The State of the Union might as well have been a month ago, but we’re here to talk about it as the glorious, hilarious, highly watchable, weird, shameful, exploitative circus gameshow that it undeniably was. That and the latest goings on over on the CBS Evening News, Abe’s movie reviews, and plenty of YOUTH SPORT DRAMA. 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 — USA Men’s Hockey Triumphs!
8:29 — State of the Union Exploitation Spectacular
1:29:42 — Did CBS News’ Senior National Correspondent Mark Strassmann Get Off a Good One?
1:39:52 — Wrap-up! How to Make a Killing; Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die; Little League updates

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.

Today we’re mostly ignoring the news of the week to instead express wonder and dismay at how short form video is probably breaking our brains in really bad ways. It’s a hoot! 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 — The Biffler goes full blood-determinism
21:33 — Regressing to an oral culture
36:03 — Maybe weight does in fact correlate with health a bit
58:37 — Did CBS News’ Chief Correspondent Matt Gutman Get Off A Good One in the Fashion and to the Exacting Standards of CBS News’ Senior National Correspondent Mark Strassmann?
1:03:19 — Is the US about to get weird in Iran? Should we…bet on it?
1:13:55 — Wrap-up! Crime 101; Wuthering Heights; Minority Report; Sinners; The Olympics

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.

It’s an almost-all Super Bowl 60 reaction spectacular! We watched, we complained, we talked about it. 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 girds himself for SURVIVOR 50
3:11 — Trump stumbles over non-existent bar for his own speech, posts Obamas depicted as apes
12:28 — Super Bowl 60! And the Olympics!
48:07 — Super Bowl 60 commercials!
1:04:38 — Super Bowl 60 halftime shows!
1:41:16 — Canada to lose all hockey privileges
1:46:07 — 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.

Rather than another lengthy run through the unpleasant headlines of the week, we are here with a more ruminative discussion about whether the relationships that have been strained by The Trumppening have a chance of being mended when it finally comes to an end. We also talk about a social network for AIs, and what it means to engage with purely arbitrary content created with no intention beyond pattern matching. 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 — Groundhogs of various bigotries
5:09 — A visit with old friends; Abe goes to MJ: The Musical; Jason Statham gets the AMC crowd all riled up
21:48 — What will a post-Trumppening look like?
52:52 — Moltbook, the social network for AIs, and how arbitrary content consumed purely individually breaks human brains
1:22:41 — Did CBS News’ Senior National Correspondent Mark Strassmann Get Off a Good One?
1:31:54 — Wrap-up! Shelter; Send Help

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 Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

CIB has tunneled through enough ice and snow to record another spectacular episode of the only podcast, and within you will find our discussion of the killing of Alex Pretti by CBP officers and also a couple of football games, because America! 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 — Lots of weather happened!
22:36 — Alex Pretti killed by CBP in Minnesota
1:29:35 — Cast Iron Balls: Conference championship games recap; Andruw Jones to the HoF, Belichick forced to wait a year
1:46:11 — Wrap-up! Mercy; Shoresy; The Chair Company; The Avengers

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 Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

College football and NATO are basically the same, and Donald Trump and Fernando Mendoza are basically the same. That’s your summary! 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 in the World, podcasting finally getting the recognition it deserves
7:32 — Trump in Davos
1:09:10 — Cast Iron Balls! NFL games recap
1:20:19 — Indiana beats Miami
1:54:41 — 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 Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

This week we’re here to discuss the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer last week, because you can never have too much of that, apparently. And on the way out, reviews of Greenland 2 and a quick game of FMK, HP6 Edition. 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 — …as it all falls apart.
8:45 — Minnesota ICE shooting
54:43 — Trump’s NYT interview
1:15:10 — Ever so briefly on Iran
1:20:47 — Wrap-up! Greenland 2; Harry Potter 6; Gay Hockey Show

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 Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.

It was a long weekend of spectacular playoff football action, and we’re here to yap about it all and ask important questions, like “hey maybe Justin Herbert is a dummy.” 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 Live-Bets the Games!
7:39 — College Football Playoff semifinals recap
33:41 — NFL Wildcard Weekend
52:23 — 2025 CIB Football Pick ‘em Contest
53:39 — 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 Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.