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Well, it’s crunch time now: we’re into the final lap of the election and things are going to be intense for the next 8 weeks or so. But first, some personal business: one of our intrepid cast is sending his youngest child off to college. Is his purpose in life now over? We discuss. Then Mr. Flight 93 himself, Michael Anton joins to discuss his new book, The Stakes: America at the Point of No Return and to warn everyone that if Joe Biden wins, the country will turn into California (but without the weather, the beaches, and the surfing). For those of us who live in the Golden State, it’s a weird way to sell a book (it’s not that bad here), but hey, Michael’s gotta eat too. Then, something of a departure for America’s Most Beloved Podcast® — a sports segment! And if we’re going to do a sports segment, then we’re going to get one of the best in the business to help us. That would be the great Sally Jenkins — columnist for The Washington Post. We talk about college football, political activism in sports, and what’s it’s like to enter the family business when your dad was one of the all time legends. Finally, Nancy Pelosi gets a blowout and it blows up. Perfect.
Music from this week’s show: I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair by Ella Fitzgerald
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Does anyone else believe that only Trump could beat Hillary Clinton? That seems like a pretty big stretch to me. She is super unlikeable and corrupt after all.
It’s also hard for me to understand Sally Jenkins being OK with athletes going full BLM. BLM is destroying black America and trying to turn black-Americans against white-Americans. Being an aloof millionaire really isn’t all that bad compared to that.
What’s more, the NBA went out of it’s way to kowtow to China. Most big American companies that make money in China aren’t that egregiously pusillanimous.
Won’t be able to download the podcast and listen until Saturday, but Sally’s been one of the wokest sportswriters out there for a while now, so this ought to be interesting. Or a train wreck.
I do. A full 13% of Trump’s voters had pulled the lever for Barack Obama in 2012. Name me one of the other 16 primary candidates that do that. (Sanders voters stayed home.)
I don’t buy into this conventional wisdom crap that says we’re in a predestined pattern of alternating parties in the White House because of some mystical 22nd Amendment woodoo.
Every election is different because every electorate is different. Every election is different because issues are different. Every election is different because every matchup is different. (We haven’t seen a party renominate a loser since Adlai Stevenson was fed to the wolves twice by the Democrats.)
She’s so great I’ve never even heard of her…can’t wait. Thanks for the heads up! What a terrible article. Before the last few months I never stopped listening to a Ricochet podcast halfway through, but now it’s happening more often and I suspect I won’t make it to the end of this one.
One, Sally isn’t “woke.” I spend a lot of time on a college campus, and she’s Barry Goldwater compared to those folks.
Two — maybe listen to the segment instead of pre-judging it? She’s one of the most knowledgeable and articulate observers of the intersection of sports and culture out there. Do we agree with her on everything? No we do not. But that’s not a requirement to be a guest on this show. P.S We do not agree with everything Michael Anton says or writes either.
As for quitting the show halfway through, since you did provide any details as to what offended your sensibilities, I can’t respond to that. Did we book AOC or the Mayor of Portland recently? Don’t think so…Need to go check my emails.
I’ve got a five hour drive to San Antonio on Saturday, and that’s when I’m going to listen to the show and hope for the best. But here’s Sally from a year ago, defending the NBA’s position on China after Daryl Morey’s tweet in support of Hong Kong — Clay Travis on his Fox Radio show made a comment this morning about how sportswriters are in the tank for the NBA more than other sports leagues, and this story is one of the better examples. If she’s not woke, at the very least she’s empathetic to the wokeness of others.
The government needs to help the NBA disentangle itself from China.
We did talk to her about this. That column is not a defense of the NBA. Sally does not excuse the league, she acknowledges their hypocrisy but points out that hundreds of American companies —including several like Apple, Nike, and Starbucks who use social justice as a marketing hook just as much as the NBA does— do huge amounts of business in and with China and are not being called on it. And she’s right.
Safe travels.
What Rob said about those poll questions he “bought,” suggests to me that most Democrat voters don’t actually agree with much of what is being done “in their name” by the people they continually vote for.
I can only think of two descriptions for people like that. “Morons” and “Suckers.”
Now do Apple, Starbucks, Nike, Walmart, AMC Theaters, United Airlines, etc, etc
The ones that are worried about cheap labor are going to migrate to cheaper countries. The ones that just need revenue from China are in real trouble and need help.
There is a lot of pressure on those guys after we thought trading with the Chinese mafia would work out.
