Centered From Reality

In this episode, Alex talks about how Fanny Willis, Fulton County’s District Attorney, should have focused on cases involving defendants without resources, instead of botching both the prosecution of Donald Trump and Young Thug. Alex breaks down the details of how Young Thug and his co-defendants mainly were found not guilty and why it seems like ambition clouded Willis’s judgement. Alex also talks about how the Ukrainian military killed a Russian General Igor Kirillov in Moscow on Tuesday. Kirillov was associated with using illegal chemical weapons and was found guilty of war crimes by a Ukrainian court just a day earlier. Alex talks abouw how this event could remind Russian citizens that the war is not as far away as some may hope. He also talks about how involved on Russian soil the Ukrainian intelligence community is. 

In this episode, Alex starts by talking about how he is disillusioned with organizations that are fundraising to help Mangione after he murdered Thompson last week. Then Alex talks about Spain for a bit and how it is a growing and successful example of economic rebirth in Europe. Finally, Alex talks about ABC kowtowing to Donald Trump and why it is associated with the idea of anticipatory obedience. ABC is the most recent organization that has apologized to Trump for defamation claims and seems to be getting close to the president-elect before he gets back into office. 

In this episode, Alex takes a break from Sunday football and talks about a fairly controversial election in Romania. In the first round of Romania’s presidential election, a fairly unknown, right-wing politician, named Calin Georgescu went from 5% to 23% in a small amount of time. He came out of the first round looking like he could beat the center-right candidate in the second round to become Romania’s next president. However, it looks like Russian-backed troll accounts helped Calin Georgescu gain support on social media, it looks like Russia may have interfered. Romanian election authorities annulled the election. Alex debates with himself whether this is good or bad for democracy. 

In this episode, Alex talks about mysterious drones over all of New Jersey and why both the federal government and local authorities are confused. The drones are larger and lower to the ground than most recreational drones. Some actors have started to blame Iran, aliens, and Russia. Alex also laments what Christopher Wray’s resignation from the FBI will do to our norms. Then he talks about the revealing mirror that Luigi Mangione holds up to our country after the UHC killing and why our country wants to paint a narrative about the motive without understanding the moment.  

In this episode, Alex starts with a brief overview of what is going on in the United States involving Trump’s picks for different cabinet positions, then he moves on to the Middle East. He talks about how Syria has been a proxy chessboard for many world powers for quite some time and he worries that the worst could be yet to come. Alex breaks down the different opposition groups that allied to oust Assad, he talks about why the Kurdish people are at the forefront of the conflict, and why Israel is on the offensive in the Golan Heights and other parts of Syria. 

In this episode, Alex starts by giving his thoughts on the murder of UnitedHeathCare’s CEO in NYC last week. Alex is concerned by some people in academia and the media because they have expressed support towards the murder due to the corruption of the health insurance industry. Rising extremist violence is only a race to the bottom, especially with Donald Trump returning to the presidency. Next, Alex lightens the mood for a moment and talks about how Hailey Welch (the Hawk Tua girl) has “Hawk Tua’d” all over her repuation after a memecoin controversy. Finally, the weak French government collapsed after a no confidence vote last week. The government was only in place for 90 days. Alex talks about how horseshoe politics came for the weak, centrist government. Both the far-left and the far-right helped topple the government. With inflation still high, pension costs rising, poverty rising, and foreign conflicts at Europe’s door, France is in a very bad situation. But hey, at least the Notre Dame has been rebuilt and is opening again! 

In this episode, Alex starts by giving an update on the Bird Flu (H5N1) outbreak. The USDA is now calling for all dairy to be tested. Alex discusses what is going on and wonders how close we are to a pandemic. For the rest of the episode, Alex re-airs a popular episode he did on skiing and price discrimination in the industry. The episode remains evergreen and relevant. After boom or bust seasons based on snowpack, large corporations like Vail Resorts ended up learning that they could charge different prices to different customers and make record profits. This led to overselling the Epic Pass (at a decent price), while also rising the average cost of day tickets. In a good season, this can lead to chaos and overcrowding (but profits), and in bad seasons, the passholders still feel obligated to ski. Basically, the ski industry has been able to increase output and demand (which is difficult in economics). Alex argues that this is why skiing feels less accessible than ever before but also more accessible at the same time. At the same time, price discrimination seems to be a new trend in the US economy and shows how the ski industry, the airline industry, and restaurants can make profits. 

In this episode, Alex focuses on the intimidation and fear that is alreading infecting many in the media, corporate America, and the federal agencies. He talks about how anticipatory compliance can be the precursor to authoritarianism as people with something to lose decide to be compliant over standing up and being courageous. Alex mentions Kash Patel’s “deep state enemies list”, Morning Joe apologizing to Trump, and much more. 

In this episode, Alex starts by trying to keep things light. He talks about the dangers lurking inside of New York City’s Museum of Ice Cream. Later he dives into the recent events in South Korea. Decades of democratic progress may be on the line as the country’s president declared martial law (under spurious circumstances) for six hours and erupted a political hailstorm as even his own party opposed the action. Alex talks about how this is a warning for other countries, like the United States, because crossing the military-civillian barrier can have serious consequences for democratic institutions. 

In this episode, Alex does a quick episode reacting to Donald Trump annoucing that he will appoint Kash Patel to be the Director of the FBI. He also reacts to Joe Biden deciding to pardon Hunter Biden.