I was maybe 21 years old, which would be 1971, and I do not know how I came to be aware of a magazine called National Review, but I suspect it was my mother’s admiration for William F. Buckley, Jr., who had a weekly TV show called Firing Line. I was living on my own with two friends in a rented house, but was still in failure-to-launch mode. For some reason I decided to send a check for what (in those days), $7? to subscribe. I began receiving the magazine, and would be a regular subscriber for the next 20+ years. I think around 1990 or so, when I underwent a titanic shakeup in outlook, I dropped it. Now I am back.
Just a few memories about the magazine and Buckley:
- He was surely a spook, a member of an aristocratic family, and heir to the
SunSinclair Oil (as I recall, not going to look it up) fortune. - He graduated from Yale, not sure when, not going to look it up.
- On or around graduation he wrote a book, which of course got published and reviewed in all the right places, called God and Man at Yale. I never read it.
- He married a beautiful woman, one of the few things he and I have in common, though different women are involved. See photo above of the family, including son Chris.
- He founded National Review in the 1950s, and again, I am not going to look it up.
- National Review, like NPR and PBS, had a fake annual fundraiser. It included a long letter to subscribers begging for money. Sometimes the letter was ten pages long. I, of course, thought it was real, and if I had any money to spare, would have sent it along.
- The magazine has endured through the decades. I subscribed again a couple of years back. Then I dropped it. Now I am up again.
- Buckley was bright and witty. One time when an irate reader wrote to him to berate him for the magazine and his outlook, he finished his missile with the classic storm out: “Cancel my subscription!” Buckley’s response: “Cancel your own goddamned subscription.”
- There was a controversy during those years about sugar substitutes, and a study showed that one of them (not going to look it up) caused cancer in rats. NR had its own take on the matter, writing in the notes at the beginning of the magazine something like “Go ahead and feed it to your pet rat, and watch the little bastard die, real slow.” I’ll never forget that, as it made me laugh out loud.
- Buckley and National Review defined conservatism for the time, and I held fast to the ideology, that we proceed slowly in time, making change carefully and in small increments, as none of us are smart enough to know the outcomes of radical moves. I still adhere to that ideal.
- NR had a puzzle at the back of each issue called an “anacrostic” I think. It had clues the answers to which fed each other up and down, like a crossword, with added features: The end product was a quotation from some famous work, and the first letter of the clues would be the name of the author and the work.
- I had a pile of magazines, but I never did the anacrostic, thinking it above my pay grade. But one time I gave it a shot, and damned if I did not solve it! I spent the next weeks and months working all of them. Never had so much fun.
- NR quit doing anacrostics, even though popular among readers. Either someone died or it was too much trouble.
- William’s son, Christopher, became a prolific writer and satirist, and did not always agree with Dad, showing that Bill taught him to think for himself. In 2008, even as he wrote for NR on the back page, he endorsed Barack Obama in another outlet called the Daily Beast. Around that time I thought Obama was OK too.
- Chris had to leave NR, as readers would have none of it. I guess you could say he got cancelled (cancelled his own goddamned subscription?)
- Chris has done OK for himself.
OK, William F. Buckley, who worked in the CIA after graduation and before founding National Review, was a spook. I get that. I don’t care. In later years, after I cancelled my goddamned subscription to NR, I supported Ralph Nader, also a spook, or at least a false leader. You could say I had my Obama endorsement moment. But I was thinking for myself, that is, after years of allowing Noam Chomsky do my thinking for me. It takes time.
Last night, after a sleepless interval, I picked up my latest copy of NR. I had forgotten, since I don’t subscribe to magazines much, the best advice when reading them: Start from the back. I did so, and for the next hour or so was enthralled by the writing, always a feature of NR.
- Happy Warrior, by Christian Schneider, about how he chronicled his life by saving ticket stubs, starting out with an unknown band playing in a small club in Salt Lake City called Foo Fighters. He laments the disappearance of paper tickets.
- Garner the Grammarian, by Bryan Garner, about how many public schools now embrace the idea that anyone’s native language should be preserved, to hell with the melting pot. If a kid speaks Mixtec, Kichwa or Tibetan, hire someone to teach him in that language. We are headed for Tower of Babel, I suppose, The article is framed as a discussion between Aristophanes and Socrates.
- City Desk, a regular feature by Richard Brookhiser, who as I recall was a prodigy of William F., not as schooled as his mentor, but of native intelligence. Bill took him on aboard, and to this day he is senior editor. Again, not looking things up.
- The Nature of Greatness, a film review by Ross Douthat of Dune, Part 2. I’ve not suffered the Dune series, not understood it, but now I want to.
