Challenging Opinions >>
120 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 10 ratingsthe podcast where ideas are tested
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Episodes
CO147 Otaviano Canuto on the Post-Covid Economy
May 18, 2020 09:00 - 37 minutes - 35.6 MBOtaviano Canuto was a vice president of the World Bank Group. He previously served as Executive Director at the Board of the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, and he’s held other roles at the World Bank and, as well as the position of State Secretary for International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance of Brazil. … Continue reading "CO147 Otaviano Canuto on the Post-Covid Economy"
CO146 Rashawn Ray on the Numbers of Policing
May 11, 2020 09:00 - 36 minutes - 34.2 MBDr. Rashawn Ray is Associate Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR) at the University of Maryland, College Park. He’s a coauthor of the book How Families Matter: Simply Complicated Intersections of Race, Gender, and Work. ***** I’ve talked about Venezuela before, it’s a country that has … Continue reading "CO146 Rashawn Ray on the Numbers of Policing"
CO145 Steven Koltai on the Business of Peace
May 04, 2020 09:00 - 28 minutes - 27.1 MBSteven Koltai is an entrepreneur, long time business executive, and foreign policy expert with a focus on entrepreneurship. He’ s also the author of ‘Peace through Entrepreneurship: Investing in a Startup Culture for Security and Development‘ published by Brookings Institution Press in 2016. ***** Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the idiots are getting more … Continue reading "CO145 Steven Koltai on the Business of Peace"
CO144 Tom Rosenstiel on Political Fact and Fiction
April 20, 2020 09:00 - 29 minutes - 27.6 MBTom Rosenstiel founded and for 16 years directed the Project for Excellence in Journalism. He was also a reporter and editor, and he recently published his third novel, Oppo. ***** If you are looking for reading suggestions to fill up the lock down hours, I’d suggest anything by Dave Eggars. He’s a great and inventive … Continue reading "CO144 Tom Rosenstiel on Political Fact and Fiction"
CO143 William Burke-White on Electoral Interference
April 13, 2020 09:00 - 34 minutes - 32.3 MBWilliam Burke-White is Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He’s got a long string of other academic distinctions, and he has written extensively on international criminal law, international economic law, and human rights. He’s also the author of forthcoming book How International Law got Lost, due to be published next … Continue reading "CO143 William Burke-White on Electoral Interference"
CO142 Bill St Clair on Anarchy and Liberty
April 06, 2020 09:00 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBBill St. Clair is a blogger, programmer and libertarian. ***** You might not have heard of Benford’s law. It’s not so much a law, it’s really just an observation that when you get a large enough set of natural numbers, let’s say a list of all the countries in the world by population, in sets … Continue reading "CO142 Bill St Clair on Anarchy and Liberty"
CO141 Fletcher Armstrong on the Underpinnings of the Case Against Abortion
March 30, 2020 09:00 - 40 minutes - 38.9 MBFletcher Armstrong is the south east director of the Center for Bioethical Reform. ***** Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through the breath and sight. And so they died. And none could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought … Continue reading "CO141 Fletcher Armstrong on the Underpinnings of the Case Against Abortion"
CO140 Amanda Starbuck on Protecting Necessities
March 23, 2020 09:00 - 29 minutes - 27.8 MBAmanda Starbuck is a senior food researcher and policy analyst at Food & Water Watch. ***** I’ve talked about the other thing a couple of times already, but I’m sure you’ve heard enough about it by now, and there’s nothing extra that I can say that hasn’t already been said, so let’s talk about something … Continue reading "CO140 Amanda Starbuck on Protecting Necessities"
CO139 Demetrius Minor on Being a Black Conservative
March 16, 2020 09:00 - 38 minutes - 36 MBDemetrius Minor is a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 Black Leadership Network. He is also the associate producer of the nationally-syndicated “Stacy on the Right” talk radio show. In addition to writing that has been featured in The Washington Times, Townhall.com and by FreedomWorks, Demetrius is the author of the … Continue reading "CO139 Demetrius Minor on Being a Black Conservative"
CO138 Randy Sutton on the Life of a Cop
