets to rule, under what circumstances, and within what limits. He starts by reflecting on human nature, which he says is a horrific state of war where people live in a constant state of fear. People can make agreements with their neighbors, but Hobbes says there's a need for a sovereign who makes sure people keep their agreements.
In Hobbes's mind, the state of nature is so awful that any sovereign, no matter how awful, no matter how tyrannical, is better.
The boys drink and review a robust porter then discuss "abusive empathy."
Abusive empathy is when you turn empathy into a weapon or a tool to manipulate.
Some examples would include ...
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Telling college age kids they're too fragile to face other views
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Passing kids to the next grade rather than hurting their feelings
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Prioritizing emotions over facts
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Infantilizing people rather than allowing them to become strong
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Silencing dissent by labeling other opinions as cruel or unfeeling
It's similar to the Jungian concept of the "devouring mother," where mom protects the kids from the natural consequences of their actions, doesn't allow them to face struggle or failure, in an effort to keep them dependent.
Examples in media would include Danny Kaye in White Christmas, or Eddie Haskall in Leave it to Beaver.
Then the boys entertain a question from a listener about whether Elon should apologize for his alleged "Nazi salute," which leads to a discussion about when an apology is appropriate.
Which in turn leads to a discussion of the social media meme that "no matter how much you hate the media, you don't hate them enough."
The boys drink and review an Irish Cream Stout from Southern Tier, then discuss slavery around the world and throughout history.
From the earliest records of mankind there has been slavery. From Hammurabi, the Bible, Aristotle, records from Egypt -- slavery was assumed to be a part of life. The Bible didn't outlaw slavery, but it set limits on it. Later, we see a similar pattern in the Koran.
Slavery continues into the Roman Empire, where we see several different types of slaves, from gladiators, galley slaves, and miners, to easier roles like body slaves, household slaves, and even slaves who ran businesses. You might have become a slave from debt or from committing a crime. Slaves might have made up as much as 30 percent of the population.
The "slavs" are so called because so many of them were forced into slavery. American Indians had slaves. Europeans, Africans, and Asians all enslaved one another. Vikings took slaves. Everybody everywhere took slaves.
The whole concept is brutal and unthinkable to a modern man, but in a world where life was nasty, brutish, and short, sometimes slavery was better than the alternative.
The first U.S. war was fought against the Barbary pirates, who were capturing and enslaving Americans and Europeans.
Up until about 300 years ago, almost nobody questioned slavery.
P&C drink and review a dark lager from Jack's Abby Brewing then discuss week one of the Trump administration.
Trump's changes are coming so fast and furious that the left and the media can't keep up.
They boys start with three criticisms.
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Trump's pardon of the violent J6 people.
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Crowhill isn't thrilled with RFK Jr. Yes, we should question the role of Big Food and Big Pharma, but he's not sure Bobby is the right man.
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The postponement of the TikTok ban.
Then they review the rest of his executive orders, which they generally approve of, with some minor exceptions.
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Putting the military at the border
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Sanctuary cities
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Remain in Mexico policy
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Ending birthright citizenship
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Using Gitmo to house illegal aliens
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Energy-related changes
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Ending DEI
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Pulling out of the WHO
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Reinstate military members who refused to take the COVID jab
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Designate Houthis as terrorists.
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Revoking security clearance of politically biased intelligence officers
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Declassify JFK, RFK, and MLK documents
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Defunding UNWRA
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Pausing loans and grants
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Starlink
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Allowing Trump to serve 3 terms
And on and on. Trump has been very busy with executive orders.
The boys drink and compare a Scotch and a Scottish ale, then discuss the end of western civilization. There are some disturbing signs.
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Feminism and the destruction of gender roles
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The death of masculinity
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The celebration of obesity
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Identity politics
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The porn pandemic and OnlyFans
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Replacing faith with materialism
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The isolation in post-war suburbanism
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Wokeness
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The declining birth rate
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The erosion of free speech
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The crisis of meaning
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Political polarization and tribalism
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Consumer culture and the loss of authenticity
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Overdependence on technology
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The attack on childhood innocence
Most of this is not from external threats. It's a rot from within.
Why does the west hate itself so much?
The boys drink a "Golden Age" cocktail and celebrate the end of the national nightmare.
Are we celebrating the end of Biden / Harris, or the beginning of Trump?
Let's start with the horrors of the Biden administration.
Biden promised the rule of law, a return to norms, and a smooth transition. He did none of those things. He weaponized the justice department against his enemies (mostly Trump), shattered norms, and tried to sabotage Trump during the transition.
Which only added to the rest of his sins, including ...
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The Afghanistan withdrawal
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Promoting wokeness, with DEI, trans-ing the kids, Title IX changes, and pushing wokeness on the military.
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His shaky support for Israel
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His catastrophic policies on immigration
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His mental incompetence (who was running things?)
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The antics of the Biden crime family
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Ukraine
... and more.
Trump is a sharp (and welcome) contrast.
The boys discuss. And drink.
The boys drink and review Baltimore Breakfast from Oliver Brewing, then discuss a few issues from the mail bag, including two-tier policing, the soft bigotry of low expectations, and education.
MarxH8tr asked about the Notting Hill event in England and why the police didn't treat bad behavior at that event the way they would at a football game. Are we supposed to hold people to different standards based on the culture they're from?
If we have to accept that people from different cultures can't follow the same rules as the natives, maybe we don't want people from that culture.
In response to the show on universities, GoRedskins challenged the boys to say what classes students should be taking in university.
P&C discuss what a well-rounded education should look like.
The boys drink and review a red ale from Evo, then ask why so many of the rich and powerful seem to be engaged in some form of perversion.
Are perverts attracted to positions of power, or does power and privilege create conditions that lead people into perversion?
What happens when there are no consequences to your actions? What happens to your moral compass when you can cut in line, be rude, skip the bill at the restaurant, and people still think you're cool?
There are so many examples of people in power who seem to do horrible things.
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The Catholic Abuse Crisis
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Other religious organizations (Jehovah Witnesses, Southern Baptists, ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities)
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School teachers may be worse
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Jeffrey Epstein
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Harvey Weinstein
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Pedophilia in Hollywood
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Perversion in the music industry
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Bill Clinton
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Diddy (Sean Combs)
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Larry Nassar
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Jerry Sandusky
It seems there are a few ways to look at this.
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People who are abusive are drawn to positions where they can abuse.
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Once a person is in a privileged position he's more likely to give in to temptation because he doesn't fear the consequences.
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There's a culture of "we're above the rules" among the elite.
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On the other hand, maybe everybody is a pervert and it's just not reported among the poor and powerless.
The boys drink and review Lucky 7 Porter from Evo, then discuss the purpose and role of universities.
Why do we have so many majors in university? Why not have a basic education, then specialize at the masters and doctorate level?
Early on, universities were "finishing schools for nobility." They taught how to think critically, how to communicate, how to be a cultured person, and how to fit in with the rest of European society.
There is a cultural good to having an educated population, which is why we provide publicly funded education.
Many of the universities were originally founded to train preachers and pious, civic-minded people. They've changed their emphasis over time. They still want to train people to be good citizens, but they've lost the concept of virtue and a common culture with common values. Often the universties are a hotbed of hostility towards our culture. They've become "subversities."
There used to be a common understanding of "the good." There isn't anymore.
The boys then discuss the recent changes, where students are protected from ideas that might make them uncomfortable. They're given "trigger warnings" and cry rooms.
We're note producing free thinking, emotionally mature grown-ups who can go out into the world.
Jon Haidt recommends that universities focus on "anti-fragility," which requires stress and pressure.
P&C drink a well-aged bourbon barrel stout from Goose Island to celebrate the general effect Trump is already having on the culture.
In recent news, Mark Zuckerberg announced a big change in the way Meta will monitor and censor content. It's a huge step in the right direction.
The Trump effect goes further. Before even taking office, Trump is pushing things in the right direction, including ...
His approval rating is higher than it's ever been.
Tucker Carlson gave a great speech about how the spell has been broken. The left used to tell us that all polite, right-thinking people thought a certain way. Now we know that's not true.
We see more foreign investments in the U.S.
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Softbank Grop has pledged to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects. (Trump asked for $200 billion on live TV.)
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DAMAC Properties plans to invest at least $20 billion in U.S. data centers
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Adani Group plans to invest $10 billion in U.S. energy security and infrastructure.
Steve Madden announced that they're slowing manufacturing in China and moving it to the U.S.
Putin says he's ready to work for a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
Many companies are reversing course on DEI, ESG, etc.
NATO members have pledged to up their commitments.
The so-called "mainstream media" is falling apart. MSNBC is up for sale. CNN has announced more hard news and less opinion. The Wash Post has promised to moderate their message.
Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah seem to be toning things down a little.
China is toning down rhetoric about Taiwan.
Some migrant caravans are turning back, and Mexico is showing signs of helping.
Trudeau is gone in Canada.
Trump is already winning even before taking office.
P&C drink and review a "special lager," then discuss the domestication of plants and animals, and how that differs from genetically modified food.
Dogs were domesticated about 18,000 years ago. Plants were domesticated about 10,000 years ago. Goats, sheep, and chickens might have been domesticated about 8,000 years ago. The farm animals we have today are very different from the original stock they were taken from.
Domestication raises some interesting questions, like what characteristics make an animal domesticatable? E.g., why do we have domestic horses but not domestic zebras?
It's not just animals. Most of the food we eat has been modified from its wild origin. The apples, carrots, corn and such that we eat are very different from the wild plants they came from. The same applies on the animal side to sheep, cows, pigs, goats, and such.
If these plants and animals were modified from their "natural" state, why is this different from genetically modified organisms?
The boys discuss domestication and how it has affected human history.
The boys drink and review a light dopplebock from Schlaffly then discuss the cultural relevance of cousin marriage.
The England parliament has recently started debating whether to prohibit cousin marriage, which P&C thought was already against the law. Apparently not -- not in England, and not in all the states.
The increase in Muslims in England has made this a big issue. In Pakistan, up to 60 percent of marriages are to first cousins.
In England, while British Pakistanis accounted for 3.4 percent of all births, they had 30 percent of all children with recessive disorders. It's become a public health issue, but it's also a "sensitive issue."
The larger issue with cousin marriages is the difference between clan-based societies -- where affiliations are based on family relations -- and western societies -- where affiliations are based on other factors.
Banning cousin marriages in the west created high-trust societies that were not based on family relationships. By contrast, many dysfunctional countries are dysfunctional precisely because they only trust people in their families.
Having said all that, there's been a lot of cousin (and even sibling) marriage among the political elite. What's up with that?
The boys discuss the implications of these connections and how they affect societal customs.
P&C drink and review a piney IPA, then discuss strange juxtapositions in history.
Did you know ...
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George Washington didn't know about dinosaurs.
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Sharks are older than trees.
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The 10th president of the U.S. has a grandson who is alive today.
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Woolly mammoths were still alive while the Egyptians were building the pyramids.
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The Oregon Trail was first used the same year the fax machine was invented.
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The University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire.
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The guillotine was still France's official method of execution when Star Wars debuted.
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The Roman Empire fell only 40 years before Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas.
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The Great Pyramid was older to the Romans than the Romans are to us.
And more ...
Join us for this fun review of strange coincidences and connections in history.
The boys drink and review an English Mild from Schaffly, then discuss different approaches to population.
Pigweed starts the show with the startling facts about population and how rapidly we got from 1 billion to 8 billion so quickly -- with no apparent signs of stopping.
Malthus raised the concern that population can increase geometrically, but food production increases arithmetically, and predicted widespread starvation.
In fact, food production skyrocketed, so the problem has been averted for now.
Paul Erlich has been riding a similar issue for decades even though all his predictions turned out false as well. We didn't poison everything, the air is cleaner, and there has not been widespread disease and famine.
The reality is more complicated. Population growth is not only slowing, but in many areas it's negative. The most recent trends indicate that population will level off in about 2050.
Even if population only levels off, that still creates problems. The ratio between young and old would change dramatically, and the geniuses who invented our social support systems assumed an ever-growing population, where young people outnumbered old people.
However, population might not only level off, but may decline. Rapidly.
We have no economic or social models for that.
Who welcomes this decline and who is worried about it? What are their motives?
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Naked Elf by Troegs (a version of their seasonal Mad Elf), then discuss the history of all the funny traditions that make up our modern Christmas.
Was Jesus really born in a manger on the 25th of December? And speaking of dates, why do the Orthodox celebrate Christmas on a different day?
What did Saturnalia, the winter solstice, and Yule contribute to our Christmas traditions?
How did St. Nicholas get associated with Christmas?
Where did we get tree decorating, mistletoe, Yule logs, gift-giving men in fur cloaks, strange animals pulling sleighs, and the general festivity of the season?
Why are "scary ghost stories" associated with Christmas? And how did Thor's goat get thrown into the mix?
Why did Oliver Cromwell and the early Americans have such a problem with Christmas?
Is Santa Claus really St. Nick, or is he the pagan Father Frost, or maybe Odin?
The boys discuss these and other fun stories about the origin of our modern Christmas celebration.
To help you get in the holiday spirit, here's the latest edition of P&C's "shortcut to the classics." The expanded crew drinks and reviews Sam Adams' Old Fezziwig ale and discusses the Charles Dickens classic.
Special guest Longinus starts the show with a brief bio of Dickens and provides some historical context to the story.
The boys discuss how the book differs from the various movie versions (not much), and provide background on some of the more striking and interesting details.
There are also 19th century concepts and terms we're not used to today, like the treadmill for the poor, negus and smoking bishop (which were types of punch), and forfeits, a party game.
There are other little things that might have hidden meaning, like Scrooge's first name. Why "Ebenezer"?
Other questions come up.
-
Why can't the ghost of Christmas future speak?
-
Why did Scrooge (and no one else) get this special chance at redemption?
If you've seen one of the movies, you know the basic story, but the book is delightful and well worth reading.
The boys drink and review an English IPA from Guilford Brewing, then discuss the internet, and why we allow children on the thing. People 50 years from now are going to condemn us for the way we've destroyed children's innocence by giving them access to this putrid environment. Australia recently passed a bill to restrict social media to 16 and above. That might be a good start We have to show an ID to buy beer or cigarettes, why do we allow children on the porn-infested internet. Why not a kid-friendly, open internet, and another internet where you have to sign on and demonstrate you're an adult? There are legit privacy questions, of course. Will the government -- or Apple -- have a record of what everyone does online? Those are excuses. There are solutions to this problem, we're just not trying hard enough to create them.
The boys drink a sidecar cocktail, then discuss Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter.
Despite repeatedly promising not to do it, Biden did what everyone knew he was going to do.
At this point, everyone is now on record as not trusting the justice system.
The timing of the pardon is interesting. Did he want to get it through before Kamala 25-amendmented him? Or, rather, did he want to do it before Hunter was actually sentenced?
Did Biden lie about his promise not to pardon Hunter, or did he mean it and change his mind?
Was the pardon self-defense? After all, Hunter could spill the beans on the Biden crime family, which could lead to lots of trouble for Joe.
The pardon isn't small potatoes either. It's a blanket pardon for anything he did or could have done over an 11-year period.
The pardon could backfire on Joe, since Hunter can no longer plead the 5th.
The boys enjoy their cocktail and discuss all the implications.
The boys drink Right Proper Pale Ale and discuss book bans.
Anne Arundel County in Maryland has become "a book sanctuary." They want "all voices, all stories, and all perspectives to be protected."
Crowhill calls it out as a flat lie and virtue signalling. These same people (or their intellectual fellow travelers) have been in favor of censorship on social media. Why is the library any different?
Should we make a distinction between what children can access and what adults can access?
A big part of the problem is the misuse of the word "banned." You're not banning a book if you choose not to stock it at the local library. You're not banning a book if you believe children's story hour shouldn't include child pornography.
At the local library there are tables full of "banned books." They're so banned that they have a prominent place at the front of the library.
Are these "sanctuary libraries" going to include Mein Kampt, books on how to make your own suicide vests, "My Favorite Lynchings"?
The rhetoric is that "all views" are accepted. That's a transparent lie.
While drinking a local stout, the boys ask whether abortion is really healthcare and then discuss that and related issues.
Healthcare is generally understood as the maintenance or improvement of health through prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or management of illness, injury, and other physical or mental impairments.
How does abortion fit in with that?
Pigweed and Crowhill evaluate the reality against the propaganda and the pro-choice slogans.
Is it really "my body, my choice"?
Do people really want to affirm Roe v. Wade?
Is it actually a "conversation with my doctor"?
"Keep your laws off my body!" Is that a legit legal standard?
So where should we draw the line? When does a fetus become a human with protected rights?
The boys drink and review a festive, Christmas beer, then discuss Trump's selections for his cabinet and what we might expect from them. Nazi Germany, of course. And fascism. And the end of democracy. But beyond that ....
As of the time of the podcast, Trump has chosen ...
Marco Rubio for Secretary of State
Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense
Matt Gaetz for Attorney General (although he withdrew)
Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior
Howard Lutnick for Commerce
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS
Sean Duffy for Transportation
Chris Wright for Energy
Linda McMahon for Education
Doug Collins for Veterans Affairs
Kristi Noem for Homeland Security
Other key positions include ...
Lee Zeldin for EPA
Elisa Stefanik for the UN
Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel
Tilsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence
John Ratcliffe for CIA
Tom Homan as "Border Czar"
... and a few others.
He's also asked Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new "Department of Government Efficiency."
Remember to visit us at https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/
The boys drink and review Sierra Nevada's Cold IPA, then discuss Scientology.
If you had your choice, would you rather your child be woke or a scientologist? It's a hard choice.
Pigweed starts the discussion with a bio of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder / creator of both Dianetics and its later manifestation, Scientology. He was one of the most prolific authors in history, with as many as 1,000 titles.
The distinguishing factors of Scientology include ...
-
The reactive vs. the analytical mind. The reactive mind stores painful traumatic memories called “engrams.” You find these through “auditing.” Once you get rid of the reactive mind you’re “clear.”
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Auditing is done with the E-meter, which is essentially a galvanometer.
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Opposition to Psychiatry and Psychology are flawed because they focus on symptoms rather than addressing the underlying problem of engrams.
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Focus on self-empowerment and personal responsibility
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Bridge to total freedom
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Thetans and spiritual identity.
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Survival as a core drive
But there's another side -- the mythology, including the goofy story about Xenu throwing people into volcanoes 75 million years ago.
Remember to connect with us at https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/, or write to the show at pigweedshow@gmail.com.
The boys drink and review "Raised by Wolves" from Right Proper brewing, then wonder if they're suckers for paying their income taxes when other people seem to get away with not filing!
They start by steelmanning the arguments against the income tax, which include ...
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The "sovereign citizen" idea
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Questions about the ratification of the 16th Amendment
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That it's a violation of the constitution's original intent
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The "voluntary compliance" language
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That the income tax was not intended to apply to everyone
Pigweed and Crowhill examine these arguments and give their analysis.
Remember to visit us at https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/, and write to the show at pigweedshow@gmail.com
Broadcasting from the Royal Oak pub, the boys drink and review Crowhill's homebrewed porter then discuss the failure of our government-run schools and the American education system.
Over the last 40 years we've had an increased role in education by both governments and unions, we've spent more and more on education, but results are worse and worse. Why?
Private schools that spend far less per student get better educational outcomes, and homeschoolers -- who spend very little -- frequently outperform private schools.
At the same time, we keep hearing that teachers aren't being payed enough.
Okay, so where is all this money going? It's going to administrators.
The boys review some statistics and discuss possible remedies.
Pigweed and Crowhill enjoy a celebratory bottle of champaign as they review the 2024 election.
Which is the more important victory: that Donald Trump won, or that Harris lost?
The first time around, Trump didn't have a "Trump Team." He had to cobble together an administration through recommendations from people who didn't agree with his policies and approach. That will be entirely different this time.
Once again, the pollsters have egg on their faces. Trump overperformed by a wide margin.
Why did this go wrong for the Democrats?
-
Kamala was a horrible candidate who ran a horrible campaign
-
She was never selected by any democratic vote
-
She has been completely incompetent as vice president
-
Her policies, such as they were, were completely out of touch with the country
-
She did nothing but call names and alienate people
-
Walz was super weird
With hope, we can look forward to these things from DJT:
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The end of trans madness
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Get rid of the men in dresses in the military
-
Stand up to China
-
A better team with good ideas
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The end of DEI, "equity" and racial grievance
-
Close the borders, amnesty over
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End of entitlement benefits for illegals
-
Money for foreign wars we don't care about
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Clean up the deep state: DOJ, HHS, DOE, DOT, etc.
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No pride flags on any buildings or embassies
-
JD Vance tearing up the idiots in the media
The boys drink and review Fireside Chat winter ale by 21st Amendment Brewery, then discuss The Northman, paganism, and Rod Dreher's take on how paganism presents an enchanted view of life.
"The Northman" is basically the story of Hamlet set among the Vikings. Amleth witnesses his uncle murdering his father and carrying off his mother. He vows to avenge his father and rescue his mother.
Years later, Amleth becomes a fierce warrior, but sells himself into slavery so he can be in the town of his uncle and get his revenge.
It's an interesting movie, but the larger question addressed in the podcast is how this relates to modern man's lack of a sense of meaning and purpose, and the longing for enchantment.
Modern secular, technological society is a fantastic thing. It's given us antibiotics and labor-saving technologies that are simply amazing. But there's no dispute that it's come at a cost. Secular society reduces life to the material, emphasizing logic, technology, and efficiency over mystery and meaning. While these advancements offer many benefits, Dreher argues that they leave a void, creating a sense of disconnection from life’s deeper meaning.
In stark contrast, the symbolic, hero-driven narrative of "The Northman" shows characters motivated by a sense of duty and destiny that transcends self-interest. It's an appeal to something timeless and heroic. But beyond that, there's a constant sense of immanent spiritual reality. The gods are as real in The Northman as the sky and the land.
Dreher’s analysis suggests that this type of worldview, which modernity often overlooks, fulfills a deep-rooted human desire to connect with the divine, the sacred, and the transcendent.
The boys drink and review "Beast of Both Worlds," a "Bi-Coastal IPA" from Lagunitas.
George Soros has become a whipping boy for the right. The man was born a Hungarian Jew and lived through both Naziism and communism, but made his respectable pile of money in the United States. P&C start off with a brief biography, but move on to speak about his underlying philosophy and the causes he promotes.
Soros was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Karl Popper and his concept of open and closed societies. In an open society individuals are free to think and act independently with minimal government control. An open society has pluralism and tolerance, democratic governance, change and reform (because no one holds the ultimate truth), and a commitment to our own limitations (fallibilism).
If giving to political causes qualifies a person as a philanthropist, Soros is a big one. His foundation supports ...
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Democracy and human rights
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Education
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Criminal justice reform
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Public health
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LGBTQIDYSDLKSDH rights
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Immigration and refugee support
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Racial and social justice
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Economic equity
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Media freedom
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Climate change and environmental protection
All of these flow logically from his commitment to the "open society" concept, and Soros takes a very liberal stance on all these issues.
You've seen the sign.
Science is real
Black Lives matter
Love is love
No human is illegal
Climate change is real
Women's rights are human rights
Kindness is everything
What does that sign really mean? P&C break it down, line by line.
But there are other versions, like this, from a public school (if you can believe it).
The American dream is a scan
Policing originates from runaway slave patrols
Capitalism exploits
Colonialism is evil
The founding fathers were racist
American imperialism must end
America was built on genocide and slavery
This country is on stolen, indigenous land
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Slightly Mighty IPA by Dogfish Head brewing, then discuss their recent jaunt down to Washington, D.C., to review the architecture on some key buildings.
Their trip took them to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, St. Matthews cathedral, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Capitol.
Longinus was able to give Pigweed and Crowhill some insights into the history and architecture of these amazing buildings.
The boys discuss the psychological effect and message of these buildings, but the show isn't only about architecture. They discuss issues related to the freemasons, the Catholics, and the U.S. government.
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Southern Tier's Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale, then discuss five stories by the master of horror.
After a brief bio on King, they review ...
The Jaunt -- King presents a futuristic story where teleportation, or "jaunting," allows instant travel but comes with a terrifying caveat: while the physical body arrives safely, the mind remains conscious in a timeless, endless void during the journey. When a young boy defies the rules and jaunts while awake, the horrifying consequences reveal the true nightmare of experiencing eternity alone.
The Raft -- Four college students, two men and two women, take a late-year visit to a lake where they hope to swim out to the raft that's used by the summer visitors. They run into an unexpected visitor.
Survivor Type -- a disgraced surgeon stranded on a deserted island resorts to extreme measures to survive, including self-amputation and cannibalism. The story, presented through the character's journal entries, reveals a descent into madness as he makes horrifying sacrifices in a desperate struggle for life.
Gramma -- a young boy named George is left alone to care for his ailing, bedridden grandmother, whose dark and supernatural powers begin to reveal themselves in terrifying ways. As the night progresses, George’s fear escalates as he realizes his grandmother harbors a sinister secret that threatens his safety.
The Reach -- elderly Stella Flanders faces her fear of crossing the frozen stretch of water separating her island home from the mainland, drawn by visions of deceased loved ones calling her to the other side. As she traverses the ice, Stella experiences a haunting journey that blends life and death, ultimately finding peace in accepting her fate.
The boys drink and review a pumpkin beer from Sam Adams, then discuss the origins of Halloween and paganism in general.
Halloween came from something called Samhain, which was a pagan feast for the end of the year. In the years before capitalism and industrial food production, this was a time of year where you desperately hope and your family won't starve over the winter.
At Samhain, ghosts and spirits walk around on earth. The veil between this world and the world of the dead gets thin. To scare away the spirits our ancestors would dress up as scary characters. They'd also carve vegetables with scary faces.
When the Scots and other Europeans came to America they brought some of these customs with them. It wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that we got full-blown Halloween in the United States. So we'd buy candy and costumes and such.
They then review paganism in general. Its history. What the word means? Who are the pagans? What did they believe? And so on.
Unfortunately, we don't know much. Even the Druids and the cult of Mithra -- both very influential in their time -- are not well known.
The boys drink and review Lord Maltimore, a Marzen from Key Brewing Company, then discuss the state of the election and their predictions.
Pigweed starts off ripping Kamala as a phony with no talent and little brains. Crowhill says she's mean and vapid. She slept her way to the top and has no idea what she's doing.
No one is voting for Harris. They're voting against Trump.
Harris gets three groups. (1) The "not Trump" vote. (2) The "it's time for a black woman" vote. (3) The "pull the D lever" vote. In addition, Harris has the media, Hollywood, the arts, academia, and the entrenched bureaucrats all pulling for her.
Is that enough to win?
The polls don't look that way. Trump has a slight edge nationally and seems to be winning in enough states to become president.
P&C recount some of Trump's failings, but believe he's still the man for the hour.
The boys drink a shandy and talk about Indigenous People's Day.
Pigweed suggests various ways to celebrate the holiday, observing some of the customs of the indigenous people.
The boys review some of the negative aspects of indigenous cultures -- such as human sacrifice -- and point out how silly it is to measure people in the past by modern moral standards. If we're going to hold Columbus to modern standards, why not the indigenous people too?
Columbus had his faults, but he also brought about an incredible sequence of events that led to functional, modern societies in the western hemisphere.
Trigger warning: This is a very politically incorrect episode.
The boys compare Crowhill's homebrewed dopplebock against Paulaner's Salvator, then discuss conspiracy theories.
Pigweed found a chart that characterized conspiracy theories in ascending order of craziness, from actually true, to you have left the world of sanity. Pigweed and Crowhill go through a list and rank them from true to impossible.
Some conspiracies actually happened, like the Tuskegee experiment, MK Ultra, the FBI spying on Martin Luther King, etc.
Then there's completely nutty things. Like chemtrails. Is the white trail behind jets really condensation, or is it a chemical the government is using on us to manipulate our behavior?
The boys go through a long list of conspiracies, including ...
-
Did the government aim the hurricane at Trump voters?
-
Was Maui a controlled burn so Oprah could buy cheap land in Hawaii?
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Did Epstein kill himself?
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Did the Titanic really sink?
-
Is Joe Biden a robot?
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Are white people being replaced?
This is a fun and somewhat silly show. Enjoy.
The boys drink and review Flannel Fest, a dunkel from Sam Adams, then wonder whether our electronic devices are spying on us.
There are levels of spying. A pixel phone is always listening to you because it has to be ready to respond when you say "Okay Google." The question is not whether it's listening, but whether it's recording what you say.
A lot of people their phones are spying on them because they talk with friends about some topic, they then see ads on that topic. Is that confirmation bias in action, or is it actually happening?
The tech platforms claim they are not doing this, but there are companies that claim they are doing it, and are trying to sell that service to advertisers.
It's not just the phones. Video doorbells are spying on us. The maps we use in our cars are spying on us. Health devices are spying on us.
The boys discuss the positives and negatives of these services.
For some other treatments of the same topic, try these.
Mark Hurst: "Even more devices are spying on you."
https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/143859
Skeptoid: "How Your Driving Is Being Tracked"
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4947
Joseph Cox: "Here's the Pitch Deck for 'Active Listening' Ad Targeting
https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/
The boys discuss the origins of the Oktoberfest custom, then drink and review a couple Oktoberfest beers. They discuss and explain the differences between three different styles: Marzen, Oktoberfest, and Festbier.
In Germany, only 6 breweries are allowed to brew authentic Oktoberfest beer. The boys drink an authentic Oktoberfest beer from Hacker-Pschorr and an American Oktoberfest beer from Sam Adams.
The German Oktoberfest beers have moved more towards the "festbier" style, which is less intense and less malty than a Marzen. American Oktoberfest beers generally stick with the Marzen style.
In general, the German Oktoberfest beers are going to be a little lighter in body and alcohol than the American versions.
With special guest Longinus the boys drink and review a "cold IPA" by Jailbreak Brewing, then discuss a short novella.
Crowhill starts with a brief bio of the author, then the boys review the structure and plot of the book.
The book was written at a time when large numbers of the so-called intellectual elites were enamoured of communism.
The novel starts on Mr. Jones' farm. He's not the best or kindest of farmers, and the animals decide to rebel. They take over the farm with some high ideals.
All animals are equal, and they don't serve humans.
One of the big themes in the book is the appeal to "equality," but that doesn't last. (It never does.) The pigs quickly take over leadership and become "more equal than others."
The pigs go on to break all the original commandments of the commune, but they maintain their authority.
It's an interesting allegory for the Soviet Union and other communist states, which pretend to believe in equality, but never practice it.
P&C drink and review an English pale ale from Guilford Brewing, then discuss Matt Walsh's new comedy, "Am I Racist?"
The movie is a combination of a documentary and a comedy -- if you consider Walsh's incredibly dry humor funny. It's often Office-style cringe humor. Walsh has a gift for allowing situations to get incredibly awkward and letting them play out.
Here's the premise: Walsh goes on a journey to discover if he's as racist as the race experts claim. In the process he gets certified as a DEI expert!
He also sneaks his way into a "Race to Dinner" event, where "DEI experts" help white women deal with their racism.
Walsh has several interviews with leading DEI "experts," exposing the wackiness of the whole race-hustling, DEI-grifter, "anti-racist" perspective.
After talking to the DEI "experts," he asks some ordinary folk about race. The responses are quite illuminating.
The movie is definitely worth seeing. Don't expect too much humor, but it does a very good job at deflating the whole racist, race-hustling industry. You'll never think of "DEI" the same way again.
The boys drink and review one of Pigweed's homebrews then discuss censorship (starting about 4:25). There seems to be an increase in censorship around the world. We seem to have lost our understanding of why free speech is important. P&C review. - In the sciences, if people can't bring up new ideas, you get stuck. You need a free marketplace of ideas. - Free speech acts as a restraint on government power. The governor of California recently signed a bill outlawing "deep fake" videos that "misinform." Since when do we trust the government to decide what is true and false information? In the UK, Scotland Yard is going after citizens (maybe even American citizens!) who say things the government doesn't like. The censorship industrial complex has evolved to the extend that they now have new words for us. Misinformation. Disinformation. Malinformation. Some legislation wants to stop the spread of "hate." But who defines what hate is? What has happened to make censorship such an issue today? - Technology allows it to spread faster. - Government has access to new tools. P&C review all the issues and come to some clear conclusions. Take a listen.
The boys drink and review an IPA from Cigar City, then discuss the communist manifesto.
With special guest Longinus, Pigweed and Crowhill review the famous manifesto, starting with a brief bio of Marx and Engels.
In order to understand Marx and Engels, you have to think about the context -- the industrial revolution and the horrible circumstances of workers in those days.
The boys start with giving the manifesto an honest shot. What does it say, and what does it mean?
Marx says that all of history is the story of class struggle: the oppressor vs. the oppressed. There are two groups: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. There is no bond between men but naked self interest. Capitalism is about profit at any cost.
After giving the document the fairest reading they can, the boys move into criticism.
Longinus and Pigweed have a few points they want to defend. Crowhill despises the whole thing.
The boys work through the main premises of the manifesto and tear them to shreds.
The boys drink and review Troegs Graffiti Highway IPA, then discuss the movie "Her" and the idea of having a romantic, emotional relationship with AI.
"Her" was made in 2013, but many of the concepts are still applicable today -- even more than they were in 2013!
Joaquin Phoenix plays the lead character (Theodore Twombly), who decides to use a new AI-powered operating system, which allows him to organize his life, but also becomes a daily companion and confidante. The AI (Samantha) becomes part of his life, and he slowly falls in love with her/it -- and, if you can believe it, she/it with him.
The movie challenges our concepts of love and personality at a fundamental level.
Eventually, Theodore finds out that Samantha (the AI) is having a similar relationship with 8,000 other people. He's heartbroken, because one element of human love is exclusive.
The movie is worth watching, but P&C evaluate how the insights from "Her" apply to modern technology, and where we seem to be going with sexbots and AI agents and so on.
Ex Machina is another film that addresses some of the same themes.
So ... Can you fall in love with AI? You'd better watch out, because yes, you can.
The boys drink and review an English trappist ale, then discuss some strange news in the world of woke.
It used to be that corporations were Republican, buttoned-up, and conservative. Recently, corporations are at the forefront of woke stupidity.
About the time of Obama's presidency, there was a huge switch. The Democrats used to be the part of the poor and the working class. They were the party of peace. Republicans were the darling of the corporations.
Now it's the opposite.
After FLOVID, DEI and woke BS went into overdrive in the corporate world. Inclusive advertising, pronoun policies, LGBYIOASDF parades, an over-emphasis on climate issues, ....
It goes beyond the individual corporations. Blackrock and other investment firms sometimes set the agenda and corporations have to say "yes sir," and do as they're told.
It makes sense that Starbucks would go woke. How did Harley Davidson, John Deere, Tractor Supply Company, Jack Daniels, and Lowes fall for this nonsense?
Do they know who their customer are?
The boys drink and review Snakeden Saison by 7 Locks Brewing, then review their impressions of The Sound of Hope.
The story starts in Possum Trot, Texas, when Donna Martin is grieving the death of her mother. She feels a calling from God to help some of the children in the foster care system. Her husband, Bishop Martin, reluctantly comes along, but then he decides they're not only going to adopt -- they're going to take the hardest cases.
Bishop Martin does a deep study on what the Bible says about adoption, and starts preaching on it. This starts a movement in the church and this small church eventually adopts all 77 of the kids out of the foster care system.
This is a heart-warming, inspirational movie, and the best part of it is that it's based on a true story.
The boys drink and review Founders Vanilla Porter, then discuss the slow-motion self-immolation of England as the island cowtows to woke nonsense.
Why is this happening? How did the west get to a spot where we're so sold on multiculturalism that we excuse migrant crimes and crack down on the people who point them out?
When a violent, disrespectful Syrian boy threatens to rape two young girls, he's the good guy, and the older brother who stood up for his sisters is the bad guy.
When the police cover up grooming gangs, that's good and right, but the people who don't want their wives, sisters, and daughters to get raped are the bad guys.
The idea that the government cares about and respects the will of the people has been revealed as a total farce. The agenda of the elite prevails and the people need to suck it up and go along with it.
There's a conspiracy against the will of the people. An unholy alliance of the government, media, courts, police, celebrities, entertainment .... They collectively gaslight, intimidate, and insult the people to push their agenda.
If you criticize their agenda, you go to jail.
If Hamas has a violent demonstration, that's okay. If English patriots have a rally, they're right-wing extremists who should be hunted down, fined, jailed, and destroyed.
The media won't report on it. It's only the alternative media that tells us what's going on.
P&C review Country Ride Pale Ale from RAR, then invite special guest Longinus to the show to discuss "celebration of life playlists."
Longinus' playlist includes ...
