Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

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By: Conversations with people from all walks of life.

Bridget Phetasy admires grit and authenticity. On Walk-Ins Welcome, she talks about the beautiful failures and frightening successes of her own life and the lives of her guests. She doesn’t conduct interviews—she has conversations. Conversations with real people about the real struggle and will remind you that we can laugh in pain and cry in joy but there’s no greater mistake than hiding from it all. By embracing it all, and celebrating it with the stories she’ll bring listeners, she believes that our lowest moments can be the building blocks for our eventual fulfillment. www.phetasy.com

E255. Cancel Culture In The Group Chat - Dumpster Fire
Today at 1:00 AM

Trust no one in your group chat, nothing is sacred anymore. 

0:00 - Parade of Morons
7:19 - BON CHARGE
8:22 - Weather
8:40 - Parade of Morons Cont'd
23:48 - Sheath
25:01 - Phetasy News
25:59 - The Internet Is Glorious

Get your Overburned With Mitochondrial Challenges t-shirts HERE - https://bit.ly/bridgetphetasy-merch Designs are available on the front and the back! 

End Music - Sweetfire performed by Lightmaker 

Walk-Ins Welcome YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@morebridgetphetasy 

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Thanks to our sponsors BON CHARGE & Sheath 

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E360. What the FBI Doesn’t Want You to See - Margaret Roberts
Last Thursday at 11:00 AM

Journalist Margaret Roberts joins Bridget to discuss the book she spent 20 years researching and writing, Blowback: The Untold Story of the FBI and the Oklahoma City Bombing. She describes her journey down a path of unanswered questions and loose ends that lead to questioning the "lone wolf" narrative of the case, the extent of the FBI's involvement, when surveillance crosses the line and goes rogue, the holes in the official story, and why some questions might never be answered about America’s deadliest domestic terrorist attack. They cover FBI whistleblowers, a lawyer's quest to find out what happened to hi...


E359. The Center Is Not Holding - Elizabeth Matthew
10/09/2025

Elizabeth Grace Matthew joins Bridget for a comprehensive conversation about the cultural chaos of modern America. Specifically, they discuss the infantilizing pitfalls of contemporary feminism, the dishonesty of the “soft” trad wife aesthetic, the performative nature of all the “ideals” people are consuming on social media, how the reality for most women lies somewhere in between stay-at-home mom and girlboss, and the dangers of gentle parenting. They also cover the siloing of media, why it’s hard to build an audience and be nuanced, ideas for protecting your kids from the insanity on the extreme left and the extreme right, wha...


E358. While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East - Yaakov Katz
10/02/2025

This week, Bridget welcomes journalist Yaakov Katz for an in-depth conversation about his book While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East. He and Bridget tackle the intelligence and strategic failures that enabled Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7th, 2023. They cover a brief history of the conflict in the region, Israel’s misguided policy of containment, the misunderstandings caused by the application of a Western mindset to a completely different ideology, becoming complacent in their reliance on technology, misunderstanding the motives of terrorist organizations, why no one wondered what Hamas had done with...


E357. The Battle for Civilization - Andrew Doyle
09/25/2025

Andrew Doyle returns to the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about his book The End of Woke, the culture shock of moving from London to Arizona, the far Left and far Right overlap in anti-Semitism, the rollback in DEI policies, why you shouldn’t use the term “hate speech, “ and the UK’s failure to enforce certain laws because police have been trained as activists. They also cover the long-term damage of COVID-era contradictions, when being unwilling to say anything that could possibly be perceived as racist costs people their lives, the fetishizing of other cultures, Sweden’s immigration mistake, C...


E356. Foreign Influence In Higher Education - Sarah McLaughlin
09/18/2025

Senior Scholar at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Sarah McLaughlin sits down with Bridget to discuss her book, Authoritarians In the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech. Sarah addresses the problems of foreign authoritarian regimes infiltrating American academia; from students fearing family backlash back home, to governments attempting to silence dissenting voices in colleges outside their borders, to universities choosing foreign cash over free expression, there is a hidden free speech issue going on in higher education. She and Bridget cover the issues facing satellite campuses, Confucius Institutes, study...


E355. They're Sterilizing Gay Kids - Helen Joyce
09/11/2025

Original Air Date - 10/19/23 Revisit a Walk-Ins Welcome classic Helen Joyce, author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, sits down with Bridget for an in-depth conversation about the trans activist movement, what inspired her to write the book, what's changed since the book came out in 2021, the bullshit idea that everything can be blamed on feminism, the detransitioners she's met, and how the trans movement is sending women’s rights back to the dark ages. They discuss the sense that women have been abandoned in the culture wars, queer theory, the rise of conspiratorial thinking, how much faith she us...


E354. The Evolution of Tribalism: From Caves to Culture Wars - Andrew Heaton
09/04/2025

Comedian Andrew Heaton returns to talk about his new book Tribalism Is Dumb: Where It Came from, How It Got So Bad, and What to Do about It. He and Bridget discuss the evolutionary and social roles that tribalism has played throughout human history and why it has become so toxic in the last 20 years. They cover Andrew’s favorite line to break the ice at parties, how our ability to work in groups is why we defeated the dolphins, why the decline of religion has been bad for tribalism, information overload, why Finns might be too unimaginative to be...


E353. Why Free Speech Is Dying and How to Save It - Greg Lukianoff
08/28/2025

Greg Lukianoff returns to the podcast as he and Bridget spotlight the battle for free speech and why it’s dying in many areas of the world. They discuss suing the Trump administration over a shady deportation policy, AI’s potential for tyranny in places like China and Iran, people who are pro-free speech until it’s someone who’s not on their team, the free speech disaster happening in Europe and Canada, why free speech is a problem of comfort, why Greg is funding experiments in AI that defend free speech and viewpoint diversity, and why free speech is an et...


E352. Authentic Writing Still Matters in the Age of AI - Kevin Ryan
08/21/2025

Kevin Ryan joins Bridget to discuss the ups and downs of a career in freelance writing. With AI churning out soulless content, they defend the gritty, human struggle of writing, why writing should be hard, and breaking the myth of the tortured alcoholic writer. They cover why everyone should have some revolutionary instincts in their 20s, why the loss of trust in media might be healthy, how the center has become so centerless, why some of Kevin's favorite philosophers and writers are critical theorists and post-modernists, how the Left became the Right and the Right became the Left, why...


E351. Why Your Doctor Might Be Wrong About Menopause - Amy Alkon
08/14/2025

Amy Alkon, investigative science author, returns to the podcast for a fascinating and frank conversation about her new book, Going Menopostal - What You (and Your Doctor) Need to Know About the Real Science of Menopause and Perimenopause. She shares the unfiltered truth about perimenopause and menopause, exposing the shocking gaps in medical care that leave women navigating a hormonal Wild West. From debunking the "estrogen is Satan" myth to revealing why most gynecologists are clueless about menopause, Amy dives into the science of progesterone, testosterone, bone health, cancer risks, and the 3 myths of medical care. She shares practical...


E350. Drink Your Way Sober - Katie Herzog
08/07/2025

Katie Herzog, co-host of the Blocked & Reported podcast, returns to Walk-Ins Welcome to discuss her new book Drink Your Way Sober. She and Bridget have a frank conversation about alcoholism, the steps you take to hide it from your loved ones, Katie's realization that it would kill her, and how Naltrexone helped her drink her way sober and banished the desire to drink, something she'd never experienced before. They cover how the drug works, why it won't work for everyone, the difference between drinking habits, reward drinkers vs. relief drinkers, their current addictions, why Perimenopause is just a branding...


E349. Epstein Probably Killed Himself - Ted Frank
07/31/2025

Attorney Ted Frank joins Bridget for a frank conversation about the multitude of conspiracies about Jeffery Epstein swirling around the internet. He and Bridget tackle why it's so hard to find any non-conspiracy related information on Epstein, how Epstein was such a liar and flamboyant character it’s hard to parse the truth, how many narratives out there that are completely false, the CIA-Mossad-puppet-master myths, the stories of Epstein's victims, and how 19% of the population believes there is a conspiracy among the elites to molest children. They also cover why we don’t want banks to be looking at our...


