The Fifth Column

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe

Let’s abandon the usual bullet points and instead provide a few relevant links. The lads sit down with Swedish writer and historian Johan Norberg to discuss his forthcoming book The Capitalist Manifesto ; his report on Sweden’s Covid response ; his almost-a-book The Mirage of Swedish Socialism: The Economic History of a Welfare State ; and that time, twenty years ago, when he first came across Moy...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Elvis Costello’s dad is the best dancer * Orthodox Shyne * Jamaicans vs….ummm…non-island people * Close enough * The race blob * The Australia craze / Jacko * Gross Steven Segal songs * “The molester Rolf Harris?” * Revisiting the dumb debate * Ron, Vivek, et al * In praise of Gary Becker (and his family) * OJ Simps...

* Best mugshots of all time (Winner: 70s Larry King) * Who won the dumb debate * No, the agenda is a hoax * Nikki…pretty, pretty, pretty good, actually * “Let’s not look backwards” * One of the most deranged policy suggestions… * The debate over Trump prosecutions * Did Trump sound sane compared to Tucker? * What happened to Pesca’s podcast “Not Even Mad” podcast? * It’s really hard to make a podc...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * San Francisco again * Song of the South again * TikTok NPC insanity * Colombian Snow White, for the first time * How Obama broke up with his girlfriends  * Roger Stone on JFK Jr. And a bit on PressTV  * Richy Rich of Richmond  * The AnCap of Argentina * If the lads of the Fifth could avoid the dumb outrage, would th...

* A Moynihan intro on theft and “Jew face” * Lara Bazelon on rap lyrics as evidence, January 6th prosecutions, RICO, prosecutorial insecurity and overreach * Artists, characters, and belief * A Title IX violation is worse than being convicted for robbery * Lara’s new podcast * Greg on Title IX bureaucracy and free speech * The decline of the American university * And much, much more * Stay tuned f...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * RIP Robbie Robertson * Yeah, so 30 minutes of music talk about The Band, The Doors being bad, listeners getting mad at us, Graham Nash in a book store, Mickey Jones, patriotic Bob, Barry Goldwater, and The Last Waltz. Sorry about that. * I’m going to suggest that you weren’t denied entry into the exclusive club beca...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Richard Hananananananania is very sorry * He has changed. From last week. * Handjobs against racism * Lizzo, bananas, petards * “Everything I do is consequential, baby” * Chasing Fonzie the racist (Ed note: We can neither confirm nor deny this story) * The thing that is true but one cannot say… * Italy is a great bu...

So this one is probably four days old now? But because of the shitty software we use—and the fact that our…ummm….editor is currently on vacation in Italy—it took some serious archeology to salvage the recording. But it sounds fine, it’s a good episode, and Moynihan isn’t at all annoyed about having to upload this from a beach in Forte dei Marmi. The lengths we will go to make you people smarter an...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Matt hasn’t seen Oppenheimer * Brittany Murphy is dead, probably from myocarditis. Kmele is surprised * Found that anti-Qaddafi t-shirt * That stupid interview on Democracy Now * NHJ is America’s greatest historian * Was Moynihan crying ? (Moynihan responds: This is fake news) * “But ackshually……..” * Low key good a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Kmele and the Dead * Lia hates God * RFK and the race virus * A guilty verdict * The Dersh and jury nullification * The often referenced video of Dersh v. the Fink * A listener retracts his “dickish email” * An email about Boston and music * Is Boston a “racist” city? * Forgetting about bussing * The Irish vs. the W...

* This is a very summer episode. Soz. * Moynihan, impanelled * Implicit bias and your cup of coffee * Chipotle paranoia * We interrupt this program for a detailed Welch interregnum of the death of Milan Kundera * Tracy Chapman is “honored” by Luke Combs’s cover. The Washington Post is alarmed * Elvis was a hero to most, but he never… * You didn’t write that song. The “community” did * De La Soul i...

