Back to School(?), &c.

On school in August; the raid on Bolton; Newsom as troll; the Oval Office in Trump décor; and more

Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash

I realize that people tend to think that things ought to be just the way they were when they were young—but may I say something? It pains me to think that kids are going back to school in August. In blazing summer! A friend of mine told me her grandkids went back on August 11. Cruel and unusual! (Or maybe not unusual now. But certainly cruel.)

In my book, school should not start until after Labor Day. The school year should be, maybe, September 10 to June 10. Just as God intended.

Harrumph and stay off my lawn. Thank you.

***

A more serious subject—John Bolton and the FBI. Agents raided Bolton’s home at dawn. The bureau, as you know, is directed by Kash Patel, who is directed by President Trump. Who is the greater respecter of the rule of law? Trump/Patel or John Bolton? I know the answer: Bolton.

Another question: If Bolton were a praiser, rather than a critic, of Trump, do you think this raid would have occurred?

Before moving on, I would like to paste a couple of paragraphs from an article I wrote last January. I will just parachute in. (If you would like to see the context of these paragraphs, that article is here.)

Gravely serious—deadly serious—is the removal of Secret Service protection from John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Brian Hook. These are three other bêtes noires of Trump and his world. In the first Trump term, Bolton was one of the president’s national security advisers; Pompeo was CIA director and secretary of state; Hook was a top aide to Pompeo.

All three of them are targets of assassination by the Iranian dictatorship. Therefore, the Biden administration afforded them Secret Service protection. That was yanked by Trump the second he became president again.

A nasty business.

***

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is playing Twitter troll. Have a look at a recent thrust:

Don’t you think Republicans would appreciate that—applaud it—if the president were a Democrat? What if Obama or Harris had acted as Trump has? (I keep saying: Tribalism is both the natural state and the bane of mankind.)

***

In the Before Times, Republicans and conservatives were hot against governmental intrusiveness. We used the phrase “overweening government” every other day, at least. We didn’t like it. (Overweening government, I mean, not the phrase itself.)

For the New York Times, Thomas B. Edsall has written an article headed “The Mind-Boggling Intrusiveness of Donald J. Trump.” Its first paragraph reads,

The Trump administration ranks among the most intrusive in American history, driving the tentacles of the federal government deep into the nation’s economy, culture and legal system.

Yes. Republicans would have hated that, when I was one.

***

Johan Norberg, of the Cato Institute, wrote,

I’ve long said that when we classical liberals lose former conservative associates to caesarism and protectionism, we need new friends. Glad to see progress on that front.

What was he referring to? This—an article by Cass Sunstein, the law prof. (Sunstein was at the University of Chicago for about 25 years and has been at Harvard, his alma mater, for the past 15 or so.)

“Here’s what I want to emphasize,” writes Sunstein.

I like Hayek a lot less ambivalently than I once did, and von Mises, who once seemed to me a crude and irascible precursor of Hayek, now seems to me to be (mostly) a shining star (and sometimes fun, not least because of his crudeness and irascibility). The reason is simple: They were apostles of freedom. They believed in freedom from fear.

Immensely gratifying, what Professor Sunstein has written. Among other things, I appreciate the candor—the confession, the disclosure. The self-reflection. I bet he’s an excellent teacher.

***

I know the phrase “snapshot of America” is a cliché. But I believe I spotted such a snapshot in a report from the Washington Post. The report begins,

Federal agents detained a food delivery driver as he emerged from a Northwest Washington coffee shop Saturday morning, an incident captured on video by numerous witnesses—including a Washington Post reporter—that showed the officers tackling him to the ground, holding him down and appearing to use a stun gun before driving him away in an unmarked black vehicle.

The “snapshot” I have referred to comes in the following lines:

As the agents climbed into their vehicles and prepared to drive away, one witness yelled, “You’re ruining this country!”

“Liberals already ruined it,” one officer responded.

If law enforcement—including ICE—is going to be “Red America”—is going to be Fox News, the “bro-casts,” etc.—that bodes ill for the good ol’ U.S. of A.

***

There are more important things to talk about than the décor of the Oval Office—the fate of Ukraine, for example (which involves the fate of the greater world). But I must admit that, when I saw this photo, I all but gasped:

People speak of the “Before Times” (as I have done, in this column). There will also be “After Times” (presumably). In the After Times, can the Oval Office ... look like the Oval Office, instead of something ... utterly unbecoming of it?

***

“Mexican-American designer apologizes for Adidas sandal design accused of cultural appropriation.” That is a headline from the Associated Press (over this article). I have several possible responses. (1) FFS. (2) Ay caramba. (3) “Cultural appropriation” can barely be distinguished from “culture.” Cultures do not exist in isolation. Even island cultures.

(We get “isolation” from the Latin word for “island.”)

Allow me to quote from a speech of mine, on matters cultural:

Last November, I read an obituary in the New York Times—that of Etel Adnan, a Lebanese-American writer and artist. My eye focused on a particular passage:

“In addition to her taut yet cheerful paintings, Ms. Adnan also drew praise for her leporellos, books folded like an accordion on which she combined drawings, splashes of color and Arabic words and numbers. After discovering leporellos, which were popular with Japanese artists, she decided to appropriate the format for her own work.”

Now, why are these books called “leporellos”? Well, the name derives from Don Giovanni’s manservant, Leporello, in the opera by Mozart, with a libretto by Da Ponte. When singing the Catalogue Aria, Leporello rolls out a long list of his master’s conquests—conquests of a carnal kind.

Just think of it: A Spanish tale—“Don Juan”—becomes an opera by an Austrian composer and an Italian-Jewish librettist. It has its premiere in Prague and later sparks an art enthusiasm in Japan, which is noticed by an American of Lebanese background, and so on.

This is how culture works.

***

There is a new biography of Walter Lippmann, that towering journalist of the 20th century. It is by Tom Arnold-Foster, a young British scholar of America. (The biography grew out of his dissertation.) I have written a review for Law & Liberty, here. There is no end of interesting things to discuss.

***

Throw some music at you? These are reviews from the Salzburg Festival:

The Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Again the Vienna Phil, conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Giulio Cesare, Handel’s opera.

Maria Stuarda, Donizetti’s opera.

Arcadi Volodos, the pianist.

There are more where those came from (which you can take as a promise or a warning, depending).

***

“John Cruickshank, 105, Dies; Last World War II Victoria Cross Recipient.” That obit is subheaded, “He made a daring raid on a U-boat, suffered 72 wounds and helped land his damaged seaplane.” Staggering. What a man. And that obit, by Trip Gabriel, is gripping.

I hope you don’t mind a Sunday-evening column. Does everything have to appear in the morning? We might discuss this general subject another time.

Thank you, my friends, and all the best to you.