Just James, Peter and Rob this week to wade through the disaster that has become of American higher education. Naturally, the essential question arises: what do we do about these once-prestigious institutions? The Ricochet trio think it through. 

We'll have Manhattan, The D.A. and a jury, too...

And so we begin with apologies to Rodgers and Hart as our intrepid founders find themselves in the Big Apple together just as Donald Trump's criminal trial in the Stormy Daniels hush money case seats its jury. To that end we bring on National Review's Andy McCarthy, who just this week the former president called "a great legal scholar" to opine on whether Trump can get a fair hearing in front of this judge - and this jury - in this town.

We also touch on Israel's military action into Iran on Thursday night.

We hate to Bragg but it's a pretty good show. 

James Lileks is back in the house, ladies and gentlemen! And speaking of houses, Jack Ryan joins the podcast to explain his war against the National Association of Realtors. (Pre-order your copy of the book he's co-authored: Bringing Adam Smith into the American Home: A Case Against Home Ownership.) Yes, you read that title correctly. Along with his fight against the "real estate cartel," Jack has his doubts that home ownership is the right move for all Americans. 

Plus, the reunited Ricochet boys recall how the O.J. Simpson trial changed America, and they fight fire alarms and wrangle with manly chores. 



- Audio from this week's open: A flashback to the 1995 OJ Simpson trial with comedian Norm Macdonald and defense attorney Johnnie Cochran




Today's podcast was sponsored by Fast Growing Trees & ZBiotics: 

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AEI's Matthew Continetti joins the Ricochet Podcast to discuss the internecine fight over the future of conservatism and the Democratic Party's abandonment of Israel. Plus, Peter and Rob have a bit of fun with earthquakes and hippie terrorists; swap lab leak theories and cheer themselves up with a reminder of the country's abiding unsung heroes.





- This week’s audio: NYC Mayor Eric Adams on this morning’s earthquake.

Andrew Klavan returns to the Ricochet Podcast for a special Good Friday/Easter episode! He, Rob and Peter cover everything from antisemitism—the devil's flagpole, as Drew calls it—and what it really means to believe that Christ is King; on to poetics, popular fiction, political persuasiveness and the right's shortcomings as conveyors of truth. 

Plus, Peter and Rob give a tribute to the last centrist Democrat Joe Lieberman; and consider the power of container ships, both as objects and as economic game changers, after one knocked out a bridge in Rob's city of origin.





- Audio this week: Emergency Dispatch recording in Baltimore Harbor

Richard Epstein brings his encyclopedic knowledge to help break down some of the pivotal matters being debated in Congress and before the Supreme Court. Plus, James and Rob look back on the Covid lockdowns four years later, along with Minneapolis' move against Uber and Lyft. 

Thirty years back, filmmaker Whit Stillman charmed audiences with a comedy about two Americans abroad in chaotic Cold War Europe. He joins Rob, James and Peter to discuss his movie Barcelona, cinema as an artform and as a business, and reasons for hope regarding its revival as a crowd-pleaser. 

Plus: Rob's returned from Morocco, Peter's got big news, and James has a plan for the post-CCP TikTok.





- Soundbites from the opening: Chris Eigeman and Taylor Nichols in Barcelona; Bob Hope at the Academy Awards in 1968; and Brendan Fraiser at the Oscars on Sunday.

It's the Cooke and Lileks Show today! The duo delve into the egregious State of the Union address, and lament the erosion of the enumerated powers doctrine. They talk TikTok and the Energy and Commerce Committee's unanimous bill against the company's Chinese parent ByteDance; Charles has high hopes for the upcoming ruling that may well overrule the Chevron doctrine; and James has a few Oscar reviews and an ode to old Hollywood.








- Soundbite from this episode: Joe Biden decrying the Dobbs decision in his SOTU address.

This week the Three Whiskey Happy Hour gang join James for a riotous good time, even as discuss and debate their beloved nation's precarious situation. They cover Joe Biden's visit to the border, Donald Trump's appeals to the Supreme Court, the latest on the war in Gaza, and a silly journalist's constitutional illiteracy. Plus there are whiskey recommendations and a must-hear story about apish antics on the high seas.

And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the Three Whiskey Happy Hour podcast, available at Ricochet.com.





- Soundbite from this week: dueling press conferences in Texas between the current and previous occupant of the Oval Office.

The forces against free speech are at again! Whether or not you've heard of NewsGuard or the Global Disinformation Index, rest assured that they're intently interested in where you get your information. Joining Peter, Rob and James today is David DesRoisers, Publisher of RealClearPolitics.com, whose scrupulously down-the-middle site was flagged by the groups above as a 'disinformation site,' and has lost a great many advertisers as a result. David's here to remind us of the threats institutions like these are to a free press and a free society.

The guys also have thoughts CPAC and Google Gemini.




- This week’s audio is from Donald Trump’s townhall with Laura Ingraham on Fox News

We've got a special number for ya, folks. Instead of a guest or even politics, Charles Cooke, James Lileks and Peter Robinson talk football and music. Tune in for a recap on the Super Bowl—get Charles' take on the season and theLileksian review of the game's ads; plus the two of them give Peter a serious crash course in post-Beatles pop music!

• Sound clips from the open are from the State Farm, BMW, CeraVe ads, along with The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.