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Music from this week’s podcast:
What Have I Done To Deserve This? by Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield
The brand new opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
Yes, you should absolutely subscribe to this podcast. It helps!
You’re a shell of your former self, EJHill.
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Ain’t it the living truth?
Peter, it was always too late for the Bill Kristol plan.
His plan made as much sense as disarming the Iraqi Army and dispersing them throughout the country did, which is to say none.
Well the general consensus seems to be eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die.
You know the big “donkey” Rob seems to miss is the fact that the DNC is imploding too. They just had to toss out their chairperson for rigging the primiary to drag Hillary through it. You have a lot of disgruntled Bernie supporters and Democrats that really don’t like her at all. Her Legitamacy may be in question if she does win. It’s not just the republicans that have problems the DNC is in trouble as well, you just don’t hear about it because the media is corrupt. But I know I know there is nothing we can do about that pesky media, other than alternative sites like this. That should be a pitch you use again how a site like this one can be used to fight against a corrupt media
Writing as a neutral in the Trump wars, it would have been nice had Rob extended the target of his civility lecture to the the anti-Trump side.
The Olympics suck. The sports that it began with were all essentially mock combat activities which were essential skills in the ancient world – however, these days it has been reduced to a celebration of incredibly narrow or freakish abilities. Observe the differences between Olympic power lifters, gymnasts and swimmers. None of them appear to be normal people. It’s almost as if they were selectively bred for these particular events. Let’s not even get into the grotesque cheating that we all know goes on right under the IOC’s nose because if “you’re not cheating you’re not trying” and if you’re not cheating you won’t be winning.
What we’re looking at in a lot of these events are the equivalent of a successful chemistry experiment, not glorious human triumph. At least if that’s going to be what it is, why don’t we just encourage as much cheating as possible to see just what people are capable of?
I’ll agree 99%.
Except for one sport – Olympic boxing. Unlike professional boxing, amateur (! yeah I know) boxing follows different rules. They wear headgear, so the big guys don’t paw around looking for one giant shot. They only get three rounds, which means it’s unlikely anyone is going to get TKO’d. So you have no choice but to go back to real boxing … i.e., throwing scoring punches rather than concussions. Lots more action, far less danger. Much more cleverness and far less thuggery.
That’s the only sport I’d really miss. Synchronized swimming = check the baseball scores.
You discussed the prospects of holding Congress while losing the presidency.
Even worse, you answered a question as if we had a choice between Congress and the presidency. This appears based on the delusion that if we morally preen and go #NeverTrump that improves our chances of holding Congress.
The sad thing is we could lose Congress even if we get the presidency, but are more likely to lose it if we lose the presidency.
Trump is bringing out a non-trivial number of disgruntled blue collar Democrats who will likely vote D. downticket. Say goodbye to Toomey, Portman, Ayotte, Kirk, and Johnson. The House will have similar issues, but it’s too much time for me to seat-by-seat analyze. The way to guarantee that we lose these and more seats is to tick these voters off by alienating both them and Trump.
If we support Trump, perhaps a third of these voters vote R. downticket. That may be enough to salvage the House. If we tick these voters off, the percentage goes to near zero and we are looking at 45 seats in the Senate and less than 200 in the House.
No more headgear.
Good grief. We just learned, courtesy of the hacked DNC emails, that the media colluded with Democrats to form a narrative, suppress stories, and attack adversaries. This week of handwringing is EXACTLY what the media/DNC is angling to produce. But let’s not get in the way of the Ricochet narrative that Trump is a disaster. Maybe you should read the post From Melissa O’Sullivan about Trump’s rally in VA for another perspective. Here, let me help –
http://ricochet.com/donald-trump-crying-baby-real-story/
Nice attempt to explain the non-existence of a #NeverTrump editorial policy. I doubt if Trump supporters will be satisfied though.
This is what happens when I only see the sport once every four years. Can’t get Golden Gloves anymore (Wide World of Sport is long gone).
Ah well – I’m now curious to see how the fighters approach it. Do they go for the concussion or do they actually throw punches?
Thank you for answering my question and giving me a thoughtful answer with genuine reason to hope!
I can see Rob swanning around in a cravat.
The item I’d love to bring back is the cape
I lost interest in the Olympics when I started seeing features about families that sent their 7 year old daughters away to live with some guy named Boris so she could train. Those people are nucking futz.
Another vote for “The Boys in the Boat.” I listened to the audio version this summer and am unabashedly excited about the next two weeks of Olympic rowing competition. EJ knocks it out of the park again with his photoshopping but I am a little disappointed at not seeing Peter’s monocle/double-breasted suit combo as well as Rob’s cravat [whatever that is].
