Challenging Opinions >>
120 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 58 ratingsthe podcast where ideas are tested
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CO098 Max Suchkov on Russian Objectives
January 28, 2019 10:00 - 5 MBMaxim A. Suchkov is a PhD political analyst, Russia Editor at Al Monitor, and a fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies. ***** A little more than a year ago, on 27 December 2017, a woman climbed on top of a utility cabinet, one of those boxes you see in the street for … Continue reading "CO098 Max Suchkov on Russian Objectives"
CO097 Michael Pento on Social Justice and the Market
January 19, 2019 10:00 - 5 MBMichael Pento is a president and founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies. Michael is a well-established specialist in the Austrian School of economic theory. His steadfast advocacy of free markets has been broadcast on radio programs throughout the country, and he is a regular guest on CNBC and FOX Business News and Bloomberg, and his writing … Continue reading "CO097 Michael Pento on Social Justice and the Market"
CO096 Ron Fein on the Path to Impeachment
January 14, 2019 10:00 - 5 MBRob Fein is the legal director for FreeSpeechforPeople.org. He is a constitutional lawyer who previously served as Assistant Regional Counsel in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he received the National Gold Medal for exceptional service. He is the Co-Author of The Constitution Demands It: The case for impeachment of Donald Trump.
CO095 Bill Warner on Political Islam
December 10, 2018 10:24 - 43 minutes - 40.8 MBBill Warner is an author and the editor of Political Islam. Bill, as he promised in the podcast sent me his sources for some of the claims that he made, including this about attitudes to Sharia Law, He also sent this link from the Gatestone Institute, an organisation that claims to be a think tank, but … Continue reading "CO095 Bill Warner on Political Islam"
CO094 Graham Elwood on the Progressive Platform
December 03, 2018 10:00 - 33 minutes - 31.7 MBGraham Elwood is a comedian, actor, podcaster, and writer. ***** So here’s a bit of what I said at the top of the podcast a little over a year ago. Yeah, so I guess that MBS is getting a bit more name recognition now than he was a year or so ago. There are a … Continue reading "CO094 Graham Elwood on the Progressive Platform"
Back Soon
November 26, 2018 10:00 - 1 minute - 1.24 MBA quick message to everyone asking where the podcast is, and where I am and whether I’m still alive. Unfortunately I got swamped by work commitments and I nearly caught up, and then some other things caught up on me. But I’m getting on top of it all, so I’ll be back shortly with lots … Continue reading "Back Soon"
CO093 Owen Poindexter on Basic Income
October 01, 2018 09:00 - 26 minutes - 26.1 MBOwen Poindexter is a freelance writer and a presenter of the Basic Income podcast. He’s also a former Democratic candidate for the California Assembly. We talked about his article 18 Reasons to Support Basic Income.
CO092 Larry Atkins on Media Bias
September 24, 2018 09:00 - 26 minutes - 25.7 MBLarry Atkins is a journalist, university professor, columnist, lawyer, and author of the book Skewed: A Critical Thinker’s Guide to Media Bias published by Prometheus Books. ***** Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are two journalists with Reuters, and I apologize for what I’m sure is my terrible pronunciation of their names, but I think … Continue reading "CO092 Larry Atkins on Media Bias"
CO091 Lori Price on Alternative News Values
September 17, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutes - 27.7 MBLori Price is the editor in chief of Legitgov.org, Citizens for a Legitimate Government. ***** Vladimir Putin is either very stupid or very clever. Yes, I’m talking about the Russian affair again. No, not that one, the other one – try to keep track. A nerve agent easily traceable to a Russian laboratory was used … Continue reading "CO091 Lori Price on Alternative News Values"
CO090 Greta Zarro on a World Without War
September 10, 2018 09:00 - 23 minutes - 22.6 MBGreta Zarro describes herself as a vegetarian sociologist-environmentalist, and she is the organizing director of World Beyond War. We talked about this article she wrote, and in the podcast I also mentioned the bombing of the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, UK, and the Haska Meyna wedding party airstrike. **** I was looking through the Reddit politics subreddit … Continue reading "CO090 Greta Zarro on a World Without War"
CO089 Dave Lefcourt on how Nostalgia Ain’t What it Used to Be
September 03, 2018 09:00 - 21 minutes - 21.1 MBDave Lefcourt is an author, writer and left-wing activist since the 1960s.
