Smoke from Quebec wildfires has enveloped New York City and other places, causing a strange experience for residents. The situation reminded the author of a cartoon he saw in The Spectator, where people were seen outside a theater taking a smoke break during intermission. One of them heads inside, saying, “Just popping in for some fresh air.” This is precisely what New Yorkers had to do for a couple of days.
Regarding the budget deal, Democrats claim that “Biden ate McCarthy’s lunch. It was a slam dunk,” while Republicans say, “McCarthy ate Biden’s lunch. It was a slam dunk.” However, neither man has spoken in such a way. In a tribalized and polarized age, there needs to be a “W” or an “L” – a win or a loss. One side has to “own” the other.
The author’s politics are based on the hatred of bullying and mobs. A recent news report states that soccer referee Anthony Taylor was swarmed by angry fans at the Budapest airport after Roma coach José Mourinho criticized and confronted him postgame following his team’s loss to Sevilla in the Europa League final. The author believes that a mob is just about the worst thing in the world.
In Britain, Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, is cautiously ending the liberal progressive politics that has dominated Labour for three decades. The Labour leader said, “I’ve got to be honest – I don’t think the language of stability comes naturally to progressive politics.” He went on to say, “We must understand there are precious things – in our way of life, in our environment, in our communities – that it is our responsibility to protect and preserve and to pass on to future generations. If that sounds conservative, then let me tell you: I don’t care.”
The author comments on the Quebec wildfires, which covered up the “skunk weed” in New York for a bit.
The 2024 presidential race could possibly be a rematch between Biden and Trump. The author believes that whatever such a race would be, it would not be Tweedledum vs. Tweedledee.
When Ron DeSantis denounces Disney, he calls it a “multinational corporation,” which he obviously means as a curse word. The author finds it strange to hear the same rhetoric from Republicans today that he heard from Marxists when they were inveighing against business, trade, capitalism, and all of that.
The author’s favorite news story of the recent period comes out of Qom, where a Shiite cleric in Iran is defying taboos by taking in street dogs and nursing them back to health. As a rule, dogs are despised in the Middle East.
Hans-Peter Wild, an entrepreneur, lawyer, and philanthropist, has given a major gift to the Salzburg Festival. In gratitude and acknowledgment of the liberation of Germany from the Nazis in 1945, Dr. Wild donated 16 million dollars to the US Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, enabling about 300 children of Marines to pursue university studies.
Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who spied for the Soviets, has died at 79. Amitai Etzioni, probably the foremost communitarian in America, has also died at 94.
The author worries about American homogenization.
Al Pacino is to become a father again at 83, while Robert De Niro has just become a father again at 79. Both are short of Saul Bellow, who became a father again at 84.
Ernie Johnson, the host of Inside the NBA and a crack sportscaster, forgave a man who robbed him.
The author discusses a slew of performers, composers, and issues in his “New York chronicle” in the current New Criterion.
The author came up with something aphoristic in a diner two days ago. An English muffin is a muffin like an English horn is a horn.
The author tells the story of János Starker, a great cellist who was born Jewish in Hungary. Starker was scheduled to play with the South Carolina Philharmonic, but administrators informed him that he would not be able to smoke in the smoke-free concert hall, not even in his private dressing room. Starker appealed for reconsideration, but he was not allowed to smoke. He returned to the stage and addressed the orchestra, saying that he had lived through fascism and communism, but he could not abide by the petty tyranny into which the country was falling, and neither should they. He then collected his instrument and left. A clarinetist began to play “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”
