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Ice showed up at my local Mexican grocery store, and I got a notification, so I went down. 

All of my theorizing about immigration and deportation soon became incredibly practical. THESE ARE MY NEIGHBORS. 

I wrote about the experience and it went viral. I got threats. 

Not bad for a Thursday. 

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All white people are like John Wayne - shoot first, and ask questions later. 

Or are we all like The Rock? Donald Trump? 

Of course, I'm not much like any of these people - and I resent being reduced into such a limited stereotype. 

When we understand people as categories (MAGA/WOKE, heritage American/minority) we don't get to know people as people. When we sort people quickly by category, that practice is usually reductionistic and harmful. We are, unfortunately, living with the fruit of that poison tree at the moment. 

This episode is about leaving space to get to know people for who they are. It's about giving people the benefit of the doubt, it's about taking "innocent until proven guilty" seriously. 

It's about fighting the Reductionist Mind Virus. 

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The TL;DR of it is that democrats won just about everything possible, and typically with large margins. 

Trump's approval rating (per 3 recent polls) sits at 37% and just 30% with independent voters. He is underwater on the economy and immigration, which were his two big issues. 

People largely see immigration as a solved problem now that the border is closed, so as the ICE raids become more brutal, expensive, invasive, and extrajudicial, they are a bad issue for him. 

Similarly on the economy, 61% of respondents in one poll said Trump's policies are actively worsening the economy. People were willing to give him time to address the afffordability issues, but the overriding sense is that he has not done that. 

We are in the longest government shutdown in US history, 44 million peoplle are set to go hungry soon (during which time he's building himself a gilded ballroom), and people are very concerned about the state of democracy in America (also a bad issue for him).

If republicans get their way, many people's health insurance premiums will go up by $1,000/month, which was unpopular for some reason. That is the reason for the extended shutdown. 

And when democrat Adelita Grijalva finally gets sworn in (she won in a landslide with 69% of the vote) she will be the decisive signature on a discharge petition to release the Epstein Files. 

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The immigration conversation in the US is dangerously distorted and made emotional. 

In this podcast I debunk four myths about immigrants:

1. That they are all "illegal"
2. That anyone is proposing open borders
3. That immigrants are only consumers here to take advantage of American taxpayers
4. That fentanyl comes in via illegal immigrants

If legality was the true concern, why is ICE free to operate outside the law? 

And finally, we look at five scriptures from the old and new testaments about the fatherless, the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the sojourner. Since a lot of the deportation steam is being provided by christians, I thought it fitting to go to the text. 

If you enjoy this episode, please share it! 

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Donald Trump built his brand on being the “strongman” who would restore law and order — but strongmen always need enemies to stay strong. In this episode, we look at how Trump’s constant wars — against immigrants, scientists, journalists, universities, our international trade partners, and “the radical left” — create the very chaos he claims to be fighting.

Drawing parallels with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, we explore how authoritarian leaders promise peace through strength but deliver conflict. From the dismantling of USAID and the CDC to culture wars over schools and DEI, Trump’s agenda depends on perpetual outrage.

The irony? A politics built on fear and division doesn’t end unrest — it feeds it. The more Trump fights “the enemies of America,” the more enemies America seems to have. In the end, the man promising peace may be the single greatest recruiter for the people he calls radicals.

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We live in the age of information — and misinformation. In this episode of Friendly Neighborhood Philosopher, we explore what philosophers call epistemology: how we know what we know.

We’ll look at how epistemic bubbles filter information by omission, how echo chambers weaponize that filtering for power, and why some people give “runaway credence” to authority figures who don't deserve it.

Drawing on the work of philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, we’ll talk about:

• Why “knowledge” requires more than belief — it needs justification and truth.
• How algorithms and ideology can shape our reality.
• Why some people trust political figures more than doctors.
• How insider language (“TDS,” “woke mind virus,” “lamestream media”) builds community — and traps it.
• And finally, how to build distributed epistemic networks — healthy, truth-seeking communities that can hold disagreement without dissolving into distrust.

This one’s all about freeing your mind — and helping others free theirs.

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Charlie Kirk’s sudden death by a sniper’s bullet has left America reeling—and divided. To some, he was a hero of faith, family, and conservative values. To others, he embodied exclusion, cruelty, and dangerous ideology. In this episode, I step back from the shouting to ask: what does Kirk’s life, and the reaction to his death, reveal about us?

We’ll explore his rise with Turning Point USA, his advocacy for free speech, his controversial stances on immigration, empathy, and foreign aid—and the way his ideas shaped policy and lives. We’ll also unpack the rhetoric that followed his death, from Stephen Miller’s fiery memorial speech to Trump’s crackdown on dissent, and contrast it with Lincoln’s call to the “better angels of our nature.”

At the heart of it is a question: if we really want to honor Kirk’s legacy, isn’t it the honest contest of ideas—not the suppression of them—that matters most?

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Episode Summary
In this episode, I reflect on the loneliness of living in nuance in a world of scripts. From MAGA truisms to the Sermon on the Mount, I explore how authoritarian movements thrive on simple answers while Jesus called his followers to a radically different way of life—humility, mercy, and love of enemies. Along the way, I share personal updates, how busyness can numb our critical thought, and why deconstruction often feels like wilderness. This is a conversation about resisting the easy scripts, asking better questions, and finding a more merciful, holistic way forward. 

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As a on again/off again live sound engineer, we are always thinking about signal to noise ratio. Or, why is that speaker humming? It's keeping me from hearing the vocals clearly! 

In daily life we are bombarded with influencers and newscasts designed to promote outrage and/or to generally obscure facts and data that don't look good. 

Here's how to maximize "signal" (the good) while minimizing "noise" (the extraneous). 

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The cancer community that I am part of lost a friend last weekend. This podcast is an essay that I wrote about his memory and the loss. The topic is what healthy manhood looks like, and how that is different for different people. In this we contemplate Plato's theory of the forms, and how this theory affects how we see ourselves. 

Much love Zach. See you on the other side.