Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast

  Please hit the tip jar! And please give us 5 stars on iTunes! Don’t know how? It’s easy: directions here. Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for March 28, 2017, it’s the Former President Trump edition of the show. Brought to you this week by Casper Mattresses. This week we will discuss the President that was, Donald J. Trump. It’s over the party’s over. The Trumptanic has collided with the Obamacareberg and is summarily taking on water…wait!…she’s going down! Oh, nooooo! Or maybe that is a little too melodramatic. Well, on last week’s podcast, Todd said that Paul Ryan’s healthcare plan was too big and ugly and would surely result in a legislative defeat followed by a change of direction for S.S. Trump. Whereas, I predicted that it (the legislation) would be hammered into some acceptable shape and passed. Gulp. He was right. We discuss whether this implies permanent legislative gridlock (so what *else* is new?) and if so, are we any worse off than we were with legislative gridlock and President Obama? Next, we will talk about Todd’s musical hero, Johnny Rotten (a.k.a. John Lydon) one of the early, conspicuous members of the Sex Pistols, who yesterday in an interview with Britain’s ITV said that he was in favor of Brexit (the working class had spoken) and that he could see being friends with Donald Trump, because of Trump’s ability to terrify politicians. We will discuss iconoclasticism and the arts. Who are the leaders and who are the followers? Is Donald Trump the punk rock of the 21st century? We will have our shower thoughts as usual and this week’s hidden gem is the Sex Pistol’s cover of My Way. If, for some unfathomable reason you actually *like* the song My Way, I heartily suggest that you close your podcast app before we get to it. This edition of the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Casper Mattresses: Can you seriously justify buying a mattress in a store when you’ve got about fifteen seconds to see how it feels and it costs three thousand bucks?!? You spend a third of your life on that thing! With Casper, you can try it for 100 days before you decide. And honestly, it’ll take you just one night of superior sleep to make up your mind.

  Please hit the tip jar! And please give us 5 stars on iTunes! Don’t know how? It’s easy: directions here. Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for March 21, 2017, it’s the Victor Davis Hanson Interview edition of the show. This week we have (a propos of the title of the podcast, i.e. The Victor Davis Hanson Interview edition) Victor Davis Hanson from Stanford and the Hoover Institution and National Review and many other esteemed places as our guest. We talk about North Korea and the strategy of Trump tweets and the media trying to somehow catch up. And then we get into the real red meat: what gives with the #NeverTrumpers? (remember them?). This discussion is worth downloading the podcast all by itself. Then, the main stream media continues to look like Wily Coyote chasing the Road Runner, or Porky Pig trying to best Bugs Bunny – just beside themselves with ire. They are going to *some* *day* nail that sucker. Some day Trump will apologize. Some day he will get his comeuppance! George Stephanopoulos cannot believe that Trump accused the former President, the sainted Obama, of a felony!!! Doesn’t matter that the Trump was – as is evident to anyone paying attention – quoting the New York Times headline in his tweet about wire tapping. We’ve got seven plus more years of this. Will they continue screeching like this all that time? We will have our shower thoughts as usual and this week’s hidden gem is Patti Smyth’s cover of the Tom Waits song, Downtown Train, released thirty years ago. A Propos of our shower thoughts, there is this (Venn’s pi compass): And, want to know where you birthday first appears in pi? (you know you do) Check out the pi finder here. This edition of the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by ZipRecruiter: Business confidence is back, employers are hiring again. And more and more businesses are recruiting their best employees the smart way, with ZipRecruiter dot com. Find candidates in any city or industry, nationwide. Just post once and watch your qualified candidates roll in to ZipRecruiter’s easy to use interface.   And, the HLC podcast is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus: The Great Courses Plus has over 8,000 video lectures on an astounding array of topics including subjects that you’ve always wanted to learn about and also, subjects that you didn’t even realize you were interested in yet.    

