The View from Right Field

What Christmas Is All About

My annual Christmas Eve post:

Charlie Brown:  "Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Linus: "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.  Lights, please?

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.  And they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you.  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men.’

"That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

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PS: As I have said before, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is also to be treasured because it is one of the too few places today where you can hear the story of our Savior's birth in the words of the King James Version, which have a magnificence of language that is timeless.

Swifties: 2023 – and 2004

One of the eight finalists for the Oxford Languages’s Word of the Year was “Swiftie”.¹  The reference is obvious: "An enthusiastic fan of the singer Taylor Swift.  But seeing the reference to “Swiftie” made me think of another year when Swiftie could have been the word of the year – at least in American politics.

It was 2004.  George W. Bush was running for re-election and John Kerry was his Democratic opponent.  Then-Senator Kerry made his service in Vietnam an important part of his campaign.  When he accepted the Democratic nomination, he came to the podium, saluted and said, “John Kerry, reporting for duty.”  But at least some people had problems with what John Kerry did when he came home from Vietnam and joined the anti-war left. 

The Coming Constitutional Crisis of 2024

The Colorado Supreme Court has held, in a 4-3 decision, that Donald Trump cannot appear on the Colorado primary ballot pursuant to section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.  There are arguments by people I respect on both sides of the question of whether section 3 applies to Donald Trump and what he did or did not do on January 6, 2021.  I’m not going into that question.  I assume this case will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court quite quickly and that they will probably decide the question of the Donald Trump and section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Which gets to the title of this post: “The Coming Constitutional Crisis of 2024.”  I give a hat tip to John Cochrane, “The Grumpy Economist,” for this title and the issue.  It comes not from Dr. Cochrane’s blog or his economic work.  Rather it comes from comments he has made on episodes of the “GoodFellows” podcast that he appears on with Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and Niall Ferguson. 

It Appears the Thompson Center in Chicago Will Be Saved

Earlier this month, we went for lunch at The Walnut Room.  It is what you do at Christmas in Chicago, especially if you have children and/or grandchildren.  When we were in downtown Chicago, we stopped in the Thompson Center, Helmut Jahn’s Modern masterpiece, for what we thought might be a last look at its classic atrium and design.  Here is picture:

This is the kind of building that I visit and take pictures of when I go on vacation. 

But last week, there was some good news: It now appears Google’s renovation/reconstruction of the Thompson Center will keep the building’s iconic glass façade and atrium.  At least that is what the renderings made public on Wednesday showed.  And Jahn, the architectural firm founded by the late Helmut Jahn, will help with the redesign.  If this all happens, it will be great news.  One of the iconic buildings in Chicago will be preserved and updated for future generations to see and use.

Of course, this story is just another example of what a terrible steward the State of Illinois is.  In the almost 40 years since the building was opened in 1985, the State has done basically nothing to preserve the building.  Governor-after-governor failed to properly maintain the building.  State senate president-after-state senate president didn’t do their duty.  And the Speaker of the House (there was, except for two years, only one during this whole period {through 2021}) didn’t do his job, either.¹

But then the way the Thompson Center was treated over the years is little different than how Illinois runs the rest of its government.  Consider how it funds its state employee pension plans.  If a state doesn’t fund the promises it made for state employee pensions, why would you think it would maintain its office buildings?

One final note: Some people have talked about how the Thompson Center’s HVAC system as originally designed didn’t work and that the building wasn’t good for state employees to work in.  Well, the solution wasn’t to let the building fall into disrepair; it was to fix it.² 
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¹ I think the Speaker of the House only cared about the maintenance of one thing: his majority in the State House of Representatives.  And that he maintained.
² If you tore down Frank Lloyd Wright buildings because the roofs leaked, who knows how many would be left.
Note: I have written about the Thompson Center before (here).  Things are looking up since then.

Peggy Noonan on “The Rape of the Israeli Women” – And Why Some Progressives Don’t Seem to Care

The Wall Street Journal had an article, “The Rape of the Israeli Women”, by Peggy Noonan last week on the absolutely horrible things that Hamas terrorists (or militants, or whatever you want to call them) did to Israeli women on October 7.  I don’t want to talk about it; you can read it in the Journal or here.  Ms. Noonan also talked about why many women on the progressive left don’t seem to care about what was done to Israeli women.

Here is a letter to the editor that I wrote to the Journal:

The Washington Post Discovers the Hunter Biden Scandal – Of 2014

So, nine and one-half years later, The Washington Post says that Hunter Biden’s hiring by a Ukrainian energy company in 2014, when he had no qualifications for the job and his father was Vice President with special responsibility for policy toward Ukraine, “should have been a scandal”.  Yes, it should have been.  But the Obama administration told us, in effect, “move along, nothing to see here”; Joe Biden effectively told us much the same; and the MSM did the same.

I noticed it when it was first reported in May of 2014 (see here).  It was obvious something was wrong, but the Obama administration turned its eyes away.  Then-Vice President Biden turned his eyes away.  And Hunter Biden just used his father’s name to make lots and lots of money.  Which he continued to do in Ukraine and, it seems, just about any place else that would think they could get in good with Joe Biden by giving money to his son.

Charlie Munger – On Marriage

Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Warren Buffet’s long-time partner, passed away on November 28, 2023, a month short of his 100th birthday.  Here is what he said about marriage:

“Life is a whole series of opportunity costs.  You’ve got to marry the best person who is convenient to find that will have you.  An investment is much the same sort of process.”¹

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¹ Eric Platt, “Berkshire vice-chair used ‘uncommon sense’ to shape an investment style and reap riches,” Financial Times, November 30, 2023.

The Senate Is Playing Chicken – And Kiev Might Lose

Of course, I mean Kyiv, but I couldn’t resist a “Chicken Kiev” reference.  Except it’s not a joke.  Republicans in the Senate are saying that they won’t vote for aid to Ukraine (and Israel, etc.) without changes in our border security laws and procedures.  Democrats are saying that they want to vote for aid to Ukraine (and Israel, etc.) but they won’t agree to the changes the Republicans want in our border security laws and procedures. 

In other words, Democrats would rather not provide aid to Ukraine than to agree to the border policy changes the Republicans are demanding, and Republicans would rather not provide aid to Ukraine than to not get the border policy changes they think are necessary.  And Kyiv may wind up losing in the Senate’s game of chicken.
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COP-28 and the Big Question: Who Is Going to Pay for It?

With COP-28 going on in Dubai¹, I thought Greg Ip’s column in last Thursday’s Wall Street Journal was very appropriate.  The headline in the print edition of the Journal asked the key question: “Who will pay for Green Transition?”

The answer is actually quite simple: If the Green Transition is going to happen, we are all going to have to pay for it, either through higher prices for energy, higher taxes to pay for all the subsidies the Biden administration is giving out, or higher deficits for those subsidies, which our grandchildren will eventually have to pay for.  Or maybe all three.