Ricochet Podcast Question Time!

 

Good people of Ricochet, lend us your Qs! 

For this week’s flagship podcast, our world famous (right?) hosts will be answering the questions. And they’ll be coming from you. Unfortunately Peter is off this week, but are there any inquiries you’ve had for Rob, James and Charles Cooke – who’s subbing for Mr. R? Whether you’re wondering about their take on hot button issues or their thoughts on culture; maybe you’d like to know about what they do when they aren’t podcasting, or how they got into their line of work. If you wanna know, we wanna know that you wanna know.

Hit them with your best shot in the comments to hear their answers this Friday, July 15th.

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  1. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    Peter – He must be disappointed (or maybe appalled?) in the current state of political discourse, what do you think could be done to restart reasonable rational political discourse again? It also seems to me, that with a few exceptions, the current political class is humorless if not completely witless. In our nostalgia, have we exaggerated the wit and charm of Ronald Reagan?

    Establish dominance.  One side has to convincingly win 2 or 3 elections in a row.  

    • #61
  2. JimGoneWild Coolidge
    JimGoneWild
    @JimGoneWild

    Charles, what is your favorite firearm and why?

    • #62
  3. Leslie Watkins Inactive
    Leslie Watkins
    @LeslieWatkins

    Rob, is there anything at all to the claims that Hollywood is hiding an actual culture of child abuse? I’m hoping you can bat this one right out of the park!

    • #63
  4. Leslie Watkins Inactive
    Leslie Watkins
    @LeslieWatkins

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Leslie Watkins (View Comment):

    Charlie in particular, why don’t pro-Second Amendment folks (myself included) attack the lack of enforcement of gun laws already on the books, especially given that recent mass shooters were known to local authorities? I worry that the red flag provisions in the new gun-control bill will hurt the innocent far more than the guilty.

    This may need to be re-phrased, since the “red flag” stuff is specifically about people who are not yet guilty of anything.

    Poorly worded, for sure. What I was trying to say is that laws on the books have been ineffective in preventing mass shooters from getting guns. To me, this suggests either a failure to fund enforcement or poorly crafted (i.e., politicized) legislation—or both. Are the procedures the problem? Or the legislation as conceived? IOW, might it be a good idea to audit the system at hand before slapping more on?

    • #64
  5. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Leslie Watkins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Leslie Watkins (View Comment):

    Charlie in particular, why don’t pro-Second Amendment folks (myself included) attack the lack of enforcement of gun laws already on the books, especially given that recent mass shooters were known to local authorities? I worry that the red flag provisions in the new gun-control bill will hurt the innocent far more than the guilty.

    This may need to be re-phrased, since the “red flag” stuff is specifically about people who are not yet guilty of anything.

    Poorly worded, for sure. What I was trying to say is that laws on the books have been ineffective in preventing mass shooters from getting guns. To me, this suggests either a failure to fund enforcement or poorly crafted (i.e., politicized) legislation—or both. Are the procedures the problem? Or the legislation as conceived? IOW, might it be a good idea to audit the system at hand before slapping more on?

    But that wouldn’t be Doing Something.

    • #65
  6. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    As a serious question, I’d like to hear from Peter, Rob, and James about K-12 education.  What are their preferred policies?  Do they favor charter schools, or something similar?

     

    The end of public schools. Private schools with regs setting minimum requirements, money following the students. I grew up in a good public school system and recognize its past accomplishments, but it has been captured by bureaucracies and unions.

    • #66
  7. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Mark Alexander (View Comment):
    James, who has influenced you most as a writer?

    Three greats: S. J. Perelman, Raymond Chandler, and Anthony Burgess. 

    • #67
  8. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Have they seen the images from the Webb Space Telescope? What do they think of them? What do they think of NASA now?

    I have, and they’re astonishing. It’s not just the images, it’s the ancillary data that gives us info on the composition of the galaxies, and from what I hear the eggheads are drooling thick ropes of saliva over the spectro charts. 

