"I just don't feel like the podcast is a vehicle for me to shine, or even lightly glow." Dan Naturman's resignation email, read on air in the episode where he comes back - which only happened because Periel booked two different Daniels for the same day and neither one showed up. 0:00 Dan does the intro, and Noam's two-screen Asus laptop demo. 5:18 The calendar debacle: Daniel Mendelsohn, Daniel Levy, then nobody 13:06 Dan quit by email: "a vehicle for me to shine, or even lightly glow" 21:30 Periel's Abraham Accords: cruises, MSC and Dan Tries Things 28:48 Comics Unleashed, the Letterman theory and why Dan's jokes aren't "real" 41:00 The new club's 2 a.m. litter summonses, and Noam concedes on congestion pricing 47:30 Raise the minimum wage, lose the fifth day; $25 covers vs. $50 58:59 Movie-ticket pricing, five rooms, "give good, get good" and Yohay at the Beacon Why did Dan quit, and what would make him stay? Did congestion pricing fail, or is an 11% drop in traffic just invisible from the driver's seat? What actually happened at the Comedy Cellar when wages went up 25%? And why does the Cellar charge $25 when the clubs around it charge $50? Noam and Dan agree on one thing: the Cellar is the cheapest game in town, and Noam isn't going to fix it. Also: Daniel Mendelsohn's Odyssey, the Asus Zenbook Duo, Comics Unleashed and Byron Allen, the Norm Macdonald documentary, Marc Maron, Gary Gulman, Chris Turner, Philip Roth and The Sopranos' Big Pussy, the new club's 2 a.m. litter summonses, the two-item minimum, Arizona iced tea's 99 cents, and Yohay Sponder at the Beacon. Dan Naturman performs at the Comedy Cellar whenever he's not on a cruise ship. Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen airs weeknights on CBS.

With Twitter's @1basemoney, Matthew Mežinskis. Is there room for pro-Ukrainian people to disagree??? 0:00 Matthew Mezinskis: Latvia, Bitcoin and Darryl Cooper's "accident" 10:16 "Are these evil people?" Diagnosing Carlson, Cooper, Horton and Dave Smith 23:12 Scott Horton in 2020, and "not one inch" 34:36 Can Ukraine roll Russia back? The map, the no-fly zone and the nuke question 45:33 Trump's diesel deal with Putin: disgraceful or triage? 51:22 Witkoff, "Dim Philby," the four oblasts and the fortress belt 58:30 The Axios report, Kuwait's drones and whether Trump is compromised 01:14:48 Larisa Horton, the Oxford Union, Macklemore vs. Kraft and Russia's outhouses "What we're seeing now is that sunlight grows bacteria much quicker than the lack of sunlight did." Noam Dworman, lifelong free-speech absolutist, admits the Darryl Cooper era has shaken his faith in what free speech produces - prompted by a Latvian-American Bitcoin analyst who thinks Tucker Carlson, Dave Smith and Scott Horton are the exact people Eastern Europe learned to fear. Was Trump's diesel deal with Putin a betrayal of Ukraine, or triage in the Iran war? If nobody in the know predicted Putin's invasion, why does everyone now call it inevitable? Would Putin ever have used a nuke over a no-fly zone? Is Trump compromised, or just a man who likes dictators? Noam and Matthew Mezinskis disagree on most of it, but agree on this: there is no kompromat on Trump, and we'd know by now if there were. Also: Tucker Carlson's Poland remarks, Steve Witkoff and "Dim Philby," the four oblasts and the fortress belt, the Axios report on Zelensky, the Kuwait drone attack, Scott Horton at the Oxford Union, Larisa Horton, Macklemore and Robert Kraft, Jeffrey Sachs to David Sacks, Russia's one-picket rule, Pussy Riot, Tulsi Gabbard's biolabs, Operation Spiderweb, and the WHO sanitation chart that ends the show. Matthew Mezinskis is the creator of Porkopolis Economics, tracking Bitcoin against the world's fiat money supplies since 2018. Find him at porkopolis.io and @1basemoney.