E348. Finding Truth in a Sea of Slop - Nancy Rommelmann
07/24/2025

Nancy Rommelmann returns to Walk-Ins Welcome fresh from reporting on ICE raids for Reason Magazine. She and Bridget discuss LA's unprecedented triple crisis—immigration crackdowns, devastating wildfires, and Hollywood's exodus—and what might be next for the city, which leads to the larger question of whether America itself is resetting. They cover why Gen Z might be our saving grace, the return to real-world connections (cooking, gardening, live events, dinner parties) as an antidote to digital decay, why they still believe in Americans, why Gen X is the only generation still partying, and why you should always use the good...


E347. How the Internet Killed Journalism - Meghan Daum
07/17/2025

Meghan Daum sits down with Bridget to discuss her latest book, The Catastrophe Hour, and the conversation covers everything from aging on camera, to modern existential dread, to the death of quality journalism (RIP, actual editors), the rise of "femcel cope", and pro-natalist propaganda. They discuss Meghan’s decision not to have kids, the grim reality that AI is coming for everyone's job, how we've all become buskers begging for subscription dollars, whether you should get preventative Botox because of your kid, people who argue with bots, and those who are desperately trying to raise functional humans in a wo...


E346. The Art of Focused Work - Paul Shirley
07/10/2025

Paul Shirley, former NBA basketball player turned productivity guru, returns to the podcast for a conversation with Bridget that takes us from his Kansas farm origins (where apparently growing your own food creates a family of giants) to battling what he calls the "Distraction Industrial Complex." Paul breaks down why we're all suffering from "informational diabetes" in an age where we consume 74 GB of data daily—the same amount our ancestors got in a lifetime. Between near-death basketball injuries, discovering Denver's anti-alcohol movement, and explaining why Gen Z has basically become a different species, Bridget and Paul discuss how ou...


E345. Comedy Store Chaos - Eleanor Kerrigan’s Insider Stories
07/03/2025

Walk-Ins Welcome 345 

Comedian Eleanor Kerrigan joins Bridget for a hilarious conversation covering how her dreams of being an actor led to an unexpected wrestling stint, a West Wing mixup, and the one woman show that led her to realize her true calling is comedy. She dishes on behind-the-scenes stories from over a decade running the iconic Comedy Store, being a caretaker for legendary owner Mitzi Shore, epic Pauly Shore parties, and blackout rages. They cover surviving tragedy, why there’s no middle ground in comedy, how everything leads back to Tony Robbins, and how anyone who tries to...


E344. How Amanda Knox Found Strength In Prison
06/26/2025

Amanda Knox returns for a fascinating conversation with Bridget about her wild ride from wrongful conviction to reclaiming her life, as detailed in her new book, Free. She candidly examines how she survived prison and what life looked like on the other side, wrestling with trust (and distrust), her relationship with the media, and the realization that when you pray to God for strength He doesn’t give you strength, He gives you the opportunity to be strong. They discuss what made her want to go back to Italy and sit down with the man who prosecuted her in co...


E343. How Cancel Culture Lost Its Grip on Comedy - Eli Lake
06/19/2025

Journalist and podcaster, Eli Lake, sits down with Bridget for a wide ranging conversation that wanders from tracing the evolution of comedy, from Lenny Bruce’s groundbreaking defiance to Shane Gillis’s resilience against cancel culture, to making compelling parallels between the fall of the Roman Republic and contemporary political challenges - including Pakistan’s deep state and its global implications. They cover addiction, creativity, wondering if there any third rails left, whether Kanye’s most controversial song is the price we must pay for freedom, the challenge of covering Trump, and why comparison is the thief of joy and impo...


E342. The Truth About America's Decline - Alana Newhouse
06/12/2025

Alana Newhouse, the mastermind behind Tablet Magazine, sits down with Bridget for a fascinating dissection of modern media, identity politics, and the resurgence of print in a digital age. They dive into the internet’s shift from a punk-rock playground to a tribal shouting match, discuss the flatness of corporate media, and analyze the quirky rebellion of magazines like Tablet and County Highway. They cover everything from mom brain, to the perils of virality, the death of gatekeepers, why reality always wins, and how tech might be robbing us of our sense of smell. 

