Curmudgeon's Corner

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, Ed joins Sam for a discussion on the disaster response in Puerto Rico, the tax reform debate, and the hubbub over NFL players kneeling for the anthem. In addition to those major topics, they also discuss the Trump administrations ongoing approach to Obamacare, energy usage trends, Secretary Price's private plane flights, a movie Sam saw, and more!

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-09-30

Length this week - 1:35:00

(0:00:15-0:07:12) But First

No Ivan

Agenda

Friendly Skies

(0:07:49-0:25:07) Puerto Rico

What is an island?

Situation getting worse

USNS Comfort

Military help?

Less attention

(0:25:48-0:48:46) Taxes

Obamacare Repeal done?

Simplification and reform

Cutting taxes

Sustainable growth

Wealth Distribution

Bipartisan approach possible?

Partisan gridlock

(0:49:55-1:06:36) Kneeling

What kneeling represents

What is being protested

Where is the right place?

Non-violence

Trump's intentions

Time for legislation?

(1:08:36-1:34:40) Potpourri

Obamacare sabotage

Obamacare fixes?

Julia Louis-Dreyfus cancer

Energy usage trends

Movie: An Inconvenient Sequel (2017)

Approaches to climate change

Artificial barriers to solar

Secretary Price flights

Deficit spending

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan talk about Hurricane Maria, the Mexican earthquake, and all the latest Manafort news. Then they move onto a lightning round, with shorter bits on Trump at the UN, Trump vs ESPN, North Korea, Cassini, the Clinton Book, and more!

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-09-21

Length this week - 2:04:19

(0:00:40-0:11:28) But First

Agenda

Time zone challenges

Naps

(0:12:05-0:42:08) Natural Disasters

Hurricane Maria

Mexican Earthquake

Back to the hurricane

(0:42:47-1:11:13) Manafort

Four Stories

Manafort's history

Meuller's strategy

(1:12:33-2:03:59) Lightning Round

Movie: Cars 3 (2017)

Trump at the UN

North Korea

Trump and ESPN

Cassini

Clinton Book

iPhone Repair

Healthcare comes at you fast

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

On Curmudgeon's Corner this week, Sam and Ivan review the impacts of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and compare to what Katrina looked like 12 years ago. Then they dive into politics, looking at Trumps latests dalliances with the Democrats and what should or should not be read into that, followed by a discussion on the latest efforts on healthcare from both the Republican and Democratic side. Then at the end, a discussion of this week's Apple announcements.

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-09-16

Length this week - 2:15:01

Turning 46

Agenda

Concorde

Irma in Florida

Irma in the Islands

Harvey and Irma vs Katrina

Weathering the storm

Nursing Home deaths

Making Deals

Schadenfreude

Transactional Trump

Is Trump Republican?

Democrats too happy?

Will this turn the R's?

He told you!

Equifax Tidbit

Bernie Plan

Graham-Cassidy

Fixing ACA?

Give Trump a win?

Apple Watch

AppleTV

iPhone 8

iPhone X

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

The week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan talk about Ivan's evacuation from Florida in anticipation of Hurricane Irma, more general thoughts on Hurricane Irma as it approaches Florida, Trump's recent moves that are making Congressional Republicans upset, Information Warfare in the age of Facebook and Twitter, and finally the Equifax data breach.

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-09-09

Length this week - 1:54:32

(0:00:30-0:40:39) Hurricane Irma

Agenda

Ivan's Evacuation

Irma's size

pre-Florida Irma damage

Forecast uncertainty

Florida vs Texas

Evacuation decisions

Hurricanes and climate change

Preparations

One location vs another

(0:41:15-1:06:07) Trump vs Republicans

Pivot!

DACA

Debt Limit

Congressional reaction

Possibilities for centrist policies

Trump the Democrat?

Trusting Trump

Lack of understanding

Independant Trump?

(1:08:05-1:34:56) Facebook and Russians

Eric interlude

What Russians bought

Facebook reach per dollar

Facebook disclosure

Information warfare

Information bubbles

Reporting rules

(1:36:06-1:54:13) Equifax

Taking security seriously

Equifax data and impact

Privacy is dead

Informed consent?

Security is too annoying

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

On Curmudgeon's Corner this week guest cohost Ed joins Sam to discuss Hurricane Harvey, the pardon of Sheriff Joe, Schneiderman teaming up with Mueller, gerrymandering, and partisan sorting as their bigger topics. But they also touch on Sam wearing a suit for the first time in over a decade, the speakers at the event he went to, and the possibility of just paying Democrats to move to red states.

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-08-31

Length this week - 1:59:04

(0:01:30-0:29:19) But First

Agenda

Ed's athletics

Sam in a suit

Dem fundraiser speakers

Addition vs subtraction

(0:29:55-1:01:38) Hurricane Harvey

The damage

Nobody predicted?

Evacuation decisions

Planning for foods

Reactions to climate change

Trump's visit

Asian flooding

(1:02:47-1:26:00) Trump Stuff

Sheriff Joe

Schneiderman and Mueller

Moscow Trump Tower

(1:26:39-1:58:44) Gerrymandering and Such

The basics

Pennsylvania

Hard to change

But I like mine

Partisan sorting

Pay people to move?