- Child’s Play, a book review of a Philip Gefter effort concerning the book and movie, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I never saw the movie, never read the book, and won’t, but did not know it was a commentary on the strains and trials of a childless couple, and how having children makes us better, happier people. Not always, but I see the point.
Today I share a birthday, April 20, with Adolph Hitler, and last night, delighting as I did in my rediscovery of National Review, reading from the back as I always did in the beginning, I decided to treat myself … at like 3AM I cracked a beer. I normally have a brew around 5PM, but never a second as it causes weight gain, but last night I thought I would have a goddamned beer, weight be damned, and toasted William F. Buckley Jr., and the legacy, that wonderful magazine which is to this day full of insight and good writing and original thought.
Yeah, the current issue, May 2024, has Donald Trump on the cover. It’s not a perfect world.
Piece of Mindful 
I remember reading a very funny book by Buckley from his time as ambassador to the UN – again not going to look it up. I believe he represented the USA under the Nixon administration. But anyhow he treated the place as it ought to be treated, as a bunch of rich kid diplomats from the wine and cheese crowd dressing up in the their native costumes and pretending outrage against the latest thing.
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United Nations journal ; a delegate’s odyssey : Buckley, William F. (William Frank), 1925- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
There’s probably other sources if you want it free.
On the negative side for Buckley, his fake outrage in debating Mark Lane on the Kennedy assassination (Buckley called the group that wrote the Warren report the most august body of statesmen to ever carry out an investigation, or some similar hyperbolic rubbish), and his fake outrage talking to Gore Vidal who called him a fascist – they seem like a couple of pooftahs in a pillow fight for chrissakes.
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gore was jackie’s step brother of course. the house of auchincloss the whole lot.
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Good point, a bunch of incestual relationships mixed in no doubt.
I went back and read the UN journal from Buckley and was struck by a sense of deja vu. He writes at length, in 1974, about the outrage being General Mobutu criticizing Israel, and causing an outrage. Israel, antisemitism hysteria, where have I heard that before? Oh like 1 day ago in congress.
I feel like we have entered a new so-called dark age, where history is just arrested and stands still. There will be periodic black deaths, and witch hunts, but all progress has been suspended. Have you seen what kind of urban building is all the rage of late? The buildings look like they are made of multicolored plastic legos, with zero ornamentation or style.
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well, jack’s big sis, kick, married into the cavendish clan and Joe sr. Started rko of course.
I’m still curious how ddNTPs are made.
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Buckley ran for senate [Mayor of New York City] in New York as a third party candidate, Conservative as I recall, and was asked if he considered running for House instead. Roughly quoted, “Good God, not unless I can hold all 435 seats at once!” I am now remembering that his brother held that Senate seat for one term. Good old days … take note, he was a spook. But I loved him.
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gore ran for a congressional seat in ny and a senate seat in ca when he wasn’t writing screenplays and novels of course.
gore grew up in dc under the wing of a blind senator and as the story goes his football hero old man who happened to be earhart’s beau.
He played his role as did the rest. Funny story: gore referred to lem billings as the “chief faggot of Camelot” in his palimpsest.
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It’s always nice to look at past concert stubs and remember where I was at a specific date and time. 4/20 is now the official pothead holiday, although google shows it was a thang back in the 70’s, I never heard the term until maybe the late 90’s, the deadheads must have made it popular again and then now with pot becoming legal everywhere within the last 10 or so years I’d say it’s official and may start to appear on calenders and have government acknowledgement. Dimenishes the attention to the ole farty Hilter date.
Booze, pot, fast food places in almost every town…Kinda sad. Party on Wayne!
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Party on Garth. Dana Carvey now partners with David Spade in a podcast called Fly on the Wall. They are both creative and funny (Lorne Michaels claims there are only 900 funny people on the planet at any given time), but I never realized over the years that Spade is one of those 900, a delightful wit.
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Back in the day I was employed by a large corporation based in Minneapolis. In true corporate generosity, it hosted a party for a-million-years-in-business or some such – at CorpHQ. One of the feature gatherings had David Spade in full comedic role up front of a couple hundred mostly white-color workers – and Execs – many from Minnesota. He went heavy on booze and drunk jokes – I thought that it was absolutely hilarious, the Minnesotans did not. At the time I never considered that he may have swayed his act in that direction to purposely piss off the wealthy booze heads.