* Taking back a “clarification” * Underhoused. Overhoused. Differently housed. * Mayor Adams yells at a Holocaust surviving slave master * Drinking coffee with pictures of dead cops * Who lost the cocaine? * Kamala speechwriter video * The worst person in America is… * That interesting piece about Kevin Kruze’s not interesting book * The Fifth Column agrees: the 4th is pretty great… * Immigration...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * A sick podcast * Revisiting Coleman and RFK * Listeners yelling at Moynihan * Some nice stuff about Moynihan * A clarification from Moynihan * (All of this is re: RFK) * BTW, Sirhan Sirhan was really anti-Semitic * The conspiratorial mind * Are Birchers libertarians on meth? * Taking photos of yourself smoking crack...

Our old pal Damon Root, author of Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court , stops by to explain why the world is ending and racism won and all new websites will be homophobic and paying your debts is fascism or something. So yeah, the lads discuss the court, affirmative action, student loans and how to eat your gay website cake. Enjoy. This is a public episode. If you'd like...

The great Coleman Hughes sent a pained email. Like many Americans angry about various stupid and sinister government Covid policies, he was now feeling the gravitational pull of a warbly-voiced political outsider from a family of consummate political insiders. He was, of course, starting to fall for Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To be clear, this wasn’t a full-throated endorsement of Kennedy but, Cole...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Another live Zoom for our handsome, brilliant, and generous subscribers (hence all the weird asides responding to a fast-moving live chat). A few topics covered: * Kmele on Juneteenth * Rush and nerds and whites and wizards * RFK and Rogan and debate * Being brave and calling…. * RIP Cormac McCarthy * James Randi “pla...

Fresh from his campaign stop in front of a Miami courthouse , presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy stops by the Fifth’s Chinatown studio to very politely argue with Welch and Moynihan about a whole bunch of stuff. Including: * The donor class * What kind of conservative is Vivek? * Populism and free trade * A peace plan for China and Ukraine * The Trump indictment * Would Vivek take a position i...

Matt, Moynihan, and Kmele assemble in Chinatown to mull over another Trump indictment. No need for bullet points for this one because beside the predictable digressions into muscle-bound gay birders and homophobic Blue Jays, it’s a lotta Donald. So without further ado… And don’t forget: for the price of one very large coffee, you can help feed the children. Specifically our children. Who are very...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Despite being in a car in the city of Dnipro, journalist Tim Mak joins Michael Moynihan to talk about leaving NPR, moving to Kiev, and starting The Counteroffensive , his new Substack dedicated to reporting the Ukraine War. A few of the topics covered: * Tim arrived in Kiev the night the war started * Going back to Uk...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Ground control to Tucker C. * Episode one of the Bonkers Conspiracy Files * Also, we know what happened to that dam in Ukraine * But back to the white supremacist aliens… * Did the California senate pass on of the dumbest bills of all time? * Root causes and robbing Walgreens * Moynihan loves rooftop Koreans, thinks...

* Kmele is moving to a place where everything is free * ChatGPT is a fabulist * Moynihan’s new Orwell piece * Wikipedia v. AI chatbots * The assassination of (our) Kennedy * Random gossip columnist: Jamie Foxx was murdered by Pfizer * A better America: when Rick James met Linda Blair * BTW: Tupac Shakur was very dumb . And very violent. * Keeping people with dumb politics out of the various halls...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Stan Jonathan vs. Pierce Bouchard * The Lia Thomas of Pickleball * Owning a house sucks * “Lia has these books” * Kmele loves Thoreau * Matt hates Thoreau * Feinstein and elder abuse * “…to function” * On gas stoves and gesture science * C.S. knows someone with dumb ideas * Robert Murdoch controls your brain * Legis...

* Tina, RIP. Bill Lee, RIP. * Zone of Interest * DeSantis announces * Tim Scott announced too, btw * An increasingly crowded and unimpressive field * Our old pal Ethan Strauss joins * Why does Joe keep saying that…thing about Iraq? * “Trump is sharper than Biden” * An interregnum on Ike Turner * Ethan’s piece on Glen Kuiper * The American employment gulag: exiled forever * Paying indulgences * Is...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * RIP Martin Amis (and Andy Rourke and Jeremy Clarke) * “Pussies are bullshit” * A reading list: Money . London Fields . Zone of Interest. (Note: these all appear to be sold out on Amazon) * On Orwell and D.J. Taylor’s new biography * The Citibike “Karen” and her “white tears” * Online vigilantism * Salman Rushdie’s r...