Common Sense with Dan Carlin

By Dan Carlin

News & Politics

What's Common Sense with Dan Carlin about?

Common Sense with Dan Carlin is an independent look at politics and current events from popular New Media personality Dan Carlin.

Carlin's self-described "Martian" viewpoints infuse each episode with a political alien's take on the world around us and the problems it faces. It's a smart, unique (and admittedly U.S.-centric) program that doesn't dumb down the information or analysis for the slowest person in the room.

Carlin's rapid-fire staccato voice has been compared to William Shatner after too many espressos. That, plus his penchant for making everyone in the audience mad at him eventually, makes for a witch's brew of a podcast that is not for everyone. But for those craving a deeper intellectual analysis, a less partisan approach and unpredictable outside-the-box revelations, Common Sense with Dan Carlin is a feast for the mind.

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LAST EPISODE

Show 319 - A Recipe for Caesar

03.31.2020

Does a global pandemic help break the spell of our bitter partisan conflict, or does it just raise the stakes? In the first CS show in years Dan wrestles with the Zeitgeist.

Common Sense with Dan Carlin episodes:

03.31.2020 Show 319 - A Recipe for Caesar Does a global pandemic help break the spell of our bitter partisan conflict, or does it just raise the stakes? In the first CS show in years Dan wrestles with the Zeitgeist.
05.25.2018 Show 318 - For Whom the Bell Trolls You never know when you might get a little common sense unexpectedly out of nowhere.This is one of those times.
10.27.2017 Show 317 - Shades of Grey Dan is finding is hard to operate in a Black and White, Good and Evil cultural environment where everyone is outraged all the time about everything and where Americans hate each other. Where's the Common Sense?
06.18.2017 Show 316 - The Day of the Dove Politically-related violence in the U.S. heats up as talk of "Civil War" goes mainstream. What would a "Civil War" in the U.S. even look like? Dan has some thoughts on this and ways to potentially avoid such a fate.
04.30.2017 Show 315 - War on a Whim? There's a lot in this show subject-wise, but it's really supposed to be about War Powers in the USA and how events in Syria and North Korea play into the issue.
03.15.2017 Show 314 - Unhealthy Numbers As the GOP attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Dan ponders the dichotomy between what Americans spend on health care versus what they get in return.
02.14.2017 Show 313 - Get Me A Glass of Water Dan is in an introspective mental place in this show...but he may just drag you in there with him.
12.07.2016 Show 312 - Re-Connections with James Burke Dan has another visit with the always fascinating science historian and TV host James Burke. He also catches up a bit on early Trump cabinet picks and the Dakota pipeline protests.
11.10.2016 Show 311 - Trumped Post-2016 election analysis and discussion from a Martian political perspective.
10.13.2016 Show 310 - Or Else What happens if our nation's problems become too large to realistically imagine our politicians solving? What if voting doesn't help? Dan reminds us that he's not a moderate, and that you probably aren't either.
09.09.2016 Show 309 - A Bodyguard of Lies Secrecy, hacking, information leaks, whistle-blowers, foreign-operative propaganda pushers, disinformation, election tampering and the search for any truth in cyberspace occupy Dan's thoughts in this show.
08.14.2016 Show 308 - Return of the Podcaster After a brief hiatus to finish his other podcast, Dan has a huge backlog of material to cover. The presidential race, foreign affairs and racial and cultural questions take center stage.
06.26.2016 Show 307 - Revenge of the Gangrenous Finger This show has a "chickens coming home to roost" feel to it, but maybe in a positive way. It was supposed to be about the recent British vote to leave the EU, but evolved into something larger. Surprise, surprise.
06.04.2016 Show 306 - Disengaging the Lizard Brain Hate is a very strong word, but increasing numbers of Americans hate their countrymen. Is this a danger to the stability of the country? If it were deemed such, what can be done about it?
05.07.2016 Show 305 - A Catalyst for the Inconceivable Dan finds the idea of a Donald Trump presidency to be inconceivable. He also thinks a fundamental change in U.S. Foreign Policy is also inconceivable. Could one inconceivable outcome lead to another?
04.16.2016 Show 304 - Speed Dating For Delegates As the U.S. Presidential campaign veers into unprecedented territory Dan sees opportunity in the unusual circumstances. "Anger is an Energy" he says. And he says it AGAIN and AGAIN.
03.31.2016 Show 303 - The Way You Play The Game Redux It's not easy to get under Dan's normally flexible, see-things-from-multiple-angles skin, but Donald Trump's stated willingness to cross traditional American moral fault lines has done just that.
02.26.2016 Show 302 - Of Courts, Cooks and Apples Justice Scalia of the Supreme Court dies and CEO Tim Cook and Apple go toe-to-toe with the U.S. Government over privacy.
02.06.2016 Show 301 - Martian Perspectives In an election where political outsiders are exceeding all expectations, who better than a political outsider to break down the situation? Dan gives his Martian-style post-Iowa analysis and looks ahead to 2020.
01.07.2016 Show 300 - Trecenti Fantasies about electoral chaos, calls for political prudence and martian thoughts on an anti-federal government standoff in Oregon help stuff this episode chock full of what most of you love about this show.
12.09.2015 Show 299 - The War on Bad Thoughts A mass shooting in California is tied to an American-born Muslim.Can any defense prevent homegrown terror while leaving our rights intact?
