The Fifth Column - Analysis, Commentary, Sedition

w/ Jonathan Rauch @ Author of "The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth." Senior fellow @BrookingsInst. Contributing writer @TheAtlantic. - I Heart Lizzo- Where Things When Wrong- Flooding the Zone- Breaking Journalism- The Humanitarian Threat and Moral Clarity- Cancel Culture, Information Warfare, Social Coercion- Truth + Checking - Greatest Leap Forward - Ibram Orwell- Bans, Martyrs, Inevitable Failure- Separate, Equal. Same Great Taste.Recorded: 7.6.2021Published: 7.9.2021

"Well, it's my show. So, it's how I wanna do it." - Joy-Ann Reid "I can do what I wanna do." - Bobby Brown"Whateva! Whateva! I do what I want!" - Eric Cartmanw/ Chris Rufo @ Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute -- Contributing Editor, City Journal- When Rufo Met Reid- The Art of Culture War- Activist Journalist- Critical Race Theory: Boardroom, College Campus, Neighborhood Preschool- Bans, Censorship, Pedagogy, Choice- Machiavellian Realism, Pyrrhic Victories- Classical Liberal Caution, Libertarian Naïveté- The "Last" Word- Creed Wars and Culture Wars- Welch Reviews Robin DiAngelo's "Nice Racism"- "Doing The Work"- Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable- Pro Criminal Justice Reforms + Pro Putting People Under the Jail- Broken PromisesRecorded: 6.30.2021Published: 7.2.2021

Kmele reveals his big secret!What on Earth is a "coupon Karen"?When Shaun Was KingWhen Kmele was king of Juneteenth Measuring the outrage economyMeasuring the wages of junk historyRacist car crashes"When the people fail, the concept fails"The end of Afghanistan (the war / the country) There's a perpetual riot goin' onAnother CRT digressionRIP to an entertaining, insane, narcissistic, possible murderer

New York Daily News columnist Harry Siegel joins TFC for the first hour to talk all things New York (with a focus on halfwit mayoral candidates jockeying to replace a halfwit mayor). But if you don't care about kvetching, NYCentric coastal elites, the back half of the show is, as usual, about how coastal elites are dumb, joyless, and boring. Something for everyone. - New York is back? Harry is back to tell us it never went away- Harry would rather be an effete, elitist jerk wearing his mask too long, thank you very much- The New York City mayoral race tells us nothing about America- The weirdness of Eric Adams- Check the crime, y'all- "Desegregating" NYC schools Harry Siegel Postgame- The increasingly annoying CRT debate- Defining truth in an era of lies- Pointless: the Joe and Vlad summit- More cyber war hawkishness from Moynihan (obviously) - The lessons we never learn from 9/11- The dangers of political violence--and of opposing (certain) political violence- You're wrong about Jeff Bezos's taxes

Florida is open for business, so The Fifth Column flung its masks into the garbage and headed to the Sunshine State for back-to-back live shows in Miami (coming soon to Patreon!) and a poolside recording in Key West (hence that hollow sound). Nursing hangovers and gasping in the heat, the lads stumble through the following pressing (and pointless) topics:- Those Miami shows were pretty fun, eh? - Wait, why exactly are we in Florida?- Kmele thinks Creepy Joe wasn't being creepy- The global minimum tax is dumb- Ransomware everywhere - This not wearing masks things is pretty great, innit?- COVID addicts, COVID miscellany- Kmele on the Fauci emails: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯- The end of Tiananmen- State violence works- And so very much more...

w/ Jane Coaston @ (Host, "The Argument" @ The New York Times)Take FourFrom Vox to NYT's "Rising Libertarian Star"Coming OutJohn BrownThe Black CommunityAppraisal of America'sRacial ReckoningThe New Culture WarAnti-Racist Classrooms and WorkplacesSlightly Off MicWhole Foods Edge LordPanics, Counter-Panics, Counter-Counter-PanicsRecorded: 5.28.2021Published: 6.2.2021

Radical HonestyA Year of (Racial) ReckoningLosing the ThreadGeorge FloydAmy Cooper, Christian Cooper... and the other dog walkers?Covering Lab Leaks and UFOsThe Death of TruthThe Myth of ObjectivityJournalism for the Real WorldBoston Basketball (and racial slurs)Trump Grand juryRecorded May 26, 2021

w/ Congressman Peter Meijer (R-MI)Crypto BloodbathUFOs -- or are they UAPsThe Jan 6th Commission (Part I)Lori Lightfoot Won't Talk To White JournalistsHomeless in San FranciscoThe White Man's Burden A Call from PeterAbout That VoteThe Revolt of the PublicThe FeelsThe Truth is Out ThereRecorded May 19, 2021

The lads (minus Kmele, recently felled by his second Pfizer shot) welcome Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, host of the new LAT podcast "The Times" and author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. Note that after an hour of Gustavo's trademark Southern California/Mexican smack talk--in which he defends Taco Bell, ruminates on "LatinX," explains "Tio Tacos" and "Chicanosauruses," and describes American ethnic tensions that don't involve white people (!)--Moynihan and Welch return to discuss the on-going disasters in Israel, the economy, and the Republican Party. Sure, everything is awful. But as always, The Fifth Column is here to point out just how awful and reassure you that it absolutely won't get better in the near future.Recorded May 12, 2021