There are 40 comments.

1. Member
   Majestyk

   @Majestyk

   1:28 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   Rob Long:

   Fred Cole:Wth!?How did the good people who play Magic: The Gathering get lumped in that pretentious nimrod!?

   If I was on a full keyboard instead of just my iPhone, I swear upon the altar of God that I would rip Rob a new corn chute!

   Hah! Well, you know. I was trying to create a word picture.

   A word picture of my favorite hobby… :(

2. Inactive
   user_280840

   @FredCole

   1:45 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   Rob Long:

   Fred Cole:Wth!?How did the good people who play Magic: The Gathering get lumped in that pretentious nimrod!?

   If I was on a full keyboard instead of just my iPhone, I swear upon the altar of God that I would rip Rob a new corn chute!

   Hah! Well, you know. I was trying to create a word picture.

   So was I.  That’s why I used the phrase “corn chute.”

3. Inactive
   user_280840

   @FredCole

   2:45 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   My comments in reply to Rob’s comments on Magic can be found here:

   http://ricochet.com/magic-the-gathering-players-of-ricochet-unite-you-have-nothing-to-lose-but-rob-longs-slandering-you/#comment-2661182

4. Coolidge
   The Unreasonable Man

   @TheUnreasonableMan

   3:36 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   Some of these comments are very smooth… like the smooth shave you would get from Harry’s

5. Inactive
   Karen

   @Karen

   5:15 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   Yeah, Shinseki’s resignation as VA Secretary blows a big hole in your theory, guys. Let’s also keep in mind that the Secret Service was moved from Department of Treasury to Department of Homeland Security. And who created DHS, hmm? DHS is a in terrible mess, hemorrhaging senior leadership. So, one could certainly make the case that Bush carries some of responsibility since the Secret Service was moved to DHS early in his presidency. I don’t think using the problems at the Secret Service and extrapolating them into a critique of the federal government at large is a serious argument.

6. Inactive
   Karen

   @Karen

   5:17 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   By the way, if you want to get the 411 on the Secret Service, ask a former agent who’s running for U.S. Congress as a Republican: Dan Bongino.

7. Member
   user_1152

   @DonTillman

   

   11:16 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   Peter Robinson drives the title topic of the podcast at 9:30:

   What has happened?  I’m not even talking about ideology, I’m just talking about competence, the ability to get things done.  What happened between 50 years ago, when John Kennedy was able to announce a moon program and we were able to get it done within 7 years, and today, when the federal government is incapable of designing a web site for ObamaCare, and incapable, we now know, of keeping an intruder carrying a knife, from entering the White House and making it all the way into the East Room.  What does this mean?

   And I’m reading Peter Thiel’s “Zero to One” right now, and in Chapter 6, discussing definite vs indefinite processes, Thiel says:

   The government used to be able to coordinate complex solutions to problems like atomic weaponry and lunar exploration.  But today, after 40 years of indefinite creep, the government mainly just provides insurance; our solutions to big problems are Medicare, Social Security, and a dizzying array of other transfer payment programs.  It’s no suprise that entitlement spending has eclipsed discretionary spending every year since 1975.  To increase discretionary spending we’d need definite plans to solve specific problems.  But according to the indefinite logic of entitlement spending, we can make things better just by sending out more checks.

   Indeed.

8. Member
   user_1152

   @DonTillman

   

   11:20 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 3, 2014

   Blue Yeti: P.S. Don, we will be bringing back the live stream in a few weeks.

   I’m really looking forward to that.  My life has been *hell* without the weekly live stream fix.

   I know, I know; that’s not a good sign.

9. Member
   Boss Mongo

   @BossMongo

   2:48 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 4, 2014

   Gentlemen,

   Great podcast (as usual).  While I enjoyed the discussion of responsibility via resignation, I think you missed the elephant in the room.

   After POTUS claimed that the intelligence community “got it wrong” with its assessment of ISIS and its capabilities/threat potential, how can James Clapper not have resigned immediately?

   Either the IC did get it wrong, in which case he is culpable and should have resigned as soon as POTUS’ comments were published, OR his intelligence analysts got it right, in which case anything other than an immediate resignation makes him Little Miss Punching Bag.

   In either case, that he didn’t reflexively throw down the letter of resignation upon POTUS’ throwing him under the bus points to severe dysfunction in the executive branch.

10. Member
    Gojira's Hejira

    @GojirasHejira

    2:18 PM EDT ⋅ Oct 21, 2014

    Did James really miss a chance to reference “Civilisation” by The Andrews Sisters & Danny Kay?  And I go to HIM to learn about kitsch.