Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
This week, the Pope is in town — there’s a lot to say about that and we do, pretty much in real time as it’s happening (shout out to Ricochet member Egg Man for providing updates in the chat room).
Later in the podcast, a very special announcement concerning Ricochet and Jon Gabriel (no, we’re not getting married — but close).
But first, our good friend and fellow podcaster Jay Nordlinger stops by to discuss his new book Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators. It’s a fascinating book about the children of some of the worst people in history. You should buy it. Of course, we also delve into some politics and music, and even a bit of Rob Long adoration.
Finally, a few words about the great Yogi Berra. Listen in!
Music from this week’s episode:
Yes I’m Changing by Tame Impala
The opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
Thanks to EJHill for the Photoshop.
Yes, you should absolutely subscribe to this podcast. It helps!
Help Ricochet by Supporting Our Sponsors!
For a limited time The Great Courses has a Special offer for Ricochet listeners. Order any of these 4 Business & Presentation courses – for just $9.95. Go to thegreatcourses.com/RICOCHET
Get control of your inbox. Try SaneBox yourself with two free weeks of SaneBox. Visit sanebox.com/ricochet to start your trial—no credit card needed.
Subscribe to The Ricochet Podcast in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.
Not to complain, but when the title is what it is, one would expect a photoshop giving someone Spock ears.
Coming soon…
Umm….
Mr. Yeti: I believe the song at the end of the podcast may violate the CoC. Has that happened before?
Sowell get bumped?
He couldn’t make it and sent his regrets. Hope to have him on soon.
Some people get sidetracked snipe hunting. Yeti gets sidetracked Sowell hunting. But some day our prince will come.
Yes! Tame Impala! CofC notwithstanding, good Perth lads, with a nice line in sub-Beatles neo-psychodelia. Good call.
Star Trek, or the Wiggles?
The Pope’s address today (which I have yet to read) sounds better in many respects, at least from what I’ve heard on this podcast and on the news. I’m not sure if he’s more conscious of his reputation in America, but his tone seems more anodyne than his previous translations.
One problem I heard with a quote, not unique to the Pope, is the notion of income “distribution,” as if there’s a pot of wealth that someone metes out to whomever he so chooses. Certainly that’s the way it works in thoroughly Communist countries, and likely so in Venezuela, but someone ought to remind Francis that we lack a central distributive committee, and therefore lack the amount of human misery that plagues wide swaths of the world.
NR has become a beacon of filth.
Good luck finding good things to say about Fiorina’s time at HP. She is going to get the swift boat storm if she wins. People lost money and are so angry at her she will be a target rich environment.
Listening to Jay’s discussion of Svetlana Stalin reminds me strongly of John Le Carre’s Smiley’s People. The mental break caused by understanding her father, the death of her mother at a young age more or less at the hands of the father, the name change … all of these are direct parallels to Karla’s daughter in the novel. Anyone ever hear that Le Carre based this character on Stalin?
Egg Man said that the Pope said “Harness.” Sounds statist to me.
Herewith my nomination for best line ever on the Ricochet podcast, from Mr. Long, regarding the eternal complaint of blood-soaked tyrants against their sons: “you didn’t have it as tough as me, you didn’t have to climb over a mountain of skulls..”
I caught that piece, too – I wouldn’t start going head-over-heels for the Pope because he said something that can be interpreted as a positive. “Harnessing” means controlling – meaning that’s a short hop from controlling the means of production.
I really think the Pope should stick to other matters, or at least celebrate what capitalism and the idea of enterprise has done for hundreds of millions in the last century or two. We are not in an Ages of Dark anymore. To ignore the economic impacts of turning a buck by providing something someone else wants at a price they’re willing to pay ignores the reality of how 6 billion or so people on the planet lives their lives, every day.
Peter has to say over and over again the no one he knows likes Carly. Who cares?
The passing of the Ricochet whiskey flask from Tennessee (!) to Phoenix? I think not. The new Editor in Chief will have to make his own regional mark. Jon, I’m hoping your editing will reflect perceptions influenced by your experiences smoking the venom of the Colorado River Toad.
See Ron Kean, above.
Peter’s comment about HP culture initiatives recently is not correct. At least as late as December 2014, the main employee culture program was “HP way now”. It was explicitly based on going back to “Bill & Dave values”. Booklets, webcasts, surveys, performance evaluation templates, etc. Everything HR was cast in the theme of going back to the original spirit. This was a major part of Meg’s perennial turn around which did not change a lot of the day to day culture on the ground level.
In my opinion, HP is too big to change. Organizations with close to 300,000 employees can’t change. No matter which leader they have. The coming split may be a step in the right direction but it is still going to be 2 very large companies. We will soon see if it works.
I would have to agree with Rob about Scott Walker. He should have …campaigned.