March 02, 2020 11:09 - 42 minutes - 39.9 MBRandy Sutton is a retired police lieutenant Las Vegas Police Department and founder of the Wounded Blue national assistance and support organisation for injured and disabled law enforcement officers. He’s also the author of a number of books including The Power of Legacy, Personal Heroes of America’s Most Inspiring People. I mentioned the previous episode … Continue reading "CO138 Randy Sutton on the Life of a Cop"
CO137 Roy Speckhardt on Freedom from Religion
February 24, 2020 10:00 - 31 minutes - 30.6 MBRoy Speckhardt is the executive director of the American Humanist Association, and the author of Creating Change Through Humanism published by Humanist Press . ***** As of this podcast, something over 2,000 people have died from Corona virus infections, all but six of them in China. About 75 thousand people have been confirmed as infected, … Continue reading "CO137 Roy Speckhardt on Freedom from Religion"
CO136 Rosanna Weaver on Targeting Shareholders
February 03, 2020 10:00 - 27 minutes - 26.1 MBRosanna Weaver is programme manager for executive compensation As You Sow. ***** Her face looks at the camera in a way that is totally different to how teenagers take selfies now. There’s no elaborate expression, but there is, for some reason, a hint of a smile. Maybe the instinct to smile when a camera is … Continue reading "CO136 Rosanna Weaver on Targeting Shareholders"
CO135 Chris Bostic on the End of Smoking
January 20, 2020 10:00 - 25 minutes - 24.3 MBChris Bostic is Deputy Director for Policy of ASH, Action on Smoking and Health. Which, since 1967 has been campaigning against Big Tobacco to reduce the death toll from smoking. ***** So this is a famous clip of Ellen Degeneres on her TV show talking about some ridiculous products aimed at women. Ellen is a … Continue reading "CO135 Chris Bostic on the End of Smoking"
CO134 Steve Garner on Whiteness
December 30, 2019 10:00 - 43 minutes - 40.8 MBSteve Garner is a researcher at the department of Social Science at Cardiff University. The BBC Analysis programme that he appeared in is available here. ***** Back in August I talked here about the pro-democracy protests, anti-Putin protests in Moscow, and I noted that, compared to the similarly-motivated protests in Hong Kong, there were small. People might grumble, … Continue reading "CO134 Steve Garner on Whiteness"
CO133 Ivan Eland on Presidential Overreach
December 23, 2019 10:00 - 36 minutes - 34.7 MBIvan Eland is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute. He has a PhD in Public Policy from George Washington University and has been director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and he spent 15 years working for Congress on national security issues. Earlier this year he published War and the Rogue Presidency … Continue reading "CO133 Ivan Eland on Presidential Overreach"
CO132 Joan Esposito on Democratic Strategies
December 16, 2019 10:00 - 26 minutes - 25.5 MBJoan Esposito is the afternoon host for WCPT AM 820, Chicago’s progressive talk radio. We talked about, among other things, Barack Obama’s call for progressive unity and condemnation of excessive expectations of purity. ***** You’re used to me spouting on here based on not much more than my own prejudice, but here’s a topic that … Continue reading "CO132 Joan Esposito on Democratic Strategies"
CO131 Ira Mehlman on Debating Immigration
November 25, 2019 10:00 - 42 minutes - 40.4 MBIra Mehlman is the media director of Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). In our discussion we talked about the prominent stories on FAIR’s home page which suggest that undocumented immigrants in the US are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime, or are a disproportionate burden on the economy. In fact, the weight of … Continue reading "CO131 Ira Mehlman on Debating Immigration"
CO130 Thom Hartmann on the Purpose of SCOTUS
November 18, 2019 10:00 - 40 minutes - 38.1 MBThom Hartmann is one of America’s most prominent progressive talk show hosts. His latest book, The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America was publisher by Berrett-Koehler recently. ***** I know that some listeners are in the UK, but most aren’t, and for you in the majority, although you’ve probably heard … Continue reading "CO130 Thom Hartmann on the Purpose of SCOTUS"
CO129 Randall Holcombe on Protecting Liberty
November 11, 2019 10:00 - 29 minutes - 28.6 MBRandall Holcombe is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, and DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University. In the past He has also served as President of the Public Choice Society, President of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics and as a member of the Florida Governor’s Council of Economic … Continue reading "CO129 Randall Holcombe on Protecting Liberty"
