Never Close the Inquiry

About Never Close the Inquiry

Never Close the Inquiry is for pushing back on black and white, us vs. them thinking in politics—for creating dialogue across the aisle, and for demystifying the right for the left and the left for the right. The goal is better conversations, better arguments, better solutions, better relationships, and, maybe, a few giant skips and a jump and a hitch-hike down the line, a better country. neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com (https://neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Nick Hagen

Category

government · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Feb 2025

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

62 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   The Neophytes: The Death Penalty

   Episode 62 - The Neophytes: The Death Penalty The last couple of weeks may end up as their own chapter in the history of capital punishment in America. First, Tennessee tried and failed to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike, instead putting her into a coma after missing the vein with two not-quite-lethal injections; what comes next remains to be seen. Then, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security announced they would livestream the execution by firing squad of convicted murderer, terrorist, and traitor Nidal Hasan. The decision was reversed after sustained public outcry (sadly, after the recording of this podcast), but it speaks to the current state of this administration that they managed to take the most unambiguously executable man in recent American history and increase opposition to the death penalty. Mabes, Channing, and I talk about all of it, from whether and why we should have the death penalty at all to how, if we do, it should be effectuated. Without spoiling too much, this may be the only podcast on the subject that seriously considers whether everyone executed in Alabama should be personally strangled by Governor Kay Ivey. For more content and to subscribe to the Never Close the Inquiry newsletter, please visit neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com (http://neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com) and follow on instagram @neverclosetheinquiry Please like, rate, comment, and subscribe! Get full access to Never Close the Inquiry at neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com/subscribe (https://neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   9 Oct 2026

   The Neophytes (Don’t) Protect the Sun

   Episode 61 - The Neophytes (Don’t) Protect the Sun The House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act 308-117 in July. The Act would make Daylight Saving Time (i.e., summer time) permanent: there would be no falling back on a glorious night in November, and the Sun would rise just in time for Christmas brunch. Anyway, Senator Tom Cotton seems to agree with me that whatever we’re doing now is going just fine. President Trump (and Channing) do not. The President reacted in all circumspection, publishing the senator’s private cell phone number online. If anything, a good reminder not to give your number to someone just because he says he’s your president. That nonsense aside, Cotton’s main point is a good one: we tried this before and didn’t like it. In January 1974, Congress began a trial where DST was made permanent nationwide. By October, public opinion had soured enough they ended the trial early. That, to the senator and me, is good enough reason on its own not to try the experiment again. After discussing the Sun, we moved on to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: specifically, the lengths to which we’ll go to be accepted, our almost limitless ability to convince ourselves those lengths are okay, and what we can do to prevent giving up our morals to be more palatable to the group. For more content and to subscribe to the Never Close the Inquiry newsletter, please visit neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com (http://neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com) and follow on instagram @neverclosetheinquiry Please like, rate, comment, and subscribe! Get full access to Never Close the Inquiry at neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com/subscribe (https://neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   2 Oct 2026

   The Neophytes: Progressively Pestilential Polymarket

   Episode 60 - The Neophytes: Progressively Pestilential Polymarket We--your friendly local prudes--have been open about our abhorrence for prediction markets generally and scummity scum scum Polymarket specifically. Our antipathy was already on its way to a fresh peak after Polymarket recruited a long list of athletes and celebrities, some of them among the most popular of the last three decades--LeBron, Derek Jeter, Eli Manning, Sue Bird, Spike Lee, Reggie Bush, and Richard Sherman, among others--to appear in a bajillion dollar ad legitimizing a particularly noxious form of sports gambling where the house, paid by skimming the top off every trade, cannot lose, and paycheck-to-paycheck young Americans sucked in by the prospect of quick money can and do. Polymarket is paying LeBron $15 million a year, which admittedly is close to double his current Sixers salary; he’s only worth $1.4 billion and may need the supplemental income. But it gets worse. According to investigations by the Wall Street Journal and Politico, as beautifully set forth in a fern-TV YouTube video (side note: fern has 5.55 million subscribers and this is the first I’m hearing of it; in certain respects, I am 1000 years old--Polymarket paid a series of online influencers to post videos portraying fake gambling wins without any disclosure that (i) they were paid, which is a violation of federal law by itself, or (ii) the wins were fake. To enable the filmed lies (the “fraud,” as we lawyers like calling it), Polymarket created a dummy website and app that allowed the influencers to manufacture bespoke “trades” and put fake $10,000 wins in Instagram videos in exchange for relatively small under-the-table payments directly from Polymarket’s chief marketing officer. Not great, Bob. Apropos of nothing, Donald Trump Jr. is a Polymarket investor and member of the board, and federal investigations into Polymarket have generally quieted down since approximately January 2025 or something along those lines. Tune in to hear the Neophytes say mean things about people actively making the world a worse place. For more content and to subscribe to the Never Close the Inquiry newsletter, please visit neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com (http://neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com) and follow on instagram @neverclosetheinquiry Please like, rate, comment, and subscribe! Get full access to Never Close the Inquiry at neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com/subscribe (https://neverclosetheinquiry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

Who has been a guest on Never Close the Inquiry

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Karen Vaites
• Johan Van Overtveldt
• Ben Connelly
• Griffin Gooch

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 41 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

70

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact Never Close the Inquiry

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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