While he may have been called a demagogue and a counterfeit Mussolini, Huey Long had some darn tootin' good ideas—mainly taxing the rich into oblivion. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about Long's rise to populist power in the 1930s and the corruption in its wake, but also how much a 65% tax increase on the rich makes a whole lotta sense. Like Long said "We only propose that, when one man gets more than he and his children and children's children can spend or use in their lifetimes, that then we shall say that such person has his share. That means that a few million dollars is the limit to what any one man can own."

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

White Jr., Lamar (April 2, 2018). "Huey P. Long wasn't assassinated"Bayou Brief. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020

In 1964, MIT researcher Joseph Weizenbaum created the first therapy chatbot ELIZA and realized soon after that it sucked and humanity was worse for it. Sixty years later, our new tech gods are like "sex porn bots for all!" Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly emulate the AI versions of themselves as they tell the tale of a computer scientist realizing Frankenstein's monster is a pile of generic platitudes that soaks up more energy than is sustainable.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

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Hey Dash Hounds! Remember when that famous person said the thing that the other famous person put on a coffee mug? "The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history?" Well it's true. And if you want another reminder, listen to Beth and Kelly this week as the Strange Country cohosts tell you about the time when Chinese women were wrongfully taken off the streets under The Page Act of 1875, the very first official legislation allowing some guy in charge to unkindly remove people from the country. This story is getting old but we keep it fresh. Thanks for listening. It is an act of love.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources dude:

https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1875Immigration%20Act.pdf.

Abrams, Kerry. "Polygamy, Prostitution and the Federalization of Immigratiuon Law." Columbia Law Review, vol. 105, no. 3, 2005, pp. 641-716. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6520&context=faculty_scholarship.

"Better Lives Bitter Lies." National Parks Service, https://www.nps.gov/podcasts/better-lives-bitter-lies.htm.

"Chinese Immigration Restriction." Federal Judicial Center |, https://www.fjc.gov/history/spotlight-judicial-history/chinese-immigration-restriction. Accessed 19 October 2025.

Hijar, Katherine. "Chinese Women, Immigration, and the First U.S. Exclusion Law: The Page Act of 1875 - San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (U.S." National Park Service, 25 October 2024, https://www.nps.gov/safr/blogs/chinese-women-immigration-and-the-first-u-s-exclusion-law-the-page-act-of-1875.htm. Accessed 19 October 2025.

150 Years of Border Patrol. https://matrix.berkeley.edu/research-article/page-act/.

"Page Act of 1875 - Wikipedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875. Accessed 19 October 2025.

Young, William H. "Marriage and Family in Western Civilization." National Association of Scholars, https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/marriage_and_family_in_western_civilization.

Tis Pumpkin Spice time and Strange Country has a spooky story to listen to as you drink a pumpkin spice-flavored whatever gets you through this America 2025. Co-hosts Beth and Kelly discuss the unsolved ax murders plaguing railroad towns in the early 1900s and how people trampled crime scenes for entertainment.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

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We all know that women and men are monoliths, right? Women like shoes and the government controlling their bodies; men like muscled-up NFTs of Donald Trump and bench-pressing bitcoin. But what if people aren't on this straight black-and-white binary? Candy Darling, born James Slattery, defied societal expectations and chose to live her life as a superstar along the lines of her favorite actor Kim Novak. Darling was one of Andy Warhol's last "superstars," until her untimely death from cancer at the age of 29 in 1974. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly discuss how Darling straddled two very different worlds; one where she hobnobbed in Warhol's inner circle and one where she relied on friends and acquaintances' couches because she had no money.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Als, Hilton. "The Warhol "Superstar" Candy Darling and the Fight to Be Seen." The New Yorker, 8 April 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/15/candy-darling-dream-icon-superstar-cynthia-carr-book-review. Accessed 7 July 2025.

Baumgold, Julie. "Andy, Candy, and me." Esquire, vol. 125, no. 5, May 1996, pp. 120+. Gale OneFile: Popular Magazines, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A18239581/PPPM?u=nysl_sc_flls&sid=bookmark-PPPM&xid=b00684c9. Accessed 11 July 2025.

Carr, Cynthia. Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024.

