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Rob Long is off this week, Law Talk’s John Yoo is sitting in. We’ve got Henry Olsen (he of The Horse Race podcast right here on this network) to chat about Super Duper Tuesday, Joementum!, and whether we’ve seen the last of the Socialist. Then, our friend and advisor Dr. George Savage stops by the tell us all about the Corona Virus — who’s got it, who doesn’t, what we can do about it and what we can’t. Yes, we’re sick of this topic too. Also, Chuck Schumer says something dumb, why are so many old white guys running for higher office, are some people are too damn sensitive, and another edition of What Are You Watching?
Music from this week’s show: My Sharona by The Knack
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It’s painful to agree with Jonah Goldberg about anything, especially these days. But to be fair, this is something he has said since before he contracted Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Basically, John Yoo is wrong about abortion being a suitable issue to handle at the state level, because it’s not reasonable for there to be a wide range of varying practices from state to state, on who/what is a human being. Yoo’s position would leave it open for some states to allow slavery if they choose. He probably doesn’t think it does, because slaves are “obviously” human beings or something, but by the standard he chooses, that “obvious” isn’t really obvious.
You don’t see anyone – any person – in the process of dying in “The Andromeda Strain” but you see many people who have already died, including in some rather bizarre circumstances.
What I occasionally end up pointing out though, is that they show in the movie – and I believe it was mentioned in the original novel as well – that Andromeda only “works” in a very limited range of blood pH. And while human blood normally falls within that range, the blood of mice, monkeys, and birds does not. So Andromeda would not have killed the test animals used in the lab. It surprises me that Crichton would have made that mistake, but maybe he didn’t think that something like the Internet would allow people to discover it so easily.
States make mistakes, so do cities and towns and individuals, but that’s the way the thing was designed and until we destroyed it, worked better than any society in history. Move it to the states, then gradually convince the pro abortion states to adopt better laws. They may not. Thats the price progress requires. We’ll not outlaw it nationally at least not for one hell of a long time. That should be obvious. It’s a republic and needs to remain one.
A better movie to illustrate South Korea’s feelings towards the US was a passable action flick I saw last year called Steel Rain. If anyone wants their isolationist tendencies increased I would strongly recommend it. One thing it emphasizes that Americans are probably oblivious to is that in their eyes the most unforgivable sin America has committed is always, when push comes to shove, preferring Japan to Korea.
And so your argument that states get to decide that an unborn human is not really a human, but states cannot decide that black humans are not really humans, is…. what? Federalism? That’s pretty weak, and arguably even awful/evil.
“Born”= carried after conception
Peter at the end talks about George W Bush “getting us into a war.” That’s unfair. It was the Taliban/Bin Laden who did that.
The war with Iraq was a war of choice, and took resources away from capturing Bin Ladin at Tora Bora.
I read a very depressing book about this. Jawbreaker. When you look at all of the money and blood expended on Iraq and Afghanistan, the idea that they couldn’t put more pressure on Tora Bora when the time was right makes you absolutely sick to your stomach. You just can’t trust that the military, political, and clandestine leadership will be good when you need it. Act accordingly. (It’s a very good book, it’s just the end is very depressing)
link
I’m looking for the proper legal phraseology to tell Judge Walton to go sit on his thumb and spin.
Here in Japan, someone of my age must submit to two tests, one for senility, one for vision and for driving skills, in order to qualify for license renewal. Last week I went off to the second test, wearing, at my wife’s insistence, a face mask. I asked her whether she was concerned about my health or about virtue-signaling (I used a rough Japanese equivalent). She bluntly replied: “Both.” I’m glad that I heeded her advice, as almost everyone I met was masked. (I somehow passed.)
This evening my wife and I ate kimchi, which, having long ago lived in the Republic of Korea, I’ve been enjoying longer than John Yuu–and can vouch for its wondrous effects. I’ve recently been in contact with Chinese tourists but am still quite unaffected by the virus. Furthermore, I haven’t confused my wife with my sister in months, and that’s not just because I have only brothers. It’s surely because I regularly eat kimchi…I hope that Prof. Yuu reconsiders his “pro-choice” sentiments, but I continue to admire greatly his legal brilliance and delightful wit. Please invite him back!
Delightful, Wofsheim
Isn’t that three tests? You may have just failed the first one…
60 billion minus 500 million is 59.5 billion, not 55 billion, Brian.
