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Scott Johnson

Scott W. Johnson is a Minneapolis attorney and contributor to PowerLine.

Series

No published series are attached yet.

Recent Episodes

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

The Three (Five!) Whisky Happy Hour: Election Night Vigil Edition

For our many regular listeners who were not able to join us last night for our live taping of this special mid-week episode that included Scott Johnson and (very late) John Hinderaker (hence the "Five Whisky Happy Hour"), much of what we talked about has been overtaken by subsequent vote counts and other results. But we did have a number of questions and issues that should still be of interest even after the dust settles today, such as why the polls were wrong again, what's wrong with the exit polls, why the legacy media looks increasingly mediocre as well as biased, why the big winner of this election cycle—and an important harbinger for the future—is Joe Rogan. On the Power Line main site for this episode over-eager listeners will be able to listen to a bonus "overtime" recording where we brought in a number of listeners to comment widely on a number of things, some of them beyond just the election.
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July 2020

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Happy 200th To Us!

For our 200th podcast, we assembled all four Power Line Beatles, John, Paul, George and Ringo Steve and Scott, to kick around various current topics, including Steve's own experience with cancel culture, the state of the presidential race, whether the United States might actually break up after this election regardless of who wins, and above all some reflections on 18 years of Power Line, where we have (according to our site meter) posted over 57,000 items. This special episode is a crossover event, edited down from a live VIP chat session held late in the week, in which we took audience questions. So once you'd paid your Ricochet monthly dues, you should consider becoming a Power Line VIP subscriber, too. You not only get ad-free access to the site, but invitations to participate in special events and occasional premium content.
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June 2020

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Power Line’s Fab Four on Our Crazy World

On Wednesday, "The Beatles" (John, Paul, George and Ringo Scott, and Steve) got together for a live online VIP chat session, covering everything from the riot scene, the fall election, statue-tipping, The NASCARash, and other sports. A lot of VIP members who couldn't make the show asked if we'd make available a recording, and we decided to make a highlight reel into a podcast and offer it to the public. If you're a VIP member, we thank you, and if you're not, here's a sample of the live, interactive meetup you can participate in for just a few dollars a month. I edited the show down by more than a third, cutting out not merely redundancies, but an interminable reminiscence of the Minnesota Twins move from DC to Minnesota back in the ancient of times. Some other episode perhaps. John Hinderaker is in the host chair for our VIP videochats. Take it away, John.
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December 2019

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Power Line’s Year in Review and 2020 Preview

Our final episode of 2019 brings together the entire Power Line gang—John, Paul, Scott, and Steve, along with "Ammo Grrll" Susan Vass—for a look at the current scene and a look ahead to next year. Consisting of excerpts from a recent Power Line VIP member live video chat, John Hinderaker hosts as we review the farce of impeachment, the state of the Democratic nomination contest (including how big a buffoon Joe Biden is), what blue states might actually be in play for Trump (including even Minnesota?!?!), along with a detour into the confused Israeli political scene, and culminating in a constructive proposal from Susan for replacing "The View" on ABC with a show a sane person might actually want to watch. Happy new year, and best wishes from the Power Line crew.
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April 2019

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

The Noor Trial Verdict

Scott Johnson has been covering the trial of Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, who was charged in the fatal 2017 shooting of Justine Damond. This afternoon the jury returned a guilty verdict on the counts of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. This trial has been closely watched because of the suspicion that officer Noor was accredited as a police officer for political reasons—a potential aspect of the story that did not come out in the criminal trial, but may yet emerge in the civil suit Damond's family has pending against the city of Minneapolis. In this special midweek edition of the Power Line Show, Scott joined Steve Hayward moments after arriving home from the courthouse after the verdict and offers his reflections not only on the trial itself but on the wider issues that this story has involved from the outset. For more background on the story and the trial, see Scott's 20-part series on Power Line (just scroll backward for the numbered entries).
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December 2018

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

A New Year’s Eve Reunion for ‘The Beatles’

Getting Power Line's own "fab four" (John, Paul, George and Ringo, Scott and Steve) together at once is almost as hard as getting The Beatles back together, even though all of the Power Line Fab Four are still living. But we did better than that: For our special year-end wrap-up and prediction show, we also assembled "Yoko Ono" (Susan Vass, aka "Ammo Grrrll") and "Brian Epstein" (aka, Joe Malchow, who really is our Supremo Producer). We reviewed a few loose ends from the political news of 2018, talked about the politics of Silicon Valley, and made predictions for 2019, which hopefully no one will write down because they will surely be wrong, as most predictions are. Ignore the argument at the end between Steve and Joe about which California appellation produces the best red wines. Joe is wrong.
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November 2018

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

On the Firing Line with Ammo Grrrll

Scott Johnson joins host Steve Hayward this week for a podcast book party celebrating the launch of a collection of columns from "Ammo Grrrll," Power Line's Friday morning humor writer, Susan Vass. Ammo Grrrll Hits the Target is a collection of the first year of Susan's Power Line columns, which have become a hit with readers. Susan is a retired stand-up comic, and this episode talks about the terrifying world of comedy club performances, where "you either kill or you die," as Ammo Grrrll puts it; why comics are the most needy performance artists—even more than singers (though she explains why "all singers are chick singers"), and how she got the nickname "Ammo Grrrll" in the first place. She also explains the difference between her previous home in Minnesota, which is "snarky nice," and her current home of Arizona, where people are truly more polite because more Arizonans are armed. We celebrate some of her best columns on weight loss and sex, because of course we do.
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December 2017

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Shedding Light on ‘Darkest Hour’

"Darkest Hour," the new Churchill biopic that comes out in general release this week, has generated some controversy about its accuracy and depiction of Churchill in the crucial weeks of May 1940. Steven Hayward, who liked the film, and Scott Johnson, who disliked it, argue it over and break it down for us, and end with a list of Churchill books everyone should read.
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October 2016

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Strange Times

Tonight, John, Scott and Steve got together to talk about the strangest political season of modern times. Questions abound: Does Trump still have a chance? Will tomorrow night’s debate matter? Will the Hillary Clinton scandals that have come out recently give Trump a shot in the campaign’s waning days? How about the Senate? Can the Republicans hold it? If Hillary wins and the Senate is 50/50, will control of the Senate depend on a special election in Virginia? What about the House? Is there a danger that the Democrats could retake the House as well as the Senate? And, finally, if Hillary wins following a virtually issues-free campaign, will she have a mandate to govern? Or will she be a lame duck from the day of her inauguration? The episode winds up with an interview with Senator Ron Johnson, the man standing in the way of Russ Feingold’s return to the Senate. The interview should be more than enough to convince you to go here and contribute to Johnson’s campaign.
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July 2016

November 2014

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Introducing Power Line: Obama’s Gift to Republicans

You read them. You love them. And now they have their very own show. In their first episode, John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, Paul Mirengoff, and Steven Hayward are joined by Michael Barone to dissect the numbers behind the GOP's historic election. Is President Barack Obama the gift that going to keep on giving to Republicans?
Guest:
MBMichael Barone
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