On episode 57, Charles announces a special jigsaw puzzle and relates which 44 states he's visited before talking to Robert Frommer about an extraordinary case of civil asset forfeiture. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.
On episode 56, Charles talks to Father Nathaniel Meyers, the Pastor of the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo, MN, about whether God exists, how we can know, and whether it ultimately matters. Fr. Meyers's reading list: St. Augustine's City of God A Contemporary Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God Anything by Cardinal Ratzinger Letters of St. Paul The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License....
Charles invites Gareth Russell to tell him all about his latest book, The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court . Among the topics they discuss are the wives of Henry VIII, the use of séances to get one's own way, the first performances of Macbeth and Hamlet , the writing of the King James Bible, snobbery within eighteenth century chocolate production, whether Mary I was as bad as her reputation suggests, and why George III moved the monarchy to B...
Charles introduces a new section on the show: Manatee Fact Hour. Then he invites that reprobate Kevin Williamson on for another throwback show. Presented by Prang and Company. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.
def generate_podcast_intro(episode_number, host_name, guest_name, topic): intro = f"On episode {episode_number} of the {host_name} Podcast, budget cuts destroy the introduction and {informal_name} talks to {guest_name} about {topic}." return intro episode_number = 53 host_name = "Charles C. W. Cooke" informal_name = "Charles" guest_name = "Timothy B. Lee" topic = "artificial intelligence" podcast_intro = generate_podcast_intro(episode_number, host_name, guest_name, topic) print(podcast_intro) # ...
On episode 52, Charles talks to Peter Suderman about cocktails. Among the topics discussed are: What is a cocktail? When were they invented? How have they changed over time? What is the 'cocktail renaissance'? How have laws affected their production or development? And how did Peter get into this in the first place? The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License....
In episode 51, Charles confesses that he is genuinely morose about the end of the Jaguars season, and then talks to his colleagues about their own sporting highs and lows. For just $5/month, you can help a sad male fan. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.
On episode 50, Charles is rudely prevented from staging his radio play by the Ghost of Luther Abel. After that, he talks to Rafael A. Mangual about crime. (Here's his book .) Among the questions they discuss are why Rafael believes that the U.S. has a "decarceration problem"; whether too many Americans are in jail; whether the justice system is "racialized"; what we should do about police brutality; whether voters will punish politicians who make them less safe; and what law-and-order policymake...
On episode 49—so called because there have been 48 others—Charles talks to Russ Roberts, the host of the EconTalk podcast and the president of Shalem College in Jerusalem. Among the topics they discuss are: What life has been like in Jerusalem since October 7; why Russ started a podcast so early; why he's less interested in economics than he used to be; how strongly he holds his views; whether individuals who do well in the free market 'deserve' it; which economic concepts are hardest to convey;...
On episode 48, Charles celebrates the Jacksonville Jaguars' 34-14 victory over the Tennessee Titans, and then talks to Steve Simpson about the core of America's system of government: the separation of powers. Among the questions discussed are: What is separation of powers? Why does it matter? Does America still have it? Can it co-exist with the modern world? Can there be such a thing as an "independent executive agency"? What is the "unitary executive doctrine"? Are we going in the right directi...
On episode 47, Charles tries to work out why some of the anti-Israel protests have bothered him so much, and then talks to Ruy Texeira about the current state of the Democratic Party. Among the questions asked are: Why is Texeira's new book called 'Where Have All the Democrats Gone?' when the Democrats seem to be doing fine? Why is the "shadow Democratic Party" so strong? What is the "soul" of the Democratic Party? What did Bill Clinton get right in the 1990s? How correct was the thesis of 'The ...
On episode 46, Charles talks to Dan Senor about the horrors of October 7. Among the topics discussed are: What happened? Why did it happen? Why would Hamas's apologists say it happened? Was Dan surprised that it happened? Does he worry about another Holocaust? Has he been shocked by the reaction in the United States? What will happen next? Why does Dan describe Israel's system as "genius" in his new book ? The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0...
On episode 45, Charles admits that he missed the podcast's anniversary. Then he talks to Yascha Mounk about his new book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time . Among the topics discussed are where identity politics comes from, how it spread so fast over the last ten years, why it's a problem, whether opposition to it should be moral or practical or both, and what will happen if it's not checked. Charles's piece about going to an NFL game in London can be found here . The di...
On episode 44, Charles talks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about his excellent new book on Abraham Lincoln, Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America . Among the topics discussed are whether the book is a call for engagement in the modern era, whether practical politics gets a bad rap, what Lincoln really thought about African-Americans, whether Lincoln intuited that he was going die in office, what challenges are presented by the fact that Lincoln was murdered when he was, whether Lin...
On episode 43, Charles answers a question about atheism and individual rights: "How can your belief in unalienable rights be squared with your professed atheism?" Then he talks to Heather Mac Donald about her book, When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives . The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License....
On episode 42, Charles answers a question about the game of Rugby, and then talks to Douglas Brunt about his fascinating new book about Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine and, at one point, one of the most famous and interesting people in the world. Among the questions asked are: Why have we not heard more about Diesel? What sort of world was he inventing in? Why were the world's militaries so interested in his work? What did he believe in? What did he think of America? Did he get ...
