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JUNE 27, 2022 | VOLUME LXXIV, NO. 12 | www.nationalreview.com
ON THE COVER Page 19
Keep Them
McCarthy on the Durham investigation
Offline p. 12
As a society, we long ago agreed
BOOKS, ARTS
upon age-restriction laws & MANNERS
governing a range of behaviors
31 NOT-SO-HIDDEN HEROES
(driving, voting, enlisting in the
Allen C. Guelzo reviews Liberty Is
military, smoking, drinking Sweet: The Hidden History of the
American Revolution, by Woody
alcohol, getting a tattoo). Why
Holton.
do we treat social-media use
33 LISTENING TO LINCOLN
differently? Christine Rosen
Lucas E. Morel reviews His Greatest
Speeches: How Lincoln Moved
COVER: ELVA ETIENNE / GETTY IMAGES the Nation, by Diana Schaub.
ARTICLES 35 ENEMY OF CIVILIZATION
David Pryce-Jones reviews Guerre,
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline.
12
RUSSIAGATE MISUNDERSTOOD by Andrew C. McCarthy
The FBI was Hillary’s collaborator, not her victim. 36 THE CRUSHING OF TIBET
Michael M. Rosen reviews When the
15 Iron Bird Flies: China’s Secret War
THE MODEST BURDEN OF LIFE by Michael Brendan Dougherty
in Tibet, by Jianglin Li.
Progressives understand parental duty, but can they see it
in the first nine months? 38 ESTRANGED SIBLINGS
Bryan A. Garner compares confusing
17 cognates.
QUEEN AND COMMONWEALTH by Madeleine Kearns
Elizabeth II has shown classic virtue to the modern age. 39 TOP SEQUEL
Ross Douthat reviews Top Gun:
Maverick.
FEATURES
19
KEEP THEM OFFLINE by Christine Rosen
SECTIONS
The case for banning kids from social media.
22 IN SEARCH OF AN ENDGAME by Mario Loyola 2 Letters to the Editor
4 The Week
Realism, idealism, and the war in Ukraine.
29 Athwart ........... James Lileks
30 The Long View ....... Rob Long
25
THE SIXTY YEARS’ WAR by Marvin Olasky 37 Poetry .............A. M. Juster
Evangelical Christianity in the age of Trump. 40 Happy Warrior ...David Harsanyi
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JUNE 27 ISSUE; PRINTED JUNE 9
EDITOR IN CHIEF What Goes Up Must Come Down
Richard Lowry
NATIONAL REVIEW MAGAZINE
Editor Ramesh Ponnuru Ramesh Ponnuru did an excellent job explaining how monetary policy went
Senior Editors
Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger / David Pryce-Jones off track in 2021. The Fed did a good job of stimulating the economy during
Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts 2020, which led to a fast recovery. In 2021, however, the Fed overstimulated
Literary Editor Katherine Howell
Vice President, Editorial Operations Christopher McEvoy the economy, leading to excessively high inflation. The key error, in my view,
Executive Editor Mark Antonio Wright
Roving Correspondent Kevin D. Williamson was the Fed’s asymmetric interpretation of its policy of flexible average-
Washington Correspondent John McCormack inflation targeting.
National Correspondent John J. Miller
Senior Political Correspondent Jim Geraghty During 2020, inflation actually ran well below the Fed’s 2 percent target
Editor, Capital Matters Andrew Stuttaford
rate, as a weak economy led to falling commodity prices. Some catch-up
Art Director Luba Kolomytseva
Deputy Managing Editors inflation was appropriate in 2021, to promote a faster recovery. But the logic
Nicholas Frankovich / Fred O’Brien
Layout Designer Eric Sailer behind average-inflation targeting is symmetrical and suggests that periods
Assistant to the Editor in Chief Stacey Brody of inflation above 2 percent should be followed by periods where inflation
Research Assistant Justin D. Shapiro
runs below 2 percent.
