Podcasts – Power Line: Recent Episodes
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This is going to be unlike any previous edition of the Three Whisky Happy Hour, because it was literally recorded during happy hour at the annual meeting of the Federalist Society in Washington, in a corner of the mass reception hall where John Yoo and I invited all comers to swing by to offer a few comments. This completely unstructured (but therefore highly authentic!) conversation included Ilya Shaprio and Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute; the esteemed Roger Pilon, emeritus of the Cato Institute; our old pal Hadley Arkes; prominent appellate attorney Eric Jaffa; and Utah lawyer (and loyal 3WHH listener) Jacob Minas. And it goes pretty much how you might expect a wandering happy hour conversation to go.
I had hoped that we’d have John Yoo outnumbered and outgunned on the natural law question, but several of our guests didn’t do their part! But we also did some election talk, so there is something for everyone. It may be a little hard to follow without a playbill, but I haven’t figured out how to do audio chyron.
And many thanks to all the Power Line readers and podcast listeners who said hello this week. Next year we might just have to have our own display table or breakout session.
So here it is, in all its in- or unglory:
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62768373/download.mp3And over at Ricochet yesterday, we covered the Trump 2 administration’s early personnel moves and related issues with Andy McCarthy:
Guilty Pleasures
The Power Line single-malt whisky bar is still trying to process Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the election, and this episode reflecting on the scene offers up a few fresh (we hope) takeaways from the result that we haven’t yet seen elsewhere in the media, and then we turn our attention to some key priorities for the second Trump Administation starting in January.
In such a target-rich environment, what should Trump aim at first on Day One in January: our ideologically corrupt universities, the Justice Department, ending the war in Ukraine and Gaza? And what should Congress do with the slim GOP majorities? I have some ideas for new committees, as well as a budget test.
Also, does it seem like Trump is president already (since no one believes Biden is really president any longer)? We notice that several foreign governments are rushing to get on Trump’s good side before January, which seems prudent.
So listen to this ad-free episode here, or from wherever you source your podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62675767/download.mp3On Friday I also went back to my Jay Leno-on-Fridays routine at the Ricochet podcast where we went through the election data with Henry Olsen.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2024/11/c7412b26-50a2-53a0-ba46-7ecf5fe0b396.mp3
For our many regular listeners who were not able to join us last night for our live taping of this special mid-week episode that included Scott and (very late) John Hinderaker (hence the “Five Whisky Happy Hour”), much of what we talked about has been overtaken by subsequent vote counts and other results. But we did have a number of questions and issues that should still be of interest even after the dust settles today, such as why the polls were wrong again, what’s wrong with the exit polls, why the legacy media looks increasingly mediocre as well as biased, why the big winner of this election cycle—and an important harbinger for the future—is Joe Rogan.
So listen here, or wherever you source your podcast material. But for Power Line only, and for gluttons for punishment, we include below a bonus track of our “overtime” conversation, where nearly 200 people stuck around while we watched the New York Times “needle” shift Trump’s winning chances from 83 percent when we started to 95 percent by the time we finished, and along the way we let several of our long time readers and commenters join the conversation to talk about all manner of subjects. Among other topics was an extended comparison toward the end between Kari Lake and Sarah Palin, for example.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62643131/download.mp3And here is the special overtime session, available only here:
Overtime episode - 11:6:24, 11.17 AM
Okay, it’s not a very good Photoshop job, but you get the point.
Get your whisky laid in for election night, which will be useful no matter the outcome, but especially because the Three Whisky Happy Hour will do a live podcast, open to all comers, tomorrow night starting (we hope) around 7:30 pm Pacific time, by which we’ll have many results from the east, and early numbers from the possibly all-important Arizona (where some recent polls have Trump ahead in the very problematic Maricopa County—Trump trailed in Maricopa in pre-2020 polls).
I’m hoping to be able to stream the podcast live simultaneously on Facebook and YouTube if I can figure out how it works, since there is a possibility that the webinar may fill up beyond the capacity of our Zoom account (max 500 people).
If you’re able to join us, use this link. I’ll have updates tomorrow.
We’re up a day earlier than usual with our weekly episode of the 3WHH podcast, and I did another turn on the Ricochet podcast out this afternoon as well, with special guest the novelist and Hollywood screenwriter Andrew Klavan.
And in this last 3WHH episode before the election, your bartenders pour a stiff one in honor of the end of recycling, since were back to pure garbage now, though Biden getting in his last chomps of a baby was a special bonus to end the week.
We spend most of this episode reflecting on the final week of the campaign, arguing about what kind of vote fraud may or may not take place, and offering our final predictions for both the election result and the aftermath. You think it’s over Tuesday! Think again. As the great Bluto Blutarsky asked so poignantly, Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
So listen here to the 3WHH, or from wherever you source your podcasts:
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62586219/download.mp3And here’s the Ricochet podcast for true gluttons for punishment:
Higher Ground with Andrew Klavan
It’s another two-fer podcast week, with a trip for me to the Ricochet podcast Friday featuring the return of seminarian novitiate Brother Rob Long (file below), and then the usual Three Whisky gang gathering early in the evening, with John, the host of this week’s show, podcasting from the balcony of the University Club in downtown San Francisco (left).
So it was Hitler week for Democrats, who are still fuming over being cooked by Donald Trump in a McDonald’s deep fryer, and covering up their indigestion with an E.coli outbreak. Behind the public polls catching up with the terrible body language of Democrats and the news media lies a growing recognition that Kamala’s brat summer has gone splat as election day approaches. The 3WHH team covers this, a few of the Senate races, the underrated scandal of suppressed science about gender bending medicine that appeared in the (checks notes) New York Times! What next—a confession that DEI is a counter-productive waste of time and resources? Oh, wait—that was last week.
So listen to us here, or from your favorite podcast supplier.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62513963/download.mp3And here’s the Ricochet podcast bonus:
Brother Rob Counts Our Blessings
The news out over the weekend that Israel’s attack plans against Iran have been leaked by our government and/or European governments ought to be a major scandal and cause for a serious criminal investigation, but in fact the real story to be followed may be much worse: is anyone asking whether Iran has penetrated our government—either with spies inside our intelligence agencies, or agents of influence in the State Department or even the White House?
This seemed like a good excuse to revisit the groundbreaking research on Soviet penetration and influence on American policy during the Cold War, and whether a similar thing is happening now with regard to Iran. This episode recalls the work of M. Stanton Evans on this topic, which he published in his book Stalin’s Secret Agents (with Herb Rommerstein) and explained in an excerpt from a talk he gave about the book 20 years ago. I think listeners will spot the parallel, and agree with the conclusion—time for recriminations!
As usual, listen here, at Ricochet, or wherever you source your favorite podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62443062/download.mp3
The Three Whisky gang were together in person live late today, the culmination of an intensive three-day project that we describe at the opening segment of the show. Fortunately John Yoo’s office was well-supplied with Maker’s Mark and Glenlivet 15, so everything is right with the world. Retired DC Circuit superstar Judge Janice Rogers Brown sat in on the session to heckle us.
After the opening overture, we get down to business, pondering the “body language” of the body politic as revealed by the grinding presidential campaign that suggests a Trump triumph, and then noting the growing signs of an effective backlash against wokery, starting with the New York Times dumping on DEI. None of us had that on our Bingo card!
Listen to the end and you’ll hear each of us give our betting market odds on the election. Guess who is the most optimistic and the most cautious!
As usual, listen here, or from our hosts at Ricochet or wherever you source your podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62425809/download.mp3
This week’s regular 3WHH podcast is going to be delayed until tonight or tomorrow morning—scheduling problems—but in the meantime yesterday I returned to the flagship Ricochet podcast (I’m starting to feel like Jay Leno did 35 years ago when he subbed for Johnny Carson every Friday), but on this episode as the host, as James Lileks is away traveling this week. (Let me know what you think of my ad-segue game, though no one will ever match James in that department.)
Our special guest was retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, walking us through the perils on the world scene, which he believes are extremely dire, and moreover blames most of America’s problems today—including our lack of military readiness and preparedness—to runaway wokism. Plus, we marvel at the multifaceted Musk; pick apart Harris’s performance in her interview with Brett Baier; and rejoice at another small sign that DEI is falling out of favor even among the sophists.
So listen here, or over at Ricochet, and stand by for 3WHH updates. We may have a special guest.
A Bad Time to be at War with Ourselves
Earlier today, Kamala Harris tweeted this:
Black men deserve a president who cares about making their lives better. pic.twitter.com/cUCdsvvYZ6
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 15, 2024
This agenda, intended to salvage Harris’s collapsing status with black men, would be outrageous even if it were not illegal.
It is one of the topics that we discussed today on the American Experiment podcast. It was a fun installment, as it was hosted by my youngest daughter, with me commenting on the news because her usual partner in crime was out with laryngitis. Along with Harris’s outrageous pander, we talked about Columbus Day and the significance of its replacement by Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and our annual Golden Turkey award, which honors the most extreme instances of government waste.
It is a pretty entertaining half hour; I encourage you to check it out. Our interview is followed by Policy Fellow David Zimmer, along with Minnesota Representative Paul Novotny, talking about crime.
STEVE adds: I think this blatant a pander to black men (why not black women?) just delivered another 5 percent of the Hispanic vote to Trump.
Lucretia hosts this week’s episode, which takes up exactly where we left off last week’s episode—with the topic of vote fraud and whether Democrats might (ahem) steal the election from Trump. Without revisiting the weirdness and irregularities of the 2020 result distorted by the Covid-induced election rules changes, we go over in some detail what changes have been made over the last four years, including serious preparations by Republicans and the Trump campaign not be caught flat-footed by any “irregularities” in the vote result.
Have Republicans ever been any good at this? Actually the contested election in Florida in 2000 gives some reason for optimism, as John (who was there) and Steve reflect. And Steve reminds us of some old history, such as Jimmy Carter warning back in 2005 that mail-in balloting was a recipt for vote fraud, along the way debunking claims—subsequently bolstered by academic political science—that mail voting doesn’t increase turnout overall or by minorites. Still sound advice, and Republicans ought to force Democrats into the uncomfortable position of repudiating Saint Jimmy.
We take a couple of digressions, first into John’s inaugural experience with the new McDonald’s chicken Big Mac (see nearby—two thumbs up!), and then some explanation of why the public polls and campaign polls are diverging (with all good news for Trump).
The episode culminates with a Lucretia soliloquy on how the central principle of voting ought to be meaningful citizenship, not making voting as convenient as a trip to 7-11.
Incidentally, since we had some technical difficulties last night on our first attempt to record this week’s episode and had to do it over again first thing this morning, this episode is presented totally ad-free!
So listen here, or from your other favorite podcast source:
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/62343865/download.mp3And I was back again this week sitting in for Peter Robinson on the Ricochet podcast Friday, where we hosted Charles McElwee, founding editor of RealClearPennsylvania, for a tour of the swingy Keystone State, and then Tevi Troy for a discussion about the epic clashes between America’s masters of the universe and their presidents. (Be sure to get a copy of his new book, The Power and the Money.)
The Forces & the Fracas
The prolonged agony of Joe Biden is causing rifts in the political universe similar to what a black hole does—a vortex sucking everything into a void beyond which lie quantum unknowns. This episode ponders a number of those unknowns as best we can.
First off, we note the sudden media/Democratic Party discovery of “Project 2025,” and enumerate a few items we wish would be included, like year-round McRibs at McDonalds, and an end to the designated hitter rule in the National League. Then John provides an on-scene account of this week’s National Conservatism conference where he was a speaker, and where he took note for the very first time of the “trad wives” movement, which really represents an implicit final rejection of immanentizing the eschaton.
From there we take up some listener requests for “explainers” about the peculiar 12th Amendment (since Trump may choose a running mate from Florida, causing confusion and uncertainty), and then the workings of the 25th Amendment, which we all agree is unlikely to work on President Biden unless he actually lapses into a coma or something. Trump can render the 12th Amendment moot, however, if he picks Steve and Lucretia’s choices for Veep; John is going for a Florida veep-nom.
Beneath the surface of all these issues is the knotty problem of KAH-mala. We ponder a few possibilities on this that so far we haven’t heard anyone else present. We also break some news here this week, with an advance peek at the forthcoming official portrait of Justice Clarence Thomas to be placed soon in the Supreme Court building. (John was treated to a postcard copy, seen below.)
Exit music this week, once against chosen for topicality: “Rift” from Phish, since some aspects of it sound like they almost could be thinking of Kamala:
Last night, in the moments my thoughts were adrift
And coasting a terrace, approaching a rift
Through which I could spy several glimpses beneath
Of the darkness the light from above could not reach
I spied wings of reason, herself taking flight
And upon yonder precipice saw her alight
And glared back at me one last look of dismay
As if she were the last one she thought I’d betray
As always, listen here, at Ricochet when it goes live, or from iTunes (though if you source from iTunes, give us a five star review!)
