This is our third special episode discussing the US war on Iran and the wider regional complications. 

Here are the headlines from the episode:

This conversation refers to events on or before Friday, April 3, 2026, 10:00pm, Thai Standard Time.

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This is our second special episode discussing the US war on Iran and the wider regional complications. 

On Friday, we departed Abu Dhabi for Thailand. We’ll be living out of our backpacks until it is deemed safe to return to the UAE.

Here are the headlines from the episode:

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In preparation for the upcoming Academy Awards on March 16, this is our annual Oscars conversation. We ranked the ten Best Picture nominees and some films we wish would have been nominated.

Chase is a film critic based in Washington State. Andrew is the show’s favorite sports journalist and cinephile, currently doing time in Alabama. Both are three-time guests and now members of the Smoking Jacket Club, the not real society of three time guests.

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This is a special episode, a conversation with Hope, about the situation here in Abu Dhabi and the broader Middle East thanks to the US war on Iran.

Here are the headlines from the discussion:

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Tom Rademacher is a prior Minnesota State teacher of the Year, author, and parent to a really rad kid. Recently his family made the decision for the safety of their family to move to Spain. 

This is a conversation about what led him to leave and what’s happening in his native and beloved Minnesota. 

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I had the chance to sit down with Douglas Sackman, a history professor at the University of Puget Sound, for a conversation that feels especially timely.

Professor Sackman joined me to talk about the Gilded Age — that turbulent period of rapid industrialization, staggering wealth inequality, labor unrest, and political corruption that reshaped the US in the late 19th century. It’s a chapter of American history often reduced to robber barons and railroads, but as we discuss, it’s also a story about workers organizing, democracy straining, and ordinary people pushing back against concentrated power.

As we look around today  at our tech oligarchs, monopolistic  consolidation,, and battles over the meaning of democracy, it’s hard not to hear echoes of that era.

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Ramadan began this week. Somewhere around 2 billion Muslims around the world will be engaging in a day time fast for the next month. Living in the Gulf, Ramadan contorts my life in so many ways. Our work day is shortened, life slows way down, and there’s time with friends and chosen family. Ramadan has become my favorite religious holiday, even though I’m not a Muslim.

This Best Of episode is a conversation from 2022 with my colleague, Amy Daraiseh. Amy is a  special education teacher from Chicago and all around great human being.

Cast of Characters

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In December, I came across a post on the r/Tacoma subreddit that stopped me in my tracks. It was titled “Black Deported Veterans film screening” and invited people to a screening of the documentary, Bring Them Home.

As a veteran, it immediately caught my attention. I also noticed the screening was being held at my alma mater, The Evergreen State College’s Tacoma Campus. Although I wasn’t in a position to attend in person, I reached out to the organizers.

The short version is this: the U.S. military regularly recruits people with green cards into service, but often fails to help them navigate the naturalization process during and especially after their service. Instead, many are discarded after and often subjected to deportation. Unsurprisingly—given the reality of systemic racism—this happens at much higher rates to Black veterans.

This is that conversation.

James L. Smith is a journalist and the co-founder of BDVA (Black Deported Veterans of America).

Rob Young is a musician behind the song Excuse My Accent and the producer of the award-winning film Bring Them Home. Rob and James have collaborated to continue advocacy and uplift the issue.

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State Senator Marko Liias represents Washington’s 21st Legislative District in North Puget Sound, which includes parts of Edmonds, Everett, Lynnwood, and Mukilteo.

He currently chairs the State Senate’s Transportation Committee and previously served on the House Education Committee, where he and Nate first crossed paths.

Senator Liias joined us to discuss the legislative session that began on January 12. He offered a clear overview of the state’s fiscal outlook and outlined his priorities for the Transportation Committee.

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Professor Nick Brody teaches Communications at the University of Puget Sound. His research focuses on digital communication, cyber bullying, and the social implications of technology. 

He joined us to talk about the concept of Morally Motivated Online Mobs, which are bands of internet users driven by moral grievance and political polarization. We discussed the role of the internet in connecting and activating these people and how online mobs are warping our political discourse and information environment.

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Logic Amen widely targeted by conservative commentators

Attacks on Philanthropy and Not-for-Profits – Cole Leiter, Americans Against Government Censorship – #254

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