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PODCAST

Acton Unwind

Acton Institute

Acton Unwind is a weekly roundtable discussion of news and current events through the Acton Institute"s lens on the world: promoting a free and virtuous society and connecting good intentions with sound economics. Host Eric Kohn is joined by Acton Institute experts for an exploration of news, politics, religion, and culture.

news politics

All Episodes

57:53

The Trump Indictment and Whataboutism

Acton Unwind ·

2023/06/12

This week, Eric and Dan are joined by Emily Zanotti, a new contributing editor at the Acton Institute, as they tackle the latest indictment of former president Donald Trump. Again we ask: Does the act of indicting a former president and current candidate for president alone render America a banana republic? What’s the difference between this case and cases of other prominent politicians—such as Joe Biden, Mike Pence, and Hillary Clinton—mishandling classified information? If there is a double

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64:49

The Responsibility of Business Is Business

Acton Unwind ·

2023/06/05

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan talk conservative boycott culture: Bud Light, Target, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and more. If the social responsibility of business is to increase profits, as Milton Friedman said, is there a way we can return to that understanding? Or are we going to be stuck in a political tug-of-war where people on the left and the right want the oars of every institution pulling in the same direction—their direction? Next, they examine the newly passed debt ceiling deal. Will we

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50:57

Under the Light of La Sombrita

Acton Unwind ·

2023/05/22

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan rummage around a grab bag of topics for this potpourri episode of the podcast. First up: The expiration of Title 42, the pandemic-era border-security measure. Will its going away create new problems at the border? Almost certainly. But the policy can’t stay if the pandemic is, according to the federal government, over. If Congress could find a way to do its job, it could reinstitute a similar policy. Next, a communist coffee shop in Toronto closes. Might it have been

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46:50

What’s Next for Pakistan and Turkey

Acton Unwind ·

2023/05/15

This week on Acton Unwind, special guest panelist Farah Adeed along with Dan and Dylan discuss two major stories in the majority-Muslim world: the arrest and subsequent release of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and Sunday’s election in Turkey. Farah is an incoming Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science at Boston University and studies the role of religion in the nation-building process and democratization in Muslim-majority countries. He is also a former Emerging Leader

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54:39

TikTok Bans the Acton Institute’s The Hong Konger...

Acton Unwind ·

2023/05/08

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan discuss the suspension of the Acton Institute’s TikTok account after it shared promotional content for our award-winning documentary feature film, The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom. Is it just a weird coincidence that these kinds of suspensions keep happening to accounts that share content that the Chinese Communist Party would disapprove of? How should we think about attempts by Congress to address the risks presented by the TikTok app,

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44:17

Housing, Fake Drake, and ‘Everything-Bagel...

Acton Unwind ·

2023/05/01

This week, Dan, Dylan, and Stephen discuss recent housing policy proposals in Texas. What market-based reforms could lower housing costs? What should policymakers keep in mind when seeking to lower housing costs? What are the biggest political obstacles they face and how might moral arguments help in overcoming them? The panel’s ears then turn to the AI song stylings of “Fake Drake.” Is the music industry poised to be disrupted by AI? What sort of property rights are likely to emerge in the wake of

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64:58

National Conservatism Revisited

Acton Unwind ·

2023/04/10

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan discuss Dan’s essay in the Spring 2023 issue of RELIGION & LIBERTY magazine, “National Conservatism One Year Later,” revisiting the National Conservatism movement one year after his essay on his visit to the NatCon2 conference. What, if anything, do we now understand better about the NatCon movement? Does it stand apart from traditional American conservatism, or is it slowly being subsumed by the mainstream right? And where do the post-liberals and Catholic

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57:26

How Not to React to the Trump Indictment and the...

Acton Unwind ·

2023/04/03

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan discuss what we know (and there’s still much we don’t know) about the indictment of former President Donald Trump by New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Was it a wise move to indict Trump? Does indicting a former president for the first time in American history presage the “end of the republic”? Next, the guys discuss the horrible school shooting in Nashville and the quick descent into collectivist thinking on the part of both the political left and the

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57:42

Tick Tock for TikTok?

Acton Unwind ·

2023/03/27

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan discuss the new legislation in Utah restricting social media access for minors. Will it work? Is it a good idea? Will it even have a chance to take effect, as social media companies are certain to sue over it? Then, continuing on the same theme, the guys take a look at last week’s congressional hearings on TikTok. Did anyone come out of this looking good? Is a ban on TikTok inevitable now? Does Congress’s reason for banning TikTok even matter? And finally, Xi and

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57:53

The French Enlightened on Pensions

Acton Unwind ·

2023/03/20

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan discuss the protests in France over the move by French president Emmanuel Macron to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. How does France, and other countries facing the realities of math when it comes to their pension programs, navigate the reality that these kinds of reforms are simultaneously necessary and very unpopular? Next, the guys consider the alleged difficulty people are having defining “wokeness” in the wake of author Bethany Mandel’s going blank when

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63:22

SVB Is DOA

Acton Unwind ·

2023/03/13

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the actions of the federal government in response. How concerned should we be by the moral hazard problem of bailing out the depositors of the bank beyond the $250K that is insured by the FDIC? Does this expose how the Federal Reserve’s efforts to stifle inflation are riskier than many think? Next, they examine the report from the Department of Energy attributing, with “low confidence,” the outbreak of COVID-19 to a lab

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63:24

What Are You Searching for, Dave?

