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He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. Yes, Im talking about Dick Cavett, the talk-show host nonpareil, whose dry wit flattered, charmed, and chastened the high-profile guests on his eponymous program, which ran on ABC from 1968 to 1975 and continued on in some form on other networks until 1995. Those who sat on his couch ranged from Alfred Hitchcock to Lester Maddox and from Jimi Hendrix to Groucho Marx. A memorable 1971 program featured Satchel Paige, Lillian Gish, Salvador Dali, and an anteater.

One special guest was truly special Muhammad Ali, the only three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world. The champ made 14 appearances on the show, in good times and bad, and he and the host seemed to share a bond. As Cavett says at the end of Robert S. Baders HBO documentary Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes (Cavett co-wrote the film with Bader), Id like to think he would have played with me as a kid. Sometimes he seems almost like a brother.

Though many documentaries have been made about the late champion the most recent and one of the better ones is last years Whats My Name: Muhammad Ali by Antoine Fuqua this offers a unique and illuminating perspective on the fighter and his times and celebrates an unlikely, exemplary friendship between Ali and the whitest white guy in America as interviewee Al Sharpton describes Cavett. Bader includes numerous entertaining and provocative clips from the show, along with rich archival material, interviews with writers and journalists, and the now 83-year-old Cavett.

The talk-show host first crossed paths with Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, in 1963 when the latter was a guest on the ill-fated Jerry Lewis Show. One of Lewiss writers at the time, Cavett composed a poem for Ali to read on the air which made a barbed allusion to the shows imminent cancellation.

It wasnt until 1968 that they would connect on Cavetts show. Much had happened to Ali in the meantime he won his first championship, in 1964, changed his name, and announced his membership in the Nation of Islam, a.k.a. the Black Muslims, was drafted and refused to serve in the military, and was stripped of his title and banned from boxing. Then in 1967 he was convicted of evading the draft and sentenced to five years in prison (after appeals his conviction would be overturned by the Supreme Court, in 1971).

It was a lot to talk about, and in between bantering with the host Ali would seriously discuss the countrys endemic racism and offer opinions that are more radical than those who idolize him today might acknowledge. Some of Baders interviewees suggest that Ali was parroting the ideology of Black Muslim leaders such as Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan. Cavett himself says that these diatribes made him uncomfortable and it was disturbing that maybe he was being used for some disreputable causes. These reservations aside, the film depicts Alis resistance to the war and his denunciation of white oppression of Black people as principled and admirable.

The mood also darkens when the focus turns to the twilight of Alis career. He retired in 1979, but emerged again in 1980 to challenge Larry Holmes for his fourth championship. He lost badly, and in a subsequent fight, with Trevor Berbick, which contributed to the Parkinsons syndrome that marked his final years. He retired for good in 1981.

But overall the film highlights the comic and endearing moments in this odd-couple relationship. Highlights include Cavett in boxing shorts sparring with the champ at his training camp and being hoisted aloft by Ali and Joe Frazier who look like they are about to make a wish.

Cavett clearly idolized his guest a story about how Ali stayed over at his house is revealing and touching. And Ali appreciated Cavett for being allowed to speak freely on his show and appear as a guest even following a defeat. Youre my main man because only your show invites me after I get whipped, Ali tells Cavett.

Youre my main man, Cavett says, repeating Alis words with awe and wonder nearly 50 years later.

Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes debuts Feb. 11 at 9 p.m. on HBO. It will also be available on HBO On Demand, HBO NOW, HBO GO, and partners streaming platforms.

Go to http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/ali-and-cavett-the-tale-of-the-tapes.

Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.

Original post:
Ali and Cavett when they were kings - The Boston Globe

KARACHI, Pakistan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will address Pakistan's parliament on Feb. 14 during his two-day visit to Islamabad, a Pakistani official announced on Thursday.

Asad Qaisar, the speaker of the National Assembly -- the lower house of Pakistans parliament -- announced that Erdogan would address the joint sitting of the parliament for the record fourth time.

Presiding the National Assembly session, Qaisar said he would consult with the parliamentary leaders of all the political parties with respect to Erdogan's visit, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Erdogan is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Feb. 13 for a two-day visit.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui confirmed Erdogans visit next week, however Turkey is yet to officially confirm it.

At a weekly press briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, she said: "The visit is taking place as per the schedule agreed by both sides. They are working very hard to finalize the substantive program of this visit.

She reiterated that Pakistan and Turkey have very warm, brotherly and cordial relations.

We support each other on core issues. Pakistan looks forward to the visit of the Turkish president. All details of the visit will be shared with you in due course, Farooqui added.

