526 BaHaCon - Tesla Charging - Valuation vs. Atheism

June 23, 2025·1 hr 8 min·6 clips

Phil Ferguson reveals how a car dealership sold a vehicle he drove an hour to see, exposing the games dealers play.

Current events barge in first. Phil opens in late June of 2025 with Iran, Trump, oil-route threats, and a quick annoyance at himself for missing a pronunciation. Then the car issue rolls in. His daughter has taken over the Chicago-area car, so he is weighing a lease if the numbers are friendly enough. The neat plan does not stay neat. The episode shifts from household logistics into skepticism, with a comedy clip that pokes at religious belief by comparing it with magic. It is blunt, and Phil lets that tone clear the room before Jason Freer and Jeff Brooks come on to talk BaHaCon. Jason went to his first BaHaCon last year, liked it enough to join the board, and now works on it all year. Jeff plays his role down. He says vice president mostly means what the bylaws say it means, then explains that his real job is emceeing and keeping the conference on track. The pitch is plainspoken. BaHaCon comes off as a weekend held together by the people doing the work, not a shiny brand name. Phil also pins down the location and dates: August 8th, 9th, and 10th in Sarnia, Canada, just north of Detroit. Other gatherings get some airtime too, including NonoCon at a beautiful state park, the FFRF annual convention, and a possible Center for Inquiry event. The real thread is community. Conferences give listeners a place to meet friends, maybe find Phil, and walk up to say hello without making it weird. It is loose, useful, and a bit crowded, like a calendar, a complaint, a skeptical riff, and a travel invite sharing one mic.

As heard by us

A blunt, useful hour that turns car shopping and conference chatter into something unexpectedly practical.

Phil Ferguson starts in current-events unease, then slides into the familiar grind of needing another car. The Iran strike news and the risk of oil disruption set the mood, but the family situation makes leasing feel less like a lifestyle move than a plain math problem.

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Why you'd press play

Need a blunt hour that goes from car leases to BajaCon without smoothing anything over?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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