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A Love Supreme by John Coltrane
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Sometime Ago/La Feista by Chick Corea
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All Blues by Miles Davis
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Song of Loving Kindness by Gary Bartz
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Boogie Nights by Heatwave
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September by Earth, Wind, and Fire
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Brick House by the Commodores
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Staying Alive by the Beegees
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Red Barchetta by RUSH
-
Closer to the Heart by the TREES
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Wait until Tomorrow by Jimi Hendrix
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Magis Bus by the Who
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Goodtimes by Led Zeppelin
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Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers
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Waiting in the Van by Bob Marley
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Sugar Mountain by Neil Young
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Judy Blue Eyes by CSN
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Bad Moon Rising by Credence
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Ventura Highway by America
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Dixie Chicken by Little Feat
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That isn't funny anymore by the Smiths
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Heard Through the Wall by Del Amitri
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After the Rain by Cockburn
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Block Cow by Steely Dan
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Weary Kind by Ryan Bingham
Crowhill organized his playlist by phases of his life.
Youth
- Spanish Flea by Herb Alpert – first trumpet solo
Young adult / high school / swim team
– Theme: arrogance, trumpet, going my own way. Anything by Maynard Ferguson
College
– Theme: Agony / struggle. Jethro Tull (maybe Mother Goose of Up to Me), Keith Green (Make My Life a Prayer to You), John Michael Talbott (He is Risen)
Marriage and kids
– Theme: joyful responsibility. “Front porch looking in” and “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.”
– Theme: fun and silliness. “The Fox” by Nickel Creek
Middle age
– Maybe Calliandra Shade by Ian Anderson to signify watching the world go by
– Dust in the Wind by Kansas to signify my lack of understanding of what the hell is going on
– Grow Old with Me by Sunny Sweeney to signify my lifetime connection to my wife
– Beautiful by Gordon Lightfoot
Pigweed's soundtrack includes ...
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McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run
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BTO - Aint Seen Nothin Yet
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George Thorogood - Move it on Over
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Queen News of the World - not we will rock you
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Elton John - Your Song
High School
-
Rod Stewart - Maggie May
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Eric Clapton - Slow Hand
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Randy Newman
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Tom Waits
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Elvis Costello - Allison
PUNK PHASE - not at the celebration.
-
Maybe one Clash Tune.
-
Bruce Springsteen
-
Who
OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL
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Lloyd Cole
-
Smiths
-
Prefab Sprout
-
Iggy Pop - The Passenger
-
Lou Reed - Who Loves the Sun
MEXICO
-
Jose Alfredo Jimenez
-
Mariachi - Guadalajara
Got a Pick Up Truck
-
90s-Early2000s radio Country Music
-
Kenny Chesney - I go back
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Toby Keith - Beer for my Horses
OUTLAW COUNTRY
-
Hayes Carl
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Ryan Bingham
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Steve Earl
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Robert Earle Keen
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Morgan Wallen
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Johnny Cash - When The Man Comes to Town
The boys drink and review 2 award-winning beers from Heavy Seas, then special guest Longinus joins them at the bar to review Pedro Paramo, a Mexican novella. This is part of the P&C "shortcut to the classics" series.
Pedro Paramo is a confusing book. The structure, timing, the use of punctuation, who's speaking, and even whether people are alive or dead is never quite certain.
The book is named after the central character, Pedro Paramo, who is a powerful and tyrannical landowner in the town of Comala. He's also the father of Juan Preciado, the novel's primary protagonist, who is sent to Comala by Dolores Preciado, his dying mother, to get what they're owed.
On his way to find Comala, Juan meets Abundio Martinez, another of Pedro's illegitimate sons.
Comala is a ghost town in two senses. Not only is there almost no one there, it's full of ghosts.
Rulfo's work is an example of magical realism, where seemingly impossible things happen and are accepted by the characters as if nothing special is happening.
The story pursues themes like death and the supernatural, memory and time, despair and hoplelessness, power and corruption, religion and guilt, isolation and loneliness. The themes combine to create a haunting exploration of human existence, where the boundaries between life and death, past and present, are fluid.
This is an interesting but difficult book. If you give it a try, plan to read it twice.
Did the Democrats provoke the assassination attempt against Donald Trump with their over-the-top language? They repeatedly called him Hitler, a threat to democracy, a dictator, that this will be the last election, etc.? Did that inspire the Trump shooter?
It's easy to imagine. Everyone has had the sophomoric argument about going back in time and killing Hitler before he took power. If you're faced with an actual Hitler -- right here and now -- what are you going to do?
Aside from that, how could this have possibly happened? Why did the Secret Service fall down on the job?
The level of incompetence demonstrated by the Secret Service is almost unbelievable. Was it all just a big cluster frack, or was the Secret Service in on it?
What's the role of DEI in this disaster? Was the Secret Service encumbered by a bunch of unqualified DEI hires?
The head of the Secret Service had a mission to promote women. That was the chip on her shoulder. Did that become more important than fulfilling the actual mission of the Secret Service?
This level of buffoonery and clown-town behavior is close to impossible. It's almost necessary to believe it was a setup.
But then there's Hanlon's razor: never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity and incompetence.
P&C drink and review Crabtown Classic, a local Vienna Lager from Jailbreak Brewing, then discuss Julian Assange.
The Assange case brings out the contrast between freedom of the press and national security.
Assange had a libertarian streak and was suspicious of authority -- especially governmental authority. He believed information should be free, particularly when it exposes the misdeeds of governments.
Many believe Assange was supporting whistleblowers, and that his case was a test case for freedom of the press.
Some of the things Assange revealed allegedly betrayed "sources and methods" and compromised national security.
Assange's prolonged legal battle over extradition from the UK to the US raises concerns about fair trial standards, the potential for politically motivated charges, and the treatment of whistleblowers and journalists under international law.
Is Assange a whistleblower deserving of protection, or a criminal who recklessly endangered lives? The debate is central to the case and reflects broader societal questions about the ethics of leaking classified information.
P&C drink and review a Pretzel Wheat Beer from Aldus Brewery, then discuss how "the left" has changed over the last few decades.
In many areas, the left of the 60s and 70s has been turned on its head by the modern, woke left.
The contrasts become clear when you think about the attitude towards ...
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Authority and government
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War
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Drugs
-
Free speech
-
Multinational corporations
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The working class
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Individual rights
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The rule of law
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Civil liberties
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Free markets
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Individualism
Wokeism has replaced the liberalism of the 60s. The woke require lockstep conformity to a far-left perspective on race, gender, sexuality (and maybe climate, and vaccines), or we'll ruin your life. There's no individual rights. There's no free speech. You must comply.
The boys drink and review Phantasm Double IPA from Elder Pine brewery, then discuss all the other ways humanity might come to an end -- other than global warming.
Here's a list of other ways the world might come to an end, starting with natural causes.
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Asteroid Impact
-
Supervolcanic Eruption
-
Gamma-Ray Burst
-
Magnetic Pole Reversal
-
Global Pandemic
-
Solar Superflare
-
Going back into the ice age
-
Loss of pollinators or other essential critters
-
Methane Clathrate Release
But that's not all. There are also human causes.
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Nuclear War
-
Artificial Intelligence
-
Biological or Chemical Warfare
-
Environmental Collapse
-
Technological Catastrophe
-
Economic Collapse
-
Resource Wars
-
Cyber Warfare
-
Collapse in human fertility
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Lack of confidence in the system
-
Universal Islam or Liberalism
The boys drink and review White Chocolate Dream Blonde Stout by Black Beauty Brewery, then (starting at 3:43) discuss the history of blacks and the GOP.
The Republican Party (GOP) started with the explicit intention of stopping the spread of slavery in America. The first Republican president was Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves.
Democrats have a horrible record on votes that affect black people. Most Democrats votes against the 13th amendment (to free slaves). No Democrats voted for the 14th amendment (making freed slaves citizens). No Democrats voted for the 15th amendment (giving slaves the right to vote).
The first black Senators (in 1870) were Republicans. The first black Representatives (in 1871) were Republicans. The first 23 black Representatives were Republicans. The first black Democrat Senator was in 1993!
Democrats founded the KKK. Democrats started Jim Crow laws. By percentage, more Republicans than Democrats voted for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Given all this, why do blacks predominantly vote for Democrats?
P.S. -- Crowhill is not a Republican.
The boys drink and review St. Bernardus Ale, then discuss the obesity epidemic.
Why is it that videos from the 1920s up to fairly recent times show mostly slim, fit people, but everybody at Walmart is fat? What has happened?
According to Dr. Peter Attia, the standard American diet is a solution to a business and marketing problem, in four parts.
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Quantity. Too many people were undernourished and we need to produce calories at scale
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Cost. We don't want food to cost too much
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Storage. It has to be non-perishable and portable
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Taste. It has to taste good
We've definitely solved that problem, but we've created another. About 43 percent of U.S. adults are obese.
What happened? P&C review the stats and the possible explanations.
The boys drink and review Hare Chaser Grapefruit IPA from Flying Dog brewery, then discuss the ignorance of most protesters.
You would think that if a person is willing to take time off of school or work, jeopardize their education or job, or their future, to clash with police, to protest an injustice -- that they might know something about the topic!
The Ben Franklin Players come on the show to illustrate a common experience with modern protesters.
When a pro-Palestinian protester says "from the river to the sea," odds are good he doesn't know which river or which sea.
Then we have to consider the different treatment protesters get from law enforcement.
Damage public property, steal and burn the U.S. flag and assault police officers? That's free speech.
Pray outside an abortion clinic? Jail.
P&C discuss the protest culture and our response.
1 -- (2:58) Is it even possible that the Secret Service is as incompetent as they were in Pennsylvania? The security failures were epic and strain credulity. Could competent, trained professionals be this bad?
The boys review some of the emerging details and wonder what in the heck went wrong. Was the Secret Service complicit in the attempt, or were they impossibly incompetent?
And what about the DEI component? What were those short women doing trying to protect 6'3" Trump?
2 -- (17:40) Is Ben Shapiro right about Social Security? Ben argues that the program was never designed to support people for 20 years of retirement. As life expectancy increases, shouldn't the retirement age?
The boys are big fans of Shapiro, but aren't convinced of his argument for several reasons. Listen in.
3 -- (23:18) Pigweed calls BS on the "my life is hard" narrative. Everyone these days has to have a persecution narrative. Society is expecting too much. It's so hard. "Everybody told me I couldn't be a scientist." Baloney.
4 -- (27:38) Two views of technology: it will kill us, or it will usher in a golden age. This reflects two instincts that are necessary for humans -- the need to explore and find new things, and the need to protect against contagion and unknown threats.
5 -- (33:20) Everybody wants to save the world but nobody wants to do the dishes. Sometimes you hear people say they want to do work that will make the world a better place. Do they have the competence? Do they have the necessary knowledge? The world is a complicated place. If they can't keep their own house neat and orderly, what makes them think they can make the world neat and orderly?
The boys end the show with a letter to the show from Inigo Montoya, who accuses P&C of being "raw doggers."
The boys drink and review Pigweed's Seal Team 6 -- a homebrewed Black IPA -- then discuss eugenics.
Humans have been breeding animals and plants for a very long time. Most of the foods we eat are the result of thousands of years of careful breeding by farmers, and "man's best friend" was bred from wild dogs.
Why shouldn't we do the same with humans?
Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin who was very influenced by The Origin of Species, proposed just such a plan and called it "eugenics." Darwinism convinced Galton that an organism’s most important characteristics must be biological rather than shaped by environment or experience.
The idea caught fire with the intellectual elite. John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger and Alexander Graham Bell all promoted the idea to one degree or another.
The Supreme Court even weighed in. In upholding a Virginia law that permitted compulsory sterilization of individuals thought unfit to reproduce, Oliver Wendell Holmes said in Buck v. Bell, "three generations of imbeciles are enough."
38 States adopted some form of eugenics laws and more than 60,000 Americans were sterilized without their consent.
Adolf Hitler read about this and thought, "gee, what a good idea."
After the horrors of World War II, the west turned away from eugenics. It still stands as a reminder that fine-sounding ideas approved by intelligent people can still be horribly stupid.
The boys drink and review Crowhill's homemade gin, then give a broad overview of liquors.
P&C discuss ...
Fermentation vs. distillation
The history of liquor
Liquor vs. liquer and fortified wines
What "proof" means
White vs. colored liquors
The main types of liquor
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Vodka
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Gin
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Tequila
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Rum
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Whiskey (vs. whisky)
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Brandy
The science of getting drunk
The science of hangovers
... plus a few anecdotes and common myths about liquor.
Does red wine need to breathe before you drink it?
Does the shape of a glass make a difference?
Can "hair of the dog" cure a hangover?
The boys drink and review Brooklyn Brewery's Sunny Pale Ale, then discuss Star Wars and the enduring influence of the hero's journey.
The Star Wars movies struck quite a chord with the public. On the one hand, it seems like silly kid's stuff. On the other hand, Pigweed's literature professors referred to Star Wars as a classic example of the hero pattern, or quest journey.
The lives of Jesus, Moses, King Arthur, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and many others follow a very similar pattern.
Their stories follow a very predictable pattern that includes the call to adventure, resistance to the call, the role of the mentor, facing a challenge, winning the prize, then bringing that achievement back to the people.
There are other background elements to the life of the hero, like a suspicious birth, the absense of parents, some connection to royalty and maybe divinity.
Star Wars follows this myth in each individual episode, and across episodes.
Some people have said that Star Wars has abandoned this pattern in the newest iteration of Star Wars -- the Acolyte. Others have gone so far as to suggest that The Acolyte has turned the entire myth on its head.
Pigweed and Crowhill discuss the role of this pattern, and then, with some help from a letter from Nephew Will, evaluate some of the radical claims about The Acolyte.
P&C drink and review a summer ale, then discuss OnlyFans.
The site serves as a medium for paid content. It's not only about sex. It can be used by artists, musicians, authors, and so on. But it's largely about sex.
There are some possible benefits to women who choose to do "sex work" on OnlyFans. There are no pimps. They can set their own boundaries. They're at less risk for STDs. And it's possible to make a lot of money.
But the possible benefits are outweighed by many negatives.
Once a woman has agreed to do this work, she's lost an important part of her dignity, and it's hard to go back. They start to think "oh well, I guess I’m this kind of girl now.”
While women can set their own boundaries, they will be constantly pressured to do more.
The woman who does this kind of work on OnlyFans becomes a sexual object, and she will be treated that way. Sexual harassment is part of the job, and it gets very ugly. You’re no longer a person. You're a product that exists to satisfy strangers sexually. It’s dehumanizing.
Stalkers are a real problem.
There is a false sense of privacy, since the content is allegedly behind a paywall. But it won't stay private. People will find a way to download it and post it for free on the Internet.
A woman's future plans for career and family will be negatively affected, and it will affect the woman's ability to be intimate with a real person.
Time as an OnlyFans star is very limited. There’s an endless stream of younger, hotter women ready to replace you. You decline in value as you age.
High-value men don’t want to date sex workers. No man wants to share his wife. And it's already hard enough to get married.
The promise of OnlyFans is a delusion.
In addition to the negative effect on women, OnlyFans has a negative effect on society. It normalizes sex work, lowers the collective morality of society, and traps young women in a dead-end career.
Agenda 47 is a series of policy initiatives Trump intends to enact if elected. In the telling of one hair on fire liberal commentator, Agenda 47 includes ...
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massive deportation
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death sentence for human trafficking
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close dept of education
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put prayer in school
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close race based advantage programs
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end affordable care act
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ban gender affirming care for adults and children
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term limits for congee
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investigate Biden crime family
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pardon Jan 6ers
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increase juvenile sentences, strengthen immunity for police, deploy national guard in woke cities
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reassessment NATO
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Muslim travel ban
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Freedom cities
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End federal EV mandates
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Drill of gas and oil domestically
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increase tariffs on Chinese goods
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extend 2017 tax cuts
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extend right to conceal, carry
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get Europe to pay back money we gave to Ukraine
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remove federal subsidies from woke Universities
The boys review each of these items to determine if they're as scary as the frightened liberals imagine.
They also discuss Joe Biden's debate meltdown and what might happen next for Democrats.
P&C start the show by drinking and reviewing Eliot Ness Amber Lager from Great Lakes Brewing Company.
Join us in this episode as we delve into the fascinating world of relativity, exploring the groundbreaking work of Albert Einstein. We cover both special and general relativity, discussing the profound implications these theories have on our understanding of space, time, and the universe. Whether you're a physics enthusiast or just curious about the cosmos, this episode offers insightful explanations and thought-provoking discussions.With special guest Longinus, Pigweed and Crowhill start the show with a review of a famous Belgian beer.
With literary contributor Longinus, the boys drink and review Furious George Hefeweizen from Crooked Crab Brewing, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with The Time Machine.
After a brief biography and sense of Wells' historical setting, the boys review the plot, then give their analysis.
The story follows the journey of an unnamed protagonist, referred to as the Time Traveller, who invents a machine capable of traveling through time. He demonstrates the machine to a group of friends and then embarks on a journey to the distant future.
The Time Traveller arrives in the year 802,701 AD, where he encounters two distinct species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are gentle, childlike people who live above ground in a seemingly idyllic society, but they are frail and lack intellectual curiosity. The Morlocks, on the other hand, are sinister, nocturnal creatures who live underground and maintain the machinery that supports the Eloi's lifestyle.
As the Time Traveller explores this future world, he realizes that the Eloi are not the dominant species but are actually prey for the Morlocks. The novel delves into themes of social class and evolution, suggesting a grim future for humanity.
The story culminates with the Time Traveller narrowly escaping the Morlocks and returning to his own time, only to disappear again on another journey, leaving his ultimate fate unknown. The novel ends with a sense of mystery and contemplation about the future of humanity and the possibilities of time travel.
The boys drink and review Southern Cross ESB from M8 Beer Company, then go through reader questions and comments.
Questions include ...
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Why aren't there more women in dangerous jobs, and should they be if we really want equity?
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Does dating a trans woman make you gay?
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More on cats vs. dogs
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In your show on evolution you casually dismissed creationists. What's up?
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A reprise of the pendulum show. Are things shifting towards conservatism?
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Have people had enough with mass immigration, but here and in Europe?
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Do we really have government of, by, and for the people?
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Is "Memories of my meloncholy whores" representative of Marquez in general since it does not include magical realism.
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Did you notice that Marquez did not use quotation marks to designate speech?
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Did the news covering racism cause the George Floyd madness, or did the George Floyd madness cause the news to cover racism?
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We had a suggestion for a show on the poison of victimhood.
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Why did we give any credence at all to that woman-hating Pearl Davis?
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Why are you such mean bigots towards the LGBTQ community?
P&C drink and review Little Mac IPA from Antietam Brewing then discuss the downward slide of a famous scientific magazine that was founded before the American Civil War!
It would be nice to have a reliable standard to find out what's actually going on in the scientific world. Scientific American magazine used to be that. Recently it's gone woke, and now it's no longer that beacon of scientific judgment.
Some signs of their recent wokeness.
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Michael Shermer's column was rejected because it might hurt someone's feelings.
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Scientific American slandered E.O. Wilson with a woke diatribe.
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They promote the transgender nonsense.
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They have claimed that football is racist, and and that denial of evolution is white supremacy.
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They want federal oversight of homeschooling.
The revered old magazine has gone too far to the left and has fallen off the woke end of the spectrum. Steven Pinker tweeted: “Unscientific American | Another noble American institution run into the ground when clueless trustees handed over the keys to a woke fanatic.”
P&C drink and review Extra Strong Boi Imperial ESB from Black Flag Brewing, then discuss the curse of the smart phone.
Can grown adults stand in line at the Post Office any more without being distracted by some electronic device?
The boys review some of the history of electronic devices in our lives, then talk about the perils of the modern state, where everyone is connected all the time.
Jonathan Haidt identifies several problems with smart phones.
Social Deprivation -- Smartphones act as experience blockers, reducting time spent in physical play or face-to-face interactions, which are crucial for healthy social development.
Sleep Deprivation -- Excessive use of smartphones, especially late at night, leads to insufficient sleep, further exacerbating mental health issues.
Attention Fragmentation -- Constant notifications and messages interrupt focus, making it difficult for teenagers to concentrate on tasks.
Addiction -- Apps and social media platforms are designed to exploit psychological vulnerabilities, making them addictive and detracting from real-world experiences.
If you're getting your social interaction from your phone, you're not getting it from in-person interactions, and that's a shame. We've reduced the richness of real interactions for a cheap substitute.
P&C encourage adults to find ways to stay off their phones, and for God's sake don't let your kids get addicted to them.
The boys drink and review Hopsecutioner IPA by Terrapin Brewing, then discuss the social pendulum.
On a number of key issues, Pigweed feels he has held the minority opinion. "The wrong side of history," as the left would say. He's tempted to believe the pendulum is swinging back his way. His question to Crowhill: Is it?
How do we define a "minority view" these days? We're given the impression that believing a man can become a women is the majority view. But that's false if you look at the statistics.
The larger question is whether we all live in a tech-driven echo chamber, which only shows us things that fit our profile. How can we know what's true when our sources of information are "curated" based on our preferences?
Is the pendulum moving ...
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Away from the trans madness?
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Away from climate alarmism?
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Away from St. George Floyd, DEI, BLM, "defund the police"?
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Towards a more realistic perspective of how we handled COVID?
Trump was recently convicted of 34 felony violations realted to falsifying business records in order to influence the 2016 election.
We've now had our first political show trial where those in power go against their political opponents.
Welcome to Venezuela.
Democrats keep telling us to that Donald Trump will use the power of government to take revenge against his political enemies. But isn't that precisely what we're seeing right now?
Biden has nothing to run on except lawfare against Trump, so he has weaponized the justice system against Donald Trump.
We keep hearing about “election interference," but this is it.
Here are some of the reasons this is all bogus.
The prosecutor (Alvin Brag) was political, ran on a platform to get Trump, and revived goofy charges that had already been investigated and found empty.
Judge Merchan was political.
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He had financial conflicts of interest involving his daughter, who is raising money on this issue.
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He donated money to anti-Trump political effort.
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He imposed a gag order on Trump.
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He excluded defense witnesses
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He preferred the prosecution in motions.
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He allowed the salacious testimony of Stormy Daniels (which is very similar to why the Weinstein convinction was overturned).
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He gave very strange jury instructions
This was a political jury.
There was no crime specified. The entire prosecution was based on a new and novel legal theory.
“The underlying crime is seemingly a minor misdemeanor – falsifying business records – which long ago expired under the statute of limitations. In order to turn it into a felony within the statute of limitations, prosecutors will have to show that Trump falsified the records in order to impact his election, thus constituting a federal election felony. …The problem is, however, that federal authorities have not prosecuted Trump for this federal election crime. Moreover, state prosecutors have no jurisdiction over federal election law. Finally, we were not even clear, when the trial began, as to precisely which federal election laws the District Attorney was relying on. ” –Dershowitz
This case would never have been brought against anyone but Trump. This is selective prosecution and sounds suspiciously like "show me the person and I'll find the crime."
The boys drink and review Depth Perception IPA by Terrapin Brewing, then discuss recent efforts to create a universal digital ID. So much of daily life now requires a smart phone, an app, an account, ... Sometimes you can't even print out tickets. You have to have your phone. (Is it charged? Does it have service?) You can't drive without a transponder to pay tolls. We're leaving a permanent digital record of everything we do. But that's not enough. Governments are pushing us towards a single digital ID to have "completely transparency." Everyone will know everything you do -- and if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry about that, right? No. The people who will have access to all your private data have biases and agendas. Sometimes they'll be your enemy. With enough information, someone will be able to find a case against you. "Show me the man and I'll find the crime." Also, this single repository will be hacked. Identity theft is already bad enough. Once we have digital IDs, the problem will multiply.
P&C drink and review All Purpose Pils, an Italian-style pilsner by DC Brau, then discuss the controversey over Kansas City Chief's kicker Harrison Butker and his recent commencement speech.
Was it a mild-mannered, pro-family talk, or raging hate speech? That's the problem we face today. It's both -- depending on whether you're a sane person or a hair-on-fire liberal who listens to The View.
Butker is a conservative Catholic, and he speaks like one.
Are conservative Catholics allowed to speak their mind in public? Some people would say no.
The most important job in the history of mankind has been making babies and raising them to be productive members of society. Somehow that idea has become hate speech.
Butker gave a conservative Catholic message to a conservative Catholic audience. Why is that a problem?
The "tolerant" liberals can't abide it. Nobody is allowed to have (and certainly not speak) an opinion that hurts their feelings.
The lesson is clear. Modern culture is steeped in feminism, and if you speak against it, you're an enemy.
P&C drink and review a dark lager from Guilford brewing, then recount their recent journey to Reading PA to hear Jordan Peterson on his "We who struggle with God" tour. Longinus was unable to attend, but contributes to the conversation.
Jordan Peterson is famous for being cagey about his religious beliefs, but recently he's been a little more straight forward, and almost evangelical. P&C expected Dr. Peterson to make his case for the existence of God.
They enjoyed the talk, but it wasn't what they expected.
The show started with some live music, then an intro by Dr. John Vervake, who is somewhat of a fellow traveler with Peterson.
Dr. Peterson adopted the theme of sacrifice for the evening's talk, and told stories about sacrifice: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel.
It was all good stuff, and classic Peterson, but he didn't set out what P&C expected, which was to give an argument for the necessity of God.
The boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrew clone of Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss a novella from John Steinbeck as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series.
After a brief biographical review of Steinbeck, the boys discuss the basic story, then their impressions of the book and its characters.
The novel begins with a description of Cannery Row in Monterey, California, during the Great Depression. The row is a small, tight-knit community centered around sardine canneries, inhabited by colorful characters.
Most of the story centers around Doc, a marine biologist, and Mack and the boys, who are collection of good-natured ne'er-do-wells.
P&C drink and review Crowhill’s homebrewed Tavern Ale, then discuss evolution.
They start with a quick review of Darwin and his times and how scientists were slowly coming to the realization that the origin of the earth and life spanned a far longer time span than the Bible seemed to allow.
There are still a lot of things we don’t know about our history, but there are some things we know for sure.
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The earth is old.
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Life is old (maybe a billion years).
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Most creatures that have lived have gone extinct.
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Creatures have changed over time.
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Evolution seems to explain certain things about modern biology.
Other things remain debatable, such as the question of what drives the changes. Modern evolutionary theory seems to be struggling with this question right now. P&C have their doubts about the modern consensus that random genetic mutation is the stuff of evolution.
P&C try to work through the issues, balancing philosophy, science, and common sense.
The boys drink and review Perni Haze IPA from Wicked Weed Brewing, then discuss Trump’s options for a running mate.
Trump is faced with a unique challenge because he can only serve one more term, so whoever he picks is likely to be the presidential nominee for 2028, and that person could potentially serve for eight years.
Christi Noem – P&C think she’s probably torpedoed her chances by writing in her memoir about shooting her dog.
Elise Stephanik – An unknown quantity to P&C. Not willing to recommend.
Vivek Ramaswammy – He was an early favorite of P&C, but his performance in the debates moved him down the list. He would make a great cabinet official.
Kari Lake – Seems to have gone off the edge a bit.
Tulsi Gabbard – P&C like her, but the fact that she’s been a Democrat for so long makes her too much of a long shot.
Marjory Taylor Green – She’s good as a firebrand / bomb thrower, and that role suits her, but she has no place in the White House.
Greg Abbott – Does he even want this job? Crowhill doesn’t trust him based on past behavior. He seems to be a johnny-come-lately on many conservative issues.
Sarah Huckabee Sander – She would work well with Trump, and P&C are impressed with her. But Crowhill is concerned she
Tucker Carlson – Why is he even on this list? Why would he be considered? Recently he’s started to show his wacky side. But he would make a good press secretary.
Tim Scott – He’s okay, but not exciting. No thrill here.
JD Vance – Let’s let him rock and roll in Ohio. He doesn’t help the ticket much.
Nikki Haley – She’s out. She’s burned her bridges with Trump and
Ron DeSantis – DeSantis is the top choice for P&C. But can the DeSantis - Trump feud heal? Probably.
Crowhill’s picks.
1 – DeSantis
2 – Tim Scott
After they finish with the VP picks, Pigweed has a burden he needs to take off his shoulder about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
The numbers don’t seem to add up. Biden’s “rallies” were pathetic. There was no excitement. He was the most uninspiring, lame presidential candidate of P&C’s lives. He was worse than the little Dukey. Still, he managed to get more votes than any president ever.
The boys drink and review Sunshine Pilsner and Springtime Lager (both by Troeggs) while they discuss beer styles.
There are only two main categories of beer: lagers and ales. They are distinguished by the type of yeast used (not by color or strength). Lagers use a bottom-fermenting yeast that ferment at lower temperatures while ales use a top-fermenting yeast that ferment at slightly higher temperatures.
Lagers tend to be more crisp in flavor while ales tend to have more complex flavors.
Generally speaking we think of light-colored beers when we think of lagers, but there are dark lagers like a bock or a schwartz beer, and there are dark-ish lagers like Octoberfest or Dunkel. Lagers take longer to ferment.
Ales tend to be quick-fermenting beers that can be ready to drink in a week or two. Historically, ales were served at cellar temperature. (Warm by U.S. standards.)
Most modern craft beers are ales.
Some of the contrasts that make up the various beer styles are …
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Ale vs. lager
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Dark vs. light
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Malty (sweet) vs. dry
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Hoppy vs. mild
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Strong vs. weak
Ales were the more traditional beers in America, but when the Germans came over with their clean, crisp lagers, they won over the American palate, and American-style lagers became the standard.
The boys drink and review Tsingtao beer, then discuss the threat posed by modern China.
China is deliberately undermining America. They don't even hide it. And we don't seem to do anything about it.
There are many ways to defeat an enemy. According to Sun Tzu, the wisest approach is to defeat them without fighting them.
How are they doing this?
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They sow division
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They discourage people from joining the military
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They poison us with TikTok
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They get our youth addicted to fentanyl
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They're encouraging people to hate the U.S. government
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They encourage campus radicals
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They encourage everything that undermines the family
China is also challenging us overseas with their belt and road initiative.
They steal our technology, and require U.S. businesses who deal in China to share technology.
The PRC has publicly declared that they consider every aspect of our infrastructure as fair game.
And what do we do? We let millions of people spill over our border.
P&C drink and review a Wee Heavy from Belhaven brewery, then discuss Pearl Davis and her opinions on men’s rights. The boys first heard about Pearl when The Daily Wire’s Andrew Klavan and Michael Knowles interviewed her. She’s an anti-feminist but also somewhat anti-traditionalist. Pearl tries to focus on reality – the facts on the ground – rather than coming from a particular ideological viewpoint. From Pearl’s perspective, marriage is a raw deal for men. Here are some quotes from Pearl, to give you a feel for her point of view. “Women can’t be criticized on the internet” If a man says a woman isn’t wife material, is he allowed to have that opinion? Traditional conservatives believe in holding men accountable. A man can’t be broke. He has to take care of his family. He has to stay in shape. When women do something wrong, it’s always because they were lied to. It’s always because of feminism. Why is it that when women do something wrong it’s always somebody else’s fault? “Women like to be objectified” Women only cry about objectification when they can’t get what they want out of being objectified “In all of history there have always been concubines. They have a place.” “When women lead, societies and relationships go to Hell.” “Why can’t we have a conversation about women without ‘but men.’” “Women should submit to their husbands in all things.” (from the Bible) “I prefer prostitutes to most tradcon women. At least the prostitutes are honest.” “Don’t be a prostitute and then find God at 29.” “Many women screw up their own lives and then make it everyone else’s problem.” “I’m not the enemy. The real enemy is these simps and these old, bitter, single women with nothing better to do.” “Old, bitter women lie to younger women because they don’t want to be alone in their misery.” “Women are fatter than ever. They’re sluttier than ever. More mental disorders. More tattoos. More drinking.”
The boys drink and review Chocolate Cherry Stout by Firestone Walker Brewing, then discuss an alternative history book about the evolution of humans.
In this view of human evolution, a different group of humans – the Floyds – took over Beringia and then migrated into America. When Columbus came to the Americas, he didn’t find Homo Sapiens. He found the Floyds.
The book starts by introducing us to this alternative modern life, where modern man and this other version of man are living side by side. We learn the history – from Beringia until the conflict with Columbus.
First contact took place in Florida, which is why they’re called “Floros,” politely, or “Floyds,” derogatively.
The Floros are very compact and strong, and very useful in close-in fighting. They were captured en masse and taken to Europe to serve as infantry in everybody’s armies.
They integrated into society to some extent, but remained second-class citizens.
Once warfare modernized, and close-in fighting was not prized to the same extent, the Floros lost some of their utility in the infantry. They still did manual labor, which they were very good at, but they didn’t bring particularly good skills.
Modern man (homo sapiens) tried to integrate them into society.
One flaw in the book is an unrealistic expectation that there was no interbreeding – because the Floyds were not very attractive.
The Floridius Rights Movement advocates for the Floros and tries to help them, but the Floros don’t want the help.
The book pokes fun at a couple modern themes.
- Liberal woke activists who protest on some people’s behalf, but those people don’t really want it.
- A simpler life is a worse life, and more material stuff makes a better life.
After the end of the book review, P&C discuss some of the issues raised by the book, such as why are we the only version of “man” left on the planet? Why did the Neanderthals and Denisovans die out?
P&C go into an extensive discussion of differences between Neanderthals and modern humans, and why we may have replaced them.
P&C drink and review Experimental Black IPA from Bell’s, then discuss Christian Nationalism.
First, what the heck is Christian Nationalism? Pigweed started with three theories.
- An invention of the left to denigrate patriotic Christians.
- It’s a real movement that is way overdue if we’re going to save this great nation.
- It’s a real movement that is a threat to religious liberty and will transform America into a theocracy.
Were Christian nationalists behind Jan. 6, and do they want to create something like The Handmaid’s Tale? That’s what the left wants us to believe.
The opposite is the case. The left is trying to eliminate the influence of Christianity. The Amy Coney Barrett nomination process showed that clearly. We’ve come to the point that being a sincere believer might disqualify you from public office.
Four separate Supreme Court cases – that have never been overturned – say that the United States is a Christian nation.
What does that mean? Is it contrary to pluralism? Does it mean that we round up unbelievers and make them second-class citizens?
Quite the opposite. It’s because we’re a Christian nation that we give rights and respect to other people.
The fact is that all law is based on some system of morality. The only question is what morality you are going to use.
Here's a link to the Florida Man episode.
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/XcC185ICaJb
P&C drink and review Hell or High Watermelon from 21st Amendment Brewery, then, with special guest Longinus, discuss the cost of professional sports.
Why are we, in the words of Pigweed, willing to spend so much money to watch grown men play children’s games?
But that’s not to the point. The boys are focused on the cost of a baseball or football game. Why has it increased so much? Is it worth it?
From 1970 to the present – in today’s dollars – the cost for a family of four to attend a baseball game is about 4x. Who pays this, and why?
Along with this increase in prices, we have an increase in coverage. When Pigweed was a lad, there was one, one-hour show on sports. Now, we have several 24x7 sports stations talking about sports all year long.
There’s also the moral question. In a world that can’t decide what a woman is, sports provides some clear guidelines. The player is either in or out. The ball is in the strike zone or it’s not.
Another angle – people can’t sit quietly with their own thoughts. They need a distraction. Every bar and restaurant has constant sports.
Is sports filling a hole left by the lack of religion, or community? Also, to what extent is this a public question? Is it in the local government’s interest to get people involved in local sports?
The boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrew Irish Stout, then invite John Wayne Jew onto the show to speak about the month in woke (at about 4:00).
The silliness of woke-ism is almost unbelievable. P&C and their special guest discuss some of the obvious lunacies, including the following.
Some Canadian police recently encouraged residents to leave their car keys outside so thieves can steal cars without any violent confrontation.
After the destruction of the Key bridge in Baltimore, some wokesters want a name chance, since Francis Scott Key doesn't meet modern moral standards.
A Democratic representative says black should be exempt from taxation to make up for past injustices.
NPR hired 50 new interns. Only 5 of them were white males.
On the positive side, some companies are pulling back on DEI and other woke policies, but it's not clear if that's a significant trend.
P&C drink and review Cru Cab IPA from Big Truck brewery, then invite special guest Longinus to help them discuss a novella by Marquez. This is part of P&C's on-going "shortcut to the classics" series.
The book is written by an old man about an old man who is reflecting on his life.
On his 90th birthday, the unnamed protagonist -- who is a confirmed bachelor and frequent patron of brothels -- wanted to give himself a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin. The book is about his reminiscenses, but mostly about his relationship with this one girl.
The protagonist has lived 90 years with no love in his life, but now, at the end, he falls madly in love with a very young girl, with whom he doesn't have sex.
The book presents some deep reflections on love, sex, passion, and jealousy. In one sense, it's a very raunchy and disturbing book, with difficult themes. In another sense, it's an interesting commentary on love.
The boys drink and review Crimson Crue red ale from Dogfish Head brewery, then discuss apocalyptic religions -- specifically the JWs and the SDAs.
The two groups have points in common and some important distinctions.
Both groups are rooted in the Millerite movement and some disappointing predictions about the end of the world. They both
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believe in one God,
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are somewhat obsessed with the Book of Revelation,
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have some odd views about what happens to the soul at death,
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believe the Bible is inspired and infallible, and
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are (or can be) a touch cultic.
The distinctions are more important. The JWs are not Christians, in the sense that they do not believe in the Trinity. SDAs do. 7th Day Adventists also have a better understanding of salvation, and several other things.
