Xi Jinping, the boss of the CCP, says that his state is on “the right side of history.” I begin my Impromptus today by addressing this issue. There are plenty of other issues as the column proceeds. You want issues? I got issues. The column ends with some memories of Bill Buckley, particularly on New Year’s Eve.
Let’s have some mail — starting with,
Jay,
I responded to your appeal to support NRI and then started thinking about when I had my NR “epiphany.” I was an undergrad majoring in political science at Rutgers and had just cast my vote for George McGovern. When I heard some derogatory remarks on campus about some “reactionary” magazine called “National Review” I had an open enough mind to read it for myself. NR saved me from left-wing indoctrination 50 years ago!
The NRI appeal to which our correspondent refers is here.
A reader — and podcast listener — writes,
Am listening to your sports podcast and you just mentioned that you felt soccer was forced on you like the metric system was.
I’m an engineer (naval architect specifically) and periodically there have been edicts that we are to use the metric system. When I was in college I worked for the Coast Guard for a year with a pair of senior engineers who were very, very decided in their views — and those views were not metric-friendly. They liked to refer to the English system of units as “Christian” units.
That sportscast, incidentally, is here.
In the past few weeks, I have had occasion — more than one occasion — to remark on the canniness of Senator Mitch McConnell. My friend Dave Taggart, a Georgia politico and sage, writes,
Mitch McConnell realizes that politics is not like football — rarely do you have an undefeated season. Politics is like baseball — you played it yesterday, you play it today, and you play again tomorrow.
In an Impromptus a couple of weeks ago, I had the following item:
Like many, Governor Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) speaks of “Big Pharma,” as here. One of my observations is: It’s “Big Pharma” until you need a life-saving drug — or even something to get you through the wintertime sniffles.
As a rule, “Big” is a pejorative: “Big Oil,” “Big Tech,” “Big Pharma.” And there are dangers to bigness, of course. But sometimes “Big Oil,” “Big Tech,” and “Big Pharma” can deliver to you things that small oil, small tech, and small pharma cannot.
A reader writes,
I love Big Pharma. I have an inflammatory arthritic condition. . . . Drugs like Enbrel and Xeljanz enable me to live my life almost as normal. . . . I and many others would be on disability by now if it weren’t for Big Pharma.
May Big Pharma continue its work!
In that same Impromptus, a couple of weeks ago, I aired a linguistic peeve:
The plural of “Jones” is “Joneses” — as in “keeping up with the Joneses.” The plural of “Woods” is “Woodses.” Every year, when covering Tiger and his son Charlie, golf announcers say “the Woods,” meaning both of them. Like to drive me nuts.
On Twitter, Cathy Windels responded,
Thank you . . . The plural of my family name is “Windelses,” and I constantly get communications referring to us as “the Windels” or “the Windels’s.” . . .
And my thanks to one and all. Happy new year! (As I point out in my column today, WFB tended to say “happy new year.”)