A headline from the Associated Press caught my attention: “Biden’s appeals-court nominee faces rare Democratic scrutiny.” Hmmm. What could the matter be? It turned out to be abortion. Was the nominee 100 percent pure? Or only 99 percent, even dipping down to, say, 95?

The article begins,

One of President Joe Biden’s nominees to a federal appeals court has generated rare concern from some Democrats and outside groups over his signature on a legal brief defending a parental-notification law in New Hampshire . . .

An additional paragraph:

Michael Delaney, nominated for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston, said in written testimony to senators that he did not write the 2005 brief and otherwise had “extremely limited involvement” in the case that was brought while he was deputy attorney general in New Hampshire.

Uh-huh.

Parental notification. Parental consent. These issues — relatively little issues within the big issue of abortion — have been with us for a long time. I went down Memory Lane, via Google. I landed on an Impromptus column of mine from June 2003.

Were we just talking about New Hampshire? Well . . .

You may have seen the following news item out of New Hampshire: The legislature has approved a bill requiring that parents be notified if girls under 18 apply for an abortion. The governor, Republican Craig Benson, has vowed to sign the bill (indeed, he pushed for it). Said Benson, “We require parental notification for children to get their ears pierced, to take an aspirin at school” — why not to get an abortion?

I have two (immediate) thoughts about this: First, the pressure from parents concerning abortion is not necessarily against; the pressure from parents is often for.

Second, this news item triggered a memory from the Democratic convention of 2000. I was there, covering the conclave along with my NR colleagues. To and from the convention center, we took shuttle buses.

One night, I was sitting on a darkened bus, returning from the convention center — and the Democratic delegates around me were talking about Joe Lieberman. He had just been confirmed as vice-presidential nominee. “But he’s for parental notification!” one woman spat. Another countered, “Yes, but that’s better than parental consent!”

I don’t think I had ever fully realized just how fanatical is the Democratic party on abortion. To be in favor of parental notification was a conservative, rather risky position; to be in favor of parental consent — why, Attila the Hun!

Yes.

I addressed this issue again in a 2017 column. The heading of that one: “The perils of 100 percentism, &c.”

• In France, President Emmanuel Macron is trying to reform the pension system. He wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Set aside, for the moment, the merits of his reform. Set aside, for the moment, the means by which he is trying to implement it. Macron is doing something extraordinary. He is pushing, pushing, pushing for a measure that is very unpopular in his country. The Left is hotly against it; the Right is hotly against it.

(Think of an alliance between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Easy to think of.)

Macron believes that this pension reform is very, very important. He intends it to be his “legacy” to France. He is hell-bent on implementing the reform against gusts — no, tornadoes — of public opinion. This is really unusual for a politician — even a “lame duck” one.

I’m rather impressed. (Two months ago, I aired out issues of entitlement reform in general: “‘Pennies from Heaven.’”)

• You know what needs reform? Our visa system. The system that determines who gets to get in; who gets to stay; who gets to work; etc. I have heard horror stories about this system for years now. When he was president, Jimmy Carter called the U.S. tax code “a disgrace to the human race.” The same is true of our visa system.

I wish someone — many someones — would make a crusade of this.

• One of the most vexing problems in our country is homelessness — vagrancy, drug addiction, mental illness, despair . . . The whole, nasty cocktail, destructive of soul, mind, and body.

I can’t recommend enough a piece by Eli Saslow of the New York Times: “A Sandwich Shop, a Tent City and an American Crisis.” The subheading reads, “As homelessness overwhelms downtown Phoenix, a small business wonders how long it can hang on.”

Saslow has painted a portrait of America, or at least a slice of it. And utterly true.

• A friend of mine was in Poplarville, Miss., the seat of Pearl River County. He sent me a photo of the courthouse — erected in 1918 and “dedicated to all who love truth, justice, and thrift.”

Well, that’s quite a trio, don’t you think?

Travel with me down Memory Lane (again). When I was 18, I was a summer-camp counselor in Illinois. Every week, the camp celebrated, and emphasized, a quality — kindness, patience, etc. One of those qualities was thrift. My dumb teenage self kind of bristled: “Well, what about generosity?” Well, the thriftier you are — the more you have to be generous with.

Growing up is a wonderful thing.

• On Tuesday, a very American scene unfolded at the White House. I don’t think you have to be a fan of either President Biden or Bruce Springsteen to think so.

• A little sports? Lemme share something with you:

That is pretty wonderful. Some more sports? Some more NBA? This is pretty sucky, I think:

• A little language? Or rather, a little typography? All right.

I shall pronounce: Two spaces is ordained by Nature.

• Let’s have some music. I have recorded a new episode of Music for a While. Music of various types, with a dose of commentary. You may like. A break away from the Sturm und Drang, perhaps.

• Along the Hudson River, in New York, a flock of birds took off from a plaza. I mean, boom: Something got them flying. And they flew right over the head of a “street person.” Almost clipped him, in fact. He went, “Whoa. Did you see that?” I had. I said something like, “They knew to steer clear of you, though!”

He then said, with a big smile and a sense of theater — also a sense of the Bible — “A thousand shall fall at my side, and ten thousand at my right hand. But it shall not come nigh me.”

Couple days later, another “street person” — a woman — was greeting a dog, and praising the dog to its owner. On parting, the woman said to the owner, “All dogs go to heaven. No exceptions.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a happy weekend. All the best.

If you would like to receive Impromptus by e-mail — links to new columns — write to jnordlinger@nationalreview.com.