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Got the full band back together for this one and we’ve got Scott Adams on base (see what we did there?). You know Scott as the Dilbert dude, but you also know that he’s been a staunch supporter of the President since the ’16 primaries. So we wanted to see where Scott’s head is at in the midst of impeachment and well, he does not disappoint. Also, Mike Bloomberg writes a big check, and Ricochet member @cowgirl wins the coveted Lileks Post of The Week for her post Service…As in: When I’m Dead, Use this Music at My Service. What’s your service song? Tell us in the comments.
Also, we’ve got a new Long Poll question for you, and finally, the new Disney + streaming service wants you to know that “older movies have ‘Outdated Cultural Depictions’”. OK, so do most people. Got a problem with that?
Music from this week’s episode: End of The Line by The Traveling Wilburys
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At least Gary just presented that as a missing option, without himself definitely predicting a Republican “wave” in the Senate leading to conviction and removal. Maybe that’s farther than even he is willing to go.
But he certainly did predict Klobuchar-Buttigieg winning the general election next year.
Adams backs up his arguments with reason. It’s not just the “do as I say (which of course isn’t what *I* do!) because I’m famous” that you get from actors, musicians, etc.
An economically (and otherwise) strong etc America, even with lousy (at least to some people) foreign policy, is still better for the world than a weak America with some kind of foreign policy genius who can’t really do anything because, y’know, their socialism collapsed the economy.
And if you’re going to vote for (or not vote against) someone who you think has “foreign policy experience” (even if their experience is all wrong/bad) but whose domestic agenda would ruin the economy, because you think foreign policy is the most important thing, well, I’ll call that irresponsible and crazy.
Re: Service song.
I’ve been planning on a Viking funeral for some time now. Recently I got a firm commitment from the Beloved Niece. (I believe “O, yes, Uncle, you’ll be getting your Viking funeral. Sooner than you think. Word on it.” counts.) I suppose the time has come for more than vague outlines.
Now, should I find myself upon my deathbed surrounded by tearful loved ones, I want Bach’s cantata Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? (Dearest God, when will I die?) (BMV 8) playing in the background for calming effect (upon me)*. That would probably work for the bereaved loitering on the pier, too, but there would inevitably be some smart-ass remarks along the lines of “Asked and answered! HAHAHA,” so I’ll go with Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir (We thank you, God, we thank you) (BMV 29). That should make everyone happy.
For the flaming finale I want:
(I Knew the Bride, The Race is On, Queen of Hearts, Girls Talk, Get Out of Denver, really any Dave Edmunds (,Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Rodney Crowell, or George Jones) would do.)
*Not my preferred exit method. The last word I want to hear coming out of my mouth is “BUS!”
Actually things are looking up in Ukraine.
The ironic result of the Russian invasion has been a rebirth of unity and patriotism; it didn’t hurt that the most pro-Russian parts of the country were peeled off.
Recently there were howls of rage in Moscow as most Orthodox parishes in Ukraine seceded from the Moscow-headed Orthodox Church to join the Ukrainian church.
In spite of the war, the economy has been growing for several years.
Also, I think Adams has posited elsewhere – although it didn’t come up in that much detail here, James touched on it a bit, but not quite as far – that Trump doesn’t really need to expand his “base,” and indeed could win in 2020 even with a smaller “base,” because he was “unknown”/”untested” in 2016 but now is not. So a lot of people who might ordinarily vote Republican but who were unwilling to vote for him in 2016 just because he was a mystery, can now feel safe to do so. And maybe some who would ordinarily vote Democrat, because – as James mentioned – they see how crazy the Democrat CANDIDATES are.
And Peter should be careful about saying “I don’t think too well.” That’s just asking to be excerpted and posted all over.
It’s a shame that Rob interrupted James’ “explanation” of the Scooter Libby matter before James arrived at the point (at least I think that’s where he was headed) that it was basically a sham and Libby was essentially convicted of a crime that the prosecutor (Patrick Fitzgerald) apparently already knew was actually committed by someone else (Richard Armitage).
In the regular world, that kind of prosecutorial misconduct can – and does, but maybe not often enough – have consequences for the prosecutor. But apparently not for Fitzgerald.
Ah, the brilliant Mr. Sullivant. One of the greats, highly influential, and, I fear, entirely forgotten.
I am always surprised by modern cartoonists who seem to know little about the genre pre-Peanuts. The legions of cartoonists who filled the pages in the teens might as well be cavemen painting hands on walls, and the rise of the comics page in the 20s with its serials and domestic strips interspersed with wonderfully rendered single-panel comics doesn’t seem important either. I don’t get it.
There seems to be a “rule” these days that single-panel cartoons can only have a single line of “dialogue.” At least, outside of the comic itself. That’s pretty limiting. Maybe it’s time to break the rule?
I’m talking about how much free general bandwidth a president has. That is my point.
I understand what everybody saying else wise.
The world begins the day we are born, and few there are now who were born when Hogarth and Gilray were active.