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60684289/download.mp3Chaser: It was another two-fer podcast week, as I identified as Peter Robinson yesterday on the Ricochet podcast, with special guest Henry Olsen. Here, for convenience sake:
The Republican Edge
For your listening pleasure while you fire up the grill and align your fireworks today or over the weekend, the gang assembled for a special July 4 edition of the 3WHH, with extensive discussion—and disagreement—about whether President Biden will step aside and whether Kamala Harris will replace him. I say Yes, John Yoo says no, and Lucretia, who is in the host chair today, is simply horrified at the whole scene.
Meanwhile, there’s a good dad joke going around (so naturally I told it, but you’ll have to listen to catch it—this is a no-spoiler show note zone man!) that sets up a pivot to the last couple of decisions of the Supreme Court term just ended, especially the case involving presidential immunity. John explains why both sides of the issue are getting it wrong, while Lucretia and I trump John’s legalese with some good old political philosophy, enlisting Harvey Mansfield as an expert witness.
Picking exit music this week was a no-brainer, given the main topic: The Clash (fits, no?), “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
Should I stay, or should I go now?
Should I stay, or should I go now?
If I go, there will be trouble
And if I stay, it will be double
So come on and let me knowThis indecision’s bugging me
If you don’t want me, set me free
Exactly whom I’m supposed to be
Don’t you know which clothes even fit me?
Come on and let me know
Should I cool it, or should I blow?
As usual, listen here, or when it goes live at Ricochet (though that may be a while as the Ricochet staff has the day off today):
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60602979/download.mp3
Last month while John Yoo and I were larping around central Europe in search of the rule of law, we happened to make the acquaintance of former (and perhaps future?) Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who graciously agreed to sit down for a conversation about his broad gauge view of the world scene right now. We heard him give a terrific speech at the Danube Institute, which you can take in at the beginning of this YouTube video.
In our conversation Abbott ranges from the Ukraine War and the Middle East to the Climate Cult and the ruin of identity politics everywhere. We also digress to learn more about the origins of Australia’s mandatory voting system, which reformers in the U.S. sometimes think we should try. I’m sure you’ll agree both from our conversation and the video linked above that he has a better grasp of important things than just about every leader in Europe (or America) at the moment.
Listen here, or from our hosts at Ricochet.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60582445/download.mp3
This week is another podcast two-fer for both me and John Yoo, as we were guests on the Ricochet podcast yesterday, and back for our own weekly 3WHH podcast this morning. There isn’t much repetition between the two, and the Ricochet link is at the bottom of this post.
John Yoo hosts this week’s 3WHH episode, and manages to coax some cheerfulness out of Lucretia while also skillfully avoiding the important Supreme Court opinion involving The Statute That Cannot Be Named on This Podcast.
Has there been a worse week for the left in the last 25 years? First “Squadster” Jamaal Bowman loses his House seat, then the Supreme Court delivers blow-after-blow to the foundations of the administrative state, and then Biden didn’t show up for a debate. Oh, wait—he did show up, though you had to wonder whether they really intended a Weekend at Bernie’s sequel.
We break down the highlights and lowlights of both the debate and the Supreme Court opinions, with Lucretia offering some praise for Chief Justice Roberts for a change, while just about giving up hope for Justice Barrett, who seems to be angling to become the next David Souter on the Court. To be continued with a special July 4 episode next week.
As usual, listen here, over at Ricochet, or from wherever your source your podcasts:
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60549505/download.mp3And the promised Ricochet podcast link:
c0951c47-89ce-5d99-97a0-bc32af0f0f1d(And yes, the exit music fragment this week has some esoteric meanings. . .)
If you follow news out of Israel these days—and who doesn’t?—you may have caught the story early this week that Israel’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that the government may not exempt the haredim (Israel’s ultra-orthodox community) from military service. The ruling went further, though, than just ending an exemption from service: the court ruled that government funding must be cut off from any yeshivas (schools) that do not comply with the ruling.
Simcha Rothman
Aside from the legal reasoning behind this ruling is the larger question of the continuing arrogation of power by Israel’s high court. Last month John Yoo and I, overseas for a conference on international law, sat down with Simcha Rothman, a senior member of the Knesset who, as chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, has been deeply involved with proposals to reform and rein in the runaway judiciary. This controversy was roiling Israeli politics last year until the events of October 7 put it on the back burner, but we think Americans will be surprised to learn more about the peculiar circumstances of Israeli’s judiciary. If you think America’s judiciary can be activist and unaccountable, just wait till you hear from Simcha.
Toward the end we also move on to a general discussion of the Gaza War.
Lucretia wasn’t with us for this episode, so you’ll just have to interpolate her likely interjections!
As usual, listen here, or from our hosts at Ricochet or wherever you source your podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60519417/download.mp3
Victor Davis Hanson is out talking about The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation. Listening to his interview on the current Ricochet podcast with Rob Long and Steve Hayward, I learn that Victor has been working his way through a second round of Covid. He contracted this one while leading 160 travelers on a tour to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Victor, take care of yourself!
He is a busy man. Nothing seems to slow him down. I shouldn’t say I’ll have what he’s having, but think about it. Recent books include The Dying Citizen, The Case for Trump, and The Second World Wars, all written along with several columns a week and miscellaneous essays for publications such as The New Criterion. Indeed the current issue of TNC includes Victor’s review/essay “All the rage.”
The books have been commercially successful and widely read. In the podcast Victor mentions that his new book has spent recent weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, although he says it is selling fewer copies than his previous two books. He wonders why those books never made the Times list. Steve Hayward cites the recent Economist story on the list (behind the Economist paywall).
The End of Everything is a serious work of history without a political axe to grind, yet decline should be on everyone’s mind. The podcast in large part raises the question how the book applies to the United States in 2024. Toward the end Rob Long says, “I’m giving you a chance here, Victor, to not destroy everyone’s weekend.” Despite the gist of Rob’s question, I found the whole thing a source of enjoyment from beginning to end.
Newest member of the Lucretia menagerie.
We hadn’t even planned to do a regular episode this week because John Yoo is over in Korea (where he is enjoying a 30-year old Ballentine whisky), I was away at a three-day conference, and Lucretia is breaking in a new kitten. But we received urgent messages from listeners and readers asking us to please decode just what the Supreme Court did this week, especially in the Moore v U.S. case that dealt with the income tax. Expert commentary seems divided on just what the Court meant, but as John filed an amicus brief in that case, he’s the ideal person to break it down for us.
But not before finding a new way to torment him with a successor to the Statute That Cannot Be Named—the nitrogen cycle! And really it fits if you think about it, since the Supreme Court seems to have hit the nitrous oxide a bit too hard in this week’s rulings.
Finally, a look at the latest campus news, including how Columbia University is surely going to regret that Alvin Bragg dismissed charges against Columbia students who occupied and vandalized university property. Prediction: there’s a 50/50 chance that Columbia doesn’t even open up for in-person campus life this fall.
As usual, listen here, or wherever you source your favorite podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60473589/download.mp3But wait, there’s more! Yesterday I sat in again for Peter Robinson at the Ricochet podcast, where we had a long conversation with Victor Davis Hanson about his newest book, The End of Everything. Listen below, or at Ricochet.
Staving Off Annihilation with VDHP.S. I am reliably informed that if and when Peter Robinson ever returns from whatever it is he is doing, James Lileks will introduce him with “And sitting in for Steven Hayward this week is Peter Robinson.”
No sooner do we have a “reunion” episode last week than travel schedules blow it all up again. With John Yoo away on another junket (supposedly teaching a summer law seminar somewhere, but really in search of more elusive McRibs), Lucretia and I decided to do a live episode where we pondered what might be called the “meta-narrative” (that would be “McNarrative” to John Yoo) behind the sharply differing constitutional views of left and right.
I argue that behind the left’s primal drive for power that can explain the outcome-oriented constitutionalism of the left on display since the Progressive Era lies a more sinister but less recognized aspect of leftist politics: American leftists are basically socialist revolutionaries, but rather than conduct direct revolution (with certain isolated exceptions), they prefer to use the rule of law to subvert the rule of law. I think an important clue to understanding this dynamic (about which too many conservatives and Republicans are clueless) can be found in a reconsideration of . . . the Spanish Civil War. (See once again Nathan Pinkoski’s fine essay reviewing the revisionist literature that essentially says everything you think you know about the Spanish Civil War is wrong, and just imagine what Franco could have done if only he’d had some helicopters.)
Lucretia as always is less convinced by my historical analogies and, having had three espressos after lunch and before taping, offers her own special sauce to understanding the problem, yet somehow omitted the usual snark about my whisky of the week, Laphroaig Quarter-Cask.
Finally, in honor of Pride Month, some topical exit music this week from the great Jonathan Richman.
And thanks to the many Power Line readers who tuned in for the live taping. Sorry we didn’t get to more of your questions and comments.
As usual listen right here, from Ricochet, or wherever you source your favorite podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60396090/download.mp3
It’s been six months since we had a live taping of the Three Whisky Happy Hour podcast, and we’re going to remedy this lapse tomorrow (Friday) evening. John Yoo is away this week on yet another junket and can’t join us, and rather than have a guest host Lucretia and I decided to invite all comers. The taping will go off at 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern, and you can join the webinar on Zoom at this link. (I’ll repost it tomorrow.)
We’ll take listener questions (and if you’re not able to join us live, post a question or comment in the comment thread below), but we also have in mind taking a step back from the headlines a bit and try to get at some deeper underlying forces at work. We’ll take as our “article of the week” texts two pieces. First, leftist Ian Millhiser’s primal scream at Vox, about why Kagan and Sotomayor need to resign from the Supreme Court right now, and second, an article from a couple years ago by Nathan Pinkoski that highlights the revisionist works of historian Stanley Payne on the Spanish Civil War. This may seem remote from us, but we’ll explain why this new look back on that conflict may shed light on where we are in America today—including why scenarios of a second American civil war are not so far fetched, and why the left will start it.
The Three Whisky Happy Hour bartenders are finally back in the same time zone, and Lucretia fills in John and me about what happened while we were away partying in Europe. We mostly skip over doting on Biden’s dotage, and take up Jed Rubenfeld’s argument that Trump isn’t technically a “convicted felon” yet, and might have strong case for immediate relief from the Supreme Court.
We finally have a long-postponed update on the situation in Ukraine, where there have been a number of developments over the last two weeks that make the war more volatile. The French are sending in troops (‘advisers,’ but that sounds too familiar), while we have apparently greenlit Ukraine to attack inside Russian with our weapons—so long as we approve the targets. What could go wrong? (And why is Hungary opposing the NATO position on Ukraine? Not for the reasons you read in the American media. . .)
Finally, for our Article of the Week we take up the issue of climate change litigation, which John wrote about a few days ago for National Review, and which I am working separately on an article about European lawfare in this domain.
As usual, listen here, or from our hosts at Ricochet, or wherever you source your favorite podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/60323898/download.mp3
We’re a day late and a person short this week, as we’re missing John Yoo because of schedule conflicts. Over morning coffee instead of evening single malt, this shortened, ad-free episode finds Lucretia and me wondering if the Branch Covidians can really be getting ready to impose a mask mandate on all of us again, and pondering whether the COVID case of the multiply-boosted DOKTOR Jill Biden should make us wonder whether anyone knows anything anymore.
Could this all be a sign of the deepening panic among Democrats over the latest polls showing Donald Trump stronger than ever, and ever increasing doubts about Joe Biden?
And speaking of Democrats, who knew that Democrats have become Carl Schmitt fans, as is seemingly the case with New Mexico Governor Grisham declaring that an “emergency” gives her the power to suspend the 2nd Amendment. This comes on the heels of the latest 5th Circuit Court ruling that the Biden Administration trampled the 1st Amendment with its Covid censorship regime.
So listen here, or take it in from our hosts at Ricochet, or wherever you source your podcasts.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/56751772/download.mp3
Never mind saving “our democracy”—who’s going to save our gerontocracy! With Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden in a contest for Greatest Brain Freeze Moment, while Dianne Feinstein and John Fetterman look on with envy, we are starting to long for the good old days of the youthful vigor of the Soviet Politburo. Is it time for age limits for high federal office (though Sen. Chuck Grassley, still firing on all cylinders two weeks before his 90th birthday, might want a word with us), or do we just need cognitive tests for office?
Equally alarming is how the Baude-Paulsen argument for disqualiftying Trump for the presidency under the 14th Amendment is gaining traction. Could a county registrar of voters in some deep blue percinct throw the 2024 election into complete chaos? John has a good article on this scene suggesting the answer is a hard No, which we review.
Meanwhile, the whole Georgia case gets curiouser and curiouser, as you’d expect in our current Alice in Wonderland world of “verdict first, trial later” phase of Trump-specific law enforcement. But also some good news: the forces of decency are fighting back against the left’s demagogic attack on Clarence Thomas.
And speaking of gerontocracy, Lucretia didn’t think much of my novelty whisky selection for the week: Fireball cinnamon whisky. Like Wagner’s music, it’s better than it sounds!
As usual, listen here, or from our host at Ricochet when the link goes live there.
https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/56668701/download.mp3
This classic format episode of the Power Line podcast features me all by himself, and breaks some news: I am returning to Pepperdine University in the spring semester of this academic year as the Edward Gaylord Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy. I will be filling the large shoes of the late Ted McAllister, who passed away earlier this year, leaving a big hole in the SPP program.
