“Move on” was a great cry of the late 1990s. Democrats even formed an organization: MoveOn.org. In March 2001, I wrote a piece on one of President Clinton’s last-minute pardons and commutations. The subheading of my piece: “Before we ‘move on.’” That’s the heading of my Impromptus today: “Before We ‘Move On.’” It’s about January 6 and the relevant congressional hearings.
My latest Q&A podcast is with Jacob Mchangama. He is an old friend and one of the great authorities on free speech. In fact, his new book is called “Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.” Get a load of the blurb of the late P.J. O’Rourke: “The best history of free speech ever written and the best defense of free speech ever made.”
Shall we have some mail? In a column last week, I focused on barbarity in the PRC. (That’s a perennial.) A reader writes,
Irony in the form of a shirt: I recently ordered a lightweight summer shirt, and it’s very comfortable. The brand on the label is Free Country and, of course, the tag next to it says Made in China. And I got it through the U.S. military exchange system, which I wish would tell its customers (former U.S. military personnel) where its goods come from.
In that column last week, I had the following item:
I am amazed, or awed, by Kenichi Horie. In 1962, he became the first person to cross the Pacific in a solo, non-stop voyage. That is impressive enough — worthy of awe on its own. But, you know what? He has done it again, 60 years later (at the age of 83). To read about Mr. Horie, go here. What human beings can achieve . . .
A reader writes,
Dear Jay:
We were stationed in Japan for four and a half years and had heard of Horie San’s previous crossing of the Pacific. We have some very good friends in Japan who had been following his progress on the latest adventure. I told them that Horie San should henceforth be known as “Horie Sensei” as he is definitely the greatest “Professor/Teacher” of Solo Ocean Crossings ever.
Also in my column last week, I deplored a common grammatical error, which the Tom Cruise character commits in the new Top Gun. “I wish I would have done it better,” he says. Ay ay ay. A reader writes,
Jay,
I agree with you completely on that atrocious construction. When you write legislation to ban it, please include as well a popular extraneous “of.” “There’s cake for dessert. How big of a piece do you want?” “How tall of a man was he?” Etc.
Finally, I made mention of Mitch Daniels. A reader writes,
Now that Mitch has resigned as Purdue’s prexy — can you start the campaign to draft him for 2024?
I will answer with a song from Man of La Mancha: this one. My thanks to all readers and correspondents.