161 Comments
User's avatar
FlamingoMallet's avatar

I'm only partway through but I can't get over the fact that Mises Caucus sounds like dirty talk from Jar Jar Binks.

Expand full comment
TheNuclearBlonde's avatar

There were two von Mises brothers. One was an economist and one a structural engineer. So I keep thinking people are also really excited about the von Mises stress tensor. Just me?

Expand full comment
SiegeM's avatar

Thanks for answering this, now I don't have to look it up! Had the same thought when they were talking about von mises economics. Reminds me of Scott Alexander's piece exploring why genius runs in families.

Expand full comment
TheNuclearBlonde's avatar

I just assumed Mrs von Mises was a tough mom. :)

Do you have a link? That sounds interesting

Expand full comment
Midwest Molly's avatar

It's been almost 24 hours now and I still can't stop laughing at this!

Expand full comment
FlamingoMallet's avatar

I feel like I need to apologize to anyone else who spent all weekend with "Mises Caucus" as their intrusive thought.

Expand full comment
Midwest Molly's avatar

Hahaha!! We had fun with it all weekend!

I love the people here.

Expand full comment
TheNuclearBlonde's avatar

I was a little disappointed in the aside that (paraphrasing) "well have the kids complained about opposite sex trans youth with them" implying it's only overly concerned conservative parents are concerned. Can we just assume if adults are too nervous to stand up and say what they think that's against the trans orthodoxy why would we think children are brave enough to do so and would? Didn't we just have an awesome episode about high schoolers getting cancelled? Male genitalia in the girls locker room is a hill I'm willing to die on for my kid.

Expand full comment
Thia's avatar

I’m willing to die on that hill for your kid. I’ve done some work (just volunteer stuff) with girls who’ve suffered abuse and it’s appalling to me that we aren’t by default keeping male genitals as far away from young girls’ spaces as possible. This is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard. There is a reason even in battered women’s shelters that boys of a certain age are “monitored” and “encouraged” toward a friend’s house etc instead of staying in the shelter.

Of course no kids will stand up and say they’re uncomfortable. They shouldn’t have to, that’s what ADULTS are for. I don’t have kids but I was one and I knew nothing! Thank goodness adults protected me from my own stupidity.

Expand full comment
That TERF Owl's avatar

I’m glad you’re speaking up, too.

Expand full comment
That TERF Owl's avatar

“Can we just assume if adults are too nervous to stand up and say what they think that's against the trans orthodoxy why would we think children are brave enough to do so and would?”

Exactly!

Also, hearing people that aren’t parents dismiss parents AGAIN (hearing this a lot on Twitter, etc.) is getting old. We heard it from the swimmers from UPenn who spoke out anonymously - they were warned not to talk, and were gaslighted that any discomfort they felt was grounds for them to seek counseling. Why would it be any different for high schoolers? And even if there WERE okay with it, parents have a right to say “no.” By Jesse’s reasoning we should do away with permission slips.

Expand full comment
TheNuclearBlonde's avatar

The swimmers were exactly who I was thinking of

Expand full comment
Michael D. Purzycki's avatar

Jimmy Concepts sounds like a mob hitman who got really into existentialism and/or postmodernism.

Expand full comment
Tyler's avatar

I can see him sitting at a table eating sausage and fried peppers with Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta. (With a corpse in the trunk of Pesci's car).

Expand full comment
Guy Montag's avatar

*A conceptual corpse.

Expand full comment
srynerson's avatar

"Conceptual Corpse" is my band that performs Peter Gabriel-era Genesis songs in the musical style of Rob Zombie.

Expand full comment
PJ's avatar

There's a short story by Woody Allen from his collection Getting Even that had a mobster named Albert the logical positivist Corillo.

Expand full comment
RomeoPapa's avatar

I hate being this guy, but it's the second ep you guys have talked about Keynes. His name is pronounced KAYNZ. not keynz. KAAAAAYNZ.

Expand full comment
Funky Bunch's avatar

You say Rolling and I say Rawling. Let’s call the whole thing off.

