Like Pigs Around A Melon

Hello, hectic two weeks with stories dropping every day! Today we're focusing the the Russia/Trump investigation (06:10) as it seems to be both the the story with the most updates and the flat out most crazy. On the B side (53:35) we briefly talk about the President's first foreign trip, taking him to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, NATO and other locales.Music: David Medoff - Sredi Doliny Rovnyja (1927)

We're back after an unfortunate and mutually-caused six week hiatus. Waaaay too much happened to really review, but fortunately we left off with healthcare back then and it's still shambling along through congress, though now in a second even worse incarnation. So we ramble about healthcare for a bit long this episode as we re-find our podcasting legs and learn how to not talk over each other again. There's no B topic this time. Thanks for coming back!Music: Chicago Rhythm Kings  (Muggsy Spanier, Frank Teschemacher, G. Krupa) - There'll Be Some Changes Made (1928)

Hello! Today we are fully focused on the GOPs American Health Care Act. It's a doozy.The Map Murphy referenced: https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yEJvK_1F1Nwzlh_pI17TNZBpvyk=/1000x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8120465/Screen_Shot_2017_03_08_at_4.36.41_PM.pngStudy: Communities Most Affected By Opioid Epidemic Also Voted For Trump: http://www.npr.org/2016/12/17/505965420/study-communities-most-affected-by-opioid-epidemic-also-voted-for-trumpMusic: Champion Jack Dupree - Bad Health Blues (1941)

Hello, we're back! Maybe this time for good? We only have one part to the show today: a rambling and slightly incoherent review of the continuation of the Trump-Russia scandal (or non-scandal). Thanks for listening!This came out shortly after we recorded, but here's a 'definitive' timeline: http://www.politico.com/trump-russia-ties-scandal-guide/timeline-of-eventsMusic: Ada Jones - By The Light of the Silivery Moon (1909)

Two weeks have gone by! So many things have happened! But we control ourselves and discuss the Travel Ban and Court-imposed Stay (07:42) and finish with a return to the cabinet nominees Sessions and DeVos. Sorry about the quality of the played clip, of course the gov't doesn't use the best teleconferencing products.Links: Awkward handshakes: https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/8301072797772308489th Court Ruling: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2017/02/09/17-35105.pdfMusic: Edward Meeker - Low Bridge Coming Down (1913)

Day 9 and wow.... just, wow. We attempt some banter then get right into the refugee "Muslim ban" executive order signed on Friday the 27th and the situation around that before talking some about the Border Wall EO. Thank you for listening!Links: Organizations to donate to:http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/28/outraged_about_trump_s_executive_order_donate_to_these_nine_organizations.htmlGuiliani: https://twitter.com/HadiNili/status/825753351853846530 ; Reagan '86: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rMP1uRYsXEMusic: Bert Williams - Bring Back Those Wonderful Days (1919) 

Hello! Week of the inauguration! Exciting right? So exciting that this episode is a little off the tracks, but we manage to pull through and discuss more appointments such as DeVos (07:18) and finish talking about the mix that is the Steele document and first Trump press conference (42:29). I believe we've flushed out all our audio issues, but then I'm sure I'm doing something else off since I'm no expert in that, same as in politics. Thanks for listening!Music - Little Hat Jones 'Bye Bye Baby' (1930)

Hello and Happy New Year. We've had our holidays to rest (or booze up, chow down, and deal with family more likely) and are ready to take on the brave new world of 2017. Recorded on Tuesday 1/11/17, today we discuss Session's confirmation hearings (2:40), the inauguration on Jan 20 (31:10) as well the tiff between Meryl Streep and Donald Trump, and round the show out with a clip of Comey being a doof (45:15). Sorry about the audio being a bit harsher than usual, we'll make sure to iron that out 100% before next time!Music: Irving Berlin & Bing Crosby - Let's Start the New Year Right (1942)

On a festive episodes of LPAAM, we wander a bit more than usual, picking several topics from the Political advent calendar. After Ryan briefly whines about being both sick and a mess as well of some baby talk from Murphy we move into--the nomination of Rex Tillerson for SecState and some implications this has regarding Russia and oil (4:11); the nomination of Mulvaney for OMB (13:45); China testing the waters (18:24); State GOP shenanigans (25:37); and then we close out talking about SNL (34:42) before really going off track and talking about Rogue One (no spoilers here!) and more importantly Alan Tudyk.Thank you for listening!Music: Trinity Choir - Christmas Hymns and Carols (1918?)

On today's podcast we address the recent CIA report that Russia did in fact intervene in the American election on behalf of Trump (4:10) and then Murphy gives us the low down on cabinet nominations since the last podcast (28:37). It's worth noting that the Rex Tillerson SecState nomination went through while we were recording so we don't address it this time around.Music: Irving Berlin, WMCA Broadcasters, & Irving Kaufman - Russian Lullaby.

Hello, we're back! It's been a month. Wow. Sorry, you know, for everything. We actually recorded a... torrid post election night podcast, but Ryan wisely (or not) opted to not let it see the light of day. Then he jumped into an anti-reality hole until Murphy finally dragged him back out into whatever we call sunlight in this post-truth world. Today we talk about President-Elect Trump's cabinet nominations and what little we know about them. Thanks for sticking around and we hope to be more regular again going forward from here!Sorry for some of the audio goofiness. Ryan tried a slightly different post-processing technique, saved it without reviewing, closed it (!), and this is what he gets for his hubris.Music: Vladimir Horotwitz - Danse Excentrique

Welcome again to LPAAM! Recorded on the 1st of November, it's been a hot second mostly because Ryan freaks out about the election in his free time and then tries to play it cool for the podcast. Today we have our friend Jo joining as a guest as we discuss, well, freaking out and the general feel of these final days before the election (12:35) and then close out talking about the punditization of America (43:10). Well, we sort of do because Ryan messed up while trying to get technologically fancy. Lay off :(Relevant links: 270towin.com? Not much here today!Music: John McCormack - The Star Of The County Down (?)