Wondering what to make of the first GOP debate, Trump’s arrest and mug shot, and the apparently deteriorating battlefield situation in Ukraine? Then you’ve come to the right place. John Yoo hosts this week’s episode while we break it all down in crisp fashion, partly because our schedules this week prevented us from recording at a time suitable to have our whisky glasses filled. Next week, we promise! Listen here,
As loyal listeners know, yesterday John, Lucretia, and I took over the flagship Ricochet podcast in the absence of both Peter Robinson (still somewhere in the Witness Protection Program) and Rob Long (out walking a Hollywood picket line somewhere), and we made James Lileks’ life completely miserable. We decided that a couple of issues we brought up deserved some extended discussion in this bonus episode, starting with the “trust” question:
The late week news was so screwball that I surrendered to Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey to cope while Lucretia the Lightweight settled for Irish coffee while John, out of place as usual, passed on a liquid lunch to have a real lunch from Jersey Mikes instead of McDonalds. How the mighty have fallen! (By the way, the Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey is not recommended. Better to go with an old
This isn’t our normal 3WHH; John isn’t here, just me and Lucretia. So maybe a 2WHH. The occasion for today’s extra episode—since we moved up our usual weekly offering on account of the latest weekly Trump indictment—is to take note of two related items. First, did you know that Italy’s new and very popular prime minister Giorgia Meloni recently visited Washington and had a brief meeting with President Biden? I
Our normal weekend rendezvous at the whisky bar convened early this week—first thing in the morning in fact, so too early to break out the single-malt—to get out our fresh reactions to the Trump indictment for his role in the events of January 6, and our general reaction after reading the filing is—is this all there is? Where is incitement? Where is conspiring with violent groups like the Proud Boys
After clearing the decks of the latest headlines from the week involving Biden trials and Trump tribulations, we get down to business discussing John’s new “PIG book,” The Politically-Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court (co-authored with Robert Delahunty). Naturally Steve and Lucretia have some issues to pick with John. Steve manages to annoy everyone by noting the Statute-That-Cannot-Be-Named-On-This-Podcast (rhymes with Lean Fair Fact) and connecting it to the “L-Word,” meaning
I knew when I saw news of Vice President Kamala Harris claiming that Florida’s new African-American history standards for public schools taught that “enslaved people benefitted from slavery,” I knew instinctively that this was a lie of unusual medacity even for her. Don’t take my word for it: read the curriculum guide for yourself, especially page six, where Harris and the rest of the race-obsessed educrat-complex twists one sentence in
With John freshly back from the land of Spam singles and McDonald’s stock price near an all time high, the Three Whisky Happy Hour gang drains its glasses over the question of the anticipated coming Trump indictments. Defrauding the federal government? Obstructing Congress? Violating the Ku Klux Klan Act? This is indeed John McEnroe territory—”You cannot be serious!” But is it going to work? Let’s just say this episode revisits
John Yoo is away overseas this week, so Lucretia and I are joined by Glenn Ellmers, author of the brand new book The Narrow Passage: Plato, Foucault, and the Possibilty of Political Philosophy. Do not be intimidated by the mention of Foucault or anything else in the title, as this crispy-written and very accessible book comes in at a reader-friendly 79 pages (Glenn admits that it began as an essay
You’ve heard of the Avengers. And the Incredibles. We at the Three Whisky Happy Hour consider ourselves The Uncensorables. (Only because Justice League is taken.) In any case, just when you thought it was safe to pass by the courthouse and law library because the Supreme Court term has finished, along comes a bracing district court opinion slapping the Biden Administration hard for its collaborating with social media companies to
The Three Whisky Happy Hour hosts were actually together in person this week to record this episode, and marked the end of the Supreme Court term with a several nice rounds of Makers Mark. And what a week it was! It’s over. The fat lady has sung. The Supreme Court ended its current term with a big bang, delivering a long-overdue smackdown of affirmative action that with any luck history
The submersible that is the sinking Biden presidency looks to be under as much increasing pressure as the Trump reboot tour, and maybe both will implode? And when is the Supreme Court going to end the suspense and deliver the rulings on the big cases we’ve all been waiting for? The Court did deliver a disappointment of sorts in U.S. v. Texas, which rejected a state challenge to the Biden
By the end of the week when we three bartenders assembled, the Trump indictment had been pretty well munched and masticated, so there wasn’t much left to say about the matter for the moment. But John Yoo has a wild idea to resolve the controversy: President Biden, he says, should pardon Trump right now, and say “Let’s put everything before the voters next year on the issues.” Of course the
Who needs my peaty, smoky whisky this week when Canada is supplying a surplus for half the nation? (But it ain’t Canadian Club they’re serving.) After clearing the smoke from our eyes—and our whisky glasses—we get down to business on what is known so far about the Trump indictment (we recorded before the full details of the indictment were released), and wonder if the Dept. of Justice isn’t blowing a
John Yoo is away traveling this weekend, so the Three Whisky Happy Hour reverts to old form, with Lucretia pummeling me like a chiropractor working on a stiff neck for my conventional thinking about the debt ceiling deal. But otherwise we’re in a jolly mood this week, as we see signs that a “Revolt of the Normies”—that is sensible middle class Americans—against gender wokery is finally underway. Just ask the
Phil Magness of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) is one of the most productive—and provocative—working scholars today (with emphasis on working, as his output is prodigious). This classic format episode features me and Phil in a one-on-one conversation about three of Phil’s major areas of current research, starting with his co-authored article that breaks new ground in the history of Marxism, “The Mainstreaming of Marx: Measuring the Effect
It’s late in the 4th quarter for this year’s Supreme Court season, and the Justices are starting to score with some long bombs. Our Three Whisky Happy Hour bartenders celebrated with entire flights of whisky (our kind of diversity!) while pondering Thursday’s clean sweep of two 9 – 0 decisions that reinvigorate the “takings clause” of the 5th Amendment, and clip the wings of the EPA without once mentioning either
The hiatus in Hollywood brought on by the current writers strike seemed a good occasion to check in with Christian Toto with a classic format one-on-one conversation. Christian, a previous guest on our podcast, is proprietor of the indispensable HollywoodInToto website, as well as a podcast, and a terrific recent book, Virtue Bombs: How Hollywood Got Woke and Lost Its Soul. Our conversation ranges widely from the problems of streaming
With me back in the host chair this week, the Three Whisky Happy Hour actually breaks some real news with special guest Kelly Janes Torrance, the op-ed editor of the indispensible New York Post. This week Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is attracting surprising interest from many conservatives, visited the Post for a grilling from the Post‘s editorial board, and Kelly Jane opened up her reporter’s notebook to share previously
Lucretia hosts this week’s episode, and as Hamilton predicted about how executive power would promote sobriety, the awesome responsibility of the host chair led Lucretia to praise Kevin McCarthy for the second week in a row (making Mitch McConnell feel optimistic about his chances), and she even has nice things to say about me! After the smelling salts were passed round to John and me (and fresh glasses of whisky
With all three bartenders back together and John Yoo in the host chair, the gang wonders why it is that Robert F. Kennedy Jr is so far making the most sense in the 2024 presidential race, how it is that Kevin McCarthy has (stop the presses!) actually impressed Lucretia, and why the obviously political attacks on Justice Clarence Thomas expose the left at their power-grasping worst. But then we get
Session 7 of our Power Line University short course on The Federalist met on Saturday this week, and took up Hamilton’s defense of the presidency from the anti-Federalist critics starting with Federalist 70, the paper where he discusses the famous phrase “energy in the executive.” Included in the usual inventory of Hamiltonian paeans to the executive is a look at his often overlooked views on the proper understanding of impeachment in Federalist 65, which differs considerably from how it is regarded (and used) today.
This week’s class (schedule TBA Monday) will move on to the judiciary as it is explained in The Federalist. Which is also dominated by Hamilton.
Unfortunately the video file was formatted incorrectly and is unusable, so I’m not able to post a YouTube version of this session where you can read the slides we shared during the live webinar.
So listen here, or wander over to the library at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/02/Ep-399-21223-1.28-PM.mp3
Lucretia hosts this week’s episode, though this does not let John or me off the hook for our Stockholm Syndrome symptoms in any way. The run-up to America’s most holy secular observance—the Super Bowl—involves me sharing additional details about my Bill & Ted-style excellent adventure with Gov. DeSantis, Lucretia pondering Sy Hersh’s latest purported scoop on who blew up the Nordstream 2 pipeline, and John starting to clear away some of his enduring confusions about natural law.
That’s quite a trifecta of weighty topics, but we still manage to get in some huzzahs about the Super Bowl (John, a Philadelphia native, is not neutral on the desired outcome of the contest, and he has his t-shirt to prove it), while Lucretia takes me to task for my bright yellow retro-Genesis t-shirt (see below). We also muse about whether a prospective “Lucretia’s Compleat Guide to Non-Morons” would require more than a page.
As usual we note a few things about President Biden’s State of the Eww address, and the latest Kamalaisms, which sound more and more like Yogi Berra in need of serious rehab. Does someone actually write her material, or have Republican operatives managed to infiltrate her speechwriting office?
You know what to do now: listen here, or invoke your natural right (that John Yoo doesn’t think exists) to travel over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/02/Ep-398-21023-9.24-PM.mp3
John Yoo assumes the host chair for this week’s episode, and despite declaring this week to be a Ukraine-Free Zone, Lucretia still manages to get in a sequel to some of last week’s discussion threads. But the main event for the first third of this episode is reviewing the dreadful events in Memphis last week, though John has to go a stretch to reach the Dylanesque heights of “Memphis Blues Again”:
Now the bricks lay on Grand Street
Where the neon madmen climb
They all fall there so perfectly
It all seems so well timed
From there we take up the proposition that Kevin McCarthy and the House Republicans actually look to be having a good start with their narrow majority. And is the woke fever finally starting to break? We take inventory of a few signs and portents.
Nikki Haley? Stay tuned. I persist in thinking the real drama of 2024 is more likely to happen on the Democratic side, as the decrepitude of Biden and obvious incapacity of Harris present Democrats with a real problem.
For scheduling reasons we had to record this episode a little earlier than usual this week, so we missed the breaking story about the Chinese “weather” balloon, but we make up for it with the appropriate exit music at the end.
So listen here, or shuffle on over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/02/Ep-397-2423-8.36-AM.mp3P.S. I also sat in again this week for Rob Long over on the Ricochet podcast, which you can take in here.
This week’s Power Line University seminar on The Federalist completes our discussion of the separation of powers in Federalists 47 – 51, and then takes an extended detour into the Progressive Era attack on the separation of powers and other basic principles embedded in The Federalist—and by extension, in the Constitution. There are few things more fun than beating up Woodrow Wilson, but we note several of the ways his legacy deformed the presidency and paved the way for today’s administrative state.
This contrast continues with an introduction to how the founders conceived the presidency at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, and set the stage for our close look starting next week at Hamilton’s robust understanding and defense of the presidency.
As usual, listen here or over at the faculty lounge at Ricochet. For those interested in taking in this episode on video, and thus having access to the slides of the key excerpts of texts we quoted, you can find it at this YouTube link.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/02/Ep-396-2223-11.22-AM.mp3
Many of The Federalist Papers bear the title, “The Same Subject Continued,” and with a lot of news about the Ukrainian situation coming out this week, we decided to continue last week’s vigorous argument over Ukraine with some of the new facts, such as how much of our own munitions inventory is being drawn down to supply Ukraine (see chart below), the decision to send Abrams tanks, the news that the Ukrainian government is “shocked, shocked” to discover ~~gambling in the casino~~ corruption in its ranks, to a bracing report from our friends at American Greatness that legacy sympathy for Nazism may be more extensive than thought. Also, what’s up with the high-profile life-fire exercises the U.S. and Israel just conducted?
Ukraine takes up most of this episode, but we do take time to ponder the disbarment crusade against John Eastman, the scandal over Fireball Cinnamon Whisky that apparently contains no whisky (or whiskey), though “cinnamon” should have been a clue that something is seriously amiss, and finally, was Steve really abducted by a UFO, or was that just anesthetic haze?
Exit music this week, appropo the Abrams tank news, is “Tank” by The Stranglers, soon to be hummed by Ukrainian tank drivers:
‘Cos I can drive (drive)
My very own tank
Yes I can drive (drive)
My very own tank
Yes I can drive (drive)
My very own tank
So listen here or hitch a ride on your nearest Abrams tank over to our central armory at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/01/Ep-395-12823-10.07-AM.mp3
This week we continued our leisurely stroll through The Federalist with an extended look at Federalist numbers 47 through 51, which explain the key concept of the separation of powers—a phrase that is nowhere found in the text of the Constitution, but which is clearly implied by the design and structure of the text. But Madison and Hamilton leave nothing to chance, citing “the celebrated Montesquieu” as a theoretical authority, but drawing also on the mixed experience of the early state constitutions.
Next week we’ll take a detour and explain why the Progressive movement singled out the separation of powers as their chief point of attack on the Constitution.
For those who have the time and inclination to take in the text, you can also view the episode and its slides of Federalist excerpts at this YouYube link.
