How We Got Here with Seth Tower Hurd

The latest Disney take on the Lone Ranger (starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer) was not only critically panned (only 37% positive score). Not only was it a terrible film, but it ignored an incredible true story that's never been told on the big screen. So I'll tell it here.

The extreme nationalism fueling both factions of Trump's presidential campaign and the Black Lives Matter protestors battling it can be attributed to the same root--extreme nationalism, and the belief that ____ would be great, except for ______. But both pale in comparison to the Nazi revival in Europe.

All signs point to a split in the Republican Party with the rise of Donald Trump. And although it's not as obvious, the Democratic party could be ready to fracture as well. This is not unprecedented. In fact, the average life for a political party in the United States is somewhere between 60-80 years. [Correction: we went to the moon in 1962, and MLK and Bobby Kennedy died in 1968. But, the dirty hippies part was right on.]

The debate over ISIS almost always blames Bush, for dethroning Sadaam Hussein, or Obama, for not responding fast enough. Both those arguments ignore 100 years of geopolitics, and the redrawing of a map after WWI, that the United States had nothing to do with.

The way you see the legacy (or infamy) of Jesse James explains one swing state in the upcoming Presidential election, and sheds light on one of the top news stories of 2015.

Yep. I'm saying that the Oregon standoff and the Black Lives Matter movement are ultimately centrist, and about defending the Constitution. Sorry for the lack of an intro, music, editing, etc. Did this super quick in the morning, then had to leave for work.

Following the San Bernadino shooting, a bill was struck down in the Senate to forbid people on the no fly list from buying guns. While this seems like an obvious issue on the surface, when we dive deeper, the Constitutional violations have little to do with the 2nd Amendment, and everything to do with the 4th & 5th.

I was wrong about something, when I said that "protests don't work anymore" a few episodes back. MOST of the time, protests don't work. But in Chicago, Mayor (Kim Jong) Rham Emmanuel, a former Obama Chief of Staff and notorious moron, is on the brink of being thrown out of office, not by his conservative enemies, but by black liberals. Oh yeah, and Chicago got busted for having a secret jail, where Miranda rights were denied. Chicago radio personality (and one of my former college students) Dometi Pongo joins me to discuss these topics.

"If a man were permitted to make all the ballads he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." Andrew Fletcher, Scottish Philosopher circa 1700 Hollywood directors are disproportionality influential over all aspects of American life, including politics. First time writer/director Justin Simeon joins the show to discuss the politics of his debut film, Dear White People.

A look at the history of gun rights, gun control, and what the Supreme Court says about personal protection

Taking a look at the "outrage" over 13 white deaths in Oregon, while 56 African Americans get shot in Chicago with virtually no media coverage...as well as the proposed gun control solutions, and how they would have worked in the case of Columbine, Dylan Roof, and Vester Flannigan.

Two recent events served as the set up for this episode. The first was the (terrible) responses by the Republican primary candidates on which woman to honor on the $10 bill. The second was the Democrats renaming the Jefferson-Jackson dinner. We look at the conflicted lives of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the psychotic tendencies of Andrew Jackson...and compare them to the incredible life and leadership of Abigail Adams. Sources from this episode: Dropkick Murphys--Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya (From the album The Meanest of Times) Bruce Springsteen--American Land (From the album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions) Works consulted for this episode: Donald Miller--Blue Like Jazz http://thehermitage.com/learn/mansion-grounds/slavery/ http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/ten-facts-about-washington-slavery/ http://thehermitage.com/learn/mansion-grounds/slavery/

Jason Cobb (a lawyer, "fire breathing liberal" and generally hilarious social media personality) and Luke Franklin (an "Evangelical Conservative" leaning libertarian) join me to break down the rather absurd CNN debate in which the inmates ran the asylum. We make fun of Chris Christie's 9/11 references. A lot.

