Arnold

It was only the shadow of brilliant Real keeper Thibaut Courtois that threatened to stop Liverpool getting what they merited, with a stunning individual performance that revived memories of how he defied them when Jurgen Klopp’s team lost the 2022 Champions League final in Paris.

The Belgian made a string of magnificent saves, including four from Dominik Szoboszlai and a remarkable reflex stop from Virgil van Dijk’s header, before even he was powerless to stop Mac Allister’s header from the Hungarian’s free-kick.

Liverpool’s narrow victory margin does not touch the sides of their domination from first whistle to last, these crucial three points pushing them into sixth place in the Champions League table, a standing that will put them in the last 16 without the need to resort to a play-off if maintained.

Szoboszlai and Mac Allister ruled midfield, while Florian Wirtz provided some of the subtle touches that made his name at Bayer Leverkusen. Hugo Ekitike was a constant menace.

Liverpool were, unlike so often this season, rock solid at the back as Kylian Mbappe was marginalised, delivering a dreadful, error-strewn display. Vinicius had been beaten by Bradley long before the end.

If it was a miserable night for Alexander-Arnold, it was not much better for Jude Bellingham, offered the Anfield stage to deliver a reminder of his class before England head coach Thomas Tuchel names his squad to face Serbia and Albania after excluding him last time.

He provided one moment of danger in the first half when he forced Giorgi Mamardashvili to save with his legs, but was otherwise anonymous as Real failed to establish any sort of stranglehold.

Bellingham conceded the free-kick in a dangerous position that led to Mac Allister’s goal, offering little as Real tried to force their way back into contention, although he was not alone there.

He offered words of sympathy to Alexander-Arnold: “Obviously, it is one of those things in football. The fans booing isn’t a reflection of how they feel about him.

“I think it is more to give their team the edge and throw him off a little bit. I am sure they’re appreciative of what he has done for the club.”

Alexander-Arnold, once an Anfield idol, probably could not wait to get back to his new Madrid home, while life for Liverpool suddenly looks much brighter ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Manchester City at Etihad Stadium.

I was in San Francisco on election day and the fine Democrats I met could sense Arnoldism on the march and said they felt embarrassed by it all and I had to reassure them: A recall election is a beautiful thing. Chaos? What chaos? The voters got a chance to fast-forward to 2006 and click on Arnold. Why wait three years if you can cut to the chase?

Government can be such a dreary, drawn-out business, and an election is swift and dramatic. A few weeks of foofaraw and bluster and warmed-over wisdom and then the blessed day arrives and all the sweet rituals of voting and then, whammo, come the results, the shock and disbelief, the grinning and waving, and the next morning we’re on to something new.

Here in Minnesota we’re pleased that California has an action-hero governor, though there isn’t much similarity between Arnold and our man, Jesse (The Body) Ventura. Jesse was a lone ranger, a man on a horse, and Arnold is a whole posse of Republicans. He doesn’t look any more like a Republican than Barbara Boxer does, but the Republicans embraced him because he smelled like a winner, just as Time Warner embraced AOL. A merger — like the lady who went for a ride on the tiger and came back inside.

Arnold stretches the bounds of Republicanism so that it simply means the unDemocrats, the We Who Are Not Responsible for the Mess Party. This was good enough to get a man elected, but now comes the deluge. Now Arnold is saying that the state’s budget crisis may be worse than he had thought. Welcome to government. Success in this line of work is short-lived. Politics consists of mostly all gas, and gas evaporates or it cools, and the beautiful balloon gets wrinkly and descends. Arnold will need to act fast lest the crisis worsen and he be held responsible for it.

Californians are like anybody else in that they want a great four-course dinner for $8.95. They want to live in the Greatest State (Fine Roads, Excellent Hospitals, Best Parks, Great Schools in which All Children are Above Average), and they also want low taxes. God bless them. People in hell want ice water.

Arnold is going to have to put through an enormous tax increase while the bloom is still on his cheek, meanwhile decrying big government for all he’s worth. This is a good strategy for Republicans and has worked in the past. They have created a fine reputation as fiscal conservatives so that if they get lightheaded and throw money out the window, nobody holds them responsible. Leadership is not for the fainthearted. Sometimes a good leader has to charge courageously forward in full retreat. You get elected to office by telling wonderful stories and then you do what you have to do.

When Arnold takes office, he should do exactly what he promised not to do, and then smile and say that he didn’t really do it, and if he did do it, which he didn’t, he didn’t mean to do it, the thing that was not done, and will never do it again. We eat the cake and after we eat it, there is even more cake. Yes, we have no bananas, but we do have apples, which also are oranges. And if Arnold can be a Republican, then we’re all Republicans, and we Democrats are even more so.

Garrison Keillor’s latest novel “Love Me” (Viking Press) was published in August.

Aug. 30 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1780, Gen. Benedict Arnold betrayed the United States when he promised secretly to surrender the fort at West Point to the British army. He fled to England where he died in poverty, and his name became synonymous with treason.

In 1918, Fanta Kaplan, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, attempted to assassinate Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Lenin, shooting him twice. He survived wounds to each shoulder, one of which pierced his lung.

In 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed in Japan to oversee the country’s formal surrender at the end of World War II. MacArthur told United Press Japan’s “punishment for her sins, which is just beginning, will be long and bitter.”

In 1954, Hurricane Carol prompted evacuations along the North Carolina coast. The storm later battered states along the northern eastern seaboard and killed 72 people.

In 1963, a hotline was established between Washington, D.C., and Moscow, allowing President John F. Kennedy direct phone access to the Kremlin for the first time.

In 1967, the nomination of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed. Marshall was the first African American to sit on the court.

File Photo courtesy Library of Congress

In 1983, Guion Bluford became the first Black American astronaut in space aboard the Challenger as part of the STS-8 mission. Bluford participated in four Space Shuttle missions, his final in 1992.

In 1994, the Lockheed and Martin Marietta corporations agreed to a merger that would create the largest U.S. defense contractor.

In 2003, more than 120 people, including prominent Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, were killed in a bomb attack on Iraq’s Imam Ali Mosque.

In 2003, a Russian K-159 nuclear-powered submarine was lost in the Barents Sea, claiming the lives of nine of its 10-member crew. Russian authorities blamed negligence by navy officials.

In 2011, two senior U.S. Justice Department officials charged with overseeing the failed government gun-smuggling “sting” operation dubbed “Fast and Furious” were replaced amid bitter congressional criticism of the mission. The plan was to pass thousands of weapons to suspected Mexican gun smugglers and trace them to drug leaders, but hundreds of firearms were lost, some showing up at crime scenes, including the 2010 slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

In 2021, the United States completed its evacuation mission at the international airport in Afghanistan, officially bringing an end to the longest war in U.S. history.

In 2024, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of the social media platform X across the country after it missed a deadline to name a local legal representative. The ban was lifted in October.

File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI