Podcast Thread

Politics & News
1

Copied from exiled - I didn’t get all the discussion here, but I think I got all the podcasts mentioned and the formatting sucks. Maybe I’ll go back and fix that later.

I am in the middle of Dr. Death from last year, listen if you want to hear great journalism in podcast form and, as a bonus, hate our healthcare system even more. - Namath

The Dropout, which deals with Elizabeth Holmes, is also must-listen - Namath

When the hell is part 3 of Supernova in the East going to come out already? - alex

Crimetown - New season is Detroit, is good
The Shrink Next Door - interesting story of a sketchy therapist
Man in the Window - Golden State Killer
Case Closed - Both seasons pretty good, true crime, LFS

Against the Rules - Michael Lewis, tomrh3

You know about Hardcore History Addendum, right? In case you haven’t found it, it’s Dan’s idea of an alternate channel for stuff that doesn’t fit the mold of the full long-form HH podcasts. (And he’s basically given up on the Common Sense podcast for various reasons.)

Anyway, HH Addendum is not bad and in the last one he said the next Supernova in the East would be delayed because of various other projects he’s involved in. No timeframe of any sort was mentioned though sadly. - SensiblePerson

Ear hustle is a good listen. I’m learning a lot about prison life. - thehip41

I Don’t Even Own A Television - Some of these episodes are absolutely amazing. The one on Bill O’Reilly’s fiction book is hilarious.
In Our Time - A Radio 4 show in podcast form hosted by Melvyn Bragg. He’ll have a few scholars on and talk about a fascinating subject.
Revolutions - A podcast by Mike Duncan who previously hosted The History of Rome (which is also an incredible podcast). Covers various historical revolutions.
The Ron Burgundy Podcast - A must for fans of Anchorman
How Did This Get Made - It’s I Don’t Even Own A Television for movies, superuberbob

The Rewatchables podcast (Ringer) is incredible. The most recent one is Top Gun and it was fantastic. Best one before that was When Harry Met Sally. I haven’t listened to Bill Simmons’s regular podcast in forever, but this one is A+++ (spidercrab)

Just finished the 4th episode of the RadioLab series “G” which I thought was well done. It’s a brief history of intelligence, including how we measure it and ways in which it has been used maliciously in the past. Eugenics even made an appearance! It’s the type of thing that should be required listening for all the Charles Murray defenders and soft-eugenics chuds back at Polv14.88 (bware)

This isn’t political at all but Mission To Zyxx is a great improv comedy podcast for fans of sci-fi. (Trolly)

In Our Time is also really good for falling asleep to. Or of course you could always go with Sleep With Me, a podcast whose goal is to literally cause its listeners to fall asleep. (superuberbob)

I’m sure I’ll get dunked on for talking about the JRE but his interview with Dr Cornel West was interesting and entertaining. (thisslicing)

The Report mentioned (Devil)

1 Like
2

I listened to the ep 2 of The Report (if it’s not obvious, it’s about the content of the Mueller report) and I’m upping my opinion from merely ok to good. It goes back and weaves the news at the time with what we know now into a narrative that makes more sense than what I understood as we lived through it.

5

Big fan of On The Media, and I think many others here will like it.

Two non-politics podcasts I have to recommend: I Don’t Even Own a Television, which is a podcast about bad books, and Mission To Zyxx, an improv sci-go comedy.

6

I tried one of the few You’re Wrong About episodes that was actually about something outside USA#1 and found their patronising take on smaller countries pretty bad tbh.

Chapo is usually pretty good but also suffers from somewhat smug ideas about lolforeigners that ironically would probably find agreement in the current White House.

7

I highly recommend Ezra Klein’s podcast. Imo he’s a great interviewer, he is thoughtful, intelligent, and well prepared. He covers a range of topics, but recently I’ve found his episodes on media coverage of Trump and white identity to be interesting. I’m curious what other people think.

1 Like
8

For politics, I’m a fan of Citations Needed. Intercepted (podcast from The Intercept) is a mixed bag. Episodes unrelated to Russia are worth considering.

1 Like
9

Stumping for most of the stuff from the Puzzle in a Thunderstorm guys.

Scathing Atheist keeps mostly to issues revolving around religion and its impact on US politics. The Skepticrat and Cognitive Dissonance are both great, fun, interesting podcasts revolving specifically around US politics current events.

