Month: December 2024

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Naked Elf by Troegs (a version of their seasonal Mad Elf), then discuss the history of all the funny traditions that make up our modern Christmas.

Was Jesus really born in a manger on the 25th of December? And speaking of dates, why do the Orthodox celebrate Christmas on a different day?

What did Saturnalia, the winter solstice, and Yule contribute to our Christmas traditions?

How did St. Nicholas get associated with Christmas?

Where did we get tree decorating, mistletoe, Yule logs, gift-giving men in fur cloaks, strange animals pulling sleighs, and the general festivity of the season?

Why are “scary ghost stories” associated with Christmas? And how did Thor’s goat get thrown into the mix?

Why did Oliver Cromwell and the early Americans have such a problem with Christmas?

Is Santa Claus really St. Nick, or is he the pagan Father Frost, or maybe Odin?

The boys discuss these and other fun stories about the origin of our modern Christmas celebration.

To help you get in the holiday spirit, here’s the latest edition of P&C’s “shortcut to the classics.” The expanded crew drinks and reviews Sam Adams’ Old Fezziwig ale and discusses the Charles Dickens classic.

Special guest Longinus starts the show with a brief bio of Dickens and provides some historical context to the story.

The boys discuss how the book differs from the various movie versions (not much), and provide background on some of the more striking and interesting details.

There are also 19th century concepts and terms we’re not used to today, like the treadmill for the poor, negus and smoking bishop (which were types of punch), and forfeits, a party game.

There are other little things that might have hidden meaning, like Scrooge’s first name. Why “Ebenezer”?

Other questions come up.

* Why can’t the ghost of Christmas future speak?
* Why did Scrooge (and no one else) get this special chance at redemption?

If you’ve seen one of the movies, you know the basic story, but the book is delightful and well worth reading.

The boys drink and review an English IPA from Guilford Brewing, then discuss the internet, and why we allow children on the thing.

People 50 years from now are going to condemn us for the way we’ve destroyed children’s innocence by giving them access to this putrid environment.

Australia recently passed a bill to restrict social media to 16 and above. That might be a good start

We have to show an ID to buy beer or cigarettes, why do we allow children on the porn-infested internet.

Why not a kid-friendly, open internet, and another internet where you have to sign on and demonstrate you’re an adult?

There are legit privacy questions, of course. Will the government — or Apple — have a record of what everyone does online?

Those are excuses. There are solutions to this problem, we’re just not trying hard enough to create them.

The boys drink a sidecar cocktail, then discuss Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter.

Despite repeatedly promising not to do it, Biden did what everyone knew he was going to do.

At this point, everyone is now on record as not trusting the justice system.

The timing of the pardon is interesting. Did he want to get it through before Kamala 25-amendmented him? Or, rather, did he want to do it before Hunter was actually sentenced?

Did Biden lie about his promise not to pardon Hunter, or did he mean it and change his mind?

Was the pardon self-defense? After all, Hunter could spill the beans on the Biden crime family, which could lead to lots of trouble for Joe.

The pardon isn’t small potatoes either. It’s a blanket pardon for anything he did or could have done over an 11-year period.

The pardon could backfire on Joe, since Hunter can no longer plead the 5th.

The boys enjoy their cocktail and discuss all the implications.

The boys drink Right Proper Pale Ale and discuss book bans.

Anne Arundel County in Maryland has become “a book sanctuary.” They want “all voices, all stories, and all perspectives to be protected.”

Crowhill calls it out as a flat lie and virtue signalling. These same people (or their intellectual fellow travelers) have been in favor of censorship on social media. Why is the library any different?

Should we make a distinction between what children can access and what adults can access?

A big part of the problem is the misuse of the word “banned.” You’re not banning a book if you choose not to stock it at the local library. You’re not banning a book if you believe children’s story hour shouldn’t include child pornography.

At the local library there are tables full of “banned books.” They’re so banned that they have a prominent place at the front of the library.

Are these “sanctuary libraries” going to include Mein Kampt, books on how to make your own suicide vests, “My Favorite Lynchings”?

The rhetoric is that “all views” are accepted. That’s a transparent lie.

While drinking a local stout, the boys ask whether abortion is really healthcare and then discuss that and related issues.

Healthcare is generally understood as the maintenance or improvement of health through prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or management of illness, injury, and other physical or mental impairments.

How does abortion fit in with that?

Pigweed and Crowhill evaluate the reality against the propaganda and the pro-choice slogans.

Is it really “my body, my choice”?

Do people really want to affirm Roe v. Wade?

Is it actually a “conversation with my doctor”?

“Keep your laws off my body!” Is that a legit legal standard?

So where should we draw the line? When does a fetus become a human with protected rights?

The boys drink and review a festive, Christmas beer, then discuss Trump’s selections for his cabinet and what we might expect from them. Nazi Germany, of course. And fascism. And the end of democracy. But beyond that ….

As of the time of the podcast, Trump has chosen …

Marco Rubio for Secretary of State
Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense
Matt Gaetz for Attorney General (although he withdrew)
Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior
Howard Lutnick for Commerce
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS
Sean Duffy for Transportation
Chris Wright for Energy
Linda McMahon for Education
Doug Collins for Veterans Affairs
Kristi Noem for Homeland Security

Other key positions include …

Lee Zeldin for EPA
Elisa Stefanik for the UN
Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel
Tilsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence
John Ratcliffe for CIA
Tom Homan as “Border Czar”
… and a few others.

He’s also asked Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new “Department of Government Efficiency.”