History’s Biggest Blunder

Got a new piping hot GLoP for you, and we aren’t kidding about the pipe, as that ancient smoking accoutrement is discussed in great detail in today’s show. We also cover C-Span’s Steve Scully’s fall from grace, the media and big tech’s latest in kind contribution to the Biden-Harris campaign, courtesy of Hunter Biden and the New York Post, that time Rob ran into Dick Clark, board games. and why Antonin Scalia was the coolest Supreme Court Justice in history.

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  1. DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow
    @DrewInWisconsin

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):
    I’m not voting for Biden either. You don’t see my non-vote for Biden as in Trump’s favor.

    I’m saying we need every vote. Every vote counts, even in Connecticut.

    • #151
  2. DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Constant Sorrow
    @DrewInWisconsin

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tony Martyr (View Comment):

    Anyhoo….in amongst the ding-dong on Trumpiness or otherwise…

    Can anyone give me a link to Rob Long’s new Irish radio home for Martini Shot?

    Yeti said they’ll be hosting/mirroring it on Ricochet, soon. Assuming it’s still called Martini Shot, it should appear in the Podcasts menu at some point.

    Except it’ll be called “Guiness Shot” or something.

    • #152
  3. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):
    I’m not voting for Biden either. You don’t see my non-vote for Biden as in Trump’s favor.

    I’m saying we need every vote. Every vote counts, even in Connecticut.

    Here in Chicago a vote for Trump is as useful as relieving oneself into the teeth of a 50 mph gale.

    Yet I do it because I long ago announced to my family that if I ever vote (D) they need to bring me to the neurologist because me voting for a (D) is the first obvious indication I’m suffering from dementia.

    • #153
  4. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):
    I’m not voting for Biden either. You don’t see my non-vote for Biden as in Trump’s favor.

    I’m saying we need every vote. Every vote counts, even in Connecticut.

    Here in Chicago a vote for Trump is as useful as relieving oneself into the teeth of a 50 mph gale.

    Yet I do it because I long ago announced to my family that if I ever vote (D) they need to bring me to the neurologist because me voting for a (D) is the first obvious indication I’m suffering from dementia.

    Back in either ’08 or ’12 when my then 80-something year old mother told me she was voting for Obama I told her we’d use that as evidence against her at her competency hearing.

    • #154
  5. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Man of Consta… (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):
    I’m not voting for Biden either. You don’t see my non-vote for Biden as in Trump’s favor.

    I’m saying we need every vote. Every vote counts, even in Connecticut.

    Here in Chicago a vote for Trump is as useful as relieving oneself into the teeth of a 50 mph gale.

    Yet I do it because I long ago announced to my family that if I ever vote (D) they need to bring me to the neurologist because me voting for a (D) is the first obvious indication I’m suffering from dementia.

    And it would be good to have a popular vote win, because the “but he lost the popular vote!” was one of the tools used by Dems to oppose everything Trump and the Republican Senate and (initially) House tried to do.

    • #155
  6. spaceman_spiff Member
    spaceman_spiff
    @spacemanspiff

    kedavis (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):
    If it was too hard for him, that’s disqualifying. I didn’t expect him to get it all done in the first year. That’s a straw man argument. He had 3 years before the pandemic hit. I would have been happy if he’d just flattened the curve. Instead, each year it got worse. Just before the pandemic hit the deficit was just under a trillion dollars for 2019 and 2020 was scheduled to hit a trillion going into the fiscal year. That was before anybody knew anything about a pandemic. I recognize the pandemic has thoroughly changed the fiscal landscape. I’m not judging him based on that.

    But that’s also one-sided. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it’s something like, if you grow the economy by 3% or 4% per year, you can eliminate a deficit rather quickly, and actually have surpluses, even while still increasing total spending.

    As it turned out, Trump didn’t have enough time to grow the economy enough to get to that point, but it certainly made it a lot more able to absorb the economic impact of COVID (largely caused by inept Democrat mayors and governors, but that’s an issue unto itself) and now allows for a much quicker recovery.

