The Dissidents

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 57, we speak with Greg Thomas, CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project and an Omni-American. Greg explains how using the principles of Jazz - individual excellence, antagonistic cooperation, and shared leadership - all lead to an ensemble mindset, a mindset that created a Jazz movement, which became...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 56, we speak to Dr. Sheena Mason, the Founder of the Theory of Racelessness. By continuing to label people and stuff them into different racial categories or boxes, Sheena argues that we are perpetuating racism. While there may be different cultures and ethnicities, race doesn’t exist. Until we...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 55, we speak with Jessie Mannisto, the Editor of Third Factor Magazine. Jessie’s passion is exploring Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration. TPD sees psychological tension or disintegration as necessary for growth, the development of courage, and ultimately, to realizing our fullest pote...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 54, we speak with Dustin Clark & Jeremy Story, two fathers arrested for disrupting a school board meeting in Round Rock, Texas. Headlines made them out as anti-mask mandate marauders and the face of “domestic terrorism”, but the truth is stranger than this fiction. Their stories unmask the i...

In the first episode of season two of Hold my Drink  — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 53, we speak with Andrew Gutmann & Paul Rossi on the Long March of Marxism and its application through Critical Theory in our institutions, with its many permutations. Andrew & Paul have been on the battlefront of a social revolution that has trickled down...

In the final episode of Season One of Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 52, we speak with Zander Keig and Debbie Hayton. Zander (FTM) and Debbie (MTF) share with us their different experiences with transition, the socialization of different genders, their thoughts on the current debate on puberty blockers, questions on gender dysphoria...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 51, we speak with Jason Miller, host of Native Liberty. Jason hails from the Hopi and Miwok tribes and has spent much of his professional career working within tribal communities. We discuss his issues with tribal injustices and his adherence to classical liberal values to realize a Native Liber...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 50, we speak with Steven Welliever a former STEM teacher, now construction worker, who has dedicated his time to revealing the problems with critical theory in K-12 education. Steve shares with us tips and insights that help parents reveal hidden ideological agendas, become their own educationa...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 49, we speak with Naama Kates, host of the Incel Podcast. Naama gives insight into the counter-cultural movement of incels and black pill ideology, unveiling both uncomfortable truths and dispelling shadowy myths. We also explore the current social justice narrative of oppressor and oppressed an...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 48, we speak with Aaron Sibarium. Aaron first addressed our country’s growing polarization while covering issues such as “ Halloweengate ” at Yale. He now carries on what he started as a journalist for the Washington Free Beacon exposing the inner machinations of ideologues in our institutions....

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 47, we speak with Bonnie Snyder, Director of High School Programs for the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education ( FIRE ) and author of the newly released book, Undoctrinate . Bonnie shares with us stories of ideological indoctrination that has become mainstream in K-12 education, and her...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 46, we speak with the Jon O’Brien, the first civil rights attorney to take on Critical Race Theory in the classroom. He outlines both the logistical and financial challenges of his groundbreaking lawsuit with Gabrielle Clark , as well as his first-hand impressions of those who are now leading t...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 45, we speak with the King of Star-manning and a Warrior of Compassion, Angel Eduardo. We discuss the problems with colorblindness and how to be color-blah. We share our different views on MLK’s dream, legacy, and the challenges to America in reference to the Dream Coalition letter and discussio...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 44, we speak with social workers Zander Keig & Matthew Watson. Zander and Matt are on a mission to promote viewpoint and political diversity in social work. Social workers advocate for social justice, but a strict definition of social justice and adherence to rigid ideologies often places po...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 43, we speak with Charles Love on his views on conservatism, our culture and his forthcoming book Race Crazy . Charles engages our different ideas around the criminal justice system, the impact of slavery, and the American obsession with race. Are we going race crazy? Join us as we navigate the...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 42, we speak with Professor Lyell Asher on the dysfunction of education schools and their growing influence on higher education. Education schools are infused with ideology, which became apparent in many K-12 virtual classrooms in 2020. This ideology is also seeping into higher education as educ...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 41, we speak with Kenny Xu, author of An Inconvenient Minority. Kenny explains the disadvantages Asian Americans face as new anti-racist paradigms have denigrated meritocracy. The general strategy of accomplishment for many Asian American immigrants has rested almost exclusively on meritocratic...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 40, we speak with Zander Keig and Jason Littlefield who together are working on a new model of Belonging and Diversity training at Empower ED . We discuss the Repressive Tolerance of current Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Belonging programs, and their alternative program that centers on Hum...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 39, we speak with David Ben Moshe. David is an American ex-con, heterodox thinker, personal trainer, and Orthodox Jewish convert, fighting for citizenship in Israel. You know he has a few stories to tell! David shares with us his journey through the prison system, his fight with racism, his conv...

In the Hold my Drink — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 38, we speak with Gabs Clark, a biracial and widowed mother of five children. After recently recovering from a disability that had her in a wheelchair for years, she stayed at home during the pandemic so her children could attend school online. What she discovered shocked her. In addition to the...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating culture with a chaser of civility, and Counterweight podcast, Episode 37, we speak with Erec Smith and Jason Littlefield. Both Erec and Jason are working to introduce empowerment and compassionate humanism back into education. The theory of empowerment, which takes a tiered approach to social and emotional learning starting with the individual, has recently been...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating the news and politics with a chaser of civility — and Counterweight podcast, Episode 36, we speak with the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and best-selling author, Greg Lukianoff. As things evolve since the publishing of the book, The Coddling of the American Mind in 2018, Greg has been “catching up with coddling” in...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating the news and politics with a chaser of civility — and Counterweight podcast, Episode 35, we speak with the Executive Director of the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, Wenyuan Wu. Wenyuan’s grassroots group was instrumental in voting down Prop 16 in California, which aimed to repeal part of the state constitution to keep discrimination illegal. The Foundat...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating the news and politics with a chaser of civility — and Counterweight podcast, Episode 34, we speak with Buck Angel on the difference between transsexual and transgender, generational differences in the trans community, new language and labels, and his own experience and transition. Buck, who is also affectionately called Tranpa, speaks to people on perseverance an...

In the Hold my Drink  — navigating the news and politics with a chaser of civility — and Counterweight podcast, Episode 33, we speak with Wilfred Reilly, a Political Science Professor at Kentucky State University and author of the book Taboo. Reilly is a master of assessing and debunking current narratives on race and identity with quantitative and comparative analysis using factual data. In essen...