Schindler's Gist

Ep. 3 | What We Take For Granted and What We Will Not Give Up, with guest Nick Tigges

This week Martha Jean is joined by her friend and stand-up comedian Nick Tigges for a wide-ranging conversation about politics, government, economic precarity, and what we owe each other in a moment like this one. Nick has a bachelor's in political science from Emory University, a master's in public administration from Georgia State, and worked inside the Georgia Senate Budget Office before pivoting to stand-up comedy four years ago. He is one of the sharper people Martha Jean knows, and this conversation proves it. The episode is structured a little differently than usual. Interview clips are woven together with Martha Jean's own commentary and analysis, so think of it less as a straight interview and more as a dialogue she gets to keep adding to after the fact. Topics covered include European democratic socialism and what it actually means, why most people agree on the big problems but fight about the solutions, why local politics is where the real looting happens and why nobody is paying attention, the PFAS contamination crisis in North Georgia's water supply, the documented human rights abuses inside ICE detention facilities, the paradox of tolerance and why Nick says it is not actually a paradox, the banality of evil and what Hannah Arendt has to teach us about this moment, why niceness is not the same as being good, and Gene Metcalfe, the last living man who trained at Camp Toccoa and jumped into World War II. Timestamps 0:00 - Three questions that frame the episode 0:17 - Introduction of Nick Tigges and format explanation 3:06 - Nick defines himself as a European leftist 3:11 - What European democratic socialism actually looks like, including Finland's proportional speeding fines 5:53 - Most people agree on the problems, the disagreements come in the solutions 7:08 - Why people disengage from local politics 11:07 - Martha Jean's DeKalb County boil water story 12:17 - Monologue: DeKalb County's crumbling water infrastructure, Cherokee County's cancer-linked contaminants, PFAS pollution from the North Georgia carpet industry, the EPA rollback, entropy and local government, manufactured culture war as distraction from corporate looting 23:24 - The paradox of tolerance is not actually a paradox 25:06 - The woman with the Trump sign at the bridge protest 29:12 - Visiting Dachau, Nazi gas vans, ICE detention, and our collective tolerance for horror 34:07 - Monologue: Good intentions stopped being a defense, the case for confrontation over civility, Hannah Arendt and the banality of evil, documented ICE abuses, why social consequences matter 51:21 - Nick on the Georgia Senate Budget Office, $19 billion in Medicaid funds, and consultant overspending 53:54 - Camp Toccoa, Operation Living the Legacy, and Gene Metcalfe 57:33 - What happens when you tell people you do stand-up comedy 57:55 - How to follow Nick 58:32 - Outro Links and Resources Follow Nick Tigges on Instagram and TikTok: https://www.instagram.com/the_nicktigges [https://www.instagram.com/the_nicktigges] Gene Metcalfe's book, Left for Dead at Nijmegen by Marcus Nannini: https://bookshop.org/p/books/left-for-dead-at-nijmegen-the-true-story-of-an-american-paratrooper-in-world-war-ii-marcus-a-nannini/e52e108d169780ef [https://bookshop.org/p/books/left-for-dead-at-nijmegen-the-true-story-of-an-american-paratrooper-in-world-war-ii-marcus-a-nannini/e52e108d169780ef] NGA CAN mockery and confrontation blog post referenced in the episode: https://www.ngacan.org/post/why-mockery-and-meanness-are-essential-in-the-fight-against-fascism [https://www.ngacan.org/post/why-mockery-and-meanness-are-essential-in-the-fight-against-fascism] Senator Jon Ossoff's ICE detention human rights abuse report: https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/260114_Report_Patterns_v5.pdf [https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/260114_Report_Patterns_v5.pdf] ACLU report on Fort Bliss detention facility: https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/detained-immigrants-detail-physical-abuse-and-inhumane-conditions-at-largest-immigration-detention-center-in-the-u-s [https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/detained-immigrants-detail-physical-abuse-and-inhumane-conditions-at-largest-immigration-detention-center-in-the-u-s] EWG tap water database for Cherokee County: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=GA0570002 [https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=GA0570002] EWG tap water database for Woodstock: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=GA0570003 [https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=GA0570003] Decaturish reporting on DeKalb County's $4.4 billion water infrastructure crisis: https://decaturish.com/2024/05/replacing-all-of-dekalb-countys-aging-water-pipes-will-cost-4-4-billion/ [https://decaturish.com/2024/05/replacing-all-of-dekalb-countys-aging-water-pipes-will-cost-4-4-billion/] North Georgia Community Action Network: https://www.ngacan.org [https://www.ngacan.org] Cherokee County write-in candidate recruitment page: https://www.ngacan.org/cherokee-write-in-2026 [https://www.ngacan.org/cherokee-write-in-2026] Help a Neighbor mutual aid fund: https://www.ngacan.org/help-a-neighbor [https://www.ngacan.org/help-a-neighbor] About Schindler's Gist Schindler's Gist is a progressive political podcast hosted by Martha Jean Schindler and Tyler Kluth, based in Georgia and Wisconsin. New episodes drop weekly (mostly). Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Ep. 2 | No Kings, No Plan: Democracy, the Two-Party Trap, and What We're Actually Fighting For

Recorded April 2, 2026 In Episode 2, Martha Jean gives Tyler a full debrief on the No Kings III rally in Canton, Georgia, where NGA CAN drew 350 to 400 people. From there the conversation sprawls into bigger territory: what the No Kings messaging actually communicates, whether protest is a gateway to real civic engagement or just a feel-good exercise, and why both hosts think the two-party system is broken, even though they disagree on what to do about it. Topics covered in this episode: The No Kings rally in Canton, what worked, what the turnout meant, and why Martha Jean is already skeptical of the messaging. The permit fight, and how cities are using insurance requirements, attendee estimates, and selective enforcement to quietly suppress protest. Third parties and the lesser-of-two-evils trap, where Tyler makes the case that voting Democrat is voting to maintain the system, and Martha Jean pushes back with the practical problem of Trump. Jill Stein, the Green Party, and whether spoiler candidates are a DNC talking point or a real concern. May Day and the general strike, and why calling for a strike in this economy is easier said than done. ICE, what abolishing it actually means, what it doesn't mean, and why Martha Jean thinks the whole agency needs to start over from scratch. And a preview of a bigger conversation about democracy itself, including whether it is inherently good, what the difference is between a democracy and a constitutional republic, and whether states should have the right to secede. Fact checks from this episode are at the top. We got two quotes wrong and Martha Jean called an AR-15 an AK-47. Have something to say? Email us at schindlersgist@proton.me [schindlersgist@proton.me]. If you want to get involved in civic action in North Georgia, find us at ngacan.org [ngacan.org].

Ep. 1 | A Leftist & a Libertarian Walk Into a Podcast

Welcome to Schindler's Gist. I'm MJ Schindler, a leftist organizer based in Cherokee County, Georgia. My co-host is Tyler Kluth, a libertarian in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We met playing music in Atlanta. This is our first episode. We recorded this on March 26th, 2026, the day before NGA CAN's No Kings protest in Canton, Georgia. Canton went well. Full debrief comes next episode. In this episode we get into executive orders, how we both ended up where we are politically, and what it actually looks like when two non-culty people try to have an honest political conversation. No party line. No kool-aid. New episodes weekly. Website: https://schindlersgist.com [https://schindlersgist.com] Follow NGA CAN's organizing work: https://ngacan.org [https://ngacan.org]