Expand full comment
Botond's avatar

You guys totally have an Episode 15. It's titled "Blocked and Reported: Everyone Is Getting Fired All At Once, Except For Us", and there are copies of it floating around on the internet, for example at https://www.bababam.com/katie-herzog-and-jesse-singal-blocked-and-reported/202006111000-everyone-getting-fired-all-once-except-us

Expand full comment
Matthew Brannigan's avatar

Good job! Now go find some 60's Doctor Who!!

Expand full comment
Funky Bunch's avatar

That’s so weird. It’s quite a key episode, introducing Bon Appetit/Reply All, Fuck Hertzo/CHOP/CHAZ, Jew Zee, Yasher Ali... I can remember the episode title and vaguely think I’ve heard it before. But it’s definitely not in my feed. And that makes me anxious.

Expand full comment
Botond's avatar

It's even on youtube already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Expand full comment
Conor Fitzgerald's avatar

If you guys are looking for material I’d be interested to hear Jesse talk about the recent findings on the non-chemical nature of depression and what that means. Maybe it’s more a topic for a callin as it’s not culture war-y enough though tbh I think the use of SSRIs is a big culture war issue at this point. Link to the Story https://t.co/mqXuKvbveD . Just a thought anyway

Expand full comment
Bz Bz Bz's avatar

Scott Alexander had a post about this issue a while back that I found persuasive.

https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/05/chemical-imbalance/

TLDR “The idea that depression is a drop-dead simple serotonin deficiency was never taken seriously by mainstream psychiatry. The idea that depression was a complicated pattern of derangement in several different brain chemicals that may well be interacting with or downstream from other causes has always been taken seriously, and continues to be pretty plausible”

Expand full comment
Midwest Molly's avatar

I would love to look into this!

SSRIs are like a magic pill for me. I’ve had depression since I was a teenager- and didn’t get medication for it until my late thirties. I haven’t had any depressive episodes since.

Is it a placebo? Whatever it is, it works and lets me have a happy life.

Expand full comment
Rick Rottman's avatar

Karlyn Borysenko is the reason I'm against psychologists with a PhD referring to themselves as "Doctor."

Expand full comment
Lilith's avatar

Jill Biden is another good example of someone with a PHD passing themselves off as a doctor when it suits (in her case, when it suits her husbands career). They used this to bad-faith effect multiple times during the pandemic.

Expand full comment
Linotte's avatar

Anyone with a PhD is rightly referred to as "Dr." in academia. It makes perfect sense to use the title more generally, as well, and doesn't seem bad faith at all to me.

Expand full comment
Midwest Molly's avatar

You are 100% correct- but hear me out:

The reason the title "Dr." commands respect in our society is because of medical doctors, and maybe also people in the hard sciences with PhDs. People who have gone to school forever and studied theories about education are not revered. It's borrowed glory.

Expand full comment
TheNuclearBlonde's avatar

Here's another reason it bothers me for Jill Biden. Her main position is first lady and wife of Joe. Supporting the president, That's pretty important. If I'm supporting my spouse it's not about me and I'd be an ass to bring up the PhD. If she's lecturing on her research topic that's fine

Titles are useful when relevant and needless bragging otherwise.

Expand full comment
Ava's avatar

Thank you for helping me understand why I always thought my microbiology prof father deserved to be called "Dr." but my political scientist husband did not.

Expand full comment
Tyler's avatar

Anecdote alert: in my four years of college I never heard a single professor ask to be addressed as Doctor.

I work in Pharma R&D, which has a lot of Ph.D folks floating around. I have not heard anyone ask to be addressed as Doctor. Even some of the MDs don't use it because they are in research instead of practice.

Where I have heard it is in Jill Biden's field - education. I laughed when the controversy exploded because the use of Doctor seemed so prevalent among the Ed.D community. Must be a status thing.

Expand full comment
pseudonyms for fun and safety's avatar

Isn’t that because they simply assume everyone knows their credentials, though? People don’t insist on titles among peer groups - it’s there to demonstrate your credentials to the outside world, not the in-group.

Expand full comment
Tyler's avatar

If you are referring to the MD's working in research, point well taken. They've got nothing to prove to the in-group. I would be curious how they present themselves to outsiders.

Expand full comment
Edward Scizorhands's avatar

> I never heard a single professor ask to be addressed as Doctor.