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Notwithstanding whether the official story’s true or not, these were people to make anybody long for future Kardashians. He was, in other words, exactly what the people (uh, Amurricans, that is) didn’t like about intellectuals. Or Wasps. A sell-out in every way, although you’ll of course note how a variety of public American figures – ranging from Dwight Macdonald to Ed Sanders – can be seen on his program (youtube?) talking far more intelligently than you’ll ever see anybody talk on talk shows NOW. Btw, William’s dipsht son authored a screenplay called “Thank You For Smoking” or something, although his decadent dragon lady of a mother died, allegedly, from the very habit….
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chris Buckley’s book and the movie weren’t pro smoking as I recall, they were about the thankless job of being a PR flak for big tobacco at the time of peak demonization.. imo, a bigger PR operation, but nobody’s talking as to who among TPTB wanted that and why.. I doubt it was just a spontaneous top down outbreak of concern for public health though.
Buckley’s book and the movie were mildly amusing, not super enlightening. Possibly partially accurate, if not the whole story. Although it could be some or a lot of misdirection, if big tobacco itself was in on the op, as self sabotage, but with plausible deniability. Once the decision was made anyway, by whomever or at what level. They diversified into other sin products, plus grew in overseas markets, even as US tobacco use fell.
Daniels doesn’t approve tobacco use, but she does say that her patients who used the natural or roll your own ones were not much harmed if any by it, her concern was mainly for using the big brands. With the chemical additives.
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Speaking of Hitler, National Lampoon did a funny send up years ago called National Socialist Review. (erm..)
Speaking of Gore v. Buckley, one point of contention was that Vidal was out for the most part and Buckley was not. Yes, according to Gore, Big Bill liked sex from gay rough trade. Buckley referred to it as his ‘habit’. Buckley v. Woody is much better. https://youtu.be/37q3Cw4cawI?si=f4REjO2LdFtgQ__c
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Loved that Woody/Bill piece and the general amicable tone between them. I am engaging in presentism here, but the question by the young gal about miniskirts, when today most women (like it or not) are wearing a string up their butt crack on public beaches, would be laughable. Buckley’s answer, that he liked a miniskirt on her, was perfect.
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Sagehana found a 2007 NYT article where they talked about a whooping cough pandemic generated by PCR false positives –
https://sagehana.substack.com/p/january-2007-faith-in-quick-test
“…With pertussis, she said, “there are probably 100 different P.C.R. protocols and methods being used throughout the country,” and it is unclear how often any of them are accurate. “We have had a number of outbreaks where we believe that despite the presence of P.C.R.-positive results, the disease was not pertussis,” Dr. Kretsinger added.“
They give examples of past pseudo epidemics as well and their experts are fully aware of the flaws in all their methodologies, and then their needless and harmful interventions (well they don’t mention the harm it causes other than “disruption.”) Could all be trial runs and experiments I guess, but interesting that they would expose the whole concept in a layperson popular source and still they continue without anyone ever wising up to the whole charade.
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I’ve been reading Dr. Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk’s 2015 book Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History. I am not going to finish it, as it is tedious and long. I did, however, read the part about whooping cough. What I gather is that the vaccines have been ineffective and that the disease has been in decline anyway due to better sanitation and diets. As of 1957 it had all but disappeared, the vaccinee, of course, riding in to save the day in the 1940s, long after natural declines had negated its usefulness.
It has been suggested to me that I am due for a tetanus shot. Since that is caused by bacteria in the soil, and can be very serious, it might be wise. However, tetanus is offered as “DPT,” or diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus. I only want the latter.
Our grandson, a hockey player, has long had a cough that sounds deep – his mom says his whole team has it and it is not a problem. But since I am not convinced the vaccines did any good, even though the boys are all vaccinated, thereby eliminating any suspicions of whooping cough, no one is thinking along those lines. I suspect he and his teammates have WC.
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Go ahead and get the tetanus shot. I had a few in my lifetime. Gives you a nice sore shoulder for a few days. I like when that happens, you know the medicine is workin’ right.
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I think jaws must be dropping to hear after all your reading and writing that you’d consider the tetanus shot..! Lol. I did a slight double take myself.. I guess you mean that bacteria are a real concern, and the shot may be protective?
I would think you’d want to learn more about it.. luckily I just came across this today –
https://m.soundcloud.com/user-849859864/news-flash-pertussis-vaccine-is-ineffective?in=user-849859864%2Fsets%2Fplaylists-2
Jennifer Daniels on DTP.. demolishes any benefit from all three imo. It sounds like a pure mirage, a huge net negative for millions of people.