Listen here, or exercise your own prerogative to take in this episode at the separate (but equal!) branch at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/01/Ep-394-12523-10.38-PM.mp3
This classic format episode features a conversation with Dan Lowenstein, professor emeritus at UCLA Law School and, more importantly, the impresario of UCLA’s Center for the Liberal Arts and Free Institutions (CLAFI), which he founded, and one of our favorites at Power Line, Jean Yarbrough of Bowdoin College. Prof. Yarbrough was in town for three days to deliver a fabulous lecture comparing Lincoln and Tocqueville on slavery, and then a small seminar on Democracy in America. (Her lecture will eventually appear on CLAFI’s YouTube channel. But if you can’t wait to get more Jean, go back and take in her star turn with Douglas Murray on “Uncanceled History.”)
I decided to catch up with Jean and Dan to walk through one of my origin-story podcast formats, tracing out their intellectual roots and changes in perspective over the length of their careers, and then discussing the parlous state of the liberal arts today. Along the way we learn more about Prof. Yarbrough’s encounters with Hannah Arendt, and how the Sacramento Bee once described Prof. Lowenstein as a “sartorial eyesore.”
So listen here, or or make your own journal over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/01/Ep-393-12523-11.15-AM.mp3
We’re going to have this week’s Power Line University online class on The Federalist tomorrow (Tuesday) instead of Wednesday for scheduling reasons. Lucretia and I will meet live at 4:30 pm Pacific time, and go through the major question of the separation of powers as explained in Federalist numbers 47 – 51. Use this Zoom link to join us.
Although Montesquieu had explained the theory of the separation of powers in The Spirit of the Laws, the American constitution was the first to embrace the principle wholesale. I think it was John Adams (Richard Samuelson will correct me) who said that the separation of powers was the greatest innovation of the American Founding.
We will thus use this occasion to explain why eroding the separation of powers became the chief object of the Progressives, and why it was essential to the modern administrative state. Many readers have been asking when we’d get to this issue, and the answer is: THIS WEEK!
We think we’ll have three more class sessions after this one, covering the Federalist’s treatment of Congress and the presidency, the judiciary, and then closing with Hamilton’s very curious discussion at the end of The Federalist about why a Bill of Rights would be dangerous to the republic. He lost that argument, as we know, but maybe his line of reasoning was sound? We’ll discuss it in depth.
In the meantime, I was delayed getting the YouTube video of last week’s class processed and posted, but it is up at last for anyone who wants to take in the slides and quotations we used:
This week’s raucous episode, recorded well after conventional happy hour usually ends, ranged from Biden’s dementia to the failed Dobbs leak investigation, to Kevin McCarthy’s (relatively) good week, the post hockey ergo propter hockey fallacy, bidding good riddance to one of the premier COVID cultists, a defense of cat-calling (even when it’s done to our Lucretia), and then . . . a big fat argument about Ukraine.
The vigorous disagreements among our three barkeeps on this subject were flying fast and hard, and did we settle the issue? No, we did not! So we’ll just have to do a sequel.
Listen here, or rumble over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/01/Ep-392-12023-11.29-PM.mp3P.S. I also sat in for Rob Long again yesterday on the flagship Ricochet podcast, where we talked with Harmeet Dhillon about her run for RNC chair. Listen directly at this link.
This week’s PLU class resumes our leisurely stroll through The Federalist starting with Federalists #33 and #37, and the “partly federal, partly national” character of the Union under the proposed Constitution—a subject that remains as confusing and contentious today as it was then. Lucretia walks us through how the issue began to settle out starting with the landmark 1819 case of McCulloch v. Maryland. We also have a lively discussion of the “necessary and proper” clause that is often thought the source of much mischief from the federal government today, along with the “general welfare clause.” Who knew that you could invoke King Edward VIII’s abdication crisis as an illustration of the issue!
From here I take a deep dive into the mis-applications of the “general welfare clause” by looking at the passage in Federalist #45 where Madison says the powers of the federal government are “few and defined,” laying it next to our current federal government whose powers are nearly unlimited and undefined. This is in service of the question: Was Madison wrong about how our government would work? Maybe not; it turns out, as I explain, that the complete disregard for constitutional limits we see today is of relative recent origin, and that in fact Madison’s views on the proper limits of government held up longer than we might think.
So dust off your copy of The Federalist, and read along here, or wander into the quieter reading room at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/01/Ep-391-12023-8.29-AM.mp3
We recorded a day early this week because I have to travel (supposedly—the airlines are not cooperating—again). Only the 3WHH bartenders could possibly draw the connecting thread between the subjects of the passing of Pope Benedict XVI, the drama over the next Speaker of the House, and Thomas Hobbes. But with the help of a little fine whisky, we’re up to the job!
Lucretia and I give the Protestant John Yoo a tutorial (the first of two this episode) on why Benedict may have been the most serious theologian ever to serve as Pope. It might be summarized in two words—”Regensberg Address“—but there is much more to that story, including the lingering mystery of why Benedict abdicated the papacy ten years ago.
From there our spirits—both the distilled and mental kind—kicked in hard for our discussion of the intramural Republican struggle to elect a new Speaker of the House. Let’s just say Lucretia would prefer Charlie McCarthy to Kevin McCarthy and leave it at that.
This episode ends with Lucretia and I giving John his second tutorial, this time on Thomas Hobbes. John has recklessly agreed to a “great books” segment on Hobbes for Prager University, but as usual provokes significant disagreement among the 3WHH bartenders.
And because of this last segment, our exit music is “Am I Very Wrong?” (answer: when it comes to Hobbes—Yes!), by musical combo whose name shall not be mentioned here:
Am I very wrong
To hide behind the glare of an open minded stare
Am I very wrong
To wander in the fear of a never ending lie
Am I very wrong
To try to close my ears to the sound they play so loud
Am I very wrong
The happiness machine is trying hard to sing my song
So listen here, or make a social contract with the Leviathan known as Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/01/Ep-388-1623-12.59-PM.mp3
The response to COVID is arguably the single greatest public policy mistake in American history, which in turn became a global catastrophe since so many other nations followed the United States with foolish lockdowns, school closures, and other authoritarian measures that were ineffective and heedless of adverse tradeoffs.
Dr. Scott Atlas of Stanford’s Hoover Institution has been vilified for his dissent from the party line on COVID, most fully explained in his book, A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America. In our conversation here, Dr. Atlas reviews the failure to consider the tradeoffs of our COVID policy, which stems ultimately from a perverse and even dangerous groupthink by our “public health” establishment.
Our conversation turns to the wider issues this episode raises, such as the authoritarian censorship and the nature of the administrative state. Dr. Atlas notes that in his frequent recent travels around the world, he is repeatedly asked: “What is wrong with America right now?”
Dr. Atlas isn’t content merely to criticize our COVID response. He has co-founded the Global Liberty Institute, which will go beyond the standard advocacy for sound policy and attempt to promote accountability for the kind of policy failure we see in COVID and other ruinous areas. Among other things, as Dr, Atlas wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently, “We also need to hold universities accountable for failing to ensure academic freedom while raking in massive amounts of taxpayer money.”
Listen here, or wander over to the had psych ward known as Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2023/01/Ep-386-1423-9.45-AM.mp3
John didn’t invite us!
John Yoo serves as lead bartender for this gala new year’s eve edition of the Three Whisky Happy Hour, though he was nearly deposed for arriving late and then taunting us with pics of his Korean new year’s feast (see nearby).
To ring out 2022 and look ahead to 2023, we cover some new whisky choices (which in John’s case included some very old port by special exception found in the emanations and penumbras of the 3WHH common law), correct the mispronunciations of “Islay,” and give a tutorial of sorts on how to extract old and fragile corks from wine or brandy bottles. (Hint: don’t use a traditional corkscrew by itself. . .)
Lucretia got a head start on the whisky, and thus had her feisty-meter turned up to eleven as we reviewed the Supreme Court’s manhandling (can you say “manhandling” at Stanford?) of Title 42, and from there we finally get to the traditional new year’s eve task of nominating our picks for the most important news story or event of the year, which prompted new arguments (shocker!), and then our favorite reading over the past year. Naturally I brought up a book by an obscure German author (Volker Weidermann’s Dreamers: When the Writers Took Power) which elicited the usual contempt from Lucretia, while John merely noshed another Korean pork rib.
Finally, we ended up with an argument about Hamilton, Madison, and our perspective on The Federalist. Turns out John is jonesing to crash Power Line University! Money quote from that exchange: “You know Lucretia, oleomargarine pairs perfectly with kale.” Happy new year!
So listen here, or don your party hat and catch an Uber over to party central at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-385-123122-8.14-AM.mp3
And yet another bonus holiday episode for everyone to savor before the college football bowl games arrive. . .
“Human rights do not exist,” claims an anonymous dissident conservative writer, but when he (at least we’re going to identify the author as a “he”—heh) added some animadversions about our pal Michael Anton, the fight was on! Anton has responded at length to this provocation with a true tour de force over at American Greatness, entitled “Natural Right and the Traditional Reproach.” I do encourage interested readers to take in the whole thing, as it is a succinct tour through the history and philosophical tradition of natural right, especially as it matches up to our desperate scene today.
Of course, denying natural right is a capital offense for our Lucretia, so she joins us for our spirited discussion of this subject, in which I play devil’s advocate and press some difficulties with Michael’s position and analysis. We also take in Paul Gottfried’s polite response to Michael, which left us more puzzled than anything.
We did have a couple of minor technical problems while we were recording that dropped Michael’s sound for a few seconds, which led to a couple of very abrupt jump cuts, but we smoothed it out as best we could. We suspect there are sequels to this argument ahead. Stay tuned.
Listen here, or grab your own mace or sword, mount your steed, and gallop in formation over to the castle of Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-384-123022-10.28-AM.mp3
Lucretia and I held the first “classroom” for PLU (Power Line University) yesterday, with 110 people ultimately tuning in live for our first formal session on The Federalist Papers. We had a couple of technical difficulties—for some reason we kept failing to get the Chat window working right—and we had some hiccups admitting some live questions and comments from viewers, but we hope to have these ironed out for our next session which will likely be mid-week next week. Anyway, here is the podcast version for those of you who weren’t able to join us live.
Our first session got off to a bit of a slow start—like the Federalist Papers themselves—with a look at numbers 1 – 9. (We had planned to include the famous Federalist 10 in this first session, but are putting it off to the next session.) The first few papers review at length the case against the disunity of the infant nation if the Constitution was not ratified and the United States split into three or four regional confederacies—not unlike some of the talk we hear today about a second civil war, or a breakup between red and blue states. The point is: the themes and analysis of the Federalist remain highly relevant to today.
Things really get hopping with Hamilton’s high-spirited Federalist 9, which is where we had to break off for the day.
Theodore Ian, our youngest participant.
Our tag line for this podcast series is “Never let college get in the way of your education,” and we’re glad to see that our live audience had a wide age span, starting with our youngest viewer, Theodore Ian (age four months), who is clearly enthralled by our scintillating commentary—proof that it is never too early to get the kids started on a sound education in the Right PrinciplesTM.
We did share some slides of the text we were considering, and read aloud most of the passages, but not all of them, so if you want to see the session, including the text slides instead of just listening to it in your car or on a walk, you can see the session on YouTube here. (Another thing we will try to arrange going forward is sharing the Power Point slide decks in these podcast links.)
Stay tuned for announcements of the schedule for future PLU seminars, likely the middle of next week.
So listen here, or slip in to the back of the lecture hall over at our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-383-122822-9.19-PM.mp3
Who knew that John Yoo is a total science fiction geek?! I’m going to have to go back and scour his law review article footnotes to see if I can detect esoteric references to Sci-Fi classics, which, it turns out, he has thoroughly familiarity.
Ken Green channeling Jayne Cobb.
Some time last year I did a podcast on science fiction with my old AEI writing partner Ken Green (who turned up for this episode with his Jayne Cobb cap!), and John Yoo immediately filed for an injunction with the Supreme Court of Podcast Appeals, and today we performed the remedy: a podcast in which we kicked around most of the fundamental SciFi geek questions: Star Trek versusStar Wars (we were unanimous on this verdict); Star Trek: The Original Series versus all of the sequels that Ken lumps under the heading, “Woke Trek.” But wait a minute! The original series had a latest wokeness to it, though it was more sophisticated than what has come since. How to tell the difference? I argue that Captain Kirk was a true statesman, while Piccard was a UN bureaucrat.
From there we offer observations on good science fiction, though with an interesting spectrum of opinion about Firefly, the Alien franchise, Dr. Who, The Expanse, and other science fiction of note from recent decades, including some truly obscure programming, such as Blake 7.
So break out some of your best Romulan ale, and send along suggestions for how we can follow up on our proposal to do MST3K-style sequels in which we beat down on truly fictional science films like Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” I am reserving the Tom Servo slot!
