John Yoo returns to usher in SCOTUS opinion season, joining James and Steve for some friendly debates on law, politics and, most controversially, more than a few matters of taste. For our democrats in the audience, we've got chatter on California vote counting and Alabama map battles. News from the UK reminds us that the royalists are in even worse shape, as authorities there prove to be as confused in dealing with controversial speech as they are with violence (the real kind). John Bolton's deal with the DOJ and a couple death penalty cases concentrate the fellas' minds further on the subtleties—and unsubtleties—of hard justice. Thankfully, Scott Pelley's bad week brings a much-needed restorative laugh, and the gang finds something to agree on as they count down to the semiquincentennial. That's right: not even petty celebrities can rain on our Independence Day parade!

Sound this week: CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil says goodbye to Scott Pelley while Fox News’ Brit Hume finds it all amusing.

Lots and lots of burning questions dominate the news. Do we need a $250 bill, and what or who should be on it? Mamdani flexes his communist urges in NYC, so what could possibly go wrong? And can a state tax a "slush fund" at 100%? James and Charles have thoughts.

But the question we really want an answer to is, "Do we have a deal with Iran or not?" To answer that, we welcome back our old friend Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the former director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction for the White House National Security Council during the first Trump administration.

It's an episode to get your Spidey senses tingling.

James, Steve and non-stipendiary host Rob Long shoot the breeze as they face revolutionary changes big and small. From the impending phenonena of Pratt Summer and unstoppable AI to the DNC's stateside Commie drama and the Euros giving nationalism another go, the trio draws some important lessons:

Local elections matter. They can even be fun!
Political messaging is especially effective when your opponent is the weird one.
Climate apocalypse is dumb.
You can be a people or a bureaucracy, not both. 
Artificial Intelligence is coming. Work on your human skills.

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have ended their two day summit in Beijing with lots of talk and no announced breakthroughs. James and Steven break it all down.

Speaking of breaking down, we welcome back National Review senior writer Noah Rothman to talk about the left's embrace of political violence that he covers in his new book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence in America. It's a riot.

Ricochet’s beloved former editor Mollie Hemingway is back with a new book, Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution. We’re so thrilled, in fact, that we couldn’t even keep Peter Robinson away. So Mollie leads our embarrassment of hosts through her exclusive scoop on the Supreme Court’s most enigmatic justice. Tune in for an in-depth report covering everything Alito—from the political dramas starting with his confirmation to the leak of his best-known Dobbs opinion, and analysis of the particulars of his legal philosophy, his mastery over oral proceedings, and ultimately his influence over the increasingly originalist branch of government.

And with investigative journalism in mind, our quartet digs into reports about rampant Medicaid fraud in Ohio, and James tries to pin the panelists down on their stance on aliens, UFOs and G-man plots. The gang also guffaws at the Virginia Supreme Court's redistricting rebuff and manages to find quibblible claims against the common understanding of invasive species.

Have we hit the "another week, another act of homegrown terror" phase of American history? Spencer Klavan joins Steve and Charles for a roundup of the (relatively) young academic's recent works on subjects ranging from Francis Fukayama's oft-misunderstood thesis to the ascent of figures like Hasan Piker, who hope to microloot our stores of social capital (and Whole Foods, too). The trio also considers the possibilities before the classical education rebellion that's breaking out on campuses. 

Plus, Cooke and Hayward dive into this week's SCOTUS decision on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and they see an achievement worth celebrating in the United Arab Emirates' decision to leave OPEC.  

The pitiful state of university sociology departments is an unfortunate thing, but to see tantrums at elite law schools over "controversial" speakers portends danger — or so says Ilya Shapiro, author of Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites. He and the fellas discuss the illiberal takeover of higher education, most troublingly in the institutions that train the gatekeepers of our legal system. 

Plus, James, Charles, and Steve speculate on the midterms; see the potential for backfire from Virginia's redistricting referendum; smell controversy over the latest victory for the refer movement; and begrudgingly admit the Americanness of gambling with top secrets.

Moving concentrates the mind on the old days (good or otherwise). And who better to reminisce with than a good ole pal? James Lileks and Rob Long are back together, and they brought family heirlooms... Breezing through current events (a blockaded blockade abroad, a goon running Gotham, a papal-sovereign scrap), the duo takes in another week's worth of madness with the calm of mind that comes from grateful reception of some inherited wisdom.

It's just Lileks and Cooke this week, back to gander at another quintessentially American week of this semiquincentennial year. The fellas cover the halted hostilities in Iran, an incredible rescue op, Mayor Mamdani's "Citywide Racial Equity Plan," the awaited splashdown of Artemis II astronauts, and all manner of transportation issues. 

Bondi's out at DOJ. SCOTUS heard another big case and issued another big ruling. We're at war, and Congress is out of the loop... We need a legal expert this week. John Malcolm joins — Vice President of the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law at Advancing American Freedom, and Executive Editor of the third edition of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution. 

Plus, Charles, Steve, and James are rejuvenated by the Artemis II launch, underwhelmed by Trump's address on the war, slightly stunned by modern slang, and mildly ticked by faulty diction. 

James and Steve put Charles in the guest chair to elaborate on his National Review cover story exhorting against generalized downerdom and political pessimism. Further, the trio speculates on the nature of negotiations with the people supposedly running Iran, as well as next week's birthright citizenship case before SCOTUS.





Sound from this week's open: Marco Rubio speaks on Iran war objectives.