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This week we’re joined once again by the historian, political theorist, and borscht-belt comedian Richard Samuelson to break the 3WHH deadlock on “the FDR Question.” But fear not weary listeners, we dispose of that question in short order, and move on to other things. (“Team Lucretia” will be pleased with his tie-breaking verdict.)
Among our other topics include the San Francisco school board recall, how the latest perversity of environmental law has suddenly landed hard on UC Berkeley in ways the left never anticipated, and of course a few recent COVID highlights, including especially the perverse incentives that lead CDC and “public health” bureaucrats to want to keep COVID panic going forever.
Finally, we end with some reminiscences of P.J. O’Rourke including a few of our favorite classic lines of his, and also the surprising advice he once gave Steve about public speaking.
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As my young adult daughter explained, Adele lost a lot of weight . . . and Kelly Clarkson found it.
The book “Eleni” by author Nicholas Gage, is the biography of his mother, who was killed by communist guerrillas in 1948, during the Greek Civil War. The book is very compelling, which the movie wasn’t able to convey quite as well, despite its marquee cast of Kate Nelligan and John Malkovich. Surely part of the problem is that when the movie was made, Kate Nelligan was at the peak of her powers, and being a very good looking woman it was impossible to portray her credibly as a victim of torture in wartime.
What Eleni Gatzoyiannis went through to enable her children to escape communism is frighteningly analogous to what 21st Century parents might need to do to get their children out of the government schools.
Good PJ O’Rourke appreciation. Embellishing a comment on another post:
Taras:
I mentioned that brilliant essay to PJ O’Rourke, in 1997 at the CATO Institute in Washington DC, where PJ was hosting an event. I then asked him to sign my copy of “Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut.” He opened the book, drew a peace sign, then drew a big circle around the peace sign with a slash through it, and captioned the drawing “Peace Kills!”
That signed book is a prized possession. The book “Peace Kills” was published in 2004.
Many cite his treatise on politics “Parliament of Whores” as O’Rourke’s best, and while I agree that it’s outstanding, I think it is best appreciated as a bookend opposite his treatise on economics, “Eat the Rich.”
This podcast gave me an idea for a slogan: “Just as we oppose the nationalization of industry, so should we oppose the nationalization of children.”
I’m Team Hayward in all matters Power Line, except I’ll throw him under the bus every day of the week for Lucretia. ;-)
Ah, yes. The judicious Hooker. I approve that reference.
I was a hooker in high school, you know. Rosslyn Eagles rugby sevens. Good times.
Here’s that Berkeley:
Now, to business.
Plato’s Republic is not a satire. But that doesn’t mean it’s literal.
More precisely, the Republic is literal, precise, and direct when it presents the whole reason for talking about political theory in the first place. The point is to talk about the soul. It’s explaining how to get the soul into good working order so we can live a good life.
Lewis in Abolition of Man saying “The head rules the belly through the chest” is telling us what the book is doing.
The Republic means what it says.
And if we understand that much, then we may be ready to ask whether the Republic is also giving us some sort of account of the just city.
Here I am in cartoon mode with the necessary introductions.
I just wanted to say I had a nice Knob Creek small batch rye listening to this. Not much of a scotch fan, peaty or not.
PJ…………The National Lampoon HS YEARBOOK and the weekend/Sunday paper were inspired. He made a major contribution to both….There is a foto of a single nerdy type alone in a huge auditorium and the caption was simply ‘The Chess Club’….In the newspaper there was an ad that said Leon Spinx was going to fight a Waring Blender—The Blender with a brain’. I’m still laughing at those. He also invented The Jimmy Carter Game—I never laughed harder—ever—in my life.
Regarding Lucretia’s comment on the stupidity of teachers, a friend of mine who is a highly intelligent para was listening to a middle-school teacher, head of the science department, who told the listening middle-schoolers that the “Big Bang Theory” was the reason that all the dinosaurs died.
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
–Lines 62, 63
He’s quoting Canto 3 of Inferno.
Ouch.
Well, now we know that dinosaurs are godlike beings who preexisted the universe. We all suspected as much, didn’t we?
Careful, Steve – twice in a row you’re used Lucretia’s real first name!
It’s fine to have Richard Samuelson on, but did he actually get to speak? I can’t remember him getting in more than two consecutive sentences at any point. It seemed like 5 minutes of setup by Steve, a one-liner from Richard, and then Steve explaining the joke for 5 minutes.
One of my favorites from P.J.:
Santa Claus is a Democrat and God is a Republican.
God is old. Or at least middle-aged. Stern. A big believer in rules. He holds us accountable for our actions. And there are strict punishments. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world.
Santa Claus is cute, or at least non-threatening. He loves animals and is cheerful. He may know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, but he never does anything about it. He works hard for charities and is good to the poor.
Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus.
This should put a nail or two in FDR’s coffin:
https://www.jns.org/opinion/fdrs-jewish-problem-and-its-japanese-link/