You forgot https://femchaospod.substack.com/https://www.phetasy.com/ :D I have been digging Unherd alot lately and their new american side show Undercurrents. Also a related interest is the Harvard Hillel channel on youtube. They had two of my favorite people on a little while back Rabbi Wolpe and Steven Pinker. As a non-religious person, if they ever made it mandatory to have a religion I would be Jewish and it would be entirely Rabbi Wolpe's doing. Love that man. https://youtu.be/BKApkuOzUnk?feature=shared
First time I saw him was when he spoke with Harris way back when. I felt like if Sam wants to win arguments on religion he should just stick to the bible thumpers, cause this guy is more "my team" than Sam is. :D It was a shame the conversation was set up as a debate so I started googling Wolpe, and well dozens of hours of youtube content later, yeah big fan. Sam has gotten far too attached to political discussions. I used to blame twitter for doing that to him, but now I am not so sure. He SHOULD be more like Wolpe, talking about larger, real life subjects that really impact the people in his audiences. I am not on the waking up app, but I hope Sam is putting it all in there and that is why I am not seeing it. But we need men like those two out in the world focusing on the human condition, not on headlines and drama. Wolpe is one of the few public people in the "talking head" world I swim in that I would actually like to meet one day just to shake his hand and tell him thank you / keep it up.
So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast. All about 1st Amendment issues/policy. Also, they cover all scotus decisions, explaining the details in terms you can understand.
Everything Everywhere Daily - 10 to 15 minutes everyday covering more topics than you can think of.
GLP (Genetic Literacy Project) Podcast: Science Facts & Fallacies. It's probably the least known podcast in my list. Essentially, this pod is dedicated to dispelling environmental NGO and news media narratives that demonize and mislead people about certain "harmful chemicals" that are produced by allegedly nefarious big corporations or big Ag or big "whatever". In reality, these narratives put out by eNGOs are usually accompanied by bad scientific studies cherry picked to scare consumers. In turn, the eNGO sells it's ideology and it's "healthy" products. It's a subject I'm passionate about because the chemicals being demonized have enabled society to flourish, and are critical to feeding billions of people.
Iconic Podcast (a gaming podcast about the D&D-like game 13th Age; I have occasionally appeared on the podcast (here is an example: https://iconicpodcast.com/2015/03/09/s1-e18/)
Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning (mostly ancient DNA and archaeology discussions is what I listen for).
Rock, Paper, Swords (two bestselling historical fiction authors discuss action and adventure in historical fiction (and rock music) and interview authors; a lot if interesting discussion of the creative process)
The Ancient World (lots of interesting explorations of the past; a lot of focus on the ancient Near East, but the first season does a world survey of ancient human civilizations).
The Ancients (lots of different history/archaeology topics; a lot of focus on the Classical period in Europe, but covers lots of topics in lots of time periods and places)
The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast (I love, love, love this podcast; an in progress episode by episode breakdown and exploration of each of the shows done in the 80s by Jeremy Brett for Granada TV; if you love the incredible Granada series, this is worth a listen; if you have not seen it WHAT ATE YOU WAITING FOR you can find the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes episodes on YouTube if you don have BritBox or something; they are amazing; watch an episode and then listen to Luke and Gus, brothers and filmmakers break down and explore the episode, often times interviewing living members of the cast and crew!)
The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast (all about the United States involvement in the War of the Pacific during World War 2; great discussions by a historian and museum curator and a retired Navy submarine captain, with frequent special guests; I have many dozens of episodes to listen to in order to catch up to the present release schedule, but have enjoyed the dozens I have listened to so far).
Voluminous: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft (H.P. Lovecraft, controversial today because he tended to write ignorant racists stuff in his letters and espoused antisemitic views, even while he married a Jewish woman who was a fellow author; he was a person of contradictions, a very imaginative and also very kind and personable person who said some terrible things and probably would have been a kind of internet troll if he lived now; yet he helped created the modern genres of horror and science fiction and contributed a lot to fantasy as well; a person of contradictions, he wrote perhaps a 100,000 letters during his life, about 30% survive and are known; the episodes take a letter or set of letters, read it and then discuss it; the discussions are usually enlightening, though the hosts have their own views, often highly critical of old H.P., many times warranted, sometimes, I think a bit performative; Lovecraft is an acquired taste in many ways, but his letters definitely open a lost time and place).
