Counterweight with Will Chamberlain

Will Chamberlain
  • 3.5 (11)
  • Politics

Twice a week, Will Chamberlain sits down with guests who know their stuff on the subjects that matter most to the American Right: immigration, courts, elections, foreign policy, and whatever else is dominating the news cycle. Will Chamberlain is Senior Counsel at the Article III Project and Vice President of External Affairs at the Edmund Burke Foundation. X: @willchamberlain counterweightpod.com

Episodes

  1. 8h ago

    Episode 9: What AI Doomers Get Wrong with Curtis Yarvin

    Will Chamberlain talks with Curtis Yarvin about the AI doomer thesis, why Yarvin thinks it is more political and cultural than technical, and what actually matters for AI safety in the real world. The conversation also digs into hacking, biosecurity, institutional competence, and the sociology of the rationalist and effective altruist scenes. In this episode: Yarvin steelmans the AI doomer case as the orthogonality hypothesis, then argues it fails because current AIs have no real intentionsHe says smarter systems are becoming more controllable, predictable, and useful for sensitive tasks, not lessHe frames AI doomerism as a recurring human trope rooted in myths about rebellious machines and takeover scenariosThe Hugging Face incident is presented as a human negligence problem, not evidence of autonomous AI agencyHe argues the real government priorities should be cyber defense and biodefense, especially modernizing vulnerable legacy softwareHe makes the case for safer programming approaches, including moving away from unsafe languages and imperative programmingHe argues hacking is effectively a solvable, even “dead soon” problem if software systems are modernized properlyOn biosecurity, he says AI can help with pattern recognition, but wet lab reality is still the hard limitHe pushes back on the idea that intelligence alone creates power, saying physical, political, and institutional constraints still dominateHe critiques the sociology of rationalism and effective altruism, arguing that their worldview creates mission-driven overreach and political capture Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 Curtis Yarvin: Gray Mirror · @curtis_yarvin Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod 02:12 What is the AI doomer thesis? 03:19 Why AI systems don’t have intentions of their own 09:32 The Hugging Face incident and the sandbox failure 13:19 The real policy challenge: cyber defense 17:10 Biodefense and the limits of intelligence 21:13 Why more capable models can be more controllable 29:35 The politics and incentives behind AI doomerism 36:36 Rationalism, status, and self-perception 40:39 Security hardening versus restricting AI access 45:40 Politics, power, and institutional competence 53:31 Silicon Valley’s blind spots about Washington 58:43 Concerns about centralized control of AI

  2. 2d ago

    Episode 8: True Crime and Corruption in Chicago with Randy Barnett

    Randy Barnett: A Latin King confessed to a grisly triple murder, then told him he’d kill one of the victims again if it was a "sure thing." That exchange helped put the man on death row. Randy Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center and faculty director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. He has authored more than a dozen books and argued Gonzales v. Raich before the Supreme Court in 2004. Before any of that, he spent four years as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in the late 1970s and early 1980s Chicago. On Counterweight he walks through those years: Harvard Law to the arraignment court where he watched the John Wayne Gacy closing; Judge John Crowley teaching him what “bullsh*t” meant in a misdemeanor call; the bond-slip racket and crooked jury courts; the chop-shop case that exposed “Dollars” Devine and fixer Eddie Jensen; night shifts on Felony Review deciding, in police stations at three in the morning, which cases became felonies; the one-stab domestic that never became a charge; and the Juan Caballero confession that helped bring a death verdict. He closes with his take on the Lindsay Clancy mistrial and why the insanity defense gets criminal justice theory backwards. His latest book, Felony Review, is the record of that education. The stories are true crime from the inside, and they still explain how charging, corruption, and courtroom power actually work. Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 Randy Barnett: Georgetown University Law Center · Felony Review Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod Follow Counterweight (twice a week): Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Site: https://www.counterweightpod.com CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open — Caballero: “I’d a killed Michael for sure” 0:58 Host intro 2:04 Randy Barnett 3:09 Harvard Law to Cook County prosecutor 8:13 Judge Crowley and learning what “bullsh*t” means 13:05 Bond slips and corruption in the misdemeanor courts 17:47 The chop shop — Dollars Devine and Eddie Jensen 28:07 Felony Review — 24/7 charging calls in the police stations 33:17 One stab wound — charge or let go 38:12 Juan Caballero — the confession that brought a death sentence 46:40 Lindsay Clancy and the insanity defense

