The Bob Zadek Show

Hollywood loves to dramatize stories involving corporate bad guys –

lawyered up multinational behemoths who plunder the land just to make a

buck. Bestselling author and screenwriter Joel Engel could have taken this

well-worn path, but instead he flipped the script.

Hollywood loves to dramatize stories involving corporate bad guys – lawyered up multinational behemoths who plunder the land just to make a buck. Bestselling author and screenwriter Joel Engel could have taken this well-worn path, and written another clear-cut good guys and bad guys story. However, his latest book – Scorched Worth: A True Story of Destruction, Deceit, and Government Corruption – flips the script. Engel tells of a 65,000-acre forest fire in the Sierra Nevadas in 2007 that led to the aggressive prosecution of Sierra Pacific Industries. After botching the investigation protocol, the Federal government accused SPI of starting the fire based on flimsy evidence. Through his painstaking journalistic probe, Engel uncovered malfeasance by government at each step, from the failure to detect the fire to the biased findings that implicated the lumber giant. It would have been easy to jump on the bandwagon in scapegoating SPI and its ultra-wealthy founder, Archie “Red” Emmerson. Instead, he reveals a portrait of a company that carefully followed the law while wisely stewarding national resources, and a government bureaucracy that didn’t know when to quit.
Joel joined the show on Sunday 6/3 to unravel what would have resulted in one of the largest wrongful settlements in forestry history (if it weren’t for those meddling kids).

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A popular libertarian slogan aims for "liberty in our lifetimes." But since

freedom is so subjective anyway, perhaps what we should really be striving

for is cognitive liberty: our personal well-being, and the freedom from

emotional disturbances.

Dr. Michael Edelstein returns to the show with Bob's producer, Charlie

Deist, to discuss cognitive liberty – freeing ones' self from the mental

traps that act as obstacles to a life of joy.

Don’t believe the dogma on higher education – get informed, with the show

of ideas, not attitude. Call in to speak with Bob and Bryan at any time

during the show: (424) BOB-SHOW.

Each year, the government spends $80 billion dollars on subsidies to higher education, making it more attractive for high school students to spend four of their most critical years studying topics only marginally more useful than underwater basket weaving. Bryan Caplan, professor of economics at George Mason University, admits to being an Ivory Tower academic (he jokes that he's now in the 41st grade) and that most of his students won't ever use the material he teaches. He also thinks we spend way too much for "products" like his. This honest insiders perspective only lends more credibility to his new book, The Case against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money. However, Caplan acknowledges that he’s fighting an uphill battle against rational self-interest. For most kids, college still pays, and employers still want that piece of paper certifying that its recipient is “system-approved” — i.e., smart enough to play the game, follow directions, and tolerate substantial boredom in the pursuit of abstract goals. While other economists might be afraid to voice such a contrarian opinion, Caplan has never shied away from unpopular opinion (ah, tenure).

Know any high school students considering an alternative to the elaborate and expensive system of hoops we call the University? Get them to tune in, too, and share the link to our Medium article.

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

Learn how Terence has managed to bring his diabetes under control by

ignoring the official advice of the U.S. government, and embracing a

low-carb, high-fat diet.

Terence Kealey is a professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Buckingham – the UK's first entirely private university. He was already a skeptic of government-funded research when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2010, despite following the government's advice. In 2016, he published Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal: Why You Should Ditch Your Morning Meal for Health and Wellbeing, using his insights as a biochemist and philosopher of science to show just how badly the government errs when it gives incorrect advice based on inconclusive science. The conventional wisdom on diet – which became the basis for the government’s high-carb, low-fat “food pyramid" – began with faulty science in the 1970s. Since then, the science has changed, but the government is still peddling the same bad information. Libertarians, in particular, are waking up to the lies they’ve been fed and are getting their diet advice elsewhere, but we all continue to pay for the obesity and diabetes epidemics in the form of shorter lifespans and higher health care premiums (thanks to ObamaCare). Learn how Terence has managed to bring his diabetes under control by ignoring the official advice of the U.S. government, and embracing a low-carb, high-fat diet.

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

What does it mean to be a libertarian

Berkeley, California—The home of the “Free Speech Movement” became a center of attention last year when writer and professional provacateur Milo Yiannopoulos ignited protests on campus – testing the city’s tolerance of viewpoints outside the progressive orthodoxy. Libertarians, for the most part, have found common cause with these speakers in opposing the new threats to free speech. As Anthony Fisher of Reason has pointed out, groups like Antifa have resorted to violence against innocent parties, and labeled anyone to the left of Bernie Sanders as “fascist.” Unfortunately, the left-wing reaction has caused some libertarians to over-sympathize with members of the so-called “alt-right,” whose aims are also opposed to a free society. David Boaz is Executive vice president of the Cato Institute and author of The Libertarian Mind, The Libertarian Reader, and Libertarianism: A Primer. He visited Berkeley in February to give a warning to students who might be seduced by the alt-right, and to explain why the reactionary philosophy is incompatible with libertarianism. While libertarians have reason to be frustrated by the status quo, there is a danger of this anger congealing into hatred. “Ultimately,” Boaz says, “libertarianism is about peaceful cooperation―markets, civil society, global trade, peace, so it just isn’t angry enough for some people.” He joins Bob to make clear how alien the alt-right’s thinking is to a truly libertarian mind.

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April 17 is Tax Freedom Day. For the rest of the year, all the money you

earn belongs to you. How will you celebrate? Tune in Sunday, 8-9am PT.