Was July 4, 1776 the actual day of our independence from Great Britain as most Americans believe? While James is indisposed, historian Rob McDonald joins me to discuss the actual facts of America’s founding.

Memes are apparently unavoidable, and most of them suck. Here we talk about some of the suckiest ones.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

00:51 Japan’s Food Tax and Why Groceries Shouldn’t Be Taxed

02:38 State Sales Taxes on Food Across America

05:04 Flat Taxes, Tax Complexity, and Scotland’s Simplicity

06:18 Remembering Historian Gordon Wood

07:37 AI Corporations and the Future of Legal Personhood

13:30 Foolishness of the Week: Trump’s Repeated Iran Peace Claims

18:08 Responding to Socialist Memes

19:04 Does Capitalism Create Billionaires Instead of Healthcare?

22:11 Obamacare, Health Insurance, and Government Bureaucracy

25:24 Why Misleading Memes Spread So Easily

29:12 Is Poverty a Product of Capitalism?

34:08 Elon Musk, Billionaires, and Wealth Creation

42:20 Infinite Growth, Capitalism, and the Laws of Thermodynamics

45:55 Why Political Memes Make Public Discourse Worse

48:13 Patreon Updates and Closing Thoughts

You should absolutely care about Juneteenth. Tom Krannawitter joins us to talk about why.

00:00 Introduction and Overview

00:20 Two Dan Sullivans Running in Alaska

02:57 Lawyers Using AI in Federal Court

04:10 Foolishness of the Week: Switzerland’s Population Cap

10:12 Fear of Declining Living Standards

12:03 Juneteenth with Thomas Krannawitter

13:13 The Origins of Juneteenth

16:03 Why the 13th Amendment Completed the American Founding

18:59 Juneteenth and the Fourth of July

24:21 America’s Anti-Slavery Principles

30:17 Jefferson, Slavery, and the Declaration of Independence

32:46 The Truth Behind the Three-Fifths Compromise

37:05 Jefferson’s Personal Contradictions

43:36 Why America’s Founders Saw Slavery as Wrong

48:01 Why Juneteenth Should Unite Americans

52:04 Aristotle, Freedom, and Forgiveness

55:41 Black Wall Street and the Promise of Liberty

59:20 Jefferson’s Grave and the American Story

01:01:54 Lincoln, Equality, and Richard M. Johnson

01:07:15 Why Juneteenth Matters Today

01:08:18 Waypoints Teaching and Closing Remarks