Twins! Early Wednesday morning, Mary Swift, long-suffering wife of our deputy online editor Jim Swift (actually, since they're both young, Mary's a relatively short-time sufferer), gave birth to two beautiful girls: Bridget Anne and Claire Elizabeth Swift, weighing in at 5 pounds 14 ounces and 5 pounds 12 ounces respectively. (There have been, as you'd expect, many TWS kids born over the years, but I believe these are the first TWS twins—not counting grandchildren.) All are doing well, including Jim's doted-on dog, who still doesn't know what's hit him. 
The babies are doing well, and especially enjoyed (according to Jim) the Indians' come-from-behind victory in game two of the American League Division series. (Jim, as regular readers know, edits this newsletter, and insists on inserting here a link to video of Francisco Lindor's grand slam home run.) Meanwhile, there's a ton of good coverage of the baseball playoffs on our website, which you can sample here and here and here. Even if you're not a baseball fan, you'll enjoy the amusing but also moving short piece by our online managing editor, Rachael Larimore, "A Prayer for the Cleveland Indians." (No, not everyone at TWS is from the greater Cleveland area. Just Jim and Rachael are, in fact. But I suppose if you're from Cleveland and suddenly see the appearance of successful sports teams, you don't have the take-it-in-stride reaction that most of us normal Americans would have. Thus the disproportionate Indians-focus of our website.) And what about college football, the second best American sport after baseball? What a Saturday! Huge upsets by Iowa State over Oklahoma and Michigan State over Michigan, and a stunning comeback and last-minute victory by Miami over Florida State. And we won't discuss Harvard, after being ahead 14-0, losing to Cornell for the first time in a dozen years in Ithaca. Ugh. And do click here to read the best sports story of a great sports weekend, courtesy of John Feinstein. * * * ADVERTISEMENT
* * * American global leadership? Want to think through the question of American world leadership? Do so with someone who's thought about it, and been involved in trying to shape it, for forty years. Take a listen to the new release from the Foundation for Constitutional Government, a Conversation with Eric Edelman. Eric has had a distinguished career in government, serving as a foreign service officer, as ambassador to Turkey and to Finland, and as under secretary of defense for policy in the George W. Bush administration. In this Conversation, Edelman considers the rise of authoritarianism around the globe and explains why it threatens world order. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of Turkish history and politics, Edelman highlights the descent of Turkey into an Islamist, authoritarian regime under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. I think you'll enjoy this one. And I can't resist re-recommending an earlier conversation, this one a Conversation with Harvey Mansfield on Jonathan Swift. If you've ever wondered about that amazing--and amazingly deep—book, Gulliver's Travels, this is a good place to begin to sharpen your reflections. I should add that this conversation came to mind because I was at a small conference on Gulliver's Travels last week in Chicago, and a very interesting and thought-provoking one it was. I don't know Swift well at all (Jonathan, I mean) so a fair amount passed over my head—but it's fun sometimes to listen to very thoughtful people discussing deep and interesting (and funny) things, even if you don't quite get all of it. * * * Onward. Bill Kristol * * * |
