On fairness in sports; Smollett-style hoaxers; paganism with guns; the Unsers and the Andrettis; the greatest restaurant name in history; and more
You may have read about the college athlete who swam for three years — on the men’s team. Now the athlete in question is swimming on the women’s team, and shattering all records. Others on the team are complaining.
I have great sympathy for those who are different, I think. I understand transgenderism, a little (I think). But you know what would be amazing, in my judgment? If such an athlete said, “I’m transgender. I can’t help being who I am. But I will not be competing on the women’s side. Because it’s unfair. Unequal. Unsporting, even.”
I think such a person would be very big.
• This news, you well know:
Jussie Smollett’s conviction Thursday for lying to police about a racist, homophobic attack came nearly three years after his report of a horrifying hate crime quickly became part of a polarized political landscape, with people — including the president of the United States — weighing in from all over.
(Full article here.)
Hoaxers, we will always have with us. I have noticed them from a very early age. I have especially noticed hoaxes concerning race and sexuality. There is a cult of victimhood in our country, and lots of people want to join up. But you know what one sin of the hoaxer is? They lead people to be skeptical of things that really do occur. They are wolf-criers.
Something related: If you call people racist, when they’re not racist; if you call people fascist, when they’re not fascist; if you call people communist, when they’re not — what’re you going to do when the real thing shows up? People will just yawn, or scoff.
Harmful human phenomena, we’re talking about.
• Even those of us who are strong on the Second Amendment have to admit there’s a gun cult in our country — it is creepy and paganistic. It has been showing up on Christmas cards lately — Christmas cards of congressmen. They are posing with their families, armed to the teeth. Merry Christmas! Unto us a Saviour is born!
When I was growing up, lots of men had guns. Some of these guys were veterans — who once had to kill people with guns, overseas. They never preened about with guns. They never posed with them on Christmas cards. They would have regarded that as nuts.
Things are very different today.
• A headline in the Wall Street Journal reads, “Venezuela’s U.S.-Backed Opposition Movement in Danger of Breaking Up.” (Article here.) The chavista dictatorship is very lucky. They have the backing of Russia, Cuba, China, and Iran. (What a lovely lineup.) And the opposition is starved, exiled, and divided. Yes, a very lucky dictatorship, which is tragically unlucky for the Venezuelan people.
• “D.C. council renames the street in front of the Saudi embassy after Jamal Khashoggi.” (Article here.) Good. Murderous bastards, calling themselves “kings” and “princes” and so on. Yeah, right.
• Lithuania is pretty plucky. The other two Baltic states are as well. They know what it’s like to live in the shadow of a behemoth, who wants to eat them. Obviously, they are sympathetic to Taiwan. Recently, Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open an office in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. The Balts want to express solidarity with the Taiwanese.
Headline: “Lithuania braces for China-led corporate boycott.” And the opening sentence of the report: “China has told multinationals to sever ties with Lithuania or face being shut out of the Chinese market . . .”
Big bullies, the PRC. And tiny Lithuania is setting an example.
• Aung San Suu Kyi has led a turbulent life (which is an understatement). She stood up to the military rulers of her country, Burma, and paid a serious price for it. (I sketch this out in my history of the Nobel Peace Prize.) In a democratic opening, she was elected to high office. But she went along with the depredations of the military, especially the persecution of the Rohingyas. (I wrote about this in a 2018 piece: “Horror in Burma.”) Now Burmese democracy has been overthrown by the military, and Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted and sentenced.
Yes, a turbulent life, and, after 76 years, not yet over.
• After Joe Biden won the presidential election in 2020, Benjamin Netanyahu, then the Israeli prime minister, congratulated him. President Trump considered this disloyal. “I haven’t spoken to him since,” he told an interviewer. “F*** him.”
(For an article on this matter, go here.)
As for Netanyahu, he has issued a statement: “I highly appreciate President Trump’s big contribution to Israel and its security. I also appreciate the importance of the strong alliance between Israel and the U.S. and therefore it was important for me to congratulate the incoming President.”
It should go without saying that a U.S. president should view foreign relations in national and international terms, not personal ones. The president should not act like a junior-high-school brat. Every Republican would point this out, if a Democratic president acted as Trump has.
But partisanship seems to rule everything now . . .
• I wish to recommend a letter from a reader — not written to me, but to Charlie Sykes, of The Bulwark. I consider it a powerful letter. It’s from an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. He has left the Democratic Party “because political culture on the left has become increasingly toxic.” Yet he is a foe of Trumpism as well.