    More to come on the podcast, I hope.

    • #68
  9. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Mowgli (View Comment):
    James – do you lament the on-going loss of newspaper and magazines in print? Is the permanence of making a coherent statement that can never be updated increase the quality of the content?

    I do, but on the other hand, I work for a newspaper that is not only surviving, but launched a quarterly glossy magazine. This is totally contrary to industry trends, but we’re doing it, and it’s very popular with the readers. We had an editor who was all about the internet, as the position required, but he was also a deep lover of traditional papers, and said we can excel at both. Advertisers loved the idea. We’re three years into it, and it’s going great. I write a local history feature for the last page in the book.

    I miss carrying around a sheaf of journals in my backpack to pull out and read on the bus or over dinner. I like having access to nearly everything on my iPad. It’s not the same.

    Mostly I miss the weekly or monthly or fortnightly thrill of seeing the new issue. Everything now is a long smear of stuff with no signposts or mile markers. 

    • #69
  10. The Cynthonian Inactive
    The Cynthonian
    @TheCynthonian

    Chris Williamson (View Comment):

    GEORGIA: What does a citizen of the State do about the US Senate election coming up? Here in Georgia I’m inclined to write in “Kelvin King” — one of the losers in the primary — because the Republican politician running for the office has shown such poor judgment and is simply not prepared. For a list of problems, see John McWhorter’s assessment of the candidate (yes, yes, I know he’s a Democrat, but John’s facts still stand).

    For years I’ve operated by the rule “pick the least obnoxious of the two.” (In the case of voting for Trump in 2016 and 2020, I reasoned that if he were impeached, we’d have President Pence.) Would you recommend going with that principle, or should I sit this one out?

    Unrequited advice:  hold your nose and vote for the Republican nominee.  The larger game is keep Chuck Schumer from being Senate Majority Leader again.  The Turtle has multiple faults, including not being aggressive enough against the Left, but Schumer is an abomination who should be in jail for threatening Supreme Court justices.

    • #70
  11. The Cynthonian Inactive
    The Cynthonian
    @TheCynthonian

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Peter – He must be disappointed (or maybe appalled?) in the current state of political discourse, what do you think could be done to restart reasonable rational political discourse again? It also seems to me, that with a few exceptions, the current political class is humorless if not completely witless. In our nostalgia, have we exaggerated the wit and charm of Ronald Reagan?

    Rob – Even if someone buys a movie studio (Sony is for sale) could anyone make a go of it? Could they get talent to sign on to make movies that the elitists will not like? (I would think that money talks, Bullfeathers walk – but you look at the glee some actors and producers burn money to make propaganda – makes me wonder that a project with a traditional American values message could even get made) Could anyone make a traditional American movie for Main Street America? With little or no foreign box office? Are Hollywood movies doomed to be forever stuck in the SuperHero Monster bashes that are easily translatable for foreign box offices? As stereotyped and predictable as any Bollywood film – but less fun.

    Charles – I was going to ask what went wrong… But then I see wikipedia claims that you’re a fluent French speaker and a Francophile. So never mind.

     

     

    @Clavius, is this poster correct that Sony is for sale?

    • #71
  12. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    James: What do you think the future of Newspapers? My local paper has gone from being delivered to being mailed, with a Weekend edition and nothing on Sundays and Mondays. Are they doomed?

    Some are, and that sounds like one that’s climbing on the slab with a tag on its toe. Too many papers were bought by chains or investor groups that hollow out the staff, run wire, limp along, then perish. It’s not inevitable because of the internet; in many countries, tabloids are still popular, because print has a tactile, serendipitous aspect the internet cannot reproduce. (Its version of serendipity is distraction, which is not the same.) The problem at the top of the industry: monocultural ideological newsrooms. At the bottom: no resources and a disregard for the atomic-level news of the community. 

    Most of the problems of the industry are self-inflicted, and the solutions to getting readers back are not mysteries. But the younger demo has lost the habit, and the older demo is dying off. The future for most papers, alas, is digital only, and their sites will be ugly and dull. 