Past podcast champion:
The History of Rome Podcast (excellent podcast; covers the rise of Rome through the fall of the Western Roman Empire; got a lot out of it; the presenter's follow up, Revolutions has been more hit or miss for me; I listened to the English Civil War, the American Revolution and am caught somewhere in the French Revolution just not finding time to get back to it, let alone to progress to the Hatian, South American, and other covered "revolutions"; but your mileage may vary)
I loved the convo about Ben Gvir and the Temple Mount. I’m always annoyed when he goes up there because he does it largely in part as a provocation (imho) but I also see the insanity of Jews not being able to go to their holy sites because it will upset the Muslim world. I like how Yael said he’s a bad messenger. I was happy to see him condemned by all corners of Israeli politics but, again, I understand the unfairness.
It took me a little while to figure out that the rabbi Goldstein was a sature, not until she said her congregation was in Gaza. But, she sounds EXACTLY like this rabbi in Chicago.
1. I love Albert Lin and his lidar! He's so earnest and gosh-darn likeable. 2. Can't go to Israel in 2025 so please make it annual so I can go with you in 2026, I will start saving $ now! 3. Thanks as always for the laughs. Ask a Jew always makes my day.
You guys would really enjoy the podcast Normal Gossip. It’s exactly what it sounds like: stories about other people’s business. It’s hilarious and also, you will find yourself yelling out loud at people you don’t even know. I would recommend starting with S4 E3 I love All Corgis or S6 E5 Sexy Mushrooms.
A listener trip to Israel?! Yes please!
You forgot https://femchaospod.substack.com/ https://www.phetasy.com/ :D I have been digging Unherd alot lately and their new american side show Undercurrents. Also a related interest is the Harvard Hillel channel on youtube. They had two of my favorite people on a little while back Rabbi Wolpe and Steven Pinker. As a non-religious person, if they ever made it mandatory to have a religion I would be Jewish and it would be entirely Rabbi Wolpe's doing. Love that man. https://youtu.be/BKApkuOzUnk?feature=shared
Omg yes to both!!! How could we forget! And rabbi Wolpe is the 🐐
First time I saw him was when he spoke with Harris way back when. I felt like if Sam wants to win arguments on religion he should just stick to the bible thumpers, cause this guy is more "my team" than Sam is. :D It was a shame the conversation was set up as a debate so I started googling Wolpe, and well dozens of hours of youtube content later, yeah big fan. Sam has gotten far too attached to political discussions. I used to blame twitter for doing that to him, but now I am not so sure. He SHOULD be more like Wolpe, talking about larger, real life subjects that really impact the people in his audiences. I am not on the waking up app, but I hope Sam is putting it all in there and that is why I am not seeing it. But we need men like those two out in the world focusing on the human condition, not on headlines and drama. Wolpe is one of the few public people in the "talking head" world I swim in that I would actually like to meet one day just to shake his hand and tell him thank you / keep it up.
I'd heard of Rabbi Wolpe, but I finally heard him speak at Shevuoth. He is very, very charismatic.
I described him to my buddy as the Carl Sagan of Judaism performed by Mr. Rogers in a play written by Mel Brooks. :)
My go to podcast's
The Fifth Column (How I found Ask a Jew)
Blocked and Reported
House of Strauss
The Good Fight w/ Yascha Mounk
Reason Roundtable
The Reason Interview
So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast - by FIRE
Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps
Everything Everywhere Daily
The Gist
Honestly
Call Me Back
The Comedy Cellar
GLP Podcast: Science Facts & Fallacies
The Dishcast
The Political Orphanage
Walk-Ins Welcome
The Glenn Show (on and off)
Quillette Podcast (If Jon Kay is hosting)
Commentary (whenever Eli Lake is on)
The Remnant (just started)
The Guy Haberman Podcast (all about my 49ers)
Coleman Hughes
there's probably more...
If you haven't
So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast. All about 1st Amendment issues/policy. Also, they cover all scotus decisions, explaining the details in terms you can understand.
Everything Everywhere Daily - 10 to 15 minutes everyday covering more topics than you can think of.
GLP (Genetic Literacy Project) Podcast: Science Facts & Fallacies. It's probably the least known podcast in my list. Essentially, this pod is dedicated to dispelling environmental NGO and news media narratives that demonize and mislead people about certain "harmful chemicals" that are produced by allegedly nefarious big corporations or big Ag or big "whatever". In reality, these narratives put out by eNGOs are usually accompanied by bad scientific studies cherry picked to scare consumers. In turn, the eNGO sells it's ideology and it's "healthy" products. It's a subject I'm passionate about because the chemicals being demonized have enabled society to flourish, and are critical to feeding billions of people.
I am already packing my bags for the trip 😊
Me, too!
I would definitely be interested in the trip to Israel. The last time I was there was when I was 9!
I would love a listener trip to Israel, but I cannot go next year (sad face).
I hope it will be just the first of many trips. I am going to be Ask(ing) a Jew for the long haul here.