    Now, it may be that no Republican would do that fast enough to suit you, even in the best of times, but a Democrat will NEVER, EVER do it.

    And, like it or not, not voting for the Republicans, does help the Democrats win.

    This is the world, not a poli-sci classroom. So who “earns” your vote is irrelevant. Or, to put it another way, Democrats ALWAYS will DIS-earn your vote. But if you refuse to vote for their opponent, it still helps them.

    It’s only one-sided because you are not paying attention to what I’m saying. Again, I wasn’t looking for him to eliminate the deficit or pay down the debt. I ONLY wanted him to not make it worse. That didn’t require 3 or 4 per cent growth.

    I vote for Republicans all the time. I live in a Congressional District that hasn’t elected a Republican since before I was born. I’m not interested finger wagging about the “real world.” I’m well acquainted with it.

    • #156
  7. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):
    If it was too hard for him, that’s disqualifying. I didn’t expect him to get it all done in the first year. That’s a straw man argument. He had 3 years before the pandemic hit. I would have been happy if he’d just flattened the curve. Instead, each year it got worse. Just before the pandemic hit the deficit was just under a trillion dollars for 2019 and 2020 was scheduled to hit a trillion going into the fiscal year. That was before anybody knew anything about a pandemic. I recognize the pandemic has thoroughly changed the fiscal landscape. I’m not judging him based on that.

    But that’s also one-sided. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it’s something like, if you grow the economy by 3% or 4% per year, you can eliminate a deficit rather quickly, and actually have surpluses, even while still increasing total spending.

    As it turned out, Trump didn’t have enough time to grow the economy enough to get to that point, but it certainly made it a lot more able to absorb the economic impact of COVID (largely caused by inept Democrat mayors and governors, but that’s an issue unto itself) and now allows for a much quicker recovery.

    Now, it may be that no Republican would do that fast enough to suit you, even in the best of times, but a Democrat will NEVER, EVER do it.

    And, like it or not, not voting for the Republicans, does help the Democrats win.

    This is the world, not a poli-sci classroom. So who “earns” your vote is irrelevant. Or, to put it another way, Democrats ALWAYS will DIS-earn your vote. But if you refuse to vote for their opponent, it still helps them.

    It’s only one-sided because you are not paying attention to what I’m saying. Again, I wasn’t looking for him to eliminate the deficit or pay down the debt. I ONLY wanted him to not make it worse. That didn’t require 3 or 4 per cent growth.

    I vote for Republicans all the time. I live in a Congressional District that hasn’t elected a Republican since before I was born. I’m not interested finger wagging about the “real world.” I’m well acquainted with it.

    But you don’t get how 3%+ growth helps everything?  That’s disappointing.

    • #157
  8. spaceman_spiff Member
    spaceman_spiff
    @spacemanspiff

    kedavis (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):
    If it was too hard for him, that’s disqualifying. I didn’t expect him to get it all done in the first year. That’s a straw man argument. He had 3 years before the pandemic hit. I would have been happy if he’d just flattened the curve. Instead, each year it got worse. Just before the pandemic hit the deficit was just under a trillion dollars for 2019 and 2020 was scheduled to hit a trillion going into the fiscal year. That was before anybody knew anything about a pandemic. I recognize the pandemic has thoroughly changed the fiscal landscape. I’m not judging him based on that.

    But that’s also one-sided. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it’s something like, if you grow the economy by 3% or 4% per year, you can eliminate a deficit rather quickly, and actually have surpluses, even while still increasing total spending.

    As it turned out, Trump didn’t have enough time to grow the economy enough to get to that point, but it certainly made it a lot more able to absorb the economic impact of COVID (largely caused by inept Democrat mayors and governors, but that’s an issue unto itself) and now allows for a much quicker recovery.

    Now, it may be that no Republican would do that fast enough to suit you, even in the best of times, but a Democrat will NEVER, EVER do it.

    And, like it or not, not voting for the Republicans, does help the Democrats win.

