you may have seen him on tv, fox news channel's special report with brett bair, nbc's meet the press, and you'll hear his dulcet tones in the commentary podcast a few times every week. he's the author of three books, including most recently the right the 100 year war for american conservatives. and he, like dr. weiss, has a degree from, of all places, columbia. dr. weiss and mr. continetti will converse for about 20 minutes. then we'll turn to audience question, audience questions. afterwards, i hope you'll join us for light refreshments and conversation in the adjoining gallery. but now, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming dr. ruth weiss. to the u.s. thank you. shall i put this down a bit. thank you very, very much. this is the place to be. and among people i read and admire and and just i. i'm just overwhelmed by what you tell, what you say, because, in fact, i've been thinking about and writing about these ideas for years and one does not want to have them come to life in the way that they have done recently. so i think that it is customary to try to warm up an audien