Matt Taibbi, author and journalist, drops in to discuss the state of modern journalism, why it's increasingly difficult to source news you trust, "soft" censorship, link rot and stories that disappear, the instinct to conformity that is an epidemic in newsrooms right now, and why eventually the mob will always come for you. They cover Matt's background, how he comes from a family of reporters, what he learned from his dad about how to treat sources, his 10 years in Russia running his own newspaper, how Americans don't have any sense of what it means to lose their ability to speak openly, the evolution of Substack, when the "subscriber bubble" will burst, the disincentives to doing in-depth, long form reporting these days, an audience's ability to parse nuance, their willingness to question their own motives, and why the problem with the rhino is the problem with everything. Check out Matt's Substack here.  
[Note: This is a previously broadcast episode that we decided to rebroadcast in honor of the Twitter files.]
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E212. Matt Taibbi Discusses The Failure of Traditional News Media

Bridget Phetasy admires grit and authenticity. On Walk-Ins Welcome, she talks about the beautiful failures and frightening successes of her own life and the lives of her guests. She doesn’t conduct interviews—she has conversations. Conversations with real people about the real struggle and will remind you that we can laugh in pain and cry in joy but there’s no greater mistake than hiding from it all. By embracing it all, and celebrating it with the stories she’ll bring listeners, she believes that our lowest moments can be the building blocks for our eventual fulfillment.

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Bridget sits down with clinical psychologist Jonathan Shedler and they discuss the challenges of finding qualified therapists, the division between practitioners and researchers in the field and the effects of that division, the lack of public understanding about legitimate therapy credentials, and the danger of the trend towards brief, "evidence-based" therapies that ignore the time and relationship required for true psychological change. They cover therapy as a collaborative process of deep self-discovery, the importance of nuance over black-and-white thinking, Freud's lasting contributions to the field, the impact of online culture, the overuse of therapeutic language, why therapy should not be a place to seek validation and empathy, how we need a a renaissance of insight-oriented psychotherapy, what to look for when interviewing potential therapists and the most important question you should ask them. 
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E287. The Biggest Mistake People Make When Seeking Therapy - Jonathan Shedler

Comedian Rachel Feinstein sits down with Bridget for a hilarious comparison of their lives. They relate over what disasters they are while they're both married to super-organized men, their confident toddlers, their similar moms, Rachel's fireman husband and Bridget's fireman brother, and why neither one of them likes to tell other moms that she's a comedian. They talk about their previous dating lives, their affinity for working class alcoholics, how their husbands keep them together, how Rachel got into comedy, and the mean nickname the kids in her class called her when she was seven. Check out Rachel's new special on Netflix, Big Guy.  
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W286. Rachel Feinstein Is A Semi-Famous Jewish Jokester

Clifton Duncan returns to the podcast to discuss the importance of creating culture that we can all share and the role the arts play in our shared experience. He and Bridget discuss the erosion of the spiritual well-being of our society, how art is what a civilization leaves behind once its gone, the effect that politics and political correctness are having on the arts in general, the loss of men and masculinity in the arts, and the reason good art is transcendent appeals to our common humanity. They also cover Clifton's crowd funded Thomas Sowell play, the backlash to making art more politically overt in one direction, how being a professional idiot is really difficult, why normal people don't go into theater, the importance of a live audience, and why neither one of them wants to be just another talking head. Check out Clifton's Substack here .
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Politics Is Ruining The Arts - Clifton Duncan

Comedian Carmen Lynch stops in for a hilarious conversation with Bridget about women in comedy, their writing processes, Millennials acting like they're old, how Gen X always gets skipped, how much comedy had changed, and what disasters they both are. They discuss living among the normies, why comedy is the antidote to being butthurt, how people need to be reminded of joy, being a late bloomer, why you're never really ready for the things you want to do, waiting for the industry gatekeepers, the next steps for their books, why they always want more no matter what level of success they achieve, and how they're all comparing themselves to Rogan. Check out Carmen's new comedy special Queef Week.  
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E284. It's Never Enough - Carmen Lynch

Adam Coleman sits down with Bridget to discuss his book Black Victim to Black Victor: Identifying the ideologies, behavioral patterns and cultural norms that encourage a victimhood complex. They talk about what motivated him to write and self-publish the book, how its success took him by surprise, how growing up without a father impacted him, the effect of not having a dad on young men, what fathers need to teach their sons, how his own son helped him realize what he had missed out on, how certain corners of the internet view competent men, the holes in right wing male ideology, and how there’s no path to redemption in the extreme forms of our political discourse. They cover the importance of resisting nihilism, the "body count" topic, why there should be more discussion around the male responsibility in the choice to have a child, his experience raising his son, why conservatives don't reach out the the black community, the upcoming election, how being super online distorts your perception of reality, why it’s good to be wrong every so often, identifying the hills you'll die on, if a return to normalcy is possible, and why employing victimhood narratives are dangerous because then people just wait for a savior. 
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E212. Matt Taibbi Discusses The Failure of Traditional News Media

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