Episodes
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
Special Rerelease: Midnight Rising
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
SHOW NOTES!
It was George Washington’s great-grand-nephew who was a captive at Harper’s Ferry, Lewis William Washington.
It’s really difficult to fathom the Sumner-Brooks debacle. Check out some primary sources here.
It’s called the Burned Over district because the Second Great Awakening set the area “on fire.”
John Brown’s Body was not only a marching song for the Union Army but also later a poem and play, both based on Stephen Vincent Benét’s 1928 epic poem of the same title.
- Check out the blog for more Strange Tonic content.
- Get a new look to grow your business at littlesprucedesign.com.
- And just listen to Pan Astral, okay? They're on all the streaming apps you use. And if you don't use an app, go here.
Sunday Oct 17, 2021
Some of the Women Who Made America (The Seneca Falls One)
Sunday Oct 17, 2021
Sunday Oct 17, 2021
Noel's iMac abruptly retired in December 2020 and took a few already recorded conversations with it. So, this conversation is a redo of one we already had in the can. Also, the discussion includes Noel's dogs as notable guest contributors.
- Check out the blog for more Strange Tonic content.
- Get a new look to grow your business at littlesprucedesign.com.
- And just listen to Pan Astral, okay? They're on all the streaming apps you use. And if you don't use an app, go here.
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
F*** the Filibuster (mp3 version)
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Sorry, for the duplicate, friends. We're trying to get our pod on Spotify as well.
Hello and welcome back to The Strange Tonic Podcast!
We're back from another hiatus with another fun, informative chat. Here are the links to some of the things we discussed.
- An inadvertent companion piece over on the blog.
- The episode of The Ezra Klein Show where Klein and David French discuss polarization, secession, and the filibuster.
- The Weeds episode Matthew Yglesius and Ezra Klein discuss ending the filibuster.
- Author Adam Jentleson discussed his new book on The Bulwark Podcast.
- Pan Astral on Bandcamp.
- Check out our friend Alyssa's awesome business.
Please enjoy the conversation. And I promise you'll be hearing from us again soon.
Cheers!
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
F*** the Filibuster
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Sunday Oct 10, 2021
Hello and welcome back to The Strange Tonic Podcast!
We're back from another hiatus with another fun, informative chat. Here are the links to some of the things we discussed.
- An inadvertent companion piece over on the blog.
- The episode of The Ezra Klein Show where Klein and David French discuss polarization, secession, and the filibuster.
- The Weeds episode Matthew Yglesius and Ezra Klein discuss ending the filibuster.
- Author Adam Jentleson discussed his new book on The Bulwark Podcast.
- Pan Astral on Bandcamp.
- Check out our friend Alyssa's awesome business.
Please enjoy the conversation. And I promise you'll be hearing from us again soon.
Cheers!
Sunday Mar 07, 2021
The Tim Bessler One!
Sunday Mar 07, 2021
Sunday Mar 07, 2021
Not a lot of show notes here because Tim and Noel cover a lot of ground. Please give it a listen and maybe another one because there is so much to dig into.
From there, please support our friends.
Monday Jan 25, 2021
F*** the Electoral College
Monday Jan 25, 2021
Monday Jan 25, 2021
- We highly recommend you check out You’re Wrong About if you haven’t already!
- The American Revolution ended in 1983 officially.
- 12 of the first 18 presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant.
- Originally, each member of the Electoral College cast two votes, generally one for their party’s presidential candidate and the other for their party’s vice presidential candidate. Whoever won the most votes would be president, and the runner-up, vice president. In 1796, Adams won the presidency, while Jefferson came in second and became the VP. But they were from opposing parties and their administration was, in brief, tumultuous. In the 1800 election, Jefferson’s party failed to coordinate electoral voting and both he and his VP running mate, Burr, ended up with 73 votes each. Burr was meant to receive 72, securing him as VP with the top title going to Jefferson. But since they tied, the constitution required a contingent election in the House of Representatives. Bitter political infighting led to 36 contingent ballots until finally Jefferson was elected president by one vote.
Check out Noel’s Good Thing of the Week, Love Your Enemies by Arthur Brooks.
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
The Election Reax One
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
- We discuss a few articles at the beginning of the pod, which can be found at The Bulwark, National Review, and Law Fare Blog.
- Randy Quaid’s video...if you dare.
- Flipping the Senate blue still comes down to two run-off elections in Georgia, so this will likely be major national news come January 5, 2021.
- The Boomers are definitely outnumbered by Gen X and Millennials. And most projections are that 2020 is likely the last time the Boomers are the largest voting block.
- At least four transgender candidates won elections in 2020. Alas, Noel and Michelle were quite wrong though concerning Sarah McBride, who is the new Senator representing Delaware, not Virginia.
- Head this way for all things Pan Astral
- And head over here to check out Little Spruce Design, Alyssa's exciting new business.
The GOP continues to hang its hat on the Laffer Curve, which in actuality is “uncertain and disputed among economists.”
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
Midnight Rising
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
Wednesday Dec 02, 2020
Wednesday Nov 25, 2020
Let's Talk About Andrew Jackson
Wednesday Nov 25, 2020
Wednesday Nov 25, 2020
- Though Jackson won the most electoral votes of the 4 candidates running for president in 1824 (99 of 261), he did not win the majority. Under Amendment 12 of the Constitution, it was up to the House of Representatives to pick the winner of the top 3 candidates. It so happens that the 4th and now ineligible candidate, Henry Clay, had a huge influence in the House. Clay agreed to support John Quincy Adams because he thought Jackson a demagogue. With the help of Clay’s connections, Adams became president. This was the “corrupt bargain” that Jackson and his supporters loathed.
- Rachel Jackson died December 22, 1828, and was buried at the Jackson home in Tennessee. Jackson left for Washington, DC about a month later in preparation for his presidency. He was Inaugurated on March 4, 1829.
Jackson adopted a Native American boy named Lyncoya. The Washington Post published a piece about him in 2019.
Monday Nov 16, 2020
The Strange Tonic Podcast: The Washington One
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Monday Nov 16, 2020
- Please enjoy this ridiculous, humorously inappropriate cartoon about President #1.
- Noel and I found Chernow’s Washington: A Life biography an excellent and engaging resource. Highly recommend either the book or the audiobook.
- Michelle was not impressed with a quick internet search about the history of white, British wigs. Most of what I found was very blog-y, rife with anachronisms and info that didn’t seem reliable (several “articles” had pictures of Washington as a wig example...which we know from his biographers, he was not a wig wearer). If any listener knows or finds some cool, reliable info, let us know!
- Tadeusz Kościuszko was a Polish-Lithuanian military leader and statesman that assisted the patriots of the American Revolution. Michelle makes it sound like Kościuszko offered to buy Jefferson’s slaves in-person, but he actually left the offer in his will after his death in 1798, in which Jefferson was named the estate’s executor. Jefferson was not happy and ultimately SCOTUS got involved. The wiki summary is here. Google brings up a ton of great sources about Kościuszko too!
Michelle forgot to reference this rad podcast called All the Presidents, Man. The Jefferson episode is where she learned to be a little less angry while remaining critical of his shortcomings. Check it out!