SDAs have some interesting distinctions -- like their insistence on a Saturday Sabbath, and their reliance on the prophecies of Ellen G. White -- but they are Christians.
The boys drink and review Super Thick Pastry Stout from Old Mother Brewing in Frederick, Maryland, then discuss the Big 5 personality characteristics.
There are a lot of personality tests out there, like Myers Briggs and the Enneagram. Those aren't as solidly based in science as the Big Five.
You can remember the Big Five with with of two acrostics, OCEAN or CANOE. They are ...
The Big Five personality traits, also known as the Five Factor Model (FFM), are a widely accepted framework for understanding human personality. They represent broad dimensions of individual differences in personality. Here's a brief explanation of each:
Openness to Experience features characteristics such as imagination, insight, and a broad range of interests. Individuals high in openness are often curious about the world and other people, eager to learn new things, and open to new experiences, including unconventional ideas or novel solutions. They tend to be creative and appreciative of art and beauty.
Conscientiousness involves high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-directed behaviors. Highly conscientious individuals are organized, reliable, and diligent. They plan ahead, work systematically, and carry out tasks with attention to detail. This trait is often linked with academic and career success.
Extroversion is characterized by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. Extroverts derive energy from social interaction, are often enthusiastic and action-oriented, enjoy being around people, and are often perceived as full of life and energy.
Agreeableness includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors. Individuals who score high in agreeableness tend to be cooperative, compassionate, and friendly. They are more inclined to help others and value getting along with people.
Neuroticism is associated with emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness. Individuals high in neuroticism may experience more frequent and severe negative emotions than their peers. They tend to respond worse to stressors, are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and can struggle to bounce back from challenging events.
After the boys conclude their discussion of the Big Five, Pigweed relates a story from Mrs. Pigweed, who went to pronoun class. P&C review some of the material from the class and conclude it's a huge smoking pile of nonsense.
At the end of the show, Crowhill takes a shot at reading "the worst sentence ever written" by Judith Butler.
The boys drink and review Planetary hazy IPA from the Ministry of Brewing, then discuss the decline of religion in the west.
The boys review some of the stats on the decline in church attendance, the rise of the "nones," and how religion has less and less influence on western civilization.
But there are some important elements of society that are heavily and positively influenced by religion.
Many science-minded people think it's good that religion is in decline. The so-called "new atheists" say we can craft a new morality based on reason. Is that really working?
This aligns with the the ideas of the enlightenment -- that reason could replace religion. But does that work?
Richard Dawkins recently revealed that he was a "cultural Christian." Is that all we have?
The P&C show has frequently discussed an evolutionary psychology explanation for religion. Societies with religion edged out those without.
There's a quote attributed to Chesterton that says "when men cease to believe in God, they don't believe nothing, they believe anything."
There is a God-shaped hole in our hearts. If that hole isn't filled with God, it will be filled with something else, like environmentalism, wokeness/activism, identity/narcissism/transgenderism.
Neitzche feared that when religion died, it would be replaced with hyper-nationalism and other ills. "I didn't see this coming....but, I'm not surprised."
There are lots of indications that the concept of God underwrites many of the social norms that we rely on.
There's also the issue of archetypes and evolutionary psychology.
One argument for the existence of God is that without God everything goes to crap. Is that where we are? Is God necessary, whether he exists or not?
The boys drink and review Tmave Pivo, a Czech Dark Lager by Ten Eyck brewing.
54% of people in America think the government has too much power. Does the federal government do too much? Is it too big?
Government debt has been a problem for a while, but recently it has spiked to almost unbelievable levels. Is this a good thing? How do we stop it?
What is the federal government supposed to do, and how does that match with what the federal government actually does? There are some things the government does -- and spends money on -- that have no justification in the constitution.
The Ben Franklin players finish the show with a dramatic reading.
The boys drink and review Giant Flaming Zombie Polar Bear Double IPA by Atlas Brewing, then discuss Frank Herbert's Dune and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Which one is better? Where are they similar, and where are they different?
Dune is a great work of science fiction and the Lord of the Rings is a great work of fantasy. They have a lot of things in common, including a medieval fee, knights, castles, great houses, wizard-like characters, and immense, involved world building.
There are strong differences as well. Dune looks to the future while the LOTR looks to the past, and has more of a nostalgic feel. Dune is technological, but in the LOTR, it's usually the bad guys who use technology.
The LOTR has a much clearer moral universe, with more differentiation between the good guys and the bad guys. It's not exactly clear who the good guys are in Dune.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and the LOTR is infused with a religious sensibility, even though there is not actual religion in the book. Herbert was not a believer and presents religion as a tool to be manipulated for political ends.
The LOTR is very mythological, and sometimes even sacramental, while Dune is speculative and includes psychedelics.
The P&C Man of the Week this time is James Carville. (Starting about 34:00.)
The boys drink and review Big Red Norm Red Ale from Denizen's Brewing, then discuss speed dating.
Imagine that a friend drags you into speed dating. What would you do?
First, you have to decide what your intentions are. But given that, what questions can you ask to find out if the woman is nuts?
What are the deal-breaker questions? Tattoos? Drinking? (Not drinking?) Weed?
The questions you ask in speed dating might focus on sussing out a few issues, such as ...
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How boring they are
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Their interests
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Personality
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Neuroticism
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Intelligence
There's not much time. How would you prioritize your questions?
Man of the week: All the Planet Fitness members who are leaving.
The boys drink and review Delicious IPA from Stone's Brewing, then try to work through the confusing world of gender and the horrible legacy of gender theory.
Isn't "gender" about language? How did it come to describe people's sexuality?
Enter John Money, the disgusting pervert who is the father of gender theory. He promoted the idea that gender is not connected with sex, and that gender is malleable. He coined the terms gender role and sexual orientation.
Money was behind the tragedy of David Reimer, who after a horrible accident during a circumcision lost his entire penis. Money convinced the parents to raise the boy as a girl.
It was a catastrophe, but it became the proof -- among sexologists and perverts -- that sex was just a social construct, and that if you raise a boy as a girl, he'll be a girl.
It didn't work out that way and it ruined poor David's life. He never took to his female "identity," and eventually committed suicide.
We're coming to a point of reckoning. Children who had this butchery done to them are growing up, and they're starting to sue the monsters who did this to them.
It won't be long before we look back on this "gender theory" nonsense the way we look back on the Satanic panic. But how many children will have to be butchered before we get there?
The boys drink and review Crowhill's homebrewed Viking Stout, then catch up on recent news with electric vehicles.
There has been concern about fires and EVs. They burn hot, and it's hard to put them out. With some experience behind us now, while there are still concerns, it's not as bad as feared.
EVs are still mostly a luxury item. They're great as a second car, but they can't completely replace gasoline vehicles. They don't work well in the cold. They take a long time to charge. There aren't enough charging stations. They don't have enough range. It would be a disaster if people tried to evacuate Florida in EVs.
Home charging is not an option for people who live in apartments, or otherwise don't have access to home charging options.
Government goals for EV production and adoption have been way too optimistic. After a solid flood of early adopters, demand has softened considerably.
EVs are not as green as people expect. They usually get their power from coal. The materials required to make them are mined in environmentally unfriendly ways. They're not easy to dispose of or recycle. The metals used to create EVs release toxic chemicals into the soil that are toxic to important bacteria.
EVs are also much heavier than gasoline cars. Parking garages, safety guard rails, and other infrastructure will have to be re-engineered to deal with the increased weight. It also affects passenger safety in crashes.
Put simply, there's no free lunch. EVs are a marginal improvement in some ways, but they're not the green panacea we've been told.
We need to put away the cultic, apocalyptic, emergency thinking and allow engineers and the market to figure this out.
The boys drink and review O'Hara's Nitro Irish Red, then discuss Tucker's trip to Moscow and his chat with Putin.
When only one side of a story can be told, you can be sure you're not hearing the whole truth. It makes sense to try to hear the other side.
According to some, Putin is the devil and you can't say anything nice about him or give him any platform. (Even though the same critics were jealous that they didn't get the interview.)
Putin begins the interview with a half hour of his perspective on Russian history, but they eventually get into some interesting Q&A about Ukraine and other issues.
Some of Putin's claims were absurd, such as blaming Poland for WWII. But there were other details about possible peace deals to end the Ukraine war that we don't hear about much in the U.S.
After the interview, Tucker went on a tour of Moscow and said some very stupid things about grocery stores and subway stations in Russia. That undercut the significance of the interview and made him look stupid.
Pigweed, Crowhill, Longinus, and all three wives went to Baltimore to see an adaptation of The Oresteia, which was originally a 3-part play by Aeschylus. In this podcast they reflect on the play and related issues.
The play focuses on the web of vengeance within the family of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, starting with Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia, before the battle of Troy.
When Agamemnon returns home with Cassandra the prophetess of Apollo as a spoil of war, Clytemnestra invites him back in regal style, but then murders both her husband and his new girlfriend.
It then falls on Orestes, their son -- urged on by their daughter Electra -- to avenge the death of his father.
But then, who is to avenge Clytemnestra? How far does this go? Where does it end?
The play addresses issues of just war, faith, free will and determinism, religious and moral obligations, family relations, and vengeance and justice.
The show ends with a discussion of Troy and the alleged historical backdrop to the play.
The boys drink and review Founder's Dirty Bastard, a Scotch ale, then they discuss the distinction between Scotch and Scottish ale before they get into five topics in five minutes each.
1 Why can't we deport violent criminals who are here illegally? NYC mayor Eric Adams says he has to change the law before he can do that. How did we get into such a ridiculous position?
2 Why did Sports Illustrated tank? Was it the internet? Online vs. offline issues? The overall decline in publishing? Or was it that they went woke? The media doesn't want to admit that going woke sometimes causes you to go broke.
3 Is the NFL responsible when people don't dress warmly at a cold football game? Do we want a nanny state where every organization is telling you what's best for you?
4 Grammar and usage problems that bother P&C. It's vs. its. Unnecessary apostrophes. Then vs than. Media and data are plural. Your vs. you're. To, too, and two. Their, there, they're. Principal vs. principle. Capitol vs. capital. Insure, assure, ensure.
5 Voting for the good of the country even if it affects you negatively. Some people actually have the good of others in mind even when that requires incredible sacrifice.
In another edition of "shortcut to the classics," P&C drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed IPA, then discuss Lord of the Flies by William Golding. (Starting at 2:55.)
Pigweed gives a little biographical background on the author, then the boys delve into the heart of darkness and survival in this compelling short novel.
The story takes place on a deserted island, where a group of British boys find themselves stranded following a plane crash. With no adults to guide them, the boys attempt to govern themselves ... with disastrous consequences.
"Lord of the Flies" is a compelling exploration of human nature, power dynamics, and the thin veneer of civilization that separates order from chaos. Through the eyes of Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and other vividly drawn characters, Golding poses urgent questions about leadership, morality, and the inherent savagery within us all.
As we discuss the novel's themes, symbols, and the development of the characters and their interactions, we invite you to reflect on what "Lord of the Flies" reveals about the complexities of human behavior and how fragile "civilization" really is.
P&C drink and review a Bock from Guilford Hall Brewing, then ask whether educated people are smarter than the man on the street.
Even if you could make the point that smarter people should make public policy, are our educational systems making people smarter? Probably not. "Man on the street" interviews regularly show that college-educated people are dumb as a mud fence.
If you ask the college student and the man on the street questions like this ...
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Can men menstruate?
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Is drug-induced breastmilk from a man as good as milk from a woman?
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Is your neighborhood safer with fewer cops?
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Should illegal aliens get a home and an allowance?
... it's the college student who gives you nonsense and the man on the street who talks sense.
If you're educated, you might believe something like this. Genitalia have nothing to do with your "gender," but cutting them off or creating fake ones is "gender affirming."
Babied, temper-tantrum-throwing morons in the universities have created an environment where people are afraid to say the truth. As a consequence, education has become indoctrination -- into woke insanity.
The boys drink and review Snow Pants Oatmeal Stout by Union Brewing, then discuss how the left tends to project what they're doing on the right. (Starting at 4:00.)
"Projection" is, according to Freud, a kind of defense mechanism where people attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives onto other people.
Let's say there was a political party that spent four years saying "illegitimate president, not my president, Russian collusion, Stacey Abrams is the real governor, Glenn Youngkin is not the real governor," then after having done that for years they said "why are Republicans such election deniers?"
Is this a Freudian thing, or is a conscious, deliberate, strategic choice to accuse the other side of what you're doing?
This concept applies to political violence. After years of violence, riots, burning public buildings, etc., the Democrats accuse conservatives of being domestic terrorists.
"Threat to Democracy" has become the phrase of the hour for the left. After they tried to take down an elected president, caricatured all calls to tighten election laws (to make it harder to cheat) as "voter suppression," and so on, they have the gall to say that ff you don't vote for the Democrats, "democracy" is at stake.
The people who try to remove a candidate from the ballot aren't suppressing democracy. No. That's the people who say the voters should have a right to choose.
It's upside down world, and the accusations are completely unhinged.
P&C drink and review a robust porter from Smuttynose Brewing, then discuss Hungary and the political stratgies of Viktor Orban.
Pigweed gives a quick historical overview of the origins of the Hungarian people and nation, with a focus on their unique language.
The EU isn't pleased with Hungary these days. They feel as if Hungary is backsliding on democratic norms and other values held by the EU.
Viktor Orban is part of the reason the EU isn't happy with Hungary. He has an interesting agenda / playbook that he has shared with other conservatives to help them in their battle against liberals.
Here's a quick summary of his 12 rules.
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Play by your own rules. Refuse to accept the solutions and paths offered by others.
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National conservatism in domestic politics. Churches and families are the building blocks of the nation. Stay on the side of voters. They didn't want immigrants, so Hungary built a wall. Don't overthink things. (The wall is chain link with security cameras.) Find the issues where the left is completely out of touch with reality and highlight them.
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National interest in foreign policy. Liberals see some sort of cosmic battle against good and evil. But we've had a few of these "wars to end all wars," and it didn't work. Orban's response is simple. Hungary first. We want a foreign policy based on our interests.
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Have our own media. Expose your opponent's intentions. Left-wing opinions only appear to be the majority because the media amplifies them. The west used to believe that the media should be independent of politics, but the liberals don't obey those rules.
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Break down taboos. Not only today's, but tomorrow's. In Hungary they expose what the Left are preparing for before they even take action. For example, LGBT propaganda targeting children.
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Economy, economy, economy. the left wants to operate the economy according to abstract notions. We need to pursue policies that benefit the majority of voters. People want jobs and a better life, not economic theories.
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Do not get pushed into the extreme. E.g., conspiracy theories. You alienate a large portion of your audience.
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A book a day keeps the defeat away. Orban sets aside an entire day every week for reading. Reading helps you understand what your opponents are up to.
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Have faith. A lack of faith is dangerous. If you don't believe there will be a final reckoning, and that you are accountable to God, you will think you can do anything that's in your power. Encourage young conservatives to engage with faith.
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Make friends. Our enemies have one another's back. By contrast, conservatives squabble over the smallest issue. then we wonder why they corner us. Look for common ground and ways you can work with others. If we don't, our opponents will hunt us down one by one.
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Build communities. There is no conservative political success without communities. The lonier people are, the more votes go to the liberals.
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Build institutions. Think tanks, educational centers, talent workshops, youth organizations, whatever -- with a political aspect. New ideas, new thoughts, and new people are needed again and again. That's our ammunition.
There's no silver bullet. Only work.
Why did the USA become such a mess that we have to look to Hungary for inspiration?
A listener wrote the show to ask for P&Cs predictions for the elections. The boys are reluctant to predict much because of all the uncertainties at this stage.
1 -- This is clearly not plan 1 for the Democrats. They hoped Kamala would get some on-the-job training so Biden could serve for one term and usher her in. It's not going to plan. Kamala is incurably awful.
2 -- The lawfare against Trump is not going as well as Democrats would like, but it could certainly have an influence. Many independents won't vote for Trump if he's found guilty of a criminal offence.
3 -- We have two very old men. Unfortunately things happen to old men.
4 -- There are still people in the wings, like smarmy Gavin Newsome.
5 -- The Democrat establishment seems to be turning against Biden. He seems like a doddering, angry old man, and it's getting impossible to hide it.
6 -- Democrats are losing their lock on the black vote, which would be a disaster. Democrats might have to pull some strings to keep that voting block.
7 -- How will RFK affect the race?
They reluctantly end the show with their predictions for the election.
The boys drink and review Jailbreak's White Russian cream ale, then discuss five topics in five minutes.
1 -- Confusibles. The boys review some words people commonly use incorrectly. That vs. which. Farther vs. further. etc.
2 -- Swiss fat lesbians. A journalist was sentenced to 60 days in jail for calling a self-described fat lesbian a fat lesbian. Which is true. She is a fat lesbian. But to call her one is somehow hate speech. Which is a ridiculous concept to begin with.
3 -- Is "back to the office" a tool of the patriarchy? Here's the logic. Men are more willing to work jobs they don't like, put in more hours, and put up with crap than women are. Women have more emphasis on work-life balance. Working from home is better for work-life balance, so forcing employees back to the office disproportionately affects women.
4 -- The greatest rap song of all time! Ben Shapiro (aka Dr. Dreidel) joins with Tom McDonald to make a politically conservative rap song. It ends up topping the charts!! Crowhill is not impressed.
5 -- The "He gets us" Superbowl ad. It's pretty lame, and it seems to reaffirm unfair criticisms of Christians, but on the positive side, it's possibly getting people interested in Jesus.
The boys drink and review Royal Crush from Flying Dog Brewery, then discuss how the combination of two events -- the death of George Floyd and the Covid pandemic -- made America crazy. (Starting at 3:40.)
The confluence of these two events was just too much for the collective psyche. Everything had to change.
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We had to get rid of the Indian princess on Land O Lakes.
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The NFL put silly sayings in end zones and helmets.
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All the voting laws had to change.
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You have to believe that men can have periods and play in women's sports.
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Public drug use and defacation became a right.
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Tent cities and shoplifting became acceptable.
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Angry mobs can pull down public monuments with no consequences.
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... and many more things ....
We attained peak anger. Every grievance had to be aired and addressed.
P&C list some of the craziness, then try to explain why it happened.
The boys drink and review Red Flannel Logger from Aldus brewing, then discuss the successes and failures of nation building. (Starting at 4:50.) Why does it work sometimes and not others?
Pigweed calls this the curse of the Marshall Plan. The U.S. has a history of success with nation building with both Germany and Japan after WWII. Since then, we haven't had such great success.
Does every human heart yearn for freedom, McDonald's, blue jeans and democracy, the way George W. Bush believed? Does economic freedom and opportunity lead to political freedom? It doesn't seem to.
Why does it work in some cases but not in others? What are the necessary preconditions to a political structure that allows for free, democratic forms of government?
In another episode of "shortcut to the classics," P&C plus special guest Longinus review a few short stories by Anton Checkov (starting at 3:25).
After a quick review of his life, they review and discuss five short stories.
The Black Monk is a story about Andrei Kovrin, an intellectual who experiences a mental breakdown that leads to hallucinations of a black monk.
In The House with the Mezzanine a young painter becomes enamored of two temperamentally different sisters during his stay at a country house.
The Peasants explores the harsh reality of peasant life in Russia, following Nikolai Chikildeev who, as a result of sickness, has to leave his Moscow job to live with his poor family.
Gooseberries is a strange story about a man who is so consumed with achieving his dream that he is indifferent to the sufferings of others.
In The Lady with the Toy Dog recounts a love affair by a player -- Dmitri Gurov -- who "fooled around and fell in love" with Anna Sergeyevna, a married woman he met on vacation in Yalta. The affair seems to have come to an end, but Dmitri pursues Anna to the city.
P&C don't usually talk about current headlines, but every once in a while an issue arises that compels comment. Hence "Nooze and Booze."
Immigration has been a crisis since before Ronald Reagan and has been a top concern for voters all that time. Nevertheless, both parties have refused to address it, and the Democrats have been absolutely insistent on open borders.
It's been causing a crisis for the border states for decades, but the problem is spilling over into our major cities. It's causing an absolute catastrophe. But still Biden and the Democrats insist on open borders. Why?
The boys discuss possible motivations.
If we need more workers, fine. Amend the law to bring in more workers -- legally. P&C have no objection to legal immigration, and Crowhill makes that point about 300 times. If we need more people, do it through proper channels.
Why are the Democrats so fixated on illegal immigration? Illegal immigrants are hurting the poor -- the very people the Democrats claim to be trying to help.
The U.S. already brings in more immigrants than any other country in the world. And that's not enough?
The boys drink and review Crowhill's homebrewed extra special bitter, then discuss the problems with smart phones (starting at 3:10). Mostly relying on the work of Jonathan Haidt, the boys discuss the good and the bad of social media and smart phones. Imagine social media like giving everybody a dart gun, and the social media platforms promoting everybody who likes to shoot. Social media makes even small conversations a mine field. A college professor lecturing 200 students can be a world-wide villain before the end of his lecture if somebody is offended and tweets it. The outrage mob on social media ruins reputations. As a result, most people self censor. They're scared to death of the mob. Smart phones are a particular problem for teenage girls. The effect has been severe and very negative. At a time when girls are already awkward, confused, and struggling, they compare their bodies to the air-brushed perfection of the top 0.1% of society. Some of them also post images of themselves to be criticized by millions of strangers. It's no wonder they're depressed. There are a lot of times when we should take a breath before we respond. We need to cool down and think before we speak. But social media is not that way. It's all in the moment. The Libertarians will say this should all be handled by parents. That's not reasonable or responsible. It's very hard for parents to impose a limit that the rest of society doesn't uphold. There's a place for the culture to create a limit. Social media is addictive because of the dopamine hit when you get a like, but it's also ready to destroy you on a moment's notice if you offend the wrong person.
The boys drink and review their friend Ben's Mosaic IPA, then discuss the relative virtues of dogs and cats as pets. (Starting at 7:15.)
Neither Pigweed nor Crowhill grew up with a dog or a cat, but both ended up with cats as adults.
Pigweed takes the cat case and Crowhill takes the dog case. They go back and forth on the relative merits and demerits of each.
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Cats are low maintenance.
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Dogs can be trained.
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Cats are better as "in-house" pets, so they're good for apartments.
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Dogs are affectionate, but also needy.
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Cats keep pests away, but dogs keep bad guys at bay.
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There are service dogs. There are no service cats.
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Cats are quiet (mostly).
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Dogs are loyal.
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Cats are less expensive.
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You can trust a dog with your baby. He'll actually protect your baby. With his life.
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Cats use the litter box. You have to walk a dog.
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Dogs promote a more active lifestyle.
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Cats groom themselves.
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There are more sizes and varieties of dogs than cats.
The boys drink and review Crowhill's homemade Italian bitters, then discuss John Adams (starting about 3:50).
Pigweed starts off with some historical information on Adams, our second president, including his on-going dispute with Thomas Jefferson.
In a different context, John Adams famously said "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
What does that mean, and how are we to understand that in our modern society?
The equation seems to be that more freedom requires more personal self-restraint and morality. Without self-restraint and morality, you need a much stronger government. Think Saddam Hussein.
Or, to put it very simply, you have to trust people enough that you can leave them alone.
Unfortunately, modern politics seems to be a choice between which politician promises to give us more stuff.
The boys drink and review Founder's Breakfast Stout then discuss the similarities between mindfulness and joie de vivre (starting about 3:30).
The very act of reviewing a beer is an example. The point is not to see how fast you can get a beer into your belly, but to savor the moment, pay attention to the world as it's going by, and understand its complexities.
What does mindfulness have in common with joie de vivre? They're both about noticing what's going on and taking pleasure in the small things.
"Mindfulness" is often associated with New Age weirdness, but it doesn't have to be. At its core, it involves one part of your mind dispassionately observing what's happening in another part of your mind, or in your body. It seems to have a connection with the acceptance of suffering.
Joie de vivre is similar except that it has an emphasis on cheerfulness and enjoyment.
For both, you're focusing on the present moment.
Most of our lives are chores and obligations. If you view all those things as drudgery, and your "real life" is only the fun stuff, you're not going to have much real life. You need to learn to enjoy all the aspects of your life.
Are you going to allow your circumstances to control your life and your emotions, or are you going to take charge and live the life you want to live?
The boys drink and review Pigweed's brown ale, then discuss how low expectations harm the people they're supposed to help. (The beer review ends at 3:53.)
George Bush made the phrase "the soft bigotry of low expectations" popular in his 2000 campaign.
The evil of this "soft bigotry" is that it comes from people who pretend to be helping. But when you fail to hold people to reasonable standards, you're not helping them at all.
If you institutionalize low expectations to increase the participation of some group, everyone will now question the qualifications of the people in that group. How could they not?
P&C discuss how this poisonous attitude infects many areas of our culture.
It infects the SAT, grades, hiring, recruiting for schools, and even baking contests.
P&C drink and review Layered Up winter stout from Victory Brewing, then respond to some listener questions (starting at 1:47).
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Does Santa really need Crampus as an evil counterpart? Would Pigweed actually put coal in the stocking of a bad kid?
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Pentamom takes us to task on geography and explains the countries named "Guinea."
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Did the Sackler family face any consequences as a result of their evil doings with Oxycontin.
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What do P&C think of Taylor Swift as Time's man of the year, and what about the fact that universities teach classes about her?
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Why didn't we cover "Our Lady of Clearwater" in our show on apparitions?
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When are you going to upgrade your sound system?
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Is it really great -- as the media seems to think -- that the Baltimore mayor knocked up his girlfriend?
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Is there any evidence that the Flashman incident ever happened?
P&C drink and review "Oaked Vanilla Porter" by Sam Adams, then discuss isolationism (starting at 3:57).
They start off with a general definition, then talk about the history of isolationism in American politics -- from the earliest days.
Americans don't like "entangling alliances." Or at least they say they don't.
There's been a strong current of isolationism in American politics since the beginning. Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe created the three pillars of American policy: neutrality, unilateralism, and non-intervention.
Also, even though we are a "nation of immigrants," we've had extended periods where we didn't allow almost any immigration.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor pretty much ended isolationism in the United States.
Now, the term "isolationist" is used as a slur, but it's become more popular because we're sick of sending our boys to die for other people's problems.
As with Pearl Harbor, the attack on the World Trade Center put an end to growing American isolationism.
But it's coming back. Trump was somewhat isolationist, and modern Republicans complain that we care more about Ukraine's borders than our own.
Why does the United States bear most of the burden of keeping the shipping lanes open?
Is it "isolationist" to say that the United States has taken on too much of these burdens?
P&C drink and review Paulaner's Salvator, which is a delicious dopplebock, then review the new movie "Lady Ballers" (starting at 4:08).
The right claims that the left has been taking over the culture. The good folk at The Daily Wire have decided to start making movies to challenge the left's hegemony in this area.
Movies from the right are often poor quality and preachy. The Daily Wire has raised the bar considerably.
"Lady Ballers" makes fun of the absolute insanity of allowing men to compete in women's sports.
A group of washed up, former high school basketball stars pretend they're women and completely dominate women's basketball.
It's not the greatest comedy, but it gets some decent laughs and it makes a very important point.
The media has mostly refused to even acknowledge that the movie exists, and when they do review it they simply cite one or two comments online. E.g., "One reviewer said ..."
The boys review Crowhill's 2023 Christmas beer, then discuss a short story from James Joyce.
Pigweed starts off with some biographical information about Joyce, and how "The Dead" fits into his collected works. The story was finished in 1907.
Gabriel Conroy is the main character, and we see some of the action through his eyes.
The whole story takes places in one snowy evening. It might have been the feast of Epiphany. The hosts have an annual musical celebration.
Joyce sets up a lot of expectations for possible tension that never come to fruition. The actual tension doesn't appear until fairly late in the story, and it's completely unexpected.
Conroy is the responsible man at the party. He carves the goose. He sits at the head of the table. He gives a speech. He's a kind, educated man who is sensitive to other people's needs and does what's expected.
Half way through the story you're wondering when people are going to start dying. It is "The Dead" after all.
But there are no calamities. The role of death and dying only comes out at the very end. Gabriel's wife hears a song that reminds her of a long lost lover, which we only learn at the end. We also learn that the man is dead.
The boys drink and review Winter Storm, "a Category 5 ale" from Heavy Seas, then discuss populism in the U.S., and the career of Javier Milei.
Most politicians want to appear as an ordinary, regular person -- at least when they're campaigning -- but a "populist" adds a critical element of a contrast between the people and the elite establishment, whom they ridicule or demonize.
Populism might become more prevalent when there's more of a disparity between the rulers and the common man.
Populism is not left-wing or right-wing. Donald Trump is a populist, but so is Bernie Sanders. Populists appeal directly to the people and tend to bypass the establishment.
Left-wing populism has an economic focus and emphasizes economic and class struggle. They talk about redistributing resources, and are against corporations.
Right-wing populism has more of a focus on cultural and nationalistic issues. It tends to be anti immigrant.
There seems to have been more right-wing populism recently. This may be because of the growing power of the entrenched bureaucracy.
One criticism of populism is that you're exchanging the educated, elite expert with the uneducated WalMart shoppers. The truth is that the educated elite don't always get better results. U.S. education tanked after we created the Department of Education.
Javier Milei is a libertarian populist who recently won power in Argentina. He promises to drastically cut government spending and eliminate half of the government ministries.
"The thievery of politics is over," he said.
It will be interesting to see how well he does.
The boys drink and review Pigweed's holiday beer, then discuss a few odd stories from Hans Christian Anderson (starting at 4:33).
Although he wrote a lot of other works, it's the fairy tales that made Anderson famous.
Some of them are very well known, like The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes, and others.
P&C aren't interested in these, but in Anderson's weirder stories, so they review and discuss "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Traveling Companion," and "The Tinder Box."
But in the spirit of the holidays they also review some of his Christmas stories: The Little Match Girl and The Fir Tree.
The boys drink and review Anchor's Christmas beer, then discuss diversity.
Note: this is an older show from the archives.
Is diversity our strength? That's what the political elite tell us. But is that true?
Diversiity has a very American sound. It reminds us of the saying on the statue of liberty, and reminds us that we're a nation of immigrants.
But the word has become a cudgel. When Trump decided he would address the number one concern of voters -- the border -- the left used "diversity" as a weapon against him.
The reality is that diversity isn't a value. It's just a description. Diversity in and of itself doesn't make something better or worse.
We care about outcomes, not the diversity of the people who bring about that outcome.
Also, "diversity" is very narrow. It's been limited to sex, race, and sexual orientation. There are hundreds of other ways to categorized people. Why aren't they part of the "diversity" cult?
What it really means is "we think there are too many straight white people."
The boys drink and review Crowhill's Tavern Ale, then discuss the international outcry over the Flashman Incident.
Some stories, like this one by Hunter Allen, seem like they should stay local, but every once in a while a story catches fire and spreads across the nation.
That's what happened when Bob dropped off an old book in the local tiny library.
Day 1 -- Bob drops off the book. Pedro picks up "Flashman," by George McDonald Frazier, which is one of the books Bob dropped off.
Day 2 -- Pedro takes the book to school, where Ms. Hughes sees it and discovers it's not appropriate for someone of Pedro's age. She asked where he got it, and he said "the library." Ms. Hughes assumed he meant the school library and posts her complaint to Facebook.
Day 3 -- Social media explodes and demands that the school librarian be fired.
Day 4 -- Twitter can't decide whether to blame Pedro for failing to report the book, but decided to blame his parents instead.
Day 5 -- Both of Pedro's parents are called to HR and enrolled in sensitivity classes. Someone finally discovers where the book really came from, which starts a police and FBI investigation to find out who put this horrible book in the tiny library.
Day 6 -- The American Psychological Association donates a series of anti-racist, pro trans, pro gay children's books to the school system.
Day 7 -- Pedro's parents hire an attorney who reveals the true origin of the book.
Day 8 -- There are calls to legislate tiny libraries to prevent something like this from happening.
Day 9 -- The author becomes the latest "evil person" on social media.
From this point it's the typical insanity on social media and the fur really starts to fly.
The story is well worth your time. It shows what happens when the mob gets upset.
The boys drink and review Jailbreak's Hey Porter, then discuss the life and career of a famous decolonizer, Francisco Macias Nguema. Equatorial Guinea was colonized by the Spanish. Nguema started his career as a mid-level civil servant with the Spanish government. He was corrupt from the beginning, but maintained a good relationship with the Spanish. When the tides turned and anti-colonialist sentiment grew, he saw his opportunity and ran for president. The Spanish supported him because they thought he was on their side. He started off with a very aggressive campaign to rid the country of anything from the Spaniards. He renamed cities and streets, and he attacked anything that was deemed a consequence of the colonists. That included education, medicine, bread -- even wearing glasses. It was a disaster. Nguema went from bad to worse and became one of the chief bastards in African history. Modern "decolonizers" should pay heed.
The boys drink and review Anderson Valley Brewing Company's Winter Solstice Ale, then discuss Freemasonry.
How do you learn about a secret society without becoming a member? It's hard to know what to believe about them.
Still, P&C did their best to find the essential details.
Stone mason guilds started to have outsized political power and started to admit people who weren't stone masons. The organization grew in numbers and power, and was very influential in the founding of the United States.
They became closely associated with Englightenment thinking and promoted the ideas of rationality and science. One of their mottos is to "make good men better."
But what does it mean to be a mason? What about all their spooky rituals? And why is the Catholic Church against them?
The boys discuss.
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Witness Tree Nut Brown Ale from Antietam Brewery, then discuss Crowhill's recent trip to the UAE. While Saudi Arabia dominates the Arabian peninsula, a couple smaller nations squeeze their way in, including UAE. After reviewing a bit of history and geography, the boys discuss Crowhill’s experiences in Abu Dhabi. Crowhill had three goals for his trip. Swim in the Persian Gulf, visit the Grand Mosque, and eat some weird local food. The boys discuss how the UAE maintains a national identity when only about 11 percent of the population is local. They’ve imported most of their citizens, but they still maintain a national culture and identity.
The boys drink and review Brooklyn Brewery's Winter IPA, then discuss the rich men (north of Richmond) who want to tell us how to live and control every aspect of our lives.
Seamus Bruner recently wrote a book called Controligarchs about how the super-rich want to tell all the rest of us how to live.
Bruner singles out five on his book cover: Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, and George Soros. Noticeably absent is Elon Musk, who seems to be supporting personal freedom rather than top-down dominance. (Which is why the media hates him.)
The controligarchs think they have the right and responsibility to tell us what to eat, what to drive, what to think, what to say, how to educate our children, how to spend our money ....
"You'll eat bugs and you'll like it."
Unfortunately, the population doesn't have the courage or integrity to tell them where to stuff it. As long as we have our cable TV and cheap food that can be delivered in less than 30 minutes, we're good.
These controligarchs aren't taking their lead from traditional, consitutional American ideals. They're following Xi Jingping.
It's time to resist these people.
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Saranac Caramel Porter, then discuss Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series.
They start with a quick bio of Truman Capote, then dig in to the novella.
The story is set in WW2, and it's important to get the movie out of your head before you read the book.
Holly Golightly is the star of the book. She's a young woman who uses men for their money. It's not clear if she's more call girl or escort or just "woman about town." But she's an amoral little sprite who does what she needs to do to enjoy life and live in the style she has come to expect.
The boys disagree about how to evaluate her morals.
It's a delightful story with a few interesting themes.
The boys drink and review Local 1605, a red ale from Antietam Brewery, then discuss McCarthyism.
Since "The Crucible," we tend to associate the Salem witch trials with Joseph McCarthy and his work with the committee on anti-American activities. After doing a show on the Salem Witch trials (see episode 367), P&C wondered if it's appropriate to link witch trials to Joseph McCarthy and his anti-communist crusade.
The analogy works in some respects and not in others.
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There were false accusations in both cases.
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In both cases, to be accused was bad enough.
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In both cases, you could get out by accusing other people.
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"Justice" was corrupted by mob hysteria in both cases.
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However, there were no witches or witchcraft in Salem, but there were communists in the United States.
The "red scare" was legit. There was a fight to the death between communism and the west. But that doesn't justify McCarthy's methods to root out that threat.
P&C provide a brief review of McCarthy's life, then examine his methods and tactics and what we should learn about it today.
P&C drink and review "The Fear" -- an imperial pumpkin ale from Flying Dog -- then discuss surveillance.
How should we live in an environment where everything we say is being recorded?
Why shouldn't the government be able to do "routine checks" on citizens? We don't have anything to hide, do we? And if you're breaking the law, or a risk to others, don't we want to find out before you do something horrible?
Why do we have a presumption of innocence? What's the point?
The boys discuss the basic principles, but also delve into the issues raised by Snowden and others who uncovered secret government surveillance.
The boys drink and review a hazy IPA from Sam Adams, then discuss the opioid crisis and big pharma.
Corporations are not necessarily evil. As a rule, they do important work that provides a service people are happy to pay for. But from time to time you get some bad eggs.
