 | August 21, 2017 |  |
 |  | Your weekly newsletter direct from the keyboard of Bill Kristol, featuring timely observations and reflections. |  |
| | August Craziness Let me begin with an aside: I was typing the headline to this newsletter—"August Craziness"—and for some reason Light in August, the William Faulkner novel, leapt into my head. I read a lot of Faulkner in college and just beyond but can't say I've looked at him much since. And I wondered, do people read Faulkner any more? I'd be curious if anyone has data or impressions on this. I liked Faulkner and would like to hear that he's still read--though since, as I say, I haven't really gone back to him in ages, I'm not so sure...Anyway, I'd be curious as to impressions. In any case: It has been a crazy August for the country, though pleasant personally for me. We had a very nice family week at the beach—though it seemed every few hours something big, or at least temporarily big, had happened in D.C. Luckily, one can write and tweet from the beach as easily as from the office. Even more easily, in some ways, since breaking news gives one an excuse to avoid actually going down to the water. As I think I've said before, I like going to the beach—I just don't really like going on it too much. But I do like boardwalks, and can report from the Delaware beaches that Kohr's soft ice cream and Thrasher's french fries are keeping up standards, and—even more important—that Funland, the great old-school amusement park (though that's rather a grand term for it) in Rehoboth, is going strong. Having very young grandchildren is a great excuse to go there. We can then discuss how nice it is—which it really is—that they're enjoying the same rides as their parents did 25 years ago (so far as I can tell, those rides truly are totally unchanged). But of course the key is to stroll away from the little kids and their parents, and settle down for a brief encounter with the horse game or Skee-Ball. I'm afraid to say I don't seem to quite have my old touch at the horse game. But you'll be glad to know I came through in Skee Ball, with a 100 on the last ball to break 250 and win a prize. It's a stuffed animal that I'm sure one of the kids will treasure for..., well, a little while. But it's the thought that counts. And the clutch performance of course! * * * ADVERTISEMENT
* * * The news kept coming while we were at the beach, and didn't stop when we went to a family wedding in New York. There we were, driving up Interstate 95 looking forward to a bit of a respite from everything; I looked at my phone (no, I wasn't driving!), and...Steve Bannon had resigned. And it was off to the races again. The wedding in New York was great, though, and New York is New York. Busy. Lively. Fun. There was one disappointment, though. I headed over to the new Amazon bookstore in the Time Warner Center not far from our hotel. It's kind of interesting--but what it really isn't is a bookstore. You figure it's going to be Amazon-like, with a large selection (if not, obviously, comparable to the website)—but it's more like a slightly high-tech Hudson News. Not many books, I'm afraid. Then again, it featured THE WEEKLY STANDARD prominently, right next to the cash registers. So I take it all back. It's a fine place! Still, to think that the Time Warner Center once had a respectable Barnes & Noble. And only a few blocks away was a larger one with a terrific selection of music and art books. And that before Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and for that matter Borders, there was Coliseum Books on 57th and Broadway—a really fun place to browse—and of course a host of other bookstores, new and used, within a very few miles. Alas! I suspect it says something about me that one of the best things about coming to New York, for me, has always been the number and range of bookstores. I'm told there are a few other things that make New York interesting, but I've never quite bought that. Granted, the bagels are better—but how long can that keep you going? Nevertheless, New York is still amazing. We dropped the car at a garage. One of the parking attendants vaguely recognized me, I think, and asked me as I handed over the key what I thought about Bannon's departure. I said it was fine by me. And all four parking guys broke out in grins and high-fived me. America is already great! Okay, I'm now back in D.C. for over a week, then we're off on our WEEKLY STANDARD cruise, with lectures from Gen. Jack Keane (ret.) and historian Andrew Roberts on D-Day and the Normandy invasion and seminars with special guest speakers and TWS writers. I'm told there are a handful of cabins left, and that if you visit weeklystandardcruise.com you can get a good deal. Go for it! And while it's true there's not much in the way of bookstores on cruise ships, there is a casino. As for the solar eclipse today: Let's trust that Gloucester's prophecy in Act I, scene 2, of King Lear—"These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us"—turns out not to apply to America. * * * Onward! Bill Kristol * * * |
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