The Fifth Column

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**The Fifth Column**

Your weekly rhetorical assault on the on the news cycle, the people who make it, and occasionally ourselves. Kmele Foster (Freethink), Michael Moynihan (Vice), and Matt Welch (Reason) talk and laugh and drink their way to at least quasi-sanity in a world gone mad, often with the aid of clean and articulate guests. Weekly Members Only subscription edition often comes with listener mail and professional-quality (if inappropriate) singing. Analysis. Commentary. Sedition.

www.wethefifth.com

Latest Episodes:

Members Only #178 - The Blob Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com

* Elvis Costello’s dad is the best dancer

* Orthodox Shyne

* Jamaicans vs….ummm…non-island people

* Close enough

* The race blob

* The Australia craze / Jacko

* Gross Steven Segal songs

* “The molester Rolf Harris?”

* Revisiting the dumb debate

* Ron, Vivek, et al

* In praise of Gary Becker (and his family)

* OJ Simpson: Slashing government spending

* Moynihan’s baggage has shifted on this…

#418 - The State of Debate (w/ Mike Pesca) Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

* Best mugshots of all time (Winner: 70s Larry King)

* Who won the dumb debate

* No, the agenda is a hoax

* Nikki…pretty, pretty, pretty good, actually

* “Let’s not look backwards”

* One of the most deranged policy suggestions…

* The debate over Trump prosecutions

* Did Trump sound sane compared to Tucker?

* What happened to Pesca’s podcast “Not Even Mad” podcast?

* It’s really hard to make a podcast where everyone disagrees

* Is the New York Times getting a bit more sensible?

* Blurring the lines between activism and journalism

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe

Members Only #177 - Bang , Bang, Bing, Bong, Dong, Dong (Second Sunday Live Rebroadcast) Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com

* San Francisco again

* Song of the South again

* TikTok NPC insanity

* Colombian Snow White, for the first time

* How Obama broke up with his girlfriends

* Roger Stone on JFK Jr. And a bit on PressTV

* Richy Rich of Richmond

* The AnCap of Argentina

* If the lads of the Fifth could avoid the dumb outrage, would they ?

* Iran, Pakistan, American foreign policy

* Are we more polariz…

#417 - Free Speech in Philly, Volume 1 (Live w/Lara Bazelon and Greg Lukianoff) Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

* A Moynihan intro on theft and “Jew face”

* Lara Bazelon on rap lyrics as evidence, January 6th prosecutions, RICO, prosecutorial insecurity and overreach

* Artists, characters, and belief

* A Title IX violation is worse than being convicted for robbery

* Lara’s new podcast

* Greg on Title IX bureaucracy and free speech

* The decline of the American university

* And much, much more

* Stay tuned for volume 2, in which Kmele and Moynihan field questions from college students!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe

Members Only #176 - A Fantastic Podcast Recorded in Hegemonic English Aug 14, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com

* RIP Robbie Robertson

* Yeah, so 30 minutes of music talk about The Band, The Doors being bad, listeners getting mad at us, Graham Nash in a book store, Mickey Jones, patriotic Bob, Barry Goldwater, and The Last Waltz. Sorry about that.

* I’m going to suggest that you weren’t denied entry into the exclusive club because you’re Asian

* But being an Asian-American…

Members Only #175 - The Six Million Dollar Racist and a Second-Hand Banana Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com

* Richard Hananananananania is very sorry

* He has changed. From last week.

* Handjobs against racism

* Lizzo, bananas, petards

* “Everything I do is consequential, baby”

* Chasing Fonzie the racist (Ed note: We can neither confirm nor deny this story)

* The thing that is true but one cannot say…

* Italy is a great but they’ll charge you a toll to cross the room

* Irish and Ital…

#416 - A Sloppy Summer Pod, Recovered Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

So this one is probably four days old now? But because of the shitty software we use—and the fact that our…ummm….editor is currently on vacation in Italy—it took some serious archeology to salvage the recording. But it sounds fine, it’s a good episode, and Moynihan isn’t at all annoyed about having to upload this from a beach in Forte dei Marmi. The lengths we will go to make you people smarter and happier…So no description. Just listen to the damn thing.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe

Members Only #174 - Coast to Coast, Until You Say Stop Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com

* Matt hasn’t seen Oppenheimer

* Brittany Murphy is dead, probably from myocarditis. Kmele is surprised

* Found that anti-Qaddafi t-shirt

* That stupid interview on Democracy Now

* NHJ is America’s greatest historian

* Was Moynihan crying? (Moynihan responds: This is fake news)

* “But ackshually……..”

* Low key good and not great

* Richard (not Robert) Frank’s brilliant book

* The…

Members Only #173 - VICE Disgrace, Racist Boston, Racist Viruses Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com

* Kmele and the Dead

* Lia hates God

* RFK and the race virus

* A guilty verdict

* The Dersh and jury nullification

* The often referenced video of Dersh v. the Fink

* A listener retracts his “dickish email”

* An email about Boston and music

* Is Boston a “racist” city?

* Forgetting about bussing

* The Irish vs. the WASPs

* Moynihan unloads on idiot Vice executives

#415 - The Pod of Laughter and Forgetting and Tracy Chapman and Crack and The Three Stooges Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

* This is a very summer episode. Soz.

* Moynihan, impanelled

* Implicit bias and your cup of coffee

* Chipotle paranoia

* We interrupt this program for a detailed Welch interregnum of the death of Milan Kundera

* Tracy Chapman is “honored” by Luke Combs’s cover. The Washington Post is alarmed

* Elvis was a hero to most, but he never…

* You didn’t write that song. The “community” did

* De La Soul is not Steely Dan

* Airbrushing music and film history will save the universe

* Actually Tintin in Congo is pretty bad….

* A dumb congressman says something dumb. Ho hum.

* A suggestion for a new Sokal hoax

* Cocaine, crack, and a question never asked of Biden the Younger

* Why Matt once bought $100 worth of crack

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe

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