CO088 Joseph Zernik on the Israeli Religious Divide
August 27, 2018 09:00 - 22 minutes - 21.4 MBDr Joseph Zernik is a writer, a researcher and a Human Rights activist based in Israel. Submissions which he wrote on behalf of the organisation Human Rights Alert – NGO have been incorporated into UN Human Rights Council Periodic Reports.
CO087 Iona Italia on the Rights and Wrongs of Sarah Jeong
August 13, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutes - 28.2 MBIona Italia is the sub-editor of Areo Magazine and we discussed this piece that she wrote about Sarah Jeong. ***** This is turning into a political correctness bumper edition, so sorry about that but I wanted to comment a bit about the controversy that blew up in the UK about Boris Johnson’s comment about Muslim … Continue reading "CO087 Iona Italia on the Rights and Wrongs of Sarah Jeong"
CO086 Gary Kebbel on the Prospects for Journalism
August 06, 2018 09:00 - 25 minutes - 24.2 MBGary Kebbel served as dean at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In the podcast, I mentioned my previous interview with Professor Henry Jenkins of USC.
CO085 George Marlin on Defending Persecuted Christians
July 30, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutes - 28 MBGeorge Marlin is the author of Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy published by St Augustine’s Press. George also served two terms as Executive Director and CEO of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and he is chairman of Aid to the Church in Need. In our discussion I mentioned … Continue reading "CO085 George Marlin on Defending Persecuted Christians"
CO084 Henry Jenkins on Future Media
July 23, 2018 09:00 - 36 minutes - 34.6 MBHenry Jenkins is the Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at USC Annenberg, and previously of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also presents the How Do you Like It So Far podcast. ***** I was watching the press conference after the Helsinki summit, the would-he-wouldn’t-he summit. I didn’t really have much of a … Continue reading "CO084 Henry Jenkins on Future Media"
CO083 Helen Raleigh on the Rise of China
July 16, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutes - 27.8 MBHelen Raleigh is an immigration policy Fellow at the Centennial Institute and she is a leading voice for a free market based legal immigration reform. In October 2016, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights appointed Helen to the Colorado State Advisory Committee. In November 2016, she was recognized as a “distinguished toastmaster” (DTM) by Toastmaster … Continue reading "CO083 Helen Raleigh on the Rise of China"
CO082 Ed Gogek on the Case Against Marijuana
July 09, 2018 09:00 - 36 minutes - 34.8 MBDr Ed Gogek is a psychiatrist and a specialist in treating addiction. He’s also the author of Marijuana Debunked: A handbook for parents, pundits and politicians who want to know the case against legalization. The BBC reported on the effects of marijuana legalization here. In addition I tried to bring up the Russell Newcombe and Sally … Continue reading "CO082 Ed Gogek on the Case Against Marijuana"
CO081 Jeffrey Miron on Health and Drug Policy
July 02, 2018 09:00 - 34 minutes - 32.5 MBJeffrey Miron is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University, as well as being Director of Economics Studies at the Cato Institute. We talked about the huge increase in the U.S. prison population – it really is striking: ***** By now you know all about the Mueller … Continue reading "CO081 Jeffrey Miron on Health and Drug Policy"
CO080 Gregory Schneider on The History of Conservatism
June 25, 2018 09:00 - 35 minutes - 33.4 MBDr Gregory L. Schneider is Professor of History at Emproia State University, and he’s the author of The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (Critical Issues in American History). ***** This is the Meads v Meads text that I referred to. Lawyers, the story goes, were originally paid by the word when they were writing … Continue reading "CO080 Gregory Schneider on The History of Conservatism"
CO079 Mike Ludwig on Pruitt’s EPA
June 18, 2018 09:00 - 17 minutes - 17 MBMike Ludwig is a reporter for TruthOut.org. We talked about his article Scott Pruitt’s Embattled Science “Transparency” Rule Does Not Apply to Pesticides. I also mentioned the Royal Society of Chemistry’s £1m bounty for the UK’s first chemical-free product – they say that they will pay £1m for anyone who can provide a handful of any … Continue reading "CO079 Mike Ludwig on Pruitt’s EPA"
CO078 Miranda Yardley on a Different Trans View
June 11, 2018 09:00 - 31 minutes - 29.4 MBMiranda Yardley calls herself an ‘iconoclastic transexual’ and caused controversy recently when, as was widely reported she was banned from Twitter for what was branded ‘hate speech‘. In our discussion, I mentioned the very high level of violence suffered by transwomen in particular, as documented here and here.