So listen here, or have Scotty beam you over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-382-122722-7.49-PM.mp3
As you may have heard, Stanford “University” embarrassed itself this week by issuing a list of 160 words or phrases that you shouldn’t use because they are not sufficiently “inclusive” or sensitive, including even “trigger warning,” because, Stanford helpfully explained, “The phrase can cause stress about what’s to follow. Additionally, one can never know what may or may not trigger a particular person.” And although “American” is among the terms Stanford disapproves (which prompted me to break precedent and quaff Maker’s Mark instead of Scotch whisky, because damnit), strangely the phrase “Merry Christmas” does not appear on the list of “Harmful Language.” Must be an oversight, or perhaps Stanford’s geniuses are among those ignoramuses who deny that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
You could hardly ask for a more entertaining Christmas gift than Stanford’s list. We thought to make the list a drinking game for this episode, in which we take a shot every time each of us used one of the terms from the list, but we quickly realized that we’d all be passed out within five minutes. Of the 160 terms or phrases on the Stanford list, your 3WHH bartenders managed to use 108, (several of them multiple times), which we expect will get us banned from campus henceforth.
This politically incorrect vocabulary came in handy for reviewing the insanity of the omnibus budget bill and Mitch McConnell’s role in its passage, and the release at last of the J-6 Committee report, which, at 800 pages, is going to require a lot of whisky and milk and cookies in the morn to get through.
Cheers, and merry Christmas. We’ll be back with one more episode before New Year’s next weekend, and we’ll aim to use the remaining 52 words from the Stanford list that we overlooked this week. To invoke John McClain, “Welcome to the party, pal!”
So check off the list of banned words here, or take the Nakatomi elevator up to the Ricochet lounge.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-381-122422-8.26-AM.mp3Reminder:
An action shot from a seminar.
I get a steady stream of emails from readers and listeners who want to know if any of my or Lucretia’s college courses are webcast or otherwise available online, and unfortunately the answer is No, partly for legal reasons but also for some technical reasons (streaming live classes is not as easy as it might seem, and the recording quality is often poor). But we have for the longest time been thinking about offering some of our class content on Power Line in an organized fashion, and so with this episode, we are pleased to inaugurate a new feature, “Power Line University.”
The first PLU course will be devoted to the Federalist Papers, or, as we like to call it, “the owner’s manual for the Constitution.” For this first trial episode, Lucretia and I decided that each of us would share three favorite passages from The Federalist, and explain why these passages in particular are significant or relevant to our current moment. (If you want to follow along at home on this first episode, the passages we selected are from Federalist #s 1, 10, 43, 31, 55, and 57.)
We haven’t decided yet how many episodes our Federalist course will be—probably five or six— but our intention is that future episodes, starting next week, will be done in webinar style on Zoom, so you can tune in live to our virtual “classroom” and pose questions or comments. Eventually we may try to offer some seminars in Zoom meeting format (though likely limited to VIP subscribers for security reasons), where participants will get to appear on camera, speak live and discuss the issues with other participants, and so forth. And if you can’t make the webinars or live classes, they’ll still be available in podcast form.
We have lots of ideas for future short courses, such as going over the Constitution itself, the Presidency, Lincoln, classical political philosophy perhaps—but above all we’d like to hear from listeners: please send along your ideas and suggestions (and questions on the topics we are covering) in the comment thread or directly by email. I will be doing a special series on science policy with Ken Green, who has just completed a terrific book on the defects of scientific models (such as the ones behind the COVID panic) starting some time in February.
The good news is, no “diversity” statements will be required for participation, and in fact we’re going to make a Bingo card out of the Stanford “Banned Words list” for each session. We won’t have any tests or term paper assignments, though ridicule from Lucretia is not ruled out! (Actually this is all just a plot to get her back in the classroom, since her university has seen fit to punish her by making her an administrator.)
And so, on to the classroom. . . Listen here, or wander over to the main lecture hall at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-380-122222-12.25-PM.mp3
Mark Perry
What do you do when you wake up and see the news story of how the University of North Carolina is once again violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a scholarship that specifically excludes white students from eligibility? Your first thought is that you need to call Mark Perry, except he’s already on the job! Perry, professor emeritus of economics and finance at the University of Michigan/Flint, filed a formal complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, and within a day UNC had rescinded its exclusion of whites from scholarship eligibility.
Mark Perry has made a speciality of this kind of citizen-driven civil rights enforcement (which is explicitly allowed in civil rights statutes), having filed hundreds of similar formal civil rights complaints, most of which meet with success. In this conversation we review how he took up this cottage industry, along with broader work he is doing tracking the explosive growth of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” bureaucracies in higher education.
And since Mark is an economist, we conclude with an exploration into the high inflation that erupted unexpectedly (except to us) after several decades of low inflation. I try out my field hypothesis of why it has happened now, to which Mark agrees.
Everyone should follow Mark’s website, Carpe Diem, and also on Twitter.
Listen here, or diem your own carpe over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-379-122122-1.49-PM.mp3
John Yoo is back at last from his latest Italian junket—yes, Lucretia let him back across the border unharmed!—and hosts this week’s episode of the Three Whisky Happy Hour in which we clarify some of the over-hasty arguments from last week’s highly thymotic episode (as many readers noted!) about exactly when and how it is legitimate to contest the Supreme Court over the application of the Constitution.
This opening elided nicely into the sequels from this week’s news, in this case Kari Lake’s election litigation in Arizona, and the Biden Administration’s litigation against Arizona for the sin of actually trying to plug the gaps in the border fence that the Biden Administration won’t. Why is Arizona suddenly at the center of things?
And why is the left so freaked out about Moore v. Harper, the case currently before the Supreme Court regarding the primacy of state legislatures in settling election law? Maybe because following the Constitution’s text on these matters will constrain the vote-harvesting games Democrats have been playing? John and I have some flashbacks to the Florida 2000 recount, and I also correct the record about the persistent myths over the stolen election of 1960.
We ran out of time before we could do our Christmas wish list, gift ideas, books of the year, and whisky reviews, but since it is the holiday season we’re going to have several bonus episodes next week of varying formats, including one all new format and subject area. Stay tuned and check in often!
So listen here, or cross the border (legally) over to the sovereign territory of our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-378-121622-8.55-PM.mp3
We live in a time of “crisis addicts,” in which the left cannot shake its addiction to what might be called “crisis porn.” Remember Rahm Emanuel proclaiming in 2009, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”? He was merely stating openly what has been obvious for a century now—that governments use a “crisis” to expand its power and reach permanently, never entirely relinquishing new powers and higher spending after the crisis has passed.
COVID was the ultimate crisis for progressives, because it was global in scope and allowed an appeal to “science” to bolster the vast new claims of authoritarian power over entire populations. The World Economic Forum called for a “Great Reset,” in which our globalist elites would undertake to use the COVID pandemic to effect a wholesale restructuring of the world’s economy, always along the dreamy utopian lines of failed socialist experiements everywhere.
Michael Walsh assembled a lineup of writers to take on this monstrosity in Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order. I highly recommend this collection, which includes several of everyone’s favorites, including Victor Davis Hanson, Michael Anton, David Goldman, and Angelo Codevilla. In this conversation, Michael and I depart from the merely economic and political questions to explore the deep cultural roots of the Great Reset, and why it is even more insidious than merely bad economic policy.
So listen here, or reset yourself over to our decidedly non-globalist minded hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-377-121522-9.35-AM.mp3
Hoo boy, this week’s Three Whisky Happy Hour very nearly descended into a full-scale bar room brawl, even though we recorded in the morning over coffee instead of single-malts because John Yoo is still over in Rome! (And may not come back after this episode!)
After noting a few late breaking news stories, such as Harvey Mansfield’s retirement and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s surprise announcement that she’s becoming an independent, we get down to the main event: Steve and Lucretia decided to contest John’s recent National Review article that argues the states (such as Texas) have no power under the U.S. Constitution to prevent illegal immigration at the southern border. (See also Ed Erler’s spirited attack on John here.)
Can the current surge of illegal border crossers be considered an “invasion” for constitutional purposes? And what has been the history of states actively managing immigration throughout U.S. history? Ultimately, however, our argument ascends (or descends?) into the wider issue of whether the Constitution can or should be understood primarily as a legal document, or as a political document. It’s a familiar argument for regular listeners of this podcast, but the immigration controversy offers yet another portal into the issue.
Needless to say, perhaps, the exit music this week is . . . “Immigration Man.”
You know what to do now: listen here, or cross the border into the sovereign territory of our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-376-121022-9.33-AM.mp3
With the new Supreme Court term under way, and with several potential landmark oral arguments already in the can, I decided to catch up with Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, and author of Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court. It turns out that the kind of confirmation battles that have become famous ever since Robert Bork in 1987 are not entirely new.
In addition to reviewing the main themes of his book, we talk about the recent controversy involving Ilya at Georgetown University’s law school, which, to put it mildly, did not cover itself with glory in caving instantly to the woke mob. And we also review the most recent Supreme Court term and preview the new one just under way.
In addition to Ilya’s fine book, you can keep up with him regularly on his Substack channel, “Shapiro’s Gavel.”
(In light of his ordeal at Georgetown, the fitting exit music this week is “After the Ordeal,” from the greatest prog-rock album of all time that happens to turn 50 next year.)
You know what to do now: listen here, or file an appeal with our Supreme Court at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/12/Ep-375-12822-9.13-AM.mp3
This really should be a Two Whisky Happy Hour this week as the whisky bar is short one bartender. John Yoo is overseas yet again to Italy for some nefarious purpose, so it’s just me and Lucretia slinging the 180-proof analysis of the Twitter revelations and other news headlines of the end of the week. But the main topic is following up on the mid-week conversation with Glenn Ellmers on
Glenn Ellmers has done it again, with a new provocation that “the constitutional republic created by our founders no longer exists.” His article posted at American Greatness, “Hard Truths and Radical Possibilities,” backs up this startling proposition with five very stark supporting arguments, starting with the fact that elections no longer suffice to control our government (even if they are fair and above reproach). Elections are now a mere nuisance—barely a
Posted a day ahead of the usual schedule, this special Thanksgiving long weekend edition with John Yoo sitting in the rotating host chair finds the 3WHH bartenders sharing some wine, whisky and food pairings from the big meal. I supplemented the usual fare with popovers, washed down with some 2015 Trump Meritage red, expecting that it was likely past its prime, and although it had indeed lost its fruit, the
One of my favorite journals these days is The European Conservative, edited by the intrepid Alvino-Mario Fantini out of Vienna. Printed on heavy stock paper, its articles are adorned with fabulous reproductions of classic art, making it the kind of journal you’d happily put out on your coffee table alongside your gallery books from the Met or wherever. Back in September I wrote here about how the magazine was dropped
I’m posting this episode a day ahead of regular schedule as a couple of news items discussed in our mid-week taping have already been overtaken by events. . . Your Three Whisky Happy Hour bartenders wandered to Milan this week where we recorded a rare in-person episode, and since we met in Italy, naturally we taste-tested Austrian single-malt whisky, described on the label as “dark” and “peated.” You’ll have to
Some smart aleck wag at the Daily Caller has decided this midterm was the “McRib” election, saying “Democracy is like the McRib: It comes and goes mysteriously every two years or so and it is confusing. And, like politicians, once the McRib is reintroduced with a big ad campaign, you remember months later why you didn’t like it in the first place.” Needless to say, with lingering threats by McDonald’s
With John Yoo in the host chair this week, the Three Whisky Happy Hour bartenders are feeling very happy indeed, and enjoy some four-finger pours of mostly American whisky ahead of Tuesday’s midterm election, which Lucretia and I think is going to be a wave of tsunami proportions. In addition to reviewing the still-volatile findings of the latest polls, we offer ranges of GOP pickups in the House and Senate (you’ll
With the World Series knotted at 2-2, and the mid-term election just days away, it seemed the perfect time for a classic format conversational podcast with Henry Olsen, the premier psephologist (trying saying that word fast just once, never mind seven times) of all things data-related when it comes to politics—and also baseball. We disagree about the decision to remove a starting pitcher working on a no-hitter into the 7th
That was an extraordinary five hours at the Supreme Court yesterday—twice as long as the oral arguments were originally scheduled to last—and the longer the argument went on, the worse it seemed to get for the defenders of raced-based admissions for higher education. Maybe that was by design on the part of Chief Justice Roberts, who was sarcastic in his open scorn for what he has previously called the “sordid
On Monday the Supreme Court takes up the Harvard and University of North Carolina affirmative action cases in what is the Super Bowl of civil rights litigation—arguably the biggest moment for the Court since Brown v. Board of Education. Naturally that is the focus of this episode, though we do briefly review a couple of the key news stories of the week, such as Fetterman’s collapse, the early spin on
Next Monday the Supreme Court takes up the Harvard and University of North Carolina affirmative action admissions cases, but before getting to the constitutional doctrine of the matter, there is a vexing matter that is often overlooked: if we’re going to be giving out racial preferences for admissions (and government contracts, etc), who counts as a member of which minority group? The government’s racial classifications turn out to be something
Lucretia and I give John Yoo the day off for this special interstitial (and abbreviated—only 30 minutes long) episode that we’ll just call the Two Whisky Happy Hour, in which Lucretia and I clear up some confusion from our most recent fast-paced episode, where a few main points got muddled. Several new listeners want us to clear up exactly what we mean by natural right, how natural right (especially its
