Something's Off With Andrew Heaton

Gerrymandering is a fun, time-honored way to rig elections on behalf of incumbents and political parties over irritants like competitive democracy. In 2010 it became industrialized. Or, rather, digitized--which had far-reaching impacts on American politics. Heaton speaks with Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance, co-directors of "Slay The Dragon," a film about a major coup in American political history.  

After much personal thought and rank media speculation, I have at last decided to run in 2020. This episode includes:  * My campaign kickoff * One of the finest spontaneous vice presidential stump speeches in all of human history * My official campaign announcement and subsequent interview with Justin Robert Young on "Politics Politics Politics"  

The Culture War isn't between the Left and the Right--it's just portrayed that way because most people have been taught to understand all conflicts as Red Team vs. Blue Team. There's definitely a Culture War afoot, but the flashpoint and fault lines aren't between liberals and conservatives.

(SNFK) Comedian Mahesh Kotagi and playwright Jeremy Kareken join Friday Release Valve to sort out the week's funnier headlines, including a scientific report on the maximum amount of hot dogs one human could conceivably consume in ten minutes, what to do if your town is overwhelmed by polar bears, and the lengths Queen Elizabeth II will go to shore up her finances during a sluggish tourism season.

Rutger Bregman is the author of "Humankind: A Hopeful History," which refutes the central premise of Thomas Hobbes and countless pessimistic legislative agendas: that human beings are, deep down, selfish monsters. He joins Heaton to discuss how to build society for the majority of its cooperative people, instead of to counteract the few fringe sociopaths.

(NSFK) Comedians Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young join the show to go over the week's funniest, least-scrutinized headlines, including: *A Jeffrey Epstein statue *Fight over a wooden yard phallus *The Fembot actress *News from Russia

Daryl Davis is an African American musician responsible for de-radicalizing over 200 Klansmen and Neo-Nazis in his attempts to understand racism. He joins Heaton to talk about his experience, contact science, and the best ways to overcome bigotry. This episode has been corrected for an audio error which previously occurred. If you see two episodes in your player, go with this one!

(NSFK) Who steals an 800 pound Canadian radar camera? How can we combine foliage with opera? Comedians Turner Sparks and Mike Kaplan of the Lost in America podcast join Heaton to make sense of the week's underserved headlines.

How often do climate change discussions get sidetracked by doomsday porn or hoax talk? Sheril Kirshenbaum is the host of "Serving Up Science" at PBS Digital Studios, and a contributor at Scientific American. She joins Heaton to talk about tackling the subject of climate change scientifically, and coming up with rational policy objectives in response.

(NSFK) Leo Kearse, Scottish Comedian of the Year 2018, rejoins the program to suss out the week's better underserved headlines, from British citizens asking New Zealand to invade it to even more things that can get you arrested in Cambodia. You can follow Leo on his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp1hRBGoDHKSn4HiHIzkXAw

Jeffrey Miron is an economist at Harvard University, and joins Heaton to discuss the Drug War. If we legalized the hard stuff, would usage spike? Would overdoses? What's the balance of disruption to society against revenue reclaimed from law enforcement? Also: did Coca-Cola ever really contain cocaine?

(NSKF) Brian Sack and Jack Helmuth of the Questionable Material podcast join Heaton to go through the week's underserved headlines, from funeral planning involving elephants to an inexplicably nude death in Arizona.

Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been advocated in various forms by Thomas Paine, Andrew Yang, Milton Friedman, and Richard Nixon: a minimum income floor available to all Americans. How does it stack up compared to our existing welfare state? How would it work, and can we afford it? Scott Santens is a UBI proponent who has advised Andrew Yang on UBI, and is now senior policy advisor to Mike Broihier. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Gerald Huff Fund For Humanity.

NSFK - Comedian Myq Kaplan and professor/humor scholar Dannagal Goldthwaite Young join the show to plumb the week's underserved headlines, from flying turtles to Outback sex work awkwardness to the going rate for human souls at an auction. The latest installment of Friday Release Valve.

"Defund the Police" is the rallying cry of protestors and social media this week. Does it mean abolishing the police, replacing them, or reforming them? Scott Shackford of Reason joins to explain what the phrase actually means, as well as the looming role of police unions in the status quo.

Riots! Looting! The National Guard! Black Lives Matter!  In the first half of a special two-part episode we explore: What's happening? What are the problems erupting at present? And, if we can pin them down, how do we bring actual solutions to the table instead?

Comedians Marie Connor and Kevin Seefried join the show to discuss the week's underserved headlines, from jury selections on Zoom to night clubs that prohibit dancing to New Zealand's sheep hostages.

Dan Boren is a former member of Congress--as well as Heaton's old boss. He joins the program to talk about what life is like as a representative, pressures congressmen face from leadership and lobbyists, and how influential money is to the legislative process.

NSFK - Joe DeVito and Lou Perez join Heaton to sort out the week's underserved headlines, including the horrifying way a South Carolina restaurant has decided to make its facility appear more full, what videos to avoid while serving in Japan's legislature, and the best thing on the Internet involving ant hill thespians!

Why do some places pump out inventions and progress, while innovation lags elsewhere? Science writer Matt Ridley has surveyed the history of innovation, from Roman numerals to CRISPR. He's identified the factors society needs for innovation to flourish--and what it often does to smother it. He joins Heaton to discuss best practices for civilization and the history of inventions, all in his new book, "How Innovation Works."