Contributing Editors
Shannen Coffin / Matthew Continetti / Ross Douthat In 2021, Fed chairman Jay Powell should have emphasized that any near-
Daniel Foster / Jack Fowler / Bryan A. Garner
term inflation overshoot would be followed by a period of below–2 percent
Roman Genn / Jonah Goldberg
Arthur L. Herman / Yuval Levin inflation, so that the average inflation rate would remain close to 2 percent
James Lileks / Rob Long / Andrew C. McCarthy
Reihan Salam / Robert VerBruggen for the 2020s as a whole. Instead, he made it quite clear that the Fed’s aver-
aging approach applied only after inflation undershoots.
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE
Editor Philip Klein The logic behind average-inflation targeting is quite powerful. It is not
Managing Editor Judson Berger
Submissions Editor Jack Butler just a question of making up for past mistakes; a commitment to average-
Senior Writers
inflation targeting makes the initial deviation from the 2 percent–target
Charles C. W. Cooke / Michael Brendan Dougherty
Dan McLaughlin path smaller than otherwise. If inflation starts to rise above 2 percent, then
Staff Writers
Alexandra DeSanctis / Madeleine Kearns financial-market participants will drive interest rates higher in anticipation
Critic at Large Kyle Smith of future Fed actions to push inflation down below 2 percent. These rate
Art Critic Brian T. Allen
National-Affairs Columnist John Fund increases will immediately slow spending, thus preventing the economy
Associate Editors
from overheating as much as it would without that policy commitment.
Jessica Hornik Evans / Molly Powell
Sarah Colleen Schutte / Nick Tell / Craig Young Without a symmetric approach to average-inflation targeting, the Fed’s pol-
Manager, Digital Production Kelvin Morales
Content Managers icy will have an inflationary bias.
Calvin Corey / Scott McKim / Kathy Shlychkov
News Editor Jack Crowe Scott Sumner
Media Reporter Ryan Mills
Media and Enterprise Reporter Isaac Schorr Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy
News Writers Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Brittany Bernstein / Caroline Downey / Zachary Evans
Collegiate Network Fellow Nate Hochman
Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow Dominic Pino
EDITORS AT LARGE
Kathryn Jean Lopez / John O’Sullivan
BUCKLEY FELLOW IN POLITICAL JOURNALISM
Jimmy Quinn
Contributors
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Senior Accountant Vicky Angilella
Accountant Jake Lin
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Director, Marketing & Growth Strategy Sarah Mendenhall
Technical Marketing Manager John W. Bush III
Graphic Designer Cristi Name
Manager, Office & Development Russell Jenkins
Executive Assistant to the Publisher Wister Hitt Correction
Director, Sales Jim Fowler
GES
PUBLISHER CHAIRMAN The Week (June 13) asserted that Joshua Katz, then a professor of classics at MA
E. Garrett Bewkes IV Dale R. Brott Princeton, wrote a controversial article that was published in the Wall Street GETTY I
WilliaFmO UF.N BDuEcRkley Jr. Journal. In fact, it was published in Quillette. GHERSI /
NATIONALD RalEeV RI.E BWro ItNtC. BOARD JAVIER
John Hillen
James X. Kilbridge Letters may be subm itted by email to [email protected].
Rob Thomas
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THE WEEK
◼ Chesa Boudin must be proud: He’s the first mem-
ber of the family to get off with time served.
◼ The atrocity in Uvalde, Texas, has shifted
Congress’s focus to the question of gun control.
The impetus is understandable—what happened
at Robb Elementary School was horrific—but
the details remain as thorny as ever. There is
no strong case for new federal laws in this area.
Extending background checks to private transfers is
beyond Washington’s authority and does not inter-
sect with the problem. Banning so-called assault
weapons would be vague (it is impossible to deter-
mine in law precisely what an “assault weapon”
is), largely ineffectual (most mass shooters use
handguns), and unconstitutional (the AR-15,
most people’s idea of an “assault weapon,” is the
most commonly owned rifle platform in America
and could not be prohibited without gutting the
Second Amendment). And there is no need for
more federal funding, either. The case for state-
led initiatives is stronger. Many mass shooters
are between 18 and 20, below the age for pur-
chasing handguns; states may raise the age for
purchasing rifles as well. Likewise, states are well
placed to experiment with carefully delineated
“red flag” laws that would permit local author-
ities to temporarily remove firearms from those
who make true threats or exhibit clear signs of
dangerous mental illness. Ultimately, though, this
remains an extremely tough problem, and one that
will be diminished by slow and steady work, not quick
and flashy gestures. statement declaring that he’d had a pacemaker implanted.
