Firehose #96: Boy Are My Arms Tired!

Also: Second Sunday tomorrow, 4 p.m. ET

Apologies for this somewhat truncated weekender, but three cities (with one elementary school play, one live podcast, and one television appearance) in 36 hours is a bit deleterious to the ol’ productivity. Excuse/humble-brag, WHATEVER. (My 15-year-old, whose jokes that I stole got my biggest laughs, says “slay period icon girly,” so it’s all worth it.)

SPEAKING of worth it, paying subscribers to this fine podcast (many of whom I apparently gave deep life advice to Thursday in D.C.) know that one of the key perks of subscriberhood is being able to join our Second Sunday tapings each month. Seeing as how this month’s comes tomorrow, let’s all set our coordinates: 4 p.m. ET, appropriately clothed/guitared, don’t mind me being on the frantic side, trying not to manage a chaotic birthday party for the aforementioned 15-year-old.

* OK, here’s the Overtime clip from last night’s Real Time With Bill Maher, featuring me and the lovely Abigail Shrier:

Here’s my Reason Q&A earlier this year with Maher. Here, since I invoked him on the show, are The Fifth Column appearances from the Shrier-like recipient of serial attempted cancellations for his juvenile-transitioning-science reporting, Jesse Singal: Episode #111 & #171. And here is a recent Reason Interview of Shrier by Nick Gillespie (Special Dispatch #72, #379) about her new book Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up, which Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) honcho Greg Lukianoff (#216, Members Only #183, #427) called “easily the most important book of the year”:

* Kmele did a FIRE/Free Press debate on crime Thursday in San Francisco, teaming up (on the winning side!) with our beloved commie friend Lara Bazelon (#357, #369, #417). While we await posting of the debate, enjoy this piss-take from The San Francisco Standard: “Bari Weiss debate on crime in the city draws hundreds, many from the suburbs.” Snark-cerpt:

The conversation felt old hat for a city that has become a poster child for post-pandemic urban decay. Even relative newcomers likely remember that voters recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022. The brief mentions of Boudin led to some audible hisses from the overwhelmingly white crowd.

* SPEAKING of live Fifth Column co-host debates that spin off some related news coverage…. Good Lord, the Blond Zionist’s Dissident Dialogue about Israel/Hamas w/ Briahna Joy Gray continues to feed the tabloids, though at least this time Moynihan is not the lead hero/heel (depending on your point of view). By POV, I mean: Check out the disparity in headlines announcing Gray’s firing from The Hill’s Rising program, which she was co-hosting with the still-employed (AFIK) Robby Soave (#332): “Far-left US pundit who rolled eyes at hostage’s sister axed by The Hill” (The Times of Israel), “The Hill Fires Briahna Joy Gray, Critic of Israel's War on Gaza” (Democracy Now!), “Ex-Bernie Sanders aide who dismissed Hamas rapes of Israeli women fired from hosting job at The Hill” (Fox News), “Popular Activist & Political Influencer Briahna Joy Gray Fired From Job Over Criticism Of Israel” (Moguldom).

Brie Brie Joy gave her side of the story this week with a sympathetic Glenn Greenwald (#183, #197, #211). We have talked about the debate and aftermath probably too much already, beginning with M.O. #209. Though I imagine the subject might come up during Second Sunday….

* Fear not (or more accurately, fear-yes), Moynihan’s co-Dialogueist Eli Lake (#52, #65, #141, #174, S.D. #51, #326, #368, #407, M.O. #184) has used his A.I. music-making … ah, facility, to create a new Yacht Rock tune about the Blonde Haired Zionist titled “Our Friends in Hamas”:

* Fifdom Fave collabs of the week: Ben Dreyfuss (#83, #97, #148, #214, M.O. #129, M.O. #140, #392, M.O. #180) went on Blocked and Reported w/ Katie Herzog (#228, #331) to talk about “what it’s like to grow up poor. Plus, Mother Jones, #MeToo, and why he will not be inviting Madison Cawthorn to his orgy.” Kat Rosenfield (#448) went on Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em with Sarah Hepola (#354) and Nancy Rommelmann (#79, S.D. #27, S.D. #30, #198, #203, S.D. #34, S.D. #50, S.D. #64, S.D. #111) to talk about her Free Press piece, “Does Divorce Make You Hotter?” And Bari Weiss (#89, #115, #159, #180 and #187) landed for her Honestly podcast none other than Ancap heartthrob and Nick Gillespie hair model Javier Milei. (Do pay attention to the advertisements.)

* Was nice to see so many of you at The Reason Roundtable live show Thursday, at which I A) proved that even a geriatric with fairly extensive spinal/shoulder/nerve deterioration can still make a T-shirt hit the back row with some vague accuracy, and B) somehow said “free sheep” instead of “free speech,” leading to the obvious joke, which then a quarter of the audience burst out in knowing/insane laughter. And obviously memorialized with A.I. art:

We started that show with a tribute to longtime Cato Institute executive vice president David Boaz, who died the following day. Read the tributes from Brian Doherty, Ilya Somin, Tim Miller, Christian Schneider, and many more.

* Insane Chat of the Week comes from Magic Wade:

FML. I’m officially in the “I dream of Moynihan” club! Last night, I dreamt I was in some office break room with Moynihan. He offered me freshly toasted, sliced bagels with butter that were light & crispy & tasted like English muffins.

We sat down to chat and I asked him for career advice regarding how to quit academia, and what else I might do. He told me I was “fetishizing” the idea of having the same job throughout my entire professional career.

Then, we noticed someone had taken the rest of the bagels from the bag he’d placed on the break room table, but we weren’t too upset. They were damn good bagels.

* Comment of the Week comes from Overthinking Hedonist:

Not a dude, not over forty, but here are some recent insights from my very own dad:

- After he’d heard that I had started sporting a nose ring: “A nose ring is not a substitute for a personality, mouse”

- Is a young woman in more danger from a man or a bear when walking through the woods? “A Winchester Model 70 would take care of both problems”

(My dad has four daughters and has killed a bear.)

* Events? Well, if you’re in NYC, the moment you log off the Second Sunday taping, head on over to the Ask a Jew happy hour. On June 11 in NYC, Corey DeAngelis will be at the Reason Speakeasy to talk about his new book, The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools. And paying subscribers stay tuned to this space next week for details about our Aug. 17 live show in Chicago….

Been a lot of chatter in the Chat about summertime playlists and so forth, so this walkoff music comes from my latest, which includes not just suggestions from you rabble, but a couple actual original songs!