Because "professor" is higher status.

Expand full comment
pseudonyms for fun and safety's avatar

It actually depends where you are. In the US ‘professor’ is often just a lecturer.

Expand full comment
Lucas's avatar

I'm also with Captain Holt on this https://youtu.be/_5QoYZuMILo

Expand full comment
Thia's avatar

Funny, I’ve never seen him in a comedic role.

Expand full comment
Kazzah's avatar

Oh you are in for a treat. Captain Raymond Holt is one of the great comic creations: https://youtu.be/0zJLltYWtNA

Expand full comment
Thia's avatar

I’m going to watch this show! I’ve loved him since the movie Glory a million years ago and then in Homicide but I didn’t even know he’d done a comedy. Nobody irl suggests these things to me because I’m told I have the sense of humor of a dead halibut. Fair enough. I rarely like comedy sitcoms but I don’t see how I could go wrong with this one - the compilation was funny because he’s such a good “straight” man. See, I know funny ;)

Thanks!

Expand full comment
Lilith's avatar

When you are giving out physical health advice (that serves your husbands political agenda) and prefacing it with "I'm a doctor" and what you are is a PHD is early education child care, then that seems extremely bad faith to me. She's not a medical doctor. She's a trophy wife with a PHD in an unrelated field. She should not be passing herself off as a medical doctor (implicitly or explicitly) when it suits her. It's a lie.

Expand full comment
Midwest Molly's avatar

Jill Biden may be a lot of things, but she is not s trophy wife. I can do a little inner eye roll when Ed PhD's are too into their credentials, but I am not here to denigrate teachers.

Hands down the best professor I ever had was a Educational methods professor ( yes, a PhD). She was stellar. She is, by all accounts, a wonderful hardworking person. She is not in the same universe as a trophy wife.

Expand full comment
TheNuclearBlonde's avatar

I prefer professor. Dr feels off unless I'm annoyed by companies losing my luggage

Expand full comment
Zone4Gardener's avatar

I love this! For anyone who likes to hate Karlyn, there's a parody account on twitter called @karlynsbrainstem I highly recommend it!

I'm a knitter and a former supporter of the Mises Cauc so I've known about this clown bitch for quite awhile! I was creeped out when the notification for this episode dropped in my inbox because her name has been flooding my mentions lately

Expand full comment
Rick Rottman's avatar

Twitter says @karlynsbrainstem doesn't exist.

Expand full comment
Zone4Gardener's avatar

Sorry, I misspelled. It's karlynbrainstem

Expand full comment
Some Guy's avatar

My dad’s fourth wife’s father once sent me a book about how heaven was organized as a corporation. Very specific details about various departments. This is all to say every person has a weird theology in their head that they reverse engineered to justify their view of the world. But you’re supposed to wait until you’re senile before you write a three hundred page explanation of it that no one wants to read. Although bonus points for making all of our world a deliberate choice. Ultra libertarian cosmology.

Expand full comment
GeoffB's avatar

I’m a free-stater who moved to Manchester last year. Having lived in a couple big cities in the last decade I can say southern New Hampshire is not super liberal, however, the sea coast region is. A typical bar in Manchester is full of pool-shooting sluts, guys with ‘Fuck Joe Biden’ shirts spelled in a gun font, and normal gay couples who don’t follow the news at all. The music is from the 90s and so is the fashion. Trump nearly won here (within city limits) in 2020. It certainly has its charms.

Expand full comment
Carts Fixed 18 Bucks's avatar

“A typical bar in Manchester is full of pool-shooting sluts, guys with ‘Fuck Joe Biden’ shirts spelled in a gun font, and normal gay couples who don’t follow the news at all. The music is from the 90s and so is the fashion.”

Don’t threaten me with a good time!

Expand full comment
Zone4Gardener's avatar

I live in nh

Shocking number of progressives up north. A lot of Bernie bros.

Expand full comment
GeoffB's avatar

Sounds like a lot of Vermont osmosis going on up there. In the ski towns you also do get a lot of progressive signaling. Whether it’s genuine or meant to flatter the Boston-clientele sensibilities, I can’t say.