    • #72
  13. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    John Stanley (View Comment):

    The history around the Second Amendment.

    To the pannel:

    If laws of the founding era, 1776-1791, allowed for, and sometimes required, men to own weapons and ammo, for their miltia service, are claims of “no one would have allowed “weapons of war””, a valid grounds for limiting a consitutional right?

    I think I can channel Charlie here: “Long answer, nooooooo. Short answer, no.”

    • #73
  14. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Blondie (View Comment):

    This one is mainly for James and Charlie. What are your thoughts on this whole thing of ESG scores and the WEF stuff, especially in relation to farmers like the ones in Holland and elsewhere.

    Oh, I want to take that one on the show, especially since I just had dinner with a farmer. 

    • #74
  15. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    @ jameslileks had to cancel a trip to the UK last year (?) due to The Plague. Has he been able to reschedule? If so, what’s on the itinerary?

    I did reschedule. Or rather, last March, Daughter texted and said hey we have those tickets, any chance we could go over Spring Break? She had college friends doing a semester abroad, and wanted to visit. Well. Well. Yes, of course. So I booked the flights, and off we went. 

    It was the best of all possible worlds. We had three days in London, during which we hit our favorite museums and the one we’d been holding in reserve; we ate at our favorite Indian restaurant, walked around at night, hit the pubs. Then we took the East Anglia line north to our beloved seaside town in Norfolk, stayed with a dear friend, finished our collaboration on a 10-ep podcast about her famous mother, drank in the local every night, took Mabel the dog to the shore, and had a marvelous time. Then back to London, and into the skies. It was, start to end, perfection.

    • #75
  16. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    I’m just banging these out in case we don’t get to them on the podcast, which always happens. 

    • #76
  17. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Who’s going to copy them to the show post when it comes out?

    • #77
  18. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    The Cynthonian (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):

    Peter – He must be disappointed (or maybe appalled?) in the current state of political discourse, what do you think could be done to restart reasonable rational political discourse again? It also seems to me, that with a few exceptions, the current political class is humorless if not completely witless. In our nostalgia, have we exaggerated the wit and charm of Ronald Reagan?

    Rob – Even if someone buys a movie studio (Sony is for sale) could anyone make a go of it? Could they get talent to sign on to make movies that the elitists will not like? (I would think that money talks, Bullfeathers walk – but you look at the glee some actors and producers burn money to make propaganda – makes me wonder that a project with a traditional American values message could even get made) Could anyone make a traditional American movie for Main Street America? With little or no foreign box office? Are Hollywood movies doomed to be forever stuck in the SuperHero Monster bashes that are easily translatable for foreign box offices? As stereotyped and predictable as any Bollywood film – but less fun.

    Charles – I was going to ask what went wrong… But then I see wikipedia claims that you’re a fluent French speaker and a Francophile. So never mind.

     

     

    @ Clavius, is this poster correct that Sony is for sale?

    According to Sony CEO – No.

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sony-pictures-not-for-sale-1234960009/

    However I think it is, Sony’s entire business case for owning a movie studio has collapsed now that there will not be another media format war to fight. Sony bought Colombia Pictures for support during the battles of Blu-Ray VS HD-DVD war. Now that everything is digitally streaming its just no longer needed.

    Its my assessment that Sony Pictures is for sale.

    But if you have the kinda cash on hand to buy Sony Pictures, you could easily build your own probably at much lower cost in Nevada or New Mexico.

    • #78
  19. Leslie Watkins Inactive
    Leslie Watkins
    @LeslieWatkins

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    I’m just banging these out in case we don’t get to them on the podcast, which always happens.

    Thanks, James!

    • #79
  20. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Leslie Watkins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Leslie Watkins (View Comment):

    Charlie in particular, why don’t pro-Second Amendment folks (myself included) attack the lack of enforcement of gun laws already on the books, especially given that recent mass shooters were known to local authorities? I worry that the red flag provisions in the new gun-control bill will hurt the innocent far more than the guilty.