My friends Luke Franklin (has a masters in political theory) and Jason Cobb (a lawyer who claims to know a lot about editing even though he doesn't have to go to court that much--which maybe just means he's a good lawyer) and I break down the September 16th CNN debate. Also, there's a side story about Creed, who made what some people in the 90's people allegedly categorized as "music."

Elizabeth Elkins (who's solo music has been featured on CNN, Jersey Shore, Rescue Me, Smallville and 30+ other shows), and Vanessa Olivarez (American Idol album & former co-writer with Sugarland) started recording An Army without Music in 2013, but didn't finish and release the record until a few weeks after the Dylan Roof in Charleston and the heated debate over the Confederate Flag that came afterwards. Unfortunately, Vanessa was on vocal rest at the time of this recording (for the band's album release show). Elizabeth and I discuss long forgotten stories of the Civil War, and how the way this history has been taught brought us to where we currently are as a nation.

Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis spent nearly a week in jail after refusing to issue marriage licenses to two straight couples and two gay couples, on the grounds that it violated her religious liberties. STH breaks down this very strange case by going back to the root of when gay marriage truly began...in 1994 with the hit MTV show My So Called Life. The episode takes some twists and turns from there, but wraps up with the proposal that the best way to protest gay marriage is through (perfectly legal) welfare fraud.

In August 2015, Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz and (Canadian) actress Ellen Page (who should perhaps not worry about our politics unless she wants to become a citizen) squared off at the Iowa State Fair over "persecution." Both think that their respective group (the LGBT community for Page and the Christian right for Cruz) are facing persecution in America. This episode is about three ACTUAL cases of persecution in America, starting with Chinese pograms in California in the 1880's, through the horrible treatment of Germans in WWI, and ending with an Irish Army rising up in New York City (note: making your own army pretty much stops persecution in it's tracks). Music used in this episode: The Vespers "Out West" (From the album Sister & Brothers) William Elliot Whitmore "Hard Times" (Live on KEXP) U2 "The Hands that Built America (From the Gangs of New York Soundtrack)

My former co-worker and old friend Jess, an employee for the ACLU joins the show along with San Diego hip hop artist Parker Edison to talk about racial justice, hip hop, views of the Constitution, the American Revolution...and whether or not T-Pain is a terrible artist. Also, there's something in there about me running into R. Kelly at Fat Burger one time. Learn more about the album mentioned in this episode (and the songs used) here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Reclaiming-the-Community/253975801465865

People and things that show up in this episode: Sid Hatfield (of Hatfields & McCoys fame), boat to boat Tommy Gun fights, chemical warfare used against the citizens of West Virginia (between the two World Wars), Northwestern Football, a guy who overdosed on heroin, and Uber Drivers in New York City. This episode of How We Got Here is brought to you by: Windy City Beards http://www.windycitybeards.com/shop/ and by Wooden Paddle Pizza of Orland Park, IL The best pizza, like ever. http://www.woodenpaddlepizza.com/

In the last days of 2014, Senator John McCain slipped a few extra words into a sure-to-pass defense bill about a topic that had nothing to do with defense...selling Oak Flat, a section of land sacred to the Apache, to a British Mining Company. This episode unpacks that situation, starting with an American who attempted to overthrow the Communists in Laos in 2007, and ending with Perscott Bush (George HW's father and George W's grandfather) robbing a grave. In between, we look at the high failure rate of civil disobedience, the incredible history of the Apache people, torture, and a nearly unkillable leader named Geronimo, who eluded 5,000 American troops and a quarter of the Mexican Army for an incredible 18 months. The album is available at all digital retailers, on Spotify, and directly from the label's website here: http://lightintheattic.net/releases/1332-native-north-america-vol-1-aboriginal-folk-rock-and-country-1966-1985 (I highly recccomend the 3LP version). Get involved here: http://www.apache-stronghold.com/you-can-help-take-action.html https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apache-Stronghold/802193869856079?fref=ts