Beer And Conversation With Pigweed And Crowhill

The boys drink and review Old Blarney Barley Wine, then discuss pride month. During pride month, everyone on the planet is invited -- or rather, compelled -- to celebrate the sexual proclivities of a small minority. "It's a month that vomits rainbows, glitter, and dildos," Pigweed says. Sexuality is usually considered a private thing. It seems odd for it to be a gaudy parade. Something doesn't fit here. At first, the LGB movement was about allowing homosexuals to share health insurance and hospital visitation rights. Now, if you don't allow gay porn in public schools and celebrate when a trans person does a pole dance at the library in front of children, you're a bigot. We have lost the distinction between tolerating and celebrating. Tolerating wasn't enough. Now we have to have parades, because "silence is violence." Americans need to decide that they will no longer participate in the lies.

The boys drink and review Proper ESB, then discuss a speech against wokeness by a famous and well-known personality. The mystery speaker said things like this. “The fight for equality and against discrimination [has turned] into an aggressive dogmatism on the brink of absurdity, when great authors of the past such as Shakespeare are no longer taught in schools and universities because they … did not understand the importance of gender or race. "In Hollywood [the rules are] tighter and stricter than what the Department of Propaganda of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee did… "[Americans] push the parents aside and [let children make] decisions that can destroy their lives. [This is a] crime against humanity, and all of that under the banner of progress… "Some believe that aggressive[ly] blotting out [] the traditional interpretation of such basic values as mother, father, family, and the distinction between sexes are a milestone… a renewal of society… "[This is] nothing new. [I

P&C drink and review That Shiz Slaps by Aslin Beer Company, then discuss the amazing life and career of Sir Isaac Newton. After barely surviving childbirth, and being abandoned by his mother when he was three, Newton avoided his parent's advice to become a farmer and went on to be a student at Trinity College. He was a quiet and introverted student who spent all his time in his studies and work. Newton went home to avoid the plague. That's when the famous story of the apple occurred. The prevailing thought of the day was that heavenly motions and earthly motions were governed by different rules. Newton realized that exactly the same force that caused the apple to fall caused the moon to stay in orbit around the Earth. To work on his theories he invented Calculus! But Newton was not only a genius at math and physics. He was also a theologian, an alchemist, and made great strides in the field of optics. In order to maintain his position in English society, he had to hide his heretical theologi

The boys drink and review a disappointing homebrew, then discuss the 1st Amendment and the separation of church and state. The well-known phrase actually does not come from the constitution, but from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists. The founder's main concern was to prevent the federal government from imposing a religion on the individual states, which, at the time, often had their own established religions. Today we apply the first amendment to both federal and state governments, but that wasn't true for the first several decades of the Republic. The constitution has two relevant clauses: the establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a state religion, and the free exercise clause, which prohibits Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. The country has been trying to find the proper between these two ideals. The boys discuss.

P&C drink and review Haze Crafy IPA from Great Lakes Brewing Company, then discuss situations where Pigweed pointed out the craziness of a position only to find that the left doubled down on craziness. Body identity disorder is a weird condition where a person believes a limb isn't really his and doesn't belong. He wants a doctor to cut it off. But of course no reputable doctor would do such a thing. How is this different from trans surgery? We're seeing a movement that increasingly wants to accommodate delusions. Pigweed also pointed out that if a minor can choose to be a different sex, why can't they choose to have sex with whom they want. Including an adult. You're expected to be so repulsed by the idea that you jump back in fear from allowing minors to choose their sex. But the crazy left is going the other direction. They're starting to push the idea of allowing sex between adults and minors.

The boys drink a cocktail and discuss the significance of the Durham Report about Crossfire Hurricane -- aka, the persecution of Donald Trump The Federalist put it this way. “Imagine someone told you that in the run-up to a U.S. presidential election, the FBI tried to undermine a candidate at the behest of the opposing campaign by cooking up a false narrative of collusion with Moscow. “And let’s say this conspiracy implicated not just the FBI but also the White House, Justice Department, and CIA — and that nearly the entire corporate press went along with it, gleefully spreading the false narrative that this candidate was a Russian agent, running story after story of fabricated nonsense in a coordinated effort to ensure the opposing candidate won.” The first conclusion from the report is that Trump is vindicated * It was a witch hunt (no reality – based on false information) * It was politically motivated * They were spying on his campaign * It was an attempt to stop him from being elected and to under

After a quick skit by the Ben Franklin players, Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a French Toast stout, then discuss the production of EV batteries. The story goes that the planet is heating because of carbon emissions, so we have to move to electric vehicles. Energy drives prosperity and human flourishing. Right now, most energy is produced by fossil fuels, and agricultural relies on fertilizer, which requires fossil fuels. But there's a big drive to move all our vehicles to electric. The boys discuss the details about the production and disposal of electric batteries. They're not nearly as environmentally friendly as many people believe.