CO077 Daniel Ameli on Bitcoin
June 04, 2018 09:00 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MBDaniel Ameli is a data scientist and cryptocurrency expert who has written extensively about Bitcoin. Failed, raided and fraudulent Bitcoin exchanges have included Mt. Gox, Bitomat, MyBitcoin, Bitcoinica, Bitcoin Savings and Trust, Bitfloor, Instawallet, Bitcoin Foundation, Inputs.io, Global Bond Limited, Flexcoin, Bter, Bitstamp, Cryptsy, Gatecoin, Bitfinex, and NiceHash. Aristotle defined money as follows: It must … Continue reading "CO077 Daniel Ameli on Bitcoin"
CO076 Ani Zonneveld on Progressives in Islam
May 28, 2018 09:00 - 38 minutes - 11.5 MBAni Zonneveld is the founder of Muslims for Progressive Values. In our discussion I mentioned some opinion research among British Muslims. There was talk a couple of weeks back – among Trump supporters anyway – there was talk of Donald Trump winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Before you laugh, remember Obama won the Nobel Peace … Continue reading "CO076 Ani Zonneveld on Progressives in Islam"
CO075 Natalie Parrott on Trans Issues and Feminism
May 21, 2018 09:00 - 50 minutes - 47 MBNatalie Parrott produces the YouTube channel ContraPoints. I highly recommend her videos. I mentioned the interview I did Linda Bellos in February. In our discussion, I mentioned the soaring referrals to the UK’s Tavistock clinic (which specialises in gender reassignment) of children. I also mentioned James Caspian, the doctoral candidate at Bath Spa University who … Continue reading "CO075 Natalie Parrott on Trans Issues and Feminism"
CO074 Christopher Novembrino on the Russia Investigation
May 14, 2018 09:00 - 21 minutes - 20.2 MBChristopher Novembrino is a host of the Don’t Worry About The Government podcast. In the podcast I mentioned rival protests organised in Houston, Texas to protest and defend the local Muslim community, which were both organised by Russian-controlled Facebook groups.
Demand your data from Cambridge Analytica
May 07, 2018 20:17Under the UK’s Data Protection Act, if any company that holds computerized records on you, they must release that information in an ‘intelligible form’ to you on request. First, check with Facebook by checking here if your data was harvested on behalf of Cambridge Analytica. If you are logged into Facebook it will tell you either … Continue reading "Demand your data from Cambridge Analytica"
CO073 Roifield Brown on American Exceptionalism
May 07, 2018 09:00 - 33 minutes - 31 MBRoifield Brown is a student of history and the presenter of the Mid Atlantic podcast.
CO072 Trita Parsi on Iranian-American Relations
April 30, 2018 09:00 - 33 minutes - 31.3 MBTrita Parsi is the founder and current president of the National Iranian American Council, the author of several books on foreign policy, and he’s a regular media commentator. His latest book is Losing an Enemy, Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy.