His wife, on primary night, characterized her husband as hav-
◼ President Biden unveiled his plan to fight inflation, or at ing had “a little hiccup.” But publications including the New
least to minimize its political cost to him, in an op-ed for the York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer consulted cardiolo-
Wall Street Journal. Even making allowances for the limited gists who determined the explanation didn’t add up, which
power of any president over the economy, it was pitiful. He had suggested that Fetterman suffered from a more serious prob-
three ideas: He would leave the Fed alone to do its job, make lem. After two weeks with no public appearances, Fetterman
running a household more affordable through means such as issued a new statement declaring that he “almost died” after
green-energy tax credits, and cool down the economy through his recent stroke, and the Washington Post reported that his
tax increases on high earners. If all of this sounds like what he “ability to have conversations rapidly has not fully recovered,
was doing a year ago, while his administration was insisting that though he is improving and doctors still predict a full recov-
inflation was no big deal, that’s not an accident. Biden’s actual ery.” Fetterman’s cardiologist said that in 2017 he diagnosed
plan is to hope for the best as inflation devours his presidency. Fetterman with atrial fibrillation and decreased pumping effi-
ciency, prescribed medications—and did not receive a visit
◼ Pennsylvania Republicans now have a Senate candidate, from Fetterman again for five years. The man is lucky to be
the controversial doctor best known for hanging out on alive. We hope Fetterman lives to a ripe old age and enjoys
Oprah’s couch, Mehmet Oz. In early June, we learned that good health for the rest of his days. But the Senate candidate,
NOz’s Democratic opponent, John Fetterman, has experience his wife, his doctors, and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party
N
N GEdismissing doctors who tell him things he doesn’t want to should have an honest conversation about whether it is in his
MA
Ohear. Fetterman suffered a stroke on May 13 and issued a and their best interest for him to continue as the nominee.
R
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◼ San Franciscans voted to recall left-wing scion Chesa and the FDA began an investigation. FDA inspectors found
Boudin from his position as district attorney. Boudin had health and safety violations in the plant, but they were
scrupulously avoided going after property crimes and many unable to link the bacterial infections to them conclusively.
drug offenders, including fentanyl dealers. His office helped The Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector
San Francisco go from mere Dickensian excess to urban anar- general announced an investigation into the FDA’s foot-
chy. Mayor London Breed’s ambition to turn the city around dragging. We’re afraid it is going to take more than a fed-
from her failed Defund the Police agenda requires a prosecu- eral investigation for the FDA to mend its ways. As David
tor’s office willing to prosecute crimes. Boudin was left impo- Gortler wrote for NR Capital Matters, the FDA’s processes for
tently protesting the influence of nameless Silicon Valley everything it regulates, not just baby formula, are outdated
billionaires who funded the campaign against him. The losing and unreliable. As numerous regulatory economists have
billionaire was George Soros, whose money had helped inflict emphasized for years, the FDA is too risk-averse, which costs
Boudin on San Francisco, and a rash of permissive prosecu- lives by denying access to safe treatments out of an overabun-
tors on cities across the country. This recall was a good start. dance of caution. Add in standard-issue bureaucratic malaise,
and the FDA often becomes an obstacle rather than an aid to
◼ The Biden administration has repeatedly said that it is not health and nutrition. Congress shouldn’t have to drag the
inhibiting domestic energy production and that the high gas commissioner in for testimony to get the FDA to do its job
prices Americans face right now are a product of events out expeditiously. And FDA incompetence only strengthens the
of its control. It is certainly true that oil is traded on a global case for allowing Americans easier access to baby formula
market experiencing numerous geopolitical disruptions, and from friendly peer countries with high health standards, so
the president does not control the price of gasoline. But the that families aren’t dependent on the speed of bureaucracy
administration does have control over how federal lands to feed their babies.
