On Monday I sat down with Friend of the Blog Erin Petrey to discuss her recent campaign for the Democratic nomination in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional district. That race was won by Zach Dembo (website here; this is one where we really do have a chance in a Blue Wave) but Erin nevertheless considered it to be a successful effort. In the pod we discuss her learning curve as a candidate, her approach to the various social media channels and what she was able to derive from each (surprisingly, Threads good and both Bluesky and X bad), her relationships with local, state, and national Democratic organizations, how she handled interactions with opposing candidates on both sides of the aisle, the struggles associated with having conversations with often extremely enthusiastic BlueAnon types, the challenges of running as a progressive in a marginal district, and the problem of vetting. We close with yet another discussion of the political and legal realities of the McConnell Situation, which I’m sure you have definitely not heard enough about.

Transcript is here.  I have begun to take the liberty of running the transcripts through Co-Pilot, so it should be cleaner than usual and speakers are identified. I would not, however, quote directly from the transcript; if you need a quote it’s safest to find it in the audio.

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Our latest guest on the Oral History of the Blogosphere is long-time friend of LGM Lindsay Beyerstein. Lindsay’s blogging career began at Majikthise, which unfortunately seems to have been lost with the collapse of Typepad. Her work can also be found at In These Times, Salon, Alternet, and elsewhere. We work through all of the regular questions, with slightly more than the standard number of digressions. Of particular note to this conversation is the collision between digital space and meat space, and how the Old Blogosphere existed in both places.

Transcript is here. 

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On the latest episode of LGM’s Oral History of the Blogosphere, Dave and I spoke with Russell Arben Fox of In Media Res. This was a wide-ranging conversation on what discourse in the early blogosphere was like, with special attention to what amounted to “niche” blogging spaces, although of course we find that “niche” depends to great extent on the beholder. We also talk a bit about a recurring theme to these pods, the relationship between academic careerism and the early blogosphere. See also Russell’s substack, On Wichita, the Mittelpolitan, and More.

Transcript is here. 

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On the latest LGM podcast we return to our Oral History of the Blogosphere series! Joining Scott, Dan and myself in honor of our 22nd anniversary celebration was Dr. Jacob Levy, early blog pioneer and veteran of a great number of websites. Our discussion included his work at Jacob Levy and Bleeding Heart Libertarians, the now defunct Open University, and the Niskanen Center. At the latter he penned two very well-known essays alongside an array of other work, The Weight of the Words and Authoritarianism and Post-Truth Politics. Over the course of the pod we discuss the impact that blogging had on his career and intellectual development, as well as all the friends he made along the way.

Transcript is here. 

The podcast is quite rewarding, but consumes a great deal of time and effort! Please donate if you have the chance!

The post Oral History of the Blogosphere Part 13: Jacob Levy appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

On the latest LGM Podcast, I spoke with LGM alum Dave Brockington about the travails of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. We began with the heady days of July 2024, when Labour won a victory of historic magnitude and seemed to have clear sailing to build a new British politics. Dave pointed out that Labour’s victory was less substantial that it seemed, and that the stars and the selves have since conspired to produce a catastrophic drop in Labour’s popularity. Of the former, persistent economic difficulties and global anti-incumbent sentiment have served to restrict what appeared to be wide policy latitude. On the latter, Starmer and his core lieutenants have struggled with communication and have failed to establish either a political or a policy road forward. We then discuss the complexities of replacing Starmer, including the plausible candidates and how each might mount a challenge.

Transcript is here. The podcast is the most labor intensive component of Lawyers, Guns and Money, so Patreon support is appreciated!

Photo Credit: By UK government – https://civilservicelocal.blog.gov.uk/2015/02/26/learning-about-the-workings-of-parliament/, OGL 3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61682470

The post LGM Podcast: The Starmer Endgame? appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

On the latest LGM Podcast I spoke with Dr. Stephanie Carvin of Carleton University about the present and future of Canadian security policy. This includes the “potluck” analogy about the future of security cooperation, divergent ideological paths between the Washington and Ottawa, the Alberta Annoyance, the future of NATO, the entanglement of the US and Canadian defense industrial bases, and finally whether Canadian geese are Canadian or American.

See also Dr. Carvin’s work in the Globe and Mail.

Transcript is here.

The post LGM Podcast: The Canada Contingency appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

On the latest LGM podcast I had the opportunity to speak with LGM’s Senior Latin America Correspondent, Dr. Colin Snider of the University of Texas at Tyler. We discussed the diplomatic impact of the operation to seize President Maduro, then talked a bit about how the conflict between President Trump and Pope Leo has played out in Latin America. We then chatted about the politics of the Southern Cone, the likely impact of a US operation to take control of Cuba, and what Latin Americans in general terms think about dealing with President Trump.

Transcript is here.

The post LGM Podcast: The Venezuela Hinge appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

This afternoon Dan, Cheryl and myself (the LGM NatSec Gang) talked through the state of affairs in the current ceasefire between the United States and Iran. Our agenda:

We recorded two hours ago so things are relatively fresh!

Transcript is here.

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It is difficult for me to characterize what Scott, Elizabeth, and myself discussed on the latest LGM podcast, better known as “the tightest 117 minutes in the history of podcasting.” Our writ was to discuss the latest Paranoid Style album, “Known Associates,” as well as to talk about Elizabeth’s contribution of liner notes to The Replacements’ Let it Be: Deluxe Edition and we did indeed discuss these things, but there were digressions. Some questions that emerged and re-emerged over the course of the pod:

Transcript is here.

The post LGM Podcast: Known Associates appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

On the latest LGM podcast, Dave and I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Michael Strausz, long-term friend of the blog and Professor of Political Science at Texas Christian University. Mike works on Japanese politics, and so the podcast focused mainly on the recent Japanese election, although we digressed into a variety of topics associated with the Japanese political scene, including national defense, housing, and immigration.

Transcript is here.

Photo Credit: By 首相官邸ホームページ, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=178708232

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