Conservative Conversation and Community
Happy Halloween! This episode of The Bookmonger features a 10-minute conversation with Leslie S. Klinger, editor of The New Annotated Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Why has Shelley’s novel endured for two centuries? What does its fame owe to Boris Karloff and the movies? Does it hold any special lessons in our age of rapid scientific and technological advances?
More
Jon Gabriel (@ExJon) and Stephen Miller (@RedSteeze) talk about Trump’s Halloween trolling of the media, the replacement of Senator Flake by Senator Gabriel, and Hillary’s latest Russia problem.
The intro/outro song is “I Drive a Lot” by Starflyer 59. Jon’s song of the week is “Like a Baby” by Starflyer 59 and Stephen’s is “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. To listen to all the music featured on The Conservatarians, subscribe to our Spotify playlist.
More
Or very nearly. Jay and Mona reflect on New York City’s glorious renewal, the work of great philanthropists, the worth of work in general, Putin’s Kafkaesque assault on truth, and a grim anniversary, among many other topics.
Here is a link to the Bach piece mentioned toward the end of the podcast.
More
“It’s time for the Ricochet Poooodcaaaast!” If only we had Vin Scully to announce that the epic way he did earlier this week at Game 2 of The World Series. But this podcast ain’t too shabby either: leading off we’ve got the great Mollie Hemingway on that whole dossier controversy and batting cleanup, it’s power-hitter Pat Sajak on the greatest game, this series, and why baseball will always be the America’s pastime. Batter up!
Music from this week’s podcast: My Blue Heaven by Fats Domino
More
Jim Geraghty of National Review with Chad Benson, filling in for Greg Corombos of Radio America. In advance of the Q3 estimate, GDP appears to have hit the 3% mark. Jim and Chad discuss what this means for the average American. Next, Megan McArdle makes the case that expanding school choice has only generating minor improvement in the country’s education system. Finally, the Trump presidency may have the unfortunate side effect of encouraging reality stars with no experience in government to run for the top office.
More
Catalina Serrano is a Colombian and the wife of Andrés Felipe Arias, a minister in the cabinet of President Álvaro Uribe. Arias was, in fact, Uribe’s chosen successor. But Arias was railroaded in the Colombian judicial system. His case is positively Kafkaesque. With his family, he fled to the United States to seek political asylum. He is now in federal detention, scheduled to be extradited.
Jay wrote about all this in a piece called “Asylum Now: The awful case of a splendid man.”
More David French of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud former NPR CEO Ken Stern for taking the time to meet voters in red states and realizing they are nothing like the caricature offered by the mainstream media. They’re also exasperated as President Trump and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker resume their public feud and accomplish nothing other than choke momentum for tax reform and tax cuts. And they react with disgust to a University of Illinois professor who argues that proficiency in algebra and geometry perpetuates unearned white privilege and that “mathematics itself operates as Whiteness.”
More
Antonin Scalia was not merely a great legal mind, he was also a great writer–as Christopher J. Scalia reveals in Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived, a collection of speeches by his late father (and co-edited with Edward Whelan).
In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Scalia describes assembling this book from his father’s papers, how the elder Scalia learned to write so well and on so many topics (from the value of the arts to the wonders of turkey hunting), and on his surprising friendship with fellow Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
More He has a new novel out, Mark Helprin does: “Paris in the Present Tense.” Among his previous novels are “Winter’s Tale,” “A Soldier of the Great War,” and “In Sunlight and in Shadow.” The new one is about love and loyalty. Aren’t they all? As Jay says, it’s another blow by Helprin for truth and beauty. Enjoy the show.
More
It’s been a bad week for Hollywood’s grasp on moral authority. First, Harvey Weinstein is fired for transgressions going back decades, and then some guy from Amazon gets fired for basically the same thing. To help guide us through the moral minefield, we call up New York Times columns extraordinaire Ross Douthat. We also talk Hefner and that pesky 25th Amendment. Then, Christopher Scalia, son of Antonin Scalia on this new book Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived. The book is a collection of Justice Scalia’s speeches and we talk about his influence, his passions, and his unlikely friendship with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Also, the President appears to have an issue with freedom of the press. Is this one of those times we shouldn’t take him literally?
