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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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The parent tax break post referenced in the podcast.
“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.
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.
The “ward” tranny? Is that Burt Ward? Holy RuPaul, Batman!
“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.
This is what happens when I’m doing 5 things at once. Fixed.
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.
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?
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.
“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.
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.
mentioned on the Ricochet podcast… that will definitely go to my head. :)
The Hill has outdone himself. The graphic is disturbing on many, many levels.
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.
Dudes are perky.
Was it really that hard to get them both in a dress?
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.
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.
Speaking of the Oxford comma, 4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence
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.
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….”
Just for the record, Peter, I’ve never seen you as the sequined type.
I can guess what Peter will look like in EJ’s next graphic.
[edit: See? I knew you were tempting fate by commenting, Peter.]
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
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.
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:
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.