In Britain, a magazine called “The Oldie” wanted to make Queen Elizabeth “Oldie of the Year.” She said, No, thanks — I don’t feel old. The older she gets (sorry), the more I like this lady. And she leads my Impromptus today, here. I also write about the Saudis and their money; Russia and the Soviet Union; the mask-and-vax wars; the waning of sportsmanship; and other issues (not all of them gloomy, I promise you).
I think we should have a little mail. I had a column on Monday titled “Fatal accidents, &c.” Alec Baldwin was involved in such an accident. He pulled the trigger — which has caused great guffawing in some quarters. Donald Trump Jr., for example, is selling T-shirts mocking Baldwin. Yet it is a terrible burden to bear — being responsible for someone’s death, accidentally. In my column, I spoke of King Juan Carlos, who, when 18, apparently shot and killed his younger brother, Prince Alfonso (accidentally, of course).
A reader writes,
George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the translators of the King James Bible, accidentally killed a gamekeeper with an errant crossbow bolt. It appears to have haunted him all of his remaining days.
Yes. If you would like to read a little more about this, consult the Wikipedia entry for Abbot.
In my column on Wednesday — “Snapshots of America” — I had a picture of a beautiful old stone church in Peoria, Ill. Former church, I should say. It is now a microbrewery and restaurant. I wrote, “I don’t know about you, but I would rather churches be ground to dust than that they be converted to secular uses.”
This remark occasioned several responses, including this:
The Talmud agrees with you. In Megillah 27a, it goes through the very few circumstances under which a synagogue, or other holy objects, may be sold.
In that “snapshots” column, I had a picture of a sign on a church door — a real church, a continuing church, I mean — indicating that no guns were allowed. A reader writes,
I had to laugh at that sign. I visited my daughter’s church in eastern Colorado recently. I couldn’t believe the number of people carrying guns, and that wasn’t even counting security. I jokingly asked her if it might be a membership requirement.
It’s a very interesting topic: guns and churches.
Back to my Monday column — in which I quoted the sheriff of Polk County, Fla., which has seen a surge of homicides. Sheriff Grady Judd commented, “Just chill out. Drink a 7-Up. Eat a Moon Pie. Quit murdering people.”
My friend Tim writes,
I’m sure Sheriff Judd is an outstanding law-enforcement professional and a fine man, but I am shocked and appalled by his advice to the good people of Polk County to “drink a 7-Up. Eat a Moon Pie.” Having spent a fair amount of time as a young man in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where I consumed my share of Moon Pies, I learned that RC Cola is the only beverage that one should ever have with a Moon Pie. This combination has even been celebrated in a song.
Yes, it has: here.
Thanks to all readers and correspondents. If you have signed up to receive Impromptus by e-mail, but have not been receiving the column, bear with us: A glitch in the system has been worked out. Un-glitched. If you would like to sign up, write to jnordlinger@nationalreview.com. And today’s Impromptus, once more, is here.