  Please hit the tip jar! And please give us 5 stars on iTunes! Don’t know how? It’s easy: directions here. Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for March 14, 2017, it’s the Nobody Will Ever Have Healthcare edition of the show. This week we will talk about breaking news that the Congressional Budget Office, in scoring the American Health Care Act, has concluded that 24 million fewer people will have health insurance by 2026 than under the present Obamacare system. It will evidently cost us $330 billion less than O-care. But is that a bargain? Is making a transition from one, massive healthcare system to another – however much it pays homage to free market principles – a winner? We agree that the core problem is the 1986 law (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) that made it illegal to deny emergency room care to anyone. Seems like a small step to one-payer to us. And, a Slate writer has picked up the gauntlet (*someone* had to) to defend the Barbarians who shut down Charles Murray’s speech at Middlebury College a week ago. Osita Nwanevu (we call him Osh) says that “the victory of reason cannot always be assured.” He duels with his fellow liberals (Peter Beinert, Frank Bruni and others) who have argued for tolerance of opposing views and against the thugs by asking when is something really beyond the pale. Liberalism, he says, has a self-destruct button called free speech. The strange thing is, Osh makes a very compelling argument. If it’s okay to shut down Milo Yiannopoulos for unsavory opinions why can’t we shut down Murray (assuming that you grant, which of course I don’t, that Murray’s opinions are unsavory). Where are we allowed to draw the line? The most remarkable part of Osh’s argument is that he brings in William F. Buckley Jr. himself to make his point. It’s a fun discussion. We will have our shower thoughts as usual and we will have as this week’s hidden gem The Gambler by the inimitable Kenny Rogers. This week, we are brought to you by Harry’s Shave. Harry’s gives you elegance, comfort and convenience all at half the cost of those drug store brands. Try Harry’s and use the promo code Harvard. We promise. You ain’t ever going back. And the HLC podcast is also brought to you by SimpliSafe. Protect your home the smart, wireless way with no long term contract using SimpliSafe’s home security system. You can find (almost) all of our hidden gems going back over two years here. This edition of the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Harry’s shave If you can get a better shave for much less money and have it delivered right to your door why wouldn’t you? That’s what you get with Harry’s shave. These people make a lovely product. Never known anyone to go back. And, the HLC podcast is brought to you by SimpliSafe. Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet.

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for March 7, 2017, it’s the Trump Gets Tapped edition of the show. This week, we are brought to you by Casper mattresses: with over twenty thousand reviews and over 4.8 out of 5 stars, it is quickly becoming the internet’s favorite mattress. Go to casper.com/Harvard for your special offer. And we are brought to you by SimpliSafe. Protect your home the smart, wireless way with no long term contract using SimpliSafe’s home security system. Our first topic this week is – mon dieu! – a tweet from Trump! Will it ever end?! Trump attacks Obama (wait! Isn’t he gone already?). Trump says that Obama ordered during the campaign that Trump’s phone be tapped. With one or two shades of nuance, this is what the BBC and the New York Times already reported, viz., that requests were made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Courts for an electronic surveillance order of the Trump campaign. The left went ballistic. Mika Brzezinski broke into tears. Chuck Schumer said “aha!” The President did the two-step non-denial denial. But does any of this matter? Is it only smoke and mirrors on both sides? Is it only spite? And even if it is only spite, don’t we conservatives get to indulge in a little spite toward, oh, Loretta Lynch, and Valerie Jarrett, and Koskinen and Hillary and our other favorite Obama villains now that we’ve won? Next, we will discuss Muslim ban v_2.0. What to make of the new prohibition against travel to the U.S. from seven six predominantly Muslim countries? There are positive, practical mods, such as taking Iraq (alas poor Iraq) off the list and putting a ten day phase-in period into the E.O. The Administration argues incessantly that it *is not* a Muslim ban. But do we really want to back off that initial gambit? Why not actually tell Muslims that there’s, you know, some difficulties we have in the way you guys are approaching this thing we call civilization – even before we get to the Allahu Akbar Boom stuff? We will have, as usual, our shower thoughts. And our hidden gem for the week is composed by Rolf Løland and performed by Elisabeth Andreassen and Alexander Rybak, entitled Danse mot vår (Dance Toward Spring). You can find (almost) all of our hidden gems going back over two years here. Please hit the tip jar! And please give us 5 stars on iTunes! Don’t know how? It’s easy: directions here. This edition of the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Casper Mattresses: Can you honestly justify buying a mattress in a store when you’ve got about fifteen seconds to see how it feels? You spend a third of your life on that thing! With Casper, you can try it for 100 days before you decide. And honestly, it’ll take you just one night of superior sleep to make up your mind. Get a special discount by going to Casper.com/Harvard today! And, the HLC podcast is brought to you by SimpliSafe. Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet.  