Yes, the working theory on China for decades through both Republican and Democratic administrations was that exposing the Chinese to capitalism and making them wealthy would turn them into a democracy. Didn’t turn out that way. Sally’s point is don’t hold the NBA solely responsible for that. It’s not a woke sentiment. Just the opposite, in fact. It’s a defense of capitalism.
I completely agree with that.
Now that @peterrobinson will soon be an empty nester, maybe he can follow in the footsteps of @jameslileks and start getting excited about things like bluetooth-enabled toothbrushes. :-)
And, everyone remember: get off his lawn!
I think China is pretty low on basic commodities given their population. Now they have lots of warfare capability.
Just goes to show, that the so called ‘experts’ are not very smart. I am still gobsmacked by Jays story that Condoleeza Rice once said about China. “No other government type in the history of the world, has ever had economic expansion without political expansion.”
And I thought to myself, what every empire ever made. The Rome, Chinese and Persian empires all come to mind. Strong centralized repressive governments have had a long history of having economic expansion without giving any liberalizing policies.
But it does prove Lenin right, the Capitalists will sell the rope to hang themselves.
There is another word for Freeloaders. Europe.
I skipped pass Sally, but I didn’t want to miss the Nancy hair saloon talk.
The NBA is not tangled up with China. There is nothing, aside from making copious amounts of money, that the league is dependent upon the Chinese for. They do not have to play there, they do not have to get their equipment there, nor do the need China for any logistical help. It’s just a market. Do they want it? Sure. Do they need it to survive? No.
I don’t know much about it. It depends on how much invested capital is involved *and* the legal agreements etc..
Maybe not to survive per se, but they might require China if they want to keep paying themselves – players, coaches, administrators, etc – as much as they seem to think they deserve.
Regarding Michael Anton’s position about not “begrudging” anyone their vote, I guess that’s possible, but I don’t mind blaming the people who didn’t vote for Trump – no matter what their excuse might be – if Biden/Harris win, or if Hillary had won in 2016.
Sally Jenkins is not a fire-breathing gender studies professor. As if we would ever book someone like that — come on. After 500+ shows, we have a pretty good read on our audience. She’s a whip smart, pragmatic, thoughtful, veteran sports writer with some complex views on sports and culture. Some of her takes you will disagree with, some you will agree on (oh, yes — you will). But (and I guarantee this) you won’t be bored. She is a terrific guest.
I hear complaints all the time about how the left sandboxes themselves and won’t allow any dissenting opinions to be heard. Honestly, what you’ll hear in this segment is mildly dissenting at the most. Sad to see the same attitude here.
Seriously — are you that reluctant to listen to someone you might disagree with? Do you not trust that Peter, James, and Rob won’t represent your views in a conversation with a guest (OK, maybe not Rob….😜).
I honestly don’t get it. I promise that Sally is not going to reach through your podcast player and bite you and you will not transition to a socialist by listening to her 15 minute segment. Maybe trust your hosts and your producer and give her a chance?
Well, I don’t want to get myself cancelled. So I’ll just ask, how can Rob be so naive about American football/players versus global soccer/players?
The other thing is, we have left a ton of intellectual capital in that country. The whole thing is totally regrettable.
If we could do it over, we would probably just trade for food and energy. I hope we didn’t figure this out too late.
I found about 6 minutes of nothing, at the very end.
My main issue with segment on professional athletes is that there’s is no historical context. Professional athletes of today are nothing like the professional athletes of the 1960’s. In the 1960’s close 95% had secondary jobs and did not carry near the clout nor make the kind of money that today’s professional athletes do. In the 1960’s walking out or taking a knee or raising the fist like the 1968 Olympics really meant something. Today…it is nothing but taking the easy way out. It’s like giving the person on the street playing the guitar for money a dime. Today’s athletes could put real pressure on corporations to bring jobs back to areas that need them….yes I know LeBron opened a school…wow…he dropped some cash and then went back to his gated community. I’m sorry…I strongly disagree with the writer that today’s athlete’s are doing anything close to what was done in the 1960’s. Today’s athletes are taking the easy way out.
Darn, you discovered the 6 minutes of very high frequency Socialists brainwashing we included at the end of this show. It’s now been removed. Delete the version you have and re-download the file to get the correct version.
I’m kidding — it was a stray file on the template we use for this show. Now fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
Good closing song.
You raise a good point (although I don’t think contemporary Olympic track and field athletes are on a track for riches — maybe Usain Bolt, but hardly anyone else).
It’s absolutely fine –encouraged even!– to disagree with the guests or the hosts. No need to apologize. It’s the refusal to even listen based on some preconceived notion that bothers me.