Polidicks

This episode is releasing a little late unfortunately but that's ok because Jeb and Tim are largely talking about the timeless topic of how the 24 hour news cycle is turning our brains to mush. We explore a delayed conversation on Trump's Senate impeachment trial and Tim talks about the one book he read in the last 12 months.Book: Humankind by Rutger Bregman

There's one big news story this week and it's Reddit's troll war against Wall Street. Jeb and Tim chew over the finer points of a politically utopian vision of what this may mean (Occupy 2.0, anyone?) before moving onto discussing the Democrats' potentially reforming the filibuster rules in the Senate.~LINKS~Adam Jentleson's Kill Switch Indiebound & AmazonAlex Pareene's New Republic piece Fine, Keep the Filibuster. Kill the 60-Vote Requirement Instead.

We're back. American Political journalist/writer Jeb Lund and New Zealand comedian Tim Batt have returned after taking an entire Presidential term off to assess the damage and share what they've been up to in the intervening period. In this episode - Jeb can't bring himself to even bet on the planet being here in another four years but has been following the Church of High Sorkin that is the Biden/Harris inauguration with a glistening eye. He's also got the receipts on Matt Gaetz. Tim interested in the Senator Bernie Sander's new roles are Grumpy Opa who is a bit cold/Senate Budget Committee Chair. Also, what will come of the Republican Party from here on in (probably more of the same!) Will Biden live through his term? (Don't ask Tim.) And AOC blew off the inauguration to hang out with Teamsters? Cool.LinksTim's Worst Idea of All Time pilot for YouTube

This week Jeb and Tim chat about the first out loud moves from the Mueller investigation; the indictment of one-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his collague Rick Gates, plus the guilty plea of 30 year old campaign staffer George Papadopoulos. Also this week; What's that uranium thing all about? The importance of the GOP's tax reform proposal and assessing how much does Kevin Spacey sucks.

US political journalist Jeb Lund and kiwi comedian Tim Batt chat discuss the bungled operation in Niger leading to the deaths of four special forces soldiers and Trump's bungled condolence call to one of the widows. Also this week; Betsy DeVos is a nightmare that's finally starting to surface on the news as a result of rescinding 72 policy documents guiding schools on Special Education; a Putin critic's US Visa is pulled suddenly and New Zealand finally has a government!

Hollywood's dark underbelly has been exposed and Jeb and Tim discuss whether the Weinstein fiasco will lead to even more public airing of abuses by powerful men or stop dead at the ruined film executive. Trump's military moral authority is questioned, in light of him talking and joking while a flag lowering ceremony is taking place at a military base during a Fox interview. Meanwhile actual (terrible) policy is still happening too; This week, the continuation of Project Destroy Obamacare. On a lighter note, New Zealand still doesn't have a government and nobody seems to mind too much.

The horrific mass murder in Las Vegas won't change a dang thing about America's gun laws. President Trump is leading the way to no legislative victories in spite of the GOP's command of the White House, House of Representatives and Senate while they try one more bite at the healthcare apple before moving into tax reform. The Steele Dossier is still in play for the secretly still continuing Russia investigation by Rob Mueller and New Zealand's just had an election but has no idea who's in charge yet!

Jeb Lund and Tim Batt ATTEMPT to wrap their head around the Russian probe and the who currently has a lawyer. Apparently, at this stage, everyone. Meanwhile, the GOP are trying to cook up some policy by Papa Prez ain't helping when he calls the Healthcare bill "mean". The UK delivers another unexpected democratic election result with a Corbyn-led Labour party getting such a solid resort, journalists are having to eat record amounts of crow pie. Also, the two big shooting incidents - Philando Castile's murder gets a Not Guilty virdict for the cop who killed him and Rep. Steve Scalise gets hit at a baseball practice. What does it all mean?

Jeb and Tim discuss whether or not President Trump understands how NATO works and the wider question of whether Trump is a true idiot or acting an idiot for the benefit of the voting base. Also, climate change gets a limp wrist, France gets a terrible hand shake, the Pope gets dissed and journalists get body slammed. Plus a brief look at the future of Europe in a post-America led world, the Saudi-American relationship, an extended chat about the climate of being a journalist in 2017 and beyond.