A few years ago, we took my dad to a Cincinnati Reds game for Father’s Day. There were 13 of us in all: my parents, my husband and our three kids, and my brother and his wife and their kids. If I remember right, the Reds won and a good time was had by all. At least until we went to a local brewery for dinner and my dad had to suffer through a craft beer instead of his beloved Bud Light.
This year, our Father’s Day celebration will be just a little different. While Major League Baseball has apparently forgotten the disastrous legacy of the 1994 lockout—no World Series and a late start to the 1995 season caused its popularity to plummet—and is dragging its feet about starting the season, we are lucky enough to have youth sports back in Ohio. So we’ll be at a baseball tournament for one of our sons. You could get bleacher seats at an MLB park for what they charge to get in, and there are hot dogs and peanuts and beer (really, I saw a mom walk past me with one at 9:30 this morning) but it will be a much smaller crowd.
And I would like very much for my parents to be there. But ever since March 12, when my mom walked into my home office (she watches the kids while I work) and told me “Mike DeWine just closed schools for three weeks,” we’ve seen my parents exactly twice. It stinks because they live less than 15 minutes from us, but they are being extremely careful.
I check-in with them almost everyday, and just last night I texted my dad an inning-by-inning update as Jameson pitched (three innings, one hit, one unearned run, and three strikeouts—including one to end the game—in case you were wondering). But it really hits home that even as we open things back up, even as other stories command our attention, things are not back to normal.
We are very fortunate, of course. So many families are grieving. Others are angry that loved ones are isolated in nursing homes and can’t see visitors.
When this all started, we thought it would be a few weeks, at most. That it’s been months and normalcy still seems far away is frustrating. We might not be able to have a big family gathering tomorrow, but I will at least be able to stop by and say hi to my dad, I hope. And I will definitely bring him some Bud Light.
Now, if your dad (or grandpa or husband or son) doesn’t enjoy Bud Light or you’ve forgotten to get him something special … how about giving him a membership to The Dispatch? (How’s that for a smooth transition?) He’ll have full access to all of our newsletters, podcasts, livestreams, etc—a gift that will keep giving throughout the year! We do think we are building a special community among our members, a sort of family if you will. So why not enjoy our newsletters, articles, and podcasts, with your actual family? Our gift page gives you the opportunity to include a personal message when you buy a gift membership for a loved one. We hope you’ll consider giving The Dispatch to a father you love.
Here is just a sampling of the kind of great journalism we’ve been doing and will keep doing:
The Supreme Court handed down two major decisions this week, and neither was likely to make conservatives very happy. In his Thursday (members-only) French Press, David French explains the court’s ruling against the Trump administration’s attempt to rescind Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, wherein Obama “enacted a substantive change in immigration law through a memorandum that defied immigration statutes and the Administrative Procedure Act.” The court didn’t rule in a way that defended Obama’s policy, but “held that the Trump administration’s explanation and justification for revoking the policy was legally incomplete.” For David’s take on the Title VII ruling wherein Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion that provided protection against workplace discrimination to gay and transgender employees, see his (members-only) Tuesday French Press.
Madison, Wisconsin, has a reputation for being a progressive utopia. It’s the capital of the state, yes, but it’s also a funky college town. And activism is nothing new to the city: Protests against legislation to strip public-sector unions of collective bargaining rights in 2011 led to a failed attempt to recall Gov. Scott Walker. But recent riots in the city demonstrate that the city has not adapted well to a changing racial demographic. Christian Schneider explains.
In normal times, a border skirmish between two nuclear powers with a history of tension between them would be THE story of the day. As we keep saying, these are not normal times. This week, at least 20 Indian soldiers died in a fight with Chinese soldiers in the Galwan river valley. In a members-only Vital Interests, Tom Joscelyn explains how this is just one more way that China is “asserting its territorial claims throughout the coronavirus pandemic, taking advantage of a distracted world.” He writes: China has long sought to extend its borders, but … its recent actions across multiple theaters are especially alarming.”
It’s somehow completely fitting for our times that the Trump administration sued to stop publication of John Bolton’s new memoir, The Room Where It Happened, at the very same time that the Wall Street Journal and New York Times were publishing excerpts and reviews. In his Friday G-File, Jonah looks at the contradiction in the dueling complaints being made by Trump allies to pooh-pooh the explosive claims. He correctly points out that Bolton’s book can either be full of lies, or it can be “revenge porn” but it can’t be both. “I’ve never seen any evidence that he’s a liar. In fact, precisely because Bolton is very smart, savvy, and abrasive, he understands better than anyone that he can’t be effective if he gets caught in lies. That’s why he constantly takes notes. It’s why he does his homework and is meticulous in his lawyerly attention to the facts and bureaucratic detail.”
And now for the best of the rest of our stuff:
*Not to brag, but The Morning Dispatch really crushed it this week. On Tuesday, we unpacked the preceding huge day at the Supreme Court, and also tackled what’s going on with increasing COVID case counts. On Wednesday? We tried to make sense of the (cautiously) encouraging economic numbers. And Friday we did a deep dive on the shenanigans going on at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, where Trump appointee Michael Pack is purging leaders at Radio Free Europe and the Middle Eastern Broadcasting Network and replacing them with Trump allies.
* Bob Driscoll is a former deputy assistant attorney general, and in 2001 he traveled to Cincinnati frequently to assist as the city sought to implement police reform. He explains that reform is possible, but won’t come quickly.
* We can expect economic news to be mixed for the next few months. As states reopen, the jobs numbers might look less scary than they have been. But the economy is still going to struggle. Abby McCloskey points out that these times require sober analysis and sensible policy but—welp!—it’s an election year.
*Have you checked out any of our Dispatch Live events? If not, you have another chance coming this week. Jonah will interview Fox News’s Chris Wallace about his new book, Countdown 1945. It’s for members only—sign up here!
*On the pods: On The Remnant, Jonah talks prisons with Brown University’s David Skarbek and they play “Where’d-You-Rather: Incarceration Edition.” It’s the high holy days for legal nerdery, and on Advisory Opinions, David and Sarah discuss not just the big week at the Supreme Court but also the legal battle over John Bolton’s book. And on the flagship Dispatch Podcast, the gang talks about police reform and the growing tension between China and India.
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