Check out Tablet her...


E341. Parenting Wars - Raising Kids To Think For Themselves - Aaron Stupple
06/05/2025

Aaron Stupple, author of The Sovereign Child: How a Forgotten Philosophy Can Liberate Kids and Their Parents, joins Bridget for a discussion of a parenting philosophy that tosses out the rulebook and embraces kids as creative, knowledge-hungry mini-humans. From turning teeth brushing into a sugar-bug-smashing game to letting kids opt out of arbitrary rules, Aaron argues for problem-solving over control, drawing on Carl Popper’s ideas about knowledge creation. They cover why screens are a parenting superpower, how to raise free thinkers without coercion, the “because I said so” approach, and why defiance might just be your kid’s secret w...


E340. From Bernie Bro to MAGA Curious - Tre' Stewart
05/29/2025

Comedian Tre Stewart and Bridget Phetasy dive into a whirlwind of topics, from being mislabeled an anti-trans activist to navigating the chaotic shift from Bernie Bro to MAGA-curious, they unpack the absurdity of political tribalism, the hypocrisy of yacht-owning climate crusaders like Leonardo DiCaprio, and Hunter Biden’s suspiciously lucrative art. They cover the gritty realities of the comedy world, from LA, to New York, to Austin, navigating endless media echo chambers, the middle class’s fight for survival, how people in media are so far out of touch from the average American, and why it’s more about what y...


E339. The Battle to Brainwash the Masses - Michael Young
05/22/2025

If you’ve ever wondered where Critical Race Theory came from, or why the Progressive Left seems to have collectively lost its mind all at once, buckle up for a comprehensive breakdown and analysis of the history of postmodernism. Michael Young sits down with Bridget for a fascinating conversation tracking the roots of the postmodern movement and how it’s come to dominate the landscape of today’s culture wars. He and Bridget discuss the proliferation of conspiracy theories and their cultural significance, and Young deconstructs the tangled web of postmodernism from the rise of belief that the entire cultur...


E338. Trump’s Tariff Gamble: Genius Move or Economic Disaster? - Carol Roth
05/15/2025

Carol Roth returns for a breakdown of Trump’s tariffs and a nuanced examination of America’s economic challenges. She and Bridget discuss the tariffs’ disproportionate impact on the 35 million small businesses in the US, the alarming debt-to-GDP ratio that has reached unsustainable levels, the truth about American companies with overseas supply chains, the prevailing misconceptions about tariffs, and why a precision approach to the tariffs would have been much better. They discuss the realities of manufacturing, why there’s no getting around math, a potential debt spiral, the stability of the US dollar, why we shouldn’t throw the baby d...


Rioters DESTROY Universities and AMERICA
05/10/2025

Riot season has returned with Antifa activists throwing poo at an event in Portland and pro-Palestinian activists causing damage at the University of Washington. 

0:00 - Patriarchy So Crafty 
6:13 - The Perfect Jean 
8:00 - Weather 
8:24 - Parade of Morons 
13:13 - Sheath 
14:17 - Parade of Morons Continued 
16:21 - Phetasy News 
17:17 - The Internet Is Glorious End Music 

- Sweetfire performed by Lightmaker 

Walk-Ins Welcome YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@morebridgetphetasy

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Sign up to be an audience member for Real America - Bridget's new show on...


E337. Gerrymandering Exposed - How Maps Steal Your Vote - Kate Compton Barr
05/08/2025

Kate Compton Barr, a North Carolina state senate candidate, deliberately ran a campaign she knew wouldn't win to highlight gerrymandering issues. She and Bridget discuss how politicians strategically redraw voting districts to maintain power, techniques like "packing" and "cracking," and why it’s one of the most extreme problems facing our country right now. They cover her background in behavioral science, examining how digital echo chambers and pandemic-related stress have contributed to political polarization, her mission to disrupt the system, what it’s actually like to knock on doors to canvass votes, and how much time they both spend wond...


