Politicology

For the ad-free version of this episode, subscribe to Politicology+ at https://politicology.com/plus In this episode, Ron talks to Grace Pak (founder and cake artist behind Duchess of Cameron, and the artist selected by America 250 to create the official cake for the country's 250th birthday) about how a single dessert became a bipartisan project. They explore her path from a Columbia neuroscience lab to fine art cake design, and the philosophy of "cake as therapy" that shapes her studio work. Then they turn to the commission itself: how she pitched it, why she landed on the theme American Made, and how children's artwork from all fifty states and the territories became the centerpiece. Later, Grace walks through the congressional sessions she's running on Capitol Hill, the donated ingredients sourced from local farms and historic mills, the recipe she rebuilt from the first American cookbook, and the logistics of moving a cake the size of a car. They discuss: (0:00) Pitching the birthday cake (4:07) From a neuroscience lab to a cake studio (7:37) Fine art cakes and the multisensory experience (14:33)Personifying America and landing on American Made (29:48) Bipartisan sessions on Capitol Hill (37:04) Sourcing the ingredients from local farms (41:51) Baking like it's 1796: the historic recipe research (46:53) A cake the size of a car: logistics, humidity, and delivery (49:13) Volunteers, nonprofits, and what she'll take away Check out Duchess of Cameron: https://www.duchessofcameron.com/ Follow Ron on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonSteslow Follow Grace on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duchessofcameron Email your questions to podcast@politicology.com or leave us a voicemail at ‪(202) 455-4558‬ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billy Binion (reporter at Reason Magazine) joins host Ron Steslow to examine how democratic governments are redefining speech as a harm to be managed and who pays the price when they do. They begin with the White House's negotiation with Senator Marsha Blackburn, a deal that would trade federal preemption of state AI laws for the Kids Online Safety Act, the No Fakes Act, and federal age verification, and whether we are “one bad deal away from the era of online government censorship.” Next, Britain's thousands of arrests each year for online posts, its mandate that Apple and Google build content scanning into every device, and Signal's vow to exit the market before that happens. Then they turn to the killing of Henry Novak, whose dying words police discounted in deference to his killer's fabricated racism accusation. Finally, they unpack Minnesota's multibillion-dollar benefits fraud—JD Vance's referral of Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, why warnings went unheeded, and the citizen journalist who made the scandal impossible to ignore. In Politicology+, they discuss the bipartisan push to force UFO disclosure and the legal fight underneath it: whether the government should use eminent domain to seize allegedly recovered non-human technology from private contractors, and whether contractor employees who come forward deserve whistleblower protections. POLITICOLOGY+ Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus. Watch Billy’s Documentary about citizen journalist Priscilla Villarreal: https://bit.ly/3S4cuKJ Read Konstantin Kissin on Henry Nowak’s murder: https://substack.com/home/post/p-200293621 SPONSORS & PROMO CODES: https://bit.ly/44uAGZ8 Send your questions and ideas to podcast@politicology.com Ron Steslow on X: https://x.com/RonSteslow Billy Binion on X: https://x.com/billybinion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices