130: When You Wish Upon a Star

130: When You Wish Upon a Star

We're going back to where it all began; that's right, it's aliens, this time those friendly aliens from Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We talk about the general optimism and lack of paranoia in the film, contrasting it with more recent "first contact" narratives. We also get into the grittiness of Spielberg's early films, a texture he seems to have mostly outgrown by his 1990s blockbuster era. While the movie may have less to say about politics and the hard realities of apocalyptic cultural moments than we would have liked, perhaps that very absence is in itself a lesson for us all. This episode contains spoilers for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2309859/fan_mail/new] https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

129: With the Tolling Tolling Bells' Perpetual Clang

In honor of America's 250th birthday we are covering one of the landmark events in the nation's history, namely the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We discuss why the assassination was so significant, the context of the recently concluded Civil War, and the precise nature of the conspiracy led by famous actor John Wilkes Booth. We detail Booth's outrageous actions after shooting President Lincoln, his attempts to flee "to Mexico" on a broken leg, and his eventual killing by the unforgettably strange Boston Corbett in the burning barn at Garrett's Farm.  Dave Taylor's presentation on Booth's flight after the assassination [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDOSwhT0cUo] The Abraham Lincoln Memorial Library and Museum's YouTube page (home of many interesting presentations on Lincoln's presidency and the assassination) [https://www.youtube.com/@ALPLM./videos] The Rest is History Podcast on the Lincoln Assassination [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbAHi3fZpuEjBo1JN8DeKAwq30_skk6b&si=y0YZBG9mlfMzsl3S] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2309859/fan_mail/new] https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

128: Everybody Won't Be Treated All the Same

This week we are using a novel format to explore recent Supreme Court decisions. Stu presents Michael with a brief sketch of the case, Michael decides how he would rule, and Stu then reveals the actual decision arrived at by the justices. Topics covered include: gun rights, pollution, temporary protected status, immigration, transgender athletes in school sports, birthright citizenship, and internet age verification. Is Michael in step with the court, or is he just a bleeding heart liberal? To find out, you must listen! NPR on Trump's Immigration Policy and Population Decline [https://www.npr.org/2026/06/27/nx-s1-5871338/tps-population-scotus-immigration-trump] The Guardian on Temporary Protective Status [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/27/haitians-ohio-supreme-court-ruling] The Hill on Supreme Court Immigration Decisions [https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5941656-supreme-court-immigration-decisions/] SCOTUS Blog on Transgender Athletes in School Sports [https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/court-rules-that-states-can-exclude-transgender-athletes-from-girls-and-womens-sports-teams/] SCOTUS Blog on Birthright Citizenship [https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/supreme-court-strikes-down-trumps-order-ending-birthright-citizenship/] Politico on 2019 on FDR and Court-Packing [https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/24/the-lost-history-of-fdrs-court-packing-scandal-225201/] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2309859/fan_mail/new] https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

127: Nothing Gold Can Stay

This week we are discussing the recent New York congressional primaries which have announced Zohran Mamdani's arrival as a new political "kingmaker" in the Democratic Party. We discuss the three candidates, Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, go over the politics, and then chart the response from the centrist wing of the party, as led by Hakeem Jeffries. Is this a sign of hope for a more progressive moment in American politics? Perhaps! Stu also gives a brief overview of his recent month long jury duty service in Brooklyn Criminal Court. Democracy Now! on the New York Congressional Primaries [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a4KrN9FFp4] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2309859/fan_mail/new] https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

126: We're on the Highway to Hell

This week we are talking about the so-called utopian promise of the internet, the "information superhighway" as it was once known, and how it has, over the last thirty years, transformed into an information superhighway...to HELL.  We look at some predictions and early ideas about the internet from the 90s before considering the critiques brought by Astra Taylor in the 2010s regarding the way the internet had been subverted by corporate interests. We also look at Lawrence Lessig's analysis of a "free culture" vs. a "permission culture" and how the internet has very much been made to resemble the latter. We conclude with a brief discussion of John Perry Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" from 1996 and what it perhaps fails to consider. Lastly we think about the implications of all of this as we experience the rise of a similarly transformative new technological paradigm, AI and Large Language Models. Clinton Administration plans for the "Peace Dividend" in 1992 [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/10/science/clinton-to-promote-high-technology-with-gore-in-charge.html] Time Magazine in 1993 predicts the future of the internet [https://time.com/archive/6722878/take-a-trip-into-the-future-on-the-electronic-superhighway/] Astra Taylor at Democracy Now on the Subversion of the Internet by Advertising [https://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/25/utopian_potential_of_the_internet_astra] Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture [https://archive.org/details/free_culture] A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow [https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2309859/fan_mail/new] https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu