The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a long, storied, and sometimes controversial history. James Gagliano, a retired FBI agent with a career that spanned more than two decades and six FBI Directors, joins the conversation to talk about the FBI. He covers its’s history, it’s mission, his experience, and how someone who wants to join the FBI can do so. He has thoughts about the FBI Directors he served under during his career — a list that includes Louis Freeh, Robert Mueller, and James Comey.

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Jason Pye, Director of Rule of Law Initiatives at the Due Process Institute joins the show to talk about the issue of civil asset forfeiture. He goes into detail about how it works on the federal and state level, which states are making reforms and the uphill battle to reform the issue at the federal level.

Due Process Institute website.

Chances are, you’ve seen Jason Seiler’s art. Publications that have featured his work include, TIME, Business Week, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Examiner Magazine, MAD magazine, GOLF magazine, KING magazine, Revolver, Guitar Player, The Village Voice, Penguin Group, Disney, and The New York Observer.

On this episode, Jason discusses his work, his influences, and the business of doing illustrations for political magazines in a highly contentious political environment.

Conspiracy theories go back for centuries. Some of the more famous conspiracy theories in the United States include the JFK assassination, the supposed fake moon landing, 9/11 was inside job, and more recently, QAnon. But what about Bigfoot? Or the Loch Ness monster? Flat earth? Are they conspiracy theories? And what of the language about conspiracy theories being “dangerous?” For example, people say QAnon is “dangerous.” But is it? If people believe something, does that make it a danger? Professor Joe Uscinski from the University of Miami answers these questions and also discusses how we as a society have become “puritanical” about truth.

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Guns in today’s society and culture are a contentious issue. Whether it’s the type of gun or the ability to purchase certain types of weapons, when it comes to the debate, it’s a lot of noise. In this episode, Shermichael Singleton, a gun enthusiast and the co-host of Guns Out TV on YouTube takes a deep dive into the issue. He talks about guns, safety, training, the law and the perception of guns and gun laws in the black community and the attitudes aren’t as clear cut as we might think.

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Anti-Semitism is the kind of bigotry that doesn’t always seem clear-cut. But it’s there and it is ugly as racism. The issue goes deep because Jewish people are sometimes defined by their religion. At other times, defined by race. And finally, defined by ethnicity. Batya Ungar-Sargon knows all about the ugliness of anti-Semitism and takes a deep dive into the issue, discussing the bigotry as well as what it means to be Jewish, how anti-Semitism impacts Israel and how politicians manage to get away with anti-Semitism in a way they couldn’t with other examples of bigotry. Batya is the Deputy Opinion Editor of Newsweek and is also the author of the book Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy.

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Have you ever thought of what it means when people talk about civility? It wouldn’t be hard to find people who think our political culture and societal culture is not very civil. Although it often gets partially defined as politeness, Teresa Bejan believes the two are not the same. A professor of politcal theory at Oxford University, Bejan draws on what she wrote in her book, Mere Civility, to discuss with Jay how she defines civility, its history and how so much of what we think is “unprecented” in society as it relates to civility — is not.

Teresa’s Oxford profile.