The Russian Plot

Sarah and the guys discuss reporting about a Russian plot to pay bounties to Taliban-linked ...

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Sarah and the guys discuss reporting about a Russian plot to pay bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American troops, the battle for control of the Senate, and cancel culture’s effect on our conversation about race in America.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Flying Dutchman

    Shocking scores on the AFI list guys. I'm late twenties and scored 54; I'm not even American!

    Relieved Jonah was able to carry the rest of the team as MVP and Sarah saved the day with the correct answer on the greatest movie: Casablanca.

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  2. ROBERT

    Wait, did I just hear Sarah say NO to Shawshank Redemption? C'mon Sarah! You were scoring straight A's for weeks and now you put up an F? Actually a big fat ZERO!
    There are some excellent movies on the list. But how can you leave out Shawshank? I saw a few that could easily be booted off.

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  3. Butch Porter

    Wait until they find out that almost all Klingons (an arguably barbaric warrior race) are played by African Americans in Star Trek (TNG/DS9)!

    How many episodes is that?

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    Sad Trombone

    I agree 100% about virtue signaling and preening on race being part of the new religion - we are sinners in the hands of an angry Gaia.

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    Steve Gordon

    First, the important things. Sarah was right, as usual. "The Philadelphia Story" is the best romantic comedy of all time. I did not expect Mr. Hayes to end up as low man on the AEI quiz score. (72 here, so not quite as prolific as Jonah).

    Great discussion about the state of play in the Senate. GOP politicians are in quite a quandary. Trump's support is still super strong within the party, so it's pretty close to suicide to come out as a Never Trumper and try to win. But, you also can't peel away any independents fully embracing every tweet of the President. Given that we're now living in dog years, there's A LOT of time for further developments between now and November. David (despite his cultural blindspots) made a great point; even with that time it could actually get worse, not better for Trump.

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    Danielle C

    Well, I'm here to make David and Steve feel better about their movie viewing. I scored a 10. I blame it on my age (37) and a super strict mother who greatly limited my viewing options as a child. Also, The Sound of Music should be much higher on that list.

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    Kev_WDE

    David mentions talking “to smart people who are hard-core MAGA...”

    Two images come to mind:

    1. A meeting in a phone booth; and,

    2. Whatever that math symbol was back in the fifth grade for “the null set.”

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    Kevin Johnson

    A great one, gang. On cancel culture as a distraction, David makes some good points in his piece and here, as do Steve and Jonah. However, one thread getting too little attention in my view is how the “distraction” of cancel culture directly impacts the real things David points to. From its quasi-intellectual origins, the intersectional identity politics behind the cancel culture has a clear, awful purpose. From redefining racism (as only possible by some groups) and demanding racial, gender, and ethnic stereotyping, to redefining history, these groups want to make disagreeing with them impossible without suffering charges of racism. And they are having concrete influence in this direction outside of the poisoned academy.

    —the 1619 project will teach millions of children lies about our country;
    — the Smithsonian’s “tutorial” about talking about race (among many other projects) claims that early American society “created race to justify capitalism;”. I got this from my local botanical garden!
    —all the people fired for even mildly stepping outside of woke liturgies;
    —young people bombarded with BS as Jonah’s daughter reported and John Podhoretz also mentions;
    — attacks on Jonah for criticizing the NBA a slogan project.

    All of this, plus best sellers like “White Fragility” are seeking to shame folks away from debating the left’s agenda on race, sex, etc. It is worse than the distraction David Points to. The cultural revolutionaries are successfully making it ever more difficult for decent people to question the woke agenda without being ostracized. Corporations and politicians are acceding to this for short-term gain and the ideas take on lives of their own. It is much worse than David indicates, I think, and Steve is correct that we need to get back to this after the moral panic calms...but I fear that will be too late.

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    Pastorfbt

    Snapshot example of elite panic over "systemic racism": My alma mater, Hamilton College, sent out an announcement that they are forming a committee to address the ongoing "oppression" of minorities in the college community. I'm pretty confident that was not a problem when I graduated there 50 years ago nor is it today. But the tone of the announcement was almost one of cowering in fear.

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  10. ROBERT

    Listening to the first made me consider a collection of things that can all simultaneously be true:
    The liberal media has had it out for Trump from day one.
    Democrats over react with hysteria to every little thing he does - i.e. spelling errors on Twitter.
    The liberal wing of the Democratic party is nuts!
    Tax cuts and less regulation have been good for the economy.
    Trump is NOT a dictator.
    But Trump is incompetent and the ringleader of a circus- even to the point of ignoring administration officials who are actually trying to help him.
    Trump is a totally unserious person who rarely considers what is actually best for the country as a whole.
    He always prioritizes what's good for him.
    As a result I think the best outcome of the upcoming election is that Trump loses to Biden AND the Republicans hold the Senate. In normal times, not an ideal situation. But in the short term the circus would leave town; Democrats would get next to nothing done in terms of radical changes; and the Republican party could get back to being the Republican party - they could once again become the adults in the room.
    In closing I agree with Steve: it's time for Senate Republicans up for reelection to distance themselves from the president. I even think the Republican party should figuratively jettison Trump by focusing all of their time on holding the Senate.
    Those are my thoughts this morning

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