Listen now | 0:00 This week in underappreciated world history6:55 Were the elections all—or just mostly—bad news for Trump?28:31 Will Trump invade Venezuela?36:06 What’s the shutdown fight really about?42:40 Mickey vs Ezra Klein (in absentia) on healthcare50:58 Back down the Epstein rabbit hole1:17:04 Was Tucker playing 4D chess with the Fuentes interview?1:27:39 What happened to the blogosphere?1:36:18 The case for (and against) Bari Weiss1:39:53 AI doom in fiction vs reality1:44:25 The AI bubble: Dot-com déjà vu?1:47:17 AOC in 2028?1:52:59 Mickey: Beware of gym girls!Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded November 06, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
Does Mickey seriously not believe Trump is named in the Epstein files?! With all the pictures and birthday cards, letters, etc?! Not a chance in hell Trump isn't on the bad list with Clinton and Gates and Andrew!
Why is Mickey commenting on things he doesn't know about. Yes, subways are great for uptown/downtown service, but not crosstown! Look at a map of the Bronx -- how is a nurse supposed to go from Co-op city to Montefiore medical center (BUS!). Then look at a map of Brooklyn and Queens, and you'll notice a dearth of subway options for interborough travel.
Which of course wouldn’t be true. Based on polling I believe estimates predicted ~1/3rd straight white men voted for Mamdani. The remaining 2/3rds mostly voting mostly for the democrat Comey and some for the republican candidate.
I understand humans want simplistic narratives, especially morally loaded ones that facilitate tribal cognition, but 1 in 3 straight white men isn’t insignificant.
Fun Fact: the Prince Andrew stuff been known for a while. Ricky Gervais joked about it at the 2020 Golden Globes. The entire audience appears to get the joke.
The Golden Globe audience may or may not have been "in on the joke", but Andrew has long been notorious in the UK, leading to and exacerbated by his disastrous interview on BBC's Newsnight in 2019, which was dramatised by both Netflix & Amazon (though I haven't bothered to watch either myself). Before that, the 2016 UK Channel 4 satire "The Windsors" touched on such matters: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1611230616978068
One of the reasons I love their discussions is they often are willing to take the gloves off and have serious disagreements while veering into person jabs. Also given the introduction where Mickey consistently ribs Bob, I don’t think pearl clutching is required in general. Bob can be an asshole. So can mickey.
I was saying the nuanced issue was what international law says; maybe the law is in fact clear on that thing, but regardless, Mickey was just modestly trying to understand what the law says and Bob was being super rude. The historical consequences of U.S. foreign policy are not relevant to this point.
There is no one in the world I despise more than netanyahu- him dying as a prisoner in the hague would be far too kind. Having said that, these braindead epstein conspiracy theories- so Israel, having bugged the US president (!!!), decides to reveal this by bragging about it to said US president (!!!), all for the purpose of securing the release of an american who spied for them??- are such a waste of time. Bob's conspiracism is a real drag on the quality of an otherwise excellent podcast...
Thanks for the link, but your interpretation that this demonstrates that Epstein was a spy is ridiculous on its face. Barak as a former prime minister would not be handling actual spies! Mossad spies- as in people covertly operating on Israel's behalf in a foreign contry- would stay 100 miles away from someone like Barak. The fact that he was doing business with Epstein is actually evidence against the thesis that Epstein was operating on Israel's behalf in ways that they wanted to keep hidden from the US government.
How is it ridiculous? Look at the other link I sent -- Epstein facilitated a security agreement between Israel and Côte d’Ivoire... is that something a civilian banker does?
Yes? I mean obviously not your average banker, but bussinessmen who are politically well connected helping broker agreements between countries? Happens all the time. Of course it could well involve corruption, but that's not the point.
An Israeli spy- which again, would mean a non Israeli covertly operating on behalf of the Israeli state- would not be emailing Ehud Barak in the first place!
If someone routinely brokers covert security deals for a foreign state, introduces intelligence officials to foreign leaders, hosts intelligence-linked operatives, and moves money/logistics for them, they're an asset.
Again, if by "asset" you mean he was doing something for Israel that Israel wanted hidden from the US government- e.g, as many have alleged, blackmailing US politicians on its behalf (!!)- you have provided no evidence of that. In fact, I would argue that his contacts with Ehud Barak are strong evidence against that claim.
We love you Mickey! Without you, Bob is out of balance.
Where's the parrot? Someone call PETA!
The Mickey/Paul Bloom feud was a strong undercurrent throughout. Kept me on the edge of my seat
Does Mickey seriously not believe Trump is named in the Epstein files?! With all the pictures and birthday cards, letters, etc?! Not a chance in hell Trump isn't on the bad list with Clinton and Gates and Andrew!
Give Trump a break! Why can't a kid from Queens be best friends with a billionaire pedophile for a decade?