    This may need to be re-phrased, since the “red flag” stuff is specifically about people who are not yet guilty of anything.

    Poorly worded, for sure. What I was trying to say is that laws on the books have been ineffective in preventing mass shooters from getting guns. To me, this suggests either a failure to fund enforcement or poorly crafted (i.e., politicized) legislation—or both. Are the procedures the problem? Or the legislation as conceived? IOW, might it be a good idea to audit the system at hand before slapping more on?

    At least one of the recent shooters was  a mentally disturbed young man who was groomed – some say  by FBI handlers -to become a shooter. He owned guns bought and paid for by someone other than himself – as he did not have access to the thousands of dollars they cost. And he was driving around in a pricey vehicle as well.

    Also there is this report from the Buffalo News about the may 14th shooter in NY: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/authorities-investigating-if-retired-federal-agent-knew-of-buffalo-mass-shooting-plans-in-advance/article_bd408f18-dd39-11ec-be53-df8fdd095d6f.html

    • #80
  21. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Leslie Watkins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Leslie Watkins (View Comment):

    Charlie in particular, why don’t pro-Second Amendment folks (myself included) attack the lack of enforcement of gun laws already on the books, especially given that recent mass shooters were known to local authorities? I worry that the red flag provisions in the new gun-control bill will hurt the innocent far more than the guilty.

    This may need to be re-phrased, since the “red flag” stuff is specifically about people who are not yet guilty of anything.

    Poorly worded, for sure. What I was trying to say is that laws on the books have been ineffective in preventing mass shooters from getting guns. To me, this suggests either a failure to fund enforcement or poorly crafted (i.e., politicized) legislation—or both. Are the procedures the problem? Or the legislation as conceived? IOW, might it be a good idea to audit the system at hand before slapping more on?

    The guy in Buffalo qualified to be caught by their very strong red flag laws. It didn’t work.

    They don’t even fill up the NICS system. 

    I heard a retired FBI executive talk about this. He said that the solution is to stop defunding the police. You need more police. You need better run police departments. The other thing he said was when you have an event, you need to have cop on the roof so the psycho can’t take the high ground. 

    If you listen to John Lott enough, it’s obvious we need more concealed carry and zero gun free zones.

    • #81
  22. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    As a serious question, I’d like to hear from Peter, Rob, and James about K-12 education. What are their preferred policies? Do they favor charter schools, or something similar?

    The end of public schools. Private schools with regs setting minimum requirements, money following the students. I grew up in a good public school system and recognize its past accomplishments, but it has been captured by bureaucracies and unions.

    Education is a “non-public good”. It’s a textbook example of why the government can’t central plan non-public goods even if they are a good idea on paper. It happens every time.

    Just cut a check to the parents and the aggregate value will go straight up. I guarantee it.

    Personally, I think this is one of the big disadvantages that Republicans and libertarians have. Peoples eyes glaze over if you talk about actual public goods, but it’s a big deal.

    • #82
  23. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Blondie (View Comment):

    This one is mainly for James and Charlie. What are your thoughts on this whole thing of ESG scores and the WEF stuff, especially in relation to farmers like the ones in Holland and elsewhere.

    Oh, I want to take that one on the show, especially since I just had dinner with a farmer.

    I knew you would be the one to ask. I love that you interact on the site. 

    • #83
  24. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    @ jameslileks had to cancel a trip to the UK last year (?) due to The Plague. Has he been able to reschedule? If so, what’s on the itinerary?

    I did reschedule. Or rather, last March, Daughter texted and said hey we have those tickets, any chance we could go over Spring Break? She had college friends doing a semester abroad, and wanted to visit. Well. Well. Yes, of course. So I booked the flights, and off we went.