    This is the world, not a poli-sci classroom. So who “earns” your vote is irrelevant. Or, to put it another way, Democrats ALWAYS will DIS-earn your vote. But if you refuse to vote for their opponent, it still helps them.

    It’s only one-sided because you are not paying attention to what I’m saying. Again, I wasn’t looking for him to eliminate the deficit or pay down the debt. I ONLY wanted him to not make it worse. That didn’t require 3 or 4 per cent growth.

    I vote for Republicans all the time. I live in a Congressional District that hasn’t elected a Republican since before I was born. I’m not interested finger wagging about the “real world.” I’m well acquainted with it.

    But you don’t get how 3%+ growth helps everything? That’s disappointing.

    Where do you get that from my comment? Of course I know how growth helps but I wasn’t talking about growth. I was talking about the deficit that he increased. In the real world that happened. We weren’t at 3 per cent growth but the growth rate did increase. We had almost full employment and we had growing deficits. That is simply in no way, shape or form praiseworthy.

    • #158
  9. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    P.S.  If I were Kayleigh McEnany, I’d ask Jonah, “Do you kiss your daughter with that mouth?”

    • #159
  10. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    spaceman_spiff (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    […]

    But that’s also one-sided. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it’s something like, if you grow the economy by 3% or 4% per year, you can eliminate a deficit rather quickly, and actually have surpluses, even while still increasing total spending.

    As it turned out, Trump didn’t have enough time to grow the economy enough to get to that point, but it certainly made it a lot more able to absorb the economic impact of COVID (largely caused by inept Democrat mayors and governors, but that’s an issue unto itself) and now allows for a much quicker recovery.

    Now, it may be that no Republican would do that fast enough to suit you, even in the best of times, but a Democrat will NEVER, EVER do it.

    And, like it or not, not voting for the Republicans, does help the Democrats win.

    This is the world, not a poli-sci classroom. So who “earns” your vote is irrelevant. Or, to put it another way, Democrats ALWAYS will DIS-earn your vote. But if you refuse to vote for their opponent, it still helps them.

    It’s only one-sided because you are not paying attention to what I’m saying. Again, I wasn’t looking for him to eliminate the deficit or pay down the debt. I ONLY wanted him to not make it worse. That didn’t require 3 or 4 per cent growth.

    I vote for Republicans all the time. I live in a Congressional District that hasn’t elected a Republican since before I was born. I’m not interested finger wagging about the “real world.” I’m well acquainted with it.

    But you don’t get how 3%+ growth helps everything? That’s disappointing.

    Where do you get that from my comment? Of course I know how growth helps but I wasn’t talking about growth. I was talking about the deficit that he increased. In the real world that happened. We weren’t at 3 per cent growth but the growth rate did increase. We had almost full employment and we had growing deficits. That is simply in no way, shape or form praiseworthy.

    Alas, I remember what happened every time the Republicans tried to do the right thing and address the deficit:  the Democrats demagogued the issue to their political advantage.  See:  1986 Senate elections.

    This is why deficit hawks are sometimes called “Suicide Republicans”.  Trump is too canny a politician to allow himself to get trapped that way.

    In any case, I think it was Milton Friedman who liked to point out that every $1.00 tax increase resulted in $1.50 in new spending, so that raising taxes would increase the deficit it was intended to reduce.

     

     

     

     

    • #160
  11. Kevin Inactive
    Kevin
    @JaredSturgeon

    I am really late to this party but will this ever feature culture again?

    I was also really surprised by the partisan point Jonah made that Republicans were fools for wanting to reign in Twitter/Google/Facebook but how will it work out well for them.   The reason is for the health of the Republic…not Republicans.  They have exceeded their influence and authority and are a danger to our civil way of life.  A big danger…probably not.  But a danger.  So they should have their protections removed and work in the market like everyone else being a publisher or a platform.  Its not all about your team … which seems like something Jonah should understand.  They are censoring the Press Secretary of the President of the United States.  Just because its not your team doesnt mean it is not a serious problem.

    • #161
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