Kind Of A Drag

Turns out experts don’t have so much expertise after all; the zen and psychology of the tax code (and Rob’s pitch for the flat tax); the evolution of the word “tranny”;  Ricochet editors (Senik, Levy, and Gabriel) on their favorite member posts; Is the debate about Benghazi over?; a view of the U.S./ Israel relationship from the Israeli P.O.V.; and Lileks needs help finishing his limerick. Add your last line in the comments below.

Music from this week’s podcast:

Kind of A Drag by The Buckinghams

The Ricochet Podcast opening theme was written and produced by James Lileks.

EJHill once played a tomato off Broadway.

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There are 48 comments.

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  1. The King Prawn Inactive
    The King Prawn
    @TheKingPrawn

    The parent tax break post referenced in the podcast.

    • #1
  2. GLDIII Reagan
    GLDIII
    @GLDIII

    “Trany”?

    Mine all have 6 speed ratios now, they use to have only 3 when I started driving.  Is that evolution?

    • #2
  3. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    GLDIII:

    “Trany”?

    Mine all have 6 speed ratios now, they use to have only 3 when I started driving. Is that evolution?

     My spell check apparently is a lot more sheltered than I was aware of. 

    • #3
  4. user_1131938 Thatcher
    user_1131938
    @BarryJones

    I concur on Benghazi – my eldest son is something of a conservative leaning independent and he thinks that the Repubs are pounding the issue because they are crazy and that there is “no there, there”. Like it or not, that is mostly a dead issue unless something astounding turns up.

    • #4
  5. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    The “ward” tranny? Is that Burt Ward? Holy RuPaul, Batman!

    • #5
  6. The King Prawn Inactive
    The King Prawn
    @TheKingPrawn

    “Does Ricochet bleed into your normal life?”

    Absolutely. Every moment of my life now goes through the seive of whether and how to create a post on Ricochet.

    • #6
  7. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    EJHill:

    The “ward” tranny? Is that Burt Ward? Holy RuPaul, Batman!

     This is what happens when I’m doing 5 things at once. Fixed. 

    • #7
  8. user_1050 Member
    user_1050
    @MattBartle

    Yeti, I notice that in the Member Super Feed, all we see is the title of the podcast, ie “Kind of a Drag”. It would be more helpful if it also indicated which podcast it was: “Ricochet Podcast: Kind of a Drag,”  “Need to Know: Breaking Away,” like it used to.

    • #8
  9. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    Matthew Bartle:

    Yeti, I notice that in the Member Super Feed, all we see is the title of the podcast, ie “Kind of a Drag”. It would be more helpful if it also indicated which podcast it was: “Ricochet Podcast: Kind of a Drag,” ”Need to Know: Breaking Away,” like it used to.

     This is on the list and should be addressed shortly.

    • #9
  10. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    Isn’t it interesting that an argument proposing that the tax code should be simplified and that we shouldn’t focus on tinkering the existing code is immediately followed by a discussion of how we might tinker with the existing code? Can conservatives debate particular exemptions and incentives without distracting from the call for simplification, thereby undermining it?

    • #10
  11. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    Benghazi: It does still matter. What has mainly changed is voters’ faith that anything is going to come of the investigations. “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Also, any story becomes less sensational the longer it drags on without further, significant revelations. If Republicans avoid the topic in a campaign against Clinton, it will be the elephant in the room.

    Benghazi is the GOP’s best ammunition against Clinton because of its severity and her central role in the scandal. But, sad to say, it will be effective in a campaign only if Republicans have stunning revelations in their holsters. If the information already available hasn’t destroyed her yet, it’s unlikely that Republicans will rev up sufficient understanding and outrage years from now.

    Rob is certainly right that Clinton won’t have the widespread appeal that Obama had in 2008; not only because she’s white, but because the cult of personality surrounding her is different in kind. Hillary isn’t so vague a persona as Obama, nor as youthful and supposedly innocent of typical political corruption. Even so, Republicans would be fools not to expect some variation of the “War on Women” meme to be spun in her favor.

    • #11
  12. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    “They never run out of things to wreck.” Well said, James. Liberalism is more destructive than constructive; more focused on what they seek to destroy or replace than what they will do when it’s gone/suppressed.

    Yes, Rob, I often mention things in face-to-face conversations that I’ve learned on Ricochet or the variety of views in Ricochet debates. These days, I don’t advertise the community so much by inviting people to join so much as lull them to sleep with endless anecdotes. 

    Good point, Troy, about not trying to summarize a full debate in the initial post. I’ll try to remember that.

    Rob is right that Ricochet would benefit from more educational posts from Members. anonymous has that great series about science. Lance writes about fatherhood. How about another series regarding the oil industry, or engineering, or commercial management, or seminaries, or mid-level professional punditry? Before we can intelligently discuss the way the world should be, it would help to know more about the way it is.

    • #12
  13. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Anyone getting their posts to come up on the Member Feed? I posted about half an hour ago and still haven’t seen anything. We seem to have been stuck on the Hillary Shoe Throwing incident for quite some time now.

    • #13
  14. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    mentioned on the Ricochet podcast…   that will definitely go to my head.  :)

    • #14
  15. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    The Hill has outdone himself. The graphic is disturbing on many, many levels.

    • #15
  16. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Ryan M:

    mentioned on the Ricochet podcast… that will definitely go to my head. :)

     I find that marriage is an excellent curative in this area. Mrs. Sisyphus takes her duties to lance inflation very seriously.