    It was the best of all possible worlds. We had three days in London, during which we hit our favorite museums and the one we’d been holding in reserve; we ate at our favorite Indian restaurant, walked around at night, hit the pubs. Then we took the East Anglia line north to our beloved seaside town in Norfolk, stayed with a dear friend, finished our collaboration on a 10-ep podcast about her famous mother, drank in the local every night, took Mabel the dog to the shore, and had a marvelous time. Then back to London, and into the skies. It was, start to end, perfection.

    ♥️♥️♥️

    • #84
  25. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Stephen Richter (View Comment):

    What did Ricochet do wrong which caused it to be sued and lose a few months back?

    In a nutshell, a post ended up on the main feed with a photograph that belonged to a very liberal and litigious photographer. We immediately took it down and apologized. He would not accept that because he didn’t like the content of the post.

    We’ve never identified the post and will not. In the end when stuff gets posted to the public facing end of our product it is ultimately our responsibility. And we are paying for that.

    I am upset over it, not because of what ricochet did, but because our judicial system  allows itself to be used  by the left to engage in lawfare against the right. Let Charles CW Cooke weigh in on that re our 1st Amendment. 

    • #85
  26. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    kedavis (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Stephen Richter (View Comment):

    What did Ricochet do wrong which caused it to be sued and lose a few months back?

    In a nutshell, a post ended up on the main feed with a photograph that belonged to a very liberal and litigious photographer. We immediately took it down and apologized. He would not accept that because he didn’t like the content of the post.

    We’ve never identified the post and will not. In the end when stuff gets posted to the public facing end of our product it is ultimately our responsibility. And we are paying for that.

    By “our” I assume you mean the members too, since that’s where the money really comes from.

    Not really. We pay for their service and the price didn’t go up. 

    • #86
  27. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Stephen Richter (View Comment):

    What did Ricochet do wrong which caused it to be sued and lose a few months back?

    In a nutshell, a post ended up on the main feed with a photograph that belonged to a very liberal and litigious photographer. We immediately took it down and apologized. He would not accept that because he didn’t like the content of the post.

    We’ve never identified the post and will not. In the end when stuff gets posted to the public facing end of our product it is ultimately our responsibility. And we are paying for that.

    By “our” I assume you mean the members too, since that’s where the money really comes from.

    Not really. We pay for their service and the price didn’t go up.

    Seems like it will have to, one way or another – maybe buying “ghost” memberships – if we don’t want it to go away.

    • #87
  28. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Red Herring (View Comment):
    lawfare

    Everybody needs to remind themselves to have enough money to afford lawyers and lobbyists somehow. 

    • #88
  29. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
    @EHerring

    Stephen Richter (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    Stephen Richter (View Comment):

    What did Ricochet do wrong which caused it to be sued and lose a few months back?

    In a nutshell, a post ended up on the main feed with a photograph that belonged to a very liberal and litigious photographer. We immediately took it down and apologized. He would not accept that because he didn’t like the content of the post.

    We’ve never identified the post and will not. In the end when stuff gets posted to the public facing end of our product it is ultimately our responsibility. And we are paying for that.

    I do not like that Ricochet settled. Publicize the name of the judge who was in on the shakedown. Selective prosecution is being used to torment the working class republicans who participated in the Jan 6 protest. The fact that Ricochet knew that a judge or jury would equally disposed to be so unfair and rule in favor of the liberal photographer shows how rotten the system is. Better to fight and lose just so the public can see the extent democrats go to shutdown intelligent news sources.

    The cost of fighting would have been more and they would have lost. You need to study up on lawfare. The fight for innocence is the punishment. Even when you win, it breaks your bank. Shame goes to the legal system that allowed the outrageous dollar amount. 

    • #89
  30. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    Red Herring (View Comment):
    lawfare

    Everybody needs to remind themselves to have enough money to afford lawyers and lobbyists somehow.

    I wonder if Peter, James, Rob, and Charlie realize that, in terms of the wider population, they are all part of the elite.  I’m sure it doesn’t seem like it to them, but just check their incomes and assets/wealth against national averages etc.

    • #90
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