Crime is afflicting Chicago, as it long has — yet if you point this out, you may be called a racist.
I would like to quote the whole letter — every word — but you can read it for yourself, here. I consider it an American cri de cœur, appropriate to our age. Red-hots of the Left won’t like it; red-hots of the Right won’t like it. But other people may find it interesting, even moving.
By the way, imagine being 20, 21 years old, and having left a political party already! Reagan waited until he was in his fifties. (So did I.)
• On Twitter, Patrick Chovanec made an excellent point, I thought: Republicans are upping their rhetoric about “socialism” — even “Marxism.” Here is one Marco Rubio tweet: “The $3.5 trillion Biden plan isn’t socialism, it’s marxism.” At the same time, says Chovanec, Republicans are turning their backs on, and even sneering at, any argument that dares mention the free market.
I had a memory of the 2016 campaign — I mean, the Republican primaries. I followed Carly Fiorina on the trail a bit. (To read the resulting article, go here.) And when she talked about health care, she would say, “We’ve tried everything but the free market. We ought to do that.”
I almost fell over dead. And I agree with her, completely.
• I’m always recommending things to read — and I know people have so little time. But let me strongly recommend the obituary in the New York Times of Al Unser, the race-car driver. It is fascinating, on many levels.
By the way, if “race-car driver” is the wrong term, forgive me. People are very touchy about such things. I mean, people knowledgeable in a field are touchy.
The Unsers are a big driving family, as you know. The obit says that “more than a dozen members of the Unser family have worked in auto racing, including Al Unser’s older brothers, Jerry and Bobby.” There is also Al Unser Jr., a.k.a. “Little Al.”
Father and son shared the track several times . . .
The Unsers’ competitive relationship came into national focus in 1985, when they were both considered favorites to win that year’s series of races sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams. If he were to win, Unser Sr. would be the oldest driver to capture the season; Unser Jr. would be the youngest.
That is well-nigh Shakespearean.
At the Beatrice Indy Challenge in 1985, which its promoters called “one of the most dramatic showdowns in sports history,” Unser Sr. pulled up next to his son toward the end of the race. They briefly looked directly at each other and gave each other a wave before the elder Unser pulled ahead and won the race . . .
“I’ve really got mixed emotions,” he said after the race. “I’d like to have seen Al win. Championships are hard to come by.”
But, he added: “Still, I’m a racer and I have to race. I said yesterday, if he wins it, he’s going to have to earn it.”
He beat his son for the season title by one point.
The Andrettis — Mario and them — are a big racing family too. The Andrettis and the Unsers became entwined. They would visit one another, racing snowmobiles and jet skis. “We all became one big family after a while,” said Mario Andretti.
Wonderful stuff. Rich material.
• Want to do a little language? A reader writes,
I know that you enjoy writing about words as much as I enjoy reading about words. The other day, a friend was discussing an upcoming Christmas family gathering and said that her four “niblings” would not be there, owing to COVID.
“Niblings?” I asked. I was then “treated” to a lecture on words such as “Latinx” and an explanation of “nibling.” I thought she was a nutter until I found the following: . . .
And what was the following? This, at Merriam-Webster: “Nibling is a gender-neutral term used to refer to a child of one’s sibling as a replacement for ‘niece’ or ‘nephew.’”
Oh, come on. As John McEnroe would say, you cannot be serious.
• A teacher delivered a report on a little girl I know — six years old. The teacher was incredibly diplomatic: “Her leadership skills and strong beliefs will serve her well in the future. Kindergarten, though, is a little different.”
• Kevin Williamson reported to me a restaurant name he knew I’d love. Do I ever. Actually, the restaurant is a food truck — but close enough. The name, surely, refers to mofongo, a classic Puerto Rican dish. But I don’t care: It’s still the greatest restaurant name in world history.
Behold El Mofo Loco.
• Care for a few pictures? This is a smart, stately façade, in New York City. Simple, classic, clean-lined — with a “holiday” touch.
Here is a Christmassy scene outside the Plaza Hotel:
Have you done your shopping at Cartier yet? Just in case Service Merchandise doesn’t have what you want?
(I just checked: Service Merchandise closed in 2002, having begun in 1934. I am a stereotypical conservative, who can’t keep up with the times. If the last ten Best Actor and Best Actress winners walked into my living room right now, I probably wouldn’t recognize any of them.)
One more? Just a lil’ ol’ tree? Okay.
Thank you for joining me, my friends, and have a good week.
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