Expand full comment
Zone4Gardener's avatar

Yeah, I think you're right. More to do with it's proximity to Vermont than anything.

Expand full comment
Maureen O'Shillelagh's avatar

I believe Jeremy Kauffman lives in Manch. That’s where all the crypto-bro $$$ is.

Expand full comment
GeoffB's avatar

Yes LBRY and Odysee are headquartered in Manchester and you can find Jeremy at the local free-state club house on any given week. Very funny guy. I’m surprised his campaign videos haven’t gotten more traction in the twittersphere: https://youtu.be/kdfym6LKpQ0

The crypto-wealth is pretty well dispersed too. A lot seems to be on the (fancier) seacoast. For instance Bruce Fenton, who is our free-state candidate for US senate, has quite the waterfront farm/estate.

Expand full comment
Norm's avatar

Holy shit I used to play frisbee with this guy before he lived in NH. I'm FLOORED right now

Expand full comment
GeoffB's avatar

Wow, yeah lol that’s how his wife said she met him (ultimate frisbee) during her speech at the campaign launch, as their little kids just wandered around the stage the whole time. Free spirits the lot of them.

Expand full comment
Rachel Holmes's avatar

Have any Twitter users checked on Katie? Has she become Our Lady Of The Fucked Up Mentions?

Expand full comment
Klondike's avatar

Don't know what a beachhead head is... Some of you haven't spent 8 hours just *setting up* a 40K battle and it shows.

Expand full comment
That TERF Owl's avatar

I only know bc my father is a WWII history aficionado.

Expand full comment
Thia's avatar

Doesn’t that sum it up. I was stunned, how could you not know what a beachhead is? But then I thought about the number of times I’ve had to pause the podcast and do some googling to figure wtf they’re talking about because sometimes it’s like we’re on two different planets… and never the twain shall meet.

Expand full comment
PJ's avatar

Why do I feel like 30 years ago Karlyn would've been screaming at people on the subway and that would be the extent of her influence? Modern media is like a mental illness/personality disorder transmission vector.

Expand full comment
Darling Sneauxflayke's avatar

I used to live in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago. There was a regular rider on a couple of the bus routes that went up and down Clark Street. Don't know her name but she'd give her...uh, dissertations on a daily basis. She made some good points at times! And then....yikes. But every dissertation was topped off with a nasal-labial mining and harvesting expedition. Ahhh...those were the days. Your comment reminded me of some good memories.

Expand full comment
Lucas's avatar

The explanation of Austrian economics seemed half-baked to me, and I don't think Katie transmitted how ill-considered these guys are by most everyone else in economics -- even hardcore libertarians such as Bryan Caplan are not that much into them (https://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/whyaust.htm). "People respond to incentives" is accepted by pretty much every serious economist I know of -- and, far from necessarily resulting in radical libertarianism, can be the basis for suggesting that government should align incentives in certain ways to improve both private and social outcomes (the whole "nudge" vibe of behavioral economists such as Richard Thaler).

Expand full comment
Terms of Service's avatar

If you are looking for a succinct description of the entire field of economics it is "individuals respond to incentives."

I was disappointed in J/Ks lack of prep in discussing the topic.

Expand full comment
Paxton's avatar

Katie totally called this one: Karlyn is going NUTS on twitter.

Expand full comment
Holly from Dallas's avatar

I knew KB would have diarrhea of the tweets over this. She is very, very preoccupied with how she is perceived.

Expand full comment
Sugarloaf Mountain's avatar

Jesus, I wish I hadn't looked.

Expand full comment
C.L.'s avatar

Yes, and it is delicious!

Expand full comment
Gooddogboy's avatar

I am a Mainer currently in Illinois with Masshole Roots in Palmer and Lowell, as well as southern NH. NH is nice but sweet little towns like Hudson and Palmer are CRAZY expensive now from the Incomers taking over.

Now, I highly recommend A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling. It’s about a libertarian takeover of a small NH town (Grafton I believe- free state project related I think) and all that goes wrong, including bear attacks. Enjoy.

Expand full comment
ThinkPieceOfPie's avatar

Yes, that book was great. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Expand full comment
PJ's avatar

Sounds great. I'll look for it.

Expand full comment