logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2024
1h 10m

Is Kamala Harris Secretly Relieved? Lion...

Meghan Daum
About this episode

🔔 Did you like this episode? Don’t forget to like, subscribe and leave a comment down below.

✌️Upgrade your subscription if you want to hear the full conversation: https://bit.ly/3LgpZ3A

For this first post-election episode, Meghan welcomes back author Lionel Shriver, who is arguably America’s (and the U.K.’s) most controversial woman of letters. They talk about the over/under on the end of democracy, whether J.D. Vance is following a Trump-mandated script, how trans issues replaced abortion rights as a priority for many female voters, and whether Kamala Harris is secretly relieved that she doesn’t have to be President of the United States. They also discuss why writers must oppose Israel to remain in good standing in the literary world and how they feel about the current pronatalism movement with respect to their own reproductive choices.

You can upgrade your subscription here: https://bit.ly/3LgpZ3A

—————————

GUEST BIO

Lionel Shriver is a columnist for The Spectator and the author, most recently, of Mania, a novel. Her fiction includes The Mandibles, Property, So Much For That, the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World, and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin. Her journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harper's, and the London Times, and she currently writes a regular column for The Spectator in the UK. A longtime American expat in the U.K, she now lives in Portugal.

Hundreds Of Authors Pledge To Boycott Israeli Institutions: https://bit.ly/40EBf2r

Lionel Shriver contributed an essay to Meghan’s 2015 anthology “Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers On The Decision Not To Have Kids”: https://amzn.to/40MHC3F

Lionel’s previous interviews on The Unspeakable: https://bit.ly/3O66FHu and https://bit.ly/3YOgNcC

—————————

HOUSEKEEPING

✈️ Unspeakeasy Retreats: https://bit.ly/3zl3Ezd

🥂 Join The Unspeakeasy, my community for freethinking women: https://bit.ly/4eEv5Dl

Up next
Jul 10
The Unbearable Halfness Of Being: The Catastrophe Hour Book Club Week 6
The next meeting of The Catastrophe Hour Book Club is scheduled for Wednesday, July 16, at 3:00 p.m. ET. We will discuss the fifth essay of the collection, Playlist of Tears. The book club meets for 14 consecutive Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. ET. The book club is for yearly paid Subst ... Show More
8m 11s
Jul 9
Death On A Movie Set - Rachel Mason on Last Take, her documentary about the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust
In this episode, I speak with filmmaker Rachel Mason about her documentary Last Take*: Rust and the Story of Halyna*, which explores the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. On October 21, 20221, Alec Badwin, who starred in the film, pulled the trigger on ... Show More
30m 28s
Jul 4
Playlist of Tears: The Catastrophe Hour Book Club Week 5
The next meeting of The Catastrophe Hour Book Club is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9, at 3:00 p.m. ET. We will discuss the fifth essay of the collection, Playlist of Tears. The book club meets for 14 consecutive Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. ET. The book club is for yearly paid Substa ... Show More
7m 21s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2024
Think Again: Is Free Speech Under Threat? with Suzanne Nossel and Charlotte Lydia Riley
Many liberals believe that in recent years we have seen an erosion of the right to air unpopular opinions without the risk of being cancelled. We are in an ever-intensifying shutting down of conversation, they maintain, with constituencies on both the left and the right demanding ... Show More
1h 30m
Nov 2019
Mary Anne Franks, “The Cult of the Constitution” (Stanford UP, 2019)
We Americans are defined by our Constitution and we cherish especially the First and Second Amendments. But like all texts, the Constitution can be read to empower and protect our individual rights, but it can also be used selectively, self-servingly, and in bad faith. And the Co ... Show More
58m 16s
Sep 2021
Introducing: Getting Even with Anita Hill
Anita Hill has a lot on her mind. The lawyer, author and educator learned first-hand about our country’s shortcomings, and despite it all, still believes that society’s biggest problems can be solved. On her new podcast, Getting Even, Anita Hill speaks with the greatest thinkers, ... Show More
2m 5s
Mar 2020
Ladies, Know Your First Amendment Rights.
The threat to our First Amendment right of free speech is growing. College campuses continue to embrace progressive policies that restrict student's ability to voice their opinions and beliefs. Lawyer and First Amendment Expert Harmeet Dhillon joins Problematic Women to discuss f ... Show More
16m 47s
May 2024
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Growing Threat of Radical Islam
APPLY to Ralston College’s Summer Latin Program at http://ralston.ac/latin-program Worldwide applications close on 31 May. Watch the Munk Debate: Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitism? Live June 17th. Join today to live stream. Click here: https://bit.ly/munk_debate Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a S ... Show More
1h 4m
Jul 2024
Libs of TikTok: Exposing Trans Ideology & Grooming in Schools
Chaya Raichik is the woman behind the ‘Libs of TikTok’ account on X (formerly Twitter.) With more than 3.2 million followers, the account amplifies content uploaded by radical leftists and activists. Her work has been instrumental in the exposure and removal of inappropriate mate ... Show More
49m 29s
Aug 2022
Prison Break
Prison breaks loom large in both literature and pop culture. But how should we evaluate them ethically? New Generation Thinker Jeffrey Howard asks what a world without prison would look like. His essay explores whether those unjustly incarcerated have the moral right to break out ... Show More
14m 41s
Mar 2025
The Campaign To Silence Journalists & Undermine Free Speech
In 2019, Justice Clarence Thomas raised the prospect of overturning one of the most consequential free speech decisions ever made. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan is a 1964 landmark case that strengthened First Amendment protections by enabling journalists and writers, from top na ... Show More
44m 20s
Feb 2024
Why Critical Thinking is Dead - Peter Boghossian
Peter Boghossian is an American philosopher. For ten years he was a professor of philosophy at Portland State University, but resigned following the college’s response to ‘the grievance studies affair’. This entailed Boghossian - alongside James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose - subm ... Show More
1h 12m
Aug 2024
The Free Speech Debate
After the government announced it may ditch the Conservatives' law to fight cancel culture on campuses, Ed Vaizey asks whether freedom of speech at University is under threat. He hears the cases for and against - including from former universities minister Robert Halfon, who was ... Show More
48m 10s