"To say that Boris Johnson went there and forced the Ukrainians to fight on - that is complete bullshit." Why did Zelensky ignore six requests from Trump to stop hitting Russian refineries, and does the Russian diesel deal that followed make sense while the Iran war has fuel at crisis prices? What was Steve Witkoff doing calling Putin a "great humanitarian" this week? Did NATO expansion provoke the invasion, or is Putin just a man who can't stand being slighted? Is Russia Hitler's Germany, or is Munich an overused analogy. Is Trump is saving Zelensky from himself? Also: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Steve Witkoff, Henry Kissinger, Boris Johnson, Victoria Nuland, Paul Krugman, Samuel Charap, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Dave Smith, Candace Owens, Theo Von, Iran war, Strait of Hormuz, diesel prices, Donbas, Crimea, NATO. Sergey Radchenko is the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the author of "To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power." He is writing a history of the Russia-Ukraine war, to be published when the war ends. Follow him on X: @DrRadchenko. 0:00 Dan's still out; Noam's 2017 Crimea clips: "sanctions till the end of time" 13:40 Sergey Radchenko on Trump's Russian diesel deal and the six requests Zelensky ignored 28:46 Witkoff calls Putin a "great humanitarian": what's the strategy? 36:20 Will Russia roll over Europe? Munich, Kissinger's last word, NATO's empty promise 44:15 Should a victim compromise? Donbas, security guarantees, did the West provoke Crimea 57:40 Why Putin invaded: humiliation, hubris, Obama's Atlantic interview, Afghanistan 1:08:36 The Istanbul talks, the Boris Johnson myth, and the verdict on Trump 1:24:49 Post-game: Dave Smith, the Absolut Pussy ad, Candace Owens, Theo Von

"They hated each other." That's Elliot Kaufman describing Israel's war cabinet, not its enemies. Kaufman joins Noam Dworman on the rivalries, leaks and gambles behind Israel's war since October 7. Why did Netanyahu wait 20 days to invade Gaza? When was Biden saving Israel from itself, and when was he holding it back? And why did killing Nasrallah trigger a furious phone call from Washington? They also confront what both consider Israel's biggest mistake in Gaza: taking ground, leaving, and having to fight for it all over again. Also: Gallant and Gantz, Jake Sullivan and Lloyd Austin, the Philadelphi Corridor, Rafah, the Qatar strike, Trump's "all I heard was yes," Mamdani's October 7 statement, and Iran under blockade. Get the full story in Kaufman's new book, In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, coauthored with Yonah Jeremy Bob. 0:00 Elliot Kaufman and the case for airing Israel's dirty laundry 6:44 Churchill's war room vs. Israel's: "they hated each other" 18:25 Mers-el-Kébir, Netanyahu's history test, and the 20-day wait to invade Gaza 30:06 Hostages, the Philadelphi Corridor, and the Saudi deal that wasn't 38:34 Rafah in days, not months, and was Biden really in decline? 48:46 The morning of October 7: Halevi's note and one aircraft 55:12 Killing Nasrallah without telling Washington, and how the Iran war began 65:29 Endgame: Petraeus, raid-and-leave, "all I heard was yes," and the story that leaves Hamas out

Hen Mazzig, co-founder of the Tel Aviv Institute and author of The Wrong Kind of Jew, says Israel won on the battlefield and lost the world, and that explaining Israel "is not a replacement for policy." He spent five years in COGAT, the IDF unit that issues Palestinian permits and prison visits, and was attacked by settlers while in uniform. We play his Piers Morgan fight with Norman Finkelstein ("Am I a child killer?") and go through what Amit Soussana actually said. Noam asks whether Israel would hold the West Bank if it had no holy sites, why the occupation is the Palestinians' best weapon, and why "sunlight grows mushrooms." Also: Mamdani's October 7 statement, Mearsheimer on the Hannibal Directive, Eurovision, and why Noam thinks everyone should have a baby. 0:00 Hen Mazzig, three years and a day after October 7 4:19 "We won on the battlefield and lost the world" 18:36 Food, famine and the arguments that don't work 28:52 What if the West Bank had no holy sites? 37:56 Smallpox, arrogance and "have a baby" 52:13 Five years in COGAT: what the IDF's humanitarian unit does 61:40 "Am I a child killer?" Finkelstein and the rape deniers 76:00 Mearsheimer, the Hannibal Directive and "sunlight grows mushrooms"

Three years after October 7: What's Next for Israel and the Jewish People. Noam sits down with Coleman Hughes, Eli Lake and Salo Aizenberg to ask whether the war was worth it. Coleman says Israel traded prestige for power and Hamas did the opposite. Salo brings the Gaza Health Ministry's own 2025 report: 50,000 births, 25,000 deaths, and 108 hospital workers who appear in Hamas's own martyr notices as commanders. Eli says Israel's strategic position has never been better. Noam is the pessimist in the room: "The optimists died in the gas chambers. The pessimists have pools in Beverly Hills." Also: why Hamas never gave up the hostages, John Mearsheimer on tape claiming the IDF killed its own, Coleman's Joe Rogan clip, Noam's 2019 emails that predicted all of it, and a fight over whether Israel should leave the West Bank. 0:00 Three years after October 7: Coleman Hughes, Eli Lake, Salo Aizenberg 2:22 Opening statements: what Israel and Hamas each traded 11:14 Noam: "The optimists died in the gas chambers" 18:41 Why Hamas never released the hostages 33:33 Conspiracy theories and the Mearsheimer tape 47:35 Salo's slides: Gaza's 2025 numbers and the nurses who were Hamas commanders 1:07:09 Should Israel leave the West Bank? 1:21:50 Noam's 2019 emails, Coleman on Rogan, and the diaspora