  3. 5d ago

    Episode 7: The AI Doomer Cult with Brian Chau

    Brian Chau: The AI doomers always believed superintelligent AI would become a malevolent god and wipe us out. People used to think he was exaggerating. Now they say it in public. This week Jacob Coxon’s Anthropic resignation thread went mega-viral, and Bernie Sanders is staging AI’s “extraordinary dangers” on the Hill. Brian Chau is an AI engineer, publisher of Effort.News, and co-founder of Alliance for the Future, the pro-AI advocacy group that fought Biden-era AI controls and helped unwind the institutional machinery that survived repeal. On Counterweight he maps the AI doom thesis—Yudkowsky, the orthogonality claim, and why every step of the chain fails—then follows the money: Sam Bankman-Fried, Dustin Moskovitz’s Open Philanthropy (now Coefficient Giving), Jaan Tallinn, and the Future of Life Institute. He walks through a Guardian story where the publisher, the reporter, the subject, and the experts were paid by the same donors; the Coxon amplification machine; anti-data-center funding; hardware kill switches sold as a China tool; TIME’s AI 100 with a majority of profiles written by Open Phil–paid journalists while Jensen Huang was left off; and what Senate staffers should ask Geoffrey Hinton and Ajeya Cotra next week. Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 Brian Chau: Effort.News · @brianchau57 Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod CHAPTERS 0:00 Teaser — they want to ban AI because they think it causes the apocalypse 0:48 Host intro 2:16 Brian Chau 2:20 Background — from AI engineer to Alliance for the Future 4:58 Coxon goes viral — who the doomers are 5:37 Why Chau welcomed the panic — now we fight on honest ground 7:41 The orthogonality thesis — and why the apocalypse chain is wrong 8:52 Their claim — AI becomes God, God is malevolent 10:53 Why every step fails — S-curves, narrow intelligence, the cult’s dark triad 19:02 Funders — Bankman-Fried, Moskovitz, Tallinn, Future of Life 21:43 The distorted media ecosystem 23:17 True believers vs regulatory capture — Anthropic and Amodei 27:48 Coxon’s thread as the product of the nonprofit machine 30:14 Cloaking the thesis — deepfakes, China, and data centers 31:21 Anti-data-center money — Singham vs the larger doom ecosystem 34:09 Why now — political timing more than sudden AGI panic 37:05 Policy endgame — treating NVIDIA GPUs like controlled arms 38:00 Kill switches — destroy the industry, sell it as beating China 42:26 TIME 100 — 58% of profiles paid by Open Phil; Jensen Huang left off 43:46 What senators should ask 46:24 YouTube ad bidding that steers recommendations 48:14 Undisclosed AI-doom sponsorships of creators 49:12 Effort.News — mining legal and financial records for the money trail

  4. Sep 6

    Episode 6: Suffocating the Iranian Regime with Richard Goldberg

    Richard Goldberg: America is winning the Iran war. The Strait of Hormuz is moving on U.S. orders, and the escape hatches are closing. The harder question is how you turn that pressure into an end state before Tehran finds a way to wait you out. Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He ran Iran weapons-of-mass-destruction policy on the National Security Council in the first Trump term, helped stand up the National Energy Dominance Council, and was sanctioned by Iran in 2020 for the maximum-pressure campaign. He has been one of the public architects of the blockade-plus-sanctions strategy now running as Operation Economic Outcast. On this episode of Counterweight, Goldberg walks through what “winning” means six months in: nuclear and missile setbacks, ships running dark through Hormuz, the cash crunch and gasoline rationing inside Iran, and why Treasury closing escape hatches still leaves a harder problem. How do you go from economic suffocation to victory without a ground war, and what should “maximum support” for the Iranian people actually look like before the midterms? Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 Richard Goldberg: Foundation for Defense of Democracies · fdd.org Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod CHAPTERS 0:00 Teaser — Hormuz on U.S. orders, hatches closing 0:55 Host intro 2:38 Richard Goldberg 2:57 What winning looks like — nukes and missile breakout 11:24 Hormuz no longer Iran’s — blockade plus Outcast 13:01 Ships running dark through Hormuz 17:27 Trump’s vibe shift — no more MOUs 18:03 Why the MOU happened and why Project Freedom went underground 27:53 Demining and whether America was stringing Iran along 29:02 The MOU as Iran’s surrender of Hormuz 29:51 Gas lines and the cash crunch inside Iran 31:27 How real is the squeeze — subsidies and the house of cards 40:10 Can economic pressure alone topple the regime 42:00 Maximum support — arming Iranians and naming an alternative 52:41 October surprise risk before the midterms