Why is Mickey commenting on things he doesn't know about. Yes, subways are great for uptown/downtown service, but not crosstown! Look at a map of the Bronx -- how is a nurse supposed to go from Co-op city to Montefiore medical center (BUS!). Then look at a map of Brooklyn and Queens, and you'll notice a dearth of subway options for interborough travel.
“*only* women, immigrants and gay people voted for Mamadani” might be easier to say only straight white men didn’t 🤣
Which of course wouldn’t be true. Based on polling I believe estimates predicted ~1/3rd straight white men voted for Mamdani. The remaining 2/3rds mostly voting mostly for the democrat Comey and some for the republican candidate.
I understand humans want simplistic narratives, especially morally loaded ones that facilitate tribal cognition, but 1 in 3 straight white men isn’t insignificant.
LOL! Mickey accusing Chris Murphy of being a crank!
Halalflation!!
Pretty sure Peter Brimelow was not released from NR just for 'immigration skepticism', but I might be giving NR too much credit.
CIA: Maybe Dennis Rodman Works For Us, Maybe He Doesn't
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2014/01/cia-maybe-dennis-rodman-works-us-maybe-he-doesnt/357313/
Rawls : possibly the most overrated philosopher ever, next to Kant.
https://fakenous.substack.com/p/john-rawls-is-an-awful-reasoner
Fun Fact: the Prince Andrew stuff been known for a while. Ricky Gervais joked about it at the 2020 Golden Globes. The entire audience appears to get the joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NTDEN4VZik
The Golden Globe audience may or may not have been "in on the joke", but Andrew has long been notorious in the UK, leading to and exacerbated by his disastrous interview on BBC's Newsnight in 2019, which was dramatised by both Netflix & Amazon (though I haven't bothered to watch either myself). Before that, the 2016 UK Channel 4 satire "The Windsors" touched on such matters: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1611230616978068
At 32:43, Jeez Bob, your tone there was rude. Mickey was so polite and raising nuanced issues.
One of the reasons I love their discussions is they often are willing to take the gloves off and have serious disagreements while veering into person jabs. Also given the introduction where Mickey consistently ribs Bob, I don’t think pearl clutching is required in general. Bob can be an asshole. So can mickey.
No, it's not a nuanced issue. US-led regime change has been a scourge on the stability of the middle east and latin america.
I was saying the nuanced issue was what international law says; maybe the law is in fact clear on that thing, but regardless, Mickey was just modestly trying to understand what the law says and Bob was being super rude. The historical consequences of U.S. foreign policy are not relevant to this point.
Mickey worked as a journalist for the New Republic; he should know better. He was being obtuse.
There is no one in the world I despise more than netanyahu- him dying as a prisoner in the hague would be far too kind. Having said that, these braindead epstein conspiracy theories- so Israel, having bugged the US president (!!!), decides to reveal this by bragging about it to said US president (!!!), all for the purpose of securing the release of an american who spied for them??- are such a waste of time. Bob's conspiracism is a real drag on the quality of an otherwise excellent podcast...
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israeli-spy-yoni-koren-stayed-jeffrey-epstein-apartment-ehud-barak
Another story. Does it seems so outlandish given this information? Do you want Ehud Barak to directly state that Epstein was an asset?
Thanks for the link, but your interpretation that this demonstrates that Epstein was a spy is ridiculous on its face. Barak as a former prime minister would not be handling actual spies! Mossad spies- as in people covertly operating on Israel's behalf in a foreign contry- would stay 100 miles away from someone like Barak. The fact that he was doing business with Epstein is actually evidence against the thesis that Epstein was operating on Israel's behalf in ways that they wanted to keep hidden from the US government.
How is it ridiculous? Look at the other link I sent -- Epstein facilitated a security agreement between Israel and Côte d’Ivoire... is that something a civilian banker does?
Yes? I mean obviously not your average banker, but bussinessmen who are politically well connected helping broker agreements between countries? Happens all the time. Of course it could well involve corruption, but that's not the point.
An Israeli spy- which again, would mean a non Israeli covertly operating on behalf of the Israeli state- would not be emailing Ehud Barak in the first place!
If someone routinely brokers covert security deals for a foreign state, introduces intelligence officials to foreign leaders, hosts intelligence-linked operatives, and moves money/logistics for them, they're an asset.
Again, if by "asset" you mean he was doing something for Israel that Israel wanted hidden from the US government- e.g, as many have alleged, blackmailing US politicians on its behalf (!!)- you have provided no evidence of that. In fact, I would argue that his contacts with Ehud Barak are strong evidence against that claim.
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-israel-surveillance-state-cote-d-ivoire-ehud-barak-leaked-emails
Mickey should look up how the 15th congressional district, perennially the poorest in the nation, voted for Mamdani.