Hello Heaton here. Occasionally patrons of the show ask me to take a bonus episode from behind the paywall and put it on the main feet and because I fear them I oblige.

So you're about to hear a bonus episode of the program which patrons have freed up for you,

specifically as a counterweight to last week's show with Ben Abello about Ukraine,

which was probably the single most reviled and inflammatory program

to ever appear on this podcast.

If I got listener feedback as physical letters instead of email, I could have used them to heat my house this winter in the furnace.

Although I will note, all of the pushback I got from patrons of the show, and it was a lot,

consisted of infuriated yet well-written diatribes that were

logically constructed and impeccably polite, and most of them ended with some variation of the following. I would rather you be earnestly

wrong than buckle and just say whatever you think is popular, keep doing what you're doing.

That's great because I feel the same way.

I've been in political media coming up on a decade now and I can tell you there's a lot of people

out there that form their opinions based on avoiding trouble with their

base and accruing applause from their audience. They're not as much concerned with what's right

or what works is just what works for them.

And I would much, much rather lose this job

and do something else then become a hack.

Fortunately, fortunately, this is an audience

of nice people who like being challenged and want to encounter other ideas,

so I think I'm safe for the time being and I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing,

and be grateful for it. That said, please enjoy the special bonus episode

with my friend and very, very lauded war journalist Christoph Anderson talking about Ukraine. Welcome to a bonus episode of the political orphanage gratefully provided to you

...