CO128 Michael Tauberg on Questioning Biden
November 04, 2019 10:00 - 24 minutes - 23.2 MBMichael Tauberg is a senior Columnist with ProgressiveBrief.com. We discussed his article Trump Administration Corruption Doesn’t Excuse the Bidens. ***** Air pollution in India is off the scale. That sounds like a rhetorical flourish, but it isn’t. It’s literally the truth. Most cities around the world, including in India, have sensors which monitor the levels … Continue reading "CO128 Michael Tauberg on Questioning Biden"
CO127 Scot Faulkner on the 1994 Contract with America
October 28, 2019 09:00 - 36 minutes - 34.5 MBScot Faulkner was the National Director of Personnel for the Reagan-Bush presidential Campaign of 1980. He went on to serve the Reagan Administration in executive positions at the Federal Aviation Administration, the General Services Administration, and the Peace Corps. He serves on the boards of numerous corporations and foundations and he’s the author of a … Continue reading "CO127 Scot Faulkner on the 1994 Contract with America"
CO126 Richard Vedder on America’s Short-changed Students
October 21, 2019 09:00 - 33 minutes - 31.3 MBRichard Vedder is an economist, historian, author, and columnist. He is a professor emeritus of economics at Ohio University and senior fellow at The Independent Institute. Who have just published his latest book called Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America. In our discussion, I mentioned the fact that the number of hours of minimum-wage … Continue reading "CO126 Richard Vedder on America’s Short-changed Students"
CO125 Wen Fa on Litigating Liberty
October 07, 2019 09:24 - 35 minutes - 33.1 MBWen Fa is an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a national, nonprofit legal organization that represents clients free of charge. We talked about his work on cases including Rentberry v. City of Seattle about rent-bidding laws, and another tenant/landlord case, Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, and various cases about Vaping. ***** … Continue reading "CO125 Wen Fa on Litigating Liberty"
Getting Off Podcast Special for Challenging Opinions
October 04, 2019 21:00 - 48 minutes - 44.2 MBChallenging Opinions brings you a special showcase edition of the Getting Off podcast, presented by Jessa and Nick. It’s dark-humored criminal defense attorneys discussing famous crimes, trials, and all things criminal justice. Go to GettingOffPod.com to subscribe, or search Getting Off Podcast in wherever you get your podcasts.
CO124 Steven Taylor on The Electoral College, again
September 30, 2019 11:34 - 32 minutes - 30.7 MBSteven Taylor is Professor of Political Science and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Troy University, Alabama. He specialises in political parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. We discussed an article he wrote for … Continue reading "CO124 Steven Taylor on The Electoral College, again"
CO123 Anthony Galace on Greenlining not Redlining
September 23, 2019 09:00 - 33 minutes - 31.5 MBAnthony Galace is the director of health equity at the Greenlining Institute. ***** Our brains don’t really work so well with very small or very large numbers. If I ask you to imagine the distance from earth to the sun, from earth to the nearest star, or earth to the nearest galaxy, it’s tempting to … Continue reading "CO123 Anthony Galace on Greenlining not Redlining"
CO122 Sky Palma on Opinion News
September 16, 2019 09:00 - 38 minutes - 35.7 MBSky Palma is the founder of DeadState, and a senior editor at Raw Story. ***** If I was to ask you what was the most dangerous animal in the world, and you were to think tigers, bears or sharks, you’d be wildly wrong, particularly with sharks. Despite Shark Week, despite Jaws, sharks are not statistically … Continue reading "CO122 Sky Palma on Opinion News"
CO121 Jared Moffat on the Legacy of Prohibition
September 02, 2019 09:00 - 23 minutes - 22 MBJared Moffat is campaign coordinator for the Marijuana Policy Project. I mentioned that Ferguson, Missouri gains an extrordinary amount of its revenue from motoring fines. Black people make up 27 percent of the population, but represent 71 percent of drivers pulled over by police officers. Last year, the town issued 29,072 traffic citations, according to … Continue reading "CO121 Jared Moffat on the Legacy of Prohibition"
CO120 Reese Erlich on Tensions with Iran