    • #16
  17. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    Sisyphus:

    Ryan M:

    mentioned on the Ricochet podcast… that will definitely go to my head. :)

    I find that marriage is an excellent curative in this area. Mrs. Sisyphus takes her duties to lance inflation very seriously.

     Actually, my wife recently agreed:  for all my delusions, grandeur has never been one of them.  So, I suppose that’s something.

    • #17
  18. user_199279 Coolidge
    user_199279
    @ChrisCampion

    Dudes are perky.

    Was it really that hard to get them both in a dress?

    • #18
  19. Peter Robinson Contributor
    Peter Robinson
    @PeterRobinson

    Sisyphus:

    The Hill has outdone himself. The graphic is disturbing on many, many levels.

    All day today, I’ve been feeling sorry for myself that I was too ill this morning–headache, tummy troubles, and so forth–to participate in the podcast.  Then, just now, I saw EJ’s graphic. To avoid having appeared in a red sequined dress, I’d have cheerfully endured twice the suffering.

    • #19
  20. Mike H Inactive
    Mike H
    @MikeH

    Ryan M:

    mentioned on the Ricochet podcast… that will definitely go to my head. :)

     Us libertarians about ran the table, didn’t we? A honor and a privilege. I couldnt believe it when I was listening to the taping.

    • #20
  21. Nick Stuart Inactive
    Nick Stuart
    @NickStuart

    Speaking of the Oxford comma, 4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence

    • #21
  22. Nick Stuart Inactive
    Nick Stuart
    @NickStuart

    Speaking of Benghazi as an election issue, not for 2014. Congressional Republicans have FUBAR’d it beyond retrieval with their incredibly (although not unpredictably) inept hearings.

    For 2016, if Clinton is the Dem candidate, the Republican needs to get right up into her face about it and never let up. We still don’t know where she was that night after her early evening phone call. It speaks directly to her competence and moral courage requisite for the Presidency. She ran out, and she has never come clean about it.

    When she dissimulates, as she inevitably will, ask the question “America, do you really want four more years of Clintonisms?”

    Commercials drawing on her 3 a.m. phone call ad against Obama, combined with her screeching “What difference at this point does it make” should run 24×7 in every swing state.

    Whether it works as an issue will depend on whether the Republican is ready to fight, and wants to be president enough to use it. And whether the rest of us want to win the White House enough to get behind him or her and have the candidate’s back.

    • #22
  23. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    Mike H:

    Ryan M:

    mentioned on the Ricochet podcast… that will definitely go to my head. :)

    Us libertarians about ran the table, didn’t we? A honor and a privilege. I couldnt believe it when I was listening to the taping.

     A very good showing, to be sure.  Although, I thought my name was going to be mentioned when Troy started talking about “the biggest mistake you can make when posting is….”

    • #23
  24. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Peter Robinson: To avoid having appeared in a red sequined dress, I’d have cheerfully endured twice the suffering.

    Just for the record, Peter, I’ve never seen you as the sequined type.

    • #24
  25. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    Peter Robinson:

    Sisyphus:

    The Hill has outdone himself. The graphic is disturbing on many, many levels.

    All day today, I’ve been feeling sorry for myself that I was too ill this morning–headache, tummy troubles, and so forth–to participate in the podcast. Then, just now, I saw EJ’s graphic. To avoid having appeared in a red sequined dress, I’d have cheerfully endured twice the suffering.

     I can guess what Peter will look like in EJ’s next graphic.

    [edit: See? I knew you were tempting fate by commenting, Peter.]

    • #25
  26. Yeah...ok. Inactive
    Yeah...ok.
    @Yeahok

    Ryan M:

    mentioned on the Ricochet podcast… that will definitely go to my head. :)

     I am guilty of envy.

    Don’t get too uppity, I’m guilty of pride, gluttony and sloth worse (better?). If you listen closely (and replay 5 times) Rob mentions my handle twice. Around 54:03 and 59:05 (give or take 10 seconds) Rob says “yeah…ok”. I damn near got a woody, so I kept doing pause-rewind and replay and then

    • #26
  27. captainpower Inactive
    captainpower
    @captainpower

    I’m probably just spoiled by the meticulous and useful “show notes” over at Econtalk, but some show notes for the podcasts would be great.

    Here is my contribution.

    Posts mentioned in the podcast:

    Took me from about 8:29pm-9:21pm to get all these links. The site is still slow, in case you didn’t know.

    • #27
  28. Yeah...ok. Inactive
    Yeah...ok.
    @Yeahok

    Ah…that’s better. (afraid to use a comma)

    Where are all the limericks? I just happen to know that

    “There once was a fellow named Rob Long”

    starts about 49:44

    • #28
  29. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    Yeah…ok.:

    Ah…that’s better. (afraid to use a comma)

    Where are all the limericks? I just happen to know that

    “There once was a fellow named Rob Long”

    starts about 49:44

     I’d end it:  “but when squished I’m perceptibly oblong.”

    Does it make any sense?  No, it certainly does not:

    There once was a fellow named Rob Long

    Who swanned around in a Sarong

    When they called him a squish

    He said “don’t you wish!”

    “But when squished I’m perceptibly oblong.”

    • #29
  30. Blue Yeti Admin
    Blue Yeti
    @BlueYeti

    Back in the early days of the podcast, we used to do extensive show notes. No time for that anymore, unfortunately. Would love to have the resources to bring them back at some point. If the listeners would like to write them, I’d be happy to link to them from the original post.

    • #30
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