Jay Nordlinger
@jaynordlinger
Music critic, The New Criterion
If it weren't for my belief in liberty, I would require every American to read this column by @GeorgeWill (and others by that author). washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/…
I am not quick to cry "breakdown." But I spend a fair amount of time on the streets of New York. Begging is rampant, and so is mental illness. Dazzling "First World" achievements are cheek by jowl with ... Calcutta. One should not be alarmist, true--or complacent.
This may be an oversimplification, but here goes: I want the enemies of freedom -- Putin, Xi, et al. -- to tremble before the U.S. government. I don't want Americans -- whatever I think of them -- to tremble before the U.S. government.
As Kevin Williamson says, what's the point of having eff-you money if you're never willing to say eff you? The "South Park" guys -- say what you will about them -- are willing.
Mona, you’ll remember what Kate O’Beirne said: “Subscribe? I won’t even register.”
I sometimes feel that my part time job is unsubscribing from stuff I never subscribed to.
In the future, there will be, no doubt, many studies of our present political age. Maybe they can answer this question: Why were so many invested in the idea that Brigitte Macron was a man? And that Michelle Obama was a man? ("True" name, "Mike.") Why? Some inner need?
Yes, and may I make a minor point, or maybe not so minor a one? "Alligator Alcatraz" is the official name of this place. (Just as "One Big Beautiful Bill" was the official name of the GOP's signature legislation.) There is "merch" available, touting Alligator Alcatraz. Decadence.
Another incredibly disturbing report. Every aspect of this Alligator Alcatraz nonsense should be investigated, rigorously.
An inspired framing by Matt Labash: "One of the things I hate about this current administration" is that "they leave you little choice but to moralize." mattlabash.substack.com/p/tortured-log…
An article by Tom Kent (@tjrkent). Russia, China: We Americans have given them amazing gifts by gutting USAID, our "radios," etc. They can hardly believe their luck, in Moscow and Beijing. A bewildering and shameful period. nationalinterest.org/feature/russia…
A memory of Bukovsky: He told me, "Reagan loved to hear the latest jokes from us dissidents." (I also remember the stylings of Yakov Smirnoff. My favorite joke: "You have this expression in America: 'Your mother wears army boots.' That would make no sense in Russia, because your…
New Yorkers will be able to use many Soviet jokes. Like when the furious guy leaves the long bread line to go shoot Brezhnev but comes back because the line to do that is even longer.
Today's Republicans talk a lot like the university-town lefties I grew up around (though they dress differently).
“Corporations should just eat the cost” used to be a progressive fantasy that conservatives mocked. Now it’s Republican orthodoxy on tariffs. Conservatism but make it socialism.
Well-nigh aphoristic.
Nobody wants to be told how to live, while almost everyone wants to tell others how to live.
On a street in Kensington, three schoolboys accosted me with a question: "Messi or Ronaldo?" Soccer is not my topic, but that did not stop me from holding forth. Today, I conclude a London journal. Have a look. jaynordlinger.com/p/london-journ…
One thing’s clear: Lots of people like a strongman — but only if he’s wielding governmental powers in a way they approve. If another strongman, uncongenial to them, came in, they’d turn all liberal, spouting Locke and Madison. So human. Very human.
Young people must have the impression that politics is for the conscienceless. But this isn't so. We have seen many politicians of conscience. It's just that they're thin on the ground now. I hope good examples rise up.
Astounding that Republicans can still talk this way with a straight face in the age of Trump
Not that it matters, because nothing matters, in our nat-pop age: but has Melania Trump ever seen an opera? nytimes.com/2025/07/22/art…
N.B.
Also a reminder that Ukraine, unlike Russia, is a democracy with a strong civil society, despite all its problems. No such protests would be allowed for a second in Moscow.
Thank you, cousin. 🇬🇧🇺🇸
Few things are as flattering as praise from thoughtful Anglophiles. They see us as we are, with all our crimes broad-blown, as flush as May; and they like us anyway. Few Anglophiles are as thoughtful as @jaynordlinger. jaynordlinger.com/p/london-journ…