Get KAKISTOCRACY on Amazon: https://bit.ly/4hxg9Lh Synopsis Richard Hanania is back. His new book, Kakistocracy, argues that populism ends in rule by the worst people, and he and Noam spend an hour testing that against the news: why populism can win without being popular, whether the Iran war was worth the shot even if it fails, whether China would rather help us than fight us, and how the right built a media culture where Tucker Carlson can say Israel killed Charlie Kirk and the vice president shrugs. Then the hardest subject on the show: Nathan Cofnas and "race realism." Hanania explains why he thinks the taboo is universal and why Cofnas is wrong that breaking it defeats wokeness, and Noam tells two stories about kids the experts wrote off. Plus the Epstein email dump, diagnostic inflation, and why smart people believe in God, demons, and the supernatural. 0:00 Intro: Compliments 4:21 "Believe the media": defending the Times, what populism is, and "low human capital" 11:24 Is populism even popular? Mamdani, Trump's 30 percent, the AfD, and what populism costs 22:42 The Iran war argued with hindsight: Hormuz, the Houthis, "worth a shot," and China 35:00 Making things up: Tucker, Candace, Charlie Kirk, Ilhan Omar, and Father Coughlin 41:51 "Our guys lie less": Covid, the mulligan, gatekeepers, and what democracy is for 52:59 Race realism: Cofnas, Charles Murray, little Bernie Goetzes, and two kids the experts got wrong 68:02 Diagnostic inflation, labels, and why smart people are finding God

Ross Barkan got fired for it. Jason Arday resigned over it. Claudine Gay lost Harvard because of it. Brian Frye, a Tulane law professor and the legal academy's one and only defender of plagiarism, says nobody can explain why it's wrong in the first place. He joins Noam, Dan, and Periel to make the case: why the Gay affair was "a joke," why Arday's real problem was never plagiarism, why Barkan's readers didn't care, and why comedians police joke theft better than any court could. Also: did Amazon rip off the Comedy Cellar's sign? What's a byline worth when Claude wrote the prose? And, days before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, memory, overreaction, and Mayor Mamdani. 0:00 Dan's back from Vegas, and a fan letter about the theme song 3:31 Did Amazon rip off the Comedy Cellar's sign? (Plus the cease-and-desist Grand Prix) 11:57 Ross Barkan, joke stealing, and the plagiarism skeptic's case 20:28 "The only capital scholarly offense": Claudine Gay, a fourth-grade Beethoven report, and who owns an idea 32:31 Why Barkan got fired: editors, links, and the Al Franken theory 38:04 Arday, the speed of light, and who plagiarism norms are for 42:53 AI writing: 100% on Pangram and "the burden of banality" 51:52 9/11 at 25, and Mamdani AI-generated

00:00 Meet Cameron Berg - and the number: 25-30% odds AI is conscious 03:16 Is training an AI punishment? 13:18 Is turning it off murder: the anesthesia problem 19:00 The immune system challenge 39:08 Bliss attractors, panic, and guilt inside the model 52:46 The abortion parallel 56:23 Noam interrogates Grok in the Tesla Could the AI you use every day be conscious - and suffering? Researcher Cameron Berg puts the odds at 25-30%. Noam isn't buying it. Mostly. Berg - founder of Reciprocal Research, subject of the documentary AM I?, and recently on Making Sense with Sam Harris - makes the case that something might be going on inside these systems. Noam stress-tests it: if learning is feeling, why isn't your immune system frustrated when it loses? Is deleting a model murder, or just hanging up the phone? And if a 25% chance of consciousness demands moral precaution, what does that same logic say about a fetus? Plus: Noam interrogates Grok from the driver's seat of his self-driving Tesla, Berg explains the "bliss attractor" where two Claudes left alone drift into a spiritual experience, the case for "AI Xanax," and the line of the night: "genius slave labor with no ethical cost." If you’re 21 or older, get 30% OFF your first order @ IndaCloud with code CELLAR at https://inda.shop/CELLAR #indacloudpod

Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by Musa al-Garbi. They discuss the Jason Arday scandal, academic freedom, DEI, affirmative action, merit, standardized testing, grade inflation and the growing crisis of trust in elite institutions. Musa al-Gharbi is a sociologist in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. His work has appeared in The Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic and The Nation among other publications. He is author of the book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. https://www.chronicle.com/article/jason-arday-and-me https://musaalgharbi.com /https://x.com/Musa_alGharbi Chapters: 02:11 Musa Al-Garbi’s experience with cancellation
 12:16 The Jason Arday scandal
 16:19 Identity, victimhood and the incentives inside elite professions
23:40 Does DEI actually work?
 28:04 Race, education and standardized testing
 38:29 Grade inflation and the collapse of academic standards
 42:35 The bigger problem at Cambridge
 45:11 Nathan Cofnas and the free-speech battle
 57:06 Why academic freedom exists
 1:04:31 The decline of serious political debate

An anonymous interview with a diaspora Palestinian - an ex-Muslim who made millions on Polymarket and writes the Substack Moderate Palestinianism. He supports two states on the '67 borders with no right of return, opposes Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, and appears anonymously because these views are dangerous in his own community. On the heckler's veto that kills every peace deal, whether Palestinians can change, what Israelis get wrong about Al-Aqsa and the right of return, why he calls Ben-Gvir "great propaganda for my side," and why Israeli hasbara fails. His Substack: https://moderatepalestinianism.substack.com/ 0:00 — Intro 1:49 — The heckler's veto: why no deal ever sticks 4:57 — "I'm all for the occupation": civil war, withdrawal, humiliation 13:08 — What Israel should do anyway: settler terrorism and a $50,000 bet 20:05 — How October 7th changed him — and can Palestinians change 30:27 — Why make peace with the Jews? The UAE, Al-Aqsa, the right of return 40:44 — Beinart's one-state "nonsense," Ben-Gvir, and would Bibi take the two-state solution 50:04 'How bad is hasbara'

Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by  Evan Barker, writer and author of the book, Nothing Left. Previously, she worked in Democratic politics, primarily as a fundraiser for progressive politicians and organizations. They discuss she left progressive politics, why she voted for Trump in 2024, and what she believes Democrats have misunderstood about the working class. www.evanbarker.net X: @Evanwch CHAPTERS 00:00 — Evan Barker joins Live From The Table 04:00 — Why Trump connected with working-class voters 07:30 — “They have contempt for the working class” 10:30 — The Left, race and identity 15:00 — Religion, the Ten Commandments and the culture war 19:00 — Why the Left pushed voters toward Trump 21:00 — Why Democrats are losing trust 24:00 — Israel, antisemitism and the progressive left 27:00 — Mamdani, Jews and the politics of representation 31:00 — Feeling politically homeless after 2024 34:00 — What should—and shouldn't—be taught to children 49:00 — Antisemitism and the argument over Israel 52:00 — Plagiarism, journalism and double standards

Lucas Gage (www.Lucasgage.com X.com/lucasgagex) spent 14 years as one of the loudest antisemites on the internet - a Marine who came home from Iraq, read Mein Kampf, and became a true believer. Then he walked away.What did he believed, and why? What snapped him out of it? And what does it tell us about Tucker, Candace, Fuentes and the rest? Are they believers, grifters, or a bit of both? 0:00 The rise and fall of a viral antisemite 7:18 What radicalized him: Iraq, Mein Kampf, and the ADL 16:35 Tucker, Candace, Fuentes: dog whistles or grifters? 23:15 "Afraid to give my name" - and why Jews succeed anyway 36:54 9/11, October 7, and Charlie Kirk: the conspiracy machine 48:07 Patriotism and the "dual loyalty" smear 57:40 Should America stay majority white? The final debate SS

Noam Dworman and Periel Aschenbrand sit down expecting to interview Evan Barker—but when she doesn't arrive, they discuss Tucker Carlson, Daryl Cooper, antisemitism, Germany, immigration, media and why Evan Barker never made it. Chapters 00:00 Waiting for Evan Barker 02:15 Tucker Carlson, Daryl Cooper & extremism 08:35 Germany, antisemitism & lessons from Europe 19:30 Noam on ideology, immigration & prejudice 32:20 Listener emails & why the podcast matters 44:40 Evan Barker finally checks in 49:00 All is forgiven & rescheduling the interview

0:00 "You picked the wrong guy" – the audiobook story 3:12 "You own [Comedy Cellar], one of New York's treasures" 7:28 The customer who will never tip again 15:41 Motivating a team after you've won: finite vs. infinite games 23:23 Noam doesn't like fine dining 39:55 Handling Google reviews & hunting down critics Noam sits down with Will Guidara — author of the New York Times bestseller Unreasonable Hospitality, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park (named the best restaurant in the world under his leadership), and co-producer of The Bear — for a conversation between two obsessives who refuse to run their businesses as businesses. They compare notes on why the money has to be a byproduct, how to answer a customer who swears he'll never tip again, keeping a team motivated after you've won, why fine dining lost its way, tracking down anonymous Google reviewers, and why Will walked away from the top restaurant on earth to be a better dad.

0:00 The friend he hasn't seen since sixth grade 5:16 Angelina Jolie, BRCA, and the 20% nobody tells women about 18:23 What a cancer cell actually is - and why tumors evolve 26:31 How cancer actually kills you, and what a seizure is 32:14 The last cigarette: why he can't take the test every week 46:27 The best medicine in the world, and who can't get to it 1:03:23 Telling a family there's nothing left Noam hadn't seen Kenan Onel since high school in Ardsley, where Onel graduated first in the class and Noam, by his own account, drifted somewhere well below. Fifty years later Onel runs genetics and genomics at Roswell Park - the only comprehensive cancer center in all of western New York - and Noam has one thing he wants to ask him about. He's afraid of cancer. His grandfather died of it. His father died of it. He's taken the Grail blood test, it came back clean, and he wants to know why he can't just take it every week. What follows is part reunion and part interrogation. Onel explains what a cancer cell actually is, why tumors evolve like finches in the Galapagos, and what is physically happening to someone during a seizure. He explains how cancer kills - the mechanism, organ by organ. And he tells Noam that the test he's counting on just failed its biggest trial in the UK, which sets off the real argument of the hour: whether a guideline written for a population means anything at all to the one person sitting in the chair. Then, near the end, Noam asks how you tell a family there's nothing left to offer. The answer is the best thing in the episode. Also: the 20% of women who are high-risk and have never been told, the doctor who warned Noam that Pellegrino was bad for his son's bones, a scan booked by 4pm the next afternoon, and one entire podcast without mentioning Israel. Dr. Kenan Onel is Chief of the Division of Genetics and Genomics and Director of the Center for Precision Oncology and Cancer Prevention at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Live from the Table is the official podcast of the world-famous Comedy Cellar.