We’re going to offer some bonus podcast content this week as there is a lot going on in the run-up to next Monday’s Supreme Court oral argument on the Harvard/UNC affirmative action admissions cases. We may even have a couple short episodes of the 3WHH on a couple of loose ends from last weekend’s show to respond to some listener questions and comments. But first, this special and highly newsworthy
Hoo boy! It’s bonus podcast week. This week’s fiery Three Whisky Happy Hour episode takes up the argument left over from last week about whether conservatism—and especially the new “national” variety that is sparking so much energy and enthusiasm right now—should conceive of its mission as Burkean in character—as “restorationist” or revolutionary. We cover a lot of ground, with Lucretia beating up on me for my suspicious Burkean sympathies, while
With John Yoo in the host chair for this week’s Three Whisky Happy Hour, we get off to a rocky start because a certain friend of ours made a favorable reference to Edmund Burke in a draft article shared with us in advance of publication, and Lucretia immediately went to DefCon1. To be continued next week! Anyway, after introducing our whiskies of the week, we get down to business with
For the left, we have arrived at juris-thermo-geddon just in time for this week’s Three Whisky shots. If the Ruskies don’t nuke us, then the Supreme Court is going to nuke the Constitution! (That’s if Senate Democrats don’t nuke the filibuster first.) The Doomsday Clocks at leftist institutions everywhere are striking midnight, yet somehow the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists “official” Doomsday Clock hasn’t budged, because apparently it is just a
This week offers a hybrid car of an episode—almost literally as it turns out—as John Yoo was traveling midweek when Lucretia and I gathered in person with Richard Samuelson to record the first half, reviewing his reflections on the significance of the “Washington Football Team” deciding to name themselves the “Commanders,” which rather fits the administrative state today, no? From there we go on to observe that just when you
We got together for this week’s Three Whisky Happy Hour a day early because I was supposed to be traveling again, though another complete airline FUBAR—the second in two weeks—scratched the trip after all. On top of it all, I was all out of whisky and Lucretia was working from her “no alcohol” campus office, so this episode lacks a certain fluidity that comes from our favorite libations. This week
Move over Calvin Coolidge: Grover Cleveland has a valid claim to being regarded as the most constitutionally faithful and fiscally frugal president since the Civil War—a case made splendidly in Troy Senik’s new biography that is being published today, A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland. What explains this outlier of a politician, who is so unlike Democrats before him, never mind all the
Today is Constitution Day, so naturally conversation at the 3WHH bar turned directly to the question of whether the state-mandated observances of Constitution Day in public colleges and universities are unconstitutional! Naturally there is division on this issue that maps with our ongoing division over the perspicacity of peated whisky. John (left) appears less than convinced here. From there we delve into the lively subject of the “National Conservatives,” who
With John Yoo sitting in the host chair this week, we decided to post this episode a day early partly on account of travel schedules (John and I are headed for the NatCon conference in Miami over the weekend), and partly because of the breaking news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Also because it turns out that the favorite whisky of King Charles III is reportedly Laphroaig 15,
The setting for Biden’s speech was so bad that it rivals Michael Dukakis’s tank ride for disastrous visuals, but that’s noting compared to the egregious content, which makes Jimmy Carter’s dreadful “malaise” speech seem like Demosthenes by comparison. Speaking of the demos, Biden’s speech can be seen an as especially inartful presumption of anti-republican principles that have been at the center of the Democratic Party since the 1850s if not
Once again the three-host Three Whisky Happy Hour didn’t get around to any whisky reviews, distracted once again by important breaking fast-food news. But the main first topic of this back-to-school special edition is the role education is playing in this election cycle. On the K-12 level, the same dynamic that propelled Glenn Youngkin to victory in Virginia last year seems to have legs, with conservatives sweeping school board elections
This classic format edition features a conversation between me and Alex Trembath, the deputy director of Breakthrough Institute, about the climate provisions of the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA), namely the massive increases in subsidies for “green energy” that normally summon a gag reflex from conservatives. I’ve written about the “Breakthroughvians,” as they are known, many times before on Power Line. They are progressives who dissent from or critique much of today’s progressive orthodoxy,
John Yoo assumes the rotating host chair for this week’s episode, since I was on the road much of the week and didn’t keep up with news that didn’t involve whisky (and mermaids). We review what to make of Liz Cheney’s huge defeat in Wyoming, and I gamely attempt to defend the shrewdness of Mitch McConnell from Lucretia’s relentless scorn. Then we turn to the still-unfolding story and fallout from
Glenn Ellmers has done it again, with a fresh provocation entitled “America Never Existed.” Say what?!?! Did he drink some 1619 Moonshine or something? Here’s his lede: It is possible (not certain, but possible) that within the next 20 years or so, the United States will no longer exist. . . The end of the American republic would most likely mean the end of self-government all over the globe—the beginning
With this episode of the Three Whisky Happy Hour, the great John Yoo joins up as a permanent co-host along with and Lucretia and me, having spent the last several weeks in Triple-A podcast instructional league while I was drinking my way across the British Isles. Perfect timing, since John worked in the Justice Department once upon a time, and has insights into its internal political dynamics, and as such
If I stay overseas any longer, it’s pretty clear the usurpation of the 3wHH will morph into the “The Three McRibb Happy Meal Podcast” if I don’t put a stop to it, so I made sure to disrupt this week’s episode once again from London, this time while finishing off a bottle of Poit Dhubh (potch-goo), as fits the real show. I didn’t stick around for long as it was
I managed to crash the podcast this week in a futile attempt to blunt the slow-rolling coup that Lucretia and John Yoo started last week in my absence, but by the miracle of the internet I did just that, dropping in for a few minutes between drams of whisky and dishes of haggis. We kick around the Joe Manchin news, whether the White House will invent a new term for
I can’t believe I left the car keys to the podcast sitting on the kitchen counter when I left for overseas, and now Lucretia and John Yoo have snatched them up and have usurped the usufructs of the 3WHH. After they finally get clear of their ritualistic but obligatory abuse of me, they get down to important subjects, like Philly cheese steaks and other delectables, President Biden’s latest ailments and
In this second half of my conversation with Geoff Shepard (part 1 here, if you missed it), we walk through the famous “smoking gun” Oval Office tape of June 23, 1972, which was the final straw that led to Nixon’s resignation in August, 1974. Except we’ve got the facts all wrong about what was actually being discussed. Shepard walks through the matter, and then moves on to his devastating evidence
The big news story this week was the appearance of the fetching Fawn Hall Cassidy Hutchinson before the WatergateJanuary 6 select committee, which somehow put us in the frame of mind of “Cassidy” by the renowned poetic duo of Weir/Barlow: Lost now on the country miles in his Cadillac I can tell by the way you smile, he is rolling back [to the West Wing] Come wash the nighttime clean
Writing about the Watergate scandal in the 1980s, political scientist John Marini said “The passage of time has not resulted in greater clarity concerning what it is we should have learned from the event, perhaps because we still lack an authoritative account of it.” Having reached the 50th anniversary of the most famous “burglary” in history, we may be coming closer to have a complete understanding of Watergate through the
Has there been a more momentous week for the Supreme Court ever? The Court went three-for-three on the key cases this week (Carson, on school choice; Bruen, on gun rights: and Dobbs, overturning Roe and Casey), not simply on the decision of the specific cases at hand, but the broader reasoning behind the decisions. Indeed this week may come some day to be be seen as the equivalent of the
When it comes to energy, is the Biden administration simply stupid, or blindly ideological? Yes—we should embrace the power of “and,” because these possibilities are not mutually exclusive. Indeed the Bidenistas appear to be both dumb and ideological. Yesterday I ran into energy expert extraordinaire Robert Bryce—we’re at a murky gathering behind enemy lines at an undisclosed location—and we sat down for a hearty rant about the derangements of the
With Lucretia and me still locked in mortal combat over how best to understand equality, equity, prudence and related issues, and divided as bitterly over Edmund Burke as we are over whisky styles (and with me recklessly wading in with a new piece on the Burke question just this week), this week’s episode brings on a neutral party to serve as a tie-breaker: Jean Yarbrough, the Gary M. Pendy Sr.
The penultimate chapter of my recent biography, M. Stanton Evans: Conservative Wit, Apostle of Freedom, summarizes the enduring literary, philosophical, and historical contributions of his last two books, The Theme Is Freedom, and Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Digging into the audio archives of the Philadelphia Society, I found two talks Stan gave—one in 1994 that displays his theological insight, and a second around 2004
A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary, to preserve the advantages of liberty, and to maintain a free government. —Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 This week’s conversation offers up some new whisky choices while continuing with a consideration of an issue raised but not fully sorted out in last week’s Happy
When Arizona Governor Doug Ducey appointed the noted libertarian lawyer Clint Bolick to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2016, the left freaked out (so what else is new), calling his appointment “chilling.” The Center for American Progress gasped, “Mr. Bolick has spent the last quarter century working — at times quite successfully — to make the law more friendly to anti-government conservatives. Thanks to an appointment, announced Wednesday by Arizona
Two favorite guests and friends join us at the bar for this week’s Three Whisky Happy Hour, to hash out bar fights they started in less reputable watering holes. Jeremy Carl argues in The American Conservative that there needs to be “A Republican Counter-Elite,” while Glenn Ellmers continues to spark controversy with his article a year ago, “Conservatism Is No Longer Enough,” and now, last week, a sequel (channeling his
The 20th anniversary is known as the “China anniversary,” and can you still use that if your predominant mode is breaking China? In any case, the Power Line crew assembled for a live (by Zoom) VIP webcast this week that featured a rare appearance by our technical director Joe Malchow, who is usually our behind-the-screen Wizard of Oz figure. Among other things, Joe shared a sacred relic, a personally signed
This week’s review of the news is more wide-ranging than usual, starting with the question of whether the release of Top Gun: Maverick will turn out to be one more small indicator that the backlash against the cultural left is gaining steam. After all, the left hated the original Top Gun in the 1980s, because it was said to be an emblem of Reaganite jingoism, and since the sequel involves attacking
We decided to just do a recap of the remarkable news of the week, because we learned that there is a reason we’ll miss Jen Psaki at the White House (plus a shout out to the forgotten Dee Dee Myers, who looks pretty good in retrospect); that the Anthony Scaramucci duration-in-office scale remains useful for marking the tenure in office of Nina Jankowicz (who nonetheless lasted longer than CNN+); that
There are so many things that seem . . . wrong about the 2020 election, and lot of listeners and readers have been asking about the new documentary film “2000 Mules,” which offers some visually compelling circumstantial evidence, along with a few examples of direct testimony of voting misbehavior in nursing homes and other locales. So Lucretia and I both took it in this week, and try to give an overview
So for an unprecedented third week in a row I sat in again for Peter Robinson on the flagship Ricochet podcast, prompting speculation that I must have Peter captive in a Silence of the Lambs dungeon or something. To be sure, I am fighting the urge to buy a preppy sweater and knot it around my neck (regular listeners will understand the reference), but it’s always fun to try to
Owing partly to travel schedules that prevent our normal and proper Friday evening happy hour to debrief the week, combined with the shocking leak of the prospective Supreme Court opinion in the Dobbs case, we decided to declare a special mid-week happy hour with Scott and John joining in the libations, along with a special guest, the noted Whisky-McRibb pairing expert, John Yoo, coming to us from outside his favorite
In light of the dramatic Supreme Court news today, coupled with the fact that Lucretia and I are both traveling later this week and through the weekend and therefore unable to do our usual Friday night Three Whisky Happy Hour debrief, we’re going to do a live (by Zoom) podcast taping tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4 pm Pacific time/7 pm Eastern/6 pm Central, open to all comers. It gets better! John
It’s Podcastpalooza Saturday! I really do need to join Podcasters Anonymous or something, because this week—the last of the semester, woo hoo!—I’ve hardly been five feet away from a microphone for longer than 10 seconds. First up is our own weekly offering, the Three Whisky Happy Hour. This is the week the world was introduced to the O’Brien of the 21st century, Ms. Nina Jankowicz, aka the “Mary Poppins of disinformation”
Now that my biography of M. Stanton Evans is out, time to go back and take in Stan in his own words in podcast form. A previous podcast featured several of Stan’s greatest comedy chops, so this one highlights some of his serious work. I decided to highlight here just four aspects of many that draw chiefly from one of his enduring books that everyone should have on their shelf
Today’s remedial education opportunity offers my guest appearance on The New Thinkery podcast that is hosted by Alex Priou, Greg McBrayer, and David Bahr. The trio likes to do a deep dive into a classic text with their guests, and we chose Mad Max Weber’s famous 1919 lecture “Politics as a Vocation” as the hub for a wide-ranging discussion. To be sure, my 3WHH partner Lucretia doesn’t think much of
Jordan Peterson took the intellectual world by storm in 2016, bursting on the scene in a way not seen by a non-leftist thinker since Allan Bloom in the late 1980s. His idiosyncratic mix of Jungian psychology, existential philosophy, and common-sense self-help advice (also lobsters!) as expressed in his best-seller 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, is hard to sort out at times. Glenn Ellmers, one of our favorite
Not to worry—the Three Whisky Happy Hour will be out tomorrow morning as usual, with a special guest, but for today’s listening vacuum, I sat in for Peter Robinson on the flagship Ricochet podcast today, where John Yoo joined us to break down the aftermath of the mask mandate ruling, and the unfolding drama of Disney in Florida. You can listen to the episode here, or you can wander over
Suddenly energy security and geopolitical risk are back on everyone’s mind again, so I decided to consult a true expert on the subject—Terry Hallmark of the University of Houston, for a classic podcast format conversation. Terry currently teaches ancient, medieval and early modern political philosophy, American political thought, American foreign policy and energy studies in the Honors College at the U. of H, but in a prior life was an
Actually, there are two podcasts today on the chosen topic, one by the usual home team, and a second by Richard Reinsch of the Heritage Foundation.