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for March 1, 2017, it’s the Dems Must Be Crazy edition of the show. This week, we are brought to you by Zip Recruiter. Find the right person for the job you have to offer with one click. We are also brought to you by Harry’s Shave. Try it. You will not go back. Promise. And we are brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. With over eight thousand video lectures re-discover the excitement of learning. Our first topic this week is the psychological stability, or lack thereof, of the left. A report in the L.A. Times by Soumya Karlamangla described the problems that therapists of America are having in treating people with depression, anxiety and general craziness on account of the recent political turn of events (shhh…the election of Trump). Is the root of the problem that the left feels – the origin of the hysteria that Trump’s election has wrought – the lack of ability of leftists to cope with their own mortality? That’s my theory. Todd has his too. And, we will discuss the choice of various Democratic Congressmen and Senators of guests to bring to last night’s Presidential Speech before Congress. They chose, in short, to bring sympathetic aliens who were inconvenienced by the President’s attempt to make us safer (the travel ban on seven charming countries). In addition, some of them chose to bring illegal aliens known as “Dreamers” to the show. How good an idea was this in contrast to Trump’s decision to invite the wives and father of innocents who were slaughtered at the hands of illegal aliens who should have been deported? Want more Trump? This is how you get more Trump. We will talk a bit about the Oscars. Have America’s movie stars and glitterati actually learned their lesson? They were a bit more, er, demur at the awards show than I expected. We will have our shower thoughts (want to lose weight?) and our hidden gem for this week is by Neil Young, entitled Harvest. You can find (almost) all of our hidden gems going back over two years here. This edition of the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Harry’s shave If you can get a better shave for much less money and have it delivered right to your door why wouldn’t you? That’s what you get with Harry’s shave. These people make a lovely product. Never known anyone to go back. And the HLC podcast is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus Have you ever wanted to learn about some topic but found that when you turned to the internet you either got shallow explanations with no context or else myriads of articles which give you no idea where to begin? The Great Courses Plus has over 8,000 video lectures on an astounding array of topics including subjects that you’ve always wanted to learn about and also, subjects that you didn’t even realize you were interested in yet. And the HLC podcast is also brought to you by ZipRecruiter Is your business giving you endless headaches because you can’t seem to find the qualified candidates who are right for the jobs you have to offer? With ziprecruiter, find candidates in any city or industry, nationwide. Just post once and watch your qualified candidates roll in to ziprecruiter’s easy to use interface.

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for February 21, 2017, it’s the Trump Chaos and Media Hysteria edition of the show with our special guest Byron York. We are brought to you this week by Harry’s Shave. You want convenience and exquisite quality in your gratifyingly uncostly shave? Try Harry’s at Harrys.com/Harvard. Never known anyone to go back. And we are brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. We are currently learning about photography from a National Geographic photographer, Professor Joel Sartore. Learn something new today at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/HLC. And, we are brought to you by SimpliSafe. SimpliSafe has an award-winning wireless system to protect your home and everything in it. Learn more at SimpliSafe.com. On today’s show we welcome Washington Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Byron York (one of our favorites) to the show. We plug Byron’s book, The Vast Left Wing  Conspiracy before we realize it came out eleven years ago. Byron talks about the frivolousness of the interminable media outrage and contrasts it with what has really gone on, from a, you know, governing perspective, in the Trump Administration. He discusses his column from last week where he recommended that the President hit the campaign trail again only to find, two days later, that the Administration announces a campaign style event in Florida. This guy York has got influence is all we can say. We will then talk about the media hysteria, the media pandemonium the media intemperate head exploding at…what exactly? the fact that one of Trump’s Executive Orders was held up by a zealot judge in Washington State? That some deep state leaks caused Trump to lose his National Security Advisor? Are those the sum total of the legitimate bumps in the road for Team Trump? Phew! Finally, we will discuss Melania reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of the Trump rally in Florida. Was this the incipient fascism? God is on our side? Is Trump going to make us beg for our “daily bread” henceforth??? We will have our shower thoughts and for our hidden gem we bring you a Django Reinhardt inspired group called The Rhythm Future Quartet, a song called Sleepless. This edition of the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Harry’s shave If you can get a better shave for much less money and have it delivered right to your door why wouldn’t you? That’s what you get with Harry’s shave. These people make a lovely product. Never known anyone to go back. And the HLC podcast is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus Have you ever wanted to learn about some topic but found that when you turned to the internet you either got shallow explanations with no context or else myriads of articles which give you no idea where to begin? The Great Courses Plus has over 8,000 video lectures on an astounding array of topics including subjects that you’ve always wanted to learn about and also, subjects that you didn’t even realize you were interested in yet. Finally, the HLC podcast is brought to you by SimpliSafe. Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet.