Realignment

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan's main topics are the Republican Civil War that is brewing, and various Trump administration mini-scandals from the last week. But they also spend some time on the solar eclipse, MacBook Pros, Powerball, the military transgender ban, if Trump will have a primary challenger in 2020, the recent Navy crashes, Trump's Arizona speech, and more!

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-08-24

Length this week - 2:12:05

(0:00:36-0:28:02) But First

Agenda

Sam and the Eclipse

Ode to Macbook Pro

Powerball

(0:28:46-1:01:15) Republican Civil War

McConnell article

Cracks in the wall

Obstruction of Congress

Approval ratings

Trump agenda

Congressional agenda

(1:02:58-1:35:57) Mini-Scandals

Carl Icahn

Ryan Zinke

Louise Linton

Steven Mnuchin

Secret Service

Ben Carson

(1:36:36-2:11:45) Lightning Round

Movie: The Jungle Book (1967)

Military Transgender Ban

2020 primary challenge for Trump?

Navy Crashes

Trump's Arizona speech

Unstable Trump

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner, guest host Brandy joins Sam to talk about this week's news. The main topics for the week are of course the events in Charlottesville, everybody's reactions to Charlottesville, the reactions to the reactions to Charlottesville, and the debate over Nazis and free speech. In addition, they also discuss Bannon's departure, what that means to the administration, if we're heading toward an invocation of the 25th amendment, Bannon's "war"... and if the left should double down on their base or try to reach the Obama voters who flipped to Trump in 2016... and a few other things too.

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-08-19

Length this week - 2:26:15

(0:00:17-0:20:30) But First

Agenda

Intro to Brandy

Base vs Middle

Why Fire District?

(0:21:15-1:14:42) Charlottesville

What happened?

Why is this different?

Motivating resistance

Has Trump done damage?

Trump's reactions

Trump racist himself?

Why is anyone surprised?

Trump vs Pence

What can R's do?

What's next?

Provoking violence

(1:15:48-2:03:00) Free Speech and Nazis

Disclaimer

Why Charlottesville isn't a good example

Sam and Ivan conversation

Sam gets extreme on free speech

What about politicians and war?

Who gets to decide?

Judging entire groups

Actual speech vs symbols and code words

What about private speech, newspapers, websites?

Limits on government

How big is the threat?

Old doesn't mean good

(2:04:08-2:25:55) Bannon Out

Chaos or Improvement?

Kelly in control?

Trump and his Staff

Controlling Trump

25th Amendment

Bannon declaring war

Everything messy

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan talk about North Korea, that Google document, Venezuela, the raid on Manafort, the latest from Trump, a book Sam read, and more! Oh, and we announce a Slack for the show. Enjoy!

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-08-11

Length this week - 1:39:50

(0:00:30-0:10:54) But First

Agenda

Show Slack

Tired and Sleepy

(0:12:41-0:40:05) North Korea

Fire and Fury

Bluffing

25th Amendment

High Risk

Containment

Trump Engagement

(0:40:51-1:02:12) Google Doc

Lip Service

Distributions

Ivan's Evolution

Should he have been fired?

What if this was external?

(1:03:33-1:39:30) Lightning Round

Venezuela

Book: Spam (2013)

Manafort Raid

Leaks and Infighting

Trump Statements

Divisions on the left

New download record

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner Sam and Ivan work their way through the very busy news of the last week. Scaramucci. Healthcare. Priebus. Kelly. North Korea. Trump. Russia. Flake. Democratic Purity. Oh yeah, and the results of Sam's wife's local election. They cover it all!

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-08-03

Length this week - 2:16:06

(0:00:59-0:25:04) But First

(0:26:38-0:41:04) Scaramucci

(0:42:13-1:06:12) Healthcare

(1:07:32-1:20:41) Priebus to Kelly

(1:21:56-1:31:36) North Korea

(1:32:20-1:51:06) Trump Scandals

(1:52:07-2:15:45) Allies and Purity

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan talk healthcare (recorded before McCain killed it, oops), the Spicer to Scaramucci transition (recorded before Scaramucci's New Yorker rant, oops again), the Trump vs Sessions battle, and Kushner's testimony. But they also talk about the Charlie Gard case, data tethering, Ivan's treating himself after getting a new job, some TV stuff, Sam's wife's run for office, and even more! Another big full show as usual!

Show Details:

Recorded 2017-07-27

Length this week - 2:14:12

(0:02:15-0:31:26) But First

Agenda

Intro Length and Show Length

Tethering and HBO

Ivan's new job

Ivan fails

Ivan glasses again

Ivan's Treat

(0:33:08-0:57:12) Healthcare

McCain and the MTP

Sausage making

Republican no-win scenario

What comes next?

Skinny repeal

(1:01:31-1:40:43) Trump Administration

Spicer Out, Scaramucci In

Trump vs Sessions

Kushner Testimony

Who is cooperating?

Ongoing drama

Trump misdirection?

(1:41:28-2:13:50) Lightning Round

TV: Class (2016)

Charlie Gard

Trump and the Boy Scouts

Run Brandy Run

 

The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is "The Oh of Pleasure" (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is "Celestial Soda Pop" (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album "Deep Breakfast" (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.