Freshly resupplied with Laphraoig and Glen Livet, Lucretia assumes hosting duties for this week’s episode of the Three Whisky Happy Hour to examine—and cross-examine—me about my biography of M. Stanton Evans: Conservative Wit, Apostle of Freedom, which comes out officially on Monday.
Lucretia walks me through how I came to know Evans (41 years ago now!), and why I think Evans is “the perfect conservative,” both in theoretical and practical terms.
In addition to his legacy as a tutor for a generation of young journalists and writers whose ranks include Ann Coulter, Greg Gutfeld, John Fund (and me!), Evans was instrumental in several turning points in the conservative movement in the 1960s and 1970s (such as providing desperate life support to Reagan’s faltering campaign in 1976), as well as writing The Sharon Statement, the founding document of Young Americans for Freedom.
As a thinker, Evans was early on to the problem we today call the “administrative state,” as well as critiquing in counter-intuitive ways the flabby anti-Communism of establishment liberalism. His mode of inquiry is very useful to our circumstances today.
Worth listening all the way to the very end, where we have included a short clip of Stan telling “con law jokes” (no kidding), set to the backdrop of his favorite Elvis tune, “Suspicious Minds.”
As always, listen here, or slide your podcast mug down the bar to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/03/Ep-320-31922-8.23-AM.mp3 Second, I once recall running into Stan at a conference in the late 1990s where a keynote speaker had gone on for nearly 90 excruciating minutes—before dinner—which had the captive audience (who were more like hostages) squirming with hunger and despair by the end. But Stan, in his usual deadpan, said to me: “I was enthralled. I wanted more.”
If you want more of me on Stan, Richard Reinsch of the Heritage Foundation is out today with his interview about the book on the Daily Signal podcast. (And if you aren’t familiar with Richard’s long form interviews, which he conducted for a long time for Liberty Fund before moving to Heritage recently, you’re missing one of the great practitioners of the format.)
Prof. Charles Kesler, editor of the Claremont Review of Books, and author, most recently, of The Crisis of the Two Constitutions, recently visited Berkeley to give a lecture on his book, and sit down with John Yoo and me to discuss what we’re calling the “Claremont Question,” which is really just a headline for several controversies.
The largest is the “Trump question” and the character of nationalism and populism generally, but we also discuss the controversies over the 2020 election, January 6, and the role of our friend and Claremont colleague John Eastman, who is being dragged through the mud by the vengeful left.
Although we recorded in the early afternoon, our conviviality might make listeners conclude that we had started in with cocktails rather early, but not true!
And our exit music this week is appropriate to our theme: Jonathan Richman’s “Government Center.”
You know what to do now: listen here, or wander on down to the “Sproul Plaza” of conservative freedom of thought—our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/03/Ep-319-31722-10.33-AM.mp3
Lucretia and I review the week’s news for this episode of the Three Whisky Happy Hour (despite my being completely out of whisky in a fit of incompetence), and conclude that there’s a gathering storm of doom for the left. First, the incompetence of the Biden Administration from top to bottom is impossible to disguise effectively much longer. The attempt to blame inflation on Putin (because they can’t blame it on Trump after claiming for so long that it was merely a “transitory” supply chain issue) is destined to fail, and the infelicity of his pronouncements on the Ukraine crisis are surely unnerving our allies in Europe. (And that’s before he sent Kah-maaaallla over to underscore the shallowness of the administration.) Just wait till the recession hits in a few months. I lay out a few scenarios about how and why the coming recession may be one of the most unique and difficult to remedy in our history. Even Jimmy Carter belatedly figured out inflation in 1979, but the Biden crew seem imperious to experience.
Beyond the White House, there are scenes of a leftist crackup taking shape. Just as the left greeted the news of Asians defecting to the Republican Party as a sign that Asians had bought into “white supremacy,” the evidence that Hispanics are defecting from Democrats to the Republican Party in growing numbers has prompted the predictable response: Hispanics are becoming “white nationalists.” Seriously: Axios says so.
And if that wasn’t tedious enough, as reported Friday, the ancient tourist attraction at Pompeii in Italy has gone woke, and is now emphasizing the role of race, class, gender, slavery, violence, and climate change in its representation of the most important aspects of the abrupt climate change event of 70 AD. Can you get more tedious than this? No: none more tedious. They went to eleven.
Finally, we ask the big identity politics question of the week: How can we observe “Women’s History Month” if there are no such thing as “women” any more—only “birthing persons”?
You know what to do now: listen here, or row your way over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/03/Ep-318-31222-9.46-AM.mp3
The Ukraine crisis isn’t going away, and with recriminations on all sides making the rounds here at home, it seemed propitious to check in with Michael Anton, who, among other things, served on the National Security Council in two administrations. To say Michael is not happy with the state of play here at home is an understatement, and Lucretia and I fully join in.
It doesn’t take long for us to wander on to other territory, settling on the terminal confusion and weakness of the Republican Party establishment. But what else is new?
This first taping of the Three Whisky Happy Hour during Lent, however, finds two of us without whisky during this episode, though I am petitioning to have this podcast be declared an official Feast Day event, so that we can exempt future tapings from the rigors of piety.
Exit music this week is “Fool’s Overture” from Supretramp. The lyrics are a close enough fit for our perilous moment.
Listen here, or get a dispensation from your local parish to sojourn over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/03/Ep-317-3422-9.47-PM.mp3
Waller Newell
In a sequel of sorts to the previous post on “Putin and the American Right,” this short podcast takes up the common theme making the rounds that Vladimir Putin must be crazy or has badly miscalculated his interests, and therefore is extremely dangerous. In fact the problem may be much worse than that. Putin is not merely a tyrant as understood by the classics (though not modern political science or theorists of international relations, who no longer recognize tyranny as a distinct political phenomenon); he has thrown in with a quasi-religious view of the purpose and destiny of a “slavic” Russia that perhaps makes Russia more dangerous than the old Soviet Union in some ways. Its hatred of America now extends beyond “oppressive capitalism” to the liberal idea itself.
These are some of the themes worked out several years ago by Waller Newell, professor of political science and philosophy at Carlton University in Canada, and author of several books on the subject, including Tyrants: A History of Power, Injustice, and Terror; Tyranny: A New Interpretation; and the forthcoming Tyranny and Revolution: Rousseau to Heidegger. (And if you haven’t time for a book, take in his short Tablet article from a few days ago, “Vladimir Putin, Tyrant.”)
Listen here, or over at our totally non-tyrannical hosts at Ricochet. And not to worry: we’ll be back tomorrow with a regular edition of the Three Whisky Happy Hour, with a very special guest lined up.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/03/Ep-316-3422-3.07-PM.mp3
The “fog of war” is even foggier in the age of 24/7 news and social media, so it is impossible to know what the hell is happening on the ground in the Ukraine, let alone in Moscow. High time, then, to check in with Col. Austin Bay, author of Cocktails From Hell and other books, Creators Syndicate columnist, and contributor to StrategyPage.
I was delighted to discover that we’re both fans of Halford Mackinder’s classic essay from 1904, “The Geographical Pivot of History,” even though both of us blanked on his name during our conversation.
We work through the key questions: Is Putin nuts, or just a megalomaniac? How long can Ukraine hold out? What additional support (specifically arms) should the US and NATO supply to Ukraine?
We’ll have more on this subject in coming days. Stay tuned.
Listen here, or bivouac over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/03/Ep-315-3222-6.12-PM.mp3
For this week’s Three Whisky Happy Hour, the intrepid Lucretia added to her legend by venturing into the asylum at Berkeley to record this episode in person with Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett about his new book (co-authored with Evan Bernick), The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit.
To remind listeners, Barnett argued the Gonzalez v. Raich case that challenged the unlimited reach of the Commerce Clause, and was one of the principal architects of NFIB v. Sebelius that challenged Obamacare back in 2012.
Before getting into the main topic of the 14th Amendment, we open with some intellectual history, as Prof. Barnett began his legal career as a prosecutor, and taught contracts in law school before being drawn into constitutional law mid-career. Since then he has published a series of highly regarded books that have helped revitalize constitutional originalism.
From there we venture into some of the history of the 14th Amendment, as well as Prof. Barnett’s thorough tour in the book of contemporary understandings—and misunderstandings—of this crucial amendment. His reconstruction of this Reconstruction Era amendment deserves to take its place as one of the pre-eminent works on this subject. (Bonus: he also supplied the trademark Ricochet sign off at the very end of the recording, so listen through the exit music for a treat.)
Oh, I almost forgot: we recorded in John Yoo’s office at Berkeley Law, and he loitered in the background, mostly heckling and pouring Maker’s Mark in our coffee. The things we put up with.
You know what to do now: listen here, or file for an injunction to listen over with our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/02/Ep-314-22622-7.59-AM.mp3
I decided to post up this week’s edition a day early also since some of the news items in it are perishable. This week we’re joined once again by the historian, political theorist, and borscht-belt comedian Richard Samuelson to break the 3WHH deadlock on “the FDR Question.” But fear not weary listeners, we dispose of that question in short order, and move on to other things. (“Team Lucretia” will be pleased with his tie-breaking verdict.)
Our other topics include the San Francisco school board recall, how the latest perversity of environmental law has suddenly landed hard on UC Berkeley in ways the left never anticipated, and of course a few recent COVID highlights, including especially the perverse incentives that lead CDC and “public health” bureaucrats to want to keep COVID panic going forever.
Finally, we end with some reminiscences of P.J. O’Rourke including a few of our favorite classic lines of his, and also the surprising advice he once gave Steve about public speaking.
So listen here, or mask up over at our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/02/Ep-313-21822-7.54-AM.mp3
Even without the Canadian truckers providing the St. Crispin’s Day rally point against the Branch COVIDians, you have the feeling that this was the week the edifice started to crumble, when our betters started to contemplate the fate of Nicolae Ceaușescu when they look in the mirror. The science changed, you say? I think that must mean opinion polling science.
Lucretia and I also have a polite but spirited exchange over Mitch McConnell and his comments on the January 6 RNC resolution of censure for Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger (two guesses who’s on each side, and the first one doesn’t count), and we also have updates on my progress with the 12-Step recovery program for my Deficient Meat Loaf Appreciation Syndome. (There’s been a short hiccup in the steps because I discovered, to Lucretia’s dismay, a significant prog rock connection to Meat Loaf’s career breakout moment!) And we are able to announce some good news about the worrisome rumors of supply chain issues for certain peaty single malts.
So listen here, or catch an 18-wheeler over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/02/Ep-312-21122-4.15-PM.mp3
Hollywood has been liberal to far-left for decades, but in recent years it has become fully Hollywoke. Christian Toto, proprietor of the invaluable Hollywood-in-Toto website, is out with a new book surveying the wreckage of Hollywokeness: Virtue Bombs: How Hollywood Got Woke and Lost Its Soul.
I come to the conclusion that wokeism in Hollywood is arguably worse than wokeism on the university campus, because it is much less transparent. While Hollywood makes endless movies about the supposed terror of the McCarthy-era “blacklist,” today’s Hollywood blacklisting against anything not fully woke is much more widespread and insidious.
We do look for some glimmers of hope, from new independent film production efforts from our friends at the Daily Wire and other enterprises, to rumblings in the Hollywood underground that some studio executives may be starting to get a clue that their relentless wokeness is bad for business.
Christian also has an excellent podcast of his own, Right on Hollywood, but of course listen to this one first! Which you can do right here, or wander over to the screening room at Ricochet. (And if you listen to the very end, you’ll get some custom Ghostbusters content.)
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/02/Ep-311-21122-8.53-AM.mp3 And yes, the Three Whisky Happy Hour will be up tomorrow morning as usual. Cheers!
Last week’s episode with Conrad Black defending his pro-FDR thesis generated a lot of reader interest and comments, so Lucretia and I decided to return to the boxing ring to argue out the matter de novo. It will not be a surprise to regular listeners to hear that Lucretia is not persuaded, even by the serious arguments of another of our favorite thinkers after Lord Black, the late scholar John Adams Wettergreen, who argued that FDR’s liberalism and policy architecture were different in degree and kind from the liberalism of the 1960s and after.
In fact, fans of Team Lucretia will likely enjoy this smackdown, though we do save time at the end for some quick reflections on the week’s main news, including our handicap of who has the greatest faceplant this week: Facebook, Zucker or Zuckerberg, or Caryn Johnson (better known as “Whoopi Goldberg”), and some worrying news about whisky! (Plus an update on my 12-Step treatment for my DMLAS.
