Author: Pigweed and Crowhill

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Southern Tier’s imperial pumpkin ale, then — to celebrate Halloween — review a series of scary stories from Shirley Jackson.

In this episode we dive into the eerie, unsettling world of Shirley Jackson. Best known for The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, Jackson was a master of psychological tension, small-town menace, and the dark corners of everyday life. The boys discuss several of her short stories — how she creates unease without gore, how she uses ordinary settings to expose cruelty and conformity, and why her work still feels so disturbingly relevant today.

Here are the stories we cover.

• Flower Garden
• The Daemon Lover
• The Renegade
• The Witch
• The Tooth
• The Lottery

The boys drink and review Jailbreak’s Citra Lady Friend then discuss the implications of a million year old skull from China.

P&C start with a review of the prevailing views on human evolution, including the “out of Africa” hypothesis.

A little while ago, scientists in China found that a find from a few decades ago was older than expected, and more modern than expected.

It’s become common for headlines to claim that “this changes everything” — but maybe this one does.

How does this million year old skull fit into the picture?

The boys discuss.

The boys drink and review Lord Baltimore from Key Brewing, then wonder whether Maryland really needed 700 new laws.

What is the relationship between the citizen and the state? On one side you have the anarchist, who wants no government. Then you have the libertarian, who believes “that government is best that governs least.” On the extreme left you have people who want the government involved in every decision, regulating everything the citizen does.

Maryland leans in that direction.

Wes Moore and the Democratics in Annapolis recently passed 700 new laws. Some of them are reasonable. Some are ridiculous. But did we really need all of them?

P&C discuss and comment on some of the specific laws.

The boys drink and review one of Crowhill’s homebrews, then wonder about the fact that you can purchase curses on Etsy and Fiverr.

What the heck? How should we view this?

Recently, the feminist magazine Jezebel paid some witches on Etsy to curse Charlie Kirk. Shortly afterward he was assassinated. Megyn Kelly made a big deal about it.

Did the witches score?

C’mon. Do we really believe in curses?

P&C try to back up and examine the concept of curses, the demonic, evil force, and how to parse all of this.

P&C drink Skipjack Pilsner and then wonder what in the world is going on with all this talk about Trump the dictator.

The boys evaluate the liberal narrative that Trump is an authoritarian dictator and find it woefully lacking.

The “big one” from the liberal side is January 6 and the claim that the election was stolen. There is some validity to that claim, but it’s exaggerated. A lot.

The bottom line is that an authoritarian dictator would have behaved very differently.

Trump has been accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election, calling the press the “enemy of the people,” and promising “retribution” against his political enemies. But are these actions truly unique? Or are Trump’s critics holding him to a double standard?

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the “dictator” narrative:

Did Trump actually weaponize the Justice Department, or just use it like his predecessors?

How do his actions compare to Obama’s “Russia hoax” strategy or Biden’s push to censor online speech?

What defines a real threat to democracy — policy overreach, rhetoric, or selective enforcement of the law?

And what would it mean if Trump really does return to power with plans for “retribution”?

We explore the accusations, the double standards, and the uncomfortable question: Is Trump a dictator — or just the mirror reflecting our own political hypocrisy?

🎙️ Join Pigweed and Crowhill for a candid, unfiltered conversation on power, precedent, and politics in America.

P&C drink and review Festifall, a Marzen lager by Southcounty Brewing, then discuss the prospect of a world without cash.

Deepfakes, fake documents, and AI-generated “evidence” are becoming harder to spot — and that might be what finally pushes governments and businesses to demand trusted digital sources. But that trust comes at a price: a digital ID system that could track who you are, what you do, and even what you buy.

In this episode, we explore:

• How fake videos and online deception could accelerate the rollout of digital IDs.
• The battle between centralized systems (government-controlled) and decentralized ones (blockchain-based).
• The alleged benefits for individuals, businesses, and governments: convenience, security, efficiency, fraud prevention.
• The hidden dangers: surveillance, data breaches, social control, and the loss of financial and personal freedom.
• Real-world examples from China’s social credit system to Canada’s Freedom Convoy—and what they reveal about where this might lead.
• Whether we’re even ready for this kind of technology—or if policymakers are racing ahead of reality.

