The Kids are Alright

In distinctly Goldbergian fashion, Jonah manages to combine musings on Home Depot, climate change, the ...

By

In distinctly Goldbergian fashion, Jonah manages to combine musings on Home Depot, climate change, the Chauvin trial, and the classic “Deep Space Homer” episode of The Simpsons into a single, coherent Ruminant, which includes as many references to infrastructure as you’d expect at this point. Tune in not just for Jonah’s eggheadery, but to hear him face his greatest challenge yet: pronouncing the name “Greta Thunberg.”

Show Notes:

– Ben Shapiro gets wood

– “It’s an inanimate carbon rod!”

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
By
Comments (22)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Token Liberal

    So corporations shouldn't pay taxes because they are not people,? Fine, then they don't get to have politics and religion either?

    Collapse
  2. WBS

    I listen to this podcast every day in Afghanistan and it cracks me up all the time. Thanks!

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Apparently “Greta Thunberg” is harder to say than “compass” ...

    I like The Who reference!

    Collapse
  4. Brett C

    I think your phone call experience just happened to my family (4am for us). My mother in law received phone calls "from her daughter's phone" asking for ransom money with crying in the background. It was scary. Of course, everyone on our end was asleep, so we weren't answering phones. We woke up to the police checking in on us.

    I don't think it's a prank, it's a scam. Good luck everyone.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    Interesting take on the Chauvin verdict however I do think Jonah sort of passed over a depressingly common RW narrative that "even if Chauvin was guilty, the entire process was so corrupted by politics that the conviction was *still* unjust". Depressing for itself and also because this take is actually reflective of the idea that it's the Chauvins rather than the Floyds of this world who are the *true* marginalized oppressed victims of society today. It's just continues the trend for everyone on the political spectrum to embrace victimhood politics.

    Collapse
    1. linda

      I ignored every witness in the case save the coroner's report. Here's a guy who had a lethal amount of drugs in his system, had covid, and was obviously abused by a cop. What killed him? The only real important info was the coroner. If the cop was charged under normal circumstances he probably would have been charged with manslaughter....or not.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        TimNYC

        Not necessarily, Linda. Kneeling on George Floyd's neck for 9 minutes, including intentionally doing so for 4 minutes past when his pulse stopped, shows a degree of intent.

        If *you* had to restrain someone, if you were informed that their pulse and breathing had stopped — and that they were, therefore, dead, and had died while you were restraining them, and that your restraint may well have been a contributing factor — would you *choose to continue that restraint*? Or would you stop, and administer CPR or other lifesaving techniques to the best of your ability, and call for medical aid?

        Chauvin's flagrant violation of department policy, and his continued act — his continued *choice* — to restrain Floyd up to and past the point of his death matters, legally speaking.

        You can ignore everything besides the coroner's report if you want. But legally speaking — and morally speaking — our actions and intent matter. You ignore such things at your peril.

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          TimNYC

          Also, Linda, David makes a fairly compelling case — even if you don't necessarily agree — that we do have systemic issues in the American justice system and in law enforcement that privilege the great over the small, and in particular privilege police officers over regular citizens.

          The issue is not, perhaps, that there was so much media attention around this case (even if much of that media coverage was poorly done) but because the cell phone recordings and similar give an outside perspective... and that so many other cases *don't* have that.

          Any police officer, accused of unjustly killing another human being, is going to try to excuse themselves and their actions. This is not because police officers are uniquely bad; this is merely *human nature*. After all, how many murderers, after their crime is over, turn themselves in for justice at the nearest police station?

          None, obviously. All the more so if a police officer believes (or can convince themselves) that their actions were justified. The danger comes in trusting an exculpatory excuse — without independent verification of that justification — from someone who has every reason to offer excuses and explanations for their actions.

          For example, in the Philando Castile shooting, as David points out, the officer was allegedly made afraid by the smell of marijuana in the car, despite Philando Castile's exceptionally calm manner.

          Does that explanation sound reasonable and sufficient to you? Or was it, perhaps, a self-serving excuse, invented after the fact to explain inexcusable conduct?

          I would argue that more cases like this — where those in a position of trust, such as police officers, are accused of wrongdoing — need more outside perspectives offered, as with outside cell phone recordings.

          As Louis Brandeis put it, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant." :)

          Collapse
  6. Ragnar

    Jonah, why no comments on the Racist WaPo hit piece on Tim Scott? Would like to see you guys stand up to that crap, but so far, nothing...make me sad, and disappointed.

    Collapse
  7. Tim

    Good luck with Zoe,.... love the vet exit story, [Zoe not making eye contact after dental work] "I'm only going home because that is where my stuff is, but that thing we had, it's OVER"

    Collapse
  8. James Gormley

    Jeez, Jonah. I love your writing and commentary. But “alright” is not generally accepted in edited writing. Thanks for your work and I fully subscribe to your anthropomorphic canine-philia. Which is probably also not a real word.

    Collapse
    1. Midge

      "The Kids Are Alright", spelled like that, is the title of a song. I'm guessing that would be the reason for the spelling.

      Collapse
      1. James Gormley

        Thanks Midge. I’m clearly not up on pop culture. But I still believe that it doesn’t make it “all right”!

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          TimNYC

          Not sure that it qualifies as "pop culture" per se, or at least not *modern* pop culture.

          The song was released by The Who... in 1965. 😉

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kids_Are_Alright_(song)

          Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      Michael Garrett

      Let's try to extend whatever grace we can. Perhaps the headlines are composed by some exhausted, underpaid millennial intern.

      But, yes. It is distressing to see such misspelling gain traction. I fear it will soon be one more battle lost.

      Irregardless, I intend to continue to stand for standard usage.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Mudskipper

        Er...regardless.

        Collapse
      2. James Gormley

        Thanks for your support. I agree that the headline-writing intern should be sent back to the dungeon and fed gruel for a week. I also trust that your use of “irregardless” was a test of this old-school grammarian.

        Collapse
  9. Joe2020

    I believe Jonah said he stands by what he's written in Liberal Fascism and his other works, but I would interested in hearing a podcast about some things that he's tweaked his thinking about.

    Collapse
    1. Ragnar

      He's basically said that he regrets not anticipating the "authoritarian" elements of Trumpian right, and working those risks into the piece. Sadly, I think his public "regrets" are more of a pander to the liberals and other left wingers that he is now depending on for his living via revenue from democrats here. Which is why he punches right more than he should be - at least for my taste.

      Collapse
      1. Joe2020

        Hi there. I really don't get that vibe. I think he's fair minded. I think he has less tolerance for people he feels are ideological grifters than others. Anyway, I think it would make for an interesting podcast - preferably with a healthy dose of whiskey. 🙂

        Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    Jallison128

    I would suggest going back and watching the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Tribunal” and ponder the Cardassian “justice” system in light of the Chauvin trial. Lots of people seem to have a very Cardassian view of things.

    Collapse
Load More