A report from the Inspector General has revealed Trump’s claim that the FBI spied on him in 2016 to be false. We talk about what else we learned from this scorching hot doc.
Report two is from the Washington Post, about how American officials repeatedly lied and hid evidence that the conflict there was unwinnable. We discuss.
And in headlines: Golden Globe noms, the case of Cannon v. Shady, and Warren wins the war for transparency.
What time should you go to bed? Are you sleeping enough? Is Daylight Savings good for us? Is shift work really that bad? How dark is dark enough? Katherine Hatcher, who studies hormones, sleep cycles and circadian rhythms, helps Alie dissect her terrible sleep habits and talks about a magic tiny area in our brains that acts as your body's Big Ben. By the end of the episode, you'll be in footie pajamas eager to change your whole life.
In episode four of this five-part series on the Iowa caucuses, we take you behind the scenes as the campaigns prepare for one of the biggest nights of the primary season, the Liberty and Justice Dinner. Obama’s speech at the event back in 2007 gave his candidacy an enormous boost, but we’ll explain why the evening is as much about what you say as how well you’ve organized. Then we’ll consider proposals to change the primary process that would reduce Iowa’s influence as we continue to wrestle with the question: is this really the best way to pick a president? This series is hosted by Tommy Vietor and produced by Pineapple Street Studios.
Family members are grieving after a shooter killed three Navy servicemen at a Pensacola, Florida, Navy base. Details are just starting to emerge about the shooter, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi Arabian air force pilot training in the U.S. Heritage Foundation scholar Cully Stimson discusses possible motives and the FBI investigation.
We also cover the following stories:
· The Justice Department’s inspector general issues a report about the surveillance of Trump aides during the 2016 election.
· House Democrats hold another impeachment hearing.
· Sports Illustrated makes Megan Rapinoe “Sportsperson of the Year.”
You can check out the back story of Dixon’s first company, SiteAdvisor, here. It was built during a time when spyware was a booming business and browsers had few systems in place to combat bad actors. The company was acquired by McAfee in 2006. It's a great trip through the history of web security at the time.
Dixon next turned his attention to machine learning. He and his co-founders created Hunch, which worked to learn users’ tastes and recommend items they might enjoy. It was an early attempt to build the taste graph, a parallel to the social graph. It was acquired by eBay in 2011. Many of these techniques are now widely used across the biggest social networks in the world.
Dixon then moved into the world of venture capital. You can read more about the Crypto Fund he helps to lead and the new startup school a16Zz is launching to help educate a new generation of programmers and founders. Application are still open.
If you're interested in learning more about the background of Hashcash, which foreshadowed a lot of the ideas found in Bitcoin, there is some good info here.
This week, Brittany gets personal as she sits down with author and poet Bassey Ikpi to talk about her new book, I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying. In the book Bassey re-examines her life through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II.*
This episode of The Nod contains mentions of suicide and serious mental health issues, and may not be suitable for all of our listeners.
Perhaps against our better judgment, we once again return to the Adnan Syed case narrated so beautifully in season 1 of Serial. If you haven't heard our take on the case itself, you might want to go back and listen to Episode 107. Today, we're not discussing the underlying merits but rather what the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled and why the Supreme Court declined to review that decision. Love us or hate us, if you love Serial, you won't want to miss this episode!
We begin, however, with a look at how President Trump has reshaped the federal courts by the numbers. Is it as bleak as some sources say? Or is there merit to the counter-argument that Trump isn't doing anything much differently than his predecessors -- it's just that we're in the middle of his Presidency, so of course his effect is outsized. We delve beneath the op-eds to tell you what the cold hard facts are.
Then, it's time to describe exactly what's happened to Adnan Syed in the courts since Serial, culminating with a 4-3 decision in the Maryland Court of Appeals that was left undisturbed by the Supreme Court when they denied certiorari last week. What does it all mean? We break it down for you.
After that, it's time for a bonus mini-"Breakin' Down the Law" segment integrated with Thomas's fiendishly hard #T3BE question. If you've ever wondered about motions for new trials and Rules 59 and 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, well, this is the show for you!
Appearances
None! If you’d like to have either of us as a guest on your show, drop us an email at openarguments@gmail.com.
Show Notes & Links
We first broke down the Adnan Syed case (and Serial's portrayal of it) in Episode 107.
In the interview, Mike talks to sports journalist and author Joe Posnanski about the elusive Houdini. They talk about how Erik Weisz became the great Harry Houdini, how the man transformed himself from failing magician to famous escape artist, and the myths shrouding his mysterious death. Joe’s book is The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini.
Alyssa Mastromonaco joins Jon, Jon, and Tommy to discuss the Inspector General’s report, Donald Trump’s response to the shooting in Pensacola, Joe Biden’s confrontation with an Iowa voter, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg’s transparency debate, and Michael Bloomberg’s massive ad buy.