A Crazy Time for Speech and Political Correctness: Coats, Rogers, Comey, Kathy Griffin & Bill Maher

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We cover the latest Senate Intelligence Committee hearings in the Pearls. In the Suit, we talk about free speech and political correctness. In the heels, we discuss Stonehenge and Orange is the New Black. 

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The Pearls

We discuss the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings last week. First, we talk a little about Dan Coats and Admiral Mike Rogers. Coats is the Director of National Intelligence, a position created in the late 1970s to serve as the principal intelligence advisor to the White House. Rogers is the Director of the National Security Agency, which collects intelligence and focuses on both offensive and defensive actions in cyberspace. 

Coats and Rogers, along with Andrew McCabe and Rod Rosenstein, were unwilling to answer questions about their conversations with the President, prompting the ire of Senators like Angus King of Maine and John McCain of Arizona. We also briefly discuss Senator Kamala Harris's questioning of Rod Rosenstein regarding the independence of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. 

We also discuss the hearing during which former FBI Director James Comey offered both verbal and written testimony regarding interactions with the President. We talk about the strong testimony on Russia's hostile actions toward the United States and the ways in which Comey's willingness and ability to push back against the President were questioned. 

Our listener Katy shared Joe Biden's encouragement of Mitt Romney to run for Senate as a real world compliment to the other side. 

The Suit

We continue our ongoing exploration of political correctness and free speech by diving into the Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher controversies. We also discuss speech and political correctness at college campuses generally and the situation at Evergreen State specifically. 

In our wide-ranging conversation, we talk about the importance and limitations of freedom of speech under the First Amendment, the influence of implicit bias, and the power we have to change our brains as discussed in the new season of Invisibilia. 

The Heels

Beth just returned from England and talks about Stonehenge. She was especially influenced by Jacquetta Hawkes's observation that every era gets the Stonehenge it deserves. Sarah is not so psyched about the new season of Orange is the New Black.