These all tend to be less deep divey and more humorous/entertaining than a lot of the politics podcasts out there, and we can all use a little levity from time to time.

10

Oh, and PiaT adjacent, Opening Arguments is my favorite law based podcast out there right now. Andrew and Thomas have amazing chemistry.

12

Ezra’s podcast is normally decent, but becomes absolutely unlistenable when he interviews insufferable jackasses like Rod Dreher. Fuck that was awful. I think Why Is This Happening with Chris Hayes is comparable but slightly better.

Huge +1 to Citations Needed–it is probably the podcast that has most often made me say “damn, that’s a really good point.”

As always, I’ve got to plug The Dollop–it’s history, it’s comedy, and it’s woke.

I assume most here either never bothered with the Crooked Media podcasts or have dropped them from rotation as I did. I held on to Pod Save the World the longest but got tired of that as well. Just want to mention them as they’re always cited as a lefty podcast but they kinda suck. I’ll also probably dump Preet’s podcast soon.

If you haven’t listened to Radiolab’s “G” you should add it to your list immediately. It’s a six-parter, five have been released so far.

2 Likes
13

Was a PSA fan but they’re really centrist establishment mouthpieces rather than really giving a fuck about progressive issues. Their stance on universal health care is abhorrent.

They also hired a guy who worked with a company spreading anti-semitic propaganda to do a spot on their show from time to time. When it came out that this company was anti-semitic, they bashed it. When they found out that somebody who worked with them was a part of it, they backed off their comments and all of a sudden changed their tune before finally firing him.

Their live audiences are super cringey. They clap and boo at almost every name they mention. Just insufferable.

1 Like
14

GG on the newest Chapo. SKIP

15

There’s usually a point where people become so successful that their output becomes lame.

16

Couldn’t get into Pod Save America, but I like Pod Save the People. Politics takes a backseat to sports and poker in my podcast listening and that’s the only one I listen to every episode.

1 Like
17

You’re missing some prime Glenn. I’m a little bit in, and Glenn is already saying only 25% of Trump’s base is racist and similarly 25% of Bolsonaro’s base was racist, elitist, or otherwise deplorable. The others were, paraphrasing, fed up with neoliberalism, the betrayal of the left by the worker’s party (PT), and a broken system just like Trump’s voters. He’s lying, of course, about Trump, but also way oversimplifying about Bolsonaro and Brazil as well. PT isn’t especially neoliberal, ushered in unprecedented economic prosperity and greatly expanded the welfare state. The real story is the super corrupt Brazilian rightwing using its power in the courts to ensure victory at the ballot box. Glenn gets to this stuff later in the podcast, but it just wouldn’t be him if he didn’t lead by defending Trump and blaming neoliberalism for the election of a fascist.

2 Likes
18

Only 25% of Trump’s base being racist is the sort of take which needs to be buried at Yucca Mountain.

19

Pod Save America is okay. One of the Jons just did an interview with Bernie that I enjoyed. They’re not really the establishment shills they’re sometimes made out to be. Their 2020 coverage by far favors Warren the most, and they criticize Nancy Pelosi, Biden, and other establishment figures fairly regularly. All of them advocate impeachment. I also appreciate the way they use their popularity to funnel resources and attention to certain races or issues. There are some seats in Orange County that maybe stay red in 2018 if Pod Save America didn’t exist. Agree with SUB though that the live shows are unlistenable.

1 Like
20

Despite what I said in this post, I do encourage people to listen to the interview. What’s happening in Brazil is fascinating, and the Intercept’s recent reporting on it has been excellent. Glenn really brings it to life in the Chapo interview, talking about his personal involvement and the very real danger he faces of retaliation.

I should also shout out the Michael Brooks Show (another podcast), which has been covering Brazilian politics for the last couple years, from a left perspective, trying to take lessons from the rise of the Lava Jato and Bolsonaro.

21

Anyone know why Dan Carlin stopped doing Common Sense?

22

I’ll add Hi-Phi Nation - a philosophy podcast that is more narrative than the others. A very different tone than Very Bad Wizards!

23

Dan once stated that he didn’t have anything worth saying anymore.

Also, his core member base on his forums are full-on deplorables and Dan isn’t.

EDIT: Were, actually. Apparently, he shut it down a while back.