Rob got me pretty down at the beginning of the podcast but his words downright inspired me at the end….’study the faith’ – wow. Thank you, I needed that reminder.
If I could have only found a picture of Peter without glasses! We talked about it, but alas…
Monocle, Peter? Spats, as well? (Just learned “spats” is short for “spatterdashes”. Delightful!)
More than the usual number of women contributed to this thread, I think. I’ve also wondered why more women don’t contribute. I hesitate to say the reason why has to do with essential maleness or femaleness. I have long held the view that whatever I do (speak up) or am (5’11”, a licensed pilot) is something women do or are since I am a woman.
Having said that, one of the best management tips I’ve read (it was in the WSJ) is that if a desirable job opens up and it has five qualifications, a woman who has only four of them won’t apply. In contrast, a man who has one of the five will go for it.
I think a lot of women, because they’re not directly involved in politics, don’t feel qualified to comment here. I don’t think men look at the world that way.
Why don’t women comment as much in the internet? It’s substantially combative. Isn’t that it?
If the Olympics suck because the athletes have been focused on their sport since childhood and/or because of fraud, that’s a difference of degree (perhaps) between gymnastics, swimming and wrestling versus basketball, baseball and football, and not a distinction. All elite athletes have been specially trained. All sports have cheating.
Rob:
Beautiful, profound and incisive points. My sentiments at hearing this were exactly the same as those of Peter’s, which followed Rob’s observation. I nearly spoke aloud the very words that Peter spoke … but I held back. I wasn’t alone.
Rob – agree that Fox needs to focus more on the culture in the post-Trump/Ailes world.
Perhaps a culture show akin to Red Eye or Gutfeld’s show nightly that just attacks the left’s hold on the culture.
Hannity’s spot will be available, it’ll slot nicely there.
“No Capes!”
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
A FIRST in the annals of rowing: a 3-man shell! (Analogous to a $4 bill?)
“The Boys in the Boat,” Ricochet style.
Please note the hands on the oars and sculls. The bandages on Rob’s fingers suggest he’s been doing some long, hard pieces. I’m not sure what the monocle is all about.
Peter: Looking out of the boat at your competition will only slow you down.
James must be rowing with the world’s first pair of sculling oars. His port oar is hidden behind Rob’s. And his hands are pulling opposite sides v. what a sculler would do. A-MAZ-ing feat.
And while they’re doing all that, they’re recording the podcast without so much as losing their breaths.
Kudos, gents!
I was on a walk listening to the podcast and when the “fashion comeback” question was raised, I immediately said “cravat, duh” to no one in particular. I’ve been agreeing with Rob a lot lately, which is more than a bit disconcerting.
The Olympics should be in Greece every four years, with traditional events, in the same venue. No more beach volleyball, shooting, basketball, etc. Basically a big track and field meet. And there should be no such thing as a “Winter Olympics”. If you want to do some form of winter games, fine, hold them in Norway or Sweden every four years. Call them the Valhalla Games or something.
Lileks: on your commercial spots. “Fair price”? What is this, State Store #5 in Havana? Shouldn’t it be “for a good price”, or “a good deal”? Or is “fair” a corporate directive? “Fair” implies there’s an “unfair” price. I’m not a believer in untrammeled capitalism, but sheesh, even I’m rankled by “fair”. You don’t have to go all Ferengi to know, “Hey Jack, it’s a market here, not a charity”.
On Fox: while I’m very glad we have Fox to balance out the other media, frankly, I hate watching and listening to it. It’s right wing tabloid TV/radio. I’m trying out Sirius XM radio in the new vehicle, and all three Fox stations are the same. I’ve been listening to a lot of business news lately, so when I tune in CNBC or Bloomberg, they’re talking business. Fox Business is always talking about how horrible Hillary is. Where’s the business? Where’s the stocks, bonds, futures trading, central banking news? It’s all right wing Jerry Springer.
The problem is you need several world class sports arenas and stadiums, plus all the single-purpose venues (e.g., velodrome if you keep cycling), plus a huge hotel/housing complex.
Does anyone seriously think a second world country like Greece could maintain these in the off years?
Thanks for the hat tip, Peter. My head was swollen for an hour!
Good to hear Denny Crane getting some mention from Peter. Shatner’s work as that character is as memorable as Kirk, really. It’s a shame that the show degenerated into a live-action Pat Oliphant cartoon.
I agree that the “New York” Fox News is cheesy. The graphics, sound effects, blondes, legs, dresses, etc.: it all reflects Roger Ailes’s horrible taste, which is no better than Donald Trump’s taste in architecture.
I have both Fox News and NPR News in my Stitcher queue, but I usually listen to the latter in the morning because it doesn’t assault my senses – just my sensibilities.