The boys drink and review a robust porter from Bell's, then evaluate western values. Western values developed from three major sources. * Classical antiquity * The Judeo-Christian tradition * Germanic customs Roughly speaking, "western values" include the following: * Democracy * Individualism * Human rights * Free speech * Free markets * The rule of law * Secularism * Rationalism * Liberalism * Capitalism When people object to western values, which of these do they want to discard? "Western values" are truths, not merely preferences. We're not making this stuff up, we're progressively discovering things about the right ordering of society.

With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Carlsberg, then discuss Candide as part of their "shortcut to the classics" series. The boys give a short review of his life. Voltaire was a pillar of the Englightenment. In Candide, Voltaire employs biting sarcasim against the idea that this is "the best of all possible worlds." Candide suffers through "one damned thing after another," but continues to have the sunny outlook of his teacher, Pangloss. Everything must be for the best. Eventually Candide meets Martin, another philosopher with a very different view, which allows Voltaire to have some debates between these two life outlooks. Leibnitz believed that this is the best possible world, because if God is good, he must have picked the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire thought this was ridiculous, and wrote Candide as a response.

With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review a Belgian saison, then discuss a few essays by Michel Foucault, who many people say was one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. Longinus gives a brief biography, then the boys work through two essays: "What is Enlightenment" and "Truth and Power." Foucault is considered a post-modernist. The boys try to unpack modernism and post-modernism, to put Foucault in context. His writings are difficult to read. Sometimes it sounds like complete nonsense. But a few things do come out fairly clearly. Most importantly, he believes that all of the things we think of as rational, self-evident truths, are actually dependent on circumstances and the changing fads and customs of a particular time. Foucault would reject the idea of objective truth. In many ways, Foucault contributed to the craziness we see all around us today, with "my truth," and the idea that everyone gets to define their own reality.

The boys drink and review Pigweed's homemade brown ale, then discuss nuclear war. They distinguish fission and fusion reactions, and how that relates to nuclear bombs and their development. After Word War 2 there was a mad rush to develop larger and larger stockpiles. Today, nine countries are confirmed as having nuclear weapons. But for some strange reason we seem less afraid of nuclear war now than we were during the Cold War. The peace seems to have been maintained by the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. But how does that apply in the modern world? Where is the biggest risk of nuclear war today? Russia vs. U.S.? China vs. U.S.? China vs. India? India vs. Pakistan? And what about Iran? If there is a nuclear war, will we all die? Will it end all of humanity? If there is a remnant, could they rebuild? What about nuclear winter?

The boys do a "nooze and booze" episode about recent events at Fox news while drinking homemade apple pie moonshine. In a matter of a week, there were several big stories in the news world. Fox News parted company with Dan Bongino, Fox News settled with Dominion Voting for an ungodly sum, Don Lemon was fired from CNN, and Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News. The boys discuss the basics of the Dominion Voting lawsuit, but spend most of their time on theories about the Tucker Carlson issue. Pigweed and Crowhill favor the theory that Rupert Murdoch didn't like Tucker's speech to the Heritage Foundation in which he painted modern political disputes as a fight between good and evil, and recommended that Americans pray for their country. Added to that, Murdoch may have believed Tucker wasn't a team player and was getting too big for his britches. The boys speculate on what Carlson might do next, and how it might affect the 2024 election. P&C also spend a couple minutes on the Bud L

The boys drink and review RAR's Groove City Hefeweizen, then review short selling, the Gamestop story, Sam Bankman-Fried, and FTX. After watching the Netflix "Eat the Rich" series, the boys remembered their interest in the Gamestop story, so they consulted their financially intelligent friends, Hansel and Gretel, to get up to speed on what happened and why. It's a fascinating story where "retail investors" who frequented the "Wallstreetbets" Reddit group stuck it to the institutional investors and caught them in a short squeeze. The retail investors sent the stock rocketing up, which was putting the institutional investors in a bind, then Robinhood -- the platform most of the retail investors used -- shut down all purchases of Gamestop. The story makes you believe the system is rigged for the benefit of the big, instutional investors. Along the same lines, the boys discuss the Sam Bankman-Fried story, and how he fooled the world with his phony empire built on pretend

Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review an IPA from Three Floyds, then discuss whether the United States should pay reparations for the evils of slavery. P&C agree that the concept of reparations is sound. When you harm someone, you should try to repair the wrong that's been done. They review some of the arguments for reparations and have sympathy for many of them. The idea is not simply that the ancestors of slave owners should pay the ancestors of slaves, but that the entire system was complicit in slavery, so the entire system should pay. But who should be paid, and how much? What's the limiting principle? Should we also pay Native Americans, or the Chinese, who were abused in the creation of the railroads? Can a group be held responsible for the actions of a group at some time in the past? It's almost impossible to parse it all out and unscramble the mess. Isn't there a statute of limitations?

P&C drink and review "Level Up," an IPA from a Yard's variety pack, then discuss things "everybody knows" that aren't so. You might be surprised at some of the answers. Here are the topics discussed. Who was the first president of the United States? Everybody thought the earth was flat before Columbus. How did "Caesarean section" get its name? Who was the youngest U.S. president? Was Cleopatra Egyptian? Was St. Patrick an Irishman? Did Atlas hold the world on his shoulders? Did Paul Revere warn the colonists the British were coming? Did Lincoln free the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation? Where was the battle of Bunker Hill? What is the Immaculate Conception? Did Ben Franklin invent the Franklin stove? Are Arabic numerals Arabic? What is a bellwether? Did Marie Antoinette say "let them eat cake"? Can castrated men get it on? Why do you only eat oysters in a month with an r? Who is the Baby Ruth c

P&C drink and review Double Nickel Session IPA, then discuss January 6 and all the hyperventilating about it. The over-hyping of the events of January 6 turned Pigweed and Crowhill away from the story. When everyone over-reacts, we under-react. Now that there's some distance and the rhetoric has died down a bit, maybe there's some ability to evaluate it calmly. First, Trump was absolutely wrong in his belief that Pence had the authority to not certify the election results. Unfortunately, some people believed it. Second, there have been some persistent lies about that day, such as the claim that six police officers died. That's not true. The lies and exaggerations were quite over the top. Calling the event an "armed insurrection" is absurd. If Jan. 6 was an insurrection, it was the lamest, stupidest insurrection that's ever been attempted. Calling it an attempt to overturn democracy, or destroy the Constitution, is such breathless, mindless stupidity that it beggars the imagi

The boys drink and review Bakalar, a Czech dark lager, then discuss the history of religious revivals in the United States, and their effects. They discuss what makes something a religious revival -- what are its signs and effects. What elements are essential and what are accidental? They review several of the great religious revivals in U.S. history, and mention some of their leading figures. Also, what causes a revival? What sorts of cultural situations tend to precede revivals? Do they come in a predictable rhythm? Do they always involve a fixation on the end of the world? There's also an interesting question of the different talents required for the revival and the people who come afterwards, who need to create lasting institutions. Crowhill believes a religious revival is the only hope for the United States.

P&C drink and review a dry-hopped pilsner from Nepenthe, then discuss crucifixion. Crucifixion didn't start with the Romans, and wasn't limited to them. The Romans learned it from the Persians, the Carthaginians and the Macedonians. But the Romans "perfected" and systematized it. Crucifixion was reserved for crimes against the state: rebellion, treason, and religious dissent. Modern research suggests that there wasn't a single way to crucify someone. Arms might have been nailed to the cross, or sometimes just tied with ropes. The feet may not have been nailed together, but sometimes nailed separately on different sides of the cross. The torturers had some liberty to improvise. The Romans used crucifixion to warn the population not to dare to mess with Rome. After a general review of crufixion, the boys speak briefly about the crucifixion of Christ.

The boys drink and review Dark and Righteous, from Jailbreak brewing, then discuss their recent experiences with destination weddings. P&C both attended Roman Catholic weddings -- Crowhill was the father of the bride at a wedding in Nashville, and Pigweed was at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, near Puerto Vallarta. The boys discuss similarities and differences in their experiences at the weddings, as well as travel, accommodations, and entertainment. They reflect on the whole package -- what they liked and what they didn't. On the way home, Pigweed had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to someone who didn't fit in the airplane chair. P&C spend some time discussing this frequent problem, and how airlines ought to deal with it.

The boys drink and review Lagunitas's Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale, then discuss the new word Latinx, and vacations. Our language overlords have insisted that Latino and Latina are inappropriate in our new woke universe, so they imposed a monstrosity: Latinx -- which makes no sense. Spanish is a gendered language, but white woke people in America figured they had to fix that, because those stupid Latinos didn't know what to do with their own language. Pigweed takes a woke, revisionist Spanish document with him to Mexico to ask some actual Latinos what they think of this Latinx business. They didn't like it, and stats bear that out. Latinos don't like it. What happened to the left's rejection of cultural imperialism? Pigweed and Crowhill also attended destination weddings, and discuss vacations in general, and their experiences.