The point that John made regarding the American general (69 minutes into the podcast) is incorrect. He took a fact regarding who commands military forces on the Korean Peninsula during a crisis and incorrectly extrapolated it to support a preposterous event portrayed in a South Korean film. I served on the senior staff in Korea for 2 years, so let me explain why he’s wrong.
Background: At the beginning of the Korean War, the South Korean (the Republic of Korea, or ROK) army failed to stop the North Korean push across the 38th Parallel that started in June 1950. The US intervened, and in tandem with the surviving ROK army units, stopped the North Korean advance at what is commonly known as the Pusan Perimeter. At the same time, in the UN Security Council, while the Soviet Union’s representative was absent, the US secured agreement on a resolution condemning the assault, and another one authorizing UN forces under US command, to counter Kim Il Sung’s aggression. It is from this moment that the countering of North Korean aggression became a multinational affair. After the fighting ended in 1953, the UN organization that developed during the war continued to exist, with the primary responsibility to defend the ROK. Over time, South Korea’s military became sufficiently robust, leading the US and ROK to agree to the creation of the Combined Forces Command (CFC) in 1978, a command manned by both US and ROK military forces. One of the critical tenets of command is that it is unified. Hence, CFC has the responsibility during a crisis to command all US and ROK military forces defending South Korea.
Since the US has military capabilities that the ROK doesn’t, CFC has always been commanded by a US 4-star general, with a ROK 4-star general as his deputy. (More details at this link.) Note that the US isn’t in charge of everything that happens within CFC: the staff sections are led by either a ROK or US officer, with the opposite as his deputy. While this is the staff organization of CFC, the command of tactical forces that actually fight against North Koreans is performed by ROK or US ground commanders in their respective areas of operation. The CFC commander’s authority is to approve the overall campaign to fight against the invading North Koreans. However, commanders of operational and tactical forces carry out the operations according to CFC’s and their own nation’s laws, rules, and regulations. Bottom line: What the movie portrays is impossible.
Never turn your BS detector off. Trusting a South Korean movie to characterize US military matters accurately is like believing everything that Hollywood portrays about the US military. South Korea is a democracy, and many don’t like it that the US would command CFC during a crisis. What the movie does is characterize the US in a bad light, supporting the position of those pushing for ROK control of CFC.
Don’t forget fanatical devotion to the Pope.
On a side note, has Jonah pulled his podcast off the Ricochet feed? Looks like The Dispatch podcast is still there, but the two Remnants he did this week are only up at The Dispatch website, and not here. Seems odd, but I suppose someone may think it will drive traffic there (though that same someone is loopy if they plan to paywall the podcast…)
John Yoo as the Rob Long stunt double…. two thumbs up!
No. They changed their hosting provider and it is not compatible (yet) with our CMS. We are working with The Dispatch on a solution and hope to have it restored this week.
On this issue I’m Trumpier than Trump – why the hell should we spend billions to protect an ungrateful ally that doesn’t want us around? The last time I looked, over a decade ago, South Korea was over 30 times larger than North Korea economically and could easily support any defense burdens on it’s own.
John Yoo says the Chief Justice should have ignored Chuck Schumer‘s threats against Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.
But once John Roberts had criticized Donald Trump merely for referring to “Republican Justices” and “Democratic Justices”, he had no choice but to address Schumer‘s far more threatening attack on the Court.
Thanks for the quick reply.
Not in Iraq they didn’t.
Fascinating. Thanks for this.
So is, The Pharmacist, really that good? I’m considering renewing my Netflix subscription.
Thank you so much.
My wife and I loved it. But maybe you’d better just subscribe for one month. (I’d hate to think I was responsible for hanging you up on Netflix for a full year!)
What if China helps North Korea again?
I don’t think most people break up the “war on terror” into smaller pieces so much. And I don’t know that the Iraq war would have come up at all, or seemed as necessary (to some people, anyway) to have, if not for what the Taliban/Bin Laden did. It doesn’t seem fair or even particularly honest to treat it so… granularly?
I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED Jame’s answer when asked if he is a Boomer. My feelings exactly, though of course no one can express those sentiments as well as James. I’m 57, the youngest of 6. I watched some of my older brothers and sisters get caught up in the Woodstock culture, and knew I sure wasn’t going down that road. Gosh, I can recall my oldest sister rolling her eyes in exasperation when I asked if she would take me to the local mall so I could buy a single of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by the Andrews sisters…..I was so uncool then, and have happily remained so. I have more in common culturally with people in their 80s than I do with the bulk of Boomers in their 60s and 70s.