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for February 14, 2017 it’s the Stephen Miller, Be Our Valentine edition of the podcast. We are brought to you this week by Harry’s Shave. Two comments: (1) you’ve heard about it, you’ve thought about it, get it now you *will* love it, (2) use the URL harrys.com/Harvard. We are also brought to you by Casper mattresses: with over twenty thousand reviews and over 4.8 out of 5 stars, it is quickly becoming the internet’s favorite mattress. And we are brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. They have over 8,000 video lectures on a wide assortment of topics. Learn something new today. This week on the podcast we discuss the poster child for amnesty, the golden nugget sympathy case for open borders, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos. De Rayos, or as we think of her, mother Guady, has been deported. She is a mother of two American-born children (i.e. anchor babies). She has been in America for 22 years. She came here as a 14 year old looking for a better life. She is doing what she is doing “out of love.” (Where have we heard *that* before?). And she only committed one, almost insignificant felony (identity theft) and she’s reaaaalllly sorry about that. The elitist media Cannot Conceive of why anyone would want the law to be enforced and mother Guady forced to leave. The reaction of the average deplorable is, however, “it’s about time.” We also discuss the new rock star of the right, Stephen (“Stairway to Heaven”) Miller! Here is another gestalt of epically stark proportions. Todd and I and Ann Coulter think he was phenomenal: courageous, on message and lethally logical. Morning Joe, Mika Brezinski, the Chicago Tribune and the rest of the main stream media were simply apoplectic. If they thought that Trump was kidding about the things he said on the campaign trail, Stephen Miller is helping them to get their heads straight. Finally, in a bit of a curve, we talk about who we *want* to bring here to the United States of America. We are not, here at the HLC podcast, in spite of appearances to the contrary, at all closed border or “pull up the draw bridges” Americans. What are the criteria for invites to this grand party we call the USA? We will have, as always, our shower thoughts  and our hidden gem this week is Keith Jarrett’s encore piece from his famous Köln concert (side four of the album). Please hit the tip jar! And please give us 5 stars on iTunes? Don’t know how? It’s easy: directions here. The long-awaited Ricochet Harvard Lunch Club mug is here! This edition of the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Harry’s shave If you can get a better shave for much less money and have it delivered right to your door why wouldn’t you? That’s what you get with Harry’s shave. These people make a lovely product. Never known anyone to go back. And we are brought to you by Casper Mattresses: Can you honestly justify buying a mattress in a store when you’ve got about fifteen seconds to see how it feels? You spend a third of your life on that thing! With Casper, you can try it for 100 days before you decide. And honestly, it’ll take you just one night of superior sleep to make up your mind. And the HLC podcast is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus Have you ever wanted to learn about some topic but found that when you turned to the internet you either got shallow explanations with no context or else myriads of articles which give you no idea where to begin? The Great Courses Plus has over 8,000 video lectures on an astounding array of topics including subjects that you’ve always wanted to le...