11.14.2015 Show 298 - Innovation Acceleration and Jab Defense What began as a show speculating about speeding up the pace of technological discoveries morphed into a conversation about effective responses to the November 13th 2015 terror attacks in Paris.
10.18.2015 Show 297 - The Show That Should Not Be An audio playback glitch results in Dan not being able to work on the overdue Hardcore History show. This effort is what got completed instead. Syria, Russia and the Democratic Presidential Primary debates are discussed.
09.24.2015 Show 296 - Immigration Breakdown Dan tries to break down some of the issues and add some context to the arguments, nuances and complexities of the current immigration and refugee situation in Europe and the U.S..
08.07.2015 Show 295 - Trumping the Playbook Dan puts on his pundit hat to analyze the first GOP televised debate. Not surprisingly, while he's no fan of Donald Trump, he finds reasons to be glad there's a political outsider in the race.
07.13.2015 Show 294 - Backdoors to Glass Houses Experts have said that we are heading towards a future where privacy is dead. Do humans have any say in the matter? Dan talks encryption, personal security vs collective security, and dreams he has.
06.26.2015 Show 293 - Sitting Down with Sam Dan has an in-depth discussion with author, neuroscientist, philosopher and podcaster Sam Harris about terrorism, violence, Islam, morality in foreign policy and a whole lot of other things.
06.05.2015 Show 292 - Pandering for Liberty Dan has talked in the past about funding drives to get reformers elected, but this show explores a more "if you can't beat them, join them" approach to achieving public policy goals in a money-dominated system.
05.16.2015 Show 291 - Past Performance & Future Results Recorded to the soothing background sounds of jackhammers, this show talks about the electorate's collective memory with a bit about riots and partisan self-image thrown in for variety's sake.
03.28.2015 Show 290 - The Illusion of Control The ideas of secrecy, democracy, special interests and international trade deals are interwoven into this episode that uses the negotiations over two upcoming international trade agreements to highlight current trends.
03.09.2015 Show 289 - Overdue Analysis Dan has a couple of issues he's been meaning to get to...a bit about guns, a bit about Marijuana, a bit about everyone's Intolerable Oppression limits. He offers a bit of popcorn analysis on all of them.
02.20.2015 Show 288 - Re-heating the Cold War World tensions spike as the situation in Ukraine seems capable of boiling over into a larger conflict between Russia and the West. Dan blames hubris and political short-sightedness
01.31.2015 Show 287 - Black&White Questions with Cigarettes The subject of Income Inequality is shaping up to be a major political issue in the 2016 Presidential campaign. Dan has a few thoughts on the subject along with a ton of questions.
01.13.2015 Show 286 - Dissin' & Dueling Terrorists kill employees of a French magazine for perceived offenses against Islam. The attack highlights a clash of cultures over the limits of Free Expression. Dan examines the motivations and responses involved.
12.13.2014 Show 285 - Torturing our Values Was torture an effective tool in the War on Terror? As legislators in Washington debate the point, Dan stands up for timeless American values. Also: New deadly police encounters spawn more Ferguson-style protests.
11.18.2014 Show 284 - Topic Overload Too many things are going on for Dan to keep up. Midterm elections, Mexican violence, survivalist snipers and Taylor Swift's compensation for artists campaign overload this episode.
10.30.2014 Show 283 - Summoning the Demon This show has something to interest everyone. That is, as long as you are interested in Ebola or Artificial Intelligence. But who isn't?
10.13.2014 Show 282 - Kickstarting the Revolution Maybe it's the cold medicine, but Dan is in one of his Unify the Electorate moods. He ties a lot into it too. The Internet, Romans, Greeks, Cocaine, corruption and an unvarnished view of reality all play a part. But ...
09.23.2014 Show 281 - Controlling the Past George Orwell famously wrote that "he who controls the past controls the future". In this show Dan deals with the question of political and ideological culture wars on the teaching of history in K-12 education.
09.08.2014 Show 280 - In Search of Context As usual, no rainbows or unicorns in this episode. Instead it's a very harsh search for context that motivates Dan to discuss issues he's already discussed recently. But what's more important than ISIS and Ukraine?
08.20.2014 Show 279 - If It Even Saves One A police shooting in Missouri sparks unrest, and the paramilitary response is making headlines. Also, Islamic radicals in Iraq threaten the lives of many locals, how should the world respond?
07.09.2014 Show 278 - Uyguristic Perspectives Dan Talks to Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, gets his view on current events, discusses his Wolf-Pac reform idea and probes his thoughts on the future of media.
06.24.2014 Show 277 - Riding Chaos to Stasis The Middle East seems to be imploding. Dan thinks this is likely all part of a natural process of redrawing artificial borders and re-balancing power relationships. But that doesn't mean it's going to be fun to live through.
06.08.2014 Show 276 - Past Transgressions Imagine celebrities from the 1960s and 1970s who were involved in sexual conduct with minors in their heyday being called to account for it today. It's currently happening in Great Britain. Dan has some thoughts.
05.24.2014 Show 275 - The Specter of Dissent The worst nightmare of the global Establishment isn't Islamic terrorism, it's critical mass levels of domestic dissent. If that's your worst worry, wouldn't you use every tool you had to forestall it? Dan thinks they are.