Workin’ for the Weekend #70: There’s Something About Megyn

Also: Second Sunday coming up Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. ET (est.)

On the Second Sunday of each month, paying Fifth Column subscribers are invited to join us for a Zoom call/discussion/taping, which usually gets edited and released some days later. Sometimes raucous, sometimes somber, always unpredictable … and you just never know who you’re going to run into there! This month’s Second Sunday comes tomorrow, and the early betting is that it will be held at around 5 p.m. ET.

* Our pal Megyn Kelly got some pretty strong reviews for her GOP presidential debate moderatin’ Wednesday (OK, I guess Boing Boing still doesn’t like her). Immediately after which MK Ultra got on the horn with some real bums:

* Just kidding, Emily Jashinsky’s a sweetheart. The unembeddable post-debate broadcast included her, Moynihan, RealClearPolitics founder Tom Bevan, and the always insightful/funny Chris Stirewalt (veteran of Episode #396). Oh yeah, and all the candidate-humans, too.

* On Friday, Megyn dipped back into the Fif’ pool, bringing me on with my Reason colleague Liz Wolfe to talk about the new charges against Hunter Biden, the presidential debates we probably won’t see, the university presidents’ congressional faceplants, Council on American-Islamic Relations dickbaggery, and more. We’re in the first 75 minutes here:

* Speaking of Liz, she’s been knocking it out of the park over at Reason, having taken over and rebranded the workdaily Reason Roundup, and also (along with Zack Weissmueller) the weekly video interview show/podcast now known as Just Asking Questions. Whose debut show came out this very week, featuring perennial why-don’t-you-guys-have-him-on guest Dave Smith:

* What the hell, some more Dave Smith from this week, this time with Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman on Live from the Table:

* Kmele is back with not one but two new episodes of Dispatches from The Well. In Episode 5, our seeker “combines the perspectives of five different scientists, philosophers, and spiritual leaders to approach one of humanity’s most pressing questions [*takes bong rip*]: what is consciousness?”:

In Episode 6, Kmele explores creativity with Fred Armisen, Godfrey Reggio, and Steve Albini (!):

* Recent guest Greg Lukianoff (#216, Members Only #183, #427) went on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday to talk about The Canceling of the American Mind, and the latest unpleasantnesses with college presidents. Clip:

* A handful of us just before Wednesday’s GOP debate went out to The Village Underground to watch Mike Pesca (#343, #418) do a one-man show (albeit with the able assistance of former IDF captain Eli Elefant and Jewish comic Alex Edelman) about Pesca’s recent, first-ever trip to Israel. It was, indeed, “stupendous,” one of the tightest and most nutrient-rich bits of live information-conveyance I have ever witnessed. There will hopefully be a video version of the show uploaded soon; in the meantime you can snack on his Nov. 24 “60 Hours in Israel” episode, which includes some of the raw (in every sense) material he gathered there.

* Other upcoming meatspace events in NYC include: Dec. 12 Reason Speakeasy, where Nick Gillespie (Special Dispatch #72, #379) interviews Jennifer Burns about her book Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative; Dec. 13 Ask a Jew Hannukah party; and Dec. 17 SOHO Forum debate on whether “The making of national internet policy was hindered, rather than helped, by the July 4th federal court ruling that restricted the Biden administration’s communications with social media platforms,” featuring Kate Klonick and Jay Bhattacharya. My magazine will be having its holiday party Dec. 19; reach out to the Fifdom NYC crew if you want details.

* Chat of the Week comes from Kathleen:

Thank you, Matt Welch, for ruining my marriage: I was watching a YouTube short about Central Park with my husband; there was a brief mention of Seneca Village and I very excitedly told him how the history was very interesting and eminent domain is BAD and Matt Welch had the right idea about the whole thing, and then he stomped off furiously and I was baffled for a good twenty minutes until I finally extracted from him that he thought I said Matt Walsh, and... has it ever occurred to anyone that Matt Walsh would have any kind of thought about the creation of Central Park? What have I done to deserve this...

Walkoff music will irrigate your face: