Podcasts

Vaccine Mandate Reaches Supreme Court

On today’s podcast, David and Sarah dive back into vaccine mandates, as the CMS mandate for health care workers and the OSHA guidelines for private businesses head to the Supreme Court. Then it’s First Amendment and compelled speech time at the 5th circuit with a student from Sarah’s rival high school from back in her football orchestra days. This case has it all: free speech, communists, and Bruce Springsteen. It’s also a conversation about the similarities— and differences—with one of David’s long-time favorite cases: West Virginia v. Barnette.

Show Notes:

6th Circuit upholds vaccine mandate

Reason: “Biden Administration Imposes Vaccine Mandate on Health Care Facilities that Participate in Medicare or Medicaid”

Reason: “Health Care Worker Vaccine Mandate Reaches the Supreme Court”

Oliver v. Arnold

Born in the U.S.A. lyrics

Loneliness and Hope in the Season of Advent

This week David French and Curtis Chang take a hard look at the silent killer of loneliness. Why is loneliness on the rise in America? What might hope look like, and how do we access it? Join us for this Advent episode where the reality of God’s incarnation in Jesus takes center stage, and the true story of hope in dark times is revealed.

Show Notes:

Carol Graham: Premature Mortality and the Long Decline of Hope in America

Social Capital Project – Opioid Overdoses by Demographic

The college connection: The education divide in American social and community life

David Brooks in the Atlantic: The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake

Nancy French in the Washington Examiner: What civility really means

Privilege and Principles

Today’s Ruminant is all about privilege, and Jonah has many nerdy thoughts on the subject. He also offers plenty of anecdotes about day drinking, a few meditations on Build Back Better hitting a brick wall, and a disquisition on the nature of consumerism. How many varieties of privilege are there in America today? Why do certain people tend toward conservatism? And why has Jonah finally decided to open up about Fox News? Brace your bingo cards, too, because Jonah still can’t stop complaining about Theodor Adorno and his mythical authoritarian personality.

Show Notes:

The Morning Dispatch breaks down the Build Back Better stalemate

Let’s talk about privilege

The Remnant with Sally Satel

Sumptuary laws

Veblen goods

Huntington’s “Conservatism as an Ideology”

Sally Satel: “The Experts Somehow Overlooked Authoritarians on the Left”

Politics and Prose lawyers up

Harvard stops requiring SAT scores

Jonah opens up about Fox

Matthew Mehan’s new children’s book

AEI Today

Give someone a Dispatch subscription this Christmas

Is the ERA part of the Constitution?

In today’s episode, Sarah and David discuss the Supreme Court’s decision not to enjoin the New York vaccine mandate for health care workers and focus on a very interesting, super-intriguing dissent. Then, they have a conversation with Virginia Solicitor General Michelle Kallen about the Equal Rights Amendment, its ratification by Virginia, and whether the ERA is now part of the Constitution. Finally, with the help of a listener, they finally realize that Sarah’s name is a sentence.

Show Notes:

Dr. A v. Hochul

Virginia v. Ferriero

Bad Medicine

Sally Satel, a psychiatrist and lecturer at Yale, makes a long-awaited return to the Remnant to discuss the influence of woke culture on medical science. In our woke moment, Sally argues, doctors are at the mercy of “indoctrinologists” who want them to become more concerned with social activism than healing the sick. What’s driving this trend, and should we fear for the future of science? Furthermore, how has psychotherapy changed over the years? What can be done to address the opioid epidemic? And will people only get crazier as the COVID-19 pandemic refuses to end?

Show Notes:

Sally’s page at AEI

Sally’s previous Remnant appearance

Sally: “What is Happening to My Profession?”

Sally: “Taking on the Scourge of Opioids”

Critical race theory and medicine

The cardiologist suing the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

False advertising

Political religions

Barry Goldwater’s mental fitness

Jonah: “Fear and Loathing in the Time of COVID”

The Remnant with Paul Bloom

John Tooby on coalitional instincts

How the Mind Works, by Steven Pinker

January 6 and Those Mark Meadows Texts

On today’s episode, our hosts discuss the House’s vote to hold Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, in criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the January 6 Select Committee. Plus, are we taking threats to vote counting seriously enough? Is Jonah right about Omicron? And, is President Biden being unfairly treated by the media?