Is Nathan Cofnas's "Guide for the Hereditarian Revolution." a plan to heal or America, or is it simply a racist manifesto dressed up as science. We ask him to his face. Cofnas is the philosopher at the center of the Jason Arday plagiarism affair. He says that, all else equal, smarter people have more human worth. He says freedom of association is worth it even if some diner bans blacks and Jews. And he says race realism is about to break into the mainstream whether we like it or not. Noam takes him through A Guide for the Hereditarian Revolution line by line: the Charles Murray debate, Jared Taylor, a speech by Michael Levin (whose book Cofnas calls important), white kids "brainwashed to despise themselves," Nikole Hannah-Jones's daughter and the lifeboat question. Periel arrives late, just in time to call it insane (as usual). 0:00 Intro: "I feel like you're a white nationalist" 9:26 Is a smarter person worth more? 23:33 "Some barriers set up between the races" 32:16 Jared Taylor, AmRen and Michael Levin 53:03 "White children are brainwashed to despise themselves" 1:29:54 Nikole Hannah-Jones and her daughter 1:41:53 Lower human worth? The lifeboat question 1:47:38 Closing argument: yarmulkes on the basketball court Nathan Cofnas, A Guide for the Hereditarian Revolution (Feb 5, 2024) https://ncofnas.com/p/a-guide-for-the-hereditarian-revolution Nathan Cofnas, Are Smart People Superior? A Reply to Noah Carl and Charles Murray (Apr 26, 2024) https://ncofnas.com/p/are-smart-people-superior-a-reply Debate with Charles Murray: IQ and Human Worth (Sept 16, 2026) https://ncofnas.com/p/debate-with-charles-murray-iq-and Nathan Cofnas, Why We Need to Talk about the Right's Stupidity Problem (Jan 2, 2024) https://ncofnas.com/p/why-we-need-to-talk-about-the-rights Nathan Cofnas, Beating Woke with Facts and Logic (Oct 9, 2025) https://ncofnas.com/p/beating-woke-with-facts-and-logic Nathan Cofnas on X, "Jews tried to be white nationalists" (Apr 28, 2018) https://x.com/nathancofnas/status/990243373180219397 David Reich, How Genetics Is Changing Our Understanding of 'Race,' New York Times (Mar 23, 2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/opinion/sunday/genetics-race.html David M. Quinn, How to Reduce Racial Bias in Grading, Education Next (Nov 2, 2020) https://www.educationnext.org/how-to-reduce-racial-bias-in-grading-research/ Nikole Hannah-Jones on her daughter's schooling, New York Times Magazine (Sept 20, 2026) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html This American Life, Ep. 898, An Argument (Nikole Hannah-Jones and her daughter) https://www.thisamericanlife.org/898/an-argument

Did Israel starve Gaza, and why don't many Israelis believe the experts who say it did? Noam sits down with Alex de Waal, the world's leading famine scholar (World Peace Foundation, Tufts), for a tough but good-faith debate. De Waal argues that Israel could have ended the hunger "within a matter of days" and didn't. Noam lays out why people like him stay skeptical. Did his March 2024 warning that "tens of thousands" could die not come true? Why did a claim of 62,413 starvation deaths circulated with little pushback. They get into Mike Spagat's mortality survey and the missing child deaths, the 2025 blockade and the IPC famine call, flour prices, Hamas and aid, and whether it's still famine if people aren't dying. Both of them give ground along the way. Periel closes on the hostages, and de Waal ends with a plea about Sudan. 0:00 "Very well nourished": why Israelis doubt the famine experts 11:48 "The mud sticks": de Waal's own confession 25:03 "Tens of thousands": the warnings vs. Spagat's count 40:11 Feroze Sidhwa's 62,413 and "all errors are equal" 47:34 The 2025 blockade and the famine declaration 59:27 Flour prices, Hamas hoarding and Israel's "calibration" 1:06:50 Is it famine if people aren't dying? 1:18:31 The hostages, and Sudan

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