The Observations Podcast Observations Podcast

This week, we cover the response to the Israeli hostage rescue, and ask an important question: What's the proper moral context for military operations against combatants who flout their disregard for the rules-based international order? Bird Flu is increasingly in the news. Millions of chickens are being culled, and we're told that Bird Flu has made its way into other livestock and farm products, such as milk and eggs. How much should we trust the warnings of the same people who mishandled COVID-19 so badly?

This week, we have one topic: Donald Trump's conviction in New York.

In this episode, we take a look at some interesting international stories from the past week. Then we start an initial inquiry—which we'll have to take up again later—about the results of financializing the world economy.

In this episode, we discuss the latest activities in the legal cases against Donald Trump. We also discuss the upcoming election, and the Biden administration's general ineptitude, especially in regard to the Israel/Gaza conflict.

We start with an update on the YouTube situation, where one of our podcasts has been permanently banned. We then discuss Jared Bernstein, the man who is Biden's Chief Economic Advisor, besides having no formal education in, or apparently knowledge of, economics. His response to a Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) question was…interesting. MMT is the luminiferous aether of the 21st century. Politico--surprisingly--reports that the usual suspects are the funding force behind the current wave of pro-Palestine protests on campuses. The Biden administration's new Title IX rules are going to be held up in federal courts for years. Finally, Kristi Noem, in day 8 of the puppycide saga, has now suggested the Joe Biden should've shot his German Shepherd, Commander. She's pretty much destroyed any political future she might have been hoping for.

We received a Community Guidelines warning, and had a video removed from YouTube. The offending passage was Dale reading verbatim from a Federal Court opinion in a podcast released nine months ago. YouTube's moderation process, like their DMCA process, is unacceptably faulty. We also discuss how a Trump/Biden contest seems like a failure of our political system. Finally, Kristi Noem thought it would be a good idea to demonstrate how good she is at making tough decisions by telling us about the time she shot a puppy. And a goat, for good measure.