Tony Rocky Horror guides you through the cutting-edge sounds of noise rock, grunge, hardcore, metal, and alternative from around the world! This week featuring brand new Mutoid Man.

“The American people want serious people to solve serious challenges,“ declares former Texas Congressman Will Hurd in this season finale on the U.S. House of Representatives. “That’s the lesson we should take away from 2022.” 

But he is quick to add, “I don’t think that lesson is going to be implemented in this new Congress.”

Having served three terms in the House, Hurd then dissects the GOP factionalism at work in the currently contested speaker’s election, a position that traditionally goes to the party leader. And he confirms the disappointing fact that most House members are more interested in “messaging bills” with no chance of passage than progress on tough, important issues like immigration, climate change and support for Ukraine. 

TPP’s Rob Pease and Dylan Nicholls discuss each of these important issues in detail with former Congressman Hurd, paying special attention to immigration. His South Texas district shares an 800-mile border with Mexico, bearing the initial burden of huge numbers of migrants. But he’s not optimistic about any major immigration reform passing in these next two years of divided government.

The Purple Principle covered the U.S. Senate in our previous episode with former centrist Senators Doug Jones and Bob Corker. This episode we turn to the unruly chamber next door in our discussion with repeat guest Will B. Hurd, former CIA officer, three-term Texas Congressman and author of one the best recent reads on U.S. politics, American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done (Simon & Schuster, 2022)

The Purple Principle is a Fluent Knowledge production. Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.

When we think of “real” art, we often think of expensive, highbrow pieces that are displayed in museums and galleries, and critiqued by the elite. In fact, people commonly lament that they don’t know enough about art to truly understand or appreciate the works that they encounter. So should art aim to be accessible to everyone? Or is it ever okay to sacrifice accessibility for other competing aims that art can pursue? Do artists have a duty to make their work more available or accessible in other ways? Josh and Ray paint their masterpiece with Catharine Abell from the University of Oxford, author of Fiction: A Philosophical Analysis.