August 19, 2019 09:00 - 34 minutes - 32.9 MBReese Erlich has won numerous journalism awards including a Peabody award. He’s also a freelance journalist who writes for CBS Radio, Australian Broadcasting Corp., NPR and VICE News, and his Foreign Correspondent column distributed nationally in the US. Last year he published his latest book with the title The Iran Agenda Today: The Real Story … Continue reading "CO120 Reese Erlich on Tensions with Iran"
CO119 Gautam Tejas Ganeshan on What Motivates Antivaxxers
August 05, 2019 09:00 - 45 minutes - 42.5 MBGautam Tejas Ganeshan is a musician and a writer and blogger, and we talked about a piece that he wrote titled ‘Is there an intelligible “anti-vaxx” position?‘
CO118 Andrew Branca on Gun Law
July 29, 2019 09:00 - 41 minutes - 38.6 MBAndrew Branca is a lifelong NRA member, a lawyer who consults on self-defence law and the author of The Law of Self Defense: The Indispensable Guide to the Armed Citizen. During our discussion, I metioned the Dickey Amendment, which forbids the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from advocating or promoting gun control, but has widely … Continue reading "CO118 Andrew Branca on Gun Law"
CO117 Will Wilkinson on Community and Ideology
July 22, 2019 09:00 - 38 minutes - 36.3 MBWill Wilkinson is the vice president for research at the Niskanen Center. He’s also and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. He was previously, a correspondent for The Economist and a research fellow at the Cato Institute. We discussed his research paper The Density Divide: Urbanization, Polarization, and Populist Backlash. ***** Most … Continue reading "CO117 Will Wilkinson on Community and Ideology"
CO116 Raymond Ibrahim on Islam and the West
July 15, 2019 09:00 - 36 minutes - 34.7 MBRaymond Ibrahim is the author of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West. ***** Let’s do a bit of science. Maybe, like me, you have had various social media invaded by people making all sorts of complaints about something called 5G. That’s the newest mobile data standard. Unless you are … Continue reading "CO116 Raymond Ibrahim on Islam and the West"
CO115 John Hawkins on Politicized Data
July 08, 2019 09:00 - 41 minutes - 38.6 MBJohn Hawkins is a writer for Bizpaq review, Brass Pills and is the editor Right Wing News. He’s also the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. We talked about John’s article The Best Stats & Quotes From ‘Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse’, John’s take on the findings of … Continue reading "CO115 John Hawkins on Politicized Data"
CO114 Greg Shupak on Reporting the Conflict
July 01, 2019 09:00 - 36 minutes - 34.2 MBGreg Shupak has a PhD in Literary Studies and teaches Media Studies at the University of Guelph in Toronto. He regularly writes analysis of politics and media for outlets including Electronic Intifada, In These Times, Jacobin, and the website Fairness and accuracy in reporting. His book, The Wrong Story Palestine, Israel, And The Media is … Continue reading "CO114 Greg Shupak on Reporting the Conflict"
CO113 Mark Vernon on the Secret History of Christianity
June 17, 2019 10:47 - 5 MBMark Vernon is a psychotherapist and writer, with a degree in physics, before two degrees in theology, and a PhD in philosophy. He’s written books covering subjects from friendship and belief, to wellbeing and love. His next book, A Secret History of Christianity, is published at the end of August by John Hunt publishing . … Continue reading "CO113 Mark Vernon on the Secret History of Christianity"
CO112 Justin Strekal on Legalizing Marijuana
June 10, 2019 09:00 - 5 MBJustin Strekal political director at Norml. ***** I mentioned last week that I would talk about the earthquake – earthquakes really – in UK politics. In particular that Nigel Farage’s new party, the Brexit Party won the European Parliament elections in the UK by a mile last month. They did win by a mile, but … Continue reading "CO112 Justin Strekal on Legalizing Marijuana"
CO111 Bruce Schneier on Cybersecurity
June 03, 2019 09:00 - 5 MBBruce Schneier is a public-interest technologist. He’s been writing about security issues for more than 20 years, and he’s a Special Advisor to IBM Security, a fellow and lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a board member of Electronic Frontier Foundation. ***** A couple of quite similar stories caught my eye in the past while. … Continue reading "CO111 Bruce Schneier on Cybersecurity"
CO110 Grayson Quay on Another View on MeToo
May 27, 2019 10:44 - 5 MBGrayson Quay is a freelance writer. His work has been published in The Washington Times, Reason.com, National Interest, Townhall and others. He is also MA candidate at Georgetown University Master’s Degree candidate.
