The Political Orphanage

Comedian Turner Sparks climbs aboard the podcast to discuss the week's more obscure headlines, from calls in Ireland to use the army to fight deer overpopulation, to a Supreme Court decision over hoverboard moose hunting, to Siberan slap fights.

Adam Smith got the party started, alternately lambasting feudalists and mercantilists and paving the way for a more free and prosperous world. Legendary humorist and author of "On The Wealth of Nations" P.J. O'Rourke joins Heaton to discuss the plucky Scotsman's contributions to society.

When do corporations go from valid money-making operations to amoral schemers living off the public dole? What obligations do companies have to their employees? Rick Ungar joins Heaton to discuss the proper role of capitalism and what solutions can and should be attempted by government. PLUS: Introducing Fr. Michael O'Grimsly, vicar at the Church of Woke.

Mike May is a business strategist in Washington, D.C. He joins Heaton to discuss how major corporations are embracing tribalism, either to promote change or to simply grab headlines and customers. But it turns out there's also an unexpected free market upside to tribalism.

After two years, the Russian collusion investigation has come up empty, so it looks like Robert Mueller won't be frog-marching Donald Trump out of the White House. Political commentator Justin Robert Young joins Heaton to sort things out.

Remy, musical comedian and Reason heartthrob, joins Heaton to work through the week's more obscure headlines, including alligators on ketamine, communism setting the laws of reincarnation, and Australia's onerous disco ball laws.

"Dear Reader: An Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il" combined North Korean propaganda and history, from the perspective of its most infamous dictator. Author Michael Malice joins Heaton to discuss the reality of North Korea, its options moving forward, and what Americans get wrong about the Hermit Kingdom.

Democrats are kicking around the idea of lowering the voting age to 16. Meanwhile, you can join the army at 18 and drink when you're 21. When should government age of consent kick in? Matt Kibbe, president of Free the People and host of BlazeTV's "Kibbe on Liberty" joins Heaton to discuss.

Documentary filmmaker Rob Montz joins Heaton to discuss how the American presidency has expanded in power and religious adulation and the huge downside to electing messiahs instead of bureaucrats.

"Alienating the Audience" returns for a deep dive on science fiction, this time with former congressman and current commissioner of the the Federal Maritime Commission Dan Maffei. Heaton and the commissioner discuss "Majority Rule," from Season 1 of "The Orville," regarding absolute democracy, freedom of speech, and social media mobs. Plus how "The Orville" stacks up to Star Trek and hopes for the...

Comedian and BlazeTV host Chad Prather joins Heaton to make sense of the week's better headlines, from a goat mayor in Vermont, to whales, ambien, and conspiracy theories about marketing.

Twitter nabbed Trump an eager pool of followers in 2016, and millions of unearned media attention from his detractors. How is Twitter uniquely suited to his temperament, and how does a 280-character limit shape discourse? Dr. Brian L. Ott is the author of "The Twitter Presidency: Donald J. Trump and the Politics of White Rage." He joins Heaton to discuss.

California's death row inmates got a reprieve this week from Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, who issued a moratorium on executions. It's kicked the issue of the death penalty back into the national spotlight, so Heaton brings on Jason Buttrill to discuss its efficacy and morality.

Where do non-partisan people tend to live? What factors are most associated with political prejudice? Comedian and political scientist Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy joins Heaton to a discuss a recent PredictWise survey trying to quantify each of America's 3,000 counties according to partisanship. (Plus, Heaton ranks world leaders according to who he would want to vacation with).

The head of the Food & Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb, is leaving, so Heaton is officially nominating Stu Burguiere to be its new commissioner. He talks with Heaton about the false sense of security the FDA brings the public, and the ways it can be counterproductive for life-saving pharmaceuticals.

Why we should rename Mt. Everest, what hipsters are and aren't, when cemeteries become yoga studios, and the best legislation to come out of Utah—all this on another installment of Friday Release Valve.

Garrett Graff, author of Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save ItselfÑWhile the Rest of Us Die joins Heaton to discuss the presidential succession, secret military bunkers, and the history of the cold warÑfrom the perspective of doomsday plans.

Bernie Sanders John Hickenlooper and (probably soon) Beto O'Rourke have jumped into the already crowded Democratic 2020 primary. Meanwhile Donald Trump has his own challenger in the GOP. Will Weld help or hobble the Donald? Who's the Democrat's Jeb of the 2020 election well-positioned but destined to flame out? Justin Robert Young and Brian Brushwood join Heaton for industrial-strength rampant pol...

Senator Mike Lee of Utah joins Heaton to talk about how federalism has become out of whack, and ways to restore balance to the Force.

Bernie Sanders and Tucker Carlson have both settled onto a single big problem in America—stuff. Katherine Mangu-Ward the Editor-in-Chief of Reason Magazine joins Heaton to explain how an adorable Japanese tidying celebrity provides an alternative mindset.

Mike Kaplan, co-host of the "Lost in America Podcast," joins Heaton to sort the week's most baffling headlines. Including: The artistic abilities of pigs, radioactive cremations, the sex life of Adam West, and the feasibility of leprechauns.

Commander Dale Brown, owner of a private security firm, joins Heaton to talk about the history of racial theory and how ethnicity is a social construct.

The Pentagon is ramping up efforts to develop sophisticated AI before China does. What happens if China beats us? Either way, is AI going to murder us in our sleep, like Elon Musk says? Joe Leonardo and David Ryan Polgar, hosts of the "Funny As Tech" podcast join Heaton to allay and stoke his fears.

Much like a horrible "Scooby Doo" episode, actor Jussie Smollett's initial hate crime story has fallen apart. The Chicago PD now thinks it was an elaborate staging, designed to garner sympathy and a higher salary. Comedian Turner Sparks joins Heaton to discuss the funnier inconsistencies in the story, and the future of Wokeness.

President Trump is pulling out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Does this mean the Ruskies will start cranking out nukes? What about us? Or the Chinese? Jason Buttrill, Chief Researcher at The Blaze, joins Heaton to explain what we should and should not be worried about.