Senator Chris Murphy “is calling on the federal government to investigate national security concerns raised by Saudi Arabia’s role in Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.” I am quoting from this report. Which continues:

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal helped Musk finance the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter (TWTR) by rolling over his existing $1.9 billion stake in the social media company. The move makes Saudi entities the second-largest shareholder in Twitter — behind only Musk himself.

When he bought Twitter, Musk tweeted, “the bird is freed.” (The “bird” refers to Twitter, whose symbol is a bird. Musk must think that Twitter was unfree before.) The above-mentioned Alwaleed bin Talal replied to him, saying,

Dear friend “Chief Twit” @elonmusk
Together all the way @Twitter

The Saudi included an emoji showing two hands shaking.

Earlier this year, I spoke with Areej al-Sadhan, whose brother, Abdulrahman, is a political prisoner in Saudi Arabia. He was imprisoned for writing tweets critical of the government. He has, of course, been tortured, in the usual, unspeakable hell.

And here is a special touch: When agents smashed his hand, they said, “Is this the one you tweet with?”

Two weeks ago, Josh Rogin wrote of Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a U.S. citizen, 72 years old. He, too, has been imprisoned by the Saudis for tweets. He, too, has been tortured, needless to say.

This is something to bear in mind, midst the jubilation about the “bird” “freed” and so on.

The Saudi government can fund all the sports leagues and invest in all the social-media platforms it wants. It is still a brutal dictatorship, which all freedom-loving people should be aware of and deplore.

• “Shocking Video Of Iran’s Police Brutality Emerges Online.” That is a headline from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, over this article. More and more, we see what takes place in the “Islamic Republic.”

Here is a video of Iranian students chanting “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” There have been many such videos out of Iran. In the West — in free countries — many people are cynical about freedom, calling it a snare and a delusion. You know who’s not cynical? People in unfree countries — who perhaps know the value of freedom better than anybody else.

• Another headline, this one from the Wall Street Journal: “Japan Considers Buying U.S. Tomahawk Missiles to Deter North Korea and China.” The article is here — and its subheading reads, “Tokyo seeks to develop long-range strike ability quickly, in shift from longstanding caution on defense.”

Earlier this week, I wrote about Ash Carter, the onetime defense secretary, who passed away on October 24. I podcasted with him in 2017. One issue I brought up was this: There are nine nuclear states in the world. Only nine. Isn’t that remarkable, given that the A-bomb is 1940s technology, and there are almost 200 countries on the U.N. roll call?

“It’s a miracle,” said Carter, “and one that we should not take for granted.” Even the most backward of countries can cobble together a nuclear weapon — look at North Korea.

Carter emphasized the importance of U.S. leadership in the world — the importance of such leadership in non-proliferation. We have a lot of alliances, formal and informal. And many countries have not gone nuclear because the United States is nuclear. And we provide an umbrella.

But if we should ever withdraw from the world and close our umbrella? What a scramble that would set off . . .

• Vivian Wang is a correspondent for the New York Times in China. She has written a fascinating article (another one). “A Godfather of Chinese Nationalism Has Second Thoughts,” the article is headed. That godfather is Wang Xiaodong, who once declared, “We should lead this world.” He stoked Chinese nationalism and won a huge following. But now he is alarmed — at the ferocity and extremism of his followers. They, in turn, consider him milquetoast.

Nationalism is an ancient force, and one of tremendous power, for good or ill. Once you stoke it — once you fire it up — it can go in directions you never imagined.

• This is from The Dispatch:

The United States has come perilously close to losing a number of high-ranking officials to assassination attempts in recent years. A congresswoman from Arizona. The House majority whip. The vice president. A Supreme Court justice. A congresswoman from Washington. A gubernatorial nominee. And now, the speaker of the House.

(Article here.)

This is from Axios: “Pelosi attack stokes Congress’ fears: ‘Somebody is going to die.’” (Article here.)

About the break-in and assault at the Pelosis’, there are many conspiracy theories. They are being fanned, of course, by Donald Trump. And by Donald Trump Jr. And by most everybody else. Charlie Kirk, the young Republican leader, said that “some amazing patriot” who wants to be “a midterm hero” should bail out the attacker and “ask him some questions.”

The thing about conspiracy theories? In my experience, they are not so much conspiracy theories as wishful thinking. Simple wishful thinking. Very human.

My friend and colleague Kathryn Jean Lopez — duly nauseated, duly sickened — wrote a column titled “Paul Pelosi, social media, and the Christian call to love.”

• Here is a question for you: Those armed men wearing tactical gear in Arizona? The ones who are guarding (or something) ballot drop boxes? Do you think they’re civic-minded and patriotic citizens, concerned with “election integrity”? Or are they bullies and intimidators, acting contrary to the American spirit?

This is one of those fault lines in our present national life.

• Steve Bannon is campaigning with Kari Lake, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in Arizona. Lake described him as a “modern-day George Washington.” But Bannon himself once described himself as a “Leninist” — which is far more apt.

• Now for something lighter — a language item. A headline in the sports pages read, “Deion Sanders forbids Jackson St from leaving Houston hotel.” (Article here.) Really, it’s “forbid to” and “prohibit from.” I sense this is a lost cause — but it is a good cause.

• The other day, someone referred to a veteran politician in the other party — the party that is not his — as a “dinosaur.” It occurred to me: A veteran politician in your party is a “lion,” venerable; a veteran politician in the other party is a “dinosaur,” laughable. Watch this rule play out. Very human.

• In a diner, two middle-aged women were talking. One said to the other, “I have conquered many things in my life. But two things, I refuse to conquer: math and public speaking.”

• A cashier in a Target — a man from Jamaica — said, “Okie dokie,” a couple of times. I said, “Where’d you pick up ‘okie dokie’? I’m impressed. I grew up with it.” He said, “From a white community, in Florida. Clearwater.”

I love the melting pot, including linguistically. (By the way, Hillary Clinton has been known to say, “Okie dokie, artichokey.”)

• I’d like to say a word about word inflation (for lack of a better term). Recently, I saw a headline saying that someone had “attacked” someone else, verbally. But it turned out that the first guy had merely criticized the other guy, in a measured way. I have seen “trash,” too: So-and-so “trashed” so-and-so. But no: The first so-and-so had just criticized so-and-so. Had taken issue with him. I further saw that someone had gone on a “rant.” But the someone had not ranted at all. In fact, he had spoken matter-of-factly, even a bit wearily.

Here is the biggest problem with word inflation: When someone does really attack, or trash, or rant — what word have we left to us?

• Let’s have some music — or some writing about music: For my “New York Chronicle,” in the new New Criterion, go here. Lots of composers, performers, and issues come up. For a review of Jean-Yves Thibaudet, the French pianist, in Debussy’s preludes — all 24 of them, both books — go here.

• End with a photo? I was at Columbia University a couple of days ago. At night, the place always looks like a movie set to me. Here’s a shot, complete with half-moon:

Later, y’all.

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