Beer and Conversation with Pigweed and Crowhill

Latest Episodes:

560: Why are there dragons in every culture? Are they real? Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Samuel Adams' Jack-O Pumpkin Ale, then wonder why dragons show up in so many cultures around the world.

Spanning the east, the west, and the Americas, the boys discuss dragon stories -- what they have in common and how they diverge.

* Are they always mean?

* Do they always hoard treasure?

* Do they always want to eat virgins?

* Were they all sea serpents?

What they have in common is a monster that represents chaos.

In the west, people believed in actual dragons for a long time, then modernism set in and killed the dragons. Tolkien and other fantasy writers revived them. Now we have dragons all over the place again.

Jordan Peterson often repeats a theory -- based on evolutionary psychology -- for why dragons developed.

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559: The Lottery and other short stories from Shirley Jackson Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Southern Tier's imperial pumpkin ale, then -- to celebrate Halloween -- review a series of scary stories from Shirley Jackson.

In this episode we dive into the eerie, unsettling world of Shirley Jackson. Best known for The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, Jackson was a master of psychological tension, small-town menace, and the dark corners of everyday life. The boys discuss several of her short stories — how she creates unease without gore, how she uses ordinary settings to expose cruelty and conformity, and why her work still feels so disturbingly relevant today.

Here are the stories we cover.

* Flower Garden

* The Daemon Lover

* The Renegade

* The Witch

* The Tooth

* The Lottery

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558: Does a million year old skull rewrite human origins? Oct 22, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Jailbreak's Citra Lady Friend then discuss the implications of a million year old skull from China.

P&C start with a review of the prevailing views on human evolution, including the "out of Africa" hypothesis.

A little while ago, scientists in China found that a find from a few decades ago was older than expected, and more modern than expected.

It's become common for headlines to claim that "this changes everything" -- but maybe this one does.

How does this million year old skull fit into the picture?

The boys discuss.

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557: Did Maryland actually need 700 new laws? Oct 18, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Lord Baltimore from Key Brewing, then wonder whether Maryland really needed 700 new laws.

What is the relationship between the citizen and the state? On one side you have the anarchist, who wants no government. Then you have the libertarian, who believes "that government is best that governs least." On the extreme left you have people who want the government involved in every decision, regulating everything the citizen does.

Maryland leans in that direction.

Wes Moore and the Democratics in Annapolis recently passed 700 new laws. Some of them are reasonable. Some are ridiculous. But did we really need all of them?

P&C discuss and comment on some of the specific laws.

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#Annapolis #Maryland #Marylandlaw #WesMoore

556: Did Etsy witches curse Charlie Kirk? Oct 17, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review one of Crowhill's homebrews, then wonder about the fact that you can purchase curses on Etsy and Fiverr.

What the heck? How should we view this?

Recently, the feminist magazine Jezebel paid some witches on Etsy to curse Charlie Kirk. Shortly afterward he was assassinated. Megyn Kelly made a big deal about it.

Did the witches score?

C'mon. Do we really believe in curses?

P&C try to back up and examine the concept of curses, the demonic, evil force, and how to parse all of this.

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#curses #witches #MegynKelly #CharlieKirk

555: Is Trump an authoritarian dictator, a threat to democracy, etc.? Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink Skipjack Pilsner and then wonder what in the world is going on with all this talk about Trump the dictator.

The boys evaluate the liberal narrative that Trump is an authoritarian dictator and find it woefully lacking.

The "big one" from the liberal side is January 6 and the claim that the election was stolen. There is some validity to that claim, but it's exaggerated. A lot.

The bottom line is that an authoritarian dictator would have behaved very differently.

Trump has been accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election, calling the press the “enemy of the people,” and promising “retribution” against his political enemies. But are these actions truly unique? Or are Trump’s critics holding him to a double standard?

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the “dictator” narrative:

Did Trump actually weaponize the Justice Department, or just use it like his predecessors?

How do his actions compare to Obama’s “Russia hoax” strategy or Biden’s push to censor online speech?

What defines a real threat to democracy — policy overreach, rhetoric, or selective enforcement of the law?

And what would it mean if Trump really does return to power with plans for “retribution”?

We explore the accusations, the double standards, and the uncomfortable question: Is Trump a dictator — or just the mirror reflecting our own political hypocrisy?

🎙️ Join Pigweed and Crowhill for a candid, unfiltered conversation on power, precedent, and politics in America.

#Trump #Dictator #PoliticsPodcast #Biden #Obama #Trump2024 #Authoritarianism #FreeSpeech

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554: Is a cashless society a good thing? Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink and review Festifall, a Marzen lager by Southcounty Brewing, then discuss the prospect of a world without cash.

Deepfakes, fake documents, and AI-generated “evidence” are becoming harder to spot — and that might be what finally pushes governments and businesses to demand trusted digital sources. But that trust comes at a price: a digital ID system that could track who you are, what you do, and even what you buy.

In this episode, we explore:

* How fake videos and online deception could accelerate the rollout of digital IDs.

* The battle between centralized systems (government-controlled) and decentralized ones (blockchain-based).

* The alleged benefits for individuals, businesses, and governments: convenience, security, efficiency, fraud prevention.

* The hidden dangers: surveillance, data breaches, social control, and the loss of financial and personal freedom.

* Real-world examples from China’s social credit system to Canada’s Freedom Convoy—and what they reveal about where this might lead.

* Whether we’re even ready for this kind of technology—or if policymakers are racing ahead of reality.

And yes, the biblical echoes in Revelation 13: the “mark of the beast” that decides who can buy or sell.

Bottom line:

Digital ID could make life easier—or it could make freedom optional. The difference lies in how it’s built, who controls it, and whether we keep cash, privacy, and choice alive.

🎧 Listen and decide for yourself: Is the promise of security worth the price of control?

#DigitalID #CashlessSociety #Privacy #Freedom #Surveillance #MarkOfTheBeast

553: Are conservatives now in favor of cancel culture? Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Pigweed's homebrewed Black IPA, then discuss cancel culture in the light of the Charlie Kirk story.

Defenders of so-called cancel culture object to the term. They say it's just "consequence culture."

Traditionally, conservatives have been against cancel culture -- because it's usually a weapon deployed by liberals against conservatives. But now, when liberals like Jimmy Kimmel are canceled for lying about Charlie Kirk, conservatives seem to have changed their tune.

But have they?

Not quite. There's a huge difference between what liberals have been doing -- trying to get someone fired for having a different political opinion -- and what conservatives are celebrating, which is when people promote or celebrate political violence.

The boys work through the issues and make the necessary distinctions.

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#cancelculture #jimmykimmel #charliekirk

552: You've been warned. The promise and peril of Artificial Intelligence Oct 02, 2025

Show notes

The boys drink and review Sunset Eclipse from Dewey Beer then discuss whether artificial intelligence will destroy us.

Crowhill says he uses AI all the time and loves it, but at the same time he's afraid it's going to destroy us all.

Despite being warned -- over and over again, in literature and by contemporary experts -- we blithely continue on as if everything is okay.

We have no reason to believe this.

But don't worry. What could possibly go wrong?

Intelligent people have been telling us for centuries that this is a problem. But ... never mind.

We are not nearly scared enough.

In the past, new technologies did eliminate jobs, but it increased wealth and created new jobs. AI is nothing like that. It's not going to create any jobs that AI itself can't do.

More at ...

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#AI #artificialintelligence #sciencefiction #scifi #AGI

551: Liberals vs. Leftists: Is there a difference? Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

P&C drink and review a dopplebock from Troegs then ask whether there's a difference between a liberal and a leftist.

Pigweed reflects on his youth and his admiration for the free spirit attitude of the hippies, and that while he hasn't moved, the Overton Window has moved around him, shifting him from left to right.

The normal politics of a 1995 Democrat turn the left's hair on fire. Even recent quotes from Clinton, Obama, Schumer, and other Democrats are completely out of step with the modern left.

On crime, the border, gay marriage, trans issues, and a host of other issues, an orthodox Democrat from 1995 would be unwelcome in the modern Democratic Party.

"Liberal" used to mean ...

* Personal autonomy

* Individual rights

* Economic freedom

* Constitutional limited government

* Free speech

The modern left has flipped all these things on their head.

More at ...

https://www.pigweedandcrowhill.com/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYAjUk6LttQyUk_fV9F46R06OQgH39exQ

#Liberalism #leftism #politicalviolence #culturewar