are used, and it seems intent on pleasing environmentalist
groups rather than boosting energy production. As a result ◼ President Biden issued five presidential memoranda
of activist litigation, the Department of the Interior will have invoking Section 303 of the Defense Production Act (DPA)
to redo environmental reviews on nearly all of the oil and to encourage the production of various materials used
gas leases granted in Wyoming from 2015 to 2020. Tying up for “green energy.” In so doing, he stepped far beyond his
drilling in litigation and regulation is a great way to get less presidential powers and undermined the rule of law in the
The FDA’s processes for everything it regulates, not just baby
formula, are outdated and unreliable.
energy into production and discourage investment for the market economy. Section 303 allows the government to make
future. The Casper Star-Tribune reported that environmen- purchase commitments for the resources named, directly
talists see the leasing decisions as “the Biden administra- subsidize the production of them, and install and purchase
tion’s chance to follow through on its climate commitments.” equipment used for that production in either government or
We see it as the Biden administration’s chance to stand up to privately owned facilities. That considerable power usually
a heckler’s veto on meeting the energy needs of 330 million comes with a financial cap: Projects costing over $50 million
citizens. require congressional approval. But Biden waived that require-
ment as well, meaning the executive branch now has the power
◼ The Securities and Exchange Commission is also dis- to spend and subsidize as much as it wants without the approval
couraging energy production. It has put forward a proposal of Congress. The DPA is intended for wartime, and so Biden had
that, if implemented, would force public companies to make to contort himself into saying, for example, that insulation is
certain climate-related disclosures, including disclosures of “essential to the national defense.” His nonsense orders come
“material” climate-related risks to their business. That should after the failure of the Build Back Better Act, which would have
not be necessary (public companies are already required to subsidized green energy—as if Biden could misuse his powers
disclose material risks), but it reveals that the agency’s real under the DPA to get what Congress had expressly denied him.
interest is, one way or another, to force companies to comply Similar executive overreach and circumvention of Congress
with the administration’s climate objectives, something that occurred under Trump and Obama. Congress should reform
will harm the very investors the SEC is meant to protect. the DPA to prevent such abuse in the future: Presidents can
In a letter to Gary Gensler, the commission’s chairman, 16 no longer be trusted with the sorts of discretion that the law
Republican governors have called on the SEC to withdraw provides.
the proposed rule. As the governors highlighted, this is an
area outside the agency’s authority—and, for that matter, ◼ Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman were 30ish white-
competence. shoe lawyers when, in May 2020, Rahman was caught on tape
throwing a Molotov cocktail into an unoccupied police car and
◼ The Michigan baby-formula plant that closed down in Mattis was arrested with more such improvised explosives in
mid February has reopened. Abbott Labs voluntarily ceased his car and videotaped trying to hand them out to others.
operations at the facility and recalled formula that came These are gravely serious crimes, more so than those commit-
from it after several infants developed bacterial infections ted by all but a tiny handful (at most) of the people charged for
5
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THE WEEK
January 6. An unapologetic Rahman told reporters later, “The decapitated the two stone angels that flank the tabernacle and
only way they hear us is through violence.” The Biden admin- stole components of the church’s security-camera system.
istration acted shamefully by retroactively reducing their While the burglars at St. Augustine left no explicit indication
plea-bargained sentences. This is a pattern: The riots and pro- that the attack was related to the church’s condemnation
tests of summer 2020 left more than a dozen people dead and of abortion, the June 3 vandalism of the Capitol Hill Crisis
more than a billion dollars in damages, yet Democratic federal, Pregnancy Center tells a different story. Perpetrators egged
state, and local prosecutors have gone scandalously soft on the center’s windows, splashed red paint on the front door,
rioters out of misplaced sympathy for their cause. Mattis and and spray-painted “Jane Says Revenge” on the outer wall
Rahman pleaded guilty last year to charges carrying up to ten in an apparent reference to Jane Roe, the pseudonym of
years in prison. Federal prosecutors sought to charge more- Norma McCorvey, plaintiff in Roe v. Wade. The same group,
serious offenses for distribution, but in a shocking reversal which calls itself Jane’s Revenge, claimed responsibility
they have now agreed to recommend a prison sentence of 18 for firebombing CompassCare, a pro-life health clinic in
to 24 months. Justice that plays political favorites is not justice Buffalo. The attackers also spray-painted “Jane Was Here”
at all. on the building’s remains. At the time of this writing, none
of the three attacks has seen its perpetrators brought to
◼ The Associated Press reported that “the San Francisco justice. These apparently politically motivated attacks have
Unified School District will no longer use the word ‘chief’ been roundly denounced by the pro-life movement, but pro-
in job titles because of concerns from Native Americans.” choicers, including President Joe Biden, have mostly been
The Supreme Court has long protected
newspapers and cable-TV channels
from compulsion to print or air
content with which they disagree.
