Struggle in the Pacific

Sarah and the guys take a deep dive into China from coronavirus to the battle ...

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Sarah and the guys take a deep dive into China from coronavirus to the battle for missile supremacy, reopening businesses around the country, the new culture war over wearing a mask, and the political fallout of a second wave of the pandemic.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Angie

    Good podcast
    But, I especially loved the ending where you guys talked about bad jobs and murder hornets....you were obviously having a great time and that is always good to hear, especially these days.

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    OHConservativeRefugee

    I just caught up with last weeks podcasts, and, as always, found them excellent. Great discussion on China. With regards to 'opening the economy', I do have bit of a bone to pick with the Dispatch crew. They are rightfully concerned with opening too soon, but to say that we don't have things under control enough to re-open overly simplifies things greatly. All seem to be in agreement with this sentiment and I'm surprised I didn't see more diversity of opinion. First, the states that are opening are not just re-opening. No one is permitting large arenas of people or even groups over 10. Most places are insisting on limits on people in stores and some form of PPE in place for employees. Most are encouraging employees who can to work from home. Facemasks are common everywhere. Hospitals and medical folks have much greater access to PPE and testing than 2 months ago. Overall testing capacity is much greater. All of these things are huge positives towards dealing with this. Whether it's sufficient to re-open without a substantial second wave is a legimate point to debate. But to say or imply the administration just wants to change the plot is a bit simplistic. And to be clear, I'm as Trump skeptical as any. It's why I'm a founding member here. Keep up the great work.

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  3. Phil.Ammar

    I'm almost a week behind, and just listened to this podcast today. You might all be interested to know, that the day after Trump's visit to the Honeywell facility, Darius Adamczyk gave a company wide townhall, and made it a point to let all the employees know that advance team for Trump had specifically selected that song, and that it was not a coincidence.

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    BrandonAlleman

    RE: David's worst job. First Big Lots I ever saw was in college in Champaign, IL. The 'L' was burnt out in the sign so I've generally avoided the store since. First impressions matter sometimes.

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  5. Matt Reed

    Jonah's great observation that major networks search out an expert to confirm viewer bias reminded me of a comment from author Joel Stein. He stated "Our experts have never been better, but trust in experts has never been lower." Although that is an obvious motte-and-bailey argument it is hard to imagine a time of better medicine research and developement, and contagion study. Still, suddenly friends and family are statistician if they can compose an excel spreadsheet, or epidemiologist, or virologist by going to a department of health website.

    My question is should there not be some higher calling in journalism to put out information that may make their viewer's uncomfortable? At what point does it cease to be providing information to the public, and become a cheap dopamine hit?

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  6. David Lancaster

    Other Really, Really Bad Songs:
    (1) Billy Joel, "Only The Good Die Young"
    (2) Rolling Stones, "I Just Really Want To See His Face"
    (3) Ghanaian Dancing Pallbearer Meme Song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GTq9Zsif2A)

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  7. Paul Zummo

    I, too, was an outside messenger for a couple of summers in New York. Contra, Jonah, I loved that job. I was essentially paid to walk around lower Manhattan all day. I just listened to my Walkman and enjoyed. Yes, I was a sweaty, smelly mess at the end of the day, but it was worth it.

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    William Miller

    The answer to which song would have been worse to have playing in the background of the factory tour than Live and Let Die is clear: Kill The Poor by the Dead Kennedys

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    Kevin Johnson

    Another great pod. On China, lots of good discussion of nuance...which conflicts, a bit, with demand for consistency. USSR and China very different, but Reagan’s approach shows that it is rational to “want it both ways”, using Jonah’s formulation. Call it an evil empire, berate it on human rights (two things dissidents and soviet records show mattered), call Baltics enslaved nations, etc; but also negotiate arms control, etc. It is rational to berate Chinese government and WHO over covid (as deterrent, even if it also helps politically) and re-examine supply chains while also seeking to keep trade with China going, and even praising Xi to help make that happen. Red lines in private, military moves David mentions, etc. can all go together with Trump seeking to keep communication open and push trade. Separately, Steve points to how much experts have learned about virus, but I am puzzled by Jonah and David thinking it was entirely clear what needed to be done in February. Fauci and Birx have both said publicly “there was nothing to mitigate” in February. While one finds experts who called for drastic action in February, many others did not. Why are y’all “angry” that Trump didn’t do in Feb. things for which there was nothing like a consensus? Looking back, it would have been better to do more mitigation in February. But given the number of cases here then, would the country have accepted it without an expert consensus? Many didn’t accept closing of borders. Genuinely puzzled.

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  10. Nathan Shiba

    After Steve politely, thoughtfully discusses his need to lose a bit of weight to improve his ability to weather a possible bout with COVID-19, Jonah chimes in:

    "I've gained so much weight that smaller pundits circle around me in an elliptical orbit..."

    I just spit coffee on my new keyboard. Need another now.

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