The Sackler family is an example. They took advantage of a new class of drug, and new thinking about how to manage pain, and lied and cheated their way to riches. They convinced the medical community that opioids weren't addictive. (Based on one questionable study.)
Doctors began prescribing opioids more than they should have, and a lot of people got addicted.
It's a sad tale with lots of villains and victims. The boys give it a fun and sometimes humorous review.
The boys drink and review Warlock, a pumpkin imperial stout, then discuss the Salem witch trials. In this gripping podcast, Pigweed and Crowhill delve into the chilling history of the Salem witch trials. Join us as we unravel the mysteries, uncover the accused, and explore the dark trials that shook the heart of colonial America. Discover the truth behind the hysteria that still haunts Salem to this day. The Salem witch trials were a series of events that occurred in 1692 in colonial Massachusetts. They involved mass hysteria and accusations of witchcraft, resulting in the execution of 20 people, mainly women. The trials were marked by religious fervor, paranoia, and false accusations, ultimately revealing the dangers of unchecked superstition and fear in society.What role does Calvinism and predestination play in all of this? Did it provide a particularly fertile soil for hysteria about witches? The Puritans came to America believing they could start a new life, and a better society as the chosen people. But it wasn't working out. So maybe it was the devil. P&C review the historical details and provide commentary about how we should view the story today.
The boys drink and review Captain Crowhill Abbey Ale, then discuss the recent spectacle of college students defending Hamas.
The conversation starts with a few assumptions.
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Israel exists
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It has a right to exist
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It has a right to defend itself
Why have there been so many ugly rallies in support of Hamas, and why have the universities been so silent about it. If you misgender someone on a college campus, that's the end of you. But if you call for genocide against the Jews, that's free speech.
These protestors divide the world between oppressor and oppressed, and somehow the Jews -- possibly the most persecuted people in the history of the planet -- are designated "oppressors."
If you're oppressed, colonized, marginalized, "of color," etc., you're automatically the good guy from the standpoint of the idiot left.
Along with literary contributor Longinus, the boys drink and review Dark Usher, then discuss two short stories from Lovecraft: Shadow Over Innsmouth and the Call of Cthulu.
In "The Shadow over Innsmouth," a man visits the decaying New England town of Innsmouth and discovers its inhabitants' disturbing alliance with aquatic beings, the Deep Ones. As he delves deeper into their sinister secrets, he faces terror and the looming threat of a transformation into one of them.
"The Call of Cthulhu" unravels a cosmic horror as the protagonist pieces together accounts of a monstrous entity, Cthulhu, who lies dormant beneath the ocean. Cults worldwide revere this ancient, nightmarish being, awaiting the moment when it will awaken to usher in worldwide chaos. The story unfolds through a series of interconnected narratives, leaving readers with a profound sense of dread about the insignificance of humanity in the face of cosmic forces.
The boys drink and review a no-alcohol porter, then discuss five topics in about 5 minutes each.
1. Gender-reveal dad. From a YouTube video -- This poor fellow was obviously a captive. You could see it in his face. But it wasn't about a baby, it was about some kid transitioning. It was horrifying. It seemed pretty obvious the man was going along with an ultimatum from his wife. "Support me on this or suffer."
2. Means-tested speeding tickets. A Finnish man participating in a strange combination of the Iditerod and a race across the country gets a speeding ticket that was "means tested" based on his salary. His fine was $62,000 for driving 10mph over the speed limit. Because he was wealthy.
3. Why is nobody covering the Epstein sex scandal? Supposedly there's a list of elites who took advantage of Epstein's ... hospitality (at the expense of underaged girls). But nobody will touch it -- not the media, not the government, not the feminists.
4. Our broken culture. We have some weird standard these days where someone deliberately provokes a reaction by refusing to conform to society's standards, and then gets offended when people notice that they're not conforming to society's standards.
5. Joe Biden finally found somebody he wants to deport. Homeschoolers. It's a horrifying case that makes you wonder if lunatics have taken over every aspect of the government.
The boys drink and review yet another non-alcoholic beer, then discuss Ted Kaczynski, aka The Unabomber, who recently died in prison.
He was a genius. He skipped two grades, went to Harvard, and studied advanced mathematics.
Unfortunately, he was an evil genius.
Ted was a quirky guy who decided that technology and industrial society had to be destroyed. He worked for a few years to raise enough money to live in a shack in Montana. From there he started his terrorist bombing campaign.
His crimes spanned from 1978 to 1995, with a 5-year gap in the middle.
He got caught after his manifesto was published and his brother saw similarities between the manifesto and the ravings and letters of his brother.
P&C drink and review "Gold Rush," a no-alcohol beer from Sam Adams, then discuss the "I Promise" School.
LeBron James says that he owes a lot of his success to some wonderful people who took him in and helped him out when he was struggling in school. To his credit, LeBron wants to give back, so he created a new school to give disadvantaged kids a chance.
The school started with a lot of hope and promise -- and with a lot of LeBron's money -- but it hasn't lived up to expectations. The results have been pretty awful.
P&C take a hard look and provide some possible reasons why the "I Promise" school didn't work out that well.
One obvious lesson is that resources are not the problem. Throwing money at the school doesn't make for better education.
Perhaps LeBron should try this. Find a school that's doing a good job -- like maybe the Catholic school he went to -- and help them reach more kids.
P&C drink and review a non-alcoholic Octoberfest "beer," then discuss their experiences in Hawaii.
Pigweed had visited a few decades ago, while Crowhill just got back after a visit to Capt. Crowhill.
Crowhill was surprised by several things.
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Chickens everywhere.
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Not many shells on the beach.
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Almost no sea birds.
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Mongooses on the loose.
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The mountains are incredibly sheer and steep.
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There's a sports team called "Red Raiders" with an image of a native.
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SPAM is very popular.
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Hawaiian music is boring.
P&C drink and review Geralt's Gold, a no-alcohol Helles brew, then discuss how our views of children have changed.
In the latter half of the 20th century our culture turned away from the previous "seen and not heard" attitude and tried to be more interested in what children say. We also started to be obsessed with childrens' feelings and their self esteem.
P&C don't remember anybody caring about their feelings, their self esteem, or whether they were anxious when they were young. It's as if we're teaching children to have mental problems.
In the modern environment, the most unruly kid sets the agenda for the classroom because the teachers and principals can't do anything to them.
This has evolved into the modern "gender" confusion, which seems to have no end of foolishness. Now we have "gender minotaurs" and other ridiculous concepts.
But it's not just "gender." The anti-straw hysteria was invented by a nine year old who made up phony statistics that the media swallowed whole. And then he did a TED talk.
Nobody thought to check it. I guess the children were leading.
The boys drink and review a lime and salt no-alcohol brew from Dos Equis, then discuss Chris Lunsford, who some people think is named Oliver Anthony.
Mr. Lunsford recently appeared on both Jordan Peterson's and Joe Rogan's podcast. Pigweed and Crowhill try to determine if Mr. Lunsford is the man people think he is -- a simple, authentic man of the people.
He seems to be. He has a disdain for commercial success, a love for people, and a desire for his music to be more of a ministry than a monetary venture.
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Sam Adams' Just the Haze, a no-alcohol IPA, then review some short stories by Kurt Vonnegut.
"The Foster Portfolio" has an investment advisor who finds a client who appears to be poor, but secretly has enormous wealth, which he has no interest in. It examines one man's struggles with his moral failings.
"All the King's Horses" is about a horrifying chess game played with real people's lives, including a Colonel's wife and two sons. It's a parable about parents' choices in sending their children off to war.
"Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog" is clever and fun story about a dog who is smarter than Thomas Edison.
"Welcome to the Monkey House" is a futuristic story about an over-populated planet where society takes extreme measures to reduce the number of people. But then Billy the Poet comes along and throws a wrench in the works.
"Harrison Bergeron" is a brilliant anticipation of modern nonsense about "equity." The only way to make everyone equal is to make the smart people stupid, the pretty people ugly, and the talented just as dull as everyone else.
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys review an Amber "non-alcoholic brew" from O'Douls, then discuss planned cities.
Pigweed was curious who was secretly buying lots of land near Travis Air Force Base. The fear was it was the Chinese, but it turns out to be Silicon Valley millionaires and billionaires. They want to create an "ideal city" -- because they know best about everything.
There is, of course, a long history of people believing they could design the perfect city. It's not an encouraging track record.
Longinus starts off the show with the development and history of cities and city planning.
Such planning was usually a response to the organic growth of the city rather than a pre-emptive plan to design it from scratch, although there are exceptions. Philadelphia, Williamsburg, and Washington, D.C., were all planned cities.
Crowhill reviews a list of nine planned cities that turned into disasters.
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Brasilia
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Chandigarh
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Ordos
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Magnitogorsk
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Pruitt-Igoe
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Home
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Palmanova
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New Delhi
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Milton Keynes
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Arcosanti
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Skopje
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Jonestown
And when it comes to planning, you also have Homeowners' Associations!
The boys drink and review a light copper near bear from Athletic Brewing, then discuss the GOP debates.
The participants were Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Asa Hutchinson.
The candidates are all so far behind Donald Trump at this point that it was almost like a debate to see who wanted to be Trump's VP, except that Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Mike Pence were clearly competing for the anti/never-Trump lane.
Vivek is widely seen as the winner, but Crowhill wasn't all that impressed with his performance. He was a little too silly, and he was legitimately criticized for not having any experience.
DeSantis was surprisingly low key, but did well.
Pence tried to defend his actions on Jan. 6 and to push himself out in front by being very aggressive, but it didn't do much for him.
Haley scored some good zingers on Ramaswamy and helped herself some, but she's still way behind.
Scott, Christie, Burgum and Hutchinson didn't distinguish themselves.
P&C also discuss the elephant not in the room -- Donald Trump. Is there any hope that we can get somebody other than Trump on the Republican ticket?
The boys drink and review a light copper near bear from Athletic Brewing, then discuss the GOP debates.
The participants were Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Asa Hutchinson.
The candidates are all so far behind Donald Trump at this point that it was almost like a debate to see who wanted to be Trump's VP, except that Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Mike Pence were clearly competing for the anti/never-Trump lane.
Vivek is widely seen as the winner, but Crowhill wasn't all that impressed with his performance. He was a little too silly, and he was legitimately criticized for not having any experience.
DeSantis was surprisingly low key, but did well.
Pence tried to defend his actions on Jan. 6 and to push himself out in front by being very aggressive, but it didn't do much for him.
Haley scored some good zingers on Ramaswamy and helped herself some, but she's still way behind.
Scott, Christie, Burgum and Hutchinson didn't distinguish themselves.
P&C also discuss the elephant not in the room -- Donald Trump. Is there any hope that we can get somebody other than Trump on the Republican ticket?
The boys drink and review Partake IPA, a no-alcohol beer, then discuss game theory.
Game theory is an attempt to express the calculations that go on in a game as mathematics. It makes certain assumptions.
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The game has to include multiple players
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The players must interact with each other
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There needs to be a reward
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You assume the players act rationally
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You assume the players act in their own personal interest
Those things are not always true in real life.
One goal of game theory is to figure out what the best choice is no matter what the other player does. This is called the "Nash equilibrium."
Two common games in game theory are The Prisoner's Dilemma and The Ultimatum.
"The Ultimatum" game shows that people don't always act rationally in their decisions.
The boys drink and review Partake IPA, a no-alcohol beer, then discuss game theory.
Game theory is an attempt to express the calculations that go on in a game as mathematics. It makes certain assumptions.
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The game has to include multiple players
-
The players must interact with each other
-
There needs to be a reward
-
You assume the players act rationally
-
You assume the players act in their own personal interest
Those things are not always true in real life.
One goal of game theory is to figure out what the best choice is no matter what the other player does. This is called the "Nash equilibrium."
Two common games in game theory are The Prisoner's Dilemma and The Ultimatum.
"The Ultimatum" game shows that people don't always act rationally in their decisions.
The boys drink and review a non-alcoholic black ale from Hairless Dog, then discuss cracks in the intersectional coalition.
When the Democrats abandoned the working class as their primary consituency, they decided to try to create a coalition out of all the misfits and complainers. People who think they're "oppressed."
They allegedly form a "coalition." All for one and all that. But the truth has turned out quite differently. Members of the coalition aren't sticking together.
. Gays don't like the trans agenda.
. Muslims aren't a fan of gay marriage or pride month.
. Not all Latinos want open borders.
. Not all black people are against gun rights.
The alleged coalition is built on sand.
352 Pigweed quizzes Crowhill on the Bible
The boys drink and review Penn's Best NA, then discuss non-alcoholic beers. How they're made, why anyone would want them, etc.
Then Pigweed tries to stump Crowhill on some Bible trivia.
Starting with the National Geographic's "50 Influential Figures of the Bible," then moving on to some internet Bible trivia, Pigweed tries to find the holes in Crowhill's biblical knowledge.
The boys drink and review Sam Adams' Wicked Easy Light and Hazy Session IPA, then discuss the Manhatten Project and the recent film, Oppenheimer.
In 1938 some German physicists discovered nuclear fision, which could potentially become a chain reaction, which could potentially become a bomb. The Americans and the Brits were scared the Germans would make an atomic bomb first, so they worked together to beat the Germans to the punch.
Col. (later General) Lesley Groves ran the project along with Robert Oppenheimer.
It wasn't just the physics. They had to coordinate a huge manufacturing operation, plus the enrichment of the plutonium and uranium. The whole effort was about the size of the U.S. auto industry.
After an overview of the Manhattan project, P&C discuss the "Oppenheimer" movie, which they both liked, but found it a bit long.
The boys drink and review Guinness and port, then discuss some show updates.
The boys suggested that if we rush into electric vehicles to make the world safer and better for the environment, perhaps we should ensure that EVs will do that. Of course they don't. And they're a serious fire hazard.
It turns out Canada sucks even worse than the boys had suggested. They're making it easier and easier to qualify for the "medical assistance in dying" program. Pretty soon you'll be able to kill yourself just because you're a Canadian.
After a story about a dispute on a plane, where a large passenger was impinging on the space of another passenger, Pigweed suggested charging passengers by their weight. New New Zealand Airlines has opened the door.
Italy has decided that P&C were right about a Chinese-built "new silk road" and now they regret the "villanous decision" to join China's belt and road initiative.
P&C predicted that kids who have been through "gender transitions" will start suing their parents and doctors. It's happening, and it's delicious.
In one episode the boys discussed a goofy Valentine's Day show where people were "sending out their love" to themselves. Now we're seeing stories of women marrying themselves.
P&C review a Rye Pale Ale from Seven Locks Brewing, then discuss consciousness.
Why does the brain produce the subjective experience of consciousness? Physical things have mass, energy, electric charge, etc., but we don't typically associate such attributes with physical things.
It's even more troubling when we consider that it seems possible for a human being to be able to do everything a human does without any subjective experience. Or, in other words, what does subjective experience add?
Is it possible that consciousness is simply a part of the universe, like gravity, and that it manifests to different degrees at different times? If so, what are the triggers that make it manifest?
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Everyday Amber, then discuss the development, history, and significance of the suburbs.
Crowhill mentions his conflict between his preference for free-market solutions, and the reality that some level of governemnt planning is necessary for reasonable civil life.
Longinus gives some historical context for cities and suburbs, and ties the big suburbs -- like Levittown -- to the ability to construct houses in an assembly-like manner, effective transportation, and the GI bill, which made financing possible.
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Why do we have front lawns?
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How did the suburbs hurt the cities?
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When and why did malls and strip malls develop?
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The relationship between cities and counties.
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Citrus Squall double golden ale from Dogfish Head brewery, then discuss several short stories by John Cheever.
"The Chaste Clarissa" is about a young married woman who vacations on Martha's Vineyard and catches the eye of the local Cassanova. Try as he might, he can't break down her defenses, until the very end, when he discovers her weak spot.
"The Housebreaker of Shady Hill" is an interesting morality tale about a man who finds himself on hard times after leaving a stable but boring job. He tries to make it on his own, but isn't making it, and he ends up stealing from a neighbor to cover expenses. From there his life becomes a moral slippery slope, and everything in life seems dirty and disgusting. He's tortured by what he has done, and his life starts to fall apart.
In "A Worm in the Apple" the narrator is trying to find the inner rot in everything, but finds a family where things actually are what they seem to be. Happy. Content.
"The Country Husband" has become a bit player in his own story. His life isn't important. It has to take a back seat to the boring circumstances of daily life. He wakes up to the meaninglessness of his own life and tries to find some solace in an affair with the babysitter.
"The Swimmer" is among Cheever's most famous stories. A man decides to go home by a route that takes him through every pool in the neighborhood. But his journey takes on a surrealistic quality, and may not be what it seems to be.
The boys drink and review three malt liquors, then discuss Canada.
It's a beautiful place with very nice people, but politically it's the worst country in the western world.
Aside from Canada ruining our weather in Maryland with their forest fires, we've been hearing too many ultra woke stories from our neighbors to the north.
There's the case of the father who was fined $30,000 for "misgendering his daughter" and is currently out on bail.
Canada also has a horrifying program that allows people to commit medically assisted suicide. It started with hard cases, but of course it expanded to allow people who are depressed. And now the state can euthanize a child without the parent's permission. It's a complete horror show.
Remember the way the Canadians treated the truckers? The government-controlled media flagrantly lied about the truckers, called them racists -- all the standard liberal playbook. Then the government shut down the trucker's ability to speak, they froze their bank accounts, then stole money people donated to their cause (from a GoFundMe account). This is straight-forward totalitarianism.
Canada also banned conversion therapy. If a Christian pastor says that homosexuals can reform, he goes to jail. The modern perspective is that you have to be affirmed in whatever crazy thing you say -- unless you say that you don't want to be gay.
And then there's Neil Young -- that whiny, annoying liberal. He's Canadian.
There's also been a rash of vandalism against Catholic Churches in Canada.
The Canadian military is having a hard time recruiting because of the use of "gender analysis."
The Canadian screen awards are even more woke than Hollywood.
The country is going down the tubes. Wake up people!
The boys drink and review 41 Year Lapse American Pale Ale from Mobtown Brewery then discuss the presidential campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy.
Vivek is a 2nd generation Indian with an impressive record of educational, personal, and professional accomplishments. P&C had previously reviewed Vivek's perspective on wokeness, and are pleased to see him on the stump for president.
The boys spend some time commenting on his character and style, and do a quick review of his policies.
Vivek wants to shut down the administrative state, which is a great goal, but it's unlikely he'd be able to do it.
The boys drink and review Torpedo extra IPA, then discuss El Salvador and their new president, Nayib Bukele.
El Salvador has been a basket case for decades. It was one of the most violent places on earth, corruption was rampant, and the drug cartels ran everything.
Mr. Bukele started his political career in a small town, not far from the capitol, and quickly became very popular. But he didn't fit with either of the existing majority political parties, so he joined and essentially took over one of the smaller political parties. His career skyrocketed, and he eventually became the incredibly popular president of the country.
His reforms have make life more livable for most of the country, but it hasn't been a completely smooth ride. Some of his "reforms" seem more like dictatorship, and he's been criticized internationally for his crackdowns on the cartels.
The boys try to evaluate this career. On the one hand, they prefer the rule of law, and politicians who stay within their designated powers. On the other hand, hard times call for hard measures.
The boys drink and review Crispy Boy Vienna Lager from Black Flag brewing, then discuss some fantastic recent decisions from the Supreme Court.
The cases involved affirmative action, freedom of religion, student debt, and freedom of speech.
Affirmative action is blatantly unconstitutional. It was passed by a liberal court that knew it was bad law, but hoped it would be a temporary fix to race issues. The Court found that things have gotten worse, not better, so it's time to be done with it.
In the freedom of religion case, the Court corrected a misinterpretation of previous precent. People thought that an employer could refuse an accommodation if it caused a "de minimis" hardship. In Groff vs. Dejoy, the Postal Service failed to accommodate a postal worker whose religion prevented him from working on Sunday. The Court ruled that employers have to make religious accommodations unless doing so would cause substantial harm.
The Court also shot down Biden's over-reach on student debt, which even Nancy Pelosi said the president didn't have the authority to do.
In the final case, the Court ruled that a person can't be forced to speak -- that is, to express a message they disagree with. You can't make the Jewish t-shirt vendor create a shirt that hates on Jews, and you can't require the atheist baker to make a person who is against the death penalty to design a flyer that celebrates executions. The important thing about this case is that it's not limited to religion or religious expression. It's about free speech in general.
The boys drink and review 395 Rye from Checkerspot Brewing, then discuss the changing expectations in dating, courtship, and marriage.
The traditional formula is first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.
The new formula is something like first comes sex, then comes dating, then you move in together, then you get a dog, then maybe you finally get married.
What happened to "take me down to the little white church," "no huggie no kissie until you make me your wife," or "if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it."
The problem is that the elite have adopted "luxury ideas" -- idiotic, fashionable beliefs that don't harm them, with their flock and nannies in their gated neighborhoods, but destroy the lives of the middle and lower classes.
Traditional dating and marriage rules spread the wealth, so to speak, in a way that the modern rules don't. It results in a lot of men and women who have no life partner, and no prospect of getting one.
The boys drink and review a kolsch, then discuss China's Belt and Road Initiative.
They start with a quick review of the Persian Royal Road and the Silk Road, then bring things into the modern era with China's desire to control worlwide commerce.
In the hopes it would lead China towards freedom, the west brought China into the modern world by giving them favored trading status. That pumped cheap good into the west and revitalized China's economy.
But China isn't content with being the cheap labor force for the world, and is trying to become the main superpower. But they're not following the "cooperation with competition" model we see in the west. They're bullies. They embow their way in and take over.
China is threatening to control world commerce with a long-term plan. Our leaders argue about bathrooms and pronouns.
With special guest Longinus, Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed version of Monument's Steady Eddie IPA, then discuss famous people who are from or have a strong connection with Baltimore, including ...
John Aston
Jada Pinkett Smith
Barry Levitson
David Hasselhoff
Oprah started off in Baltimore
Anna Farris
Elmer Snowden
Billie Holiday
Michael Phelps
Julie Bowen
John Waters
Thurgood Marshall
Toni Braxton
Tori Amos
Tupac Shakur
Mike Rowe
Del McCoury
... and many more!
With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Ruby Redbird, by Shiner, then discuss William Faulkner.
They start with some brief biographical info on Faulkner, then discuss three of his most famous short stories. Two features that are common in all of Faulkner's work are (1) a lack of chronological time, and (2) concealing things from the reader.
"A Rose for Emily" is a disturbing story about an old woman in a fictional southern town. It starts with her death, and then jumps back and forth in time, exploring different aspects of her life. The surprise ending is not to be missed.
"Barn Burning" is a very different tale. It starts with a trial of Abner Snopes for allegedly burning down a neighbor's barn. Snopes is forced to leave town, but continues his reprobate behavior in the next town and gets his family trouble. The story is mostly about the trials of Sarty, his young son, who has to deal with the disreputable conduct of his father.
"Red Leaves" is the strangest of the three. It's set in Chickasaw territory, and relates how they dealt with succession of leadership in their tribe, and how to honor their dead leader. The slave of the dead leader tries to run away, but is eventually captured. It's not a story for children.
The boys drink and review Crowhill's latest homebrew concoction, then discuss the recent phenomenon of aliens moving from nerd world to mainstream.
Why has this happened? Is there new evidence?
Some videos have surfaced that allegedly show strange craft doing impossible things. The military seems to have changed its tune in their responses to these reports. Military aviators report regular contact with strange objects.
We also have high-level, credible whistleblowers who have given remarkable testimony that the U.S. government has alien spacecrafts.
But there are still no bodies, no spaceships, no x-rays, no blood samples.
It's hard to say that we have new "evidence" now that we haven't had for decades. It always seems to reduce down to the same thing. Seemingly sincere people can't produce any tangible evidence.
Also, the underlying story doesn't make any sense. These creatures have the tech to get here from light years away, but when they get here they just fly around, and occasionally crash in a back yard in Las Vegas.
P&C drink and review Wexford Irish syle cream ale, then discuss the need for men to go into the trades, and one particular school that trains them.
Our culture tends to look down on people who don't go to college, and on blue-collar work in general. But those are the guys who have practical knowledge and know how things work.
Pigweed's son recently played a lacrosse game against a team from the Williamson College of the Trades, which has a very interesting program. It's like a college, but to train people in practical trades, with a focus on craftsmanship.
They provide scholarships for the needy. There's zero tolerance for drugs or alcohol. The place is run like a monastery, with a strict daily schedule.
The boys also discuss local boy Mike Rowe and his efforts to promote trade work.
The boys drink a Gold Rush cocktail, then discuss the Trump indictment.
We clearly have a problem with classified documents in this country. Biden, Pence, Hillary, and Trump have all been found to behave recklessly with classified documents.
There's no question Trump was very reckless. If Capt. Crowhill did any of this, she'd be in jail -- no question.
Trump claims that he declassified all the documents before he took them home, but later evidence shows that's not true.
Was Trump uniquely reckless? That's hard to say. Hillary's actions were pretty reckless as well, and Biden stored documents all over the place.
It looks like selective prosecution, and it's hard not to see this as weaponization of the Justice department.
Biden is on record as saying that he would use whatever legal means necessary to keep Trump from becoming president again.
There are some outliers. We're not sure how the Presidential Records Act applies, but generally speaking it looks very bad for Trump.
P&C drink and review Troeg's Hop Horizon IPA, then discuss the need for strong men.
One side of the culture war wants to tell boys they're toxic, potential rapists, and the best they can do is sit quietly and not get in the girls' way, because the future is female. And if you won't sit quietly, we'll give you drugs to make sure you do.
On the other side of the culture war, Sen. Josh Hawley recently wrote a book to encourage boys to grow in the manly virtues.
From a Roman perspective, these are the classical virtues.
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Virtus (Manliness) encompasses bravery, courage, and strength. A Roman man was expected to display valor on the battlefield and face adversity with resilience.
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Pietas (Piety) referred to a sense of duty, devotion, and loyalty. A Roman man was expected to fulfill his obligations to the gods, his family, and the state.
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Fides (Good Faith) was the virtue of trustworthiness, reliability, and honesty. A Roman man was expected to keep his promises, be true to his word, and honor his commitments.
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Gravitas (Dignity) denoted a sense of seriousness, self-control, and responsibility. A Roman man was expected to conduct himself with dignity, maintain composure in challenging situations, and exercise self-discipline.
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Industria (Industriousness) represented diligence, hard work, and perseverance. A Roman man was expected to be productive, industrious, and committed to achieving his goals.
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Clementia (Mercy) referred to the virtue of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. A Roman man was encouraged to show leniency and kindness, particularly in positions of power and authority.
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Honestas (Respectability) encompassed moral integrity, honor, and a respectable reputation. A Roman man was expected to lead a virtuous life, maintain his family's honor, and contribute positively to society.
The cardinal virtues, according to Roman Catholicism are prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
What's wrong with these things?
The boys also review a horrible article by Silva Neves from Psychology Today.
The boys drink and review Old Blarney Barley Wine, then discuss pride month.
During pride month, everyone on the planet is invited -- or rather, compelled -- to celebrate the sexual proclivities of a small minority.
"It's a month that vomits rainbows, glitter, and dildos," Pigweed says.
Sexuality is usually considered a private thing. It seems odd for it to be a gaudy parade. Something doesn't fit here.
At first, the LGB movement was about allowing homosexuals to share health insurance and hospital visitation rights. Now, if you don't allow gay porn in public schools and celebrate when a trans person does a pole dance at the library in front of children, you're a bigot.
We have lost the distinction between tolerating and celebrating. Tolerating wasn't enough. Now we have to have parades, because "silence is violence."
Americans need to decide that they will no longer participate in the lies.
The boys drink and review Proper ESB, then discuss a speech against wokeness by a famous and well-known personality.
The mystery speaker said things like this.
“The fight for equality and against discrimination [has turned] into an aggressive dogmatism on the brink of absurdity, when great authors of the past such as Shakespeare are no longer taught in schools and universities because they … did not understand the importance of gender or race.
"In Hollywood [the rules are] tighter and stricter than what the Department of Propaganda of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee did…
"[Americans] push the parents aside and [let children make] decisions that can destroy their lives. [This is a] crime against humanity, and all of that under the banner of progress…
"Some believe that aggressive[ly] blotting out [] the traditional interpretation of such basic values as mother, father, family, and the distinction between sexes are a milestone… a renewal of society…
"[This is] nothing new. [It happened in Russia] after the 1917 revolution …
"[T]hey also declared that they would … change the traditional lifestyle, the political, the economic lifestyle, as well as the very notion of morality, the basic principles for a healthy society.
Who is this wise man?
P&C drink and review That Shiz Slaps by Aslin Beer Company, then discuss the amazing life and career of Sir Isaac Newton.
After barely surviving childbirth, and being abandoned by his mother when he was three, Newton avoided his parent's advice to become a farmer and went on to be a student at Trinity College. He was a quiet and introverted student who spent all his time in his studies and work.
Newton went home to avoid the plague. That's when the famous story of the apple occurred.
The prevailing thought of the day was that heavenly motions and earthly motions were governed by different rules. Newton realized that exactly the same force that caused the apple to fall caused the moon to stay in orbit around the Earth.
To work on his theories he invented Calculus!
But Newton was not only a genius at math and physics. He was also a theologian, an alchemist, and made great strides in the field of optics.
In order to maintain his position in English society, he had to hide his heretical theological views, and it's only recently that people are diving into his strange alchemical theories.
Toward the end of his life he supervised the Royal Mint, and was knighted by Queen Anne.
The boys drink and review a disappointing homebrew, then discuss the 1st Amendment and the separation of church and state.
The well-known phrase actually does not come from the constitution, but from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists.
The founder's main concern was to prevent the federal government from imposing a religion on the individual states, which, at the time, often had their own established religions.
Today we apply the first amendment to both federal and state governments, but that wasn't true for the first several decades of the Republic.
The constitution has two relevant clauses: the establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a state religion, and the free exercise clause, which prohibits Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
The country has been trying to find the proper between these two ideals. The boys discuss.
P&C drink and review Haze Crafy IPA from Great Lakes Brewing Company, then discuss situations where Pigweed pointed out the craziness of a position only to find that the left doubled down on craziness.
Body identity disorder is a weird condition where a person believes a limb isn't really his and doesn't belong. He wants a doctor to cut it off. But of course no reputable doctor would do such a thing.
How is this different from trans surgery?
We're seeing a movement that increasingly wants to accommodate delusions.
Pigweed also pointed out that if a minor can choose to be a different sex, why can't they choose to have sex with whom they want. Including an adult.
You're expected to be so repulsed by the idea that you jump back in fear from allowing minors to choose their sex. But the crazy left is going the other direction. They're starting to push the idea of allowing sex between adults and minors.
The boys drink a cocktail and discuss the significance of the Durham Report about Crossfire Hurricane -- aka, the persecution of Donald Trump
The Federalist put it this way.
“Imagine someone told you that in the run-up to a U.S. presidential election, the FBI tried to undermine a candidate at the behest of the opposing campaign by cooking up a false narrative of collusion with Moscow.
“And let’s say this conspiracy implicated not just the FBI but also the White House, Justice Department, and CIA — and that nearly the entire corporate press went along with it, gleefully spreading the false narrative that this candidate was a Russian agent, running story after story of fabricated nonsense in a coordinated effort to ensure the opposing candidate won.”
The first conclusion from the report is that Trump is vindicated
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It was a witch hunt (no reality – based on false information)
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It was politically motivated
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They were spying on his campaign
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It was an attempt to stop him from being elected and to undermine his presidency
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There was a deep-state conspiracy
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The FBI, DOJ, and Obama administrations were colluding, using Clinton campaign ideas
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The media was “fake news”
The media reaction was quite telling. Since they were in on the whole conspiracy, they’re not trying to cover it up. “Nothing new here.” They have no shame.
"The establishment media were so fully gulled and in the tank for the Russian collusion story for so long that they now just can't acknowledge Durham's report without also having to eat crow at the same time, something they clearly aren't willing to do," according to journalism professor Jeffrey McCall
The Durham report claims
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Clinton campaign oppo research came up with BS allegations against Trump
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FBI knew it was bogus, but acted on it as if it was serious.
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Top FBI officials (documented Trump haters) approved a full-scale investigation.
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FBI management was “pushing it so hard there was no stopping the train.”
“Grease the skids.” Make it happen.
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The Obama White House knew all these details and did not try to stop it.
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The FBI should never have launched its investigation. It never had any evidence that would authorize such an investigation.
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The FBI used completely different standards with Trump and Clinton.
Top officials at the White House and the FBI knew that the Clinton campaign was falsely claiming Russia collusion, they knew they had no evidentiary basis for this, they nevertheless launched a full-scale investigation.
But …
There were no convictions
Fallout
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“All actions are permissible” if you’re trying to stop Hitler, the devil, Trump
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Shouldn’t a hero try to fix the election?
Given that we know all this …
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Why should we trust the FBI on political questions?
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(Also remember the “51 intelligence agencies” BS on the Biden laptop.)
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If they can pull this off, the idea that the left stole the election seems more plausible
After a quick skit by the Ben Franklin players, Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a French Toast stout, then discuss the production of EV batteries.
The story goes that the planet is heating because of carbon emissions, so we have to move to electric vehicles.
Energy drives prosperity and human flourishing. Right now, most energy is produced by fossil fuels, and agricultural relies on fertilizer, which requires fossil fuels.
But there's a big drive to move all our vehicles to electric.
The boys discuss the details about the production and disposal of electric batteries. They're not nearly as environmentally friendly as many people believe.
The boys drink and review a robust porter from Bell's, then evaluate western values.
Western values developed from three major sources.
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Classical antiquity
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The Judeo-Christian tradition
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Germanic customs
Roughly speaking, "western values" include the following:
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Democracy
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Individualism
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Human rights
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Free speech
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Free markets
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The rule of law
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Secularism
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Rationalism
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Liberalism
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Capitalism
When people object to western values, which of these do they want to discard?
"Western values" are truths, not merely preferences. We're not making this stuff up, we're progressively discovering things about the right ordering of society.
With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Carlsberg, then discuss Candide as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series.
The boys give a short review of his life. Voltaire was a pillar of the Englightenment.
In Candide, Voltaire employs biting sarcasim against the idea that this is "the best of all possible worlds." Candide suffers through "one damned thing after another," but continues to have the sunny outlook of his teacher, Pangloss. Everything must be for the best.
Eventually Candide meets Martin, another philosopher with a very different view, which allows Voltaire to have some debates between these two life outlooks.
Leibnitz believed that this is the best possible world, because if God is good, he must have picked the best of all possible worlds.
Voltaire thought this was ridiculous, and wrote Candide as a response.
With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review a Belgian saison, then discuss a few essays by Michel Foucault, who many people say was one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century.
Longinus gives a brief biography, then the boys work through two essays: "What is Enlightenment" and "Truth and Power."
Foucault is considered a post-modernist. The boys try to unpack modernism and post-modernism, to put Foucault in context.
His writings are difficult to read. Sometimes it sounds like complete nonsense. But a few things do come out fairly clearly. Most importantly, he believes that all of the things we think of as rational, self-evident truths, are actually dependent on circumstances and the changing fads and customs of a particular time. Foucault would reject the idea of objective truth.
In many ways, Foucault contributed to the craziness we see all around us today, with "my truth," and the idea that everyone gets to define their own reality.
The boys drink and review Pigweed's homemade brown ale, then discuss nuclear war.
They distinguish fission and fusion reactions, and how that relates to nuclear bombs and their development.
After Word War 2 there was a mad rush to develop larger and larger stockpiles.
Today, nine countries are confirmed as having nuclear weapons. But for some strange reason we seem less afraid of nuclear war now than we were during the Cold War.
The peace seems to have been maintained by the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. But how does that apply in the modern world?
Where is the biggest risk of nuclear war today? Russia vs. U.S.? China vs. U.S.? China vs. India? India vs. Pakistan?
And what about Iran?
If there is a nuclear war, will we all die? Will it end all of humanity?
If there is a remnant, could they rebuild? What about nuclear winter?
The boys do a "nooze and booze" episode about recent events at Fox news while drinking homemade apple pie moonshine.
In a matter of a week, there were several big stories in the news world. Fox News parted company with Dan Bongino, Fox News settled with Dominion Voting for an ungodly sum, Don Lemon was fired from CNN, and Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News.
The boys discuss the basics of the Dominion Voting lawsuit, but spend most of their time on theories about the Tucker Carlson issue.
Pigweed and Crowhill favor the theory that Rupert Murdoch didn't like Tucker's speech to the Heritage Foundation in which he painted modern political disputes as a fight between good and evil, and recommended that Americans pray for their country. Added to that, Murdoch may have believed Tucker wasn't a team player and was getting too big for his britches.
The boys speculate on what Carlson might do next, and how it might affect the 2024 election.
P&C also spend a couple minutes on the Bud Light fiasco, and then Pigweed springs a hard question on Crowhill.
The boys drink and review RAR's Groove City Hefeweizen, then review short selling, the Gamestop story, Sam Bankman-Fried, and FTX.