“Chief” is a very old word, running through Latin, Middle silent about what appears for all the world to be a lawless
English, and Anglo-French. It relates to “head.” Think of a campaign of political intimidation.
chef, in a kitchen. And “Hail to the Chief” and a thousand
other things. Native Americans have many greater, and legit- ◼ The social-media age promised a new, more democratic
imate, concerns, and so does San Francisco. marketplace of ideas: An ordinary citizen without a print-
ing press or a TV station could be heard by a mass audience
◼ The Dobbs leak investigation seems to be getting seri- through platforms run by private companies. Yet social-
ous, or, at any rate, its seriousness is now public. CNN’s media giants have earned the public’s mistrust through polit-
Joan Biskupic reported that law clerks, still the likeliest ically biased and often arbitrary use of their power to cen-
suspects, are being asked “to provide cellphone records and sor or promote content. This caprice predictably produced
sign affidavits,” sufficiently alarming them that some are a political backlash. States such as Florida and Texas passed
considering lawyering up. The Court is right to take aggressive laws constraining the platforms’ liberty to discriminate
steps to find the culprit. The clerks, as at-will employees hold- against political viewpoints. We would like to see the plat-
ing career-making jobs, would be wise to cooperate; if they forms adopt clear, even-handed policies, but they are still pri-
care about the institution, they should want to. Seeking coun- vate actors with First Amendment rights of their own. The
sel from a lawyer is never a bad idea in an investigation, and Supreme Court has long protected newspapers and cable-TV
the clerks might prudently ask for written assurances of limits channels from compulsion to print or air content with which
on the use of information provided voluntarily, but it will be they disagree. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Cir-
a telling sign if the left-wing clerks close ranks and refuse cuit accordingly struck down most of Florida’s law, finding
to cooperate. You can tell whom the commentariat actually that it invaded the platforms’ right to decide what to publish.
believes to be the likely leaker by what it says. Conservatives The Supreme Court then reinstated, by a 5–4 vote, a prelimi-
are out demanding heads and talking about criminal liabil- nary injunction against the Texas law. The Court should hear
ity for people who file false affidavits, while progressives are one or both of these cases on the merits at the first opportu-
expressing hostility to the whole investigation. Time for the nity and properly apply the First Amendment, which ought
Court to do justice inside its halls. to leave little of either law standing. Government has his-
torically regulated common carriers in transportation, such
◼ Attacks on churches and crisis pregnancy centers across as railroads, and public accommodations, such as hotels, in a
the country have escalated since that leak. On May 27, a way that effectively compels them to take all comers. The gov-
19th-century tabernacle estimated to be worth $2 million ernment should not be able to turn an industry into a com-
was stolen from St. Augustine Catholic Church in Brooklyn. mon carrier in order to evade the Bill of Rights.
In addition to the theft, the burglars scattered the hosts
of the Eucharist, which Catholics believe to be the Body ◼ A consensus has emerged that China is our geopolitical
of Christ, all over the floor of the church. They also adversary, but U.S. trade policy hasn’t caught up. President
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Biden announced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for called for the overthrow of the regime, in power since 1979.