E336. Why Cities Are The Toughest Battlegrounds In Modern War - John Spencer
05/01/2025

Accidental urban warfare expert, John Spencer, joins Bridget for a discussion about navigating the concrete jungle of modern combat. He shares his evolution from a 25-year active duty service member, to analyzing hypothetical US military operations in mega-cities, teaching strategy and tactics at West Point, to finally setting up a research center called the Modern War Institute, and becoming an unofficial analyst of the war in Ukraine. Spencer offers a fascinating tour through the evolution of urban warfare, the rules of war, the technological chess match between drones and buildings, the moral gymnastics of minimizing civilian casualties, balancing military...


E335. The Dark Truth About Sugar Daddy Websites - Brook Urick
04/24/2025

Brooke Urick, author of Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge: Sexual Exploits and Secrets from Inside a Sugar Daddy Website, joins Bridget to discuss the seductive lies of sugar daddy websites, the murky world of "soft prostitution," and how these platforms prey on young women. They cover the long term repercussions of being on OnlyFans, what porn and online gambling are doing to young men, pushing boundaries to the extreme, the dangers of implied consent, the lies women believe about finding empowerment through sex, the truth about hormonal birth control, and their different takes on male/female relationship dynamics. Check out...


E334. Humans’ Messy Relationship with AI - Sarah Rose Siskind
04/17/2025

Sarah Rose Siskind returns to Walk-Ins Welcome for a fascinating chat about AI, exploring its strengths, quirks, and why it sparks insecurity in so many. She and Bridget unpack humanity’s love-hate dance with robots, wrestling with the paradox at its core: Will robots become too human? Why aren’t they human enough? They dive into AI’s struggle to nail comedy (despite being a comedian’s secret weapon), its transformative role for women in crisis—like in Afghanistan—and the unexpected power of Bitcoin for women across the Middle East. Sarah also shares her vision for restoring trust in science t...


E333. The Legacy of Slavery: What Still Haunts America - Coleman Hughes
04/10/2025

Coleman Hughes returns to the podcast for a wide ranging conversation with Bridget about his new teaching position at University of Austin, their mission to rescue free speech from the clutches of woke academia, what a healthy version of DEI might look like, and the course he's teaching about the legacy of slavery and what aspects of American society today are part of the long-term consequences of slavery and what are not. They cover red-lining, the attack on the idea that America is basically good, the magic of comedy and how it allows you to get around all the...


E332. Do Tariffs Destroy Economic Freedom? - Nick Gillespie
04/03/2025

Editor at Large of Reason magazine, Nick Gillespie returns to the podcast discuss the current state of libertarianism, why he feels it’s moving into a revival, Trump’s tariff tantrums, what’s wrong with the deportations, the problem with Europe, pondering how California lost Hollywood and Silicon Valley and what it will take to recover, and whether or not bitcoin can fix money. He and Bridget cover the reality of the middle class, the truth about factory jobs, why he’s a techno optimist, the future of school choice, the wars within the political parties, why he isn’t worried...


E331. Republicans Are Finally Cool! - Meghan McCain
03/27/2025

Bridget sits down with Meghan McCain to discuss her new show Meghan McCain’s Happy Hour with 2Way, which provides live feedback from the audience and keeps her in touch with what the normies are actually worrying about. They address concerns that popular independent podcasters have been co-opted by the right wing, mirroring the way left wing media has historically been influenced. They also cover the truth about being a nepo baby, growing up in the spotlight and how Meghan’s dealt with all the criticsm she’s faced, why the early aughts were so rough on women, Ozempic, TikTok...


E330. Confronting the Truth About The Trans Movement - Lisa Selin Davis
03/20/2025

Bridget sits down with Lisa Selin Davis, author of Tomboy, who confesses to soft-pedaling some truths about the trans movement and activism in that book. Now, she’s working on a new project, unraveling the threads she was nudged to ignore and diving headfirst into the hot-button issues she was once told to dodge. They discuss the youth gender culture war, the absurdity of automatically labeling a tomboy trans, liberal institutions bowing to kids, the haunting tales of detransitioners, and “soft” cancellations that shut doors you didn’t even know were there. They also cover being freelance writers, f*cking up...


E329. Why Men Feel Lost Without Marriage - Conn Carroll
03/13/2025

Bridget sits down with Conn Carroll, author of Sex and the Citizen: How the Assault on Marriage Is Destroying Democracy, for a discussion about the history and purpose of marriage, why it's a fundamental part of what makes us human, monogamy vs. polygamy, how dating apps turn certain men into digital sultans, and how the decline of "I do" threatens everything from fertility rates to democracy itself. They cover ancient hunter-gatherer love stories, modern-day male purposelessness, porn and gambling addictions, why the government should be rolling back policies that disincentivize young people from getting married, why cohabitation instead of...


E328. The Rise of the MAHA Moms - Mary Katharine Ham
03/06/2025

Fellow brunch hater, Mary Katherine Ham, returns to discuss Trump’s win on the heels of debating whether or not she and Bridget would vote for him in the lead up to the election, and their respective “Awww, f*ck it” last minute decisions. They cover the true nature of RFK Jr.’s influence in swinging votes for Trump, why COVID lockdowns and policies were the last straw for many people, red-pilled yogis, when independent media starts to seem not so independent anymore, how Trump & Elon are taking a wrecking ball to the Overton window and the danger of the anti...


E327. The Rise of the Woke Right - James Lindsay
02/27/2025

James Lindsay returns to the podcast for a fascinating conversation about the “woke right” which is essentially a resurrected version of the alt-right with a hipster twist. He and Bridget discuss the consequences of academia’s grievance culture spilling into society and the resulting self-censorship, how people felt freed by Trump’s election in realizing they weren’t alone, what to do when the mob comes for you, if there’s a way to escape post-modernism, the reality of the Russia/China bot problem on social media and the process by which they radicalize people. They also cover how an online mo...


E326. Touch Grass vs Transhuman: The Battle of the New Digital Age - Katherine Dee
02/20/2025

Buckle up for a wild ride through the digital apocalypse with Katherine Dee, where influencers are dying, AI’s churning out slop, and Substack’s the artisanal Etsy of writing in a world drowning in fluff. From the collapse of legacy media to TikTok as "digital fentanyl," she’s got the scoop on how we’re all losing our humanity to screens—yet craving real connection so bad we’re anthropomorphizing our toasters. Touch grass or go transhuman? Hollywood’s fleeing LA, kids are Wild Westing online, and nobody beats Gen X when it comes to phone brain rot. It’s a postmod...


E325. Game Theory, Poker & The AI Arms Race - Liv Boeree
02/13/2025

Professional poker player, physicist, and general badass, Liv Boeree, sits down with Bridget for a fascinating conversation about the mind games of poker, where intuition meets math, how game theory shapes everything from philanthropy to AI ethics, and the paradoxes of AI consciousness. They discuss being pathologically competitive, beating the boys at their own games, how everyone’s an egalitarian until they get the power, pig farmers, China, audience capture, the magic of Burning Man, playing to win vs. playing to play, and an outsider’s perspective on understanding how the American culture led to Trump. Check out her podc...


E324. Should America be a Monarchy? - Curtis Yarvin
02/06/2025

Bridget sits down with Curtis Yarvin, political theorist and writer formerly known as Mencius Moldbug. They discuss the road that brought Curtis to this point, his debate with Ilya Shapiro, whether capitalism requires democracy, whether oligarchs are more concerned with the outcomes of power rather then power itself, the Arab Spring, debating “isms”, why he believes the most peaceful and stable form of government is the monarchy, the truth about revolutions, why he’s selective about his conspiracy theories, the Great No, the power of the executive branch, and why all Libs are basically conformists. Check out his Substack, Gray M...


E323. The Big Homeless Non-Profit Scam - Jared Klickstein
01/30/2025

Bridget sits down with Jared Klickstein, author of Crooked Smile, to discuss the gritty realities of addiction, homelessness, and the policy failures that have turned them into epidemics. They cover Jared's personal story, being raised by heroin addicts, his own struggle with addiction, surviving a decade on Skid Row, and how he got clean. They dissect the progressive policies that caused addiction and homelessness to explode, the multitude of non-profits intended to address the problems that are actually just scams, why you need ex-junkies running recovery programs, the difference between being homeless and being "houseless," the critical need to...