We are joined by Matthew Knych this week to talk vaccines and vaccine mandates. We discuss the two SCOTUS decisions on the Biden Administration's mandates, as well the philosophy behind the government mandating vaccinations in general, and the new vaccination requirements in Boston (2:55-1:01:49).

This episode is all about reflecting on the events of January 6, 2021 and everything that has transpired since that day. We begin by talking about President Biden's decision to go after former President Trump in his Capitol Hill speech, and discuss whether former President Trump is the cause or the effect of larger issues in our country (0:35-36:25). We then debate the Democrats' decision to use the anniversary of January 6th to re-energize their push for voting rights legislation (36:48-1:07:51).

We close out 2021 by looking back at some of the stories that defined the year. At the end of the episode, we make the transition into the new year by predicting what stories might define 2022.

In this episode, we discuss the New York Times report that detailed the human toll of the aerial war the United States has conducted in the Middle East over the past decade (0:30-39:31). We then debate whether everyone's favorite senator signaling the demise of Biden's Build Back Better Bill is an indication of a failing democracy (39:58-1:02:11). Finally, we conclude by touching on inflation, omicron, and the conviction of the police officer who killed Daunte Wright in Minneapolis (1:02:31-1:23:58).

We have some real debate this week about developments in China and Russia and how the United States has responded to each (6:17-58:05). We then return to Massachusetts politics to analyze the effect of Governor Baker not seeking a third term (58:20-1:19:42), before concluding by discussing the tragic school shooting in Michigan and the life and times of Senator Bob Dole (1:19:57-1:35:25).

After a busy week in our court system, we talk the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, the Ahmaud Arbery verdict, and several other verdicts that came out this week. Ultimately, we discuss how much faith we have in our justice system and whether the verdicts this week strengthened or weakened our faith in that system.

We begin this episode by reflecting on the results from last week's elections and debate whether they were expected or if they are a harbinger of things to come (4:34-49:22). We then talk about the BFD that is BIF (49:37-1:11:46) before concluding with a couple of rememberences.

On November 2, 2021, Boston will elect its first female mayor. In this episode, we take a closer look at the two candidates, Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George. We discuss the backgrounds of the two candidates, their proposed policies, and what the election of either would tell us about the future of Boston.

We begin by discussing the fallout from the leaking of Jon Gruden's emails, and we zoom out to look at what his emails say about structural, systemic issues within the NFL and society at large (0:30-29:27). We then zoom in on a few incidents involving China, Taiwan, and the United States to see if there is potentially something bigger brewing (29:55-51:01).

After a month off, we are back to discuss the debt ceiling and all the machinations surrounding it (0:30-29:51), before touching on the fallouts from the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal and the January 6th House Investigation Committee (30:09-50:48).