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This week we move from the pits of a senseless war to the mount of the royal jubilee, and cover quite a bit of terrain in between. Our first guest is exiled Soviet dissident Yuri Yarim-Agaev, whose extensive knowledge of Vladimir Putin is tough to match. We get his take on the man and his motivation; how the supposed mastermind of intelligence operations became the victim of Russian disinformation; and, of course, why he believes it matters to Americans.
Next up is Peter’s former Oxford classmate, Charles Hay, the 16th Earl of Kinnoull. The hosts pick his brain on the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the mysterious nature of her power, and his thoughts on a world which is lost–for better and for worse.
Also, Biden wants more credit! James reminisces on the old newspaper room; plus Peter and Rob speak about fraud in eduction.
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When Peter’s microphone arm fell off, did he lose the “pop” filter too?
Mr Robinson….
I must respectfully disagree about Maverick….it is exactly a movie about and capturing our time. Maverick is still Maverick and the fact it is so popular is people saying enough with destroying beloved characters…one need look no further than than the hallowed out Obi-Wan currently playing…..Maverick is a big middle finger to all of that and people are loving it. The backlash is coming against but no matter what you think of Tom Cruise good for him in making sure Maverick is still Maverick!!
I’ve heard some interesting interpretations. For example, that the movie is an allegory for Maverick’s journey through Purgatory and then finally to Heaven.
Intriguing, Quintus, and entirely plausible. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if you were right!
Only my composure.
Well anyway, I heard a lot of mic popping tonight.
When the mic arm collapsed he had to hold it up closer than usual. He’s devoted to his art, and the show must go on!
Hm, sounds like Lenore Karidian!
It is very hard to get Democrats to see how perverse their party has become—the current moment’s version of the Hunger Games—but especially when anti-Trump Republicans like Rob, as in his first observation in this podcast, absolutely must undercut his critique of Biden by adding that this president’s failings are similar to those of the previous president when there is simply no comparison. I won’t belabor the obvious practical differences except to say that Biden’s are existential while Trump’s were aesthetic: he soiled the carpets, but Biden and Company are bashing load-bearing walls. And those of us who feared exactly what has transpired—able, as we were, to ignore the Sirens, the constant and significant hysteria exhibited by the whiny classes—are tired of being told that our problem is that we just can’t see anything wrong with Trump. I didn’t vote for him in 2020 as much as I voted against the Democrats, but I have no problem saying that I think his administration had a lot of policy successes, far more than any recent Republican president. Yet the anti-Trump Republicans sniff nostalgically for a party that was not into black voters or poor voters or gay voters. But let me be clear: I will not vote for Trump in 2024. He will be too old, his inability to stop talking about his loss has drained most of his appeal, and he was totally wrong to gather people at the Capitol on January 6. But Joe Biden? The man who claimed—at the beginning of his profligate, corrupt, lying tenure as Senator MBNA— that his wife and daughter were killed, and his young boys injured, by a guy who “drank his lunch” when it was, unfortunately, his wife’s fault? The man who is clearly one of the worst fathers ever? The guy who misspeaks—i.e., lies—every time he opens his mouth? Surely he deserves to be critiqued on his own terms without offering him a net.
And that’s why I don’t listen anymore. There are a few people in my life who, like Rob, have developed Trump Tourette’s . Like the flagship podcast, I miss them occasionally. But it ain’t worth it.
That’s like cutting off your Lileks to spite your Rob, or something. Not worth it to me. Although for places where there’s no James to balance out Rob, it’s easier to skip those.
80% of higher education is fraudulent if for no other reason than it is over priced.
The whole thing should be al a carte.
A perfect analogy. I will gladly and happily cut off my Lileks (whom I’m sure is a lovely gent) to spite my Rob. I’m blessed with “lovely” in my life; I don’t need Lileks for that. That said, I have no time to suffer Rob and his ilk; the buffer is full. That said, I think Rob ought to suffer someone like me, and my ilk.
You should be a guest on the podcast, and put Rob over your knee for all of us. :-)
Except for a brief time, Rob never bothered me.
People like Rob need to deal with two things and they don’t want to.
We did every single thing wrong in the face of the wage deflation and job destruction from trade and globalized labor.
Every single institution is failing from a libertarian and conservative point of view.
These people live in a fantasy world about this stuff and they can’t deal with the fact that all of the GOP and GOPe boiler plate in their head is worthless.
I would happily explain to Rob what life was like under Trump vs under Biden for folks like me. People who commute and are suffering gas prices and inflation. People like me who run a business, are suffering supply chain issues and can’t get tools to the people who need them, so they aren’t hiring people, so they aren’t taking on jobs. People like me who have children and grandchildren.
People like me who have watched their kids go into dangerous places. Give me a fifth of scotch, and the smart money is on me. Bring it @roblong.
People like Rob don’t deal with those two things because they don’t have to. Yet.
I’d like to say I care the “laptop class” has a reckoning coming. The reality is I frankly don’t give a damn.
This is for James Lileks:
James: Hopefully you will review some of your adlibs to Sir Charles, and recognize your not so subtle insults.
Arnold Falk
Switzerland
China is the threat to us, so I wish they’d relate the Russian struggle to that reality. Biden is in China’s pocket so finds the Russian struggle in his interest. Still it’s all tied together and I wish they’d relate the two. .
There are probably dozens of reasons this won’t happen, but I would like Dr Yuri Maltsev for the flagship or Uncommon Knowledge.
I was just listening to one of his lectures and then also some hedge fund guys talking about the American debt / unfunded liabilities and the fact that really, “resource cursed” countries have a lot of leverage over us because we have run everything so poorly in the last 30 years. It doesn’t matter how crappy those countries are if real stuff > financial -ization and debt.
Rob said California’s higher gas prices can be called the California premium. Are the high gas prices nationwide the nice tweet premium?
The group asks why the Democrats can’t just stop being crazy for a few months? Because this is the plan. They want to destroy the country. Things are going as planned. They don’t want what’s best for the country as founded.
I still listen on occasion. But first I look at the comments. And sometimes, like today, I decide it isn’t worth it.
Planning on seeing it tonight. So wonderful that they put the Taiwan patch back on the jacket.
There is nothing new or unique about having anxiety that the heir to the throne is unserious, unqualified and a threat to the realm.
Please read Henry IV, parts One and Two. (The ambitious can start with Richard II, for extra credit.)
How would you have dreaded Prince Hal’s becoming king? Could you have predicted what was to happen in Henry V?
View or read all of Shakespeare’s “Henriad” plays, and come away with a better understanding of the phase “interesting times.” Boy could that William write, and the BBC “The Hollow Crown” is not a bad viewing for those with limited time.
I think I get Rob now, he is in a business were he has to keep his “orange man bad” bona fides up, or he won’t be invited to that all imported networking session/cocktail party/dinner somewhere on the coast.
One other thing before I bug out to get some work done, I really don’t care that Yuri Yarim-Agaev thinks I’m an idiot because I don’t want direct U.S. military involvement in the Ukraine. Does he really think that Val will not retaliate when we start enforcing no-fly zones, targeting Vald’s war fighting assets directly, and becoming involved with incursions directly into Mother Russia? If NATO had thought Putin would not retaliate, then Poland would have sent their fighter jets directly to Ukraine when the war first broke out, instead of offering to fly them to Germany and let the U.S. do with them what they will. I’m no expert on anything. My name is Schultz and I know nothing, but come on man.
If what you say is true, that’s pathetic. Even more pathetic that a sincere obliviousness to the hell that the Biden administration has wrought.
🤔 The name doesn’t ring a bell. Should I be embarrassed?
Welcome to the “post-modern” world.