  5. Sep 4

    Episode 5: The Data Center Panic with Judge Glock

    Judge Glock: data-center construction is up about twenty times in three years. Of course the counties are panicking. Loudoun County takes about 45 percent of its tax dollars from those buildings and cut the homeowner rate by about 40 percent. He called it a free government. Judge Glock is an economic historian, the research director at the Manhattan Institute, and a contributing editor at City Journal. Judge is his name, not a title. He lives next door to Loudoun County, Virginia, the data-center capital of the world. This spring he wrote the Loudoun case in City Journal. On this episode of Counterweight, Glock walks through what is actually inside those buildings, why Loudoun became ground zero, whether other counties can still copy that deal, and why a local zoning vote will not decide the future of AI. The frontier labs spent a year talking as if they were going to eat half of the white-collar jobs, and maybe the planet. A lot of people are treating a county board meeting as a vote on the apocalypse. Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 Judge Glock: @judgeglock on X · manhattan.institute Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod 0:00 Teaser 1:07 Host intro 2:52 Judge Glock 2:56 What a data center does 4:11 Why AI needs them 5:14 Cooling and power 6:28 Construction jobs 8:41 Neighbors 12:56 The twenty-times boom 15:14 Loudoun 19:34 Loudoun pushback 21:54 Who pays for power 24:06 Can other counties copy 25:18 Where the backlash comes from 28:55 How counties should bargain 32:15 Federalism 35:47 AI doom talk

  6. Sep 1

    Episode 4: Why The Right Shouldn't Turn on Flock with Rahul Sidhu

    Rahul Sidhu: a San Francisco gangster said Flock cameras and drones ended his drive-bys. The Right turned on the company anyway. Rahul Sidhu was a Los Angeles cop, then a reserve officer. He founded Aerodome, sold it to Flock Safety, and is now Flock's chief strategy officer. Flock puts cameras at public intersections in more than 6,000 communities. The cameras read plates, not faces. The city owns the data. Sidhu says the systems helped find more than 10,000 missing people in 2025 and supported more than a million criminal investigations. On this episode of Counterweight, Sidhu walks through why agencies buy Flock, why a warrant on every plate search would collapse case clearance, and the Milwaukee cop who ran a girlfriend's plate 124 times. He says officers already abused DMV and criminal-history databases. Flock is the system that leaves a log. The company has no ICE contract. Local agencies that want to share with ICE can share. He wants audits written into law and jail time for the officers who abuse the tool. He does not want the cameras taken down. Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 Rahul Sidhu: @rahul on X Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Flock Safety and Rahul Sidhu 02:39 Rahul's Background and Flock's Mission 04:41 How Flock's ALPR Cameras Work 05:16 Hardware vs Software in Flock’s Products 07:24 Flock's Positive Impact on Public Safety 09:07 Why Flock Became News: Controversies and Criticisms 11:07 Political and Public Concerns About Flock 13:04 Regulation, Law, and Privacy Debates 17:42 Common Critiques: Abuse, Misuse, and Misunderstanding 22:15 AI and Auditing for Police Accountability 27:26 Data Privacy, Ownership, and Sharing Policies 30:24 Use of Flock Data in Different Jurisdictions 36:27 Flock's Capabilities During Emergencies and Lockdowns 38:50 Addressing Concerns of Data Abuse and Government Overreach 45:01 Conservative Perspectives and Misunderstandings 48:29 Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts

  7. Aug 27

    Episode 3: The Amnesty Trap with Mike Howell

    Mike Howell: The Amnesty Lobby is coming for Trump - pushing farm worker amnesty and the DIGNIDAD Act into the midterms. Trump needs to stand firm. Mike Howell is president of the Oversight Project at itsyourgov.org, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, and a partner in the Mass Deportation Coalition. He is a Virginia lawyer, a Duke and Emory Law graduate, a former House and Senate oversight counsel, and the first Trump administration’s chief legal point of contact at DHS for congressional investigations. On this episode of Counterweight, Howell walks through the machinery that keeps a real deportation program from scaling. A Senate that treats interior enforcement as a favor to trade. An ICE pause on vehicle stops after Susan Collins called it in. Religious-in-name-only NGOs that still siphon money after Kristi Noem cut the main pipes. An immigration bar that files a habeas petition every time an alien is arrested. The legal fights on no-bond detention and TPS are real. The numbers problem is still a numbers problem. Howell’s midterm advice is worksite enforcement, sanctuary farms and factories on notice, and no victory lap that hands Washington a Gang of Eight sequel. Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 Mike Howell: @MHowellTweets on X · Oversight Project @ItsYourGov · itsyourgov.org · massdeportation.com Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod 0:00 Intro 0:10 Teaser 1:08 Host intro 2:29 Mike Howell 4:27 Who sets the frame 6:23 Sanctuary cars 13:30 Detention and the courts 18:32 Midterms and worksites 23:21 The NGO machine 31:30 The amnesty trap