I was always a little mystified by the rusty nail idea. From this I gather that the bacterium is chiefly found in cow manure, and probably the only risk is to ranch hands etc who might expose an open wound to it. Or, I suppose, if a cow craps on a board with a rusty nail and one has the bad luck to plunge their foot through a cow patty and impale it on a dung covered nail.
In any event, the case count and mortality rate per year is vanishingly low (if those numbers are even real.) The risk of bad jab effects is surely far higher than the chance of tetanus.
It also sounds like any D and P we have, like your grandson’s, is more likely from the vax than natural. Although I zoned out occasionally so can’t quote it all in detail.. oh and her source was a big name pro vax expert, lol.. their own best case argues against themselves.
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Mark, I’m a little confused about WC. You say they had “whooping cough”, what in tarnation is whooping cough? The only time I had whooping cough was first time I tried Skunk/Northern Lights hybrid strain in a 3 foot long bong in college; man I was coughing up a storm for a few minutes. I figured I musta’ cought some guys cooties from the previous bong hit which had me down for the count for 5 whole minutes.
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It is a disease named after the symptom, a deep cough that goes on a bit too long and deep. In due time they invented a virus as the culprit. These kids, hockey players, are doing deep coughing, and I can only imagine all the toxins they are exposed to … locker rooms, lots of sweat and the chemicals they use to make those uniforms smell human again.
Just speculating. I suspect whooping cough, environmental, never went away. It just subsided.
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Well now that you mention hockey and the locker rooms and their equipment, it’s making sense. I used to hang around the UNH college hockey team a young lad of 8-10 or so, my family had a lot of friends of university athletics. Anyhow I recall the equipment like shoulder pads, hip pads were so nasty, they just put sweaty wet stuff into dark lockers and sweat bags and kept them cold most of the time, no washing that I knew of. Absolutely ripe for fungus growth. I’m guessing some fungus toxic byproduct along with some bleach compound they use to clean the locker rooms would rough up your lungs.
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NHL teams have people who deep clean their clothing and equipment. These kids do not. And part of their life is the stink, a constant companion.
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I wonder if young athletes, putting a strain on their bodies through above average exertion, may activate latent issues from vaccines they’ve received.. eg the DTP vaccine contents may be dormant/ in check when the body is at full strength, but the stress and strain of athletics may permit it to activate? In non athletes maybe it lies dormant until they’re weakened by age or stress and ailments later in life.
See my comment above though.. all three provide no statistical benefit to recipients, and carry health risks of their own. Tetanus was cured by the move away from farms/ cow manure to more sanitary conditions. And not easy to acquire in any case.
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I was unable to access the Daniels audio, don’t know why. It just spins. Maybe it is loading.
I had decided that if I could have a tetanus vaccine by itself, I would give it a go. That it is offered only with two anti-viral (bullshit) vaccines, screwed the deal for me. I think I’ll be OK. I spent yesterday tearing down an old stairway, lots of rusty nails. No harm done to me.
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Soundcloud has many issues. Try this page, third track down the list.
https://m.soundcloud.com/user-849859864/sets/playlists-2
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I watched a few of his Firing Line shows. Kind of interesting considering what we know now and how times have changed.
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My father was an avid Buckley fan. Even cried when he died. I remember in that pompous British tenor – how he would effortlessly utter words – in rapid fire and sequence – which most people – including myself – had to look up.
As a teenager, while rebelling against all ‘learning’ that was forced upon me in school, I recall reading articles from National Review as well watching Firing Line, mostly because WFB was so prominent in our household. And while other people (teachers, employers, friends) would say I was smart, I knew I wasn’t special. And reading Buckley humbled me even more, as I knew there was a whole other stratosphere of ‘smart’ that was cognitively out of reach. Akin to playing well at the local suburban courts, but after a weekend camp in the city, dominate by players taller, faster and more skilled, you take your ball back home and realize you’re never going pro 😛
My first introduction to skepticism of Scientism was by way of Commentary Magazine, in an article The Deniable Darwin (and later ‘Was There a Big Bang’ by David Berlinski. DB is another obnoxious intellectual, but far funnier and relatable imo than Buckley. Sadly, despite mocking ev bio, string theorists, and psychobabble icons, he never (at least not publicly) applied this to NASA / Space, and every institution most of us in this ‘truth’ scene raise an eyebrow to.
I must have watched the Firing Line debate Resolved: Evolutionists should acknowledge Creation.
Buckley and Berlinski are on the same panel and in fine form.
Every few years or so, I’ll revisit. Still plays well to this day. Worth a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITqiIQu-fbA
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Interesting, Hoover not too long ago did a Darwin program with three excellent guests. All three were skeptical of Darwin. As you say, they humbled me.
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