Show Notes:

TMD on Mark Meadows text messages

The Atlantic: “Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun”

Jonah’s G-File with his Omicron argument

Leader of the Pack

Brush up on your legalese, because Keith Whittington is back on the Remnant to poke plenty of fun at Advisory Opinions. Over the course of an exceptionally nerdy hour, he and Jonah explore the pros and cons of court packing and judicial term limits, occasionally stopping to discuss what would happen if the world were taken over by giant, hyper-intelligent ants. Are Supreme Court justices all partisan hacks? Why did Joe Biden establish the Supreme Court reform commission? And is there any real difference between lawyers and vampires?

Show Notes:

Keith’s scholar page on Princeton’s website

Keith’s previous Remnant appearance

The Supreme Court commission’s final report

Inside the Supreme Court commission

The Constitution in exile?

Keith: “Court Packing is Discreditable as Ever”

The genius of Mark Meadows

The Soldier and the State, by Samuel P. Huntington

Supreme Court Texas Abortion Law Ruling Said What?

If you woke up this morning thinking about Jussie Smollett, the Texas abortion law, California gun rights, and California vaccine mandates, then this is the podcast for you. David and Sarah dive into a legal issue that might overturn Smollet’s conviction, analyze the Supreme Court’s decision to permit a very narrow facial challenge to S.B. 8, discuss Gavin Newsom’s swing-and-miss, and wrap up the main portion of the pod with a discussion of vaccine mandates in San Diego schools.

Show Notes:

Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson

9th Circuit vaccine mandate ruling

Evangelical Politics: Theology or Sociology?

In a follow up to last week’s Deconstructing Faith episode, David French and Curtis Chang dive into the sometimes murky and contradictory political views of Christians. All too frequently, the political stances we think are biblical are actually just cultural. 

Why are most Christians’ political stances so predictable? For example, why do many believers who care about abortion not care as much about systemic racism? Or vice versa? 

Tune into today’s episode as Curtis and David tackle the fascinating interaction between politics, culture, and the Bible… and end with a surprising take on abortion and systemic racism.

Show Notes:

More in Common – The Hidden Tribes of America

Paul D. Miller – The Role of Social Science in ‘Deconstructing’ White Evangelicalism

Kristen du Mez – Jesus and John Wayne

Jemar Tisby – The Color of Compromise

George McKenna – On Abortion: A Lincolnian Position (circa 1995, but still relevant)

Going Loco

Broadcasting live from Fargo (the movie is still better than the TV series), Jonah can’t help but spend most of today’s Ruminant gloating about how he’s been correct on recent issues ranging from the silliness of “Latinx” to the craziness of Tucker Carlson. Political demographics, the Omicron variant, and the future of conservatism are also discussed, but at the end of it all, one question remains: Is “I informed you thusly” a more satisfying phrase than “I told you so?”

Show Notes:

The Wednesday G-File

No one uses “Latinx”

Are Hispanics evenly split between the parties?

The Commentary podcast on Democrats and Hispanics

Rich Lowry on the WSJ poll

Sean Trende on what motivates Hispanic voters

Whitelash, by Terry Smith

Can’t hold it back anymore

Jim Geraghty on good news regarding Omicron

Well-known progressive Mitch McConnell

Raffensperger on the Need for Integrity

On today’s podcast, Sarah and Steve are joined by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In 2020, Georgia was at the center of claims of voter fraud that kept President Trump from returning to the White House, and before that in 2018, the state was the site of claims of voter suppression that kept Stacey Abrams from the governor’s mansion. Raffensperger, author of the new book Integrity Counts, tells our hosts why Americans should have confidence and trust in our country’s elections.

