#419 - In Defense of Capitalism...and Sweden's Covid Response (w/ Johan Norberg)

* 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 it ok to boycott brands for not having the right politics? A debate* Cruising, the gay Casablanca / Donnie Moore, baseball’s Ike Turner* Bonus blathering about Basketball This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

25 Maj 20232h 19min

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wethefifth.substack.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 return * Why’s there no challenge to Biden from The Squad?* The…

22 Maj 202329min

* “Zero-to-insane in the first three minutes”* The terrible 2024 election * The right’s bizarre infatuation with RFK Jr.* The immigration crisis in NYC* The cruelty isn’t always the point* How the average American thinks about illegal immigration* Eli Lake joins to wish us all a Happy Durham Week* Takeaways from the Durham Report* The “heroes of democracy” are, in fact, the villains of democracy* David Frum’s Atlantic piece* Eli on Robert Kennedy Sr., the cop* Diane Feinstein, John Fetterman, Joe Biden* That insane LA Times piece (that we will talk about more later) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

18 Maj 20231h 55min

* Charging the Islip Strangler* Moynihan’s weird bias* A bad WSJ podcast* The Trump townhall * Rating Kaitlan Collins* Journalists who hate journalism * The not Desantis response* Tucker’s Twitter take* Can he succeed?* Killing [TK], A Series* Sorry, but that guy you hate is actually really smart* That amazing Firing Line destruction of Leander Perez * Our grim election / memories of 1968 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

12 Maj 20231h 27min

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wethefifth.substack.com* Che jumps on the third rail * Unaliving all the bad words* Throat clearing Suedehead * Let’s come to a conclusion before we know anything, ok?* Another pretendian* You guys are like Glenn Beck too, you know* Nonsense talk about Western science from a nonsense person (and that insane Zoom intro mentioned by Moynihan)* Michael Jackson’s doll isn’t ok* A supermarket encou…

8 Maj 202340min

* A homicide at Broadway-Lafayette * Crazy strangers on a train * The dumb racialization of a tragic death* The “delightful” and violent Michael Jackson impersonator * Amazon’s Afrika Bambaataa impersonator goes to Cuba* On Tucker’s identitarian texts * Fox News’s leak war* The Daily Show’s 81% rating collapse* So many shitty late night talk shows* You won’t notice the writer’s strike* Hating the Correspondent’s Dinner is as boring as the Correspondent’s Dinner itself* Gas stoves and Australian vapes * Adderall nightmare updates * Send pics This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

4 Maj 20231h 26min

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wethefifth.substack.com* Moynihan on Maher* Los Angeles is a weird place* Kmele in Chicago with Nirvana’s producer* The mechanics of Hollywood that we don’t understand * AA and Scientology * A hockey disaster* We need more “black” hockey players* A listener on Father Coughlin and Ayn Rand* RIP Wes’s mom* First class talk* A listener in defense of MMA* Holy shit this Danny Aiello response video * Holy …

2 Maj 202335min

He first came on to talk about a suicide in the porn industry. Then he came back to help us explore the origins of our roiling culture wars. And now Jon Ronson returns for his third one-on-one conversation with Michael Moynihan, this time to discuss The Debutante, his brilliant new podcast about high society neo-Nazis, bad swastika tattoos, Throbbing Gr… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

30 Apr 20231h 46min