Michael and Us

Before he was a two-term governor, he was a seven-time Mr. Olympia. We consider Arnold Schwarzenegger through the star-making 1977 documentary PUMPING IRON and discover just how ruthless a self-made man can be. We also explore the wild world of YouTube fitness culture. PLUS: Ilhan Omar and Paul Krugman.

PREMIUM EPISODE: https://www.patreon.com/posts/96-15-minutes-of-25899530

We visit to Judge Judy's courtroom and learn that justice truly is blind. PLUS: we hash out our biggest-ever disagreement.

With the Mueller investigation over, we look back at the one time a president was brought down by dogged investigation into a conspiracy with ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976). PLUS: journalism, Bob Woodward, and the Canadian liberal #Resistance.

"The Deferential Spirit" by Joan Didion - https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/09/19/the-deferential-spirit/

"The Real Working Class is Invisible to the Media" by Luke Savage - https://jacobinmag.com/2019/03/no-longer-newsworthy-review-working-class-media

Thank You for Smoking (2006)

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On the one hand, you've got the destructive excesses of American foreign policy. On the other, you've got... a bunch of slightly-annoying Hollywood libs. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE (2004)took on both targets -- and like most "equal opportunity offenders," it's built on false equivalences. PLUS: we discuss Beto O'Rourke's shiny new candidacy and the dilettanteish creative pursuits of the idle rich.

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We're going back to The End Of History™, and no filmmaker articulated the ambient despair of the '90s quite like Richard Linklater. We look back at his beloved films SLACKER (1991) and DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993) and parse their politics. PLUS: nostalgia, the suburbs, Resistance Twitter, and fiery hot takes on the Oscars.

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Corporations are people, my friend... and so is Governor Mitt Romney. That's the thesis of MITT (2014), a fawning documentary about the Bain Capital founder's two presidential bids. By revealing nothing, this all-access portrait reveals more than it thinks. PLUS: we check in on the original 6ix Dad, and measure the temperature of some 2020 hopefuls.

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