As for pods, I share many with you (and other listeners too!)
My staple diet for news and media commentary seems to have become:
The Fifth Column
Ask a Jew
The Commentary Podcast
Call Me Back
edJEWcation
The Reeducation
More selectively
For Heaven's Sake
A Special Place in Hell
Live from the Table
Honestly
The Gist
Getting Hammered
Walk ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy
Other podcasts I listen to for fun and interest that have less to do about being worried about where our country and the world are going include:
Amon Sul (a podcast about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien from the point of view of Orthodox Christianity; I'm not orthodox anything, but the discussions are very interesting: this is one of my favorite episodes: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/amonsul/038_a_great_leader_of_men/)
Iconic Podcast (a gaming podcast about the D&D-like game 13th Age; I have occasionally appeared on the podcast (here is an example: https://iconicpodcast.com/2015/03/09/s1-e18/)
Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning (mostly ancient DNA and archaeology discussions is what I listen for).
Rock, Paper, Swords (two bestselling historical fiction authors discuss action and adventure in historical fiction (and rock music) and interview authors; a lot if interesting discussion of the creative process)
The Ancient World (lots of interesting explorations of the past; a lot of focus on the ancient Near East, but the first season does a world survey of ancient human civilizations).
The Ancients (lots of different history/archaeology topics; a lot of focus on the Classical period in Europe, but covers lots of topics in lots of time periods and places)
The God Learners (discussion of one of my favorite fantasy gaming worlds, Glorantha; I have also been a guest on this show; for example: https://godlearners.com/episode-26-chaos-rises/)
The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast (I love, love, love this podcast; an in progress episode by episode breakdown and exploration of each of the shows done in the 80s by Jeremy Brett for Granada TV; if you love the incredible Granada series, this is worth a listen; if you have not seen it WHAT ATE YOU WAITING FOR you can find the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes episodes on YouTube if you don have BritBox or something; they are amazing; watch an episode and then listen to Luke and Gus, brothers and filmmakers break down and explore the episode, often times interviewing living members of the cast and crew!)
The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast (all about the United States involvement in the War of the Pacific during World War 2; great discussions by a historian and museum curator and a retired Navy submarine captain, with frequent special guests; I have many dozens of episodes to listen to in order to catch up to the present release schedule, but have enjoyed the dozens I have listened to so far).
Voluminous: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft (H.P. Lovecraft, controversial today because he tended to write ignorant racists stuff in his letters and espoused antisemitic views, even while he married a Jewish woman who was a fellow author; he was a person of contradictions, a very imaginative and also very kind and personable person who said some terrible things and probably would have been a kind of internet troll if he lived now; yet he helped created the modern genres of horror and science fiction and contributed a lot to fantasy as well; a person of contradictions, he wrote perhaps a 100,000 letters during his life, about 30% survive and are known; the episodes take a letter or set of letters, read it and then discuss it; the discussions are usually enlightening, though the hosts have their own views, often highly critical of old H.P., many times warranted, sometimes, I think a bit performative; Lovecraft is an acquired taste in many ways, but his letters definitely open a lost time and place).
Past podcast champion:
The History of Rome Podcast (excellent podcast; covers the rise of Rome through the fall of the Western Roman Empire; got a lot out of it; the presenter's follow up, Revolutions has been more hit or miss for me; I listened to the English Civil War, the American Revolution and am caught somewhere in the French Revolution just not finding time to get back to it, let alone to progress to the Hatian, South American, and other covered "revolutions"; but your mileage may vary)
Omg i would loveeee to go to Israel with you two but I just had a baby 😭
Bring her!
I loved the convo about Ben Gvir and the Temple Mount. I’m always annoyed when he goes up there because he does it largely in part as a provocation (imho) but I also see the insanity of Jews not being able to go to their holy sites because it will upset the Muslim world. I like how Yael said he’s a bad messenger. I was happy to see him condemned by all corners of Israeli politics but, again, I understand the unfairness.
It took me a little while to figure out that the rabbi Goldstein was a sature, not until she said her congregation was in Gaza. But, she sounds EXACTLY like this rabbi in Chicago.
1. I love Albert Lin and his lidar! He's so earnest and gosh-darn likeable. 2. Can't go to Israel in 2025 so please make it annual so I can go with you in 2026, I will start saving $ now! 3. Thanks as always for the laughs. Ask a Jew always makes my day.
You guys would really enjoy the podcast Normal Gossip. It’s exactly what it sounds like: stories about other people’s business. It’s hilarious and also, you will find yourself yelling out loud at people you don’t even know. I would recommend starting with S4 E3 I love All Corgis or S6 E5 Sexy Mushrooms.