The late week news was so screwball that I surrendered to Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey to cope while Lucretia the Lightweight settled for Irish coffee while John, out of place as usual, passed on a liquid lunch to have a real one. (By the way, the Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey is not recommended. Better to go with an old fashioned screwdriver next time. Or just an old fashioned.)

Lucretia enjoying her Irish coffee while waiting to pounce.

And what a lot of screwball news, starting with the designation of a DoJ special counsel to deal with Hunter Biden’s special needs, a trial date and mini-gag order for Trump, and the flurry over the proposal of two conservative law professors to ban Trump’s eligility for the ballot under Section III of the 14th Amendment about “insurrection.” (If you are a glutton for the punishment of a 126-page law review article, you can view the whole thing here.) There’s just one problem with this scenario: Trump hasn’t been charged with fomenting insurrection or rebellion. Maybe the special counsel is waiting for another bad news dump on Hunter?

After some observations about the failed Ohio referendum this week we finallky getr down to some wider topics, including reflections on the astonishing interview last week with Obama biographer David Garrow in The Tablet, which presents about as unflattering a portrait of “the lightworker” as can be imagined. (If you haven’t read the Garrow interview, do so at your earliest convenience.) And we also ponder the latest notable offerings on the state of the country from Victor Davis Hanson (“Who Will Say No to the Current Madness“) and Jacob Howland (“America Is Now a Zombie State“). I, naturally, see some signs of life while Lucretia, naturally, finds me to be too infernally optimistic.

Finally, a few suggestions for great general reading about politics. I recommended a title from Kenneth Minogue and John recommended two titles from Daniel Bell. Lucretia is sticking with Calvin and Hobbes—the comic strip, not the 16th and 17th century authors!

So as usual listen here, or take it in from our hosts at Ricochet when it goes live there.

With James Lileks and Rob Long

P.S. This has been another busy podcast week. I also sat in once again for Peter Robinson on the Ricochet podcast, where Rob Long and I carried on for a long time about the use and abuse of “risible” before treating Bjorn Lomborg and offering some thoughts on both Barbie and Oppenheimer. You can take it in here.

And I also was a guest on the very brainy New Thinkery podcast, talking about Cloud Atlas, both the novel and the movie. Take it in here.