After watching the Netflix "Eat the Rich" series, the boys remembered their interest in the Gamestop story, so they consulted their financially intelligent friends, Hansel and Gretel, to get up to speed on what happened and why.
It's a fascinating story where "retail investors" who frequented the "Wallstreetbets" Reddit group stuck it to the institutional investors and caught them in a short squeeze.
The retail investors sent the stock rocketing up, which was putting the institutional investors in a bind, then Robinhood -- the platform most of the retail investors used -- shut down all purchases of Gamestop.
The story makes you believe the system is rigged for the benefit of the big, instutional investors.
Along the same lines, the boys discuss the Sam Bankman-Fried story, and how he fooled the world with his phony empire built on pretend money.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review an IPA from Three Floyds, then discuss whether the United States should pay reparations for the evils of slavery.
P&C agree that the concept of reparations is sound. When you harm someone, you should try to repair the wrong that's been done.
They review some of the arguments for reparations and have sympathy for many of them.
The idea is not simply that the ancestors of slave owners should pay the ancestors of slaves, but that the entire system was complicit in slavery, so the entire system should pay.
But who should be paid, and how much? What's the limiting principle? Should we also pay Native Americans, or the Chinese, who were abused in the creation of the railroads?
Can a group be held responsible for the actions of a group at some time in the past?
It's almost impossible to parse it all out and unscramble the mess. Isn't there a statute of limitations?
P&C drink and review "Level Up," an IPA from a Yard's variety pack, then discuss things "everybody knows" that aren't so.
You might be surprised at some of the answers. Here are the topics discussed.
- Who was the first president of the United States?
- Everybody thought the earth was flat before Columbus.
- How did "Caesarean section" get its name?
- Who was the youngest U.S. president?
- Was Cleopatra Egyptian?
- Was St. Patrick an Irishman?
- Did Atlas hold the world on his shoulders?
- Did Paul Revere warn the colonists the British were coming?
- Did Lincoln free the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation?
- Where was the battle of Bunker Hill?
- What is the Immaculate Conception?
- Did Ben Franklin invent the Franklin stove?
- Are Arabic numerals Arabic?
- What is a bellwether?
- Did Marie Antoinette say "let them eat cake"?
- Can castrated men get it on?
- Why do you only eat oysters in a month with an r?
- Who is the Baby Ruth candy bar named after?
- Why do bulls hate the color red?
- What is cat gut?
- Do porcupines shoot their spines?
P&C drink and review Double Nickel Session IPA, then discuss January 6 and all the hyperventilating about it.
The over-hyping of the events of January 6 turned Pigweed and Crowhill away from the story. When everyone over-reacts, we under-react.
Now that there's some distance and the rhetoric has died down a bit, maybe there's some ability to evaluate it calmly.
First, Trump was absolutely wrong in his belief that Pence had the authority to not certify the election results. Unfortunately, some people believed it.
Second, there have been some persistent lies about that day, such as the claim that six police officers died. That's not true.
The lies and exaggerations were quite over the top. Calling the event an "armed insurrection" is absurd. If Jan. 6 was an insurrection, it was the lamest, stupidest insurrection that's ever been attempted. Calling it an attempt to overturn democracy, or destroy the Constitution, is such breathless, mindless stupidity that it beggars the imagination.
The actual threat to democracy from Jan. 6 is the abuse we've seen of the justice system: the overly harsh treatment of Jan. 6 protesters, and the fact that exculpatory evidence was withheld from defense attorneys.
The ongoing lies about January 6 are completely outrageous. Pigweed and Crowhill try to parse through it all and present a balanced perspective.
They also discuss recent "insurrections," where Democrats have stormed state legislatures.
The boys drink and review Bakalar, a Czech dark lager, then discuss the history of religious revivals in the United States, and their effects.
They discuss what makes something a religious revival -- what are its signs and effects. What elements are essential and what are accidental?
They review several of the great religious revivals in U.S. history, and mention some of their leading figures.
Also, what causes a revival? What sorts of cultural situations tend to precede revivals? Do they come in a predictable rhythm? Do they always involve a fixation on the end of the world?
There's also an interesting question of the different talents required for the revival and the people who come afterwards, who need to create lasting institutions.
Crowhill believes a religious revival is the only hope for the United States.
P&C drink and review a dry-hopped pilsner from Nepenthe, then discuss crucifixion.
Crucifixion didn't start with the Romans, and wasn't limited to them. The Romans learned it from the Persians, the Carthaginians and the Macedonians. But the Romans "perfected" and systematized it.
Crucifixion was reserved for crimes against the state: rebellion, treason, and religious dissent.
Modern research suggests that there wasn't a single way to crucify someone. Arms might have been nailed to the cross, or sometimes just tied with ropes. The feet may not have been nailed together, but sometimes nailed separately on different sides of the cross.
The torturers had some liberty to improvise.
The Romans used crucifixion to warn the population not to dare to mess with Rome.
After a general review of crufixion, the boys speak briefly about the crucifixion of Christ.
The boys drink and review Dark and Righteous, from Jailbreak brewing, then discuss their recent experiences with destination weddings.
P&C both attended Roman Catholic weddings -- Crowhill was the father of the bride at a wedding in Nashville, and Pigweed was at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, near Puerto Vallarta.
The boys discuss similarities and differences in their experiences at the weddings, as well as travel, accommodations, and entertainment. They reflect on the whole package -- what they liked and what they didn't.
On the way home, Pigweed had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to someone who didn't fit in the airplane chair. P&C spend some time discussing this frequent problem, and how airlines ought to deal with it.
The boys drink and review Lagunitas's Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale, then discuss the new word Latinx, and vacations.
Our language overlords have insisted that Latino and Latina are inappropriate in our new woke universe, so they imposed a monstrosity: Latinx -- which makes no sense.
Spanish is a gendered language, but white woke people in America figured they had to fix that, because those stupid Latinos didn't know what to do with their own language.
Pigweed takes a woke, revisionist Spanish document with him to Mexico to ask some actual Latinos what they think of this Latinx business. They didn't like it, and stats bear that out. Latinos don't like it.
What happened to the left's rejection of cultural imperialism?
Pigweed and Crowhill also attended destination weddings, and discuss vacations in general, and their experiences.
P&C drink and review Xingu black lager and then take a look back at the government response to the Covid crisis. Do you remember all of this?
- "Three weeks to flatten the curve" became "everyone must stay inside until we have a vaccine."
- From the start, they tried to crush the lab-leak explanation as a wild-eyed conspiracy theory.
- We were given contradictory nonsense about masks.
- We were told to wipe down surfaces to prevent the spread.
- We had to stay 6 feet apart.
- We were told that natural immunity is no good.
- Healthy young people were told they needed to get the vaccine.
- Everyone had to stay indoors, even though Vitamin D helps against Covid.
Why did virologists and epidemiologists make all the rules? Why didn't we consult other experts? Economists, educators, psychologists ...? Did our leaders consider the human cost? The economic cost?
Why did the government, academia, the media, and social media all sing the same tune and promote the same agenda? Isn't that a little scary?
The boys drink and review Troeg's Nugget Nectar, then discuss how men are stealing all the top places in women's rankings.
While thinking about transgender ideology, the boys look at ...
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Contradictions in transgender ideology
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What "transgender" means
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Can people be "trapped in the wrong body"?
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Examples of how men are stealing women's thunder
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Where have all the feminists gone?
The gender fluidity / trans perspective is internally inconsistent, illogical, unscientific, and mind-bogglingly stupid.
Pigweed and Crowhill try their best to inject some sense and logic into the debate.
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Paulaner pils, then discuss Lent and fasting.
Lent is the penitential season before Easter. Crowhill gives a basic history of Lent, and the boys discuss some common Lenten customs.
The 40 days of Lent are symbolic, similar to other 40-day events in the Bible.
Modern Lenten fasts are usually not as stringent as fasts in the past, and especially not as strict as the fasts the monks used to do.
Which leads us to Pigweed and Crowhill's beer fast.
The Paulaner monks came up with a particularly strict fast in which they ate nothing and only drank beer and water for Lent.
Pigweed and Crowhill tried their own version of this fast and had nothing but beer and water for three days. They describe their experiences.
The boys drink and review Sweet Baby Banana by DuClaw, then discuss two short works by Tolkien.
In this latest installment of their "shortcut to the classics" series, Longinus joins Pigweed and Crowhill to review these two interesting stories.
Niggle is a quiet little man who would like to spend his life on his grand work, which was a painting of a tree. His neighbor, Parish, keeps interrupting him with irritating requests. Niggle helps Parish when he can, but fails to prepare for a long journey, and is caught unawares when the day comes.
The story can be interpreted as an allegory about death, Purgatory, and the beatific vision. It also touches on the legacy of a man and his art, and man as a subcreator.
Farmer Giles is a much sillier story about a simple man who becomes the unlikely local hero that scares away a giant and defeats a dragon, with the help of a magical sword and a talking dog.
These stories illustrate two different elements of Tolkien's writing: philosophical seriousness, and light, silly writing.
P&C drink and review an Irish Stout from Nashville, then discuss five topics in five minutes each.
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Self Love on Valentine's Day. What do you think of someone who sends her love to herself on Valentine's Day? P&C think that's ridiculous. Love is outwardly directed, not inwardly.
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Brandon and the Chinese Balloons. Was this the most embarrassing thing for the U.S. in decades? We showed the whole world that we're indecisive and incompetent and that we overreact when we're caught with our pants down. A total embarrassment.
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The non-binary soprano. Pigweed took the sprouts to an orchestral performance to expose them to some genuine art. The soprano was wonderful. But ... it was a they/them, and the program was full of all kinds of confusing gibberish.
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Liberal tells. What words or phrases immediately tell you that someone is a liberal? Undocumented immigrant. Always talking about gender. Everything is explained by hate or bigotry. Safe spaces. Decolonization. Problematic. Personal pronouns. Dog whistles. Privilege. Racist. Sexist. Homophobe. Transphobe. Triggered.
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Beer fasting. You think beer fasting means giving up beer. But P&C are traditionalists. They're going to give up everything except beer for a few days, to see what it was like for the Paulaner monks in the old days.
P&C drink "Watch out for Bears" brown ale from Calvert Brewing, then discuss the history of Singapore.
It starts with the East India Company, which wanted a port in this strategic location between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca leading into the Bay of Bengal. Commerce between China and India, and then later to the Suez canal, had to come through this area.
Singapore was controlled by the British for a time but was captured and brutalized by the Japanese during WWII. After a post-war effort to join greater Malaysia failed, Singapore became independent, and then started on an absolutely stunning transformation.
At first, the population of Singapore was incredibly poor, and many of them were addicted to opium. Lee Kuan Yew became prime minister in 1959 and led the country to become one of the richest, most advanced, most educated countries in the world.
But it's a weird mix of capitalism and dictatorship. It's a lovely place, but not "free" by western standards.
Lee Kuan Yew might be the only example the world has ever seen of the benevolent philosopher-king dictator.
P&C drink and review Cold Snap White Ale from Sam Adams, then discuss their trip to the Maryland Live Casino.
Although P&C generally frown on gambling, they wanted to see what a casino is really like. So they went to see for themselves on the weekend of the NFL division championships.
Unlike the casinos in Vegas, which are beatiful, with stunning art and fancy displays, and lots of entertainment close by, the Maryland Live Casino was just gaudy, noisy, and flashy.
This was not a casino James Bond would visit. Not classy. Not elegant.
These high-rollers each bet the stunning sum of $20.
P&C drink and review a homebrewed stout, and along with special guest John Wayne Jew discuss how diversity, equity, and inclusion don't mean what you think they mean, or what they should mean.
They start with an effort to find the good things in DEI. But they don't get very far.
DEI is a social and moral catastrophe. It hides behind words that sound virtuous and pleasant, but it twists and distorts those words into something unrecognizable.
"Diversity" only applies to a very narrow range of issues: race, sex, and who you fancy. There's no effort to have diversity of opinion, of religious views, or personality traits, or any of the thousands of ways that humans can be distinguished.
"Equity" is a classic bait and switch. Americans all believe in equality of opportunity, but equity means equality of outcome, which is a horrible mess. "Equity" justifies letting people out of jail because of their race, irrespective of whether they're guilty.
There's something similar with "inclusion." The DEI proponents are only interested in including certain groups and certain ideas. They don't want to include conservatives.
P&C drink and review Cream Team, a cookies and cream milk stout, then discuss "advances" in reproductive technology.
Ectolife is working on creating an artificial womb, where babies can be grown in a production facility. There's been some success with mice, and they want to extend the tech to humans.
The goal is to alleviate some of the pain and risk inherent in childbirth, and to help couples who are unable to reproduce naturally.
It would eliminate premature births, miscarriage, c-sections, and all sorts of complications in pregnancy. The system would also report on genetic abnormalities, and possibly allow doctors to correct them -- or even correct inherited diseases.
It can go even further. You might be able to choose some of your baby's characteristics, like eye and hair color, strength, intelligence, height, etc.
But there are criticisms.
If babies are so easily created, will they be less valued?
There's also no real connection between the mother and child.
It seems like a slippery slope. How far does this go?
Every human that has ever born came from a woman’s body. How will these babies be different?
How will this affect our perception of women?
The boys drink and review Crowhill's Henry IV homebrew, then discuss possible causes of the recent uptick in gender confusion.
Just recently -- all of a sudden -- we're getting an epidemic of people with gender dysphoria. Why? What's causing this?
We're told that the only possible explanation is that this has always been true -- that sex is not binary -- but that truth has been suppressed by the patriarchal tyranny.
P&C think there are lots of other possibilities, including ...
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Microplastics.
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Environmental toxins that are interfering with reproduction / sexual systems.
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This is nature's way of responding to overpopulation.
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Loss of fathers.
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Liberal social policies in the schools.
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Decline of religion.
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Mass hysteria / social contagion.
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Social media, narcissism and attention-seeking.
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Feminism.
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Mixing the sexes in more and more social settings.
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Trans is the new punk. It's all about rebellion.
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Redefining men and women in the face of reality.
The boys drink and review a chai latte stout from Schlafly, then discuss out of dates ads.
You've probably seen the headlines. The basic concept is "ads that are not acceptable today." But why are they unacceptable?
In some cases, the old ad is playful, and we're too uptight to go along with the joke.
In other cases, there were cultural assumptions in the past, or a different understanding of the science, that don't apply today. Does that make them offensive?
Some of the ads are just plain creepy, but in some cases, the very act of finding something wrong with the ad seems to implicate the critic, not the ad.
Overall, maybe we just get offended too easily these days.
The boys drink and review Stone's Delicious Double IPA, then discuss rights.
What is a right? We hear it all the time, but when do we stop to think about it, what does it really mean?
Do rights depend on someone granting us a right, or do we have rights by nature?
The idea of natural law goes back to the Greeks, and has a long history in the west. But what is it based on?
In the Christian world, the natural law was received as a body of unwritten rules depending upon universal conscience and common sense, ascertainable by right reason.
How does natural law relate to legal rights?
John Locke promoted the idea of Life, Liberty, and Property. How does that work with "cultural relativism," or the idea that we get our rights from the government?
The Declaration of Independence asserts we have rights from our Creator. Do rights depend on God?
And what about enumerated vs. unenumerated rights.
The boys drink and review Delicious IPA from Stone, then discuss skills they wish they had learned.
Everybody has to make choices about how they spend their time, and some skills require a lot of work to acquire. Pigweed and Crowhill talk about things they wish they could do, but have never applied themselves to.
Things like ...
- Being handy, or a gearhead,
- Whistling well,
- Getting comfortable with the Celsius scale,
- Learning the metric system,
- Budgeting,
- Tying lots of cool knots,
- Learning other languages,
- Dancing,
- Playing the guitar, or the piano,
- Charming fabulous women,
- Swordfighting,
- and other fun stuff.
The real question is, if they really wanted to learn these skills, why didn't they?
The boys drink and review Kostritzer Schwarzbier, then discuss homelessness.
When we talk about "the homeless," we have to make some distinctions. Some people with no home have a job, a car, and are making do ... they just don't have a place to live. They live in their car and shower at the gym.
Others are drug addicts or have mental illnesses. It's a mistake to lump them all into the "homeless" category.
Homelessness is closely associated with drugs, mental health issues, street camping, open drug use, and the legalization of property crime.
There are different philosophies on how to address this. One is called "housing first." Another is "treatment first." Many policies are based on permissiveness and perpetuation of the drug-addled life on the street.
Good policies require people to have skin in the game and demonstrate responsibility. Accommodating drug addiction and facilitating a vagrant lifestyle is sold as compassion, but it's not the solution.
The boys drink and review Erdinger's Weissbier Dunkel, then discuss developments in artificial intelligence.
Our first experiences with artificial intelligence were things like "playing the computer" on the Atari, or spellchecker. Checking grammar involved an extra layer of computation that had to take context into account.
Another level of computer-assisted information is what you see on Amazon -- "customers who bought this also bought..." -- or on Spotify -- "people who likes this song also liked ...."
How will AI affect sports? Do we want computers calling balls and strikes? Do we want first downs and fumbles determined by artificial intelligence?
Just recently, the tech geniuses have developed AI engines that can write books and provide illustrations.
How long before AI is writing screenplays and creating computer-generated characters to act out the script? When will we have AI judges in the courts?
The boys drink and review Pigweed's latest robust porter, then welcome John Wayne Jew to the show to help review "this month in woke."
We're seeing university struggle sessions where if any of the students disagree with a teacher's liberal agenda, the student has to issue a written apology and submit himself to lectures from the teacher and other students.
Teachers can be jailed for failing to use a student's preferred pronouns.
In Virginia, the schools slow-walked informing students they were national merit scholars because it wouldn't be "equitable" to give the smart kids a leg up.
With control of the government, the schools, scientific establishments, the media, Madison Avenue, and Hollywood, the left is often pushing the boundaries of crazy, and mostly getting away with it -- with ridiculous results.
Every day there's another story about lunacies on the left. If you're not getting enough sleep, you may be a victim of racism.
The woke Biden administration is going to drop millions of dollars on AI to find "microaggressions," but they won't pay any attention to the straightforwardly racist aggression from Joy Behar.
The word "field" has been designated too racist and triggering.
The boys end the show with a simple summary of what "woke" means.
With special guest Longinus (a vegetarian), the boys drink and review a small beer, following a recipe from George Washington, then discuss vegetarianism.
Sometimes vegetarianism is inspired by religious beliefs, and sometimes by secular ethics and questions of health. There are also issues about environmental issues and sustainability.
There are different types or levels of vegetarianism, including veganism, lacto and ovo vegetarianism, pescetarianism, raw vegans, etc.
Some claim that vegetarianism is more healthy and better for the planet.
Pigweed asks how vegetarianism squares with the history of our species. Cooking and eating meat was a huge step in our evolution and facilitated the development of our large brains.
And what about eating bugs? The geniuses at Davos seem to want us to do that.
Crowhill believes the future of meat eating is lab-grown meat, and that once we perfect that, vegetarianism will be irrelevant.
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Beam Me up, Stouty (a coconut stout) from Saugatuck Brewing, then discuss "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich."
The story is not about an escape, or an unusual day, or how something dramatic happened on this day. It's just a typical day in a Soviet labor camp.
Solzhenitsyn's account of this one day so captured the experience of the Soviet prisoner camps that he received letters from former prisoners expressing how perfectly he had captured the experience.
The characters themselves are not particularly wicked. You don't come away hating the characters in the story, but the system. It's all about ordinary, decent people caught up in a wicked system.
It's a cold story. You might want to bundle up as you read it.
The boys drink and review Chimay Grand Reserve, then discuss the big stories of 2022.
Top stories included:
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Republicans take the House
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Musk buys Twitter
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The World Cup
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Pro-democracy protests in Iran
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Hurricanes Sophia and Ian
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Queen Elizabeth passes
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Boris Johnson resigns
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Liz Trust's short term
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Mar-a-lago
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Jan. 6 hearings
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Roe v. Wade
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The media lies about abortion
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Uvalde Texas shooting
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Monkeypox
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Jonny Depp / Amber Heard
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High Inflation
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Russia invades Ukraine
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2022 Winter Olympics
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First successful heart transplant from a pig to a human
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James Webb space telescope enters orbit
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Will Smith slap
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Pandemic is over
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Cryptocurrency problems
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Bad stock market
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President Chi increases grip on power
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ESG backlash
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Fusion energy breakthroughs
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Brazil goes left
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China conducted first military exercises around Taiwan
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Protests in Iran against morality police
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World population reaches 8 billion
They also review celebrity deaths, top baby names, the top 10 movies, worst movies of 2022, woke movies that lost money, and the top 10 albums.
The boys drink and review Glacial Drift, a spiced winter ale from Heavy Seas, then discuss housing, and why the prices are so high.
What factors have caused home prices to go so high? And how do regular families afford these McMansions? It seems the ratio of income to house prices has changed radically since the 1970s.
Part of it is the assumption of two incomes in each family.
Also, we have bigger houses with fewer people in them. Houses get bigger while families get smaller.
If you track the change in wages vs. the price of homes, inflation-adjusted wages have stayed about the same since the 1960, but houses are twice as expensive.
Are government regulations causing the increase in home prices? Or is it some other factor?
The boys drink and review a holiday ale from New Belgium, then discuss the erosion of public standards of conduct.
Is society allowed to expect basic standards of behavior?
What about business dress codes? Can McDonald's insist on a uniform, even though people could flip burgers in sweats and a t-shirt?
Was it right for Zelenski to speak to the Congress of the United States in a sweatshirt?
Aren't there any standards?
Hardly. And the few that exist all fly out the window if you mention gender identity. If you say your gender identity requires you to wear enormous pretend boobs, nobody is willing to tell you differently.
A recent example of this conflict of standards is the weird example of Sam Brinton. The man is a disgrace and a flaming weirdo, but because he's "gender fluid" he gets a pass.
On the other hand, elementary school teachers can be fired for doing relatively normal things.
There's no logic or sense to any of this.
In this end-of-the-year show, the boys review their home-brewed Christmas ales, then discuss New Year's resolutions.
Lots of people use the new year as an opportunity to re-evaluate their lives and their goals and make adjustments. But some people think it's a waste of time because nobody ever keeps them.
The boys discuss popular topics for resolutions and ways science has shown that can make it more likely to keep your resolutions.
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Frame the resolution positively.
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Piggyback habits. That is, attach the new habit to an existing one, like "after I shower I will read for ten minutes."
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Link the new activity with something you want to do. E.g., I can only listen to audiobooks while I'm on the treadmill.
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Pick something small and manageable, esp. for the first week.
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Make it specific rather than vague -- e.g., go to the gym three times a week, rather than "exercise more". Use a number.
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Create a new habit to replace an old habit.
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Be accountable to someone else.
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Make resolutions measurable so you can monitor progress.
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Make them fun.
The boys drink and review Honey Kolsch by Rogue Brewing, then talk about how the media treats mass shootings. As with so many issues in the news today, you have to peel back the agenda from the news coverage. Often the media can't even wait for the facts to come out before they start with their interpretations and explanations.
You can almost feel the hunger by the news organizations for a story that confirms their view of the world.
Mass shootings are almost always used as an excuse to promote new laws, even if the new law wouldn't have done a thing to stop the latest outrage, and even if there were already laws on the books that should have.
In story after story, if a shooting fits with the liberal media's agenda, we hear about it for weeks. If the story doesn't confirm their agenda, it quietly goes away.
It's all about identity politics. But only when that's convenient and fits the preferred template.
The boys drink and review a peppermint Imperial stout, then discuss Christmas music.
What do scary ghost stories have to do with Christmas? It might be more complicated than you think!
Pigweed and Crowhill discuss their favorite songs, the duds, themes in Christmas music, and why the Christmas season is so special.
This is a light-hearted episode, sure to put you in the holiday spirit.
The boys drink and review Unicorn Farts by DuClaw, then discuss what they love and what they hate in commercials.
We've become accustomed to the idea that we pay for free television by suffering through the commercials. Consumers want humor in commercials. Like in the Super Bowl. But what we get is posturing and lecturing by the woke.
There are several trends and themes in commercials that the boys review. For example, if there's a man and a woman in a commercial, the man almost always plays the part of the idiot, or loses the argument. It's also acceptable to make fun of a man's sexuality.
In some ways, the social agenda has become more important than the sale of the product. Many commercials have a completely fake-feeling, forced emphasis on diversity, for example.
Commercials are an interesting indicator of the culture. What do today's commercials say about our culture?
The boys drink and review a homemade batch of Krupnikas, a Christmas cordial, then discuss how states often sponsor morally questionable behaviors, like gambling and drug use.
Maryland voters recently approved a referendum legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. Is this a good idea?
Some people try to put a positive spin on this by taxing the drugs and using the revenue for some good purpose.
Does decriminalization cut out the criminal element? Does that justify decriminalization?
And what about gambling? Is legalized gambling a good thing for society? Does winning the lottery actually help anyone? Does the lottery disproportionately affect the poor?
What happened to all the traditional arguments against gambling? Have we countered them, or just ignored them?
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Space Dust IPA by Elysium brewing, then discuss a few short stories from The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.
The premise of the collection is that you can see the stories in the collection played out by looking at the tattoos of a carny.
This podcast includes reviews of the following stories.
The Veldt - problems arise when spoiled children get addicted to their "smart room."
Kaleidoscope - a tale of how people react when facing certain death on their own in space.
The Other Foot -- all the Earth's black population has moved to Mars. The remaining population on Earth destroy the planet and come to Mars begging for help.
The Man - Space farers, moving from planet to planet, just miss "the man." The captain becomes obsessed with catching up with him.
The Rocket Man - Working in space is addictive. When you're in space you want to be on Earth, and vice versa. The story inspired Elton John's song.
With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a smoked maple porter from Flying Dog Brewery, then discuss Daoism and the Tao Te Ching.
Longinus starts with a general introduction to Daoism, looking at it from three perspectives: as a philosophy, as a New Age, self-help system, and as a religion.
Daoism competed with Confucianism in China and was often repressed by the Chinese government.
Daoism is both practical and mystical, and often frustratingly vague. It can be approached from several different perspectives.
The Tao Te Ching, allegedly by Lao Tzu, doesn't have a plot or a narrative. It's a collection of wise sayings, somewhat reminiscent of the biblical Proverbs.
The boys review some of their favorite quotes from the Tao Te Ching, and reflect on its message and enduring value.
In the November 2022 edition of "five for five", the boys drink and review a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout from Guinness, then discuss five topics in five minutes each.
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Gabby Giffords and the courage to fight gun violence. What is the "courage" here? Who is going around threatening people who oppose gun violence? None of the things her group are advocating for require any courage at all.
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Qatar's World Cup. Why is it in Qatar to begin with? Where are all the woke opposing Qatar's human rights? And to add insult to injury, two days before the start they reverse their position and decide not to have beer in the stadium.
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The Paul Pelosi story. In two months we get two weird stories about Paul Pelosi, and in neither case do we get the straight story from the media. What the heck is going on? And why the tyrannical insistence that we believe the first-day version of events, which almost always turn out to be wrong?
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Candace Owens and The Greatest Lie Ever Sold. Once again, the media isn't playing it straight with us. It's entirely possible to believe that the officer murdered George Floyd without turning Floyd into a saint. So many elements of the story have been suppressed in the interest of a BLM narrative.
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Trump is running for president. Will he make it to the election? Will he dominate the Republican primaries? Will his legal troubles catch up with him? The boys give their opinions and make predictions.
The boys drink and review Glacial Drift, a spiced winter ale, then discuss the controversies surrounding Hunter Biden.
Hunter isn't really the issue. The question is whether the president of the United States has been compromised by foreign powers. It certainly looks that way. It seems that Joe is under the thumb of China and others.
What about the laptop? In hindsight, the old "this is Russian propaganda" thing seems to have "all the earmarks" of a cover-up, and both the FBI and the legacy media seem complicit.
Now it seems beyond dispute that Hunter used Joe's political connections to get lucrative deals, and kicked back some of the money to Joe, aka "the big guy."
The new GOP Congress may investigate it, but will anything come of it? Probably not.
The boys finish out the show with an installment of "Just Not Woke Enough."
The boys drink and review a 2-year-old bottle of Raison D'Extra, then discuss proposals to redraw state boundaries.
They start off with a review of federalism, and the idea that the country is a collection of states, not simply a mass of people, which is why tiny Rhode Island and sparsely populated Montana get as many senators as California.
What happens when residents of a state feel they don't fit in that state?
The idea is being tested in Oregon, where the conservative, agricultural residents of the majority of the state differ drastically from the urban liberals in Portland. They'd rather join up with Idaho.
A similar thing is going on in Maryland, where the conservative eastern and western ends of the state don't feel represented by the liberals in Annapolis.
But where does this end? Do county lines need to be redrawn? City lines? Neighborhoods?
The solution is not to keep redrawing lines, but to respect minority rights and making most political issues as local as possible.
In this quick episode, the boys share their favorite Thanksgiving foods and thoughts about this quintessentially American holiday, and reflect on why it's important to be thankful and grateful.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The boys drink and review Imperialis from Avery Brewing Company, then discuss bail reform.
The point of bail is to make sure that an accused person will appear at his court appearances. If you pay the bail and show up, you get the money back.
Unfortunately, bail has been set too high for many citizens, and they have to go through the ridiculous bail bonds process, which is a complete racket.
This has led some jurisdictions to eliminate cash bail in many cases. It's part of a larger movement that seeks to dial back police power, redefine crimes, and refuse to prosecute other crimes. Homeless camps are allowed to grow in our major cities. There's public defecation and urination. It's a horrible mess.
Bail does need to be reformed, but the liberal solution has been a disaster.
The boys drink and review a fresh hop IPA from Stone Brewing, then discuss common biases in the way we think.
Cognitive biases are examples of ways in which our brains can point us down a non-rational path. But why do we have these biases? Why did they evolve?
Could it be that there are situations where it's better not to be rational?
The boys discuss as they review the following examples.
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Reactance
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The framing effect
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The availability heuristic
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The sunk cost fallacy
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Groupthink
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Declinism
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Self-serving bias
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The Placebo effect
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In-group bias
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The halo effect
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The curse of knowledge
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Anchoring
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Confirmation bias
It's good to be aware of these departures from strictly rational thinking, but it's also good to be aware of why we have them in the first place.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review two beers from Springfield Manor Brewery, then discuss the disappointing results of the 2022 midterm elections.
The proverb says "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," and that's certainly the case here.
What in the world happened to the Red Wave?
The modern Democratic Party has gone so far past the insane label that it's hard to believe anybody would vote for them. But ... apparently a lot of people don't feel that way.
Republicans severely under-delivered. Why?
Part of it is candidate quality. Some of the Republican candidates were not that great, and some of them were too Trumpy. Abortion also played a larger role in the vote than many polls predicted.
One lesson from the midterm election might be that the country wants normal, and both parties are offering crazy.
Despite the poor showing, there are some good things from the election. First, this might be the end of Stacey Abrams and Beta O'Rourke. Second, Democrats are losing their iron grip blacks and hispanics. Third, this might be the beginning of the end of Trump.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review two beers from Springfield Manor Brewery, then discuss the disappointing results of the 2022 midterm elections.
The proverb says "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," and that's certainly the case here.
What in the world happened to the Red Wave?
The modern Democratic Party has gone so far past the insane label that it's hard to believe anybody would vote for them. But ... apparently a lot of people don't feel that way.
Republicans severely under-delivered. Why?
Part of it is candidate quality. Some of the Republican candidates were not that great, and some of them were too Trumpy. Abortion also played a larger role in the vote than many polls predicted.
One lesson from the midterm election might be that the country wants normal, and both parties are offering crazy.
Despite the poor showing, there are some good things from the election. First, this might be the end of Stacey Abrams and Beta O'Rourke. Second, Democrats are losing their iron grip blacks and hispanics. Third, this might be the beginning of the end of Trump.
Mr. Energy, who knows a bit about wine, returns to the show to review three Chilean Cabernet Sauvignons, and discuss some basics about wine.
The boys discuss white vs. red grapes, vintages, tannins, price vs. value, etc., as they drink their way through three cabs.
What's the right way to buy wine? Is there a price where you can be sure you're getting good wine? And what about pairing wine with food? Do you have to drink red wine with red meat?
How should a newbie approach the topic? What do you do if you want to bring good wine to a dinner party?
Wine can get so complicated. What's the role of aging with wine? Should you turn up your nose at wines with a screw top? What do you do if you try a wine and don't like it? And what do you do when the waiter comes to the table and presents the cork?
P&C and Mr. Energy try to demystify the topic.
Mr. Energy, who knows a bit about wine, returns to the show to review three Chilean Cabernet Sauvignons, and discuss some basics about wine.
The boys discuss white vs. red grapes, vintages, tannins, price vs. value, etc., as they drink their way through three cabs.
What's the right way to buy wine? Is there a price where you can be sure you're getting good wine? And what about pairing wine with food? Do you have to drink red wine with red meat?
How should a newbie approach the topic? What do you do if you want to bring good wine to a dinner party?
Wine can get so complicated. What's the role of aging with wine? Should you turn up your nose at wines with a screw top? What do you do if you try a wine and don't like it? And what do you do when the waiter comes to the table and presents the cork?
P&C and Mr. Energy try to demystify the topic.
Along with special guest Mr. Energy, the boys drink and review The Glutenberg, a gluten-free IPA, then discuss energy policy.
In a previous episode, the boys made fun of California for requiring more electric cars in the very same week they asked people not to charge their electric cars because the grid couldn't handle it.
Mr. Energy -- an old friend who has covered energy issues for decades -- wanted a chance to chime in on the topic.
While he shares some P&C principles, like the need for a market-based approach, an all-of-the-above approach to energy, and the need for a national energy policy, he disagrees with the boys on a few points, especially related to global warming.
The discussion is lively and interesting, and Mr. Energy brings some good news about the future of modular nukes!
Along with special guest Mr. Energy, the boys drink and review The Glutenberg, a gluten-free IPA, then discuss energy policy.
In a previous episode, the boys made fun of California for requiring more electric cars in the very same week they asked people not to charge their electric cars because the grid couldn't handle it.
Mr. Energy -- an old friend who has covered energy issues for decades -- wanted a chance to chime in on the topic.
While he shares some P&C principles, like the need for a market-based approach, an all-of-the-above approach to energy, and the need for a national energy policy, he disagrees with the boys on a few points, especially related to global warming.
The discussion is lively and interesting, and Mr. Energy brings some good news about the future of modular nukes!
With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Bloodline, an IPA by Flying Dog, then discuss Vlad the Impaler and Dracula.
The boys discuss the origins of vampire stories and the association between vampires and Dracula.
Bram Stoker loosely based his story on Vlad the Impaler, who was a 15th-century badass in the general area of modern-day Romania.
P&C review the basic historical situation and life of Vlad, and his reputation for cruelty. Some reports say he was a psycopath, worse than Caligula and Nero.
Stoker's book (and a few contemporary works) introduced many of the elements of the modern-day vampire story. No reflection in the mirror. Doesn't sleep at night. Fear of crosses and holy objects. Can change into a wolf or a bat. Is seductive and sophisticated.
The boys then review a series of Dracula movies based, to one degree or another, on Stoker's work.
To celebrate Halloween, they wrap up the show with a series of 2-sentence horror stories.
With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Bloodline, an IPA by Flying Dog, then discuss Vlad the Impaler and Dracula.
The boys discuss the origins of vampire stories and the association between vampires and Dracula.
Bram Stoker loosely based his story on Vlad the Impaler, who was a 15th-century badass in the general area of modern-day Romania.
P&C review the basic historical situation and life of Vlad, and his reputation for cruelty. Some reports say he was a psycopath, worse than Caligula and Nero.
Stoker's book (and a few contemporary works) introduced many of the elements of the modern-day vampire story. No reflection in the mirror. Doesn't sleep at night. Fear of crosses and holy objects. Can change into a wolf or a bat. Is seductive and sophisticated.
The boys then review a series of Dracula movies based, to one degree or another, on Stoker's work.
To celebrate Halloween, they wrap up the show with a series of 2-sentence horror stories.
As part of their ongoing and popular "shortcut to the classics" series, Pigweed and Crowhill, with special guest Longinus, review Tell Tale Heart IPA, then discuss Poe's life and works, including his connection to Baltimore, Maryland.
They review several Poe short stories and poems, including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Raven.
For each story, the boys give a brief review of the basic details, then delve into some interpretation and commentary.
The stories play off common horrors: being buried alive, tortured, crushed to death, betrayed by a friend, falling into madness, your dead body carved to pieces, and losing the love of your life. Poe uses them all perfectly, creating suspense and horror out of common experiences, echoing normal human reactions, but in a unique and frightening way.
P&C drink and review yet another offering from the Pastryarchy -- an Almond Brittle Imperial Stout -- then discuss the Republican Party's "Commitment to America."
Newt Gingrich famously engineered a Republican revolution with his Contract with America. Contemporary Republicans are trying to imitate that strategy with their Commitment to America. It's an attempt to put forward a positive message.
The boys love the idea but are not impressed with the details.
Overall, the commitment expresses nice sentiments, but it doesn't provide enough detail. The Contract with America put forward ten specific pieces of legislation which people could read. The Commitment to America is just a bunch of vague sayings with no details.
