The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table

Hen Mazzig, co-founder of the Tel Aviv Institute and author of The Wrong Kind of Jew, says Israel won on the battlefield and lost the world, and that explaining Israel "is not a replacement for policy." He spent five years in COGAT, the IDF unit that issues Palestinian permits and prison visits, and was attacked by settlers while in uniform. We play his Piers Morgan fight with Norman Finkelstein ("Am I a child killer?") and go through what Amit Soussana actually said. Noam asks whether Israel would hold the West Bank if it had no holy sites, why the occupation is the Palestinians' best weapon, and why "sunlight grows mushrooms." Also: Mamdani's October 7 statement, Mearsheimer on the Hannibal Directive, Eurovision, and why Noam thinks everyone should have a baby. 0:00 Hen Mazzig, three years and a day after October 7 4:19 "We won on the battlefield and lost the world" 18:36 Food, famine and the arguments that don't work 28:52 What if the West Bank had no holy sites? 37:56 Smallpox, arrogance and "have a baby" 52:13 Five years in COGAT: what the IDF's humanitarian unit does 61:40 "Am I a child killer?" Finkelstein and the rape deniers 76:00 Mearsheimer, the Hannibal Directive and "sunlight grows mushrooms"

Is Nathan Cofnas's "Guide for the Hereditarian Revolution." a plan to heal or America, or is it simply a racist manifesto dressed up as science. We ask him to his face. Cofnas is the philosopher at the center of the Jason Arday plagiarism affair. He says that, all else equal, smarter people have more human worth. He says freedom of association is worth it even if some diner bans blacks and Jews. And he says race realism is about to break into the mainstream whether we like it or not. Noam takes him through A Guide for the Hereditarian Revolution line by line: the Charles Murray debate, Jared Taylor, a speech by Michael Levin (whose book Cofnas calls important), white kids "brainwashed to despise themselves," Nikole Hannah-Jones's daughter and the lifeboat question. Periel arrives late, just in time to call it insane (as usual). 0:00 Intro: "I feel like you're a white nationalist" 9:26 Is a smarter person worth more? 23:33 "Some barriers set up between the races" 32:16 Jared Taylor, AmRen and Michael Levin 53:03 "White children are brainwashed to despise themselves" 1:29:54 Nikole Hannah-Jones and her daughter 1:41:53 Lower human worth? The lifeboat question 1:47:38 Closing argument: yarmulkes on the basketball court Nathan Cofnas, A Guide for the Hereditarian Revolution (Feb 5, 2024) https://ncofnas.com/p/a-guide-for-the-hereditarian-revolution Nathan Cofnas, Are Smart People Superior? A Reply to Noah Carl and Charles Murray (Apr 26, 2024) https://ncofnas.com/p/are-smart-people-superior-a-reply Debate with Charles Murray: IQ and Human Worth (Sept 16, 2026) https://ncofnas.com/p/debate-with-charles-murray-iq-and Nathan Cofnas, Why We Need to Talk about the Right's Stupidity Problem (Jan 2, 2024) https://ncofnas.com/p/why-we-need-to-talk-about-the-rights Nathan Cofnas, Beating Woke with Facts and Logic (Oct 9, 2025) https://ncofnas.com/p/beating-woke-with-facts-and-logic Nathan Cofnas on X, "Jews tried to be white nationalists" (Apr 28, 2018) https://x.com/nathancofnas/status/990243373180219397 David Reich, How Genetics Is Changing Our Understanding of 'Race,' New York Times (Mar 23, 2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/opinion/sunday/genetics-race.html David M. Quinn, How to Reduce Racial Bias in Grading, Education Next (Nov 2, 2020) https://www.educationnext.org/how-to-reduce-racial-bias-in-grading-research/ Nikole Hannah-Jones on her daughter's schooling, New York Times Magazine (Sept 20, 2026) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html This American Life, Ep. 898, An Argument (Nikole Hannah-Jones and her daughter) https://www.thisamericanlife.org/898/an-argument

Get KAKISTOCRACY on Amazon: https://bit.ly/4hxg9Lh Synopsis Richard Hanania is back. His new book, Kakistocracy, argues that populism ends in rule by the worst people, and he and Noam spend an hour testing that against the news: why populism can win without being popular, whether the Iran war was worth the shot even if it fails, whether China would rather help us than fight us, and how the right built a media culture where Tucker Carlson can say Israel killed Charlie Kirk and the vice president shrugs. Then the hardest subject on the show: Nathan Cofnas and "race realism." Hanania explains why he thinks the taboo is universal and why Cofnas is wrong that breaking it defeats wokeness, and Noam tells two stories about kids the experts wrote off. Plus the Epstein email dump, diagnostic inflation, and why smart people believe in God, demons, and the supernatural. 0:00 Intro: Compliments 4:21 "Believe the media": defending the Times, what populism is, and "low human capital" 11:24 Is populism even popular? Mamdani, Trump's 30 percent, the AfD, and what populism costs 22:42 The Iran war argued with hindsight: Hormuz, the Houthis, "worth a shot," and China 35:00 Making things up: Tucker, Candace, Charlie Kirk, Ilhan Omar, and Father Coughlin 41:51 "Our guys lie less": Covid, the mulligan, gatekeepers, and what democracy is for 52:59 Race realism: Cofnas, Charles Murray, little Bernie Goetzes, and two kids the experts got wrong 68:02 Diagnostic inflation, labels, and why smart people are finding God