Today, I hear people say "lockdowns" as if they were some wicked plot against humanity. We can certainly debate the various governmental responses and policies. But it seems to me that people are forgetting there was a *pandemic* -- one that killed many millions around the world. For months, I read articles such as the below. I saw a field hospital in Central Park. I heard sirens, nonstop. A sign at Mount Sinai Hospital said, "To the Health-Care Workers Fighting for Our Lives, Thank You." There was a kind of war on. Deadly enemy. nytimes.com/2020/07/11/nyr…

I have been against political correctness since I was born. But taking a Confederate general’s name off a U.S. military base and renaming it “Liberty” is not PC, at least in my book. It is morally sound, and American. The Confederate project was abominable—deserving of no honor.

https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1667579779762073602

They had their own country—their own constitution, their own president, their own flag, etc. The CSA was not the USA. They made their choice. They took their stand. Let people honor them if they want, in various ways—but not in the names of U.S. military bases.

Many of my preferred candidates – whom I have admired and, in some cases, loved – have lost an election. Bush 41, Dole, McCain, Romney. The 1992 and 2012 elections stung me especially. But all of those men took it like men. And then there’s Trump. His ego – the ego of a spoiled brat – could not take losing. So he cried “Rigged!” and inspired what seemed half the country to do the same. He plunged the whole country into a drama so that his ego could be assuaged.

This is good for conservatives, good for the country — good for the English-speaking world, frankly. David French is an exemplary American conservative — in economics, in national security, in the law, etc. He will say important things to a huge audience. Hooray.

https://twitter.com/davidafrench/status/1610279982588125184

Bill Buckley always wished for, and worked for, the mainstreaming of American conservatism — intelligent, conscientious American conservatism. He wanted the largest possible audience. He himself should have been a columnist at the Times. (So should others I can think of.)

Oleksandra Matviichuk (@avalaina) is a Ukrainian human-rights lawyer and the head of the Center for Civil Liberties, in Ukraine. This year, the center is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I interviewed Matviichuk on Monday. Some excerpts: “This war is not a war between two states but between two systems: authoritarianism and democracy. Putin started this war not because he was afraid of NATO. Putin is afraid of the idea of freedom.”

Today, the Memorial society is a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Here is a piece of mine on that society, the conscience of Russia: nationalreview.com/2022/01/friend… Another co-recipient of the prize is Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties, whose leader, Oleksandra Matviichuk (@avalaina), I had the honoring of interviewing earlier this week. Piece to come.

Viktor Orbán has captured the fancy of many Americans. At the end of his life, Charles Krauthammer wrote a long piece warning of “the authoritarian temptation.” Many have succumbed.

1/4 thebulwark.com/what-viktor-or… Many Americans are tired of liberal-democratic procedure. They want to use government power to smash their enemy and work their will. They envy, and yearn for, strongman rule. Democracy seems so messy and unsatisfying.

2/4

The less you know about Saudi Arabia -- particularly what the rulers do to their political prisoners -- the more comfortable you will be watching the new Saudi golf tour, featuring such stars as Phil, DJ, and Bryson. The more you know, the more sickening it is. For real. The new Saudi tour will play its inaugural season at eight venues, two owned by Trump. Personally, I find the whole thing revolting. I am a free-marketeer. I like money, plenty. But there are things in the world more important than "the almighty dollar."

In 1935, the American consul in Berlin, George S. Messersmith, wrote to the secretary of state, Cordell Hull. On the eve of the Beijing Olympics -- another one -- you may be interested in what he had to say: "To the Party and to the youth of Germany, the holding of the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 has become the symbol of the conquest of the world by National Socialist doctrine." The consul continued:

By @GeorgeWill, a gorgeous and wise essay (of course). 1/5 washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… Incidentally, Bill Buckley, too, loved Murray Kempton. And the phrase that Will applies to Kempton -- "trenchant elegance" -- applies to both of them as well: to Will and Buckley. 2/5

As I see it, there are three main reasons to maintain a military presence in Afghanistan. Two have to do with blunt self-interest. The Taliban are poised to retake the country and, once more, provide a haven and a launching pad for a terrorist international. So, we will be back to where we were in 2001.

The first time I met Donald Kagan, he said to me, "You're too nice to modern composers." (In my music criticism, he meant.) I said, "That would come as a surprise to them." He threw back his head and laughed. We were off to the races. "They call me a conservative," Kagan told me. "They used to call me a liberal. I haven't changed my views at all." A familiar and true song.

The last words Donald Kagan ever spoke to me — wrote to me — were “Long may you wave.” I said the same back to him. I think Kagan will be “waving” — shining, flourishing — forever.

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1425223532062167041

He did immense good in his life, transmitting knowledge, defending high standards, setting an example. Moreover, he was FUN. A great basketball man, by the way.

When I was coming of age, conservatives and neoconservatives would write about life in Communist countries and other “non-consensual societies” (as Bob Conquest would say). Many on the left would respond, “Who are we to talk? What about injustices in America?”

https://twitter.com/cawthornfornc/status/1425253812370083844

We on the right referred to this as “moral equivalence.”

On the American right, there is a struggle between the illiberals — call them the Orbanistas, or the Euro-style rightists — and the remaining, clinging Reagan conservatives. All the juice is on the illiberal side — the fervor, the viewers, the listeners, the readers, the donors, the voters (!). No one wants principled, Madisonian conservatism. People want the clenched fist, and the roaring mouth, and the “wins.”

A lot of people are crabby about the Olympics -- even hostile to the Olympics. I have always loved them. Allow me to walk down Memory Lane a little. The Olympics taught me about foreign countries -- their flags, their languages, their anthems. They taught me about unusual sports (unusual to me). I loved the "human interest" stories -- "up close and personal."

Strange how chest-thumping "common good" types become chest-thumping "Don't Tread on Me" types when it comes to trying to combat a once-in-a-century ... pandemic. It seems to me, a "common good" approach is never more justified than in a pandemic.

I find it almost impossible to discuss electoral law in today’s atmosphere. Hovering over everything is the Big Trumpite Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Every move, every word, on electoral law must live under the shadow of this lie. The purest of motives is suspect. True? At present, the subject of electoral law cannot be divorced from the lie. I think it will be years before the subject is free of it — free of the shadow, or taint, of the lie. This is especially unfortunate because electoral law is very important.

This was a marvelous speech. Half the country won't give him credit for it, but that's okay. Biden sounded like a president should. Merely fulfilling the basics seems -- extraordinary. apnews.com/article/biden-… "We often hear people described as ordinary Americans. There's no such thing. There’s nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary."

I wrote a column about two lies on the right, in need of uprooting: the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen; and the lie that January 6 was the work of Antifa and other left-wing groups. 1/4 Judging from the reaction, these lies are fervently believed, especially the former one. They are something like articles of faith. They are embedded already. I believe that these lies will linger for years and years. 2/4

Obviously, no Dem should give a hoot about what I think about this pick. I’m a conservative (Reagan-style). But do you think I’m going to keep quiet? She doesn’t give you a state — California’s in the bag.