James Lileks | Ricochet

Another busy week and to help us parse it, we enlist Ricochet Editor @jongabriel (not a member? Join Ricochet using the new ExJon leve1!) and guests Victor Davis Hanson and The Federalist’s Ben Domenech. We cover everything: the protests, the statues, and the firings. Listen!

Music from this week’s podcast: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band (from The Last Waltz)

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In our continuing effort to bring as much ideological balance to the flagship podcast, today we bring you Bill Bennett, host of The Bill Bennett Show (conveniently available right on this site) sitting in the Long Chair®. You’d think that would be enough, that we wouldn’t need to go even further in our quest to feature all sides of the movement. But no! We go even further with this week’s guest: Mr Dilbert himself, Scott Adams. We talk about North Korea, the economy, why President Trump should stay the course, that Google memo, and more.

Music from this week’s podcast: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M.

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This week, our good pal Larry Kudlow sits in for the making-tv-great-again Rob Long. We’ve also got Henry Olsen, author of The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism who tell us what why Reagan’s greatest influence may have been Franklin Roosevelt, how The Great Communicator would’ve come down on the health care debate, and supposes who would have won in a Trump-Reagan electoral contest. Later, Mr. Immigration Mickey Kaus stops by to school us on why the Emma Lazarus poem isn’t policy and what the media gets wrong over and over about this contentious issue. We also talk about the good economic news, and the tight ship John Kelly is running at the White House.

Music from this week’s podcast: The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin

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This week, we take something of a break from the rough and tumble of the news cycle and spend an hour chatting with our old friend, the great Harry Shearer (hit this link if you are one of the few unfamiliar with his work). We stalk some politics, we talk some media, we talk about Nixon (you must see Harry’s one man show Nixon’s The One immediately), we talk about comedy. Oh, just listen. You’ll love it.

Music from this week’s podcast: Hell Hole by Spinal Tap

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The President is on the record, the WSJ’s Bill McGurn talks about Charlie Gard, The Washington Post’s Bob Costa on the mood in DC, @Lileks ponders Russian history, Long wonders who’s going to get fired, and Robinson has one last question. Or three.

Music from this week’s podcast: Charlie Don’t Surf by The Clash

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On the Ricochet Podcast, we go to great lengths to provide breadth and depth in covering the news of the day. Where else can you hear incisive legal analysis from John Yoo and great social commentary and levity from Pat Sajak? Nowhere else, that’s for sure. We give some free legal advice to those in need, talk about walls (those that were torn down and those yet to be built), and school Peter Robinson on 20th Century culture he somehow missed. Also, a preview of next week’s Reagan Library event featuring Pat and Peter. Don’t miss it.

Music from this week’s podcast: Don’t Bring Me Down by Electric Light Orchestra

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We were going to take this week off, but the opportunity to do a special holiday weekend edition of the Ricochet Podcast with just The Founders *and James Lileks, of course) proved to be too tempting. The guys talk about Presidential tweets, what to do about health care, what they like to do on the 4th, and life in the ten years since the iPhone debuted. Enjoy the weekend, everyone.

Music from this week’s podcast: Saturday In The Park by Chicago

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Another busy week with much to talk about and to help out we’ve got (along with @jongabriel sitting in for Rob Long) the great Yuval Levin and Adam Carolla. Yuval schools us on the rumors that the President will fire Robert Mueller and the black box that is the Congressional Budget Office, and Adam stops by to talk about his upcoming film the Dennis Prager (they’re raising money to underwrite it — donate here). Also, 30 years ago this week, Peter Robinson jotted down a few words for Ronald Reagan. We get some of the backstory in this very podcast. You don’t want to miss that.

Music from this week’s podcast: Psycho Killer by The Talking Heads

We’re all over the globe physically and all over the map topically this week as we cover the British elections with our guests Toby Young from The Spectator (read his take on the election here) and we’ve got the great Andrew McCarthy on Comey, the NSA, and Trump’s legal conundrums. Also, Rob is in a park in London. Yes, in a park. Now, that’s devotion.

