In the past 12 months, there has been no lack of news. Editors at The Economist have picked their way through the rubble to uncover some optimism: which country has seen the greatest improvement this year? After fierce debate, the decision is conclusive. And our correspondent joins an unusual rescue mission: the pet railroad to a new life (17:00).
As news breaks that archaeologists have found the tomb of St Nick in Turkey, we check in on the North Pole Father Christmas, and fact-check his present giving schedule with advanced level physics and a Gant chart.
Plus, prepare for stories of reindeers high... despite their apparent immunity to their favourite hallucinogenic mushroom treats. And we burrow into Santa’s iconic beard to find any microbial magic that lives there.
And yet more reindeer magic, this time the mysteries of their amazing body clocks, which they seem to be able to switch on and off at will... AND we reveal Rudolf the red nose reindeer’s big secret. You’ll never hear that song in the same way again
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Phillys Mwatee and Camilla Mota
Producers: Emily Knight, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and William Hornbrook
Sound engineer: Searle Whittney
Today on Getting Hammered, we’re diving into Biden’s mental decline, which aides hid for years, according to a Wall Street Journal report, and Congress’s ongoing struggle to pass a continuing resolution. Don’t miss it!
In June 1609, two judges left Bordeaux for a territory at the very edge of their jurisdiction, a Basque-speaking province on the Atlantic coast called the Pays de Labourd. In four months, they executed up to 80 women and men for the crime of witchcraft, causing a wave of suspects to flee into Spain and sparking terror there. Witnesses, many of them children, described lurid tales of cannibalism, vampirism, and demonic sex. One of the judges, Pierre de Lancre, published a sensationalist account of this diabolical netherworld. With other accounts seemingly destroyed, this witch-hunt – France's largest – has always been seen through de Lancre's eyes. The narrative, re-told over the centuries, is that of a witch-hunt caused by a bigoted outsider.
Newly discovered evidence paints a very different, still darker picture, revealing a secret history underneath de Lancre's well-known tale. Far from an outside imposition, witchcraft was a home-grown problem. Panic had been building up over a number of years and the region was fractured by factionalism and a struggle over scarce resources. The Basque Witch-Hunt: A Secret History (Bloomsbury, 2024) by Dr. Jan Machielsen reveals that de Lancre was no outsider; he was a local partisan, married into the Basque nobility. Living at the Franco-Spanish border, the Basques were victims of geography. Geo-politics caused a local conflict which made the witch-hunt inevitable. The same forces eventually sent thousands of religious refugees from Spain to France where they, in turn, became new objects of popular fear and anger.
The Basque witch-hunt is justly infamous. This book shows that almost everything historians thought they knew about it is wrong.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
Approximately 3,200 years ago, one of the most momentous events in human history took place.
Multiple major civilizations during the Bronze Age collapsed within a generation. International trade ground to a halt, almost every major city around the Mediterranean was destroyed, and much of the world entered a dark age.
Despite its significance, this event is one of the least known and understood periods in human history.
Learn more about the Late Bronze Age Collapse and its possible causes on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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House Republicans on Thursday failed to pass their backup plan to fund the government temporarily. The bill’s demise left lawmakers with few options to avert a looming shutdown Friday, after President-elect Donald Trump and his ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk used their respective social media platforms earlier this week to blow up a bipartisan deal. Politico politics reporter Mia McCarthy, explains the prospects of a government shutdown just a few days before Christmas and the start of Hanukkah.
Later in the show, Melissa’ Murray, co-host of Crooked’s ‘Strict Scrutiny,’ recaps an eventful year at the Supreme Court.
And in headlines: Secretary of State Antony Blinken expresses optimism about an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Amazon delivery drivers go on strike, and Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual press conference.
The world's richest man trolls Republicans into a potential government shutdown right before the holidays and the curtain closes on 2024...and it can't come soon enough. We didn't win the White House, the Senate, or the House, but we'll always have the Pundies. Jon, Lovett, Dan, and Tommy are joined by producer Elijah Cone for our annual awards show celebrating the worst takes of a year we'd rather forget. Plus, the guys listen back to their old New Year's resolutions and make some new ones for 2025.
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.
For a very special holiday edition of What Next, Mary chats with Death Sex & Money host Anna Sale about the anthems they’ll be belting out the next time they do karaoke—and they take calls from colleagues and listeners about their own go-to barn-burners for this unsettled moment.
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