CIB is here with solutions for everything that ails a hot and bored nation. This week we’re yapping about a new sports streaming bundle, Trump’s DC takeover, how not to go about ending one’s life, and what unites the conspiracists, the skeptics, and those of us mostly just going along to get along. Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — CTRL-F’ing for “catturd” in the New York Times archive
14:00 — ESPN and Fox bundling streaming service
27:58 — Trump activates National Guard in DC, takes over policing
39:58 — Texas congressional redistricting attempt and how to fix gerrymandering
1:04:48 — Suicide by repeated fancy dinners
1:25:58 — Did CBS News’ Senior National Correspondent Mark Strassmann Get Off a Good One, and how we’re all operating on faith more than we might accept
1:54:52 — Wrap-up! Weapons; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Iron Man 2

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

CIB is back after a brief summer trip to discuss yet another day among the filthy rabble at a Virginia theme park, the national news of the moment, and whether or not Sydney Sweeney is hot enough to justify all this upset her ads are causing. Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — CIB is a THEME PARK ENTHUSIAST podcast now
28:20 — WGAS NewsBag!
55:10 — Sydney Sweeney and Her Big Ol’ Cans and a Pun
1:16:05 — Denmark wants your unwanted pets for…reasons
1:18:09 — Panera Bread causes domestic disputes, will stop baking its own bread
1:24:38 — Did CBS News’ Senior National Correspondent Mark Strassmann Get Off a Good One?
1:38:12 — Wrap-up! Fantastic 4; The Naked Gun; Happy Gilmore 2; Rudy; The Talisman; Fall or Dodge in Hell

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

Despite coming into this week’s conversation fairly well convinced that there was a grand unifying theme to be sussed out from the news of the week, it’s not clear that we ever quite got there. Still, an enjoyable time was had, so check it out! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — Just unforgivable meandering nonsense
15:29 — In Our Bogus Future, the robits know what you’ll pay, and “That’s a dick move!”
36:10 — In Our Bogus Future, you live at the pleasure of AI Donatello
1:01:58 — In Our Bogus Future, old man complains about light bulbs
1:10:20 — Coca-Cola now good for you!
1:15:47 — Acknowledging the MAHA instinct within us all
1:23:02 — Does alcohol contribute to the creation of great societies?
1:34:22 — CBS to cancel The Late Show, PBS and NPR lose CPB funding
1:58:05 — As usual, it all comes back to Dick Cheney
2:14:23 — Wrap-up! Revisiting Balloon Boy; The Great Wall

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

We open this week’s podcast with some deep audio engineering analysis of our highly respected rival podcast, The Biffler, before moving on to discussion of the news of the week and our review of the new Superman movie. Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — Bob vs. The Biffler, et al.
25:52 — WGAS NewsBag; New Trump tariffs; Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy producing trouble within MAGA; Camp Mystic leaders slow to respond to flood warnings
1:17:18 — Wrap-up! Saving the concert talk for the music show; SUPERMAN

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

The news of the week is depressing and beyond our power to control it, so we first dwell on road races and theme parks, and then close with a brief reflection on the very popular novel James by Percival Everett. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — Abe vs 43,002 comers
11:22 — A trip to Busch Gardens
33:53 — Texas floods
1:00:51 — The Big Beautiful Bill
1:14:41 — Epstein had no “client list,” died by suicide
1:20:08 — Wrap-up! Jurassic World: Rebirth; Attack on London; James by Percival Everett

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

CIB is here before the Fourth of July to discuss the major rulings handed down by the Supreme Court at the end of the term, along with a handful of other topics, strange headlines, and owls in the national news. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — Surviving an international soccer match
11:09 — Surviving the local library
17:39 — WGAS NewsBag; Many snakes on many planes! Immigrants in ovens!
28:09 — SCOTUS Talk! Nationwide injunctions and birthright citizenship; curriculum opt-outs; age verification vs. free speech
58:10 — Mamdani wins NYC mayoral primary
1:14:16 — UVA president Jim Ryan resigns under pressure from Trump justice department
1:19:48 — Idaho firefighter assassinations
1:22:51 — Did CBS News’ Correspondent Itay Hod Get Off A Good One in the Fashion of CBS News’ Senior National News Correspondent Mark Strassmann, Owls in a Tree Edition
1:29:23 — Wrap-up! Brad Pitt’s F1 movie; Parthenope; Blockade Billy

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

We’re finally back to discuss the recent goings on in the world, which is mostly that the United States decided to directly involve itself in the war between Israel and Iran—and by “the United States” we mean mostly Donald Trump. Donald Trump! A person who seems to think of himself more as a monarch than as a president, and who is no doubt happy to find that the limitations that theoretically exist to prevent him from behaving like an unaccountable monarch are either broken or ignored by those who might impose them. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — Youth sport update, and Abe in the World
18:17 — US bombs Iranian nuclear facilities
1:32:14 — Wrap-up!

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

We’re back after a week away from the news to yap about what’s happening in the world, including the Trump/Elon messiness, nationwide immigration protests, and a recent SCOTUS decision. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!

Show Rundown
Open — Abe at Metallica!
12:56 — WGAS NewsBag; Iran hates dogs, Iranians love dogs, and what this has to do with the upset in Los Angeles and beyond
38:17 — Joni Ernst wields her faith like a squirt gun filled with Nickelodeon slime; Trump and Elon break up; “reverse discrimination” isn’t a thing; travel ban is back
1:01:07 — Dis CBS News’ Senior National Correspondent Mark Strassmann Get Off a Good One?
1:05:58 — Wrap-up! Ballerina; Challengers; youth sport

Relevant Linkage can be found by visiting https://brainiron.substack.com/, where, if you would like to support this and the other podcasting and blogging endeavors of the Brain Iron dot com media empire, you can also become a paying subscriber.

The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Brains were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.