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for February 7, 2017 it’s the Belichick, Brady and Trump edition of the podcast. We are brought to you this week by our newest sponsor (we are excited) The Great Courses Plus. They have over 8,000 video lectures on a wide assortment of topics. Learn something new today! And we are brought to you by ZipRecruiter.com. Find the right candidates for the jobs you have to offer, fast! Well, sorry to the rest of the country, but up here in Boston there is one thing on our minds. The Pats have won again! The Duck Boats will soon be rolling! It’s a victory so exciting that we can’t remember when we have…er,…felt this good…before??? Ooohhhh yeah! Last November it was! Did you watch the game? Any Patriots haters out there? Our second topic for today will be the Trump Administration travel ban that was in, then out, then in, then out again, against seven predominantly Muslim countries that seem to be sketchy places. Our focus will be the judiciary and the main point we debate is this: are the endless court challenges to everything that the Trump Administration introduces (which we can anticipate) merely hurting the left? Or will they be more than a nuisance? Can the left legitimately shut down the activity of the entire Trump Administration with a sufficiently energized swarm of judicial flies? We will discuss. Finally, Donald Trump the gourmet…the foodie…the health food nut…the fast food junkie! What are the Trumpster’s favorite foods? (Oreo cookies are now, of course, out). We will have, as always, our shower thoughts (is your cat trying to kill you…Todd is utterly unamused) and our hidden gem this week is from the Hayao Miyazaki film Tenkuu no Shiro, Rapuuta (Laputa, Castle in the Sky) by composer Joe Hisaishi, the title track Castle in the Sky. (sorry, got his name wrong in the podcast). Please hit the tip jar! And please give us 5 stars on iTunes? Don’t know how? It’s easy: directions here. The long-awaited Ricochet Harvard Lunch Club mug is here! The Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by our newest sponsor, The Great Courses Plus. Have you ever wanted to learn about some topic but found that when you turned to the internet you either got shallow explanations with no context or else myriads of articles which give you no idea where to begin? The Great Courses Plus has over 8,000 video lectures on an astounding array of topics including subjects that you’ve always wanted to learn about and also, subjects that you didn’t even realize you were interested in yet. And the HLC podcast is also brought to you by ZipRecruiter Is your business giving you endless headaches because you can’t seem to find the qualified candidates who are right for the jobs you have to offer? With ziprecruiter, find candidates in any city or industry, nationwide. Just post once and watch your qualified candidates roll in to ziprecruiter’s easy to use interface.

The long-awaited Ricochet Harvard Lunch Club mug is here! Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for February 1, 2017, it’s the This is What the Trump Trap Looks Like  edition of the podcast. We are brought to you this week by Patriot Mobile. Do you want a portion of every dollar you pay for mobile phone service to go to left wing causes? That may be happening, but there is an answer: Patriot Mobile. And we are also brought to you by SimpliSafe. Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet. Well *that* was a blitz of a week! Podcasters beware! Want to maintain freshness and relevance in the age of Trump? Record your podcast tomorrow and then post it yesterday. The only way. This week we talk about the long-awaited Muslim ban…only it’s not. Do the Democrats really believe that the dowdy, moms and pops in flyover country (read: Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania…boy I just Love writing out those state names!), do they believe that those leftover people are going to race to the parapets to defend the God-given rights of Yemenis and Somalians to come to the United States?! #SomaliLivesMatter? Honestly? Also, here’s a big question. The left says that all Trump is doing is recruiting more ISIS fighters. I mean, they *all* say that. (Google “Trump ISIS recruit” if you don’t believe me). Does that make sense? If it is true that what Trump is doing is used successfully to recruit more fanatics (and it might be) then is that a reason to stop doing it? We interrupt 24/7 Trump (we are getting weary) to discuss coffee and longevity! Will you live longer if you drink it? What else might you do to elude the Grim Reaper for a few precious hours longer? We will inform and discuss. And then, on to the mayors and municipal leaders of our American cities: what was their reaction to Trump’s broadside against sanctuary cities? Does rushing out to protect car thieves and drunk drivers look to you like a credible strategy for getting those Midwesterners (cf. “moms and pops,” para. 2) back into the Democrat fold? We will have, as always, our shower thoughts (do you like gin?) and our hidden gem this week is (a propos of topic 2), Black Coffee in Bed by the Marti Jones. Please hit the tip jar! And please give us 5 stars on iTunes? Don’t know how? It’s easy: directions here. The Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Patriot Mobile: Would you switch phone companies if you knew that your current carrier was using your money to fund George Soros’ allies, restrict your Second Amendment rights or promote abortions through organizations like Planned Parenthood? With Patriot Mobile there is a conservative alternative. And we are also brought to you by SimpliSafe. Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet.    