And yes, the biblical echoes in Revelation 13: the “mark of the beast” that decides who can buy or sell.

Bottom line: Digital ID could make life easier—or it could make freedom optional. The difference lies in how it’s built, who controls it, and whether we keep cash, privacy, and choice alive.

The boys drink and review Pigweed’s homebrewed Black IPA, then discuss cancel culture in the light of the Charlie Kirk story.

Defenders of so-called cancel culture object to the term. They say it’s just “consequence culture.”

Traditionally, conservatives have been against cancel culture — because it’s usually a weapon deployed by liberals against conservatives. But now, when liberals like Jimmy Kimmel are canceled for lying about Charlie Kirk, conservatives seem to have changed their tune.

But have they?

Not quite. There’s a huge difference between what liberals have been doing — trying to get someone fired for having a different political opinion — and what conservatives are celebrating, which is when people promote or celebrate political violence.

The boys work through the issues and make the necessary distinctions.

The boys drink and review Sunset Eclipse from Dewey Beer then discuss whether artificial intelligence will destroy us.

Crowhill says he uses AI all the time and loves it, but at the same time he’s afraid it’s going to destroy us all.

Despite being warned — over and over again, in literature and by contemporary experts — we blithely continue on as if everything is okay.

We have no reason to believe this.

But don’t worry. What could possibly go wrong?

Intelligent people have been telling us for centuries that this is a problem. But … never mind.

We are not nearly scared enough.

In the past, new technologies did eliminate jobs, but it increased wealth and created new jobs. AI is nothing like that. It’s not going to create any jobs that AI itself can’t do.

P&C drink and review a dopplebock from Troegs then ask whether there’s a difference between a liberal and a leftist.

Pigweed reflects on his youth and his admiration for the free spirit attitude of the hippies, and that while he hasn’t moved, the Overton Window has moved around him, shifting him from left to right.

The normal politics of a 1995 Democrat turn the left’s hair on fire. Even recent quotes from Clinton, Obama, Schumer, and other Democrats are completely out of step with the modern left.

On crime, the border, gay marriage, trans issues, and a host of other issues, an orthodox Democrat from 1995 would be unwelcome in the modern Democratic Party.

“Liberal” used to mean …

• Personal autonomy
• Individual rights
• Economic freedom
• Constitutional limited government
• Free speech

The modern left has flipped all these things on their head.

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review a Pub Ale from Black Abbey Brewing, then discuss ten ways that our quick (Type 1) thinking can deceive us, and how to compensate.

🎙 Why do we make choices that don’t make sense? From overconfidence to loss aversion, our brains are wired with shortcuts that keep us alive but can also trip us up in everyday life. In this episode, we break down 10 powerful mental traps —the hidden biases shaping your money, relationships, work, and even your health:

1. Anchoring Bias – Why the first number you see sets the stage.
2. Loss Aversion – Why losing hurts twice as much as winning feels good.
3. Availability Bias – Why vivid memories distort real risks.
4. Confirmation Bias – Why we only see what we already believe.
5. Planning Fallacy – Why “five minutes” always takes twenty.
6. Hindsight Bias – Why we always “knew it all along.”
7. Framing Effect – Why wording changes everything.
8. Sunk Cost Fallacy – Why we can’t let go, even when we should.
9. Overconfidence Effect – Why we think we’re better than average.
10. Present Bias – Why future you keeps getting cheated.

These aren’t just abstract concepts — they affect how you invest, how you plan, how you argue, and how you procrastinate. Once you see them, you’ll start noticing them everywhere.

P&C drink and review Space Jellyfish from Nepenthe brewery in Baltimore, then discuss some short stories by Sinclair Lewis.

Pigweed starts off with a brief bio of Lewis and some big picture themes that occur in his writings. Then, with special guest Longinus, the boys review the following short stories.

“The Willow Walk” is about Jasper and John Holt, two identical brothers who lead very different lives. But Jasper has a dark secret.