What is with all the indrawn breaths on the recording? Was everyone wearing a Darth Vader outfit?
“Clueless and clumsy” Trump lacks civic experience. This is not debatable. So far so good.
“Fishing expedition” what they are doing is really oversight that should be done by the Foreign Affairs Committee. They give it the fake name of impeachment to screw Trump and the Republicans. It’s outrageous.
Being a bit older than Peter Robinson, I remember the Watergate hearings as a young, recently married adult, briefly back in California with my Japanese wife, who was much dismayed and bewildered to see us all huddled round the television, jabbering away in a language she hardly understood. I was at the time very much on the left–and hated Nixon with a passion, as did we all, very much in the spirit of lockstep anti-Trumpists today. I had not been in America for some years and so marveled at how the media had moved in “our” direction. For someone wont to curse the “capitalist” press, it was more than a bit embarrassing… When the White House taping system was revealed by Alexander Butterfield, we were all more than excited: we were shamelessly gleeful…But history does not repeat except, except, skipping the tragedy, as farce. My guess from afar is that the impeachment show will prove to be a disaster for the Democrats and that Trump will indeed win in a landslide a year from now. In any case, Deo volente, I’ll be listening to the Ricochet Podcast.
I remember 1974. By August 1974, it would have been suicide for Republican Senators to vote for Nixon.
IF it becomes clear that the only reason for Trump to suspend the congressionally passed aid to Ukraine solely to knee-cap Biden, then Trump will be convicted and removed. That has not been proven. Trump still has plausible deniability. But that playable deniability is being chipped away.
Can you please direct me to where I allegedly said that? I certainly think that they would be a strong ticket. I just don’t recall saying that.
I found Scott Adams to be rather compelling, cogent and concise. I am glad that I listened to him. VDH ignores Trump’s foibles and/or character defects. Scott Adams accepts them, and explains them.
If you get the foreign policy wrong you will not have a strong economy. A “foreign policy genius” would not be a socialist because he/she would have seen what socialism does. You know, they might have actually read a book or two and have some idea of history.
Agreed. Voting for someone who has foreign policy experience that is all wrong/bad would be stupid. So is voting for someone who hasn’t got a clue and makes foreign policy to please an equally ignorant base after consulting his gut.
I don’t think that’s true, certainly not as starkly as you put it. Trump had no experience with foreign policy as a government actor, but surely he had plenty of experience as a businessman conducting large scale transactions in foreign countries, with foreign entities, no? Further, as I recall a common complaint from his critics was that he was forced to use foreign banks to finance his domestic projects because American banks were fed up with his behavior as a borrower. Foreign banks are regulated by foreign banking laws that presumably align with foreign governments’ policies. Indirectly Trump had to have had more foreign policy experience in 2016 than any of the named Democrat 2020 candidates.
Since no one has bothered to answer the question, I will: GHWBush is the last time we elected a foreign policy president. He
But what a great foreign policy he implemented! He got over a hundred nations to agree to, and pay for(!) a military invasion of Iraq, in order to … uh, … free occupied Kuwait and … and … uh, … leave.
Trump surely knew that the foundation of any effective foreign policy is to promote America’s interests, because a strong America is better for the world than a weak America. He might even have known that whereas America’s interests may be permanent, its allies are not.
There is so much to know and process it’s unbelievable. That is just a fact. I have no idea how anyone figures out who to trust or listen to on that stuff.
I don’t disagree.
There’s also much to know and process when securing financing from the First National Bank of Philbovia (among other potential creditors, in Chintola and Hopaskipaland) for your multi-use real estate development project in Kreplachistan.
I can imagine a lot, but I can’t imagine any combination of KamaBernTulsi WarrBookButtichar navigating such minefields, and I know that none of those Democrat 2020 presidential candidates has any experience with foreign policy as a government actor – with the prominent exception of Joe Biden, who has been spectacularly wrong on every foreign policy stance he’s ever taken.
Heck, is any one of the others even on a foreign relations committee?
PLUS – and it’s a big plus – Trump doesn’t hate America, which figures large in American foreign policy. Among Democrat presidential candidates, only Tulsi can make that claim.
continued due to word count limit…
I’ve copied it back for you before, just for the previous week’s show I think. (Which also means it’s too late to go back and edit it…)
It was for Ricochet Podcast #469
“The Policy, Not the Mouth”
Comment 55, on page 2
Kreplach?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAG3gGzaVUo
I live in Minnesota. Klobuchar never says anything of substance publicly to lead and then she just votes hard left. It’s like a racket so she appeals to everyone to get reelected. All serious people in Minnesota that pay attention know this. She would have to be a very different person if she got POTUS. I don’t think she really wants it.
More Klingon Fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sugq9CU3u0Y
Version 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOq3g8a7HRk
Version 3 (better ending):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETFmY93JnoU
And, everyone must love Penny! I insist!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zalhbMsm_Pk
If Marco Rubio had not shot himself in the foot with amnesty, he would be President now.
Well it was Gary’s prediction, not mine.