Music from this week’s podcast: Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon

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The hard thing about producing a weekly podcast is coming up with relevant topics to talk about. Nothing ever happens in this boring administration we’ve elected. Yawn. This week, we’ve got Pat Buchanan (you must buy his new book Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever) who weighs in on those endless Nixon/Trump comparisons, and gives us his take on how the President is doing so far. Then, our old pal Dennis Prager made some waves this week with a column titled Why Conservatives Still Attack Trump. We delve into that and his new project with Adam Corrolla (he’ll be on in a few weeks too), No Safe Spaces, a film on the decay of free speech/thought on college campuses and what this means for our country. Also, join us on July 23rd for a special taping of Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson at the Reagan Library, hosted by Pat Sajak. Details here.

Music from this week’s podcast: Fixing A Hole by The Beatles

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You might not be watching the new Twin Peaks, or care that it ever existed. But it changed TV, and one of the reasons that made it so unique was the music. Let’s go beyond the theme and explore the compositions of Angelo Badalamenti.

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Bodyslamming, Trump in Europe, the great Mollie Hemingway (you are hereby ordered to buy her new Encounter Broadside Trump vs. The Media right now), the lies we tell ourselves about terrorism (thanks John Kluge), and Peter Robinson once hung out with Roger Moore. No, we didn’t know that either. Happy summer, everyone.

Music from this week’s podcast: Nobody Does It Better (The Spy Who Loved Me) by Carly Simon

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Another slow news week…yawn. Uh, no. With so much to talk about, we present another super-sized Ricochet Podcast clocking in at just under 90 minutes. We’ve got our pal David French, who wants us to Stop Making Terrible Arguments for Blind Loyalty. That’s followed by two Ricochet members (that’d be Robert McReynolds and Max Ledoux) who wants us to give the President the benefit of the doubt at least some of the time. Seems reasonable, but you won’t want to miss the debate that ensues. Who won? Tell us in the comments. Also, RIP Roger Ailes, the whip smart, innovative, and yes, controversial, creator of Fox News (the Michael Wolff piece Rob refers to about Ailes is here).

Music from this week’s podcast: Happy Family by The Ramones

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It’s never a dull moment with the Trump administration and to parse everything that happened this week, we call on our good friend, former podcaster, and the newly minted host of Washington Week In Review Bob Costa. After that, we take a look back at the 2016 race with Jonathan Allen, co-author of Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign. Also, taping, vaping, and narrative shaping. Yeah, we went there.

Music from this week’s podcast: Shattered by The Rolling Stones

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What do you do in Reno? Yes, yes, besides that. But here’s the more pressing issue for modern times: what does Reno do with Reno?

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Never let it be said that the Ricochet Podcast does not scour the world looking for the best guests and conversation to elucidate the issues of the day and make you muy contento. This week, we’ve got Senator Ben Sasse direct from the backroads of Nebraska talking about his new must-read book The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis–and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance. We talk parenting and yes, some politics. And then, live on a scratchy phone line from Havana, it’s TV’s Rob Long with a sickles loafers-on-the-ground report from the Worker’s Paradise.

Music from this week’s podcast: Chan Chan by The Buena Vista Social Club

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We’ve got Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance here to talk about investing in startups in the midwest. We’ve got The Factor on permanent hiatus. We’ve got terrorists in France trying their best to influence an election. And we’ve got some unlikely dinner guests in the White House. What have you got?

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Another Saturday edition of the Ricochet Podcast with a super-sized running time and a legendary guest: The Podfather himself, Norman Podhoretz, whose seminal book Making It has just been re-released to mark its 50th anniversary. We talk about the book, and about the world, both past and present. Also, in-fighting at the White House, North Korea saber rattling, and what was your first concert? Well, we bet it wasn’t who Peter Robinson saw.