The Commitment also seems to tread on federalism, promoting to make changes that are not in the federal government's purview.
Overall, the boys are not pleased with the effort. It seems too wishy-washy.
P&C review Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale, then discuss the annual celebration of Yorktown Day.
Why do we celebrate the day that we declared our independence rather than the day we actually won it?
The boys review the history leading up to the battle of Yorktown, in which the main British army surrendered to George Washington.
During the phase of the war just prior to Yorktown, the Brits moved south, hoping to collect recruits and support from the loyalists. It didn't work out that way, and they had to hold up in Yorktown. With the help of the French navy and French troops, Washington beat Cornwallis and forced his surrender, which effectively ended the war.
Pigweed believes we should acknowledge and celebrate this victory.
The boys drink and review Pigweed's D.C. Bro, an attempt to clone D.C. Brau's India Pale Ale. Then they discuss male employment.
Does it matter if men are unemployed? P&C say yes, it matters. In fact, it's a serious problem, and our culture is not addressing it.
As a general rule, young men need to be reined in. A successful culture needs to steer the aggressive, competitive instincts of men towards something useful for society.
We're not doing that. Men are falling behind. They're killing themselves more, suffering more addiction, and getting less education. They commit more crimes, are more likely to go to jail, and are more likely to be obese. Testosterone and sperm counts are falling. Men are not getting married. This is a societal disaster that no one is talking about.
If women are getting 60% of the college degrees, and aren't interested in "marrying down," what's going to happen to the marriage rates?
This is a crisis, but nobody is paying attention. Why? Pigweed and Crowhill explain.
The boys take a break from beer and do The Vodka Challenge, in which they do a blind taste test between Titos, Skol, Smirnoff, and a mystery vodka.
They start off with a general discussion of vodka -- what it is, what it's made from, how it's made, etc.
If vodka is a neutral spirit, why should you spend more on expensive vodka? Does it matter? What are the characteristics of a good vodka?
The mystery vodka was simply grain alcohol, diluted down to 80 proof, with a little glycerin and sugar to round it out.
After doing their 4-panel test, they tried another common vodka story, which is that you can transform cheap vodka into top-shelf vodka by running it through a Brita filter.
With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Warsteiner Dunkel, then discuss the philosophy of Nietzsche.
He's famous for his declaration of the death of God -- which is not the smirky, triumphalist statement of a modern atheist, but a lament at the loss of traditional foundations of meaning, morality, and purpose. Once you've pulled out the foundations that come along with belief in God, what do you have left?
Nietzsche is considered one of the early existentialists. He says that since our lives have no inherent meaning or any meaning imposed from outside, we need to create our own meaning.
He tries to avoid the nihilism and pessimism of Schopenhauer by building his own ideas about how to find meaning in a meaningless world. He criticizes Christianity as slave morality and urges a more aggressive form of self-assertion.
Nietzsche sees "will to power" as the essential element of who we are, and rather than suppress that, we should recognize and rejoice in it.
In this latest edition of "shortcut to the classics," the boys review Czechvar Lager, then review The Metamorphosis.
Special guest Longinus joins the show to contribute his literary expertise.
After a very brief biography of Kafka, the boys review the characters, the basic plot, and the structure of the book, then delve into its possible meanings.
Gregor, the main character, wakes up one morning as a bug, with predictable but rather amusing consequences for his job and his family.
In some ways, the story sounds like something a 5th grader would dream up. But there are interesting layers of meaning in the text, and plenty to think about. Pigweed, Crowhill, and Longinus discuss a few possible interpretations of the story.
The boys drink and review Yeungling's Porter, then discuss disaster preparation. What's responsible and what's over the top?
What would it take to be ready for a big snow storm, or a 3-day power outage? What if it's 2 weeks? Or 2 months?
What would happen to the utilities? Would you still get gas, electricity, and water?
Then they go into the disaster scenarios. Beyond prudent, reasonable precautions, what happens when society breaks down? When money isn't worth anything. When there's hyperinflation.
How hungry do people need to get before they start breaking into their neighbor's house?
And even if you are prepared for a long-term disaster, are you going to shoot your hungry neighbors who come begging for food?
Or what if you get a bug-out location in the boonies? Will you be safe?
When you think it all the way through, this prepper stuff doesn't make much sense.
In this mini-episode, the boys discuss the case of the Canadian shop teacher who decides to dress in an outrageous costume that parodies women.
You may have seen the photos of the male school teacher wearing enormous prosthetic boobs.
Is this guy acting our some weird fetish, or is he trolling the woke?
And in either case, why do we need to tolerate such nonsense? Why should parents be obligated to put up with this?
We've created an environment where "gender identity" is some sort of magic word that trumps all other considerations. If some absurd behavior can be explained as an expression of gender identity, the rest of us have to applaud.
Sorry. Not doing it.
The boys drink and review Copper Legend from Jack's Abby, then discuss ESG.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It's a way to rank companies by their compliance with left-wing social goals.
People have every right to invest in companies that uphold their social values if they want to. The problem with ESG is that big corporations are forcing these partisan standards on companies -- using other people's money, and without their permission! It's a classic shakedown.
When big investment companies like Blackrock do this sort of thing, they're violating their fiduciary duty to their shareholders by applying standards other than profit. When I put money in a fun, I want a return. I don't want them to impose their social agenda on my investments.
ESG threatens to withhold investing money from companies that aren't willing to follow a partisan agenda.
This is a new form of totalitarianism. It's not Marxism or fascism or socialism. It's an ideologically driven capitalist totalitarianism. And it has to be stopped.
The boys drink and review Copper Legend from Jack's Abby, then discuss ESG.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It's a way to rank companies by their compliance with left-wing social goals.
People have every right to invest in companies that uphold their social values if they want to. The problem with ESG is that big corporations are forcing these partisan standards on companies -- using other people's money, and without their permission! It's a classic shakedown.
When big investment companies like Blackrock do this sort of thing, they're violating their fiduciary duty to their shareholders by applying standards other than profit. When I put money in a fun, I want a return. I don't want them to impose their social agenda on my investments.
ESG threatens to withhold investing money from companies that aren't willing to follow a partisan agenda.
This is a new form of totalitarianism. It's not Marxism or fascism or socialism. It's an ideologically driven capitalist totalitarianism. And it has to be stopped.
The boys drink and review The Troegenator by Troegs brewing, and then discuss our non-sensical energy policies.
In the same week California announced that all new cars in California could not be powered by gasoline after 2035, they announced the grid was having trouble and would people please refrain from charging their electric vehicles. Did they have the sense to recognize the humor in that?
To power all these lovely new electric cars, California would have to triple its generating capacity and vastly expand and enhance its power grid. Are they willing to spend that money and risk the wrath of the environmentalists?
The only possible way to achieve this goal is to use nukes. But the left hasn't been willing to do that.
It's as if energy policies are being written by ideologues rather than engineers. We're planning to get rid of the energy that works to replace it with energy that doesn't work.
Even if we make this transition from fossil fuels to other sources, what are we going to do with all the old batteries and solar cells? Do we have any idea or plan for that?
And since we clearly need to move to nuclear if we want to move to an electric-based energy economy, are we planning new nuclear plants?
We are not governed by serious people.
The boys drink and review The Troegenator by Troegs brewing, and then discuss our non-sensical energy policies.
In the same week California announced that all new cars in California could not be powered by gasoline after 2035, they announced the grid was having trouble and would people please refrain from charging their electric vehicles. Did they have the sense to recognize the humor in that?
To power all these lovely new electric cars, California would have to triple its generating capacity and vastly expand and enhance its power grid. Are they willing to spend that money and risk the wrath of the environmentalists?
The only possible way to achieve this goal is to use nukes. But the left hasn't been willing to do that.
It's as if energy policies are being written by ideologues rather than engineers. We're planning to get rid of the energy that works to replace it with energy that doesn't work.
Even if we make this transition from fossil fuels to other sources, what are we going to do with all the old batteries and solar cells? Do we have any idea or plan for that?
And since we clearly need to move to nuclear if we want to move to an electric-based energy economy, are we planning new nuclear plants?
We are not governed by serious people.
P&C drink and review Sunny Little Thing from Sierra Nevada, then discuss Howard Zinn and his partisan "history" books.
Zinn was a 60s leftist and one-time communist who wrote a "people's history" of the United States, which has become way too influential, especially in the educational system. This anti-American propaganda has been used to poison young minds against the U.S.A.
One big problem with Zinn's focus on American sins is that there's no sense of proportion. E.g., "as compared to what?" When we evaluate the past, we have to measure people against their contemporaries, not against our 2022 view of what a perfect country should be.
Also, he is clearly re-interpreting American history from a Marxist perspective, but then pretends he is simply telling the truth and setting the record straight.
Zinn can write any book he wants, and, in fact, it's useful to have a Marxist perspective on history. But it's going too far for this narrow, partisan, anti-American view to be taught to our children, and it's a crime that it's used in schools.
Zinn doesn't want to promote reform. He wants revolution. He can say what he wants, but he has no place in our education system.
P&C drink and review Sunny Little Thing from Sierra Nevada, then discuss Howard Zinn and his partisan "history" books.
Zinn was a 60s leftist and one-time communist who wrote a "people's history" of the United States, which has become way too influential, especially in the educational system. This anti-American propaganda has been used to poison young minds against the U.S.A.
One big problem with Zinn's focus on American sins is that there's no sense of proportion. E.g., "as compared to what?" When we evaluate the past, we have to measure people against their contemporaries, not against our 2022 view of what a perfect country should be.
Also, he is clearly re-interpreting American history from a Marxist perspective, but then pretends he is simply telling the truth and setting the record straight.
Zinn can write any book he wants, and, in fact, it's useful to have a Marxist perspective on history. But it's going too far for this narrow, partisan, anti-American view to be taught to our children, and it's a crime that it's used in schools.
Zinn doesn't want to promote reform. He wants revolution. He can say what he wants, but he has no place in our education system.
P&C drink and review Coffee Among Friends Vanilla Latte Milk Stout by Monument Brewing, then discuss cat pictures and other silly things that are meant to inspire us.
Some popular motivational sayings are 100% stupid, while others are right some of the time, or at least you can put a good spin on them. P&C review some common ones they've seen and render judgment.
This is a fun and silly show, not meant to be taken too seriously.
P&C drink and review Coffee Among Friends Vanilla Latte Milk Stout by Monument Brewing, then discuss cat pictures and other silly things that are meant to inspire us.
Some popular motivational sayings are 100% stupid, while others are right some of the time, or at least you can put a good spin on them. P&C review some common ones they've seen and render judgment.
This is a fun and silly show, not meant to be taken too seriously.
The boys drink and review Crowhill's 2022 Christmas Ale, then discuss censorship.
Is it okay for search engines to "curate" our search results, based on what they think we should know and be exposed to?
Should medical associations or journals crack down on doctors who propose alternative theories or treatments?
What about when the government gets involved and asks Big Tech to ban certain people or certain messages? Is it right for the FBI to tell Facebook what to suppress?
Is it different in times of war?
The boys think through the issues and come to the conclusion that there's too much censorship in the world today.
The boys drink and review Crowhill's 2022 Christmas Ale, then discuss censorship.
Is it okay for search engines to "curate" our search results, based on what they think we should know and be exposed to?
Should medical associations or journals crack down on doctors who propose alternative theories or treatments?
What about when the government gets involved and asks Big Tech to ban certain people or certain messages? Is it right for the FBI to tell Facebook what to suppress?
Is it different in times of war?
The boys think through the issues and come to the conclusion that there's too much censorship in the world today.
In this special edition of Nooze and Booze, Pigweed and Crowhill do a spontaneous, off-the-cuff tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Sept. 8, 2022.
As Americans, P&C aren't as familiar with the details of the transition of power, rules of succession, and so on, and spend some time asking questions and wondering what happens next.
The boys also reflect on monarchy in general, and discuss some of its positive aspects, such as having a source of stability that exists outside the political cycle.
God save the King!
Pigweed and Crowhill review an imperial stout and discuss humor.
What makes a joke funny? Can we classify different types of jokes? Why do we tell jokes? What social purpose do they serve?
Can humor serve as a corrective, to show us how things are supposed to be? Do jokes train people in what's appropriate and inappropriate? The boys dig into these questions as they reflect on a recent Ricky Gervais performance.
The left used to defend offensive and irreverent humor. Now there are elements on the left that are trying to restrict humor.
Examining the nature and function of humor helps to explain why there's an assault on humor now. People are trying to change sensibilities.
Woodstock is said to have defined a generation. The original plan was for about 50,000 people, but close to half a million people arrived on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York. The operations were a mess. The roads weren't adequate. There weren't enough porta-potties, security, or food. And there was a nasty storm. Despite the mess and the miserable circumstances, it was mostly peaceful, and the police said the attendees were courteous, considerate and well-behaved.
The original Woodstock was not the lovely peace and love fest that people seem to imagine. It was a mixed bag of poor planning, horrible execution, and a somewhat miserable experience -- that changed people's lives!
The main organizer -- Michael Lang -- apparently didn't learn anything from the first event. The operations for Woodstock 1999 were even worse.
The event was held at an old military base. People were in the blazing sun on a concrete tarmac. There wasn't enough water, and there was almost no shade.
There was very little "peace and love can change the world." The bands were encouraging mayhem and violence. There were sexual assaults. Eventually, the whole place was set on fire. It was a catastrophe.
With special guest Longinus, the boys review Belhaven Scottish Ale, then discuss conspiracy theories, and why people believe them.
Conspiracies are real things, but "conspiracy theory" has taken on the tinge of the tin-foil hat crazies. That's the sort of theory the boys discuss.
- What are the components of a conspiracy theory?
- What benefit does it give to the believer?
- How is the internet involved?
It's usually a shared delusion, not an individual idea. And it usually fits with some legit zeitgeist in the culture. It resonates with some subpopulations.
Conspiracy theories are often irrefutable because any objection becomes evidence of the conspiracy theory. They also become part of a person's self-identity.
People find a strange sense of safety and control when they believe in conspiracy theories because they have secret knowledge. They've peered behind the veil of deception.
There's a feeling these days that conspiracy theories are more prominent on the political right. That is not true. Conspiracy theories are common on both ends of the political spectrum.
People who believe they are out of power are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, and that changes over the years.
Along with special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review a homebrewed brown ale, then discuss the Book of Acts, as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series.
What book is more classic than the Bible? The boys choose Acts as the most representative "shortcut" because it includes elements of law, history, prophets, the gospel, and the epistles.
A simple outline of Acts would be that the message of Jesus spreads from Jerusalem, into Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. But it's more complicated than that. There are questions about the role of Jew and Gentile, whether converts need to be circumcized, and how the church will view the on-going role of the law of Moses.
The book highlights the two main apostles of Christianity, starting with Peter's ministry to the Jews in Jerusalem, and ending with Paul's ministry to the Gentiles -- not only in his missionary journeys, but in his witness to the center of power in the first century -- Rome.
Acts is a historical narrative, which is fitting for a faith that is based in historical claims about particular acts and people who did real things in the real world.
Along with special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review a homebrewed brown ale, then discuss the Book of Acts, as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series.
What book is more classic than the Bible? The boys choose Acts as the most representative "shortcut" because it includes elements of law, history, prophets, the gospel, and the epistles.
A simple outline of Acts would be that the message of Jesus spreads from Jerusalem, into Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. But it's more complicated than that. There are questions about the role of Jew and Gentile, whether converts need to be circumcized, and how the church will view the on-going role of the law of Moses.
The book highlights the two main apostles of Christianity, starting with Peter's ministry to the Jews in Jerusalem, and ending with Paul's ministry to the Gentiles -- not only in his missionary journeys, but in his witness to the center of power in the first century -- Rome.
Acts is a historical narrative, which is fitting for a faith that is based in historical claims about particular acts and people who did real things in the real world.
The boys drink and review "Triple Dog Triple IPA" from Flying Dog brewery, then respond to a listener question on gay marriage.
What does "marriage" mean? And are Pigweed and Crowhill in favor of same-sex marriage?
The boys start with biology. Pair bonding. Procreation. What goes on in the animal kingdom. When does monogamy make sense?
And what about property? Isn't marriage largely about inheritance? Then there's the issue of forming political bonds between different tribes.
It was only recently that marriage changed from being primarily about procreation and property to its current focus on love and romance. That separation of marriage from procreation to love is what set the stage for same-sex marriage.
The boys take a middle of the road position. "Marriage" does not include same-sex unions. But that does not mean there should be no monogamous path for same-sex-attracted people.
The boys drink a "Patuxent Walnut," and then discuss three recent news items.
Pelosi goes to Taiwan. It was a ballsy move on her part. China stomped around, red-faced and furious, and threatened to shoot down her plane. But she went anyway. Was that right, or will she be the match that starts WW3?
P&C discuss the U.S.-Taiwan relationship in general, and tie it in with Pelosi's visit and Biden's recent bumbles about the U.S. defending the island against Chinese aggression.
Griner goes to jail. The 6'9" basketball star went to Russia with a small amount of marijuana, gets arrested, and has become a pawn in "prison exchange" negotiations.
She's not the only U.S. citizen who's been arrested in Russia for drug possession. Mark Fogel, a former U.S. embassy official, was arrested for possession of 17 grams of marijuana -- for which he had a prescription! But nobody says much about Fogel because he doesn't have star privilege.
The FBI goes to Mar-a-Lago. On its face, this looks like Banana Republic behavior, where law enforcement is used against political enemies. But on the other hand, do we really trust Trump to do the right thing with classified documents, or to tell the truth about it after the fact?
Raiding a former president's and potential future candidate's home is unprecedented, and the FBI should have done far more to make sure this was all above the board. They did not, and the FBI has a huge black eye as a result.
The boys drink and review Old Pro from Union Brewing, then discuss narcissism.
Narcissus was an unfortunate fellow who fell in love with his own image, and lent his name to everyone who is a little too obsessed with themself.
Researchers say we have a narcissism epidemic. What's causing it? A lack of meaning in life? Decline in religion? Social media? Smart phones?
We've created a culture where it's expected that other people have to bow to and accommodate our personal preferences. "You must refer to me this way." Really?
We no longer believe in status based on merit. We have a generation of kids who got trophies for participating, who were told that the world revolved around them -- irrespective of their own accomplishments.
The boys drink and review Low Pitch Hazy IPA from Hi-Wire Brewing, then discuss the morality of suicide, euthanasia, doctor-assisted suicide, and related issues.
It's illegal to kill yourself, and most religious traditions say it's immoral. That view is increasingly challenged these days. There are lots of movements for "death with dignity" and similar concepts.
We have a natural revulsion to suicide, but sometimes it's hard to come up with clear arguments for why it's wrong, especially in very hard cases. And there are some cultures where suicide is an accepted part of life.
Modern people often believe that something can't be wrong if it doesn't hurt other people. How does a suicide harm other people? The boys discuss.
In honor cultures, suicide can be an honorable act where you take the shame away from your family.
Some people face the prospect of unending suffering, with no hope of recovery. Is it right to tell them they can't end it?
The boys drink and review Double High-Pitch IPA from Hi-Wire Brewing, then discuss the invasion of Ukraine.
Pigweed gives a little historical background on the relationship between Ukraine and Russia, then P&C go through the four possible explanations of the situation recently offered by Jordan Peterson.
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Putin is an evil expansionist thug who wants to expand his territory and restore the old Soviet Union.
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[Following John Mearsheimer] The West has been provoking Putin by inviting all of Russia's border states into NATO and the EU.
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Russia's concerned about the stability of its petrochemical-based economy and needs to secure bordering countries.
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Russia is more serious about Christendom than the West is, and wants to save Ukraine from the decadent, anti-Christian West.
Each of these explanations might have a piece of the truth.
Also, how did the United States get drawn into this? It was understood -- just a short time ago -- that Ukraine was a horribly corrupt oligarchy, and we didn't particularly care about it. Now we defend Ukraine as if we're defending "democracy."
The boys drink and review two awful beers from Heavy Seas, then discuss gay parenting in general, with a particular emphasis on the recent discussion on the topic between Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin.
Jordan Peterson regularly encourages people to take on more responsibility in their lives, including getting married and having children. Dr. Peterson's lectures had an impact on Dave Rubin, a gay man, who wondered, "what about me? How do I fit in?"
Peterson and Rubin talk about all the adjustments Rubin had to make to try to make this apply to his life with his gay partner. Does it even work? Can all the normal paths and expectations in heterosexual relationships and marriage simply transfer over to a gay relationship?
If meaning and purpose in life are so closely tied to marriage and children, how does this work for homosexuals? And should it?
Is it right to subject children to this experiment so that gay parents can feel self-actualized?
P&C drink and review a homebrewed mild ale, then discuss recent disturbing revelations about psychiatry, and a very disturbing finding in the area of Alzheimer's research.
An analysis of multiple studies shows there's little evidence that depression is caused by a "chemical imbalance" -- which is what we've been told for decades. It's "common knowledge" that depression is from low serotonin, right? Well ... maybe not. And experts in the field have known this for years, but psychiatrists have continued to prescribe drugs based on this apparently false theory.
One in eight people in America are taking anti-depressants, and it might all be a waste of time!
Have psychiatrists been engaged in a "noble lie" to help their patients?
Also, are drugs displacing therapy that might actually help people? It's hard to help someone lose weight, exercise, eat well, get more sleep, fix their bad relationships, come up with some sense of meaning and purpose in their lives, etc. It's easy to hand out pills.
Who wins here? The pharmaceutical industry. Are pharma industry profits what's driving "the science" -- on the backs of depressed people?
Also, is depression an aberration, or is depression the default state?
What if psychedelic mushrooms do more for depression than the pills we get from SSRI drugs?
Shortly after this serotonin story there was another story about outright fraud that has set back Alzheimer's research for at least 10 years.
How does this relate to our overall confidence in "settled science"?
P&C drink and review a homebrewed India Pale Ale, then discuss the recent SCOTUS decision on EPA over-reach.
The boys do a quick review of the role of administrative agencies and their authority to regulate, and how that relates to Congressional authority to control things through legislation.
Then they look at the specific issues relating to EPA's Clean Power Plan, where they forced coal-burning plants to reduce their emissions to levels based on a switch to natural gas.
This case illustrates a big difference between the political left and the right.
The left doesn't care as much about legal authority if they agree with the goal. They also love to push the idea of a crisis, because when you're in a crisis, legal authority and procedures don't matter as much.
The right puts more of an emphasis on restraints on power and respect for legitimate authority. They don't want government by crisis.
Along with special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review an IPA from the Guinness Open Gate Brewery, then discuss spiritual guru and cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
Rajneesh started off life as a troublemaker -- as both a student and a teacher -- but eventually found his groove with his own system of meditation, blending eastern mystic ideas with western psychology. He settled into a life of teaching and became fairly popular. He set up an Ashram in India and gathered a pretty decent following, but (fleeing tax problems) decided to move to Oregon to create a new community.
They bought a huge ranch and created an incredible compound, but neglected to consult the zoning laws and ran into trouble with the county and the local town.
Coming shortly after the Jim Jones disaster, people were worried about these glassy-eyed intruders and their strange ways.
Bhagwan and his followers essentially went to war with the local town, and the vision of the utopian community fell apart.
Pigweed and Crowhill, with special guest Longinus, drink and review a coffee stout from Guinness, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with a review of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
They start off with a whirlwind tour of the story, then discuss various potential meanings and interpretations.
Generally speaking, the boys are not impressed, and they wonder why in the world this has become such a classic. It is the third most quoted book in the English language!
It's silly and playful, but is that all? Are there any hidden meanings? Is there an underlying theme? What's the appeal of this strange book?
The boys drink and review Hi-Pitch Mosaic IPA from Hi-Wire Brewing, then discuss tools, machines, and robots, and how they affect labor and employment.
The Luddites were people who objected to modern equipment that robbed them of their livelihood. But that process of increasing efficiency and reducing labor costs has been a major driver of wealth and opportunity. The industrial revolution destroyed some jobs, but created many more.
But does that always happen? Does automation always result in more opportunity? Or is there an inflection point at which it's a net negative?
This is a very serious issue for our culture as artificial intelligence and robotics continue to replace more and more jobs. And it's only going to get worse.
What's the solution? And who's thinking about it?
Some people recommend Universal Basic Income, but does that really work?
P&C drink and review "Bed of Nails" brown ale by Hi-Wire Brewing, then discuss recent decisions on the free exercise of religion.
Two important cases came down this term: Kennedy v. Bremerton involved the coach who prayed on the 50-yard line, while Carson v. Makin had to do with a restriction on public money being used to support a religious school.
Kennedy was a football coach at a government school in Washington. As a government employee, did his prayers constitute "the government" endorsing religion? Or, as a private citizen, did he have the right to free speech and free exercise?
In Maine, the government decided to give parents money to send their children to secondary schools but forbade them from using that money in a religious school. The court held that was straightforward discrimination on the basis of religion.
The boys discuss these cases and the broader question of government entanglement in religion
The boys drink and review Pigweed's latest version of a sour beer, then discuss Bronies. That is, adult men who are obsessed with My Little Pony.
My Little Pony is a show for little girls. It's about "the magic of friendship." And, as a show for little girls, it's perfectly fine, as far as we can tell.
But how do you react to a grown man who becomes a fanboy for such a show? A man who buys MLP merchandise, goes to MLP conventions, sings MLP songs, dresses up in MLP costumes, and creates MLP art?
The boys are not pleased. Our culture should push men towards adulthood, responsibility, and "putting away childish things." This is not a good look.
P&C drink and review a tangerine wheat beer from Flying Dog, then discuss recent gun-related news.
Justice Thomas recently wrote a majority SCOTUS decision overthrowing very restrictive gun laws in New York. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" means what it says.
The boys review the decision's logic and implications. What does "keep and bear" mean? Who has this right? Is it for individual self-defense, or only in the service of a state militia? How will it affect laws in other states?
Does this mean citizens can own anti-aircraft artillery and battleships? Is there a limit to the arms citizens can keep and bear?
Right around the same time SCOTUS issued this decision affirming gun rights, the Senate passed legislation approving so-called "red flag laws." The boys aren't fans.
The boys drink and review 1623 Brewing's Everything But the Seeds, then discuss the strange phenomenon of WeWork.
The founders wanted to create an exciting new work environment where people would collaborate and help one another with their business. They had a particular focus on start-ups, and it seems to have majored in young people.
Adam Neumann was the charismatic leader who wrapped the whole enterprise in a sense of meaning and purpose.
WeWork took off like a rocket with its dramatic investments and enthusiastic, cult-like community.
WeWork expanded into WeLive and WeGrow. The company wanted to change the way people live, work and educate their children.
After amazing growth, investors eventually found out it was mostly hype.
There was way too much to cover on the Dobbs decision than the boys could cover in part 1. In this episode, they skip the beer review and fill in some of the important points they missed in part one.
They discuss the history of Roe v. Wade, stare decisis, and respect for precedent. They review the attempts at gaslighting by the government and the media about the threat of right-wing violence.
Also, will the Dobbs decision affect other decisions that rely on a similar reading of "substantive due process"? Dobbs explicitly says no, but Justice Thomas says they should review those cases, and the dissent says it's the logical conclusion. P&C agree.
After Dobbs, is there a "right to privacy" in the constitution? Should there be? And is a general "right to privacy" distinguishable from a right to an abortion?
We keep hearing about "domestic terrorists," and whether one or the other side of our political debates is more dangerous. It seems rather clear on this one. The threats and violence have come from the left.
The boys drink and review 1623's Nuestro Playa, then discuss abortion and the recent SCOTUS decision.
In Roe v. Wade, the court found a right to privacy in the constitution, although it wasn't exactly clear where it was. The court tried to split the difference between the interests of states in protecting life and the idea of a right to privacy. Justice Blackmun, who wrote the Roe decision, invented a trimester system.
Many people thought Roe would be overturned in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and while the trimester system was replaced with "viability," the underlying right to privacy was upheld, and finally located. In the 14th amendment.
The current Supreme Court, with a bevy of new conservative justices, took up the issue in Dobbs v. Jackson. Someone at the court leaked a draft of Samuel Alito's majority decision, and the left went insane. Now we have the final decision, which sticks pretty close to the leaked draft.
P&C review the main arguments in Dobbs and in the dissent.
The boys review Otto's Orchard Raspberry from Antietam Brewing, then discuss political polarization.
Polarization can be divided into ideological -- differences on issues -- and affective -- where you don't like or trust the other side. We seem to be plagued with both.
Is the political center defined as half-way between the extremes of both sides? And which side has moved further recently, the radical left or the radical right?
We seem to be losing the middle. People are moving to the left or the right, but the middle is emptying out. Why is this? The boys discuss several possible causes.
Finally, political polarization might be the result of a changed view of man. Is man a malleable creature that can be molded into the ideal citizen, or is there a human nature that we have to learn to deal with?
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a Hefeweizen from 1623 Brewing, then discuss Hell and Satan.
We often read later understandings of Hell and Satan back into old texts, so we see the serpent in the garden of Eden as Satan, and Sheol in the Hebrew Bible as Hell. But it wasn't always that way. The notion of Hell and the role of Satan wasn't as clear in older texts as they became later.
Hell is much more clearly described in the New Testament, as is Satan, but the concepts continued to develop past that through art. Our modern notions of Hell might have more to do with Dante and Hieronymus Bosch than they do with the Bible.
Also, P&C were surprised to learn that Hell is not an exclusively western idea. There are notions of Hell in Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
P&C drink and review Key Brewing Company's Bail Money IPA, then discuss changes in restaurants.
We've lost more than 100,000 restaurants because of Covid. What will happen next? Will they come back, or will they be replaced?
What about food trucks, and Door Dash? How are they affecting the industry?
How will restaurants respond to customer expectations of "right now" efficiency? How has social media affected food service, and what's the future of waiters in an era when you can order on a touch-screen device and have a robot deliver your food?
The boys drink and review Oliver Brewing's Box Turtle Kolsch, then discuss that best-selling LGBT author, Matt Walsh.
P&C discuss their general impressions of Matt Walsh, then review some of his recent works, starting with "Johnny the Walrus."
In this wonderful children's book, little Johnny likes to pretend he's a walrus. His woke mother felt she had to affirm Johnny as a walrus but eventually learns to be a responsible parent.
P&C both bought the book because they want to affirm sensible people who say no to the insane elements of the woke left. This is a great book to read to your kids. They'll get it. All your woke friends won't.
If this was all Matt Walsh did to save the culture, that would be enough. But he also produced a fantastic documentary called "What is a woman?" in which he interviews some truly frightening people saying incredibly scary things. It's the kind of nonsense that's so insane you're not sure whether to laugh or cry.
His technique was simple. He asked simple questions and let these idiots speak for themselves. There's no need to refute them. They're self-evidently crazy.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a homebrewed no-alcohol porter, then discuss the history and significance of air conditioning.
Special guest Longinus joins P&C to contribute his knowledge of history and the development of cities.
Refrigeration started with ice houses, ice boxes and ice-cooled freight cars, but eventually moved on to refrigeration, which relies on the laws of physics to create a cool environment. These amazing devices allowed modern refrigerators and air conditioning.
Longinus gives some history on how air conditioning slowly worked its way into industry and homes.
Air conditioning also had a big effect on the development of the South. Before air conditioning, businesses had to close down for the summer.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review Vulpulin Tropical Pale Ale from Sly Fox Brewing, then review The Great Gatsby.
With special guest Longinus, P&C continue their "shortcut to the classics" series, picking a short work by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Following a quick biography of the man, the boys review the plot and discuss the meaning of the text.
The book is often considered a classic treatment of the roaring 20s. The writing is top-notch, and the story is interesting, but the characters are less than admirable.
Themes in the book include issues of class, old money vs. new money, the east vs. the midwest, family, faithfulness, and the American Dream.
The boys drink and review Flying Dog's Hop Electric hazy IPA, then discuss public education.
The extreme dysfunction of America's public schools came to the attention of parents during Covid lockdowns. They were able to peer into the classroom and see and hear the nonsense their children have been taught.
The sensible among them were outraged, and the responsible among them are making other arrangements.
But it's worse than that. Interest groups prevent schools from kicking out disruptive kids, and many parents don't prepare their kids to be ready to learn.
P&C discuss local vs. top-down "public" education and ask whether the government be in charge of it.
And how does education fit in with having a shared, common culture?
P&C drink and review Thirst Monster Kolsch from Union Brewing, then discuss cultural literacy.
Is it just about "dead white males"? Is there some benefit to reading the Bible and the western canon?
We say yes, for three reasons. It helps everyone understand the world they live in; it helps bind the culture together with common stories; and it allows people to enjoy our shared culture more.
The boys drink and review Sweetwater's Glacial India Pale Cold Ale, then discuss the man of the week, pronouns, and other gender confusions.
A regular listener objected to "man" of the week. The boys discuss.
Do we have to change "fireman" to "fireperson"? What is the point here?
And how does this relate to pronouns and other "gender" issues of the day?
Some people think it's "inclusive" to say "he or she," or other silliness. The boys discuss that at length.
The boys drink and review a homebrew dry hop experiment, then discuss Florida. Both of the boys have spent some time there, but Crowhill has spent about a year there, off and on.
The state is quite a mixed bag. It's the vacation capital of the world, but it has some unique issues.
One thing you quickly notice is that it's filled with lizards: anoles, iguanas and alligators. They're usually not a problem, but they're omnipresent.
While you expect Florida to be a paradise of bikinis and sand, there are a lot of people wearing bikinis who probably shouldn't.
And it's a touch too casual.
Then there's "Florida man."
P&C drink and review a homebrew IPA, then discuss this weird place in the middle of the desert. How did a town founded by the Mormons becomes known for gambling? Why did a city spring up in that location? How did it develop? How did it take on some of its unique characteristics? Why did it get associated with prostitution, easy marriage, and divorce?
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys discuss the history and development of this strange town, and how it became the city we have today. Why did it shift from a western town with cowboy themes to more of a Miami-like, resort feel? And when did the mob get involved?
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrew clone of Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss Melville's last major work.
The story of Billy Budd is carefully crafted to create a tale of moral confusion and conflict. Set after the French revolution, and very shortly after two significant mutinies in the British fleet, the innocent Billy has run afoul of the law on a British warship. His case cries out for leniency, but it's not a time for leniency.
The story makes you believe Melville was struggling with the conflict between justice and mercy.
This is a short, dense work, that's well worth your attention.
P&C drink and review BMore Sour from Oliver Brewing, then discuss the intersectional coalition.
"Intersectionality" is the complex cumulative way in which multiple forms of discrimination combine or intersect. It seems to turn "being a victim" on its head. People vie to have more victim boxes to check so they can be more oppressed and therefore -- in a peculiar way -- have more power.
Along with these categories is the assumption that people who check the same boxes have the same lived experiences and therefore the same opinions.
The Democratic Party seems to have abandoned its traditional base and has adopted something like this intersectional coalition as its new foudnation. Will it work? Does this intersectional coalition have enough in common to stay together?
The boys drink and review Negra Modelo for Cinco de Mayo, then discuss the jury system.
Pigweed was recently called to jury duty, and the boys discuss the history and development of the jury system, and some of the interesting details about it.
What does a "jury of peers" mean? How are juries selected?
The main purpose of a jury is protection against arbitrary government power. Is it doing that effectively?
What is jury nullification, and is it a good thing or not?
What should we do when a jury is under public pressure to reach a pre-determined verdict? Should we replace citizen juries with professional juries?
P&C drink and review a strong ale from Lagunitas, then do five topics in five minutes each.
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Do you like cringe comedy? Do you feel embarrassed when someone else is doing something embarrassing? Do you like that sort of comedy? Does that say anything about you?
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Earring boy. Are we allowed to think less of someone if they dress like an idiot? At some point, "being me" is no excuse -- unless you can work in some gender fluidity thing. Then all bets are off.
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Anti-intellectualism. The boys discuss three possible definitions. (1) You never study anything in any depth. (2) You're not interested in so-called intellectual things. (3) You're skeptical of elite intellectuals.
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Lee Greenwood and his patriotic song. What's with the "at least" part? It seems to take away from the positive tone of the song.
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Snuck into the "infrastructure" bill is a proposal to make breathalyzers required on all new cars. Isn't this assuming guilt? And what does it have to do with infrastructure?
The boys drink a whiskey sour, then discuss the implications of Elon Musk's purchase of the social media platform Twitter.
Musk claims that he wants to create an inclusive arena for free speech. This has caused the left to melt down.
I thought the left liked free speech.
Part of the problem is the lack of transparency. Twitter has some hidden algorithm that promotes, demotes or even bans certain content. Is it fair? Is it slanted to the left or the right?
Twitter has become a dumpster fire, and many conservatives believe it is biased against them. It it? Will Elon make it better or worse?
Has the left's reaction simply confirmed everything the right has said about Twitter all along?
The boys drink an experimental beer with backyard hops, then discuss some popular psychology ideas that might not be true.
The bystander effect. The rape and murder of Kitty Genovese created a viral story that promoted the idea of bystander apathy.