“The Cat of the Stars” is an elaboration on the butterfly effect, where one small detail spins out of control and affects the life of many people in horrible ways.

“The Ghost Patrol” tells the tale of an old policeman who can’t shake his responsibility to his duties and continues to patrol his old beat even after his retirement.

“Young Man Axelrod” decides, after a life as a successful farmer, that he should go back to college. He goes to Harvard hoping for the experience he has longed for all his life.

This video is part of P&C’s “shortcut to the classics” series. See here for more details.

Shortcut to the Classics

The boys drink and review “I Just Crush A Lot” a blueberry hibuscus tart ale from Calvert Brewing.

In 1054, a dramatic split forever changed the face of Christianity. Known as the Great Schism, it divided the Church into Roman Catholicism in the West and Eastern Orthodoxy in the East. But the break didn’t happen overnight—it was centuries in the making.

In this video, we’ll explore:

• The immediate crisis: papal legates and Patriarch Michael Cerularius trading excommunications.
• Political and cultural tensions: Rome vs. Constantinople, Latin vs. Greek, and the rise of Islam.
• Authority disputes: papal supremacy in the West vs. conciliar authority in the East.
• Theological differences: the Filioque controversy, Monophysitism, and contrasting spiritual emphases.
• Divergent practices: from unleavened vs. leavened bread, to clerical celibacy and fasting rules.
• The aftermath: how the Crusades, especially the sack of Constantinople, deepened the divide.

The Schism was not just about doctrine — it was about culture, politics, and identity. Understanding it helps explain why the Christian world looks the way it does today.

The boys drink and review Atlas Brewery’s Festbier then ask whether locking up criminals results in less crime.

Why doesn’t mass incarceration always lead to lower crime rates? Research shows that most crimes are committed by a small group of career offenders — 5–10% of criminals may be responsible for half of all crimes. Locking up these repeat offenders does reduce crime. But once those individuals are off the streets, the returns diminish.

This episode of beer and conversation explores:

• How chronic offenders drive violent and property crime
• Why locking up violent repeat offenders lowers crime
• Why incarcerating non-violent offenders often has little impact (and can even make things worse)
• Other factors, like broken families and gang dynamics, that continue to fuel crime

The key takeaway: targeted incarceration works — blanket incarceration does not.

P&C drink and review a Maibock from Guilford Hall Brewing, then discuss the problem of crime in (mostly Democrat-run) cities.

Crime in cities is nothing new, but is it so bad that the federal government needs to get involved?

Crime is one of the most divisive political issues in America today, and nowhere is the debate sharper than in the nation’s Democrat-run cities. Are recent reports of falling homicide rates proof that things are improving, or just cherry-picked statistics that ignore rising thefts, carjackings, and drug crises? We’ll look at the long decline of urban centers under one-party rule, the trade-off between “equity” policies and public safety, and the uncomfortable reality that many of the worst crime numbers in “red states” are concentrated in blue-governed metro areas.

This episode also asks whether Washington should step in. Should a president send in the National Guard to restore order, or would federal intervention undermine democracy and escalate tensions? We’ll explore the legal precedents, the failures of urban policy on homelessness and drugs, and what decades of the same leadership have delivered. Finally, we put the political question directly: after generations of Democratic mayors, is it time to try something different?

Join us as we cut through spin, examine the data, and confront the bigger cultural costs: broken trust in institutions, hollowed-out downtowns, and the growing question of whether America’s great cities can truly be saved.

Pigweed and Crowhill drink and review a Fest Beer and discuss words that are their own opposites.

English is full of quirks, but few are as fascinating as contronyms, which are words that are their own opposites. “Sanction” can mean to approve or to punish. “Dust” can mean to sprinkle or to remove. “Left” can mean departed or remaining.

In this episode, we dive into the strange, witty, and sometimes confusing world of contranyms. Why do they exist? How do we make sense of them in everyday speech? And what do they reveal about the way language evolves?

Join us as we explore examples that will twist your brain, spark a few laughs, and make you appreciate just how slippery words can be. Whether you’re a word nerd, a casual listener, or someone who’s ever been baffled by English, this conversation is for you.