Dara and Amber have wanted Michael Henry on the pod since day one. Partly because a legal mind is needed to make sense of, and deal with, confounding gun and abortion laws. But also because his perspective is uniquely insightful. Before Michael was a health sciences lawyer (and for a few years, Dara's colleague), he was an NCIS Special Agent serving in the Middle East and East Africa. With his military bonafides and roots in Texas and North Carolina, you might assume certain red state stereotypes. Yet he's a definitively independent thinker, muscle-bound and covered in horror-themed tattoos.We covered a lot of legal, political and cultural ground in this episode. In a society throttled by extreme voices from the left and right, we hope you'll be as uplifted as we were to hear a powerful but reasonable voice for a change. While he informed us, Michael didn't claim to know all the answers but invited us to think deeper. The question may not be, "Why can't we enact reasonable legislation to protect women's rights and prevent school shootings?" but "What in our society has gone wrong to get us here?"Our music is by the talented Amanda Zorzi. Editing by Dara.Please boost our un-monetized morale with a five-star review, by telling a friend and/or following the show on your favorite streaming platform. Thank you for your support!