The Stanford prison experiment. After normal kids are randomly assigned as prisoners and guards, the guards become abusive and the prisoners became compliant.
The Milgram experiment. People are willing to inflict extreme pain on innocent people if an authority figure urges them on.
In each case, there are profound questions about the legitimacy of the conclusions, but those questionable conclusions are firmly implanted in the public mind.
The boys drink and review a homebrewed Old Ale, then discuss Jonathan Haidt's essay on how and why the last ten years have been uniquely stupid.
He points the finger at social media, and a few particular features: retweets, likes and shares. "We might have just handed a four year old a loaded weapon."
The problem is that outrage spreads faster than sensible talk. A Republic requires time to slow things down and insulate public policy from the mania of the moment.
Social media amplifies polarization. It's a major source of the fights and divisions, and it accentuates the outrageous. Common ground is considered a betrayal by true believers. Those who express sympathy for opposing groups get friendly fire from their bad judgment.
The cure is to convince people to interact with others who don't share their beliefs. But nobody does that.
Unfortunately, it's going to get worse. There are technologies in place that will make this problem much bigger.
Haidt offers some suggestions for how to fix this mess, which the boys discuss.
The boys drink and review Sprucey Goosey from 1623 brewing, then discuss the Christian idea of the rapture of the church.
The modern view of the rapture was popularized by John Darby in the 19th century, along with "dispensational premillennialism." That has become the default position of American Evangelicals, although it was not the majority view of the church through history.
P&C try to unpack some of the elements of eschatology -- the millennium, the rapture and the tribulation -- then explain the basic idea of the rapture, and how it fits in with different ideas about the end of the world. They also discuss some of the major personalities involved in promoting or predicting the end of the world, like Harold Camping.
The boys drink and review 1621 Brewery's East Bound and Brown Indian Brown Ale, then look back on Donald Trump and assess his good and bad qualities.
Now that we have some distance, what can we learn about the Trump phenomenon?
The boys recommend two bird's eye view perspectives to govern how we view Trump. First, there is "Donny from Queens." Second, there is the observation that the right takes Trump seriously but not literally, while the left takes him literally but not seriously.
The boys review a few lists of accusations against Trump and try to parse them according to those two rules.
The boys drink and review Sweet Baby Swirl, a chocolate peanut butter white stout, by DuClaw, then discuss various common phrases of dubious origin.
Close but no cigar. The whole nine yards. At the drop of a hat. Pushing the envelope. Best foot forward. Spitting image. In the nick of time. Pudding time. Beyond the pale. Jump on the bandwagon. Get off your high horse. Living high on the hog. Mad as a hatter. Toe the line. Crossing a red line. Dressed to the nines. Up to scratch. The bees knees. Apple of my eye. Therein lies the rub. Okay. Cat got your tongue. Turn a blind eye. Bit the bullet.
P&C review and comment on these sayings and try to probe possible origins.
P&C drink and review Sweet Baby Jesus, a chocolate, peanut butter porter from DuClaw, then discuss the last and possibly weirdest book in the New Testament.
The Book of Revelation is often compared to a drug-induced hallucination. It's anything but. It's a very structured, organized book that ties together many prophetic themes from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament tradition.
Many themes in pop culture come from this book. The beat, and the mark of the beast. The mysterious number: 666. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Themes about Babylon, and the whore of Babylon. Plagues. Bowls of the wrath of God.
P&C go chapter by chapter and explore the major themes of the book and some of the possible meanings of the text.
The overall message is that just as Jesus conquered through suffering and death, Christians are called to the same fate, and will conquer in the end.
P&C drink and review Union Brewing's Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss quotas.
Quotas have become part of the landscape in many parts of our society. University admissions. Hiring. Political appointments.
The boys believe that quotas undermine the accomplishments of the people they are designed to help.
President Biden promised to choose a black woman as vice president, and then made the same promise for his first SCOTUS nominee. Is that good for the country?
P&C expose the hypocrisy of the left in pretending to want racial, ethnic and sexual diversity on the court while opposing nominees like Janice Rogers Brown or Miquel Estrada.
The NFL has also entered the game of racial and sexual quotas for coaching positions, leading to ridiculous and counter-productive measures for football.
P&C drink and review Zelus Beer Company's "Light Into Dark" Porter, then discuss dreams and dreaming.
Why do we sleep? What's the benefit of spending so many hours in an unconscious, vulnerable state?
Where do dreams come from? Are they messages, or just a rehash of the day's events?
The boys review theories from psychoanalysts and from modern science, and discuss what we've learned about dreams and dreaming with modern technology.
They review the four stages of sleep, and when we're most likely to dream.
The boys also discuss common dreams and their alleged interpretation, which raises the question, are dreams a mechanism for getting messages from our subconscious? Is it healthy to pay a lot of attention to your dreams?
P&C drink and review an amber ale from Guinness, then, with special guest Longinus, discuss mall culture.
Longinus gives a quick history of the development of suburbs and malls. Shopping centers evolved into department stores, and the next step was malls. They were mostly to serve the growing suburbs.
Malls started popping up all over the place. Investors got involved, and malls were built as investment vehicles rather than to serve actual communities.
P&C drink and review a homebrewed Black Saison, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with a review of some of Isaac Asimov's short stories.
Asimov was an amazingly prolific and wide-ranging author. This is just a taste of his impressive body of work.
Patches -- The conflict and contrast between individualistic humans and a collectivist entity that seeks to liberate humans from their quarrels and conflicts.
What if -- A married couple on a train meets a man with a device that can show them what would have happened if the circumstances of their life had been different.
Nightfall -- A planet with constant sunlight from six suns faces the prospect of total darkness, which is predicted to have devasting psychological effects on the population.
Breeds There a Man -- The essential, genius scientist in a Manhattan Project-like venture is going insane because of a strange theory about how humanity is being regulated and controlled by mysterious forces.
P&C drink and review O'Hara's Irish Red, then find that they can't communicate. The words they try to use have taken on new and confusing meanings.
Orientation. Diversity. Identity. Transition. Reassignment. Privilege. Trigger. Equity. Tolerance. Pronouns. Even the rainbow.
The new definitions of these words are intended to force you to think in a different way -- to adopt a particular view of the world, and of your neighbor.
The boys don't like it.
The boys drink and review O'Hara's Irish Stout, then celebrate March 17th.
They do a quick review of Irish history, starting back in pre-history, through St. Patrick, the Vikings, Brian Boru and the English occupation, and up to modern times. They ask why is Ireland divided north and south, and wonder about the demise of the IRA.
They also discuss the two spellings of whiskey, the potato famine, St. Patrick Day customs, Irish beer, and how much Irish blood Pigweed and Crowhill have in them.
The boys drink and review Cigar City's White Oak Jai Alai IPA, then discuss suffering.
Does suffering disprove the existence of an all-powerful, perfectly good God? What is the nature of suffering, and why does it exist? What is the proper response to suffering? Why do Catholics "offer it up" when they experience suffering?
Would humans be capable of enjoying a world without suffering? Don't we need obstacles to overcome?
Finally, the boys discuss transhumanism, and how there might be a future in which men have been altered to eliminate all suffering.
P&C drink and review Pilsner Urquell, then discuss how businesses are using wokeness as a smokescreen to pretend to be virtuous.
The boys discuss what "woke" means, then review some of the work of Vivek Ramaswami.
Corporate wokeness is all a magic trick. They keep our eyes on woke BS to keep our attention away from their misdeeds. "Never mind that we use Chinese slave labor. Look at the rainbow flag on our LinkedIn profile!"
Wokeness has become a substitute for religion and traditional morality for many companies. It's filling a gap created by the secularization of society.
P&C drink and review Pigweed's latest IPA, then discuss Sun Tzu's classic.
It's an ancient book that might date back to the 6th century BC. It came out of a time when Chinese intellectuals were classifying and organizing things.
While it's explicitly about war, it's often re-interpreted as a general commentary on strategic thinking.
The Art of War is relevant to things in the news right now, like the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The boys drink and review another Pastryarchy offering from DuClaw, Irish Cream Dessert Stout, then wonder whether we're living in a simulation, and whether it matters.
From Descartes's skepticism to Nick Bostrom's famous paper, P&C review some of the top arguments for why our world might not be what we think it is.
If simulated humans can have first-person experience, we are almost certainly in a simulation. Or are we? There are interesting arguments both ways.
Then the boys discuss how the simulation question relates to the God question. Does the possibility that we are in a simulated universe shed any light on God's existence?
The boys drink and review Still Holidazed and Confused from Hysteria Brewing, then discuss how to save the planet.
P&C decide to buy in to climate alarmism (for purposes of the show) and discuss what we'd have to do to save the planet. What would have to change? If radical change is necessary, what would it look like?
Most of the normal suggestions are simply window dressing -- polishing the brass on a sinking ship.
If you really wanted to make a significant change, P&C give you some ideas.
The boys drink and review a "lazy beer," then discuss food fads.
Is it better to "eat local"? Are farmed fish less healthy than wild caught? Are "free range" chickens happier and healthier than others?
Unfortunately, many of these things are so imprecisely defined that they're meaningless.
Pigweed and Crowhill both agree with many of the goals of the people who promote some of these food fads, but when you look into them, they tend to fall apart under scrutiny.
P&C drink and review a homebrewed red ale, then discuss families.
Men are not as manly as they used to be. Testosterone has been dropping at 1% per year for decades. Men are withering away. At the same time, they have easy access to porn, and masculinity is regularly dissed.
The result is that men are less interested in women and families.
Families model future relationships, they provide a sense of security, they sacrifice for and nurture children, they civilize men. Getting married causes both men and women to grow up, and it affects their vision of the future in a positive way.
P&C drink and review Pigweed's Texas Brown Ale, then discuss the history and modern application of chivalry.
The word comes from "horsemanship," and originally applied to knights.
Society needs hard men who are willing to fight, but they also need these men to be decent and courteous off the battlefield. Medieval Europeans developed expectations for knightly conduct, and this turned into a code.
Some knights were almost like fighting monks, and formed religious orders that regulated their conduct in war and in peace. Chivalry also regulated courtly love.
How does this apply to a modern man? P&C list several ways men should be expected to behave in modern society.
P&C drink and review one of Crowhill's recent homebrews, then discuss multiple personality syndrome, or, the way it's known these days, dissociative identity disorder (DID).
The boys review some popular treatments of the subject, including The Three Faces of Eve, Sybil, the Billy Milligan story, and Split.
Is DID real, or are people being coached (even hypnotized or drugged) into a diagnosis by their therapists? P&C have their doubts.
Cases of DID always increase after a popular movie or book covers the subject. Today, there's a whole community of DID sufferers on TikTok.
The boys sip and review 1623 Brewing's Lil Sips Scottish Imperial Stout, then wonder why our society has lost the idea that people should grow up.
Educated grown-ups are claiming that words are violence. That's the way a child views the world.
Our culture has become so infantilized that we think we should "listen to the children."
The popularity of superhero movies are an example of this attempt to freeze life in a perpetual adolescence.
P&C review a list of areas in which society seems to refuse to grown up. We've come to accept arrested emotional development.
Russia and China are laughing.
P&C drink and review a single-hop IPA, then discuss therapy culture.
Are we addicted to therapy? Have we redefined ourselves around our emotions? Are we all vulnerable, broken, "at risk," scarred for life?
There's been an erosion of the boundary between the private and the public. Now we have TV shows where people disclose their personal issues. There's nothing more virtuous today than seeking treatment.
We've demonized silence, stoicism and a stiff upper lip. Do healthy people really have to talk about themselves? Publicly?
The boys drink and review a sake, then discuss the James Webb Space Telescope.
This magnificent feat of engineering launched on Christmas Day, 2021, and recently deployed flawlessly at Lagrange Point 2. From there it will scan the heavens on the infrared part of the spectrum and send back astonishing pictures.
P&C review the history of the development of this marvel, discuss all the things that had to go right for it to be a success, and wonder about what humanity might learn from this new look into the cosmic past.
Pigweed and Crowhill review how and why they started the podcast, and the innovations and interesting things they've brought to "Beer and Conversation" over the years, including ...
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Skits
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Five for Five
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Shortcut to the classics
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Nooze and Booze
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Predictions
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Pretend events
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Reviews of books that don't exist
They've also covered quite a range of topics:
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Economics
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Science
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Religion
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Culture
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Politics
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Entertainment (movies, books, tv)
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Tech
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History
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Logic
-
Grammar
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Cryptocurrency
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Sci-fi
Along with special guest Longinus, P&C review a winter warmer from Flying Dog, then discuss Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.
This is a depressing story of a man who is stuck. He's stuck with a wife he doesn't love. Stuck in a city he doesn't particularly like. Stuck in a profession he didn't choose.
When a spark comes into his life in the person of his wife's cousin, Maddie, he starts to dream of a better future. But it doesn't work out.
The story is set in a fictional, very cold town. Wear your wool socks when you read this one.
After reviewing Southern Tier's Irish Cream Stout, P&C discuss their experiences at Mount Calvary church in Baltimore.
With special guest Longinus, the boys review the history of the church, its Anglo-Catholic background, and its recent decision to come into communion with Rome.
They discuss their observations about the building itself, the music, the liturgy, the homily and the participants. There were smells, bells, vestments -- the whole deal. And it was a very long mass!
The overall experience was very interesting.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a Hefeweizen from 1623 Brewing, then discuss Hell and Satan.
We often read later understandings of Hell and Satan back into old texts, so we see the serpent in the garden of Eden as Satan, and Sheol in the Hebrew Bible as Hell. But it wasn't always that way. The notion of Hell and the role of Satan wasn't as clear in older texts as they became later.
Hell is much more clearly described in the New Testament, as is Satan, but the concepts continued to develop past that through art. Our modern notions of Hell might have more to do with Dante and Hieronymus Bosch than they do with the Bible.
Also, P&C were surprised to learn that Hell is not an exclusively western idea. There are notions of Hell in Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
P&C drink and review Key Brewing Company's Bail Money IPA, then discuss changes in restaurants.
We've lost more than 100,000 restaurants because of Covid. What will happen next? Will they come back, or will they be replaced?
What about food trucks, and Door Dash? How are they affecting the industry?
How will restaurants respond to customer expectations of "right now" efficiency? How has social media affected food service, and what's the future of waiters in an era when you can order on a touch-screen device and have a robot deliver your food?
The boys drink and review Oliver Brewing's Box Turtle Kolsch, then discuss that best-selling LGBT author, Matt Walsh.
P&C discuss their general impressions of Matt Walsh, then review some of his recent works, starting with "Johnny the Walrus."
In this wonderful children's book, little Johnny likes to pretend he's a walrus. His woke mother felt she had to affirm Johnny as a walrus but eventually learns to be a responsible parent.
P&C both bought the book because they want to affirm sensible people who say no to the insane elements of the woke left. This is a great book to read to your kids. They'll get it. All your woke friends won't.
If this was all Matt Walsh did to save the culture, that would be enough. But he also produced a fantastic documentary called "What is a woman?" in which he interviews some truly frightening people saying incredibly scary things. It's the kind of nonsense that's so insane you're not sure whether to laugh or cry.
His technique was simple. He asked simple questions and let these idiots speak for themselves. There's no need to refute them. They're self-evidently crazy.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a homebrewed no-alcohol porter, then discuss the history and significance of air conditioning.
Special guest Longinus joins P&C to contribute his knowledge of history and the development of cities.
Refrigeration started with ice houses, ice boxes and ice-cooled freight cars, but eventually moved on to refrigeration, which relies on the laws of physics to create a cool environment. These amazing devices allowed modern refrigerators and air conditioning.
Longinus gives some history on how air conditioning slowly worked its way into industry and homes.
Air conditioning also had a big effect on the development of the South. Before air conditioning, businesses had to close down for the summer.
Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review Vulpulin Tropical Pale Ale from Sly Fox Brewing, then review The Great Gatsby.
With special guest Longinus, P&C continue their "shortcut to the classics" series, picking a short work by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Following a quick biography of the man, the boys review the plot and discuss the meaning of the text.
The book is often considered a classic treatment of the roaring 20s. The writing is top-notch, and the story is interesting, but the characters are less than admirable.
Themes in the book include issues of class, old money vs. new money, the east vs. the midwest, family, faithfulness, and the American Dream.
The boys drink and review Flying Dog's Hop Electric hazy IPA, then discuss public education.
The extreme dysfunction of America's public schools came to the attention of parents during Covid lockdowns. They were able to peer into the classroom and see and hear the nonsense their children have been taught.
The sensible among them were outraged, and the responsible among them are making other arrangements.
But it's worse than that. Interest groups prevent schools from kicking out disruptive kids, and many parents don't prepare their kids to be ready to learn.
P&C discuss local vs. top-down "public" education and ask whether the government be in charge of it.
And how does education fit in with having a shared, common culture?
P&C drink and review Thirst Monster Kolsch from Union Brewing, then discuss cultural literacy.
Is it just about "dead white males"? Is there some benefit to reading the Bible and the western canon?
We say yes, for three reasons. It helps everyone understand the world they live in; it helps bind the culture together with common stories; and it allows people to enjoy our shared culture more.
The boys drink and review Sweetwater's Glacial India Pale Cold Ale, then discuss the man of the week, pronouns, and other gender confusions.
A regular listener objected to "man" of the week. The boys discuss.
Do we have to change "fireman" to "fireperson"? What is the point here?
And how does this relate to pronouns and other "gender" issues of the day?
Some people think it's "inclusive" to say "he or she," or other silliness. The boys discuss that at length.
The boys drink and review a homebrew dry hop experiment, then discuss Florida. Both of the boys have spent some time there, but Crowhill has spent about a year there, off and on.
The state is quite a mixed bag. It's the vacation capital of the world, but it has some unique issues.
One thing you quickly notice is that it's filled with lizards: anoles, iguanas and alligators. They're usually not a problem, but they're omnipresent.
While you expect Florida to be a paradise of bikinis and sand, there are a lot of people wearing bikinis who probably shouldn't.
And it's a touch too casual.
Then there's "Florida man."
P&C drink and review a homebrew IPA, then discuss this weird place in the middle of the desert. How did a town founded by the Mormons becomes known for gambling? Why did a city spring up in that location? How did it develop? How did it take on some of its unique characteristics? Why did it get associated with prostitution, easy marriage, and divorce?
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys discuss the history and development of this strange town, and how it became the city we have today. Why did it shift from a western town with cowboy themes to more of a Miami-like, resort feel? And when did the mob get involved?
Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrew clone of Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss Melville's last major work.
The story of Billy Budd is carefully crafted to create a tale of moral confusion and conflict. Set after the French revolution, and very shortly after two significant mutinies in the British fleet, the innocent Billy has run afoul of the law on a British warship. His case cries out for leniency, but it's not a time for leniency.
The story makes you believe Melville was struggling with the conflict between justice and mercy.
This is a short, dense work, that's well worth your attention.
P&C drink and review BMore Sour from Oliver Brewing, then discuss the intersectional coalition.
"Intersectionality" is the complex cumulative way in which multiple forms of discrimination combine or intersect. It seems to turn "being a victim" on its head. People vie to have more victim boxes to check so they can be more oppressed and therefore -- in a peculiar way -- have more power.
Along with these categories is the assumption that people who check the same boxes have the same lived experiences and therefore the same opinions.
The Democratic Party seems to have abandoned its traditional base and has adopted something like this intersectional coalition as its new foudnation. Will it work? Does this intersectional coalition have enough in common to stay together?
The boys drink and review Negra Modelo for Cinco de Mayo, then discuss the jury system.
Pigweed was recently called to jury duty, and the boys discuss the history and development of the jury system, and some of the interesting details about it.
What does a "jury of peers" mean? How are juries selected?
The main purpose of a jury is protection against arbitrary government power. Is it doing that effectively?
What is jury nullification, and is it a good thing or not?
What should we do when a jury is under public pressure to reach a pre-determined verdict? Should we replace citizen juries with professional juries?
P&C drink and review a strong ale from Lagunitas, then do five topics in five minutes each.
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Do you like cringe comedy? Do you feel embarrassed when someone else is doing something embarrassing? Do you like that sort of comedy? Does that say anything about you?
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Earring boy. Are we allowed to think less of someone if they dress like an idiot? At some point, "being me" is no excuse -- unless you can work in some gender fluidity thing. Then all bets are off.
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Anti-intellectualism. The boys discuss three possible definitions. (1) You never study anything in any depth. (2) You're not interested in so-called intellectual things. (3) You're skeptical of elite intellectuals.
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Lee Greenwood and his patriotic song. What's with the "at least" part? It seems to take away from the positive tone of the song.
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Snuck into the "infrastructure" bill is a proposal to make breathalyzers required on all new cars. Isn't this assuming guilt? And what does it have to do with infrastructure?
The boys drink a whiskey sour, then discuss the implications of Elon Musk's purchase of the social media platform Twitter.
Musk claims that he wants to create an inclusive arena for free speech. This has caused the left to melt down.
I thought the left liked free speech.
Part of the problem is the lack of transparency. Twitter has some hidden algorithm that promotes, demotes or even bans certain content. Is it fair? Is it slanted to the left or the right?
Twitter has become a dumpster fire, and many conservatives believe it is biased against them. It it? Will Elon make it better or worse?
Has the left's reaction simply confirmed everything the right has said about Twitter all along?
The boys drink an experimental beer with backyard hops, then discuss some popular psychology ideas that might not be true.
The bystander effect. The rape and murder of Kitty Genovese created a viral story that promoted the idea of bystander apathy.
The Stanford prison experiment. After normal kids are randomly assigned as prisoners and guards, the guards become abusive and the prisoners became compliant.
The Milgram experiment. People are willing to inflict extreme pain on innocent people if an authority figure urges them on.
In each case, there are profound questions about the legitimacy of the conclusions, but those questionable conclusions are firmly implanted in the public mind.
The boys drink and review a homebrewed Old Ale, then discuss Jonathan Haidt's essay on how and why the last ten years have been uniquely stupid.
He points the finger at social media, and a few particular features: retweets, likes and shares. "We might have just handed a four year old a loaded weapon."
The problem is that outrage spreads faster than sensible talk. A Republic requires time to slow things down and insulate public policy from the mania of the moment.
Social media amplifies polarization. It's a major source of the fights and divisions, and it accentuates the outrageous. Common ground is considered a betrayal by true believers. Those who express sympathy for opposing groups get friendly fire from their bad judgment.
The cure is to convince people to interact with others who don't share their beliefs. But nobody does that.
Unfortunately, it's going to get worse. There are technologies in place that will make this problem much bigger.
Haidt offers some suggestions for how to fix this mess, which the boys discuss.
The boys drink and review Sprucey Goosey from 1623 brewing, then discuss the Christian idea of the rapture of the church.
The modern view of the rapture was popularized by John Darby in the 19th century, along with "dispensational premillennialism." That has become the default position of American Evangelicals, although it was not the majority view of the church through history.
P&C try to unpack some of the elements of eschatology -- the millennium, the rapture and the tribulation -- then explain the basic idea of the rapture, and how it fits in with different ideas about the end of the world. They also discuss some of the major personalities involved in promoting or predicting the end of the world, like Harold Camping.
The boys drink and review 1621 Brewery's East Bound and Brown Indian Brown Ale, then look back on Donald Trump and assess his good and bad qualities.
Now that we have some distance, what can we learn about the Trump phenomenon?
The boys recommend two bird's eye view perspectives to govern how we view Trump. First, there is "Donny from Queens." Second, there is the observation that the right takes Trump seriously but not literally, while the left takes him literally but not seriously.
The boys review a few lists of accusations against Trump and try to parse them according to those two rules.
The boys drink and review Sweet Baby Swirl, a chocolate peanut butter white stout, by DuClaw, then discuss various common phrases of dubious origin.
Close but no cigar. The whole nine yards. At the drop of a hat. Pushing the envelope. Best foot forward. Spitting image. In the nick of time. Pudding time. Beyond the pale. Jump on the bandwagon. Get off your high horse. Living high on the hog. Mad as a hatter. Toe the line. Crossing a red line. Dressed to the nines. Up to scratch. The bees knees. Apple of my eye. Therein lies the rub. Okay. Cat got your tongue. Turn a blind eye. Bit the bullet.
P&C review and comment on these sayings and try to probe possible origins.
P&C drink and review Sweet Baby Jesus, a chocolate, peanut butter porter from DuClaw, then discuss the last and possibly weirdest book in the New Testament.
The Book of Revelation is often compared to a drug-induced hallucination. It's anything but. It's a very structured, organized book that ties together many prophetic themes from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament tradition.
Many themes in pop culture come from this book. The beat, and the mark of the beast. The mysterious number: 666. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Themes about Babylon, and the whore of Babylon. Plagues. Bowls of the wrath of God.
P&C go chapter by chapter and explore the major themes of the book and some of the possible meanings of the text.
The overall message is that just as Jesus conquered through suffering and death, Christians are called to the same fate, and will conquer in the end.
P&C drink and review Union Brewing's Steady Eddy IPA, then discuss quotas.
Quotas have become part of the landscape in many parts of our society. University admissions. Hiring. Political appointments.
The boys believe that quotas undermine the accomplishments of the people they are designed to help.
President Biden promised to choose a black woman as vice president, and then made the same promise for his first SCOTUS nominee. Is that good for the country?
P&C expose the hypocrisy of the left in pretending to want racial, ethnic and sexual diversity on the court while opposing nominees like Janice Rogers Brown or Miquel Estrada.
The NFL has also entered the game of racial and sexual quotas for coaching positions, leading to ridiculous and counter-productive measures for football.
P&C drink and review Zelus Beer Company's "Light Into Dark" Porter, then discuss dreams and dreaming.
Why do we sleep? What's the benefit of spending so many hours in an unconscious, vulnerable state?
Where do dreams come from? Are they messages, or just a rehash of the day's events?
The boys review theories from psychoanalysts and from modern science, and discuss what we've learned about dreams and dreaming with modern technology.
They review the four stages of sleep, and when we're most likely to dream.
The boys also discuss common dreams and their alleged interpretation, which raises the question, are dreams a mechanism for getting messages from our subconscious? Is it healthy to pay a lot of attention to your dreams?
P&C drink and review an amber ale from Guinness, then, with special guest Longinus, discuss mall culture.
Longinus gives a quick history of the development of suburbs and malls. Shopping centers evolved into department stores, and the next step was malls. They were mostly to serve the growing suburbs.
Malls started popping up all over the place. Investors got involved, and malls were built as investment vehicles rather than to serve actual communities.
P&C drink and review a homebrewed Black Saison, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with a review of some of Isaac Asimov's short stories.
Asimov was an amazingly prolific and wide-ranging author. This is just a taste of his impressive body of work.
Patches -- The conflict and contrast between individualistic humans and a collectivist entity that seeks to liberate humans from their quarrels and conflicts.
What if -- A married couple on a train meets a man with a device that can show them what would have happened if the circumstances of their life had been different.
Nightfall -- A planet with constant sunlight from six suns faces the prospect of total darkness, which is predicted to have devasting psychological effects on the population.
Breeds There a Man -- The essential, genius scientist in a Manhattan Project-like venture is going insane because of a strange theory about how humanity is being regulated and controlled by mysterious forces.
P&C drink and review O'Hara's Irish Red, then find that they can't communicate. The words they try to use have taken on new and confusing meanings.
Orientation. Diversity. Identity. Transition. Reassignment. Privilege. Trigger. Equity. Tolerance. Pronouns. Even the rainbow.
The new definitions of these words are intended to force you to think in a different way -- to adopt a particular view of the world, and of your neighbor.
The boys don't like it.
The boys drink and review O'Hara's Irish Stout, then celebrate March 17th.
They do a quick review of Irish history, starting back in pre-history, through St. Patrick, the Vikings, Brian Boru and the English occupation, and up to modern times. They ask why is Ireland divided north and south, and wonder about the demise of the IRA.
They also discuss the two spellings of whiskey, the potato famine, St. Patrick Day customs, Irish beer, and how much Irish blood Pigweed and Crowhill have in them.
The boys drink and review Cigar City's White Oak Jai Alai IPA, then discuss suffering.
Does suffering disprove the existence of an all-powerful, perfectly good God? What is the nature of suffering, and why does it exist? What is the proper response to suffering? Why do Catholics "offer it up" when they experience suffering?
Would humans be capable of enjoying a world without suffering? Don't we need obstacles to overcome?
Finally, the boys discuss transhumanism, and how there might be a future in which men have been altered to eliminate all suffering.
P&C drink and review Pilsner Urquell, then discuss how businesses are using wokeness as a smokescreen to pretend to be virtuous.
The boys discuss what "woke" means, then review some of the work of Vivek Ramaswami.
Corporate wokeness is all a magic trick. They keep our eyes on woke BS to keep our attention away from their misdeeds. "Never mind that we use Chinese slave labor. Look at the rainbow flag on our LinkedIn profile!"
Wokeness has become a substitute for religion and traditional morality for many companies. It's filling a gap created by the secularization of society.
P&C drink and review Pigweed's latest IPA, then discuss Sun Tzu's classic.
It's an ancient book that might date back to the 6th century BC. It came out of a time when Chinese intellectuals were classifying and organizing things.
While it's explicitly about war, it's often re-interpreted as a general commentary on strategic thinking.
The Art of War is relevant to things in the news right now, like the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The boys drink and review another Pastryarchy offering from DuClaw, Irish Cream Dessert Stout, then wonder whether we're living in a simulation, and whether it matters.
From Descartes's skepticism to Nick Bostrom's famous paper, P&C review some of the top arguments for why our world might not be what we think it is.
If simulated humans can have first-person experience, we are almost certainly in a simulation. Or are we? There are interesting arguments both ways.
Then the boys discuss how the simulation question relates to the God question. Does the possibility that we are in a simulated universe shed any light on God's existence?
The boys drink and review Still Holidazed and Confused from Hysteria Brewing, then discuss how to save the planet.
P&C decide to buy in to climate alarmism (for purposes of the show) and discuss what we'd have to do to save the planet. What would have to change? If radical change is necessary, what would it look like?
Most of the normal suggestions are simply window dressing -- polishing the brass on a sinking ship.
If you really wanted to make a significant change, P&C give you some ideas.
The boys drink and review a "lazy beer," then discuss food fads.
Is it better to "eat local"? Are farmed fish less healthy than wild caught? Are "free range" chickens happier and healthier than others?
Unfortunately, many of these things are so imprecisely defined that they're meaningless.
Pigweed and Crowhill both agree with many of the goals of the people who promote some of these food fads, but when you look into them, they tend to fall apart under scrutiny.
P&C drink and review a homebrewed red ale, then discuss families.
Men are not as manly as they used to be. Testosterone has been dropping at 1% per year for decades. Men are withering away. At the same time, they have easy access to porn, and masculinity is regularly dissed.
The result is that men are less interested in women and families.
Families model future relationships, they provide a sense of security, they sacrifice for and nurture children, they civilize men. Getting married causes both men and women to grow up, and it affects their vision of the future in a positive way.
P&C drink and review Pigweed's Texas Brown Ale, then discuss the history and modern application of chivalry.
The word comes from "horsemanship," and originally applied to knights.
Society needs hard men who are willing to fight, but they also need these men to be decent and courteous off the battlefield. Medieval Europeans developed expectations for knightly conduct, and this turned into a code.
Some knights were almost like fighting monks, and formed religious orders that regulated their conduct in war and in peace. Chivalry also regulated courtly love.
How does this apply to a modern man? P&C list several ways men should be expected to behave in modern society.
P&C drink and review one of Crowhill's recent homebrews, then discuss multiple personality syndrome, or, the way it's known these days, dissociative identity disorder (DID).
The boys review some popular treatments of the subject, including The Three Faces of Eve, Sybil, the Billy Milligan story, and Split.
Is DID real, or are people being coached (even hypnotized or drugged) into a diagnosis by their therapists? P&C have their doubts.
Cases of DID always increase after a popular movie or book covers the subject. Today, there's a whole community of DID sufferers on TikTok.
The boys sip and review 1623 Brewing's Lil Sips Scottish Imperial Stout, then wonder why our society has lost the idea that people should grow up.
Educated grown-ups are claiming that words are violence. That's the way a child views the world.
Our culture has become so infantilized that we think we should "listen to the children."
The popularity of superhero movies are an example of this attempt to freeze life in a perpetual adolescence.
P&C review a list of areas in which society seems to refuse to grown up. We've come to accept arrested emotional development.
Russia and China are laughing.
P&C drink and review a single-hop IPA, then discuss therapy culture.
Are we addicted to therapy? Have we redefined ourselves around our emotions? Are we all vulnerable, broken, "at risk," scarred for life?
There's been an erosion of the boundary between the private and the public. Now we have TV shows where people disclose their personal issues. There's nothing more virtuous today than seeking treatment.
We've demonized silence, stoicism and a stiff upper lip. Do healthy people really have to talk about themselves? Publicly?
The boys drink and review a sake, then discuss the James Webb Space Telescope.
This magnificent feat of engineering launched on Christmas Day, 2021, and recently deployed flawlessly at Lagrange Point 2. From there it will scan the heavens on the infrared part of the spectrum and send back astonishing pictures.
P&C review the history of the development of this marvel, discuss all the things that had to go right for it to be a success, and wonder about what humanity might learn from this new look into the cosmic past.
Pigweed and Crowhill review how and why they started the podcast, and the innovations and interesting things they've brought to "Beer and Conversation" over the years, including ...
- Skits
- Five for Five
- Shortcut to the classics
- Nooze and Booze
- Predictions
- Pretend events
- Reviews of books that don't exist
They've also covered quite a range of topics:
- Economics
- Science
- Religion
- Culture
- Politics
- Entertainment (movies, books, tv)
- Tech
- History
- Logic
- Grammar
- Cryptocurrency
- Sci-fi
Along with special guest Longinus, P&C review a winter warmer from Flying Dog, then discuss Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.
This is a depressing story of a man who is stuck. He's stuck with a wife he doesn't love. Stuck in a city he doesn't particularly like. Stuck in a profession he didn't choose.
When a spark comes into his life in the person of his wife's cousin, Maddie, he starts to dream of a better future. But it doesn't work out.
The story is set in a fictional, very cold town. Wear your wool socks when you read this one.
After reviewing Southern Tier's Irish Cream Stout, P&C discuss their experiences at Mount Calvary church in Baltimore.
With special guest Longinus, the boys review the history of the church, its Anglo-Catholic background, and its recent decision to come into communion with Rome.
They discuss their observations about the building itself, the music, the liturgy, the homily and the participants. There were smells, bells, vestments -- the whole deal. And it was a very long mass!
The overall experience was very interesting.
P&C drink and review Victory's Storm King, then Pigweed quizzes Crowhill on military statistics. Who spends the most? Who has the biggest military? Who has the most global firepower?
After reviewing some stats, the boys discuss the politics of it all. Why is the U.S. military all over the world, protecting everyone else? Does NATO pay its fair share? Should we be protecting other countries, or should they shoulder their own burden?
P&C drink and review Smoke and Dagger black lager from Jack's Abby, then discuss expressive individualism.
On the one hand, individual expression and liberty are part of what we celebrate in America. We want people to be free of unnecessary constraints.
But even good things can be taken too far, and insisting that everyone should be able to express their psychological core -- however they define that, and however they like -- is too far.
The boys discuss.
P&C drink and review Harpoon's Winter Warmer, then open the mailbag.
Uncle Billy doesn't believe Joe Biden will run for president, and that Harris is a disaster for the Democratic Party. The boys discuss.
Red Pill Rick wonders why spokesmodels and actresses are getting chunkier. Pigweed and Crowhill reflect on some possible examples and possible explanations. And probably get in trouble in the process.
Chaz the Spaz asks why unelected officials are making laws. Pigweed has a relevant person experience with his county council and mask mandates.
P&C drink and review a Christmas Ale from Great Lakes Brewing, then discuss the metaverse.
The boys define the metaverse, and then discuss its ups and downs.
The metaverse offers very interesting options, like visiting new places, or reviewing a new house. The primary business application would be better meetings, eliminating the need for travel, and possibly using VR for advanced training. It might also make more opportunities for disabled people to participate in activities.
On the negative side, there are a lot of disappointing, creepy and scary implications. Privacy will almost surely be lost. There will be less parental control, and more stalking, sexual grooming, and other nasty stuff.
Is it a good thing? Does it even matter?
P&C drink and review Dirty Bastard by Founders, then discuss drugs.
As a species, we all like a little buzz. Drugs and inebriation have been with us for as long as we have records. Beer production is very ancient, and some of our earliest writings are beer recipes.
But it's not just beer. Humans have been taking marijuana, peyote -- even licking frogs.
Why do we do it?
There are some obvious answers. Distraction, pain management, healing, war (berserkers), sex (to loosen inhibitions), political control (Russians used vodka revenues to support military), religious experience ....
The boys drink and review Saranac's S'mores Porter, then put on their futuristic magic glasses and predict major events for 2022. Be sure to write these down and invest appropriately.
P&C gaze into their crystal ball and review the future of culture, politics, technology, Covid, climate, the economy, foreign policy, Facebook's "Meta," sex, health, zombies, religion, Jordan Peterson, nature and sports.
