This week, we're covering the trial of Chinese swinger Ma Xiaohai, who was arrested for violating Chinese laws against "group licentiousness" as a crime that violates good social order.

Demetria and Isaac continue their deep dive into the world of obscenity laws with a look at one of Japan's most infamous bad boys of porn, the AV director Muranishi Tooru.

This week (and somewhat late), Isaac and Demetria talk about the trials (literally) and tribulations of the great American comedian Lenny Bruce, whose boundary-pushing comedy landed him in hot water on charges of obscenity around the United States.

Show notes are linked here (Content note: While there's no visual material at the link that is sexual or shocking, some of the embedded content includes comedy sets by Bruce that listeners may find disturbing in their discussion of race and sexuality)

This week, journey back to the first murder case in recorded history (at least that we were able to find). Who killed a temple functionary in the city of Nippur? Why was it definitely these three guys? Why are we putting the dead guy's wife on trial too? Partial answers to some of these questions, plus lots of complaining about the lack of user-friendly scholarship on ancient Sumer, all coming your way this week!

Show notes are at this link

It's time for our first case on the history of American slavery, featuring the bizarre legal and moral mess that allowed black Africans fighting for their freedom to be accused of kidnapping themselves.

Our show notes are linked here

Come celebrate the big 3-0 with a con for the ages as Jeanne de Valois will try to get her hands on a 2 million livre necklace, and end up implicating -- and slandering -- one of the world's most famous and powerful monarchies.

This week, Demetria takes us through the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a prolific serial killer who used her noble status to murder peasant girls at her whim.

Join us as we demystify even more American history! No sacred cow of the American past is safe!

This time, Isaac and Demetria go back in time to answer the age old question: if Socrates was such a great philosopher, why couldn't he figure out not to drink all that poison? That plus long digressions about the nature of democracy and medieval theology (of course)!

This week, grab your tommy guns and fedoras as we make our way to Chicago to cover the meteoric rise (and equally meteoric fall) of one of America's most famous gangsters, Al Capone!