Ottenberg, Mel. "Who Is Candy Darling? Behind the Mystique of the Ultimate Warhol Superstar." Interview Magazine, 19 February 2024, https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/who-is-candy-darling-behind-the-mystique-of-the-ultimate-warhol-superstar. Accessed 6 July 2025.

Rasin, James, director. Beautiful Darling. Flowersides Creations, 2009. Amazon Prime, https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07YVLX3L2/ref=atv_hm_mys_c_uJQOV1_3_1.

What do you do when you need a little pick-me-up? Exercise? Drink some coffee? Laugh uproariously at Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly? For some, like politicians and celebs that didn't cut it so instead they went to Dr. Max Jacobson to get a concoction of vitamins, monkey gonads and amphetamines injected into their necks and arms. Jacobson, known as Dr. Feelgood, had the ability to cure any ailment merely by making you so high you couldn't feel anything. Until he got his medical license revoked in the 1970s and the party was over.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Brody, Jane E. "Patient and His Physician: Quandary for Medicine." The New York Times, 16 January 1973, p. 81, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/16/archives/patient-and-his-doctor-quandary-for-medicine.html. Accessed 20 June 2025.

Carlson, Peter. "Synthetic Vigor." American History, vol. 46, no. 2, June, 2011, pp. 29-37. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/magazines/synthetic-vigor/docview/863238837/se-2.

Lertzman, Richard A., and William J. Birnes. Dr. Feelgood: The Shocking Story of the Doctor Who May Have Changed History by Treating and Drugging JFK, Marilyn, Elvis, and Other Prominent Figures. Skyhorse, 2014.

Markel, Howard. "John F. Kennedy Kept These Medical Struggles Private." PBS News, 22 Nov. 2019, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/john-f-kennedy-kept-these-medical-struggles-private.

Smith, Benedict. "Ex-White House doctor known as the 'candyman' dispensed pills without prescriptions; Reports that Ronny Jackson courted influence in Obama and Trump administrations by giving staff drugs while ignoring medical procedures." Telegraph Online, 19 Feb. 2024. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A783037514/STND?u=nysl_sc_flls&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=bd49799b. Accessed 22 June 2025.

"The Power and the Fraility." The Washington Post, 14 June 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/2003/06/15/the-power-and-the-frailty/0c817a9c-2294-4218-ab4a-9b67a985fbf9/. Accessed 18 June 2025.

Reeves, Richard. "Opinion | Kennedy's Private Ills." The New York Times, 21 November 2002, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/21/opinion/kennedy-s-private-ills.html. Accessed 18 June 2025.

Rensberger, Boyce (December 4, 1972). "Amphetamines Used by a Physician To Lift Moods of Famous Patients". New York Times.

Shachtman, Noah, et al. "Trump's White House Was 'Awash in Speed' -- and Xanax." Rolling Stone, 3 March 2024, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-white-house-drugs-speed-xanax-1234979503/. Accessed 22 June 2025.

Twohey, Megan. "On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama." The New York Times, 31 May 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/us/elon-musk-drugs-children-trump.html. Accessed 22 June 2025.

Dear Dashhounds, have you lost the ability to handle all the things? Enough that you are thinking about bringing back the streaking fad of the 70s? Before you get all hot and bothered and start taking off your clothes in front of strangers, listen to this Strange Country episode #300 about where streaking in 'Merica originated. If you thought it was something free and fun, you are a little right, but only for a chosen few. Thanks always for listening, it is an act of love that you can do with your clothes on.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

"CRUMP, George William." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/C000956. Accessed 03 July 2025.

KIRKPATRICK, B. (2010), "It Beats Rocks and Tear Gas": Streaking and Cultural Politics in the Post-Vietnam Era. The Journal of Popular Culture, 43: 1023-1047. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2010.00785.x

Margoshes, Pamela. "Speaking Personally; A College Streaker Bares the Whole Naked Truth." New York Times, 4 August 1985, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/04/nyregion/speaking-personally-a-college-streaker-bares-the-whole-naked-truth.html.

"Music: Streaking, streaking everywhere." Time, no. March 18, 1974, https://time.com/archive/6844977/music-streaking-streaking-everywhere/.

Stevens, Ray. The Streak. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM.

"Streaking - Wikipedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaking. Accessed 3 July 2025.