Power Line

With the World Series knotted at 2-2, and the mid-term election just days away, it seemed the perfect time to catch up with Henry Olsen, the premier psephologist (trying saying that word fast just once, never mind seven times) of all things data-related when it comes to politics—and also baseball. We disagree about the decision to remove a starting pitcher working on a no-hitter into the 7th... Source

That was an extraordinary five hours at the Supreme Court yesterday—twice as long as the oral arguments were originally scheduled to last—and the longer the argument went on, the worse it seemed to get for the defenders of raced-based admissions for higher education. Maybe that was by design on the part of Chief Justice Roberts, who was sarcastic in his open scorn for what he has previously called... Source

On Monday the Supreme Court takes up the Harvard and University of North Carolina affirmative action cases in what is the Super Bowl of civil rights litigation—arguably the biggest moment for the Court since Brown v. Board of Education. Naturally that is the focus of this episode, though we do briefly review a couple of the key news stories of the week, such as Fetterman’s collapse... Source

Next Monday the Supreme Court takes up the Harvard and University of North Carolina affirmative action admissions cases, but before getting to the constitutional doctrine of the matter, there is a vexing matter that is often overlooked: if we’re going to be giving out racial preferences for admissions (and government contracts, etc), who counts as a member of which minority group? Source

Lucretia and Steve gave John Yoo the day off for this special interstitial (and abbreviated) episode that we’ll just call the *Two* Whisky Happy Hour, in which Lucretia and Steve clear up some confusion from our most recent fast-paced episode, where a few main points got muddled. Several new listeners want us to clear up exactly what we mean by natural right, how natural right (especially its... Source

Last February John Yoo and I hosted Richard Epstein, who needs no introduction for Ricochet members and listeners, for a lecture at Berkeley Law on his most recent book, The Dubious Morality of Modern Administrative Law. Given that we were still under a mask mandate on campus at the time, Richard decided to talk about our COVID misadventures as a prime example of the administrative state run amok. Source

Hoo boy! This week’s fiery episode takes up the argument leftover from last week about whether conservatism—and especially the new “national” variety that is sparking so much energy and enthusiasm right now—should conceive of its mission as Burkean in character, as “restorationist” or revolutionary. We cover a lot of ground, with Lucretia beating up on Steve for his suspicious Burkean sympathies... Source

With John Yoo in the host chair this week, we get off to a rocky start because a certain friend of ours made a favorable reference to Edmund Burke in a draft article shared with us in advance of publication, and Lucretia immediately went to DefCon1. To be continued next week! Anyway, after introducing our whiskies of the week, we get down to business with ranking the biggest farce of the week... Source

For the left, we have arrived at juris-thermo-geddon. If the Ruskies don’t nuke us, then the Supreme Court is going to nuke the Constitution! The Doomsday Clock at leftist institutions everywhere is striking midnight, yet somehow the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists “official” Doomsday Clock hasn’t budged, because apparently it is just a climate change clock now. Anyway, before taking up the legal... Source

This week offers a hybrid car of an episode—almost literally as it turns out—as John Yoo was traveling midweek when Lucretia and Steve gathered in person with Richard Samuelson to record the first half, reviewing his reflections on the significance of the “Washington Football Team” deciding to name themselves the “ Commanders,” which rather fits the administrative state today, no? From there we go... Source

This week the gang revisits the taxonomy of which Star Wars characters map properly onto the domain of the New Rebel Alliance, aka, the “national conservatives” we discussed in some detail last week, chiefly because John and Steve knew it would annoy Lucretia, who declined to accept the open position as the Princess Leia of the NatCons. But this was all just preface for her on-the-scene report of... Source

Move over Calvin Coolidge: Grover Cleveland has a valid claim to being regarded as the most constitutionally faithful and fiscally frugal president since the Civil War—a case made splendidly in Troy Senik’s new biography that is being published today, A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland. What explains this outlier of a politician, who is so unlike... Source

Today is Constitution Day, so naturally conversation at the 3WHH bar turned directly to the question of whether the state-mandated observances of Constitution Day in public colleges and universities are unconstitutional! Naturally there is division on this issue that maps with our ongoing division over the perspicacity of peated whisky. John (left) appears less than convinced here. Source

With John Yoo sitting in the host chair this week, we decided to post this episode a day early partly on account of travel schedules (John and Steve are head for the NatCon conference in Miami), and partly because of the breaking news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Also because it turns out that the favorite whisky of King Charles III is reportedly Laphroaig 15, which counts as a point in... Source

The setting for Biden’s speech was so bad that it rivals Michael Dukakis’s tank ride for disastrous visuals, but that’s noting compared to the egregious content, which makes Jimmy Carter’s dreadful “malaise” speech seem like Demosthenes by comparison. Speaking of the demos, Biden’s speech can be seen an as especially inartful presumption of anti-republican principles that have been at the center... Source

Once again the three-host Three Whisky Happy Hour didn’t get around to any whisky reviews, distracted once again by important breaking fast-food news. But the main first topic of this back-to-school special edition is the role education is playing in this election cycle. On the K-12 level, the same dynamic that propelled Glenn Youngkin to victory in Virginia last year seems to have legs... Source

The heart of the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA) is a massive increase in subsidies for “green energy,” which normally summons a gag reflex from most conservatives. But the iconoclasts at the Breakthrough Institute, who are not automatic or uncritical fans of wind and solar power, think the climate parts of the IRA represent a break from historic climate orthodoxy that most people haven’... Source

John Yoo assumes the rotating host chair for this week’s episode, since Steve was on the road much of the week and didn’t keep up with news that didn’t involve whisky (and mermaids). We review what to make of Liz Cheney’s huge defeat in Wyoming, and Steve gamely attempts to defend the shrewdness of Mitch McConnell from Lucretia’s scorn. Then we turn to the still-unfolding story and fallout from... Source

Glenn Ellmers has done it again, with a fresh provocation entitled “ America Never Existed.” Say what?!?! Did he drink some 1619 Moonshine or something? Here’s his lede: It is possible (not certain, but possible) that within the next 20 years or so, the United States will no longer exist. . . The end of the American republic would most likely mean the end of self-government all over the globe—the... Source

With this episode of the Three Whisky Happy Hour, the great John Yoo joins up as a permanent co-host along with Steve and Lucretia, having spent the last several weeks in Triple-A podcast instructional league while Steve was drinking his way across the British Isles. Perfect timing, since John worked in the Justice Department once upon a time, and has insights into its internal political dynamics... Source