If you have a hard time telling when we're serious and when we're joking, so did we.
The boys drink and review Black Ox Rye Porter, then discuss gerrymandering, especially in Maryland.
The Maryland legislature recently proposed a scheme to redraw Congressional districts in the Old Line State.
Redistricting makes sense and is necessary as populations move. But it's come to be a partisan exercise in maximizing the representation of the party in power in the state. Both parties have abused this power.
In deep blue Maryland, this means the Democrats are redrawing the lines to eliminate all Republican representation. When Republican Texas does the same, the Justice Department attacks. Somehow Maryland is getting a pass.
P&C review the latest DuClaw version of the "Pastryarchy," then discuss woke presuppositionalism.
Crowhill explains what "presuppositionalism" means, and then the boys discuss the sorts of things that we all presuppose.
Context. Goals. Value. Ethics. We can't even perceive the world without these things. So in some limited sense, the basic concept of "presuppositionalism" is true.
How does this apply to the woke?
First, there are things the woke all assume, which P&C review. But second, the woke don't seem to believe there's any common ground between the woke and the un-woke. The un-woke shouldn't even be allowed to speak.
The boys review Crowhill's Dopplebock, then discuss the war on drugs.
This so-called war on drugs has been going on for decades. What has it accomplished? Drug use is up. Deaths by overdose are increasing.
If we're really fighting a war on drugs, how should that affect our border policy?
What is the role of Big Pharma and pain management? How did the lockdown affect drug use? What about legalization?
P&C drink and review Pigweed's latest homebrew, then discuss the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
MBTI is an enormously popular and financially successful personality test that categorizes people along four axes: Extroversion vs. Introversion, Sensing vs. Intuition, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving.
Businesses seem to love it, and some people even put their MBTI personality type in their dating app, or their Facebook profile.
But is it scientific? Is it really doing what people think it's doing?
P&C review "Naughty or Nice," an IPA from Devil's Backbone, then discuss the Renaissance festival.
Pigweed and Crowhill have only been to the Maryland Renn Fest, which they hear is one of the better ones.
The Renn Fest is the happiest place on earth. Everyone is there to have a good time. There are no bad attitudes. No arguments. No conflicts.
It can get bawdy, and quite silly, and it's not always purely "Renaissance." The periods get a little confused. But it's a great time.
The boys drink and review a Christmas stout, then discuss CBD vs. THC.
If you believe the internet, CBD seems like a cure-all. But if you go to the web sites that sell it, the claims get much more modest!
Are there any decent studies to tell us what CBD can and can't do? There are some, and they're not that encouraging. While there are a few proven benefits of CBD, most of the claims are not supported by science.
Pigweed and Crowhill urge caution.
The boys review Pigweed's Pale Ale, then discuss a field trip to a local Evangelical church. Longinus came along as well.
The building itself was very plain -- like an auditorium. No religious art. There was only one cross, which wasn't even in a central location.
The music was upbeat, but a little weird. The service focused on the very long sermon, which was biblical, but a bit rambling.
The boys reflect on the experience and the religious and social implications.
P&C drink and review Old Rasputin, by North Coast Brewing Company, then review a short novel by Leo Tolstoy. Literary contributor Longinus joined in this podcast.
Ivan Ilyich seems like a decent man. When he's tempted to think he's not living his life the way he should, he scoffs. He does what's expected of him, and observes all the proprieties!
But when he suffers an injury that slowly and inexorably leads to his death, he suffers a terrible battle with his conscience.
This short, dark story is worth a read, and some reflection.
P&C drink and review Crowhill's Kentucky Brown Ale, then discuss people who are drawn to drama -- in their own lives, or in the lives of their significant others.
You may be addicted to drama if ...
- Life is a roller coaster.
- You storm in and out of relationships. And you sabotage them.
- Drama is a bad addiction. You hate it and need it at the same time.
- You're Loud. Childish. Agressive. There's a lot of yelling and crying.
- You compliment people a lot.
- You create emotional situations that can't be solved.
- You're drawn to social media.
P&C discuss.
The boys drink and review Schlafly's Salted Caramel Stout, then discuss the sexual revolution and the pill.
What was the sexual revolution about? Where did it come from, and why?
The boys start with Rousseau and Freud, then review technical and social changes that led up to the changes in the 1960s. There seemed to be a general trajectory towards men and women participating equally in society.
The three pillars of the sexual revolution were divorce, contraception and gender roles. P&C discuss the ups and downs.
P&C drink and review Hardywood Rum Barrel Pumpkin, then discuss the world of furries.
What is this furry business all about? Is it an excuse for kinky sex? A way for ugly people to hide behind a cute mask?
No. It's a combination of comics, cosplay and cartoons, with a bit of escapism and childish fun.
P&C both thought they were going to be fairly negative about furries, but after looking into it a bit, they both ended up pretty sympathetic.
P&C drink and review Manor Hill brewing's Amber Ale, then discuss Judaism.
Special guest JR reacts to questions about the first commandment, Jews as the chosen people, proselytizing, whether Jews believe in an afterlife, and what do Jews think of Jesus.
What are the divisions in Judaism: Orthodox, conservative, reformed, etc?
Why are so many Jews liberal, when it seems it's the conservatives who are more pro-Jewish?
What is the role of Israel in modern Judaism. Plus a lot more.
P&C drink and review Crowhill's Christmas ale, then discuss comic books.
The boys review their own personal experience with comics, then discuss modern issues with comic books, and movies based on comics.
Is this another example of extended childhood? Or are these superhero movies fulfilling some deep psychological need?
Also, the woke are ruining this too.
P&C drink and review Southern Tier Nitro Coconut Truffle, then discuss the "Let's Go Brandon" phenomenon.
The "Let's Go Brandon" chant should have been a 2-day story. Brandon Brown wins his first NASCAR race. Kelli Stavast hears the crowd chanting "F Joe Biden," and interprets it as "Let's Go Brandon." It's funny and silly, and that should have been that.
But then, people who have a bone to pick with Joe Biden started picking it up as a less crude way of making their disappointment known.
The boys drink and review Bell's Amber Ale, then go through reader comments.
They start with an update on The Flashman Incident and a review of indulgences and the crusades.
One listener called the boys out on camping, and another corrected a mistake in the Frankenstein episode.
A listener asks if there's a racial component to Night of the Living Dead? EricEatsBrains laid a huge philosophical question on the boys, and then MarshaMarshaMarsha asked if P&C support the ERA.
P&C try to field these and several other tough reader questions.
P&C drink and review Pigweed's winter warmer beer, then discuss the vaccine mandates.
The federal government can tell federal workers what to do. Where do they get the right to tell private employees what to do?
This same cast of characters just recently told us they had no authority to issue a mandate, and had no intention to. Now they're issuing a mandate. What gives?
It seems as if the government is always moving the goal posts. What we said yesterday was Gospel, which contradicts what we say today, which is also Gospel, and you'd better get in line or we'll cancel you.
P&C address other questions, such as ...
- Is Covid like smallpox?
- Is Covid an emergency?
- Does an emergency justify any proposed action?
- Will the mandate create a bigger problem than it's intended to solve?
It seems that we now have a professional / government / "expert" class that despises the general population. Or ... have we always had that, and they're only now saying it out loud.
P&C review Crowhill's Kentucky Common, then discuss Wrinkles the Clown.
Parents have been heard to say, "We don't spank, we use the discipline clown."
E.g., "You'd better be good, or I'll call Wrinkles."
"Hello, Wrinkles," [child wailing in the background], "I have some very bad children here."
The story of Wrinkles is very interesting, and more complicated than you might think. What should we think of a clown designed to scare children?
Democrats suffer surprising losses in Virginia and several other off-cycle elections. It seems to be a pretty clear repudiation of Biden and the ultra-left focus of the Democrats.
In Virginia, McAuliffe insulted parents repeatedly, and tried to make the campaign about Trump. Youngkin walked a careful path, neither endorsing Trump nor alienating Trump supporters.
Parents in Virginia punched back against the lies they've been repeatedly told, and repudiated the "your children belong to us" attitude of McAuliffe and the Democrats.
P&C drink a cocktail and discuss the results.
P&C drink and review Sierra Nevada's Amber Marzen, then discuss the catastrophe that public education has become, highlighting some recent developments.
The education establishment believes parents have no say in what their children are being taught. Parents are punching back, which provoked a school board association to collude with the Biden administration to call these parents "domestic terrorists."
In Loudon county, school are covering up sexual assault to protect their stupid bathroom policies. In Fairfax county, teachers are lying about critical race theory.
The boys say it's time to start paying attention to school board elections.
P&C drink and review Kostritzer Schwarzbier (a dark lager), then discuss weird song lyrics.
The boys discuss song lyrics in general -- why do some people care, and others don't -- why is it so easy to misunderstand lyrics? Then they move on to stupid lyrics, sappy lyrics, and some famously (and hilariously) misheard lyrics.
You'll have to endure some singing on this one, and we had to use our backup audio, so the quality isn't up to our normal standards.
P&C drink and review Schlafly's pumpkin beer, then get ready for Halloween with a discussion of zombies.
The boys start with an overview of the history of zombies, from probable origins in Haiti, to the classic Night of the Living Dead, and then on to modern evolutions of the concept. Along with special guest Longinus, P&C discuss the meaning of the zombie. Why is it such an enduring concept for movies and TV shows?
Along with special guest Longinus, P&C review "The Fear," an imperial pumpkin beer from Flying Dog, then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series with a discussion of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Considered one of the first horror novels, and also one of the first science fiction novels, the book has inspired more than its share of plays and movies, although most of the movies depart from the book in many details. You may be surprised what is and is not in the book.
The boys review the plot and a few of the more prominent themes.
P&C review DuClaw's 25th anniversary version of Naked Fish, then talk about lessons learned from camping.
The major thing you learn from camping is to not be so fussy about bugs and dirt and discomfort. But there's more to it than that. It can be an opportunity for children to learn a little independence, and to stretch themselves and their perceptions of what they can do.
P&C reflect on different types of camping, share a couple of their camping stories, and generally celebrate the hobby.
P&C drink and review Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar, then discuss the Crusades.
It's a very difficult and controversial subject, but the boys try to parse through some of it.
There were multiple different crusades with different purposes, different personalities and different alliances. Some of the crusades were incredibly successful, while others were complete disasters.
P&C stick mostly to the first crusade, reviewing its antecedents and trying to put it in historical perspective.
P&C drink and review Candy Cane Imperial Stout, then discuss Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion spending spree, and wonder what we get out of it.
Right now, Congress is working on two bills. The first is the "good bill" -- the "build back better" bill, which allegedly focuses on infrastructure, and has a hefty price tag on its own. The second is the social spending bill, which dwarfs the infrastructure bill and blows the roof off federal spending.
The boys try to dig into the details and find out what Biden and company are trying to buy.
The boys review Pigweed's Black Ops Ale, then discuss when it's legit to take the law into your own hands.
The social contract involves individuals giving up their right to vengeance -- taking matters into their own hands -- for a collective and organized exercise of justice.
P&C recently watched a documentary called "No One Saw a Thing" where a town decided to deal with the town bully, because law enforcement wasn't.
Were they right? Why not? When is it legitimate to take the law into your own hands?
P&C drink and review a homebrewed porter, then discuss how to destroy America.
Since we can't seem to agree on how to make America great, perhaps we can agree on things to avoid. P&C hope that if we can identify really dumb things -- things that would undermine our economy, our culture, our defenses, the family, law and order -- things that no sensible person would ever want -- then maybe we can agree on how to move forward.
P&C drink and review a homebrewed Alt beer, then do five topics in five minutes each.
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Why is natural immunity being ignored by the vaccine proponents? Our goal should be immunity against Covid. Why does it matter if it's from the vaccine or from natural immunity?
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Why do assassins and mass murderers have three names?
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What is forest bathing?
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Indians at the time of Columbus vs. Indians at the time of the Mayflower.
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Who's the pervert?
P&C drink and review Crowhill's Tavern Ale, then discuss a local story that went national. The Flashman Incident.
Bob thought he was doing the community a favor by dropping off some of his dad's old books in the free Tiny Libraries that dotted his neighborhood, but when Pedro took the book to school and his teacher saw some inappropriate language, all Hell broke loose. The social media / woke firestorm threatened to engulf everyone in its way. It's still unclear what will happen to Bob.
Flashman is the name of a novel by George MacDonald Fraser.
P&C drink and review DuClaw's Mad Bishop, then discuss the temperance movement, and laws about alcohol.
The American temperance movement led to more women participating in politics, and eventually to Prohibition. Looking back on Prohibition, it looks silly. But several trends going on at the time made it less ridiculous than you might think.
P&C welcome the Ben Franklin Players, who perform "Schopenhauer's Evangelist." Then they drink and review Cigar City's Margarita Gose.
Schopenhauer was a dour fellow whose philosophy is rather depressing. Life is nothing but endless and useless suffering and striving. Everything stems from a "Will to Life," which deceives us to continue on this useless treadmill, simply to perpetuate life. Suffering is the default state. Our fleeting enjoyments are the exception.
His proposed path out would satisfy most Buddhists. Pursue a path of asceticism and kill this useless striving.
P&C review a Maibock, then ask how much should government protect us from ourselves.
If a citizen is doing something unsafe, should the government step in? If so, in what cases? What are the limiting principles?
There seems to be a sliding scale between areas where government should clearly intervene, and areas where it clearly should not, and it's hard to come up with a clear red line between them.
P&C drink and review "Slightly Mighty" by Dogfish Head, then review China's recent crackdowns on video games and effeminate men in movies.
Since the CCP has complete control over technology services in China, they can monitor how much time kids spend playing video games. They're limiting kids to 3 hours / week, and only on the weekend.
This is part of a response to an alleged crisis of masculinity in their culture. They're also proscribing movies that show effeminate men.
This is a common concern in nations that are trying to build an empire. Which tells us about China's ambitions.
P&C drink and review DuClaw's Root Beer Float Imperial Brown Ale -- part of their Pastryarchy series -- then discuss the right to privacy. What is it, where did it come from, and what are its limits?
Recently, Apple has decided it will scan people's phones for kiddie porn. Can they do that?
"Well, what do you have to hide?"
Is it an admission of guilt to tell people they should mind their own business?
In this episode of Nooze and Booze, the boys drink PB&J whiskey, and review the mess Biden has made of Afghanistan.
Where is the competence we were promised? Where are the adults in the room?
There are lots of unanswered questions about this catastrophe, but Biden has gone back to familiar territory -- he lies about it when he's not turning his back on the press.
P&C expose the lies, review the mistakes, and lament the fact that we have a bumbling idiot in charge.
With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Zombie Dust from Three Floyds, then discuss proposals to build a maglev train between Washington and Baltimore.
Baltimore doesn't want it.
There have been lots of proposals for increasing high-speed rail in the country, but the proposals never seem to make sense for actual transportation needs.
P&C drink and review Fresh Catch from Narragansett, then, with special guest Longinus, discuss Emerson's essay, "Nature."
Transcendentalism reacted against rationalism, and was heavily influenced by Romanticism, Platonism and Immanuel Kant's philosophy. Emerson and Thoreau were leading figures in the Transcendentalist movement.
"Nature" is a short essay by Emerson, outlining his view that man can have direct experience with God through nature.
The boys review Witness Tree Nut Brown Ale, then ask why women aren't happier.
Despite all the attention paid to women's happiness, and all the advances in women's rights -- more women in college, more women in the boardroom, more professional women, almost no restrictions on anything they want to do -- surveys consistently show that women are less and less happy. It seems obvious that women are getting terrible advice.
P&C review some of these modern attitudes towards women, and the suggestions women are getting all the time, and ask why they're not working.
P&C drink and review Little Mack IPA from Antietam Brewery, then do 5 topics in 5 minutes each.
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Biden the Oil Lover. Biden shuts down domestic production, but then asks OPEC to increase production.
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What is non-denominationalism, and what does it mean?
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Rule by childless leaders. Too many of our politicians don't have kids. What does that say about their commitment to the future?
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Andrew Cuomo's resignation.
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What's with all the lecherous female teachers?
P&C review a new brewer's first beer, and Pigweed is shocked to discover that Crowhill is a liberal. That leads to a discussion on the differences between classical and modern liberalism.
Classical liberalism insisted that government is only justified with the consent of the governed. It was all about liberty, free speech, small government, self-reliance and individual rights, which didn't come from government, but from the creator. The government only has power because we let it have power.
Modern liberalism has departed from these ideals in important ways, which the boys summarize.
P&C drink and review a black IPA from Hysteria, then discuss the recent debates on evictions.
If there's a crisis, and people aren't able to pay their rent, then it might be reasonable to appropriate tax money to pay people's rent. But rather than that, the CDC, which is not Congress and cannot write laws, made it illegal for landlords to evict people. Landlords were allowed to go bankrupt from not getting any rent, but they couldn't take action against people living in their property without paying.
President Biden has admitted that this is illegal, but extended it anyway.
This is tyranny, plain and simple, and P&C are beside themselves with anger against our useless government.
Before they drink and review some recent homebrews, the boys listen in on a performance by the Ben Franklin Players, then discuss identity.
How do people define themselves? What identifies them? Is it their profession? Religion? Marital status? Age? Or what excites them sexually?
The boys recently read about Michaela Cuomo's announcement that she is "demisexual," and wonder why this is a thing. Is our identity tied to our sexual preference?
What's up with Simone Biles?
P&C drink and review a pale ale from Three Floyds, then discuss the Olympics.
What makes a sport an Olympic sport? How do we get new sports? What sports have been tried and failed?
Why do some women have to wear skimpy uniforms?
Also, why all the protests, and how should nations react to them?
The boys drink and review Green's gluten-free amber ale, then discuss futurism and crazy predictions.
P&C review quotes from prominent, famous people who got things horribly wrong and made ridiculous predictions, which are funny now, but were taken seriously when they were made.
It's good to keep these quotes in mind when you hear modern experts tell us confidently what will happen in the future.
P&C drink a homebrew fail from Crowhill, then discuss various sociological perspectives on religion.
If you look at religion from an evolutionary or sociological perspective, what function does it serve? How was religious belief a positive adaptation? Or was it?
Sociologists and evolutionary psychologists who study this question have come up with some interesting theories about the benefits of religion, and why it helped humans advance. P&C consider the "New Atheist" perspective on religion and compare it with other secular approaches.
P&C drink and review Wook Bait IPA by Left Hand Brewing, then discuss the privilege enjoyed by attractive people.
Let's face it, the world stops to admire the attractive person -- especially the attractive young woman.
Attractive people are more likely to get called back for a job interview, more likely to get the job, and earn more when they get it. Attractive salesmen get more sales for more money. It's easier for them to find a mate, they have an advantage in politics, and are seen as more competent, kind and trustworthy.
P&C drink and review Fresh Roasted, a delicious, peanut-flavored English Ale.
The boys review some of the history of communism -- the Frankfurt school, and various publicly stated communist objectives -- and review how well they've done advancing those objectives.
The "classless society" has always been a lie. The actual agenda is and has always been a one-party, totalitarian state.
So, how are they doing with their goals?
P&C drink and review an IPA from Great Lakes Brewing Company, then talk about the change different generations have seen over time.
How would a time traveler from 1900 view 1990? Or again, how will someone from 1960 view 2050?
The boys review important changes in each decade of the 20th century, then make some predictions for the future.
P&C drink and review Chesapeake Wheat from Flying Dog brewery, then ask why the United States seems to be the only nation that's continually down on itself.
From the very top, people all constantly ragging on the United States. Our president, vice president, and their entire cabinet, keep tearing us down. We're told we're inherently, systemically racist. That we were founded on racism and white supremacy.
Who wants to live in a country like that? Who wants to fight to defend a country like that? How does this affect our foreign policy?
P&C drink and review a porter from Founders, then discuss the declining standards in dress.
How people dress in public matters, and our common standards have been declining for decades. P&C aren't fans.
What are the social and personal advantages of dressing better? Quite a lot, actually. Put simply: dress better and people will treat you better.
P&C drink and review Inescapable Fate from Nepenthe Brewing, then discuss quality of life issues in U.S. cities.
Lovely places around the country are falling apart because the local officials are failing to do their jobs. Venice Beach. Fells Point. San Francisco.
Some prosecutors in these locations have decided not to prosecute "quality of life" crimes, and quality of life is deteriorating.
What's to be done? In Baltimore, businesses have created an escrow fund and are withholding their tax payments until the city starts doing its job. Will that help?
The boys drink and review Hysteria's "What You Want," then continue their "shortcut to the classics" series, with special guest Longinus, by reviewing a few Mark Twain short stories.
- The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
- A True Story
- The Diary of Adam and Eve
- The $1,000,000 Bank-Note
- A Dog's Tale
P&C drink and review Pigweed's latest homebrew, then discuss the ruckus in Virginia, where a teacher was fired for failing to toe the line on transgender ideology. A parent rebellion ensued, exposing the high-handed tactics of the educational establishment.
Most people don't like Critical Race Theory, and don't want it taught to their children.
This kind of push-back seems to be catching fire all over the country, as parents realize how radicalized the school system has become, and how much contempt the establishment has for them.
After reviewing a wheat beer from DuClaw, the boys review some of Iain McGilchrist's findings on differences between the functions of the two hemispheres, and what they say about how we view the world.
The left and right hemispheres have very different perspectives on life. The right tends to look at the big picture, while the left tends to be more task-specific.
When the two hemispheres are cut, scientists are able to communicate separately with each side, and have learned some very interesting things about how the two sides of our brain function, and what biases they bring to the world.
McGilchrist is concerned that our society is becoming too left-brain focused, and believes we need a correction.
The boys drink and review Young Buck, a Maibock from Key Brewing, then knock out five topics in five minutes each.
The lab origin hypothesis. There's a lab in Wuhan, China, that works on "gain of function" in coronaviruses, which, by an astonishing coincidence, is where the virus started -- but somehow the idea that the virus came from the lab was a crazy conspiracy theory.
Zoom life -- what we've learned about virtual meetings during the pandemic.
Sobriety checkpoints -- are they legal? Should they be? They seem to reverse the presumption of innocence.
Vaccines -- are you a crazy, awful, conspiratorial monster if you choose to avoid the vaccine?
9-0 SCOTUS decision on Catholic organizations being involved in foster care.
The boys review two homebrewed bourbon barrel-aged stouts, then discuss safety.
In the 70s we didn't wear helmets or knee pads, and we didn't use seat belts. How much safer are we today? How much safer do we feel?
What about sports. Do kids collect friends and play sports, or do they have to wait until the adults organize it for them? Do they ever learn to negotiate and resolve conflicts?
What has caused the change?
The boys review their Strauss challenge (Vienna malt vs. Munich malt), then discuss two different ways of approaching the world -- the broader meaning vs. the specific, practical meaning -- and how a skeptical / analytical view of the world contrasts with a more intuitive view.
One view might be called sentimental, or following an unprovable grand narrative, while the other might be called practical, rational, hard-headed or maybe "objective."
Should everything be "rational"? Sometimes things that seem irrational have a hidden origin or meaning that shouldn't be easily dismissed.
P&C drink and review a west coast IPA from local Hysteria Brewing, then discuss statehood for DC and PR.
Is "taxation without representation" a fair way to characterize the U.S. attitude towards the District of Columbia?
The constitution says Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over the federal district.
Is that a good idea?
Or .. do you want the seat of government under the control of one of the states?
And how about Puerto Rico? Should it be a state? Under what terms do we admit new territories as states?
P&C drink and review Hysteria's Barleyfine, then discuss military recruitment.
How do you inspire young men to join the armed forces and put their lives on the line for the country? According to the Biden administration, wokeness is the key. What we need, they think, is flight suits for pregnant women.
They boys recently watched four recruitment videos: one from China, one from Russia, and two from the U.S. -- one for the army and one for the CIA. The Russians and the Chinese are appealing to masculinity, strength, discipline, self-sacrifice and other traditional disciplines. The U.S. videos are all about voyages of self discovery, wokeness and narcissism.
The military is about shedding your individual identity to become part of a bigger cause, specifically service to the country.
P&C drink and review Gaffel's Kolsch, then discuss the lockdown.
What was the original purpose of locking us all in our homes? How did we get into this weird sitaution in the first place? Why did we allow it to go so long? What were the consequences, and the unintended consequences?
In making this unprecedented decision, did anyone count the costs of the lockdown? Apparently not. It seems that the allegedly free governments of the west saw that China got away with it and decided to give it a try. To their surprise (and glee?), it worked.
The lockdown was a one-size fits all response to a disease that was known to affect demographic groups very differently. It was a hammer solution to a tweezer problem.
Think of the damage that's been done to our culture as a result of the lockdown. The media is in cahoots with the government, promoting one story and suppressing another. We've accepted the idea that there's an orthodoxy of thought, and it's infiltrated science. Big tech, big government and media are all in a conspiracy to shoot down dissent.
P&C discuss these issues, then review the lockdown from three perspectives: it's affect on freedom, health and the economy.
P&C drink and review Spaten's Optimator, then discuss Biden's first 100 days in office. How has he done?
While there are some decent, or even positive points, the overall rating is poor.
The boys discuss his sharp left turn, his oversight of the vaccine program, his spending proposals, his cowardice in the face of the teacher's union, his mismanagement of the border, his foreign policy, climate issues, social justice, police reform, accusing the United States of racism .... Biden seems on track to be Jimmy Carter 2, or worse.
P&C drink and review an IPA from Mully's Brewery in Southern Maryand, then -- with special guest Longinus -- review the classic horror / mystery novel featuring the world's most famous detective.
The boys review the story of the spectral hound (with spoilers) and evaluate Conan Doyle's writing style, as well as his well-known characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. What kind of a man was Sherlock Holmes? And what kind of a relationship did he have with Watson?
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a classic tale, full of mystery, romance, intrigue and horror, and a good introduction to these famous characters.
The boys drink and review an imperial red ale, then -- with special guest Longinus -- discuss the hero quest pattern and how it applies to different stories.
They see the pattern in the stories of Moses, Krishna and Mithridates. (They wanted to add Jesus and Buddha, but there wasn't time.) Then they discuss the larger issue of patterns and archetypes.
What's the origin of this hero quest pattern, and why do so many compelling stories follow it? What does the hero quest say about each of our lives? Where are these archetypes from, and how do they play out in society?
The boys drink and review Holy Roller, a hazy IPA, and talk about Machiavelli.
Do the ends justify the means? (And did Machiavelli mean that?)
The boys discuss Machiavelli's historical context, the work for which he is mostly known, and the meaning and application of the term "Machiavellian."
Machiavelli satirizes the classic view of virtues, espoused by Cicero. Those virtues might be nice, he says, but they won't keep you in power.
The Prince is contrary to both Roman and Christian values, and was almost scandalous in its time.
P&C drink a Maibock, then discuss their favorite topic: beer.
The boys talk about hop classifications and uses, and why hops came to dominate beer. They also discuss warm vs. cold beer, and why temperature matters.
And what about sour beers? What's up with that. And speaking of off flavors, what about those beer geeks who criticize Budweiser?
They end with a pair of beer challenges.
P&C drink and review Joyous IPA from Troegs, then talk about tattletales and crybabies. P&C are sick of them, but it seems their ranks are swelling.
Instant gratification. The daily outrage. Helicopter parents. Participation trophies. And people get extremely upset over the most ridiculous things.
How have we come to this place? How did we become so coddled and spoiled?
The boys discuss possible causes from three angles: technology, culture, and the geopolitical situation. Plus the malaise of safety.
P&C drink and review "Unforgivable Curses" by Peabody Heights brewery, then discuss witches and witchcraft.
What's up with witches? Nowadays they're fun and sexy, but there was a time when people were scared to death of them, hunted them down and hanged them.
The boys discuss various pogroms against witches over the years, trying to sort out what's true and what's a misconception. They cover ...
- Joan of Arc + The Malleus Maleficarum + The witch's mark + Salem + How many witches were actually killed?
... and much more.
P&C drink and review a hop-infused cider, then discuss how lawsuits and boycotts might be the only hope of saving western civilization from the assault by woke, racist morons.
The boys don't like litigation or boycotts, but it seems those might be the only tools to fight critical race theory and the other woke idiocies that are ruining lives and destroying the culture.
Corporations are buying into these explicity racist, illegal, and immoral diversity struggle sessions to avoid lawsuits. We need to show them that lawsuits and boycotts can come from both sides, and the law is on our side.
And now we have Major League Baseball getting into politics. Rather than being the non-political escape that we all were able to enjoy together, sports organizations are injecting partisan politics into our free time.
As distasteful as it is, boycott the idiots until they get some sense and grow a pair.
P&C review Pigweed's most recent pale ale, then discuss voting laws. Are the "one-time" accommodations to the pandemic going to change things permanently?
The last election was weird. Mail-in (late) ballots. Ballots mailed to everyone on the roles. Votes counted after election day.
Both sides recognize there's cause for some sort of clean-up, but we have different visions of what that should be. There's (so far) a federal approach, and a state (GA) approach.
P&C weigh in, discussing the role of the federal and the state governments, and how we balance keeping things local vs. national standards.
P&C drink and review another Pastry Archy offering, Oatmeal Cream Pie: an imperial honey wheat ale. Then they review arguments for the existence of God, starting with Anselm's ontological argument.
They move on to several of Aquinas' arguments, which mostly revolve around the concept of an infinite regress.
Then there's "can you get something from nothing," and the idea of gradation. When we compare things, are we assuming an ultimate standard? What about morals, and miracles, and ....
They can't cover it all, but P&C review some of the more well-known arguments and add their commentary.
Captain Crunch made a surprise trip to town, bringing a very strange Korean rice beer, and regaling Pigweed and Crowhill with tales of her travels in Korea.
What's different over there? Shopping. Weather. Living arrangements. Technology. Having a wacko neighbor to the north. Snack foods. Driving. Trash.
Listen in and hear all about it.
P&C drink and review an abbey ale, then discuss food fads, and worries about new agricultural innovations.
Organic food. GMO. "All-natural." Does it really matter? Or is this just a big marketing ploy? What does "organic" really mean? And aren't all of our foods genetically modified?
The boys weigh the costs and benefits of scientifically modified food.
P&C drink and review the latest Pastryarchy offering from DuClaw, then discuss the similarities between Martin Luther and Jordan Peterson.
Crowhill is convinced JP is on the edge of a major transformation, and can see similarities between Peterson and Luther -- especially in how they deal with the righteousness of God.
Peterson seems unable to deal with the moral weight of God's existence in a healthy way. It crushes him. It terrifies him. As it did Luther.
JP will have to solve this. And soon.
P&C drink and review Shiner's Candied Pecan ale, then discuss the recent shenanigans of Milo Yiannopoulos.
Milo used to be the flambouyant gay darling of the far right, until he seemed to advocate pedophilia, and then he dropped off the radar. We haven't heard much of Milo until he recently decided to come out as ex-gay! He's relegated his husband to the status of housemate, he's leading an online devotion to St. Joseph, and he's starting a new center for the much-despised "conversion therapy."
Is this just another attention-getting prank? What are we to make of Milo?
And why is "conversion therapy" such a unique problem? You can get goof-ball therapy to change any aspect of your personality that you like, except this? Why?
P&C drink and review St. Michael's Amber Ale, then discuss monarchies.
They ask the obligatory question -- is Meghan Markle oppressed? -- and then discuss Piers Morgan, and the royal clown show in general. They move on to a general overview of the idea of monarchy, and whether such a thing is a good idea in the modern world.
It turns out that countries with constitutional monarchies do pretty well. P&C offer some ideas why that might be.
P&C drink and review Pigweed's Cocoa / Peanut Butter Porter, then, with special guest Longinus, review the movie Conspiracy.
The movie covers the Wannsee Conference of 1942, where Reinhart Heydrich gathers German leaders to discuss the "evacuation" of Jews from German-occupied territory. Heydrich (played by Kenneth Branagh) puts an exclamation point on "German efficiency."
At first there is a lot of squabbling about the right approach from a legal / procedural point of view, but Heydrich leads them inexorably to a predetermined solution.
The horrifying story calls to mind a quote from C.S. Lewis: "The greatest evil is ... now done ... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices."
P&C review Glutenberg, a gluten-free IPA, then, along with special guest Longinus, discuss Elie Wiesel's Night.
We've covered some hard topics, but this was the most difficult. The book chronicles Wiesel's experiences leading to and then during his confinement in Auschwitz. The story takes you through all the small steps on his journey from being a boy who wants nothing more than to study Kabbalah to an innocent who is sentenced to a living Hell.
P&C Review Little Sumpin' Sumpin' from Lagunitas, then do five topics in five minutes each.
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What are the actual numbers on police murders, vs. what people believe.
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Thoughts on fat shaming.
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LSD therapy for depression and death anxiety?
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Meta humans, created by AI. What are the consequences?
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Is there a health benefit to looking at breasts?
P&C drink and review Crowhill's anise-flavored porter, then discuss the differences between equality and equity.
Equality focuses on equal treatment. Equity focuses on equal outcomes.
Equity is the right choice in some situations, but not in others. But "equity" has become the modern rallying cry, as if it's a cure-all. Equity is particularly misplaced when it's applied to groups rather than to individuals, so the combination of equity and identity politics creates a particularly bad outcome.
P&C drink and review O'Hara's Irish stout, then talk about UFOs.
Is there some great conspiracy to hide evidence that aliens have come to earth, or is it just a big nothing-burger?
P&C discuss the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation, and review some of the arguments that aliens have visited earth -- and find them wanting.
P&C drink and review a double IPA, then discuss the 3-headed hydra of cancel culture: canceling the present, erasing the past, and banning people for the future. We're starting to see examples of the media editing old stories to change the past. It's literally Orwellian.
We see new initiatives to erase literal crimes to give someone a fresh start, but thought crimes from decades ago ruin lives.
And then there's the move to erase Donald Trump from Home Alone 2.
P&C drink and review 51 Rye by Monument City Brewing, then discuss plastic bans, and the pros and cons of plastic in general.
Plastics reduce food waste. They make cars lighter, and therefore more fuel efficient. They reduce the costs of many products.
But there's a negative side, some of which has been exaggerated out of context.
P&C try to sort it all.
P&C drink and review Madura Brown Ale from Cigar City Brewing, then discuss indications that a company might not be a good fit.
- They have an equity, diversion and inclusion office, or require such classes. + They want to review your social media. + The boss can't remember the last time he praised an employee. + They speak badly of former employees. + They expect you to work long hours. + They've canceled people, or gone along with it. + Plus lots more.
P&C drink and review some hot and cold sake, then discuss gaslighting.
They start with a review of the 1940 film with Ingrid Bergman to get the original meaning of the term, then, along with special guest Longinus, go through a list of modern issues that might or might not be gaslighting.
The goal of gaslighting is to get the person being gaslighted (gaslit?) to accept as true something the gaslighter knows is false, to the benefit of the gaslighter. But as you go through things that have been held up as examples, it can get complicated.
- Does it have to be a single deceiver on a single victim? * Does there have to be an intent to deceive? * Does it have to be sustained -- not a one-off? * Does there need to be malice involved? * Is a sign of gaslighting that "the argument is over"? * Can there be unintentional gaslighting? * What if you're lying in service of a greater good?
By the end of this show you might not have a perfect answer, but you'll have a better sense of the concept.
P&C drink and review Sierra Nevada's bottle-conditioned porter, then discuss Ayn Rand and objectivism with special guest Longinus.
They quickly review the basic tenets of objectivism, then discuss how those ideas play out in three works: Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead, and Anthem.
The boys discuss what Rand's ideas mean, and whether they're useful and applicable in the real world.
P&C drink and review a hazy IPA from Sam Adams, then do five topics in five minutes each.
#1 - What's up with the Game Stop / WallStreetBets / Robinhood deal? #2 - Has the pill changed what women like in men? #3 - Will the Biden administration forgive student loans? #4 - Awards shows have become pointless #5 - What is right-wing?
P&C drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed winter warmer, then discuss executive orders.
What is the function and purpose of an executive order? Is it a way to get around Congress? What are the limits? Is this one of the ways the imperial presidency has usurped the legislative function, or is it a valid power of the executive?
The boys look at the history of this strange executive power and comment on its use.
P&C drink and review Dirty Little Freak, a flavorful brown ale from DuClaw Brewery, then discuss the Enlightenment.
What was the Enlightenment, when did it happen, and what ideas did it produce? Why has it come under fire from some quarters today? Should we value the Enlightenment, or is it just another example of racism and white privilege?
P&C drink and review Sierra Nevada's Celebration Fresh Hop IPA, then talk about totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and fascism. Following up, they evaluate Rod Dreher's "soft totalitarianism" from "Live Not by Lies." P&C think Dreher has the label wrong.
We're at a cross-roads. Is there time (or the will) to stop the growing tech-inspired soft authoritarianism?
P&C drink and review Old Speckled Hen, then talk about ACAB.
Is the central intent of policing to surveil, terrorize, capture and kill marginalized populations, specifically black folk? There are people in our society who are promoting that view.
The media, politicians and similar cretins keep feeding us a narrative that we have an epidemic of white cops killing unarmed black people. Is it true?