That picture up there is of the Intrepid the other night (or late afternoon). See the red-white-and-blue part? It always reminds me of those patriotic popsicles, if you know what I mean — a kind that used to be popular on the Fourth of July.
I have that photo at the end of my Impromptus today. My column is about China, Iran, Cuba, U.S. politics, drug addiction, and sundry other matters.
In a column a couple of weeks ago, I noted the passing of Samuel Folsom, at age 102. Eighty years before, he fought heroically in the skies above Guadalcanal. Really, what a man.
Why am I coming back to him? I wanted to paste a portion of his obit in the New York Times:
Mr. Folsom lived for many years in Manhattan and was a volunteer at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the popular Midtown tourist destination on the Hudson.
Okay, here’s a little more — get this:
He made headlines in 1998 when at 77 he entered a bank on the Upper West Side and found a robbery in progress. He ran out, alerted two police officers and helped them subdue the suspect, pinning his arm so the officers could handcuff him.
Hombre. Total hombre.
Two days ago, I had a piece under the following heading: “Guess Who Came to Dinner: On a meal at Mar-a-Lago and the problem of antisemitism, in America and elsewhere (ever and always).” A friend sends me a note with three points:
1. In Berlin, we were partnered with a British outfit. [The writer is a military veteran.] We would have occasional gatherings with their officers and wives. I was shocked at the casual antisemitism many of them displayed.
2. My final years of teaching were in a rural county. No Jewish students, there may not have been any Jews in the entire county (maybe ever). And I would have students make stereotypical antisemitic remarks.
3. “Don’t these people know history?” That was my father upon hearing the revival of the “America First” slogan.
A reader writes,
I remember Bill Buckley’s efforts to expunge antisemitism from the conservative movement, and to keep it out. I remember his book In Search of Anti-Semitism. As your article makes clear, the fight against this menace is a never-ending war.
WFB said something like the following (I’m going from memory, but the words will be very close): “I would today leave the room upon hearing such remarks as were routinely made at my father’s table.”
In my “Came to Dinner” piece, I had a passage that went, “A question for you: When an ex-president sups with antisemites, and notorious ones, does it aid the normalization of antisemitism? I think it does.” A reader writes,
Jay,
. . . I was struck by your use of the word “sups.” As I read the word, I had to stop in my tracks. “Sups?” The first thought that popped into my head was that you were taking the shortening of “What’s up?” and brilliantly making a verb out of it.
Ha, no — but I like the thought. And thanks to one and all readers and correspondents. Again, for today’s Impromptus, go here.