The Political Orphanage

Caleb O. Brown of the Cato Daily Podcast guest hosts this week, moderating the topic: is politics the new religion? Just how terrible is that, and how can we fix it?

NSFK - Nick Sperdute and Andrew Young rejoin the show to discuss the week's best, underserved headlines including: horrific Scottish street brawl and/or courtship injuries, corn flake narcotics, and the world's laziest guard dog.

Politicians fear their base, so they play to their base--and disregard moderates, independents, and members of the rival party. Elected leaders can store up campaign war chests, but they can't net excess votes or store them for the next election. What are the bad structural elements we've built into our system, and how do we rearrange them? Katherine Gehl is the author of "The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy"

We're gamifying funny headlines! Everyone on the show gets a funny headline, but some are real and some are fake news. Each team hears the headlines, asks probing questions, then guesses which is real and which is fictitious. Host: Andrew Heaton Team Captains: Andrew Young and Jeremey Kareken Guests: Nicholas Sperdute, Brian Sack, Jack Helmuth, Andrea Jones-Rooy

I swear I'm not evil. I have good reasons for believing we shouldn't spike the national minimum wage to $15 per hour. I'll explain why, as the U.S. Senate deliberates on whether or not to double it.

Justin Robert Young returns to go over the week's best, underserved headlines, including an octogenarian newspaper boy, the cannabis lounge which saves the day, and ridiculous French labor laws.

Economist Steve Horwitz joins the program to talk about the limits of markets and the state: what problems can they solve and what are they ill suited for? When do either go off the rails? Steve Horwitz is the Distinguished Professor of Free Enterprise at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana; Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute, and Economics Editor at the Cato Institute. He's also the 2020 recipient of the Julian L. Simon Memorial Award.

Turner Sparks and Michael Ira Kaplan rejoin the show to discuss the world's best, underserved headlines--a surprising amount of which originate in Belgium this week. Including: a giggly way to endanger lives on the road, a disgraced Hungarian politico, and felons with strong opinions on parenting.

Hello orphans! Today we're doing a deep dive into gun crime statistics: where homicides are concentrated, what kind of guns are used, how we stack up to other countries, and so forth. The goal here is to puncture through pro gun and pro gun control rhetoric to glimpse the real landscape of weapons and death in America. So that we can skip bumper sticker aphorisms and have smart policy conversations. Guy Smith is the author of "Guns and Control: A Nonpartisan Guide to Understanding Mass Public Shootings, Gun Accidents, Crime, Public Carry, Suicides, Defensive Use, and More" TO DONATE TO THE SHOW: patreon.com/andrewheaton Venmo: Andrew-Heaton-1 PayPal: andrew@mightyheaton.com

Nick Sperdute and Andrew Young return to discuss the week's best, underserved headlines. Including stories about Scottish stamp lickers, why a man lived in an airport for three months, and the button Joe Biden just removed from the desk in the Oval Office. You can hang out on the Discord server by going to mightyheaton.com/discord