On episode 41, Charles talks to the historian Niall Ferguson about Cold War II (not Cold War 2.0). Among the questions asked are: What is a Cold War and why are we in one? Is China now more ideological than it was twenty years ago? Should America be taking more drastic action at home and abroad? What sort of tools should the United States be creating? Is Ukraine a distraction from the real threat? Will the Chinese turn on their government? Who will win the battle this time around? The dial-up to...
On episode 40, Charles talks to Winkfield Twyman Jr. and Jennifer Richmond about their book, Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence on Race in America . Among the issues discussed: Have our conversations about race got worse despite conditions for African-Americans having improved? Is racial solidarity necessary in a country that once had slavery? Can a focus on 'Old Americans' help everyone move on? Were Wink and Jennifer nervous about having an "authentic conversation" about race? Sh...
On episode 39 of the Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles talks to Rob Long, a writer and the founder of Ricochet.com, about the ongoing "Hollywood Strike," which is now on its 114th day. What's it about? Is it justified? How—and when—will it end? Why do entertainment figures have unions? Is streaming ruining everything? Will this strike make it worse? How a big a threat to actors and writers is Artificial Intelligence? And how did Rob get into Hollywood, anyway? The dial-up tone in the introduc...
On episode 38, Charles begins by rebuffing a takeover attempt from a ghostly Luther Ray Abel. Afterwards, he talks to the novelist Lionel Shriver about immortality, the topic of her recent cover story at National Review. What are the personal and societal implications of immortality? What drives her to write about that topic? Does Lionel want to live forever herself? What would be her biggest fear if she could attain eternal life? Is she more bored than she was 15 years ago? What does she feel w...
On episode 37, Charles talks to historian, Andrew Roberts, about Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, King George III, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and others. Among the topics discussed: Where did Churchill get his literary ability? What would have happened if Britain had made peace with the Nazis in 1940? Was Napoleon a 'tyrant'? Is the U.S. uninvadeable? Was George III a good king? Is the Declaration of Independence accurate? Were the Allies lucky that Hitler made the strategic decisions? A...
On episode 36, Charles begins by highlighting his favorite parts of Becky Pringle's astonishing speech to the 2023 NEA Conference, and then chats with "school-choice evangelist" Corey DeAngelis about the dramatic increase in interest in his prescriptions since COVID-19 changed the world. Among the questions Corey answers are: "What is school choice?" "What is a charter school?" "What is a voucher?" "Which state has the best system?" "Do school-choice advocates oppose public schools?" "Should the...
On episode 35 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast , Charles begins by answering a question about what he prefers about England and what he prefers about America, and then talks to Eli Lake about whether the Espionage Act of 1917 ought to exist, and whether Donald Trump ought to have been charged under it. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License. Episode 22 : The Streets Are Made of Cheese...
On episode 34, Charles talks to Tim Carney about his book, Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse . Among the topics they discuss are what constitutes "the American Dream," whether that American Dream is "dead" (as Donald Trump charged in 2016), and, if so, when that decline started and what caused it. After that, Charles asks if those who are suffering are right to be angry with the government, if the malaise can be fixed, and to what extent Tim thinks that the answer l...
On this pop-up episode, Charles talks to the Pacific Legal Foundation's Ethan Blevins about the Supreme Court's decision to strike down affirmative action, and then answers a question about his time at King's College Choir School in Cambridge. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.
On episode 32—released on the 32nd of the month—Charles talks to Gareth Russell, who wrote a book about the Titanic ( Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era ) and who, a couple of years ago, was invited to take a trip on the Titan submersible that sank this week. Among the topics Charles and Gareth discuss are why the Titanic continues to command such interest, whose fault its sinking was, when the conspiracy theories started, and if its ethical to go down to...
On episode 31 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast—this one with 100% less Luther Abel—Charles chats with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya about his reflections on the pandemic. What did he get right? What did he get wrong? Has the public health establishment learned its lesson? Does it deserve to be trusted? If so, how would we get back to that? Does Dr. Bhattacharya share Charles's enthusiasm for the vaccine? What, if anything, did Anthony Fauci get right? Answers abound. Charles is now back from Italy, and...
On episode 30 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast , Charles welcomes back his old Mad Dogs and Englishmen co-host, Kevin Williamson, to talk about cities, crime, whether libertarians were wrong about marijuana legalization, going to Italy, shooting snakes with revolvers, and who is going to be the Republican nominee in 2024. No PPE money was destroyed during the making of this podcast. N.B. Charles is now on vacation. The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast will return in two weeks. The dial-up tone in t...
In this special "pop-up" episode, Charles talks to Andy McCarthy about why, since Episode 5, Andy has changed his view on whether or not the FBI is irredeemable and should be abolished. The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.
On this week's episode of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast—the first since Charles got a haircut—Charles talks to Elbridge Colby about Taiwan. Among the topics discussed are why Taiwan matters more to the United States and the West more generally than, say, the Falkland Islands; whether Americans are prepared for an invasion; if China is our biggest geopolitical threat; and, if it is, what this tells us about our ideal Ukraine policy. Charles also answers a question: "Why do most state legislatur...