Prosperity (IPEF), a deal between the U.S. and twelve other It is happening again. This time, food prices are through the
countries in the region that excludes China and seeks to roof, and people have taken to the streets all over the coun-
strengthen ties between its members. One problem: It doesn’t try, crying for an end at last to this cruel regime—a regime
actually do anything. IPEF doesn’t reduce tariffs or guaran- that has kept Iranians down and made their country a pariah
tee more market access, and it has no security guarantees, in much of the world. One day, Iranians will send Khomeini’s
either. It does include green-energy commitments, though, so heirs packing. The United States, and other democracies,
take heart. Meanwhile, China has been creating its own trade should do all that can feasibly and wisely be done to help
bloc in the Indo-Pacific and increasing its military invest- them.
ment throughout the region. The countries that were going to
be in the Trans-Pacific Partnership before the U.S. withdrew ◼ In Canada, Justin Trudeau’s government has responded
under President Trump have pressed on with their own trade to the Uvalde mass shooting by essentially banning guns.
deal, but without American participation it’s much less valu- Under new legislation, which is expected to pass the par-
able. If the U.S. wants to counter China, it needs to be serious liament, Canada will ban the purchase, sale, import, or
about forging commercial and security relationships in the transfer of all handguns. Most long guns must be turned in
Indo-Pacific. That means actual trade deals, not photo ops for for destruction, with compensation (if any) to come later.
heads of state. The only firearms that Canadians are to have will be bolt-
action hunting rifles, which are difficult to obtain and slow
◼ For the first time in 17 years, a U.N. human-rights com- to refire. When asked about the ban, Trudeau said rather
missioner visited China. This was Michelle Bachelet, a former curtly: “Other than using firearms for sport shooting and
To be sure, under Tory rules, a year has to pass
before another vote of no confidence,
but Johnson can expect continued sniping,
a spectacle that will delight Labour.
president of Chile. A flavor of her can be had in what she said hunting, there is no reason anyone in Canada should need
about Fidel Castro when he died in 2016: He was “a leader for guns in their everyday lives.” Canadians who would prefer
dignity and social justice.” In China, she had official meet- to have their right to self-defense are encouraged to apply
ings and went on chaperoned tours. Afterward, she made a for asylum.
few sympathetic noises about Uyghurs, Tibetans, and others,
but human-rights activists tended to be dismayed by her trip ◼ Boris Johnson did not so much win a vote of no
while the Chinese government made propagandistic hay out confidence from Conservative MPs as survive it. To be sure,
of it—which indicates the final score. under Tory rules, a year has to pass before another vote, but
he can expect continued sniping, a spectacle that will delight
◼ Sri Lanka had been an economic success story. The island Labour. Johnson is fortunate that the next general election is
nation of 22 million, off the eastern coast of India, had seen over two years away. He also has two other things going for
major improvements in quality of life since the conclusion him: the lack of an obvious successor, and his own proven
of its long civil war in 2009. Its largest city, Colombo, had ability to appeal to the new coalition between traditional Con-
become a tourist destination. But a blend of poor leadership servatives and former Labour voters on which a Conservative
and worsening global economic conditions has now forced majority depends. There is still time for him to win back much
Sri Lanka to default on its debts. The country had been on a of that. But to do so he will have to end his government’s left-
spending spree financed by money-printing and international ward drift, which, more than his handling of a scandal involv-
borrowing, and was partially depending on tourism reve- ing pandemic-era partying, is the cause of his current woes.
nues to recover. Its first- and third-largest tourism markets,
though, were Russia and Ukraine. On top of that, the pan- ◼ Four jubilee days celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on
demic reduced foreign remittances, energy-market turmoil the throne. She knows how to play to perfection the ceremo-
has led to gas lines, and a disastrous decision to “go green” by nial role of a constitutional monarch. Elegantly dressed, with
banning chemical fertilizer threatens to make food even more a diamond brooch to catch the eye, she gives the impression
scarce than it already is. Sri Lanka had the disadvantages of that she cherishes even the most repetitive of her duties. She,
poor leadership, but it won’t be the last developing country her husband—the duke of Edinburgh, who died in April 2021
to face crisis in a global environment of higher inflation and after 74 years of marriage—and their children are treated as
rising interest rates. some sort of imaginary national family. For the elders, the
jubilee had the traditional pageantry of Trooping the Colour
◼ In November 2019 (“Bloody November”), fuel prices and a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Well-
spiked in Iran. People took to the streets in protest, and known pop stars then performed for the young. Choosing
those protests turned “political” as well as economic. People the final moment, the queen and her son, grandson, and
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