On Queen Elizabeth II, the Saudis, Putin’s Russia, the mask wars, sportsmanship, dogs, Wagner, and more
The Brits have a word: “oldie.” I think we would tend to say “senior citizen.” In Britain, there is a magazine called “The Oldie.” The editors wanted to name Queen Elizabeth II “Oldie of the Year.” I guess they could, with or without the permission of the honoree. I mean, Time magazine doesn’t ask permission for its “Person of the Year,” does it? At any rate, the Palace replied to The Oldie as follows: “Her Majesty believes you are as old as you feel, as such The Queen does not believe she meets the relevant criteria to be able to accept, and hopes you will find a more worthy recipient.”
I do admire this old bird. I really do. God save the Queen.
• In recent weeks, I have been writing about the Saudis — the Saudi state, and its money. In this column, I wrote about the Saudis and a Premier League club (Newcastle). In this one, I wrote about the Saudis and Jared Kushner (his private-equity firm, in particular).
Today, golf. An article is headed “Eight players ask PGA Tour permission to play controversial Saudi event.” Uh-huh. The Saudis have been “courting golf’s biggest stars with a promise of huge pay days — more than $30 million, in some cases.” Uh-huh. “The concept has been pitched for more than seven years but no player has yet signed on.”
I will repeat myself: There are plenty of ways of making money — certainly for Dustin Johnson, Jared Kushner, and others in that stratum. Leave the Saudis to their oil and dungeons and whips and bone saws. There ought to be a brighter line between democracies and dictatorships, no matter how rich those dictatorships are.
• You may have heard of an honorable scientist: David M. Romps, a professor of earth and planetary science at Berkeley. Until recently, he was head of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center. He resigned. Why?
“. . . over an internal disagreement about extending an invitation to a fellow climate scientist.” I have quoted from this report. That “fellow climate scientist” would be Dorian Abbot, of the University of Chicago. Who was disinvited from a talk at MIT.
You will find details in the article I’ve linked to. Above, I spoke of a “brighter line.” I was talking about democracies and dictatorships. I think there ought to be a brighter line between science and political correctness — between scholarship and political correctness — too.
• “A group of masked men stormed the offices of a renowned human rights organisation in Moscow on Thursday to disrupt the screening of Mr Jones . . .” The organization in question is Memorial, founded at the instigation of Andrei Sakharov. Mr Jones is a movie about Gareth Jones, the Welshman born in 1905 who reported on the Ukrainian “terror-famine,” as Robert Conquest was later to call it. Jones was murdered in 1935, the day before his 30th birthday.
About 30 of these thugs entered Memorial’s offices, shouting “Shame!” and ordering attendees to leave, because “The screening is over!”
At the beginning of this item, I quoted from an article in the Guardian. Here is some more from that article:
Irina Sherbakova, Memorial’s lawyer, said that after the police were called, the authorities handcuffed the entrance doors to Memorial’s office and locked its staff and attenders inside for hours.
“It was strange, the police started to question us and not the ones who actually disrupted the movie. This looks like a planned attack on us to scare us away, approved by the authorities,” she said.
Of course. The current Russian government is keen to defend all things Soviet. I’m frequently told, “Today’s Russia is not the Soviet Union, you know!” I know. Do Putin & Co. know?
• You may have heard about this controversy. You can read the details, if you like — but the gist of it is: The Florida surgeon general went to see a state senator who is battling breast cancer. The senator wanted him to wear a mask. He refused. The meeting did not come off.
The mask wars and vax wars are endless. I try to be hors de combat, as Bill Buckley liked to say. But you know? A little common courtesy goes a long way. The Golden Rule — articulated in Leviticus and amplified by Jesus — goes a long way. I think of a line from The Music Man: “Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock, and the Golden Rule!”
Yeah.
• About a month ago, I wrote about the Ryder Cup — specifically fan behavior. They cheer when the other guy hits it into the rough or misses a putt. I think this stinks. Other people say, “Lighten up, old-timer, and get with the 21st century.”