  8. Aug 24

    Episode 2: Derek Chauvin's Innocence with TJ Harker

    Former prosecutor TJ Harker: Derek Chauvin is affirmatively innocent. Minnesota changed its theory of George Floyd’s death in the middle of the trial. American Scapegoat ships October 27 from Passage Press. TJ Harker spent twenty years as a lawyer. A graduate of Michigan Law, he served as a New Jersey deputy attorney general and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee. He prosecuted billion dollar frauds and espionage cases. He wrote a law review article arguing that prosecutors, in the main, do their jobs honestly. Then he dug into the Chauvin file and concluded the case never should have been brought. On this episode of Counterweight, Harker walks through what the State actually did. Prosecutors ruled out an air choke the day after George Floyd died — the autopsy showed no damage to the neck. They rode a blood-choke theory through opening statements, then dropped it after their own witnesses said you cannot kill a man, or even knock him out, by compressing one carotid artery. Mid-trial they pivoted to positional asphyxia, the theory they had already disclaimed in the charging complaint. Hennepin County’s medical examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker, did not agree with asphyxiation, carotid compression, or positional asphyxia. The first two county prosecutors withdrew rather than charge second-degree murder. Harker’s finding: Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death. A federal pardon leaves the Minnesota sentence standing. The book is the case for the public. Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 TJ Harker: @TJ_Harker on X · Amicus Republicae on Substack Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod 0:00 Teaser 0:46 Intro 3:01 TJ Harker 6:27 Why he wrote the book 8:51 The State changed its theory of George Floyd's Death 14:37 The blood choke theory collapses 20:05 The prosecutors who withdrew 24:04 Tobin's fanciful positional asphyxia theory 33:22 How "neck compression" ended up in the autopsy 45:05 How Floyd actually died 49:50 The EMS delay 53:10 What now for Chauvin? 59:34 American Scapegoat

  9. Aug 20

    Episode 1: The Strait of Hormuz with Tom Sauer

    The very first episode of Counterweight focuses on the Strait of Hormuz and American military operations in Iran. The conversation starts by going over guest Tom Sauer's background in Navy explosive ordinance disposal and the role it plays in dealing with problems like naval mining. It delves into the threat of naval mining, the efforts to clear and render safe explosive hazards, and the impact of naval mining on shipping and naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz. It also discusses the negotiation dynamics, the impact of mine clearance on shipping, and the role of the US Navy in enforcing a blockade. The conversation covers a range of topics including the impact of American operations on Iran, the effectiveness of naval blockades, reindustrialization and the strategic considerations of potential conflicts with China. It also delves into the role of technology in modern warfare and the importance of learning from small punitive wars. Takeaways Naval mining poses a significant threat to naval assets and shipping, with mines being cheap, patient, and difficult to clear.The efforts to clear and render safe naval mines have a significant impact on shipping and naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz, influencing insurance premiums and trade dynamics.The negotiation dynamics and the impact of mine clearance on shipping are intertwined, with the US Navy playing a crucial role in enforcing a blockade and ensuring safe transit paths for shipping. Impact of military actions on IranEffectiveness of naval presenceNeed for reindustrialization of munitionsStrategic considerations of potential conflicts with ChinaRole of technology in modern warfareImportance of learning from small punitive wars Chapters 00:00 Tom's Background in Navy EOD02:59 The Threat of Naval Mining05:46 Impact of Mine Clearance on Shipping19:57 Negotiation Dynamics and Blockade Enforcement27:59 The Impact of American Operations on Iran32:30 The Effectiveness of the American Blockade36:25 Reindustrialization of Munitions40:19 Strategic Considerations vis-a-vis China46:24 The role of Technology in Modern Warfare48:47 The Importance of Learning from Smaller Wars

  • 9 Episodes

3.5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Twice a week, Will Chamberlain sits down with guests who know their stuff on the subjects that matter most to the American Right: immigration, courts, elections, foreign policy, and whatever else is dominating the news cycle. Will Chamberlain is Senior Counsel at the Article III Project and Vice President of External Affairs at the Edmund Burke Foundation. X: @willchamberlain counterweightpod.com

Information

  • Creator
    Will Chamberlain
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    9
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Will Chamberlain