I get my revenge at the end, though, with exit music from Prog Rock legend Gentle Giant.
So listen here, or lace up your gloves over at the Ricochet boxing ring.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/02/Ep-310-2522-10.19-AM.mp3
Almost completely ignored by conservative media (never mind the mainstream media), there is a growing generation gap emerging within young conservatives that in some ways resembles the “generation gap” of the 1960s which saw the new left “hippie” generation emerge from liberal homes, as Midge Decter explained in her early book Liberal Parents, Radical Children.
Now it is happening on the right. The postwar conservative movement that we baby boomers grew up with is not attractive or relevant to the generation coming of age now. I started picking up on this story with Michael Anton’s long essay almost three years ago on the phenomenon of the underground but highly popular book Bronze Age Mindset, which, it must be said, is a very different book from The Conservative Mind or The Road to Serfdom. Then I started following a group of mostly younger conservatives who participate actively on Twitter, and sometimes in live chats on the “Spaces” platform that Twitter has launched. Most of this younger cohort participate online under a pseudonym, because in the age of cancel culture their politically incorrect views, and moreover their transgressive humor (they actually make George Floyd jokes, which is worse than Helen Keller or Anne Frank jokes), would get them instantly censored if not worse.
I reached out to one of the ring leaders of this circle, “Athenian Stranger,” on Twitter (@athens_stranger) and rounded five of these mostly younger figures to come on this podcast to explain their disgust with our “woke republic,” and their disappointment with the ineffective resistance of the established conservative movement. Since I’m a stodgy baby boomer, I recruited Glenn Ellmers, author of The Soul of Politics, to join me as the special guest-host for the episode. He and Joshua Lippincott have just this week published an important article about this topic, “Boomers, Meet the Based.”
The other four participants are “Astral” (who goes by @Astrikos10 on twitter), Aionian, “Lucky” (Resurrected Luck), and Doug Kuular.
Settle in for a long conversation. We had some technical difficulties with recording this large a group, and thus there are some abrupt edits throughout on account of sudden crashes and disconnections. But it couldn’t be helped. Glenn and I do a short “postgame show” at the end to try to tie some loose ends together.
The episode is quite long as there is a lot to cover. Do give it a try though. Think of it as what a classroom seminar with a group of bright conservative students would be like today. As always, listen here, or hobble over in your walker to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/02/Ep-309-2322-8.34-AM.mp3
As regular listeners will know, Lucretia and I have debated “the FDR question” a lot, amidst a flurry of new reconsiderations among a few thinkers and places on the right who think we should hold FDR in higher esteem. But over and over again in this running argument we keep coming back to Conrad Black’s magisterial biography, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom .
While there have been several serious right-leaning thinkers over the years who have offered favorable views of FDR, Black’s is the most capacious and also the most curious. And so we thought, why not go to the source himself, and hash it out with the best. To our great delight, Lord Black accepted our invitation (though insisting we call him Conrad), and hence, this episode’s wide ranging conversation, which is as much about how political life is to be understood as it as about FDR.
Though Lucretia is a yuuuuge Conrad Black fan (as am I), she isn’t entirely convinced by his argument, and so we’re going to go mano-a-mano next week about the subject.
We also wander off into several other issues on the minds of everyone, such as whether Conrad thinks Trump should run again in 2024, and also whether he thinks American conservatives overestimate Winston Churchill.
It was a splendid conversation, worthy of the best single-malt you can lay your hands on.
So listen here, or ride your maple-leaf over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-308-12822-10.20-AM.mp3 P.S.: To swag, or not to swag, that is the question. (Swigging we’ve already figured out.)
After we recorded and posted part 1 of this conversation last week, the news came out that the Supreme Court will hear the Harvard/University of North Carolina affirmative action admissions cases.
This makes a perfect launching point for the second half of the conversation, where we jump in exactly where we left off in part 1. Charles and Steve Sailer had just reviewed the falling crime rates in Hispanic communities, and we resume here with Charles bluntly and directly arguing that affirmative action is the 50-ton elephant in the room, and not just in college admissions. From there we turn to the subject of education, and take up the changing views of meritocracy, and suggest alternatives for preserving excellence in education in a new era where the familiar screens of the SAT and other achievement tests are being quickly abandoned. Charles and Steve have perspectives on these subjects that may surprise listeners.
And finally, we end with a short balance sheet of sorts on whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the country, and, as any serious person should do, find reasons for both. (Charles, for example, finds great hope in “Ted Lasso.”
In keeping with my habit of trying to find exit music roughly related to the topic of the episode, this week I lay in “School” by Supertramp, one of the most idiosyncratic of the 70s era prog-rock bands (they have another tune—”Fool’s Overture”—which includes an excerpt from a Churchill speech in 1940), which includes this relevant lyric:
After school is over you’re playing in the park
Don’t be out too late, don’t let it get too dark
They tell you not to hang around and learn what life’s about
And grow up just like them, won’t you let it work it out
And you’re full of doubt
(You just knew I had to work in some prog rock again at some point.)
And for listeners to our companion format, the Three Whisky Happy Hour, you’re in for a treat this week, as we welcome to the bar tomorrow a very special guest: Conrad Black. And it’s on, as we have a lively debate over “the FDR question,” since Conrad, unlike most conservatives, is largely a fan. I don’t think it will be a spoiler if I say that Lucretia is not persuaded?
You know what to do now: Listen here, or head over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-307-12722-10.24-AM.mp3
The idea for this episode was born on Twitter. Someone wondered if Charles Murray would be willing to do a podcast with journalist Steve Sailer, who, like Charles, is willing to confront openly the most delicate aspects of race and class in America—and gets the same treatment from liberals everywhere: complete demonization.
I offered to host, and Charles and Steve, who have never met, agreed.
Well I asked a lot of questions, by mostly just tried to get out of the way and let Charles and Steve talk, and really work through some questions at leisure. We talked so long that this became a two-part episode (with part 2 coming next week).
We start here with some general observations about “the great awokening” of the last decade, and how the roots of the madness we saw in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020 were well under way years before. What were those roots, and how did Obama figure into this story? The consequences of substituting “equity” for equality are too obvious to need mentioning, but we discuss them anyway.
The second half, next week, will examine some of the more specific aspects of education today, starting with the current attack on meritocracy, which Charles and Steve agree, paradoxically, is not without it merits!
Listen here, or over with our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-306-12322-11.24-AM.mp3 P.S. Here’s the podcast episode with Charles from four years ago I mention in the introduction, “How Charles Murray Became Charles Murray.”
JOHN adds: Charles Murray is of course a hero, but I am also glad to see that Steve is talking with Steve Sailer. I haven’t kept up with Sailer’s writing systematically, but have found him to be a perceptive and entertaining commentator. I still remember his article in National Review titled “Why Lesbians Aren’t Gay,” which I learn from this tweet was his first magazine article:
My first magazine article, 25 years ago in "National Review," was "Why Lesbians Aren't Gay:"https://t.co/WSylnDtkNT
I assumed then that once I pointed out the pervasive patterns distinguishing male and female homosexuals, that the world would be less ignorant.
I was naive. https://t.co/tHirrTDcWC
— Steve Sailer (@Steve_Sailer) July 12, 2019
If you follow the link in the tweet, you can read the NR article at Unz.
Time to sign off now, and listen to the podcast.
This week Lucretia really takes it to me for my advanced case of DMLAS (Deficient Meat Loaf Appreciation Syndrome—and we’re not talking the baked dish here), which surely must make the next edition of the DSM.
But from there we quickly pivot to a recap and demolition of the highlights of this week’s news, starting with Biden’s disastrous press conference, but moving quickly to the heart of the matter—that Biden’s errors stem from the luminous lightweights he listens to that have appealed to his narcissism. (Yes, we’re pointing at you, Jon Meacham! Meacham is reported to be the person who wrote Biden’s appalling lines about how everyone who doesn’t agree with him is Bull Connor.)
From there we make what we can of the momentous decision of M&Ms to go woke, to Weber grills for their meat loaf apology, and some reflections on the wider meaning of Jordan Peterson’s resignation from the University of Toronto. In between you’ll get some dish (but not meat loaf!) on NPR, some advice on proper apology form from Monty Python, and custom bumper music at both ends from Meat Loaf. Plus two teasers about two upcoming podcasts featuring illustrious guests. Pour yourself a double and settle in for an especially fast-paced episode.
You know what to do now—listen here, or shake and bake your way over to our hosts at Ricochet (but listen to Meat Loaf along the way).
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-305-12222-10.43-AM.mp3
Both Steve and Lucretia get through three different whiskys each in this gala episode, recorded with a live audience on Zoom, celebrating the Biden-Harris administration’s worst week in office yet, though as the noted political analyst Homer Simpson might say, “their worst week—so far.”
It took Jimmy Carter three years to hit bottom in the summer of 1979, when even The New Republic declared that he had “packed it in” with his pathetic performance in the “malaise” speech. It’s only taken Biden one year to sink to Carter-levels of incompetence and public disapproval. At least he had a plausible Vice President, even if he was a bit dull (get it—Walter Mondull, as Rush used to call him). Mondale, by the way, considered resigning in July of 1979 he was so distraught at Carter’s collapse. Sadly we have no such hope that our current Vice President might consider the same step.
And if that wasn’t enough, we got the Hillary 2024! boomlet. I’m with her, but at this point, what difference does it make? (Ba-dum-bump-crash.)
But listen through to the very end where we also highlight our Hero of the Week. And also for the cameo appearance from Billy Madison, as opposed to the usual Madison we have every week (James).
You know what to do now: listen here, or borrow Stacey Abrams’s newly serviced car (we explain in the episode) and drive over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-304-11522-8.51-AM.mp3
Dr. Roy Spencer
This Power Line Classic format podcast features Dr. Roy Spencer of NASA and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Spencer is one of the nation’s most accomplished climate scientists, having won awards for his work developing the satellite monitoring system that provides some of the best weather and climate trend data available. But because he is modest about what climate science actually knows about the future, he dissents from the extreme apocalypse scenarios beloved of the doomsayers of environmental religion.
Google has recently demonetized his website, Dr.RoySpencer.com, claiming that his site makes “unreliable and harmful claims” about climate, but without offering a single specific example. It is another clear-cut case of ideological censorship by big tech. I decided to catch up with Roy to see whether Google has offered any explanation, and also to ask for his latest perspective on recent climate science assessments. (Not to be missed his is fine book Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies That Hurt the Poor.)
Since Dr. Spencer has expertise in satellites, we also talk about the recently launched Webb telescope, which promises to produce major new data on the universe, but also likely many more new question and uncertainties (sounds like climate models, doesn’t it?), and we end with a few recollections about his friendship with Rush Limbaugh.
You know what to do now: listen here, or follow your satellite GPS coordinates over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-303-11322-1.23-PM.mp3
We open this first episode of the 3WHH of 2022 with the existential question: why is Lucretia so mean to me? Actually she has a really good reason, but you have to get all the way to the end for the reward—or is it a redemption? (I do attempt to mellow Lucretia with a Snickers Bar of an op-ed in the middle, with some success.)
In any case, we try to offer some original and comparative perspective on the relentless leftist narrative about January 6, which somehow reminds me of . . . climate change. (Doesn’t everything? You’ll just have to listen to learn the parallel, but it works!)
From there we continue on to the collapse of the Biden Administration’s entire COVID policy, which sees the White House trying to manage a withdrawal from the field every bit as disastrous and embarrassing as the withdrawal from Afghanistan. As with the January 6 “issue,” we engage in a spirited debate on how best to think about the scene: should we be appalled, disgusted, or outraged? (Of course, this isn’t multiple choice: you can be All of the Above, and more.) Among other things, there’s a lot of good schadenfreude to be enjoyed at how badly Democrats are alienating their own constituents.
Cheers! (This week’s bonhomie brought to you by Rittenhouse Rye and Macallan 15.)
Listen here, or flee the latest climate change-caused storm over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-302-1722-7.20-PM.mp3
I’ve been meaning for the longest time to post up for listeners the lecture I gave in Budapest (cue scary Dracula music here) last summer on the topic, “What’s Going on in America?” And with the left’s Ahab-like obsession with the “insurrection” of last January 6, this seems as good a day as any to draw back and look at the deeper currents driving the discontents of our era. My summary answer in this “Power Line classic format” episode is: America is having a nervous breakdown. Slightly longer summary: we’ve seen this before in many ways, and sometimes worse, such as in the 1960s.
However, some things about the present moment are much more ominous than in the 1960s, such as how leftist postmodern dogma, which is indistinguishable from nihilism, has settled at the core of nearly all of America’s institutions, including big business and the churches. Recovery from this will be more difficult than it was in the 1970s and 1980s.
I still intend to turn this lecture into a longer article, but I’d love to hear from readers on this thesis and answer the question: should my next book be “America’s Nervous Breakdown”? Or would a book on reviving breakdancing be better?
So listen here, or matriculate over to our hosts at Ricochet.
https://mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/Ep-301-1622-3.03-PM.mp3