The Political Orphanage

It's time for an industrial helping of high-grade nerd chat about Game of Thrones. Heaton talks to policy wonk and lifelong nerd Grant Carlisle about the deeper meaning of George R. R. Martin's books ...

15 Touko 201953min

How much do you have to pay to swing an ambassadorship? What is Citizens United and why do people loathe it? Heaton talks with Dave Levinthal, senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, about...

14 Touko 201943min

It's that time of year again! The mistletoe is hanging in the doorway, all the snow has been shoveled, and there's a glass of wine just waiting on the kitchen counter for that special person. Snuffy's...

13 Touko 201918min

Comedian Lou Perez joins Heaton for a Friday Release Valve episode to discuss the silliest headlines of the week: Some sheep go to school, chicken nugget ice cream, a guy crossing the ocean in a barre...

10 Touko 201936min

What if history isn't a string of great man biopics or a struggle between conservatives and progressives? What if it's a battle of disciplinarians against drunks and harlots? Thaddeus Russell comes on...

9 Touko 201938min

The market tumbled yesterday after Donald Trump threatened to double down on tariffs. Heaton explains Comparative Advantage with a brilliant scotch analogy, and is then joined by playwright and comedi...

8 Touko 201943min

It's expensive maintaining the largest prison population on the entire planet, but we've managed to do it for several decades. German Lopez, senior correspondent at Vox, joins Heaton to talk about cri...

7 Touko 201941min

Comedian and primatologist Natalia Reagan joins Heaton to talk about hominids, the human family tree, and the time when Homo sapiens weren't the only smart bipedal hominids running around.

6 Touko 201950min