On Mehmet Oz and tribalism; bravehearts in Hong Kong; Putin and Maduro; Paul Pelosi and the rule of law; great baseball names; and more
Tribalism is one of the themes of this era, and of all eras. But in some eras, I think we can say, tribalism is more obvious — more glaring — than in others. A couple of days ago, I was reading a political story. Business Insider. I will quote:
Dr. Mehmet Oz has spent the past week defending himself from charges that he’s hopelessly out of touch with most residents of Pennsylvania, where he is the Republican candidate for Senate.
Last Monday John Fetterman, Oz’s Democratic opponent, resurfaced a video Oz recorded in what he called a “Wegners” — a mishmash of the Redner’s and Wegmans grocery store chains — shopping for “crudité” and complaining about inflation. Fetterman’s comment: “in PA, we call this a veggie tray.”
Let me pause for a language note: Oz actually said “crudités,” not “crudité.” The “s” is not pronounced. I keep seeing “crudité” in articles. That is incorrect. Anyway . . .
Dr. Oz apparently has ten homes. One is in Palm Beach, and has ten bedrooms and fifteen bathrooms. The Miami Herald quoted what Oz told Palm Beach Life in 2009: “Palm Beach is my ‘chi’ source, a place I come to regroup.”
Let me pause for another language note: You can’t really regroup as one person. Anyway . . .
Oz’s senior communications adviser, Rachel Tripp, had this to say: “If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly.”
Say what you will about the tastefulness of stroke jokes. If you’re going to make them — shouldn’t you be witty?
But I was talking about tribalism, several paragraphs up. Here is my point: Mehmet Oz owns ten homes. He is carpetbagging in Pennsylvania, pretending to be a regular Joe. He gets the name of the store wrong. He uses words such as “crudités” and “my ‘chi’ source.” These things are okay by me. (Certainly the homes, the screwing up of the store name, and the French word.) But if Oz were a Democrat — can you imagine what our nat-pops would say? Can you imagine the dunking?
Can you? I know you can. All is tribalism, I’m afraid. All (just about).
• In the space of two or three years, the Chinese government murdered Hong Kong. It is now a city like any other in the PRC — unfree. But there are occasional reminders of the murder, if I may put it that way.
This bulletin caught my attention: “Cardinal Zen and 5 others to stand trial in Sept. over alleged failure to register protester relief fund as society.” One of those five others is Denise Ho, a pop singer and democracy activist. I met her and podcasted with her in 2019. For the podcast, go here.
Yes, the charge against Cardinal Zen, Denise, and the others is that they failed to register a relief fund as a society. The fund is defunct in any case. And the specific charge is of no importance at all. When is it, in a dictatorship? The six are being punished for believing in, and working for, a free Hong Kong.
I admire them tremendously.
• This is a bizarre story — but par for the course at the same time. Can something be bizarre and par for the course at the same time? I think so.
“Senior UN official loses her post after tweet condemning PIJ rocket fire at Israel,” reads the headline in the Times of Israel. “PIJ” stands for “Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” The subheading reads, “Jerusalem-based Sarah Muscroft to be assigned new role, spokesman says, after her statement panning rockets that ‘provoke Israeli retaliation’ met strong backlash from Palestinians.”
This is my understanding: The U.N. official, Muscroft, condemned “indiscriminate rocket fire.” She was criticized for it, heavily. She apologized for it, profusely, abjectly. The U.N. removed her from her post anyway.
Hopeless. A joke, but not a funny one.
• Did you happen to catch this? “Russia holding war games in Venezuela, sending alarming signals throughout Latin America.” Les beaux esprits se rencontrent, as Dr. Oz might say.
The article, from Stars and Stripes, begins,
Snipers from Russia and other countries hostile to the United States are competing in war games being held this week in Venezuela in events described as Olympic games for soldiers that were organized not only to show that Moscow still has friends but also that some of them are in Latin America.
Let me note something else: I know some people who are passionately hostile to the Venezuelan regime but rather sweet on the Russian one. Putin and Maduro, of course, are warm allies.
• Here is an article from the Associated Press:
The husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor driving under the influence charges related to a May crash in California’s wine country and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation.
This does not happen in countries without the rule of law. Americans of both parties, or neither, should be grateful for the rule of law.
• Stay on that theme. Politico reports,
The National Archives found more than 700 pages of classified material — including “special access program materials,” some of the most highly classified secrets in the government — in 15 boxes recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in January, according to correspondence between the National Archivist and his legal team.
Prior to that revelation, a Republican congressman, Chris Stewart, a member of the Intelligence Committee, had said, “I mean, if he had actual Special Access Programs — do you know how extraordinarily sensitive that is? That’s very, very sensitive. If that were actually at his residence, that would be a problem.”
Trust me, the goalposts will move. Tribalism dictates so.
• A Republican running for the Florida legislature tweeted, “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds on sight! Let freedom ring!” Freedom? Yeah, right.
To read about this, go here.
When I was growing up, radical leftists said things like “Shoot the pig,” “Kill the pig,” “Off the pig.” To hear this kind of talk from a Republican — a member of my old party, the party I belonged to for about 35 years — is surreal.
• Let me recommend a post by my young colleague Dominic Pino: “Canceling Student Debt Would Undo Reconciliation Bill’s Deficit Reduction.” An adaptation of Leon Trotsky has occurred to me: “You may not be interested in the federal budget deficit or the national debt — but they are interested in you.” Big-time.
• A little music? For a review of the Ébène Quartet, which played at the Salzburg Festival, go here. Incidentally, the name of one of the players is “Le Magadure” — which could be translated “Hard MAGA.”
• More music? It came to my attention that Lalo Schifrin turned 90 this summer. He wrote the theme to Mission: Impossible. Also the scores to Cool Hand Luke, The Amityville Horror, etc. He came on a National Review cruise once. What a treat.
• The other day, I received a note from a reader whose first name is “Early.” That was a treat, too. Made me think of Early Wynn, the great pitcher (for the Senators, Indians, and White Sox).
• Let’s end on baseball — and names. “Longtime Detroit Tigers catcher, utilityman John Wockenfuss dies at 73.” For the article, go here. He was one of my favorite ballplayers, and he bore one of my favorite names. Also, he had a batting stance that sort of went with his name — unusual, individualistic.
Bless John Wockenfuss, and bless you too, my friends. See you later.
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