A couple of weeks ago, the Purdue football team upset Iowa, which at the time was ranked No. 2 in the country. The official Twitter account of the Purdue football program tweeted, “We just beat the No. 2 out of Iowa.” Get it? I think this is pretty clever — but not something the program, officially, should tweet. Leave it to a fan or something.
When I expressed this opinion on Twitter, I got the usual: “Lighten up, Gramps, WTF?”
Back when I lived in Ann Arbor, sportsmanship started to go down the tubes. One night, I attended a basketball game in Crisler Arena. We beat whoever we were playing — and as the defeated team left the court, our p.a. system blared, “Hit the road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more no more no more no more.”
I thought this stank. I am a conservative, so help me — not in the presently accepted sense, God knows, but in a more authentic sense, I think. And I know there are closeted squares — plenty of them — who agree with me.
• “Stripping military bases of Confederate names stirs passions,” reads a headline. (Article here.) I will quote a sentence:
For years, the military defended the naming of bases after Confederate officers; as recently as 2015 the Army argued that the names did not honor the rebel cause but were a gesture of reconciliation with the South.
A question: These days, do Americans in the South need reconciliation? This is a subject for articles and books — and I am doing Impromptus, skipping along . . .
• Check this out: “Peter Thiel lines up against Liz Cheney.” The article is here. And the subheading reads, “Cheney outraised her primary challenger last quarter, but prominent Trump fundraisers are lining up against the impeachment backer.”
Yes. Liz Cheney is a conservative Republican in all the usual ways — or formerly usual ways? But she will not kneel to Trump — which is why these donors must beat her. Which says a lot.
• Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist, or former columnist, has quit the business and is running for office: governor of Oregon. I myself have had fantasies about running for office. But, unlike Kristof, I have nowhere to run, and not even a party to run in. Therefore, the Republic is safe from me . . . for now . . .
(We have seen the fluidity of life.)
• Remember the name “Raúl Baduel.” A Venezuelan general, he supported Hugo Chávez against a coup attempt in 2002. Yet he turned against Chávez as Chávez turned against democracy and toward dictatorship. So, Chávez imprisoned him, branding him a “traitor.” Said Baduel, “If I’m a traitor to just one person, that’s fine, but at least I didn’t betray millions of Venezuelans.”
Baduel has now died at 66 in the underground military-intelligence prison known as “The Tomb.” Yes, a name, and a man, to remember.
• A dog ran past me, going the opposite way. The man who owns him — walking past me — yelled out, “Wait at the light!” A few seconds later, I heard, behind me, “Good boy.”
• I encountered another dog — big, woolly, and beautiful. I can’t identify the breed, but it is unusual. I said to the owner, “What a good-looking dog.” The owner said, “Yes, we like him a lot. He was a good pandemic choice.”
• I can’t remember the year, but there came a time when the price of movie tickets in New York reached $10 — double digits! Ed Koch, an inveterate moviegoer, vowed to boycott. I thought of this when I was at the movies earlier this week: paying $17.99.
• At the golf range, you see anything — certainly in New York. Picture a Russian lady, about 30. (The term “lady” is used loosely here.) Neon-purple boots, knee-high, with spikes. Slinky dress. False eyelashes. Bazooms all over the place. The whole bitsy. Accompanied by a man — a client? — who thought he would teach her to whack it. I was amazed she could even stand up in those boots.
Oh, I wish I had film for you . . .
• As of now, my college football team is 7-0 and my NFL team is 0-7. I’m sure that the philosophers and poets can draw life applications . . .
• A little language? A message from Lyft said, “Jose is here – look for the blue Volkswagen Passat . . . You have 5 min before they depart.” José was alone. There was no “they.” My squareness is entrenched . . .
• A little music? For a review of Die Meistersinger, the Wagner work, at the Metropolitan Opera, go here.
I hope you have an excellent weekend. And although several of my nearest and dearest went to Michigan State, I have to say — Go Blue.
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