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for January 24, 2017, it’s the Carnage? What Carnage edition of the podcast. We are brought to you this week by Patriot Mobile. Do you want a portion of every dollar you pay for mobile phone service to go to left wing causes? That may be happening, but there is an answer: Patriot Mobile. This week we will discuss the dystopian, gloomy perspective that President Trump (wow! That felt good!) has of the current American experience as exemplified in his inauguration speech. Why does the media insist on hammering Trump for pointing out the “carnage” in the streets? As Heather Mac Donald points out in a recent National Review piece, if 16 unarmed Blacks killed by police in 2016 is a horror story, why isn’t 6000 Blacks murdered (in 2015) by fellow citizens not appropriately described as carnage? We’ll talk about Trump’s most recent size obsession over the size of his inauguration crowd. So, we are coming to understand that Trump does not have a serviceable reverse gear. We recall all our #NeverTrump friends who have told us over the last year that if Trump becomes president disaster would ensue. We discuss what form that disaster might assume. Next, we welcome the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics at Princeton University, Dr. Will Happer to the podcast as part of our continuing attempt to counter the hysterical global warming narrative that continues to hold the world in its grip. Dr. Happer is one of the 16 signatories of a renowned letter to the Wall Street Journal entitled “No Need to Panic About Global Warming.” He discusses plants and carbon dioxide and computer models and similar great topics with us. We will have, as always, our shower thoughts (about dogs and cats this week) and our hidden gem this week is The Train, by the Roches, in honor of Maggie Roche who passed away at the age of 65 this past week. The Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast is brought to you by Patriot Mobile: Would you switch phone companies if you knew that your current carrier was using your money to fund George Soros’ allies, restrict your Second Amendment rights or promote abortions through organizations like Planned Parenthood? With Patriot Mobile there is a conservative alternative.

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for January 18, 2017, it’s the Scott (Dilbert) Adams is a Real Smart Guy edition of the podcast brought to you by ZipRecruiter and SimpliSafe. This week we have the pleasure of conversing with cartoonist and hypnotist and author and Trump supporter Scott Adams. Did you know that Adams “predicted” the election of Donald Trump 26 years ago (or his elevation to Godhood anyway, see above strip from Valentine’s Day 1990) through Dogbert and then really predicted his election in 2015? Adams realized, through his grasp of techniques of persuasion, that Trump was up to something remarkable and powerful early on. We also talk to Scott about his ideas about immortality and global warming and a variety of other cool stuff. In the future look for the adaptation of the Harvard Lunch Club calendar to WhenHub – Adams’ most recent start-up: a timeline organizing software. Next, we discuss the mob of GOP foreign policy experts (e.g. Michael Chertoff, Tom Ridge and Robert Zoellick etc.) who, both during the primaries and later after Trump had won the nomination, signed #NeverTrump letters of unusual vitriol saying that they would oppose – until the doors of hell themselves opened on earth and the legions of Beelzebub belched forth – the stain that is Donald Trump. Well, turns out that Team Trump has not been making any job-offer type calls to those chaps who wrote their names on those billet-doux. But they (the mob) have tried to make it clear that – out of a sense of patriotic duty – they are willing to extend their expertise to help the new administration of Mr., er, Mr. President Donald Trump…should he ask. Because they feel like they ought to…it’s patriotism you understand. We will have our shower thoughts. And this week’s hidden gem, a propos of the opening of a new, brighter age, is Morning Glow, from the Broadway Show (Todd’s favorite) Pippin. Performed by John Rubenstein of the original cast and written by Stephen Schwartz. And the HLC podcast is also brought to you by ziprecruiter: Is your business giving you endless headaches because you can’t seem to find the qualified candidates who are right for the jobs you have to offer? With ziprecruiter, find candidates in any city or industry, nationwide. Just post once and watch your qualified candidates roll in to ziprecruiter’s easy to use interface. The Harvard Lunch Club is also brought to you by SimpliSafe: Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet.”    