Erdogan paid his last visit to Pakistan in November 2016 -- his first visit to the South Asian nuclear state since assuming the presidency in August 2014. Previously, he visited Pakistan twice as the prime minister of Turkey.

He is the only head of state who addressed Pakistans parliament thrice.

Ankara and Islamabad have boosted bilateral defense and security cooperation in recent years. In October 2018, Pakistan Navy commissioned a 17,000-ton fleet tanker built in collaboration with a Turkish defense company in the southern port city of Karachi.

It was the largest warship ever constructed in the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works in collaboration with Turkish defense contractor STM, according to Pakistan Navy.

In July 2018, Ankara won a multibillion-dollar tender to supply four corvettes to Pakistan Navy -- a deal dubbed as the biggest export for Turkeys defense industry in history by then-Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli.

In 2016, Turkey gifted 34 T-37 aircraft and spares to Pakistan. Ankara is, meanwhile, buying MFI-17 Super Mushshak aircraft from Pakistan, besides upgrading three Pakistani submarines and jointly building a fleet tanker.

See original here:
Erdogan to address Pakistan's parliament on Feb. 14 - Anadolu Agency

Something Ive been thinking a lot about recently is the way we often conflate two very distinct things when we assign political labels. The first is ideology, which describes our vision of a just society. The second is something less discussed but equally important: temperament. It describes how we approach social problems, how fast we think society can change, and how we understand the constraints upon us.

Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, the editor in chief of the public policy journal National Affairs, and the author of the upcoming book A Time to Build. Levin is one of the most thoughtful articulators of both conservative temperament and ideology. Perhaps for that reason, his is one of the most important criticisms of what the conservative movement has become today.

Theres a lot in this conversation, in part because Levins book speaks to mine in interesting ways. One of my favorite parts was when Levin spoke about how conservatives are beginning to rethink libertarian economics, creating space for unlikely coalitions.

Yuval Levin

I think we live now in a moment where much more basic questions are open than were earlier in this century and in the last couple of decades of the 20th century. It seemed at the end of the cold war as though there was a settlement around what broadly we might call liberalism and the question now was how to make the most of it and how to govern it. We now are asking ourselves much more basic questions about how to be a justice society. I think thats a good thing.

On the right, there are really fundamental debates about whether it makes sense for conservatism to be oriented around a commitment to the market economy or whether instead it be fundamentally grounded in social and moral commitments and religious commitments. I am on the side of those who say that libertarian [economics] should not be the organizing principle of American life.

It is important to see that the arguments that were having now are moral more than economic. Theyre not exactly arguments against capitalism. Theyre arguments about a society that puts economic questions first and foremost. And, to the extent that that is the objection [socialists] raise, they have a lot of allies on the right. There are a lot of people on the right who worry that our society too often puts economics first and foremost, and instead believe we should think about human flourishing first and foremost about enabling families to start, about enabling communities to thrive, about allowing people to organize their lives around basic moral principles that they understand to be the definition of justice.

We also discuss:

Theres a lot Levin and I disagree on, but there are few people I learn as much from in disagreement as I learn from him.

You can listen to this conversation and others by subscribing to The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Yuval Levins book recommendations:

Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

The Quest for Community by Robert Nisbet

Statecraft as Soulcraft by George Will

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like:

David French on The Great White Culture War

George Will makes the conservative case against democracy

Read this article:
Why some conservatives are rethinking libertarian economics - Vox.com

The Iowa caucuses are not quite over.

Now that Iowa Republicans and Democrats have sounded off, another presidential nomination contest is starting. This weekend, Libertarian Party of Iowa members will gather for their own caucuses and presidential straw polls. Later this month, 10 Libertarians running for the presidential nomination will appear together in Iowa.

Its too late for registered voters to switch parties and participate in the Libertarians virtual or in-person caucuses Saturday. But there are a couple reasons all Iowans should pay close attention to the state and nations largest third-party nominating process.

For one, thousands of us will end up voting for someone besides the Republican or Democrat in the November general election. For another, those who dont will spend a few months scolding and wagging fingers at third-party voters. Either way, its a good idea to start vetting the candidates now.

A large portion of Americans say the country is poorly served by the existing two-party system. That discontent could be emboldened by an incumbent Republican with underwhelming popularity, and a Democratic nominee with her or his own unfavorables.

In 2016, eight third-party candidates appeared on the ballot in Iowa and altogether earned nearly 100,000 votes. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and running mate Bill Weld both former Republican governors won about 3.7 percent of the vote, making them by far the states most popular third-party ticket last cycle.

