The Ari Hoffman Show

There is a new candidate running for Governor and Joshua Freed joins Kirby to talk about his campaign, plus Mariya Frost from the Washington Policy Center talks transportation and KOMO Sports Reporter Bill Swartz talks Dawgs with Kirby.

Kirby shares stories of the day, plus "This Day in History", the Amazon rainforest and Kirby's guest is Karin Poage from the Yakima Fruit Stand sharing the latest in the battle to save their stand after Sound Transit wants to take it over.

More conversation with the new candidate for Governor-Joshua Freed and callers respond to what they hear, more talk about the homeless and callers want to talk about guns.

GUEST: Heather Mac Donald, Fellow at the Manhattan Institute; Political Commentator; Author; Attorney; Editor. She's the featured guest of the Women of Washington tonight, speakign about her new book "The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture"

It's another edition of "Real Science With Dr. B." and a caller from Oklahoma City talks about road tolls

GUEST: KOMO's Matt Markovich talks about the ongoing homeless crisis in Seattle. What happened on This Day in History?

GUEST: Jami Lund, senior analyst with Freedom Foundation. They cover the recent, and potentially ongoing, strikes by teacher unions in several school districts.

The Seattle City Council considers a ban on natural gas for new homes and buildings.

GUEST: Author and Purple Heart recipient Sean Parnell talks about his action-packed new book "ALL OUT WAR", the latest adventure featuring special forces operator Eric Steele.

GUEST: Ben Powell, co-author (with Robert Lawson) of Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World.

Kirby's guest is author Ben Westhoff and they discuss his new book, Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

A remarkable four-year investigation into the dangerous world of synthetic drugsfrom black market drug factories in China to users and dealers on the streets of the U.S. to harm reduction activists in Europewhich reveals for the first time the next wave of the opioid epidemic

A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. “A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape,” writes Ben Westhoff. “These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs”and all-too-often tragically lethal.

Drugs like fentanyl, K2, and Spiceand those with arcane acronyms like 25i-NBOMe were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories for proper scientific and medicinal purposes. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs’ effects impossible to predict. Westhoff has infiltrated this shadowy world. He tracks down the little-known scientists who invented these drugs and inadvertently killed thousands, as well as a mysterious drug baron who turned the law upside down in his home country of New Zealand. Westhoff visits the shady factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China’s vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. Poignantly, he chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the U.S. and Europe. Together they represent the shocking and riveting full anatomy of a calamity we are just beginning to understand. From its depths, as Westhoff relates, are emerging new strategies that may provide essential long-term solutions to the drug crisis that has affected so many.

Author and Purple Heart recipient Sean Parnell talks about his action-packed new book "ALL OUT WAR", the latest adventure featuring special forces operator Eric Steele.

“Eric Steele and author Sean Parnell are the real deal.”— Lee Child

Special operative Eric Steele, introduced in Man of War, is on the hunt for a formidable Russian terrorist in this high-intensity tale of international intrigue from the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Outlaw Platoon.

Badly injured while stopping a rogue agent from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, elite warrior Eric Steele is drawn back into service before he’s ready when unknown assailants break into his home near Pittsburgh, injuring his mother and stealing his father’s pistol.

An Alpha—an elite soldier under the direct command of the president of the United States—Steele is hell-bent on finding the attackers and bringing them to justice. While tracking his foe, Steele discovers he’s become entangled in a far more sinister plan that’s already been set in motion.

A terrorist named Zakayev, once locked away in a maximum-security prison in Russia, has escaped and joined forces with Hassan Sitta, a man who’s shown his prowess and ingenuity with a spectacular bomb planted somewhere in the Middle East that hasn’t been ignited—and no one can find. But that is only the beginning of a horrifying plan that, if it succeeds, will shatter international alliances and bring the world to the brink of war.

Now, the hunted must turn the tables on the hunter—Steele must find a way to stay alive and stop Zakayev before innocent lives are lost.

Kirby's guest is Ben Powell, co-author (with Robert Lawson) of Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World

Do We Have to Say It Again? Socialism Sucks!

Apparently we do. Because today millions of Americans—young and old—are flocking to the socialist banner and chanting, “What do we want? Socialism—the economic system that has impoverished people everywhere and resulted in the deaths of tens of millions! And when do we want it? Now!”

Really?

Most people seem somehow to have missed Economics 101 and don’t understand that socialism isn’t nice, cuddly government that takes care of everything for you so that you can remain an adolescent forever. No, we’ve seen it tried over and over again with catastrophic consequences.

Luckily, two semi-sober economists have toured the socialist world so you don’t have to. And they’ve come back with this stunning report: Socialism Sucks!

Along the way, you’ll learn:

Why the so-called Swedish model might be attractive, but sure isn’t socialism (Sweden is capitalism with a big welfare state)

How socialist Venezuela went from being the toast of liberals everywhere—Viva Venezuela!—to being just toast

Why you never see new cars in Cuba

Why no one forgets to turn out the lights in North Korea (hint: there aren’t any)

Why American socialists have no idea what socialism really is

How hard it is to find good beer—or sometimes any beer at all—in socialist countries

Irreverent but honest economists Robert Lawson and Benjamin Powell have all the data—and even more important, the firsthand global experience—to affirm that socialism fails to deliver on any of the utopian promises it makes and instead is very bad for your economic (and other) health. This is a book that every American who values freedom and sound economics (and good beer) needs to read.

Kirby's guest this hour is Cliff Mass a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington. Their topic is Hurricane Dorian and how it evolved to create so much damage, average Americans that defend themselves with their 2nd Amendment rights, plus the waste of money by Governor Inslee.

Statistics about guns and gun deaths starts a conversation, what happened 17 years ago in the music world and a stabbing at a homeless shelter last night and more stories of the day.

UW meteorologist Cliff Mass on why a small storm like Dorian caused such damage, Americans defending themselves and the 'bumbling' of Joe Biden.

Kirby and Tony discuss hackers, Siri, Alexa and Bitcoin.

Kirby is excited about Husky football, the horrible story of the diving boat that caught on fire in California, a shooting over the weekend in Mobile Alabama and rumors that Steve Jobs from Apple is alive and well in Egypt.

Kirby shares some crazy stories of the day, plus he goes through the remaining Democratic candidates including things that Joe Biden said over the weekend, the sad story of the paper deliverer that drowned and we learn about "This Day in History"

The debate on guns and ammunition continues, in "Real Science with Dr B" they discuss conspiracy theories and that gets the phones ringing.

Spokane is going through the same issues as Seattle with homelessness on the rise, and increases in drug use and crime, Kirby talks to Bill Swartz about the Huskies and the nationwide shortage of chicken sandwiches from Popeyes.

Kirby shares stories of the day, This Day in History and callers weigh in on a broad range of topics.

Callers weigh in on Dave Reichert and the Popeye's chicken sandwich shortage and the iPhone-plus Joe Biden on the road telling stories and KOMO Sports Reporter Bill Swartz on what he thinks about the Dawgs season opener.

Kirby talks with Bryan Walsh-he is the author of End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World. Previously, he was TIME's International Editor, its energy and environmental correspondent and was the Tokyo bureau chief in 2006 and 2007. James Comey comes up in conversation and Kirby talks about the shrinking Democratic field of candidates running for office.

Kirby guest this hour is Mary Eberstadt author of "Primal Screams"- a book that she hopes will spark conversations about identity politics, in This Day in History-Skynet became 'aware' and Max Nelson from the Freedom Foundation.

Kirby updates us on the story of Ryan George, a local musician who was viciously attacked after attending a show, stories of the day plus mental shortcuts that we all make in "Real Science with Dr. B".