In this episode, we talk with Isaac Saul, founder of Tangle, the independent, non-partisan politics newsletter that summarises the best arguments from the left and the right. Isaac wrote a “plea for help” email after conservatives accused Tangle of bashing Trump while liberals accused it of sanewashing Trump, often in response to the exact same newsletter.

Fourteen Wisconsinites from opposite sides of the abortion debate sat down together for a three-day Builders Movement Citizen Solutions session on abortion and family wellbeing. This wasn’t a panel or a debate for show. It was a practical, structured process with trained facilitators and a clear framework, designed to help people hear each other properly and figure out what could actually change in real life, not just online.

In this conversation with Stacy Blakeley, Executive Director of the Builders Movement, we talk about how “us vs them” thinking became normal, and why it’s keeping the thoughtful majority stuck on the sidelines.

Politics has started to feel like a loyalty test, not a conversation. Say one thing that is not perfectly on script for your “side” and people act like you have betrayed the whole team. The problem is not that we disagree. The problem is that we have built a culture where curiosity looks weak, changing your mind feels dangerous, and being loud gets rewarded.

What does a Sanctuary City actually mean and as a citizen, does it change your day to day at all? It’s a term that we’ve probably all heard, and we’re probably aware of which cities are classified as sanctuary cities (at least a few of them), but how does it actually work?

AI is one of those topics that makes people do the weirdest thing: speak in absolutes. It’s either going to save us, or it’s going to destroy us. It’s either the future or it’s the devil.

The “Beyond MAGA” report from More in Common is one of those pieces of research that makes you stop and go, well… that’s more complicated than the internet would have us believe. Which, honestly, is not a bad place to start. If you spend any time online, you’d think Trump voters are one giant, identical block of people wearing the same emotional uniform. Angry. Extreme. Predictable. End of story. But that is not what the data shows.

We’re taking on one of the hardest questions in public life right now: where is the line between free speech, hate speech, and political extremism? What started as a reaction to protest footage from Washington Square Park turned into a much bigger conversation about modern activism, public outrage, and the way protest movements can shift from justice and grief into something more tribal, performative, and deeply unsettling.

Two big stories have been sitting with us. Australia moving to ban social media for kids under 16, and U.S. schools rolling out “bell to bell” phone bans. Australia’s move is bold, and we don’t think anyone believes it will be perfect. Enforcement will be messy, there will be loopholes, and kids will try to get around it. But we still respect the statement it makes. It forces the conversation into the open and signals that constant, unsupervised access to algorithm-driven platforms is not a harmless childhood right. It is a risk, and adults need to stop pretending otherwise.

Trump’s SAVE Act is being sold as a straightforward push for election integrity. Which, of course, sounds reasonable. Who is going to publicly argue against secure elections? That is part of what makes bills like this so politically effective. The language is clean. The branding is strong. The underlying implications are where things get messy.

Iran is one of the most loaded topics on the planet right now, and in this episode, Nicole (liberal) and Jolene (conservative) try to talk about it without pretending it’s simple. We recorded on Thursday, March 5th, fully aware that modern conflict moves fast and anything we say could age in a week. So this isn’t a “perfect take.” It’s us slowing the conversation down and naming what we know, what we don’t, and what we’re tempted to assume.

Two big stories have been sitting with us. Australia moving to ban social media for kids under 16, and U.S. schools rolling out “bell to bell” phone bans. Australia’s move is bold, and we don’t think anyone believes it will be perfect. Enforcement will be messy, there will be loopholes, and kids will try to get around it. But we still respect the statement it makes. It forces the conversation into the open and signals that constant, unsupervised access to algorithm-driven platforms is not a harmless childhood right. It is a risk, and adults need to stop pretending otherwise.

Some conversations feel like a relief. Not because they are easy, but because they are honest. That was the vibe when Jolene and I sat down with Brad Porteus, the creator of the website and organization, https://www.bridgegrades.org/.  If you have ever looked at American politics and thought, “Surely it cannot be this divisive forever,” Brad is basically building a tool for that exact frustration.

We just watched “The Last Republican,” Steve Pink’s new documentary about Adam Kinzinger - the Illinois Congressman who broke ranks with his party after the January 6th hearings, and let’s just say, it sparked a conversation. Actually, several. We’re Nicole (liberal) and Jolene (conservative), friends for nearly 40 years and living proof that you can tackle politics, religion, and money without ending up in a shouting match. In this episode, we give you our take on the film, the politics, and the very human messiness at the heart of it all.

We’re sharing our take on Ezra Klein’s interview with Yuval Levin and the question it raises about Trump’s presidency: has he achieved as much as it feels like he has, or are we confusing constant motion with durable progress? We talk about why this administration can feel like nonstop action, even when much of that action is not coming through Congress.

Some weeks, the news doesn’t just feel heavy, it feels combustible. Like one more headline could set the whole country off. And last week, for a lot of people, that headline was the latest ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

Jolene and I have been friends for nearly forty years. We’ve also spent the last year publicly proving something that feels almost rebellious in 2026: two people can disagree politically and still talk like human beings. Not performatively. Not with that fake “let’s agree to disagree” smile. Actually talk. Actually listen. Actually stay in the room.

Some headlines don’t feel real. They feel like someone fed a political satire writer three energy drinks and said, “Go wild.” And yet… here we are.

Because yes, Trump has floated the idea of America buying Greenland. Greenland. The enormous, icy, strategically placed island that belongs to Denmark. And before you roll your eyes so hard you see your own brain, it’s worth asking: is this just another headline designed to dominate the news cycle, or is there something more serious underneath the absurdity?

Surrogacy in the United States is one of those topics that forces you to hold multiple truths at once. The U.S. has become a major global destination for surrogacy, in part because the rules are inconsistent and, in many places, surprisingly permissive. In other words, the industry has grown faster than the guardrails. That creates a system where the wealthy get options, the vulnerable take on risk, and everyone pretends a contract is the same thing as protection.

2026 didn’t ease in gently — it kicked the door in. In this episode, Nicole (liberal) and Jolene (conservative) unpack three headlines that are already shaping the year: the Trump administration’s high-stakes move in Venezuela, the immigration firestorm at home (including ICE shootings and the Minnesota fraud scandal), and the uprising in Iran unfolding through a media blackout.