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for January 10, 2017, it’s the Hollywood Hell edition of the podcast – number 101 – brought to you by ZipRecruiter and Simplisafe. It’s hard to get past Meryl Streep’s Golden Globe slam of Donald Trump. That is one hurtin’ woman. Put Hollywood together with academia, Wall Street and Silicon Valley (just check this out!), shake, and try to strain out a single Trump supporter. Good luck!  Mike posits that Hollywood celebrities and university physicists have some salient points in common. Next, Jorge Ramos and Univision lead the Latino charge of the light brigade. Where are los secuaces (the minions)? Could it be that some American Hispanics don’t think that amnesty for lawbreakers is a good idea no matter what color their skin is? Finally: to repeal or not to repeal? To repeal now or later, or to replace now and repeal later? Rand Paul is a doctor. What does he think? As usual, we’ll have our shower thoughts (only one this time) and our hidden gem for the week is Ray Bolger and Judy Garland performing “If I only had a brain.” If you like our podcast, please drop us a tip here. Find us online at HarvardLunchClub.com and on twitter @HLCpodcast; also on facebook look for Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast; and at iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. And visit our sponsors, including ZipRecruiter.com: Is your business giving you endless headaches because you can’t seem to find the qualified candidates who are right for the jobs you have to offer? With ziprecruiter, find candidates in any city or industry, nationwide. Just post once and watch your qualified candidates roll in to ziprecruiter’s easy to use interface. And the HLC podcast is also brought to you by SimpliSafe: Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet.”  

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for January 2, 2017, this is, my god I can’t believe it, our century mark podcast. Yep, podcast number 100! And as grandiose as that is, we have an equally grandiose theme, it’s the Back to Camelot edition of the podcast, brought to you by ZipRecruiter. If your business is giving you headaches because you can’t find the right candidates for the wonderful jobs you have to offer, take a look at ziprecruiter.com. You can find us online at HarvardLunchClub.com and on twitter where our handle is @HLCpodcast; we are also on facebook, look for Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast. And of course we are here every week on Ricochet – the groovy center right clubhouse for intelligent talk and interesting perspectives. This week, our three topics are “Jackie,” the new movie (in theaters now) starring Natalie Portman and directed by Pablo Larrain. Was Jackie’s obsession with sculpting the JFK legacy by stuffing his funeral with fluff and pageantry the ironically appropriate obsession to commemorate a presidency which was (was it not?) characterized more by pageantry than any particular accomplishments? What was Camelot really about, eh? And we’ll talk about the Obama Administration’s last minute stiff arm to Netanyahu and Israel by allowing the UN scolding to become international law (rather than vetoing it as we have done for similar things in the past). So now the Wailing Wall is officially “occupied territory.” What is the UN for, anyway? Is it only for having a bunch of despotic Israel-hating regimes pass endless resolutions only to be vetoed by the US? Is there anything constructive that we can get from it? Finally, gender-neutral baby names – who doesn’t love them? Why saddle your children, before they are ready to make their own choice, with this masculine feminine dichotomy? How gauche! Some enlightened city in England is now asking parents to ask their 4 year olds, before sending them off to school, what gender they identify with? or whether they identify with any gender at all? What could go wrong? We will have, as always, our shower thoughts and, in spite of Todd’s loathing of musicals in general, he makes an exception in the case of Camelot! So listen all the way to the end of the podcast for a fabulous rendition of “Camelot” from a 1978 performance by the one and only Richard Burton. Please drop us a tip at harvardlunchclub.com (it’s right here, it’s only two bucks!) and give us a great review on iTunes (don’t know how to do that? Here is a quick description, complete with screenshots, showing you how). Our sponsor for the week is ZipRecruiter.com: It’s the new year which means a fresh start for your business.  And a great year starts with making great hires.   But posting your job in one place isn’t enough to find quality candidates.  If you want to find the perfect hire, you need to post your job on ALL the top job sites — and now you can.   With ZipRecruiter, you can jump-start your hiring in 2017.  Post your job to 200 plus job sites, including social media networks like Facebook and Twitter – all with a single click. Find candidates in any city or industry, nationwide. Just post once and watch your qualified candidates roll in to ZipRecruiter‘s easy to use interface.   No juggling emails or calls to your office. Quickly screen candidates, rate them, and hire the right person fast.  