CO109 Aaron Naparstek on the War on Cars
May 20, 2019 09:00 - 5 MBAaron Naparstek is a cohost of the War on Cars podcast, and also the founder of Streetsblog.org. ***** There have been a couple of stories about facial recognition. This audio is from a BBC report where the police set up a van with cameras filming passersby and searching for records on them based on facial … Continue reading "CO109 Aaron Naparstek on the War on Cars"
CO108 Rob Bluey on Standards and Consistency
April 08, 2019 21:18 - 5 MBRob Bluey is vice president for communications at The Heritage Foundation and Founding Editor of Daily Signal. I mentioned in the interview an article that Rob wrote during the Obama administration criticizing the removal of a website about earmark reform, and contrasted it to the Trump cull of the EPA’s website. ***** Last month, a … Continue reading "CO108 Rob Bluey on Standards and Consistency"
CO107 David Dayen on the Economics of Vaping
April 01, 2019 09:00 - 5 MBDavid Dayen is a contributing writer The Intercept and a weekly columnist for the New Republic. He is the author of the book Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud., and he’s shortly to become the executive editor of the American Prospect. We talked about his article How Vaping … Continue reading "CO107 David Dayen on the Economics of Vaping"
CO106 Mitchell Robinson on Education Reform and Charter Schools
March 25, 2019 09:00 - 5 MBMitchell Robinson is a writer for Eclectablog and associate professor and chair of music education at Michigan State University, as well as being a former high-school teacher. His research is focused on music education and education policy. In the podcast we mentioned the Startup podcast featuring the Success Academy, and the Kipp schools. ***** I … Continue reading "CO106 Mitchell Robinson on Education Reform and Charter Schools"
CO105 Cathy Reisenwitz on Cars and Freedom
March 18, 2019 09:00 - 5 MBCathy Reisenwitz is a writer whose work has appeared in The Week, Forbes, the Daily Beast, VICE Motherboard, Reason magazine, Talking Points Memo and others, and she’s appeared as a commentator on Fox News and Al Jazeera, which an interesting combination to say the least. In the discussion I mentioned the coining of the word … Continue reading "CO105 Cathy Reisenwitz on Cars and Freedom"
CO104 Christian Toto on the Politics of Hollywood
March 11, 2019 09:00 - 34 minutes - 32.7 MBChristian Toto is the editor of Hollywood in Toto, and a regular commentator on both politics and the entertainment industry. ***** Clement Atlee, the British World War II Labour Party leader, and minister was once quoted by Margaret Thatcher, the conservative party leader of the 1970s and 1980s. They both agreed that referendums are ‘a … Continue reading "CO104 Christian Toto on the Politics of Hollywood"
CO103 Michael Tanner on Helping the Poor
March 04, 2019 10:00 - 5 MBMichael Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, with an emphasis on poverty and social welfare policy, health care, and Social Security and entitlement reform. His most recent book, The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America’s Poor, looks at the ways government contributes to poverty in the United States and suggests reforms … Continue reading "CO103 Michael Tanner on Helping the Poor"
CO102 Scott Morefield on Trump, Three Years Later
February 25, 2019 13:48 - 5 MBScott Morefiled is a reporter for the DailyCaller and a columnist for Townhall. His writings have also been featured on Breitbart, BizPac, TheBlaze, National Review, The Federalist, The Hill and others. In the podcast we discussed his article from 2016, and I mentioned a quotation from HL Mencken, and the fact that Trump’s cabinet has a … Continue reading "CO102 Scott Morefield on Trump, Three Years Later"
CO101 Adam DeCollibus on What Was the Past Like?
February 18, 2019 20:11 - 5 MBAdam DeCollibus is the author of Caravan. I mentioned the excellent Caliphate podcast in the conversation. ***** I’ve talked about the Baltic republics, and Ukraine before – their governments, and to a large extent their people – are anxious to make alliances to the West, join NATO, join the EU. It’s notable that of the … Continue reading "CO101 Adam DeCollibus on What Was the Past Like?"
CO100 David Introcaso on Healthcare Reform
February 11, 2019 10:00 - 5 MBDavid Introcaso is a healthcare policy consultant based in Washington DC. He worked for then house majority leader Stenny Hoyer and at Department of Health and Human Services, and he has consulted for the American Heart Association, the American Public Health Association and United Health Group. He has taught as a adjunct at the University … Continue reading "CO100 David Introcaso on Healthcare Reform"
CO099 Jennifer Briney on Unity and Divisions
February 04, 2019 10:00 - 5 MBJennifer Briney is the host of the Congressional Dish podcast. ***** A lot of people are kidding themselves. We have two rival presidents in Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro, the elected president, the successor to Hugo Chavez. I won’t go so far as to say democratically elected, but … elected. And Juan Guaido, the speaker of the … Continue reading "CO099 Jennifer Briney on Unity and Divisions"