CO071 Hadley Heath Manning on the Gender Pay Gap
April 23, 2018 09:00 - 24 minutes - 23.2 MBHadley Heath Manning, is the director of policy for Independent Women’s Forum and Independent Women’s Voice, and a Fellow at the Steamboat Institute.In the podcast, I quoted from a piece by Steven Horwitz who is the right-leaning Distinguished Professor of Free Enterprise in the Department of Economics at Ball State University, who says that The … Continue reading "CO071 Hadley Heath Manning on the Gender Pay Gap"
CO070 Ellen Brodsky on Fox News
April 16, 2018 09:00 - 35 minutes - 33 MBEllen Brodsky is the owner of the blog Newshounds.us and was a researcher for the film Outfoxed. We mentioned research that shows that torture doesn’t work in the podcast. A lot of people made fun of the questions Mark Zuckerberg was asked when he went to Congress last week, there were all sorts of gags … Continue reading "CO070 Ellen Brodsky on Fox News"
CO069 Bill Scher on Does the Deficit Matter?
April 09, 2018 09:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBBill Scher is a contributing editor at Politico magazine and a contributor at Real Clear Politics. We talked about his article Deficits Don’t Matter. So Why Are Democrats Complaining About Them?
CO068 Ilya Shapiro on Discrimination v Expression
April 02, 2018 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MBIlya Shapiro is a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, and editor in chief of Cato Supreme Court Review.
CO067 Warren Farrell on Why Boys are Struggling
March 26, 2018 14:43 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MBDr Warren Farrell, along with co-author Dr John Gray, wrote The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It published by BenBella Books in March 2018. You can find him on Twitter or Facebook. There’s an uncomfortable parallel out there that some campaigners don’t like to acknowledge. You’ve probably seen … Continue reading "CO067 Warren Farrell on Why Boys are Struggling"
CO066 Yaron Brook on Healthcare and Cellphones
March 19, 2018 09:00 - 44 minutes - 41.3 MBYaron Brook is an entrepreneur, podcaster and writer, and the current chairman of the board at the Ayn Rand Institute. You can watch his video that I raised here. Despite the NHS providing universal healthcare for everyone in the UK, the British government spends a lower percentage of UK GDP, and a far lower dollar … Continue reading "CO066 Yaron Brook on Healthcare and Cellphones"
CO065 Brad Friedman on What’s Up with the US Left
March 12, 2018 09:00 - 24 minutes - 23.2 MBBrad Friedman is a blogger and the presenter of the daily Bradcast show – find him on Twitter and Facebook.
CO064 Heather Jones on Leaving the Alt Right
March 05, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBHeather Jones appeared last year on the podcast to represent the Black Pigeon Speaks website. Since then, she has changed her views, particularly in relation to the Alt Right. The current editor of Black Pigeon Speaks has been in touch to clarify that Heather does not speak for the site and is no longer associated … Continue reading "CO064 Heather Jones on Leaving the Alt Right"
CO063 Sterling Burnett on the Heartland Institute and Climate Change
February 26, 2018 10:00 - 38 minutes - 35.8 MBH Sterling Burnett Senior fellow in energy and the environment at Heartland Institute and managing editor of environment and climate news there. He has a PhD environmental ethics. Sterling said that he didn’t remember disputing the existence of climate change. He is quoted in 2009 by his then-employer the NCPA as saying: Contrary to what … Continue reading "CO063 Sterling Burnett on the Heartland Institute and Climate Change"
CO062 Linda Bellos on Battles in Feminism
February 19, 2018 10:00 - 43 minutes - 40 MBLinda Bellos is a businesswoman, radical feminist and gay-rights activist. She was a member of the collective that produced Spare Rib, a British feminist magazine, and was a member of Lambeth Borough Council in London and was the leader of the council from 1986 to 1988. The term ‘TERF‘ is widely used as a term of … Continue reading "CO062 Linda Bellos on Battles in Feminism"
CO061 Anthony Davies on Broken Windows and Income Inequality
February 12, 2018 10:00 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MBAnthony Davies is associate professor of economics at the Palumbo Donahue School of Business at Duquesne University, and presents the podcast Words and Numbers, and has written many research papers including this one which I mentioned in the podcast. I’ve checked the sources, and it is clear that while real wages have risen slightly, they have … Continue reading "CO061 Anthony Davies on Broken Windows and Income Inequality"