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club podcast for December 27, 2016 it’s the “Was 2016 Awesome or What?” edition. This is episode number 99 of the HLC Podcast, one short of a century, and our final podcast for the phenomenal year of 2016. Everybody loves a year in review article or story before New Year’s and since this is our last episode for 2016 we each offer three topics that have seized our imagination, thwarted our tightly held assumptions or tickled our funny-bones. Well, what were those you ask? You’ll just have to listen to find out. There are people (and others) who exited the stage in 2016 – de rigueur for year-end reviews. There were political upheavals and embarrassing scandals in 2016. There were movements and fallouts in 2016. But we’ll tell you one thing, we try for once to lighten up on the Trump, Trump, Trump marching feet of 2016 theme. So cautious to the sensational, eschewing the jejune, here are our thoughts on what made 2016 a Yuuuuge year. We will have our shower thoughts as always. And our hidden gem this week is by Bonnie Raitt, Women Be Wise (Don’t Advertise Your Man). The HLC podcast is brought to you by Donors Trust: It’s nearly the end of the year, that time when almost one third of all charitable giving occurs. Do you want to make sure your charitable giving gets done easily AND in alignment with your values? Check out donorstrust.org/ricochet and find out how.

Welcome to the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for December 20, 2016, it’s the Electoral College Edition of the podcast…hosted by nanophysicist Mike Stopa and radio talk host Todd Feinburg! We’re excited because we talk with the noted climatologist and courageous skeptic Judith Curry about the details – we’re talking details here – of the climate alarmist argument, and why most of the argument about global warming is rigged. The HLC podcast is brought to you by Donors Trust, by Patriot Mobile and by our friends at SimpliSafe. We started with the idea that we would bring you three (fascinating) topics. But the interview with Professor Curry of Georgia Tech was so engrossing that we whittled the other stuff down. So we will talk about (1) the electoral college, Donald Trump’s win (again) and whether democracy would be better served by having any old 50.00001% of the people making the choice. What are these “state” things all about anyway!?! And then (2) on to our discussion with Judy Curry. There are few more courageous climate scientists around and about these days than Dr. Curry. Her specialty is the exchange of heat between different components of the climate system, in particular between the ocean and the atmosphere. She talks about the dichotomy between those who believe that external forcings like CO2 and solar radiance dominate the temperature, on the one hand, or whether internal dynamics are dominant and external forcings less relevant on the other hand. As I say, we do some real nuts and bolts here, so hold onto your hats. We will have our shower thoughts as always. And our hidden gem this week is a little Christmas music from Africa (though not reggae): The Little Drummer Boy. Getting into the spirit. The HLC podcast is also brought to you by SimpliSafe: Protect your home the smart way without the expensive long-term contracts using Simply Safe home security. Visit Simply Safe-dot-com-slash-RICOCHET. That’s spelled S-I-M-P-L-I-S-A-F-E dot com slash Ricochet. And the HLC podcast is also brought to you by Donors Trust: It’s nearly the end of the year, that time when almost one third of all charitable giving occurs. Do you want to make sure your charitable giving gets done easily AND in alignment with your values? Check out donorstrust.org/ricochet and find out how. and last but not least, we are brought to you by Patriot Mobile: Would you switch phone companies if you knew that your current carrier was using your money to fund George Soros’ allies, restrict your Second Amendment rights or promote abortions through organizations like Planned Parenthood? With Patriot Mobile there is a conservative alternative.