Johnson was considered a front-runner for the nomination throughout the 2016 process, but this years field is wide open. Delegates elected at the caucuses and state convention will attend the national convention in May, where they will be unbound and free to support whichever candidate they choose.

Libertarians are having lively debates about the partys future. The key question is whether to once again nominate an established figure with ties to one of the major parties, or go with a bold and die-hard Libertarian activist.

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On Feb. 29, I will moderate a presidential candidates forum in Des Moines, part of the Libertarian Party of Iowas state convention. Questions submitted by members cover a range of policy points, and also meta issues about the party and its strategy.

Most third-party activists acknowledge winning the White House in the next election is unlikely, but there are other good reasons to support minor presidential candidates. Top-of-the-ticket races help parties build lists of supporters and can create momentum for down-ballot candidates.

Most importantly in Iowa, parties earning 2 percent in a gubernatorial or presidential election gain official party status, which Libertarians achieved in 2016 and lost in 2018. That status entitles parties to the same ballot access as major parties, and also attracts more equitable coverage from the media.

Loyalists to the partisan duopoly worry that third-party candidates sway elections. They claim, without compelling evidence, that recent elections would have turned the other way if not for spoilers.

To that, I say get over it. When parties nominate bad candidates, dont be surprised when voters look elsewhere.

(319) 339-3156; adam.sullivan@thegazette.com

Read the rest here:
For Iowa's 100,000 third-party voters, 2020 field is wide open - The Gazette

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here.

Despite repeated warnings from legacy media, it seems xenophobia is breaking out as rapidly as the coronavirus. Anecdotal reports of Asians being denied Uber and Lyft rides are adding fog to an already uncertain situation, but there are clear lessons to be drawn for advocates of free market libertarianism.

The worldwide coronavirus figures as of Tuesday are 425 dead and 20,438 confirmed cases, mostly all in China. In the U.S., there are six cases in California, two in Illinois, and one in each of the following states: Arizona, Washington, and Massachusetts. No Americans have died so far.

Reading up on the latest, one cant ignore a couple of patterns in the media, and these patterns matter to how an open market functions.

First, many news reports often downplay the severity of the virus. Note that the media almost never calms down its audience when the subject is trivial political drama like impeachment, which has less bearing on the real world than a contagion of national and international proportions. The ploy in this instance is to compare coronavirus to seasonal influenza as if to shrug off the top global story.

The second pattern might help explain the first. It has to do with the perceived threat of rising racism and xenophobia, mostly emanating from the bat soup meme, which is based on a rumor of the viral breakouts origin. For example, Health.com ran with the headline No, Coronavirus Was Not Caused by Bat SoupBut Heres What Researchers Think May Be to Blame.

It turns out, however, that the scientific consensus isnt too far off from the internet meme. Researchers point to bats and/or snakes passing it on to humans, and both of those animals are sold in the notorious Wuhan wet market in China for human consumption.

Underlying both of these media narratives is the ever-present competition from alternative media outlets that are constantly under a barrage of censorship attacks from the elite social media platforms. Many of those alternative outlets are viewed and shared in libertarian or right-leaning networks, which are increasingly concerned with globalization and immigration.

It is plain to see that there is a business interest as well as a cultural or political one at play behind most media narratives. Thankfully, there are populist forces that will eventually put an end to this top-down manipulation of public information.

Now CNBC is reporting on Uber and Lyft drivers refusing or reluctantly accepting Asian passengers. Perhaps its ironic that the same article downplays the threat of the coronavirus but plays up the racial tensions without a second thought.

The medias phobia of xenophobia isnt genuine but instead serves as a bludgeon against any argument in favor of private property-based free market solutions. Why, if average people were left to their own devices, their ignorance and racism would doom us all, were told.

Of course, its the government (mis)management of public health responsibilities that lets things get this bad in the first place. On the other hand, the wet market in Wuhan, China must not be excused by libertarians. Bat soup might just be a bad idea, whether or not its regulated by a state.

A free market should be strengthened beyond simple atomistic individualism, by means of developing or rejuvenating civil institutional frameworks that help us protect and conserve our quality of life and societal cohesion.

Racism isnt what we should fear in letting loose hundreds of millions of Americans to make free choices. Rather, we should concern ourselves with disconnected, loyalty-free consumers who continue to lap up legacy media propaganda, because it happens to be offered at the lowest price.

Excerpt from:
To Fear the Coronavirus, the Media, or Xenophobia? - The Liberator Online