CO060 Liz Posner on Me Too
February 05, 2018 10:00 - 28 minutes - 26.6 MBLiz Posner is a managing editor at AlterNet. We talked about the #MeToo phenomenon, and her article on Aziz Ansari, following the anonymous article about an encounter with him published on the Babe website. Liz also mentioned the Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti, and an article on Study Soup about perceptions on what constitutes consent in a … Continue reading "CO060 Liz Posner on Me Too"
CO059 Jay Townsend on Political Consultants
January 22, 2018 10:00 - 29 minutes - 27 MBJay Townsend is a political consultant from Indiana who has worked for a variety of candidates, mostly Republican. Jay said that he believed Ronald Reagan was not a racist, but it is worth noting the location for a high-profile speech by Reagan, in the immediate aftermath of winning the Republican Convention in 1980. He gave … Continue reading "CO059 Jay Townsend on Political Consultants"
CO058 Ryan Hagemann on AI
January 15, 2018 10:00 - 20 minutes - 19.4 MBRyan Hagemann is the the director of technology policy at the Niskanen Center. We talked about his article on AI. There’s a great film that you should watch if you haven’t already, called When We Were Kings. It’s about Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle boxing match against George Foreman. That’s right George Foreman used … Continue reading "CO058 Ryan Hagemann on AI"
CO057 Zach Elwood on Fake Facebook Accounts
January 01, 2018 10:00 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MBZach Elwood is a former professional poker player and the editor of Reading Poker Tells, but I talked to him about the articles he wrote Examining fake-American Facebook accounts posting rightwing and pro-Trump content and Top 7 signs a Facebook account is fake. We talked about a few accounts he examined including that apparently belonging … Continue reading "CO057 Zach Elwood on Fake Facebook Accounts"
CO056 Alex Kack on the Venezuelan Collapse
December 25, 2017 10:00 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBAlex Kack is a comedian and blogger, and we talked about his piece on Venezuela and its collapsing economy. The collapse is so severe that Venezuelans are literally starving; 75 per cent of Venezuelans have lost an average of 19lb, 8.5kg each. Rampant corruption is contributing to the problem, with looting by blackmarketeers – often … Continue reading "CO056 Alex Kack on the Venezuelan Collapse"
CO055 Heather Mac Donald on the War on Cops
December 18, 2017 10:00 - 34 minutes - 32 MBHeather Mac Donald is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. She is the author of The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe. Some statistics on our discussion: Black are men nearly three times as likely to die from police … Continue reading "CO055 Heather Mac Donald on the War on Cops"
CO054 Kevin Gosztola on Media Consolidation
December 11, 2017 10:00 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBKevin Gosztola is the managing editor of editor of Shadowproof. We talked about his article on the FCC under Ajit Pai relaxing the rules on cross-media ownership, and Kevin mentioned in particular this piece by John Oliver about the potential dominance of the Sinclair Broadcast Group: Over the past couple of weeks, Bitcoin has bounced … Continue reading "CO054 Kevin Gosztola on Media Consolidation"
CO053 Mike Buchanan on Men’s Rights
December 04, 2017 10:00 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MBMike Buchanan is the leader of the Justice for Men and Boys party in the UK, (and is a former member of the more mainstream Conservative Party). The party hosted the 2016 International Conference on Men’s Issues in London, in 2016 in association with the organisations A Voice for Men. The leader of A Voice … Continue reading "CO053 Mike Buchanan on Men’s Rights"
CO052 Lenore Skenazy on Child Hyper-Protection
November 13, 2017 12:15 - 39 minutes - 36.7 MBLenore Skenazy is an author, columnist, and president and chief blogger at Let Grow, a non-profit dedicated to overthrowing overprotection. In our discussion I mentioned Risk by John Adams, an excellent book on the topic of risk and risk-aversion. **************************** There’s something happening that you might not have noticed in the news. What’s happening is … Continue reading "CO052 Lenore Skenazy on Child Hyper-Protection"
CO051 Barrett Holmes Pitner on the New Jim Crow
November 06, 2017 10:00 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBBarrett Holmes Pitner is a journalist who has written for The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Daily Dot, and The Huffington Post.