Brad: If 20 dozen alien races arrive on their beautiful ships, and they are all what we would refer to as straight, there’s no fluidity among the genders, how would that impact your view of yourself?

Jaye: I’m out. I would just take a ship, and I would fly away.

Brad: But they wouldn’t let you on the ship, because…

Jaye: No, they would. They would, though.

Brad: How?

Jaye: … I’m very charismatic.

Fifdom OG Ben Price (@actualbenprice) and almost graduated (whoo!) law student Michael Clardy (@mcp627) take on Section 230 in a conversation that naturally meanders through Monty Python, legal doctrine, defamation and cronyism.

Mary, Christine, Elizabeth, Sandy and Ileana talk about finding meaning while approaching middle age. We talk about the great lie of feminism, asking for help, being willing to show who you are, doing scary things, and discovering what you are capable and worthy of.

Here is the Meghan Daum piece that inspired this conversation: https://humanparts.medium.com/im-too-old-to-write-about-my-life-53a44ab65ffe

Alama (@hearalma), Garrett (@GarrettSasse), Ileana (@IleanaAlmog), and Jaye (@jtownmataco) return for a second round of talks on sex and dating. Using the frame of pros and cons of sex on the first date, the conversation covers first times, body counts, personal choices, with a dash of gender and biology, and includes dating tips and tricks from our token dude.

This episode is sponsored by - Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

The wise folks of the Fifth reflect on changing norms of behavior in the workplace and conclude that we all lose when we have to tiptoe around each other. Plus, we're not all special, give back that participation trophy, and don't go into the humanities!

Ileana talks to ChayaLeah (@sayscl), the Executive Director of Beach Hillel, about fighting anti-Semitism by building bridges, the joys and challenges of being a heterodox thinker, the importance of ideas, and the value of norms.

Alma (@hearalma), Ben (@actualbenprice), Garrett (@garrettsasse), Ileana (@ileanaalmog) and Jaye (@jtownmataco) discuss feminism, dating as a libertarian, and titties. Plus, one household, one vote, relationship red flags, communal living versus having a personal house across from your house, and a teaser for an upcoming discussion on first-date sex. Enjoy! Also, if this episode sounds better than any of the previous ones, it's because Jaye edited it. Thank you, Jaye!

Yael really knows her stuff. Which is not surprising, since she pretty much created the framework for digital communications in the public sector from scratch. Follow her @yaelbt.

After the Jewish cabal of Yael and Ileana invite Garrett to "lean in" and join the conversation, the trio discuss finding community, contextualize the use and usefulness of social media, and reassure Bubbies everywhere that the Fifth Column community is not a cult. Oy vey.

Ileana, Lesley and Norm talk about parenting, kids, teachers, the California Forestry Department, higher education and high school kids hanging out with Matt Welch and his friends at UCSB (spoiler: it appears to have been entirely above board; like, completely unobjectionable.)

Ileana Almog (@IleanaAlmog) joins Ben Price (@actualbenprice), Busty Wimsatt (@ajwimsatt) and Garrett Sasse (@garrett.sasse) to chat about bad booze experiences, growing up behind the Iron Curtain and buying roadside beef, wild gangs of Metallica and Depeche Mode fans battling it out on the streets of Bucharest ala West Side Story and the case for moving out to the country where cheap land, and open schools, can be found in greater abundance than anywhere near the big cities.

Make sure to visit Ileana's Substack (the introduction to which Garrett quite rudely stepped all over): ileana.substack.com

Hope you enjoy!