CONCEPTEMBER continues! This week Danny and Tyler discuss the excellent album Lindeville from Ashley McBride and inspired by the character driven songs of country songwriting legend Dennis Linde.
The American dream is the most important of our national myths. It’s the idea that, with hard work and determination, anyone in this country can achieve middle-class security, own a home, start a family, and provide the children they raise with a better life than they had. Is that still true?
On the one hand, our economy is the envy of the world. We are the richest country, leading the pack when it comes to innovation. And more people choose to move here for economic opportunity than to any other nation.
And yet, everywhere you look in this country, there is a growing sense of pessimism. A sense that you can work hard, play by the rules, even go to college, and still end up saddled with debt and unable to afford the basics, like a home.
Americans were told that higher education would be their ticket to the good life. Now, there’s more than $1.7 trillion dollars in student loan debt hanging over a generation. Americans were told that free trade would make everyone prosper. But try telling that to the 4.5 million people who lost their manufacturing jobs in the last 30 years.
Perhaps all of this is why a July Wall Street Journal poll found that only 9 percent of Americans say they believe that financial security is a realistic goal. And only 8 percent believe that a comfortable retirement is possible for them.
Now, do those numbers reflect reality? Or just negative vibes?
Last week, we convened four expert debaters in Washington, D.C., to hash out the question: Is the American dream alive and well?
Arguing that yes, the American dream is alive and well, is economist Tyler Cowen. Tyler is a professor of economics at George Mason University and faculty director of the Mercatus Center. He also writes the essential blog Marginal Revolution. Joining Tyler is Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor in chief of the libertarian Reason magazine and co-host of TheReason Roundtable podcast.
Arguing that no, the American dream is not flourishing, is David Leonhardt, senior writer at The New York Times and the author of Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream. David has won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Joining David is Bhaskar Sunkara, the president of The Nation magazine and the founding editor of Jacobin. He is the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality.
Before the debate, 71 percent of our audience said that yes, the American Dream is alive and well, and 29 percent voted no. At the end of the night, we polled them again—and you’ll see for yourself which side won.
This debate was made possible by the generosity of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. If you care about free speech, FIRE is an organization that should be on your radar.
If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today.
It is an intuitive truth that religious beliefs are different from ordinary factual beliefs. We understand that a belief in God or the sacredness of scripture is not the same as believing that the sun will rise again tomorrow or that flipping the switch will turn on the light.
When someone pretends, they navigate the world on two levels simultaneously, or as Van Leeuwen describes it, by consulting two maps. The first map is that of factual, mundane reality. The second is a map of the imagined world. This second map is then superimposed on top of the first to create a multi-layered cognitive experience that is consistent with both factual and imaginary understandings.
With this model in mind, we can understand religious belief, which Van Leeuwen terms religious "credence", as a form of make-believe that people use to define their group identity and express values they hold as sacred. Religious communities create a religious-credence map which sits on top of their factual-belief map, creating an experience where ordinary objects and events are rich with sacred and supernatural significance.
Recognizing that our minds process factual and religious beliefs in fundamentally different ways allows us to gain deeper understanding of the complex individual and group psychology of religious faith.
Unlike other languages, English has borrowed and used words from a wide variety of other languages.
However, no other language has had quite the influence that French has had.
In fact, French was the language spoken by the kings and queens of England for centuries, and the rules of England couldn’t speak any English.
Learn more about the French influence on the English language and what English would look like without it on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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We'll tell you about new details regarding the suspected gunman in the latest attempted assassination of former President Trump: what he did before Secret Service agents stopped him, and why there’s now a debate over Secret Service funding.
Also, what to know about a historic (somewhat sneaky) storm that dumped record-breaking amounts of rain on North Carolina.
Plus, TikTok’s day in court that could determine the app’s fate in America, the biggest changes now available in Apple’s latest iOS 18, and all about Chipotle's plans to introduce robots in its restaurants...
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
Voters in more than 30 states will get to weigh in on elections for their state supreme courts this November, with 82 seats up for grabs. While state judicial races often get overshadowed in a presidential election year, the outcomes of these races have massive consequences on people's lives. It's often state supreme courts that get the final say on local abortion restrictions, redistricting and gerrymandering cases, laws that target the LGBTQ community, and tons of other important issues. Daniel Nichanian, founder and editor of Bolts magazine, breaks down which states have big Supreme Court elections coming up and where the stakes are highest.
And in headlines: The interim head of the Secret Service said the man suspected of planning a second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump did not fire his rifle or have a sightline on Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris met with leaders from the Teamsters in an attempt to win their endorsement, and Boar's Head is shutting down the Virginia meat production facility at the center of a listeria outbreak.
Donald Trump wastes no time blaming Kamala Harris and Joe Biden for the latest attempt on his life. JD Vance defends spreading lies about Haitian immigrants as a way to draw attention to border policy. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy discuss how Democrats can respond to the blame game, and whether or not to make the pet-eating smears a campaign issue. Plus, Kamala Harris does more interviews, and the Trump family plunges into the crypto business.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
In this episode, Rivers and Sam are hangin' out at Disgraceland Studios with the comedy superstars of both North and East Hollywoods, Peter Skobel and Kevin Anderson! We kick this one off with an energy drink that purports to have something called "Brain Steam" in it. Then we chat about insane security guard, an "infinite money glitch" that is actually just check fraud, and Bubba Sparxxx is our JAM OF THE WEEK! Tune in now. Follow Peter Skobel on Twitter @FollowSkobelSnax and on Instagram @SkobelSnax21. Follow Kevin Anderson on all forms of social media @KBAndersonYo. Follow our show @TheGoodsPod on absolutely everything! Rivers is @RiversLangley Sam is @SlamHarter Carter is @Carter_Glascock Subscribe on Patreon for an UNCUT video version of the show as well as HOURS of bonus content! http://patreon.com/TheGoodsPod Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt at: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod
