Month: July 2023

The boys drink and review three malt liquors, then discuss Canada.

It’s a beautiful place with very nice people, but politically it’s the worst country in the western world.

Aside from Canada ruining our weather in Maryland with their forest fires, we’ve been hearing too many ultra woke stories from our neighbors to the north.

There’s the case of the father who was fined $30,000 for “misgendering his daughter” and is currently out on bail.

Canada also has a horrifying program that allows people to commit medically assisted suicide. It started with hard cases, but of course it expanded to allow people who are depressed. And now the state can euthanize a child without the parent’s permission. It’s a complete horror show.

Remember the way the Canadians treated the truckers? The government-controlled media flagrantly lied about the truckers, called them racists — all the standard liberal playbook. Then the government shut down the trucker’s ability to speak, they froze their bank accounts, then stole money people donated to their cause (from a GoFundMe account). This is straight-forward totalitarianism.

Canada also banned conversion therapy. If a Christian pastor says that homosexuals can reform, he goes to jail. The modern perspective is that you have to be affirmed in whatever crazy thing you say — unless you say that you don’t want to be gay.

And then there’s Neil Young — that whiny, annoying liberal. He’s Canadian.

There’s also been a rash of vandalism against Catholic Churches in Canada.

The Canadian military is having a hard time recruiting because of the use of “gender analysis.”

The Canadian screen awards are even more woke than Hollywood.

The country is going down the tubes. Wake up people!

The boys drink and review 41 Year Lapse American Pale Ale from Mobtown Brewery then discuss the presidential campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy.

Vivek is a 2nd generation Indian with an impressive record of educational, personal, and professional accomplishments. P&C had previously reviewed Vivek’s perspective on wokeness, and are pleased to see him on the stump for president.

The boys spend some time commenting on his character and style, and do a quick review of his policies.

Vivek wants to shut down the administrative state, which is a great goal, but it’s unlikely he’d be able to do it.

The boys drink and review Torpedo extra IPA, then discuss El Salvador and their new president, Nayib Bukele.

El Salvador has been a basket case for decades. It was one of the most violent places on earth, corruption was rampant, and the drug cartels ran everything.

Mr. Bukele started his political career in a small town, not far from the capitol, and quickly became very popular. But he didn’t fit with either of the existing majority political parties, so he joined and essentially took over one of the smaller political parties. His career skyrocketed, and he eventually became the incredibly popular president of the country.

His reforms have make life more livable for most of the country, but it hasn’t been a completely smooth ride. Some of his “reforms” seem more like dictatorship, and he’s been criticized internationally for his crackdowns on the cartels.

The boys try to evaluate this career. On the one hand, they prefer the rule of law, and politicians who stay within their designated powers. On the other hand, hard times call for hard measures.

The boys drink and review Crispy Boy Vienna Lager from Black Flag brewing, then celebrate some fantastic recent decisions from the Supreme Court.

The cases involved affirmative action, freedom of religion, student debt, and freedom of speech.

Affirmative action is blatantly unconstitutional. It was passed by a liberal court that knew it was bad law, but hoped it would be a temporary fix to race issues. The Court found that things have gotten worse, not better, so it’s time to be done with it.

In the freedom of religion case, the Court corrected a misinterpretation of previous precent. People thought that an employer could refuse an accommodation if it caused a “de minimis” hardship. In Groff vs. Dejoy, the Postal Service failed to accommodate a postal worker whose religion prevented him from working on Sunday. The Court ruled that employers have to make religious accommodations unless doing so would cause substantial harm.

The Court also shot down Biden’s over-reach on student debt, which even Nancy Pelosi said the president didn’t have the authority to do.

In the final case, the Court ruled that a person can’t be forced to speak — that is, to express a message they disagree with. You can’t make the Jewish t-shirt vendor create a shirt that hates on Jews, and you can’t require the atheist baker to make a person who is against the death penalty to design a flyer that celebrates executions. The important thing about this case is that it’s not limited to religion or religious expression. It’s about free speech in general.

The boys drink and review 395 Rye from Checkerspot Brewing, then discuss the changing expectations in dating, courtship, and marriage.

The traditional formula is first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.

The new formula is something like first comes sex, then comes dating, then you move in together, then you get a dog, then maybe you finally get married.

What happened to “take me down to the little white church,” “no huggie no kissie until you make me your wife,” or “if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it.”

The problem is that the elite have adopted “luxury ideas” — idiotic, fashionable beliefs that don’t harm them, with their flock and nannies in their gated neighborhoods, but destroy the lives of the middle and lower classes.

Traditional dating and marriage rules spread the wealth, so to speak, in a way that the modern rules don’t. It results in a lot of men and women who have no life partner, and no prospect of getting one.

The boys drink and review a Maryland kolsch, then discuss China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

They start with a quick review of the Persian Royal Road and the Silk Road, then bring things into the modern era with China’s desire to control worldwide commerce.

In the hopes it would lead China towards freedom, the west brought China into the modern world by giving them favored trading status. That pumped cheap goods into the west and revitalized China’s economy.

But China isn’t content with being the cheap labor force for the world, and is trying to become the main superpower. But they’re not following the “cooperation with competition” model we see in the west. They’re bullies. They elbow their way in and take over.

China is threatening to control world commerce with a long-term plan. Our leaders argue about bathrooms and pronouns.

With special guest Longinus, Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review Pigweed’s homebrewed version of Monument’s Steady Eddie IPA, then discuss famous people who are from or have a strong connection with Baltimore, including …

John Aston
Jada Pinkett Smith
Barry Levitson
David Hasselhoff
Oprah started off in Baltimore
Anna Farris
Elmer Snowden
Billie Holiday
Michael Phelps
Julie Bowen
John Waters
Thurgood Marshall
Toni Braxton
Tori Amos
Tupac Shakur
Mike Rowe
Del McCoury

… and many more!