Episode Details

September 26, 2026

From a 1970s science class to a 2026 school board race, the same wave of nonsense keeps rolling in. Here is how to see it coming.
Dinosaur oil, famines that never came, a burger that crashed the cattle market, and two local candidates who see fraud behind every door.
Every generation gets its prophets of doom. Ours had Ehrlich, Carter, Oprah, and Gore. Marion County has the Bobbsey Twins.
History repeats itself. The trick is remembering it.

 Waves of Hogwash
A Rare Breed
Numbers and story, introvert and speaker, and why I will never tell you something I don't know.
I'll accept it. I'm a rare breed. I'm equally quantitative and qualitative. I work the numbers, and I work the story behind the numbers. I've always described myself as an analytical expressive.
When I tell people I'm an introvert by nature, they look at me up in front of a big room, perfectly comfortable giving a talk, and they say, yeah, right.
But it's true. My personality, my makeup, my composition, who God made me, and what I've trained myself to be, all point the same way. I drill for skill. I find the facts and the figures first. Then I boil them down to the simplest, most basic way of saying it.
And I can go deep. I've always said it. Anytime, any place, anywhere, I'll debate you on whatever topic you want. And I will win. When I say it is the way it is, fine, let's go debate it. Because it is the way it is.
But I'll tell you something else. There are known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. Donald Rumsfeld said that at a Pentagon briefing in 2002, and a lot of people laughed at him. He was right. There are things we know. There are things we know we don't know. And there are things we don't even know we don't know. What I'm not going to do is tell you things I don't know.
That's exactly why I can't stand certain politicians.
Locally, we have two. Brigitte Smith and Donald Barber. Both of them are heavily involved in the Marion County Republican Executive Committee. I want nothing to do with either one. In my opinion, they're an embarrassment.
And they're not alone. This country has had some really embarrassing people who've been President. Who've held Cabinet posts. Who've been governors, senators, and members of Congress. And talk show hosts. Like Oprah Winfrey.
People mistake fame and fortune for knowledge and expertise.
That's why you'll always see me roll my eyes, shake my head, purse my lips, squint, and let out a long, deep breath whenever some Know Nothing Hollywood actor or actress decides to use their fame to push something that isn't just out in left field. It's out in Wackoville.
Now, when I say Know Nothing, I mean it literally, and it's a piece of American history worth knowing. The Know Nothings were a real political party back in the 1850s. It started out as a secret society. When members were asked about it, they were told to answer, "I know nothing." So that's what everybody called them. Officially they were the American Party, and mostly they were against immigrants and against Catholics. In 1856 they ran a former President, Millard Fillmore, for President again. He got about a fifth of the vote and carried exactly one state, Maryland. Within a few years the party split apart over slavery and was gone.
A party named for knowing nothing. At least they came by the name honestly. Today's Know Nothings don't hide behind a secret handshake. They say it right out loud, on camera, with a publicist.
Hogwash and Balderdash
This is about common sense and what it costs to use it out loud. It is not about being right for the sake of being right.
There are some things in life you just have to call what they are. Hogwash. Balderdash. A