Acton Unwind ·

2023/02/27

This week, Dan Hugger, Dan Churchwell, and Dylan Pahman discuss the question of artificial intelligence, particularly the software behind a series of AI chatbots that have become publicly available in the past year. What are the possible uses and abuses, especially when incorporated into search engines like Microsoft’s Bing? And what happens when they stop being polite and start acting as if they were alive? Then the panel discusses a paper presented last week by Dylan Pahman at the Intercollegiate

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59:11

Thoughts, and Especially Prayers, Matter

Acton Unwind ·

2023/02/20

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan start with a discussion of President’s Day, a holiday where we’ve collectivized all the Presidents of the United States of America – good, and, and indifferent – into one day of celebration. That means it’s an opportunity for Eric to once again highlight how awful Woodrow Wilson really was. Then, they move on to the horrific shooting at Michigan State University. Why is it a new trend for advocates of a particular set of political beliefs to respond to these incidents

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60:37

What’s Wrong with Journalism Today?

Acton Unwind ·

2023/02/13

Today Eric, Dan, and Dylan are joined by Terry Mattingly of GetReligion.org to discuss his essay in the Winter 2022 edition of Religion & Liberty, "The Evolving Religion of Journalism.” How has journalism—and its audience—changed, and why? Has the internet transformed broadcasting into narrowcasting? How has a transition from the old bias of liberalism to illiberalism, even “Jacobinism,” remade what journalists produce and we consume? Then the guys look at the Super Bowl ads and explore why they

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58:17

Popping the China Balloon Story

Acton Unwind ·

2023/02/06

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan try to pump the hot air out of the Chinese surveillance-balloon story. What was China up to? Should we have shot it down earlier? Was the purpose to induce Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to cancel his visit? Then the guys turn their attention to the murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis. Is this an example of the police department and the city acting appropriately in quickly firing the officers involved? How can we use this awful tragedy to make changes that will

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60:12

Ticketmaster Haters Gonna Hate, Hate, Hate

Acton Unwind ·

2023/01/30

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan breakdown the Ticketmaster/Taylor Swift ticket sale controversy in the wake of the proprietors of Live Nation Entertainment being dragged before Congress for a hearing. Are they a monopoly? If so, how would we know, and what should we do? And what is more offensive: Ticketmaster’s expensive fees and crashing website or a dozen U.S. senators reading questions written for them by junior staffers with Taylor Swift lyrics in them? Next, it’s 90 seconds until midnight on

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63:55

The Conscience of a Defenseman

Acton Unwind ·

2023/01/23

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan review the story of Ivan Provorov, the defenseman for the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers who skipped participating in warmups in a Pride-themed jersey before the team’s Pride Night game, citing his Russian Orthodox religious beliefs as the reason. Should this even be a story? Should NHL or other professional sports teams impose political stances and social causes on players? Then the guys look at the upcoming fight over raising the nation’s debt ceiling

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57:33

Are We Mishandling Biden’s Mishandled Documents?

Acton Unwind ·

2023/01/16

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan examine the revelations that President Biden, when he was Vice President Biden, mishandled classified documents, similar in some ways to how former President Trump mishandled “Top Secret” documents he took from the White House as his presidency ended. With such serious questions on offer about how much information we classify and inconsistencies in how we punish people who mishandle it, why are so many people focusing only on questions of hypocrisy on Biden’s part

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63:06

Remembering Benedict XVI

Acton Unwind ·

2023/01/09

This week, Eric, Dan, and Dylan remember the life and legacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. What will be his enduring contributions to theology and to the Catholic faith? And how will his decision to resign the papacy, the first time in 600 years that this occurred, and handling of the Church’s sex abuse scandal be factored into his legacy? Then the guys turn their attention to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s election as Speaker of the House after 15 rounds of voting. Is this a glorious mess that points to a

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52:17

China Relents On Zero-COVID Policies

Acton Unwind ·

2022/12/19

This week, Eric Kohn, Dan Hugger, and Dylan Pahman discuss China’s decision to relent on their “zero-COVID policies. With an ineffective vaccine and much of the older population unvaccinated, what happens if the current COVID variant rips through the country with a huge death toll? And why did China, which is clearly indifferent to human life, even decide to engage in these policies in the first place? Then the guys examine the release of Trump NFTs, which raised $4.5 million for the former

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147 results

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