Recorded on October 20th, the day after the third Presidential Debate, this episode is about just that! No secondary topic, though we ended up talking about voting and recent court changes at the end so I've made a musical cut like usual. But it's all the third debate! We do the regular nonsense at the front, third debate coverage starts at 00:04:23 and we discuss voting and close things out at 01:12:45. There was some minor audio track wonkiness so there might be some accidental crosstalk at some points, but pretty sure I fixed it up. Thanks for listening!Relevant Links: NPR's transcript and fact check: http://www.npr.org/2016/10/19/498293478/fact-check-trump-and-clinton-s-final-presidential-debateEzra Klein's great Vox video review of the debates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlLFTI24QkwAn example of the civility around elections lost this time around, a letter from Bush to Clinton: http://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-10-19/1993-letter-from-george-hw-bush-to-bill-clinton-resurfaces-goe

Hello and welcome back. Due to personal situations such as hurricanes and babies, we weren't able to record last week, but the big thing to talk about was the VP debate anyway so whateeeeevs. Today we start with some catching up and too much baseball talk before recapping the hectic news period from the VP Debate to the Second Presidential Debate before delving into the second debate itself. There is not secondary topic, only Zuul.Related Links: NPR's Debate Fact Check & Transcript http://www.npr.org/2016/10/09/497056227/fact-check-clinton-and-trump-debate-for-the-second-timeHandy News Advent Calendar for the time-period: https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughTrumpSpam/comments/56e4kz/the_trump_postdebate_downward_spiral_calendar/Our Hero Ken Bone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcymbtB4_PYCrazy FBI Informant turned in as extremist story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/04/fbi-informant-craig-monteilh_n_6800126.htmlMusic: Peerless Quartet with Henry Burr - Everybody Loves A Chicken (1913)

Hello, one of these days I'll be better about getting these out promptly. Recorded on Thursday 9/30/16, in this episode we have special guest Chris (@ChrisVLinden), one of Murphy's fellows, on to discuss his political leanings, the first debate that was (07:45), and we close out briefly discussing Trump past dalliances with Communist (oooh scary) Cuba (58:52). We won't have an episode in time for the VP debate, but should be doing a follow up on it barring other insanity.Relevant Links: NPR Fact Check & Transcript: http://www.npr.org/2016/09/26/495115346/fact-check-first-presidential-debateThe Debate itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855Am6ovK7sSNLs Take: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nQGBZQrtT0Music: The Three Eddies - Tain't No Sin To Take Off Your Skin & Dance Around In Your Bones (1930)

Recorded on 9/22/16 (not 21...) and delayed because Ryan is lazy (and there's lots of football to watch!). In the episode we open when a weird chemistry and humours digression before getting into the first debate (04:32) schedule for Monday, September 26 at at 9PM EST. We discuss what we expect, what we would like to see, and what we would particularly dislike to see. We close out with revisiting the Trump Foundation (49:18) in lieu of more would-be-scandalous behavior being uncovered.Relevant Links: Recent Clinton policy piece - http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/hillary-clinton-policy-agenda/Debate prep piece from Aug 29 - http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-debate.htmlTrump trying to lower expectations - https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/09/22/trump-to-debate-moderators-dont-even-think-about-fact-checking-me-my-supporters-are-watching/?utm_term=.734538811300Music: 'Cocaine' by Dick Justice (1929)

Today we primarily talk about the birther story and it's newly found legs on 9-16-16 (3:13), delve briefly in the candidates health story of the past week, then discuss Trump's would be plans for his businesses were he to be elected (28:34).Relevant links:Newsweek article on Trump businesses: http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/23/donald-trump-foreign-business-deals-national-security-498081.htmlDavid Fahrenthold's article listing at WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/david-a-fahrentholdMusic: Blind Willie Johnson - If I Had My Way I'd Tear The Building Down (1927)

Hello again! Slight technical difficulties on Ryan's part, don't trust mics to actually be working (well, don't make permanent audio changes before fixing quality...), but it's not too bad. We intro with some talk about sleeping (or lack thereof) and more babies; followed by discussing the Alt Right and how it ties to Clint's speech on 8/25; close out connecting it all to Trump's visit to Mexico and subsequent speech in Arizona on 9/1.Relevant links on---Alt Right: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/18/11434098/alt-right-explainedTrump Immigration: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-hispanic-leaders-arizona-immigration-227615Door-to-Door effectiveness: http://people.hmdc.harvard.edu/~renos/papers/EnosFowlerGOTV/EnosFowler_AggregateGOTV.pdf / http://www.thevictorylab.com/Recorded 9/1/16---Music: 'Walk Right In' by The Cannon's Jug Stompers.

It's been a while. It's all Ryan's fault for being a bum. He's also uploading this about a week after it was recording because it's a complete dingbat. Today we intro with some talk about bad food and babies, discuss the Clinton Foundation (3:15), then finish with the price of a meme (31:00).

Today we celebrate Obama's 55th, Murphy's something, and my continuously precarious living arrangements. After the intro we move into the week that was Trump (3:00), more specifically the 24 hour power round of gaffes (http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-gop-trump-go-unraveling-break-glass-mode-n622116) and discuss some of the massive polling shifts. We conclude with a education lesson from Murphy about Zika (39:00). Thanks for listening!