T.S. Eliot deemed April “the cruelest month,” but for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg it’s been March with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal that’s cast doubt on the fabled “social network.” Niall Ferguson, the Hoover Institution’s Milbank Family Senior Fellow and a frequent author on technology and Silicon Valley’s prominence, examines the perils of “hyperconnection.” Has Zuckerberg fulfilled George Orwell’s vision of a society of addicted to an all-knowing, all-watching telescreen? Did you...

“Making America toxic again,” as one publication suggested, or a public servant dedicated to paring honest science and environmental stewardship? Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, stops by to explain how the Trump Administration has reoriented the EPA, its highlights and priorities, and how a former college baseball player deals with political hardball in the nation’s capital. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!

Recorded on February 25, 2018 “On Election Day in 2016, Donald Trump carried Ohio by eight percentage points. Our guest today carried the state by twenty-one. Senator of Ohio Rob Portman joins Peter Robinson at a special live taping of Uncommon Knowledge. They discuss the 2018 tax bill, the opioid crisis, the Parkland shootings, North Korea, and much more. Senator Portman stands by his decision to vote for the new tax bill as he has seen the benefits right in his home state. He recounts...

Richard Epstein reacts to former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’ suggestion that the Second Amendment be repealed — and explains why the constitutional arguments about guns may point in a different direction than the policy arguments.

How’s the Trump presidency faring and what’s its effect on “Victorian Reagan conservatives” and the political chattering class? Hugh Hewitt, a conservative talk-radio and MSNBC host (not to mention the recipient of several Trump barbs as a 2016 GOP debate host), weighs in on the good, the bad and the ugly of Trump’s reign. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!

Donald Trump’s rallies with the Rolling Stone’s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But If You Try Sometimes, You Get What You Need.” Is that the prevailing conservative attitude 14 months into his presidency? Rich Lowry, editor of The National Review, discusses the right’s complicated relationship with a President who both delivers for and confounds the Republican base, but do they get what they need? Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!

Richard Epstein explains how public pensions came to be a ticking time bomb for states and cities throughout the U.S., what the financial ramifications are, and why the road to reform is so perilous.

By the 2020 election, America’s “millennial” class will replace Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest age-bloc of voters. David Davenport, a Hoover Institution research fellow specializing in constitution federalism and Americans politics and law, discusses what it will take to get a cynical under-35 crowd to the polls and, in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, whether the even younger “Generation Z” will emerge as a political force. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and...

The latest FEMA “strategic plan” mentions “risking natural hazard risk” but not a peep about global warming, rising sea levels or devastating weather. Alice Hill, a Hoover Institution research fellow focusing on building resilience to catastrophic events, discusses the Trump Administration’s reluctance to utter the phrase “climate change” and where scientific debate stands in 2018. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!

Recorded on March 14, 2018, A discussion with Niall Ferguson on The Square and the Tower The twenty-first century has been hailed as the Age of Networks. However, in new book “The Square and the Tower,” historian and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson argues that networks have always been with us. From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, “The Square and the Tower” tells the story of the rise, fall and rise of...

The Hoover Institution hosted "'Security by the Book featuring Amy Chua" on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST. In her newest book, Chua argues that more successful foreign policy is only possible if the United States government acknowledges, and deals with, the realities of political tribalism. But Chua's analysis isn't limited to foreign political tribalism; she turns the magnifying glass inward to critique our domestic political culture. A successful America is one that...

Tariffs and the looming threat of a trade war, the White House shaking up its economic team, and the president suggesting another round of tax cuts begs the question: what next in Washington, DC? Dr. Michael J. Boskin, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and the Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics at Stanford University, discusses what President Trump can do to keep the economy growing and takes a look at the financial health of California—the scene of this week’s visit by President...

Richard Epstein contrasts two recent actions by the Trump Administration — the imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum, and the blocking of a foreign company’s attempts to take over an American tech firm — to demonstrate when national security concerns justify restrictions on trade ... and when they don’t. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!

Recorded on November 9, 2017. Natan Sharansky sits down with Peter Robinson to discuss Soviet communism and its impact on his personal life. He discusses his book Fear No Evil: The Classic Memoir of One Man’s Triumph over a Police State, which details a compelling account of his time in a Soviet prison and the inspiration he found in himself, the Hebrew Bible, and Ronald Reagan’s speeches about freedom. Sharansky realized through KGB interrogations and his time in prison that nobody but...

The Hoover Institution hosted a discussion and a preview of the new film The Price of Peace from Free to Choose Media. How do we prevent war? How do we maintain peace? These questions have been posed by nations and people throughout history. The insights of historian and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson guide this documentary investigation of the United States’ successful deterrence of enemy aggression in the past and the efforts to sustain it in an era of rogue nations...

China is a big player in economic and geopolitical matters, including trade, global aspirations, and finding a solution to the escalating tensions with North Korea. Michael Auslin, Hoover’s inaugural Williams-Griffis Fellow in Contemporary Asia, discusses North Korea, China, trade wars, tariffs, ICBMs, China’s one belt one road plan to link the infrastructure and trade of Eurasian under Chinese auspices, as well as many other topics including China’s presence in the Arctic. Did you like the...

Richard Epstein looks at how attempts to suppress conservative speakers on college campuses intersects with the First Amendment, and calls on 50 years of experience as a university professor to diagnose how liberal activism has changed over the years.

The Hoover Institution hosted "Security by the Book: Max Boot's new book, 'The Road Not Taken,'" on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST. Max Boot's new book, "The Road Not Taken" chronicles the life of Edward Landsdale, a relatively obscure but crucial figure in American military and foreign policy. In this new biography, Boot reframes Landsdale's legacy to demonstrate his contributions to American diplomacy, from the Philippines to the Vietnam war. While many of...

The state of the US economy in two words: “getting better.” That’s the learned opinion of John Taylor, the Hoover Institution’s George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He forecasts continued growth thanks to the latest round of tax cuts and regulatory reform – and wishes Washington would address another of his proscribed principles of economic well-being: budget reform. Did you like the show? Please rate,...

Richard Epstein looks at Janus v. AFSCME, a Supreme Court case out of Illinois with the potential to dramatically reduce the power of public sector unions.

Though it’s a relatively small expanse (just one-and-a-half times the size of the US), the Arctic Ocean is fraught with global strategic concerns. David Slayton, a Hoover research fellow and co-chair of Hoover’s Arctic Security Initiative, explains the Trump Administration’s options on “the top of the world” regarding military expansion, resource development and maritime passage. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!

In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, Richard Epstein provides his legal analysis of where Second Amendment jurisprudence went wrong and explains what policy options might actually help to ease gun violence -- and why real solutions are devilishly hard to come by.

Victor Davis Hanson argues that the best way to upend insular elites is to relocate political institutions out of cosmopolitan settings.

A century ago, an American president had little to say while the world was ravaged by a flu pandemic. In 2018, in the midst of yet another flu epidemic, so too is President Trump silent. What are the Trump Administration’s options in terms of offering vaccines, speeding up drug research and raising public awareness? Dr. Henry Miller, the Hoover Institution’s Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy – and a physician and former flu researcher – discusses how to cure what...

Ordinarily, the second-place finisher in a presidential election doesn’t have a second political act. But the times aren’t ordinary and Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, is now a US Senate candidate in Utah. Hoover research fellow Lanhee Chen, Romney’s 2012 policy director, discusses what compelled his former boss to make the run and whether Romney will be a Trump White House ally or nemesis. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!