Why does the mainstream media ignore so many important stories, while lavishing attention on blatantly trivial non-news? This week we talk to Andy Roth, the associate director of Project Censored. PC is a long-standing media watchdog group that is best known for publishing an annual list of the top 25 censored stories. We discuss how the mainstream media goes about deciding what to cover and what to ignore, then dive into some of this year's 25 censored stories.

America just spent an unprecedented two trillion dollars in response to the COVID19 pandemic. Where does that money come from? Amy and Nick talk to University of Utah economist Tom Maloney to better understand deficit funding. Who's Uncle Sam borrowing the money from? Are there consequences to such a dramatic expansion of the federal debt? Should the CARES Act have been larger? Just what is federal debt anyway? What's the 20th century history of deficit spending? Listen, and your fiscal curiosity will be amply rewarded.

Ever wonder how parliamentary democracy works? Like most other Americans, Amy and Nick don't know what we should about the world's most common democratic political system. Tobias Hofmann, a political scientist at the University of Utah and a German native, breaks it down. We also debate the relative merits of different voting systems. Is ranked-choice voting superior to first-past-the-post schemes? Do you have no fucking clue what we're talking about? Listen and find out.

Amy and Nick introduce themselves as co-hosts of a rebooted podcast. Amy explains why she enthusiastically embraces the idea of being the idiot even though she, just like Dalton, is no such thing. Amy talks about her unusual profession, while Nick struggles to defend the intellectual mandate for sociology as a field.

Is America great? How do we go about offering a more informed answer than simply "Fuk yeah"? Dalton & Nick ponder this question, and raise several more: will America stay great? Will things be better for the next generation? Should we expect them to be? How do we feel about President Trump's campaign slogan of MAGA? And do we have more questions? Do we have more questions than answers?

We mostly talk about national politics, but it's the local level that really matters. Dalton & Nick talk to Kate Bradshaw, one of Dalton's city council reps in Bountiful, Utah. What does local government do? Among other things, Kate is responsible for Bountiful's first-ever dog park. Also, Dalton finally gets to complain about his parking tickets to someone in charge.

A public defender is a court-appointed attorney for when you can't afford your own lawyer, right? Not always: Brandon Banks runs the part of the DA's office in Contra Costa County, CA that's concerned with reentry: helping people released from prison reintegrate with society. But he's been a PD for almost 20 years, and he started out defending people of crimes. Dalton and Nick talk to Brandon about the ins and outs of the American legal system as it relates to criminal law, and, of course, jiu jitsu. Brandon is the guy who could defend you on a murder charge, then tap you out in the gym the next day.

This week Dalton & Nick talk to journalist Cathy Young. We're most interested in her childhood spent in the USSR, later recounted in her book Growing Up In Moscow: Memories of a Soviet Girlhood (1989). We also ask Cathy if she's a libertarian, explore what that means. To Dalton's dismay, we also spend time talking over what's wrong with Ron Paul.

Greg Kopecky is a sports journalist and has worked in sports-related jobs for decades. He's also the founder of the Minimal Multisport podcast and blog, and the editor at slowtwitch.com and bikerumor.com. We talk all things sport with Greg: how people get interested in sports, how they drift between sports, and which sports are especially prone to equipment fetishism--here's looking at you, biking--which is what inspired Greg's interest in minimalism. We also talk grappling. A lot. Even more than usual.

Everyone's fired up about abortion after Alabama just passed the most restrictive abortion bill in America. Nick is strongly pro-choice, while Dalton is more conflicted. We try to talk about abortion in ways that will piss the minimum number of people off. Why do people care so strongly. one way or another, about abortion? How do its science, morality, & the law intersect? How did abortion become such a big deal in America?