Social Studies

Glenn Greenwald and I have been reporting together on industrial animal abuse for years, and specifically about Ridglan Farms, a Wisconsin dog breeder that sells beagles to laboratories for heinous scientific experiments.

Last month, I accompanied hundreds of activists in an attempted mass rescue of thousands of Ridglan dogs. I made this short documentary out of it, which I’m co-publishing with Glenn.

Hope you enjoy it.

—LW

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

I join my cohost Lee Fang for a podcast discussion around the violent confrontations in Minnesota and what it might mean for America. In short order, we discuss ethnic scapegoating, whether the federal government is truly focused on taxpayer fraud, and why this Trump presidency is fundamentally different from the first administration. Will there be an offramp to the crackdown? And we end with a discussion of Christian ethics and René Girard.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com

Barry Eisler, before becoming a best-selling novelist, worked in covert operations for the CIA. He joins Le Pod to discuss his career, the real-world inspirations for his work, and explains why fiction writing is more important than ever to understand the morally murky world of power politics and U.S. foreign policy.

Eisler is on Substack and you can bu…

Last weekend at the Wagon Box campout in Wyoming, I had the honor of interviewing one of the writers I most admire: Paul Kingsnorth, author of The Wake, Beast, and Alexandria. Kingsnorth writes about human existence under “The Machine,” by which he means the increasingly AI-controlled technological habitat that envelopes us at nearly every second of our lives, stripping us of our autonomy and humanity.

The video and audio are a bit rough, so here’s a transcript of the discussion. (The transcript begins with a short discussion between James Pogue and Ashley Fitzgerald of Doomer Optimism, which was cut from the video.)

I’ll have much more to say about Kingsnorth and The Machine in later writings. I think he’s one of the most interesting and original artists, writers and thinkers alive today, and I’m very glad to now call him a friend.

—LW

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Our guest today is Jake Klein, a libertarian activist and author who has written about the dangers of identity politics and tribalism.

Klein, who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household and is now atheist, talks about his path in life. We talk about the unproductive nature of many pro-Palestinian activists on the far left, the hypocrisy of many supposed “heterodox thinkers” and why we have come to reject any kind of racial or ethnic category. We also chat about the downfall of the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, Inc., a group we hoped would help serve as the answer to weaponized identity politics.

Klein’s Substack is called The Black Sheep and he’s on X. Please give him a follow. And if you enjoyed this live podcast, please consider paid subscription to support our work.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday, Lee and I tried out Substack’s new livestreaming feature to record Le Pod. We like it; it was fun. About 300 of you joined, which was great for a first attempt with almost no promotion behind it. We’re going to start doing this every Wednesday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. If you can’t join us live, we’ll put out the non-live version each Thursday.

We spent pretty much the whole episode discussing the biggest question for our country right now: Are we in a pre-authoritarian moment right now — or have we even crossed the threshold into authoritarianism?

Social Studies is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

This episode actually just started off as an interview for the purposes of my reporting on drugs and homelessness. In fact, I wasn't really planning on doing more episodes of this podcast at all. But the conversation I had with recovering addict Jared Klickstein was so fascinating, and I learned so much, that with his permission, I decided to share it. I hope you find it as intriguing and eye-opening as I did.

You can follow Jared, by the way, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MetaGrift.

Thanks to Thad Russell for making this connection possible by having me on his podcast. You can find that episode, which Jared mentions, here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unregistered-226-leighton-woodhouse/id1227060738?i=1000580151989

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Suzy Weiss has fast become one of my favorite reporters. Her latest story, on her sister Bari’s Substack, about a baseless #MeToo accusation that got totally out of control, is a doozy. So is her recent reporting on trans swimmer Lea Thomas and on youth gender transition.

I had a fun chat with Suzy about each of those stories on my podcast. Hope you’ll give it a listen.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Ethan Strauss, who substacks at House of Strauss, is the author of The Victory Machine, a book about the Golden State Warriors. We talked a little bit about professional sports in this episode — specifically, about the wokeness of the NBA — but mostly we just yakked about whatever came up, which included Elon Musk and Twitter, cancel culture, Tucker Carlson, Black Lives Matter, and the Group Chat.

You can read Ethan’s post on the Group Chat here:

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Zion Lights was a spokesperson for the radical climate change activist group Extinction Rebellion until she realized that it wasn’t enough just to make people panic about the end of the world — you also had to point them to solutions. To the extent that there is a “solution” to climate change, it’s nuclear energy. And yet it’s verboten in some parts of the environmental movement to talk about it.

We’re not just in a climate crisis; we’re also in an energy emergency. It’s more important than ever to talk about nuclear, especially as the myths about its dangers are so inexplicably pervasive. That’s what Zion and I did in this episode of my podcast. Hope you enjoy.

Social Studies is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe