I-L-L... I-N-I! The Speech Guys explore the University of Illinois origin story in the words of one of its founders, Jonathon Baldwin Turner. JBT envisioned a class of farmer shaped by experience and informed by agricultural science. Dave Biver, U of I graduate, Freeburg area native, and farmer ("The Straw Boss"!) fits the bill. He introduces the episode.

The Speech Guys find a reason to hang with Ronnie Reagan again--and it's a good reason as they're embarking on the first speech series of the 7th season. Speeches By Small Towners. Reagan gave this speech in Dixon, Illinois on February 6th, 1984.

The whole podcastin' gang is here to close out season six. The task at hand? Weave together Christmas (excuse me, Advent!) and the Straussian Moment (do we even know what that is yet after four episodes?). Ross lines it up with a speech by Pope Benedict from 2010 and Mike, Landon, and Matt take their turns at the tee.

Read the speech here: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/urbi/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20101225_urbi.html

Episode thumbnail comes from https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-01/benedict-xvi-s-last-words-lord-i-love-you.html.

75% of the Speech Guys report for podcasting duty. Ross is out hunting. Matt, Landon, and Mike go hunting for great ideas about President Obama's 2010 Father's Day speech. Come on and climb inside and see if they found any. As usual, the Speech Guys are best served with a cold drink.

Episode thumbnail comes from Time.com.

The full transcript of President Obama's Father's Day speech can be found here:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-fathers-day-event

The study concerning parents' values toward their children:

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/01/24/parenting-in-america-today/

Landon, Ross, Mike, and Matt wander through the cultural wake that is Bane's speech outside the Gotham City Stock Exchange in the 2012 Dark Knight Rises. 1993. Institutions. Scapegoats. Predictive programming. How evil manifests. Really... 1993!

Plus... Is Bane's speech more likely to come from President Trump's mouth or Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? The Speech Guys tabulate a score and it's closer than you might think!

Thumbnail is used from The Guardian.

Bane's speech audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzK97Aaj_U8

Vice's speech audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E-v5yDBR64

The Straussian what? Huh? Put on your listening ears and thinking cap as the Speech Guys go way back and all over... the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, 9/11, and everything that came after. Imagine this episode as like a field of wildflowers... sure, there's some weeds and stuff that just don't matter, but it makes those few thoughts that bloom here just a bit more worth the hang. Landon is the trail guide and Mike, Ross, and Matt ride along.

Read "The Straussian Moment" in its entirety: https://gwern.net/doc/politics/2007-thiel.pdf

Thumbnail comes from https://reason.com/2020/08/02/wait-wasnt-peter-thiel-a-libertarian/.

The Speech Guys go back to the beginning with words by the first westerners--in this case, Black Hawk, after the Sauk and Meskawi lost possession of land in northern Illinois and Wisconsin in 1832.

Fact check: Mike comments on the distinction between the Sioux and Lakota. The "Sioux" refers to a larger aggregation of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota.

Fact check: The anti-sematic social media posts of the Palestinian graduate student is discussed here in the Wall Street Journal.

Thumbnail image is a depiction of Black Hawk by George Catlin in 1832 and used from Wikipedia.

It's the whole Speech Guys gang on call to discuss "Fill Your Hands, You Son of a B****" (Rooster Cogburn, True Grit), "I'm Your Huckleberry" (Doc Holliday, Tombstone), and a couple more questionable applications of the cowboy ethos as John Wayne portrayed in The Cowboys ("Old School Speech Therapy") and Hondo ("You Can't What?").

Biking for Babies Finish Celebration, Saturday, July 19th (Saint Louis):

https://www.bikingforbabies.com/col-mo/

Biking for Babies Finish Celebration, Saturday, July 19th (Philadelphia):

https://www.bikingforbabies.com/col-pa/