American Seances

Come sit with me for a minute — we’re starting a new series that channels history into the wildest current events (this episode: the reflecting pool debacle). Imagine Abe Lincoln, briefed on peeling paint and a canoeist suspect, doing what he always did best: reflecting, asking for facts, and reminding us that holding power means owning responsibility.It’s funny, a little sad, and very human — the kind of story where public theater meets mundane screw-ups. If you like smart, quietly sharp takes on today’s chaos, Lincoln’s voice makes the mess feel strangely…instructive.

This piece links Dorothy Dix’s 19th-century crusade to the modern Lindsay Clancy trial and asks a simple, painful question: did the system notice the danger while there was still time?
It’s not about excusing or condemning one person so much as wondering what we, as a society, owed someone whose mind was unraveling — and whether our institutions were set up to help.
Listen if you want a thoughtful, human look at how medicine, courts, and community responsibility can collide when lives are at stake.

Let's take a short jog across the pond to 1843 and meet Daniel McNaughton, the Scottish woodturner whose delusions changed criminal law forever.
This episode links his famous insanity rule to the modern questions in the Lindsay Clancy case: not just whether someone knew what they were doing, but whether their mind could actually stop them from doing it.
It’s a weird, human legal puzzle — part history, part courtroom drama — and it still matters today.

This episode walks you through the gut-wrenching Lindsay Clancy trial with Benjamin Rush as our unlikely guide, asking the hard question: when does a diseased mind stop being a medical tragedy and start being a criminal act?
It’s a calm, close look at postpartum distress, psychiatric evidence, and the messy middle where law, medicine, and moral judgment collide — the kind of conversation you’d have with a thoughtful friend over coffee.

In this episode we drop Henry George into today’s tariff-refund drama to ask the simple but brutal question: where did that money really come from? He’ll make you follow the money, spot the difference between making wealth and merely capturing it, and wonder whether our rules reward builders or privilege.
Short, sharp, and a little provocative — perfect if you like peeling back how policy reshuffles fortunes and who ends up holding the chips.

Picture Teddy Roosevelt dropped into today's business world: he'd admire big companies, but he'd never let them forget who they serve. He'd ask bluntly whether tariff refunds help the nation or just soften the fall for the richest firms.In short, TR cared about fair rules, public duty, and whether success came from building better things or buying better influence. This episode cuts through the noise and asks the same question he'd ask: who really benefits?

Picture Jackson back in Washington, cutting through the legal fog with one blunt question: who’s lining up for the checks? He wouldn’t start with arcane rules — he’d want to know whether refunds favor the well-connected while ordinary people get left out.This short take links Jackson’s obsession with anti-privilege to today’s tariff-refund debate, asking the same down-to-earth question: is government helping everyone, or just those who know how to play the game?

Imagine Adam Smith showed up in 2026: he wouldn’t just cheer or boo the $100B in tariff refunds. He’d be quietly curious about who actually paid those tariffs, who got the refunds, and whether the rules reward customers or political access.
He’d tell you to listen politely to business requests, then examine them with the greatest caution — because markets work best when competition, not favors, determines success.

Did you notice everyone talking about grown kids moving back home? This episode unpacks why multigenerational living isn't a TikTok fad but a predictable result of soaring housing costs, stagnant wages, and homes turning into investment vehicles.
We take a wry look at what Marx might have said—not to preach revolution, but to ask blunt economic questions: who really benefits from all this wealth? Grab a coffee and come listen to why independence now sometimes means crashing in your old bedroom and sharing a Netflix password.