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  2. The Ricochet Podcast/
  3. To Speak Ill of the Dead
March 20, 2026
March 20, 2026

•Episode length: 52m

Ricochet

To Speak Ill of the Dead

Episode length: 52m

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H.R. McMaster joins Steve and Charles to take stock of the war in the Middle East. Though a tank man by training, H.R. is no stranger to thinking about our capabilities and how they stack up against our foes—both the enemy in Iran and the aggressors backing them up.

Plus, Cooke and Hayward can't help but feel a bit of relief that there's a bit less Ehrlichian misanthropy in the world; consider newly reported accusations against Caesar Chavez that could prove fatal to the progressive hero's reputation; and they round the necrologies out with a salute to the immortal Chuck Norris.

Sounds from this week's open: Cesar Chavez at UCLA in 1972, Paul Erlich (Growth Busters, 2007) and Chuck Norris on… Chuck Norris (Full Measure, 2017)

Hosts:
•Charles C. W. Cooke•Steve Hayward
Guest:
•H.R. McMaster

Discussion (4)

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    Dr.Guido@DrGuido·29w

    Excellent hour...you two and the General are to be congratulated. McMaster is a lot kinder to the Donald than the other way around.....and the schadenfreude I feel about Cesar just won't go away.

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    WilliamWarford@WilliamWarford·29w

    Great insight, as always.

    Given that Charles gets mistaken for Chuck Norris, I have an idea for Steve's next venture into fiddling with AI: Charles's voice delivering Chuck Norris lines in video clips from the latter's films. Imagine Charles saying:

    From Code of Silence (1985): "When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you." From Invasion U.S.A. (1985): "If you come back in, I’ll hit you with so many rights you’ll be begging for a left."

    From Lone Wolf McQuade (1983): "My kind of trouble doesn’t take vacations."

    From The Delta Force (1986): "Sleep tight, sucker!"

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    Charlotte@Charlotte·29w

    Re Charlie resembling Chuck Norris - never occurred to me, but once seen it cannot be unseen.

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    Charlotte@Charlotte·29w

    I'm sure HR McMaster is a fine human being who knows his stuff, but dude should switch to decaf. It's hard to listen to a guy who's wound up to 11 all the time.

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