Music from this week’s show: All I Really Want by Alanis Morrissette
More Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to see the NFL concluding that the national anthem protests need to move to an actual effort to improve community-police relations and that the players ought to stand. They also slam Twitter for the second time this week, this time for suspending the Twitter account of actress Rose McGowan, who was assaulted by Harvey Weinstein and has called out actor Ben Affleck for not admitting he knew of Weinstein’s past. And they shake their heads as Fox News host Sean Hannity hammers Sen. Ben Sasse for being critical of President Trump’s call for licenses of media outlets to be challenged over “fake news.”
More Is the word ‘conservative’ up for grabs? Does lying matter? What Harvey Weinstein should have said. Who’s worse: Trump or Pence?
More
Jon Gabriel (@ExJon) and Stephen Miller (@RedSteeze) welcome Lisa De Pasquale (@LisaDeP). She’s the author of The Social Justice Warrior Handbook: A Practical Survival Guide for Snowflakes, Millennials, and Generation Z, and is a columnist and frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business. Also, Stephen and Jon talk about Hurricane Harvey Weinstein slamming Hollywood and the problems it creates for the Democratic Party.
The intro/outro song and Stephen’s song of the week is “You’re Dreaming” by Wolf Parade and Jon’s is “Afterlife” by Public Memory. To listen to all the music featured on The Conservatarians, subscribe to our Spotify playlist.
More
Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Podcast for October 11, 2017 it’s the Bannon’s War edition of the podcast with your hosts: Hartford CT talk show host Todd Feinburg and nanophysicist Mike Stopa. This week, we follow the erstwhile White House advisor and once and future Breitbart warrior in his quest to deconstruct the administrative state.
God. That phrase still makes my heart skip a beat.
More
Understanding Ukraine today is impossible without also understanding what the Soviet Union did to it in the 1930, says Anne Applebaum, author of Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine.
In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Applebaum describes Stalin’s act of mass murder against the Ukrainian people, how knowledge of this enormity slowly seeped into the West, and how its aftereffects continue to influence Ukraine’s present confrontation with Russia.
More Policy guru Avik Roy joins to consider whether there’s still space for market oriented reform in health care and in American life in general. He also explains how he became a wonk.
Jay and Mona then turn to the Las Vegas massacre, Tom Price’s departure, Rex Tillerson’s honesty (and likely tenure), going easy on Trump, and Mona’s experience at a rock concert. Yes, really.
More
Jon Gabriel (@ExJon) and Stephen Miller (aka @RedSteeze) welcome Bridget Phetasy (aka @BridgetPhetasy). She’s is a stand-up comedian, co-hosts the podcast “Benched,” and writes for for both Playboy and The Federalist. She shares her views on Hugh Hefner’s legacy from an insider’s perspective. Stephen and Jon then talk about the predictable reaction of the left to the Las Vegas shooting.
The intro/outro song is “The Last of the Famous International Playboys” by Morrissey. Stephen’s song of the week is “Doomed” by Moses Sumney and Jon’s is “Tinseltown Swimming in Blood” by Destroyer. To listen to all the music featured on The Conservatarians, subscribe to our Spotify playlist.
More Jay pronounces Golda Schultz one of the world’s best interviewees – and that is an easy call to make. She is a young South African soprano, currently working at the Metropolitan Opera. Jay interviews her there. They talk about New York, South Africa, opera, Broadway, and life. Do you know Golda? You’ll want to.
(To hear her in Doretta’s Song, from Puccini’s “Rondine,” go here.)
More Jim Geraghty of Natonal Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America sigh as liberal late night comedians demand new gun control legislation while getting their facts wildly wrong. They also react to reports that President Trump does not appear likely to embrace gun control efforts in the wake of the horrific attack in Las Vegas that killed dozens and wounded hundreds. And they shake their heads as White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney – a deficit hawk while in Congress – says he is embracing deficits as part of the emerging tax reform legislation.
More
Who were the Maya and what did they believe? Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos explains in Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya.
In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Chinchilla describes what compelled him to devote his professional life to the study of these ancient people, what the images they put on vases and murals tells us about them, and why they become a “lost civilization.”
More