Show Notes:

Axios: “Trump-backed Perdue says he wouldn’t have certified Georgia 2020 results”

Integrity Counts, by Brad Raffensperger

Supreme Court Weighs Ban on State Aid to Religious Schools

David and Sarah have another action packed pod. First, the US Solicitor General weighs in on whether the Court should hear the case about whether Harvard’s admission policy violates race discrimination laws. Then they talk about a case that was argued this week at the Court that looked at (once again) whether states could refuse to allow voucher money to go to religious schools. Then the 9th Circuit had some feisty dissenting opinions when it upheld California’s ban on high capacity magazines for guns. And lastly, should judges be able to pick their replacements?

Show Notes:

Wall Street Journal: “Federal Courts Aren’t Royal Ones”

New Yorker: “On “Succession,” Jeremy Strong Doesn’t Get the Joke”

Accentuate the Negative

Jonah reopens the emergency punditry supply on today’s Remnant, recorded live from the Bozeman Public Library. His guest is A.B. Stoddard, who believes the Democratic Party is poised to implode thanks to poor governance and the strange influence of wokeism. Together, they explore why both parties have alienated ordinary voters, why Nancy Pelosi stepping down could send the legislative branch into further disarray, and why Trump could win re-election in 2024 if Biden’s poll numbers don’t improve. Optimism, who needs it!

Show Notes:

A.B.’s page at RealClearPolitics

A.B.’s previous Remnant appearance

A.B. on congressional decline

A coming Democratic crack up?

Tom Wolfe: “The Intelligent Co-ed’s Guide to America”

The Remnant with Chris Stirewalt

Jonah on superspreaders of asininity

Kamala Harris’ disastrous vice presidency

Bill Clinton and Ricky Ray Rector

The Morning Dispatch on reforming the Electoral Count Act

Crazy Rich Uncles

Michael Strain, economist at the American Enterprise Institute, returns to the Remnant today to explore the strange state of the American economy. Consumer demand for goods has skyrocketed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply chain chaos is dominating the headlines. In these unusual times, should conservatives embrace common good capitalism, or does zombie Reaganism still have plenty to offer? For that matter, which industries have been permanently changed by the pandemic? Have our lives actually improved since March 2020? And can even the most devoted Remnant listener tolerate more than 30 minutes of Jonah and Michael rambling about Battlestar Galactica?

Show Notes:

Michael’s page at AEI

Michael’s previous Remnant appearance

Jonah and Scott Lincicome kvetch about the supply chain

Michael on the need for an economic cooldown

Michael: “Republicans Battle Over ‘Socialism-Lite’”

Hungary eyes

Jonah on how politics destroyed Battlestar Galactica

Charging a School Shooter’s Parents

On today’s podcast, David and Sarah discuss charges in Michigan against a school shooter’s parents, the possible demise of a key Supreme Court precedent (not Roe), and an intriguing new appeal to the Supreme Court. At the end of the podcast, Sarah answers her critics. Does she get as spicy as Alito?

Show Notes:

Timeline of Michigan school shooting

NPR: “Parents of Michigan school shooting suspect are charged with involuntary manslaughter”

Sue and Settle report

New York Times: “What Does the U.S. Owe Separated Families? A Political Quandary Deepens”

Washington Post: “40 acres and a mule: How the first reparations for slavery ended in betrayal”

Deconstructing Faith: Necessary, Dangerous or Both?

David French and Curtis Chang discuss the hot topic of “deconstruction,” a term with multiple meanings, from reevaluation of specific faith related issues to a deeper questioning of Christian faith itself. For many the discussion around deconstruction stems from some sense of pain or hurt caused by the church. David and Curtis (and producer Kris) explore the complex and deeply personal dimensions of this process, including practical suggestions for listeners.

Show Notes:

The French Press: Under Attack from Fundamentalist Pirates, Evangelical Baptists Refused to Give Up the Ship

Karen Swallow Prior: “With this much rot, there’s no choice but to deconstruct”

The French Press: John Wayne, Jesus, and the Struggle to Define the Christian Man

The French Press: America Is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival