Saturday, October 17, 2026

O Canada 2026

Saturday, October 10, 2026

I know nothing about this amazing photograph, but I wanted to share it.
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Speaking of pictures, this is a literal picture of American jobs.

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The Schneiders hosted the Supper Club tonight with roasted cod as the main course. Culinary contributions were made by America's Favorite Epidemiologist, butternut squash/apple soup, and Legal Eagle Eva, flourless chocolate cake. Bravo all around.

Part of the evening was a discussion of Citizen Kane, chosen in advance. Parallels to current events could not be avoided.

Sunday, October 11, 2026
My brother found this crazy bit of news. The newly elected mayor of a town in Peru is named Hitler Mussolini Simeon Flores.
 
The Upper West Side's Power Couple got up disgustingly early this morning to fly to Toronto. We are not abandoning the good fight for Truth, Beauty and Justice in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, but merely taking a short respite.

We are staying downtown, on a floor devoted to hotel accommodations, in the same high rise where the Frolics live. Irene is a world-renowned sculptor and Bernie is one of Canada's leading authorities on Chinese politics. Not only does the Manulife Centre, 44 Charles Street West, combine residences and transient space, it sits above a multilevel shopping mall containing, among other things, a movie theatre, supermarket, bookstore, clothing stores, cafes and restaurants.

Eataly, an international chain of Italian food halls, has a prominent place in Manulife Centre with a large retail food and wine market and Trattoria Milano, an upscale restaurant. As the four of us experienced it, only the prices were truly upscale, the food better on the menu than on the plate and the service bad.

I had the Taste of Milano dinner for $65 (1 CAD $ = 0.70 USD $): Mondeghili, "Fried Milanese-Style 'Meatballs', Salsa Verde, Spicy Aioli"; Tartare di Manzo, "Raw PEI [Prince Edward Island] Beef Eye Round, ROI [brand] Carte Noire Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sea Salt"; Risotto allo Zafferano, "Carnaroli Rice, Saffron, Bone Marrow, Veal Sugo [sauce], Grana Padano DOP [hard cheese with Designated Protection of Origin]"; Cioccolato e Pistacchio, "Dark Chocolate Mousse, Salted Pistachio Gelato, Pistachio Streusel, Raspberries". In all, less than the sum of its parts.

Recognizing the hectic, delayed service, the $60 bottle of Prosecco was left off the check.

Monday, October 12, at noon 2026
"GOP ad buyer mixes up Portlands, spends money meant to help Maine Sen. Susan Collins in Oregon."  
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Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada and, appropriately, we celebrated by going to a Chinese restaurant. In fact, we had gone to Pearl Yorkville Chinese Cuisine, 730 Yonge Street, on our visit last year. Bernie and Irene both speak Mandarin Chinese and are quite familiar to the host. It's a large place with high ceilings and big windows facing the street. The interior walls are charcoal gray, hung with bright modern art. There was nothing ethnic about the decor. 

We ordered several things for all to share: Fried mushrooms with honey sauce ($16); vegetarian dumplings ($14 for 4 pieces); lamb sautéed with Cumin ($40); deep fried filet of sole with sweet & sour sauce ($38); fried rice vermicelli Singapore style ($30); eggplant with spicy garlic sauce ($26). The food was generally well-prepared, the portions large.

Tuesday, October 13, 2026
I thought that it would be fun to see the New York Knicks play the Toronto Raptors here tonight. Even though it was an exhibition game, I hoped that Jalen Brunson, KAT and some of the other 2026 NBA champions would play in this affordable venue. It was not to be. The Raptors fielded starters, while the Knicks fielded strangers. I don't think that any Knick stars even crossed the border. The Raptors had a 41-point lead in the first half, which would make for a dull football game. By the way, the Raptors have loudly put the RAP in Raptors. 
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Before the game, Bernie and I ate a light, very satisfying, dinner at Viet Hut Express, 35 Charles Street West, a casual joint offering typical Vietnamese food. We both had pho, the national soup. Mine was beef broth, rice noodles, sliced steak, cilantro, white and green onions ($17.50). Bernie had sliced beef shank in beef broth, topped with house-made chili oil and white onion, green onion, and cilantro ($17.50). These large bowls were actually considered small and unnecessarily larger versions were available at $19.99.

Wednesday, October 14, 2026
I wandered off on my own for a few hours and had lunch at Da.Si.Mar Shawarma, 673 Yonge Street, on a busy corner in an area full of ethnic restaurants. It's a big space with some random attempts to warm up the decor. You order from the cashier and she directs two guys attending three enormous spits, chicken, lamb, beef.

I had Mix Shawarma Arabic Plate, the three meats wrapped in thin flatbread with hummus, lettuce, tomato, beets, pickles, cucumbers plus a good chopped salad and mildly spiced French fries ($18.99). It was a lot of food, probably enough for two normal human beings.  I found Vanilla Coke Zero a little metallic tasting ($2.50). I washed it all down with a can of real Canadian Canada Dry ($2.50).
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It was a stroke of good fortune that Nani's Gelato Charles Street, 6 Charles Street East, was just across the street and I was able to end my lunch hour with a cup of Golden Oreo Strawberry ($7.25). That was a flavor I had never come across before, but I will now have fond memories of (with or without a dangling participle). 
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The four of us were joined for dinner by a distinguished couple, Daniel Drache, Professor of Political Science Emeritus, York University, author of Has Populism Won? The War on Liberal Democracy among others, and Marilyn Lambert-Drache, Professor French Language, York University, author of Sur le bout de la langue, among others. Daniel is also a noted gourmand who has navigated many a Chinese menu. Accordingly, we dined at Taste of China Seafood Restaurant, 338 Spadina Avenue, in Toronto's Chinatown, almost unrecognizable with its wide, well-lit streets.

The food, though, was true Chinatown. We had double lobsters with ginger ($65); green bass ($48); crispy fried chicken ($15.95 for a half); mixed vegetable fried rice ($15); stir-fried snow peas ($18.95); eggplant and bean curd in black bean sauce ($16.50). Service was particularly attentive since several people at the table spoke Chinese.

Thursday, October 15, 2026
As we left Toronto, I clarified an important point: Mark Carney, the Prime Minister, is not the guy who appeared on television with Jackie Gleason.

Friday, October 16, 2026
We ended this wonderful week at an increasingly rare event -- a jazz concert. In honor of Miles Davis's 100th birthday, the 92nd Street Y assembled an extremely talented group of musicians to recreate and interpret Kind of Blue, an immortal work released in 1959. Play it here (https://youtu.be/ylXk1LBvIqU?is=K8qVcXFycTmreJ1T) or, better, dig out the compact disc and play it on Japanese electronics through German speakers, like WWII never happened.

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Saturday, October 10, 2026

Seeing Is Believing

Saturday, October 3, 2026
In 1938, the Pittsburgh Pirates successfully sued a radio station that broadcast its games by placing observers in a building overlooking the ballpark, paying the Pirates nothing. That decision was cited last week when the Chicago Cubs were given a permanent injunction against a company that sold seats on a rooftop opposite Wrigley Field. Are you satisfied that the situations are legally analogous?

While we are on the subject of sports, the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team fired its play-by-play television broadcaster hours after they announced hiring him. As a teenager in 2012 and 2013, he posted racist and misogynistic comments on Twitter.

It seems unreasonable to hold the adult male responsible for the blatherings of a teenage boy, doesn't it? Except, he was dumb (with a b) enough to leave the posts up all these years on a still active account.

Sunday, October 4, 2026
How is the world spending its time?

Monday, October 5, 2026 
I returned to Wu's Dynasty, 210 West 70th Street, for lunch with three guys, none of whom accompanied me on my initial visit on September 9th, days after it opened. Again, the focus was dim sum delivered on carts wheeled around the bright room. We had nine different items, no duplicates. As usual, I lost track of the individual dishes, steamed, pan fried, deep fried. Bottom line came to $30 a person, substantially more than its Chinatown equivalent, but, then again, none of us live in a cold water flat in Chinatown.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026
No doubt, books about the Cornell University gang rape are already being drafted by people knowledgeable and unknowledgeable alike. Aside from the ugly details of the encounter, I would like to read someday how this story took off, newspaper reports for many days now, television news coverage nightly. It warrants this exposure, but presumably so do many other crimes and offences that arouse little or no interest. What's special this time? 
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Fordham University, a Jesuit institution, has a healthy Jewish studies program. Tonight, we went there to see Sabbath Queen, a documentary about Amichai Lau-Lavie, a gay Israeli man from a family of rabbis going back many generations, including his father and his uncle, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel. The movie was filmed over 21 years as Amichai comes out of the closet, leaves Israel for New York, performs as a drag queen, becomes involved with the proudly unconventional Lab Shul, enters the Jewish Theological Seminary and becomes ordained as a rabbi. It's some journey, as you might imagine. The movie's director was around to answer questions after the showing.  
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Christa Pike, the Tennessee inmate convicted of murder, has regained consciousness from the botched attempt to execute her.
Shortly after news of Pike's resuscitation, Frank Strada, who resigned as prison warden soon after the failed execution, was allegedly offered a consulting role on vaccines and injections by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Just announcing this date will tell a story far into the future, like December 7th and 9/11. 

Tonight, we went to see The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, a documentary about October 7th. It's the rather amazing story of Noam Tibor, a retired Israeli general, living in Tel Aviv, armed only with a pistol and accompanied by his wife, who rushed to save his son and family in a besieged kibbutz abutting Gaza. For much of the movie, Tibor describes his mission as he retraces his path. 

For a valuable portion of the movie, we have to thank Hamas. A number of their participants live streamed their barbaric rampage, aiming at civilians at home, driving by or at the Nova music festival. Seeing the glee generated by the shooting up of modest residential dwellings, the execution of already wounded people and the tossing of grenades into huddled groups of concertgoers, I suspended my rachmones for the anticipated Gazan retaliatory victims. I'm only human, I guess. 
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I had two doctors' appointments, Dr. Ji for another shot in my back for pain relief and Dr. DeLuca to prepare for cataract surgery on my left eye. In between, I had lunch at Taco Mahal, 1109 Lexington Avenue, the third location in this venture attempting to fuse Indian and Mexican cuisines. It's a small place, brightly decorated in off-white and orange. You order at a counter and get served at one of six two-tops or two narrow ledges with two stools each. 

The results lean most heavily towards Asia over America. Rotis (pancakes) and naans (flatbreads) are wrapped around familiar dishes, such as saag paneer and lamb curry, and labelled tacos. I had the Taco Mahal Trio Special, chicken tikka masala on an onion naan, with a side of "Masala fries" and a bottle of Coke Zero, nominally for $24, I say nominally because a 20% tip was added on unasked.

The flavors were honest, not tamped down for hesitant tastes. Eight chunks of chicken in a spicy, creamy tomato sauce sat on a tasty, fresh onion naan. It proved quite filling, though not cheap.

Thursday, October 8, 2026
I went to Costco to get a pair of glasses for the interim period with one eye surgically repaired and the other not. It gave me the opportunity to get an all-beef, quarter-pound hot dog for $1.50 with all the Coke you can drink, well almost all, the Coke Zero fountain delivered seltzer only, no syrup.
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Cousins of cousins Barbara & Bernie's return to the Left Coast has been delayed sufficiently to have one last meal with us. We went to L'Incontro By Rocco, 1572 Second Avenue, once simply L'Incontro in Astoria. The 82-seat dining room was crowded, noisy without being uncomfortable and decorated just short of the point of being garish. The food was predictably good, the service attentive.

I had Vongole a Modo Nostro, stuffed clams, 4 for me, 2 for Bernie ($22) and Rigatoni al Ragu di Vitello, a large portion of al dente pasta with veal ragu ($28). Since I drove, I stuck to sparkling water. 

Friday, October 9, 2026
I paid a visit to Tom Terrific in his 43rd floor aerie overlooking the Hudson River where he is recovering from hip surgery. I mean surgery on his hip, not cool and groovy surgery.


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Saturday, October 3, 2026

Far Above Cayuga's Waters

Saturday, September 27, 2026
When I was in college well over 60 years ago, I worked Saturdays at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in its magisterial law library. The reading room contained countless thousands of volumes within the attorneys' reach. My job, with other guys, was to fetch books from several floors of closed stacks. That was the state of legal research until 1973 when Lexis was introduced, followed by Westlaw in 1975, computerized search engines eventually having access to almost any legally relevant document anywhere. By 1998, when I went to law school, these were mature and highly efficient products that had revolutionized legal research. What I knew, though, from my business dealings, was that legal fees had risen steadily, billing by the hour replacing "For services rendered," the sort of gentlemen's agreement that had widely prevailed. Even as the time to do critical legal research shrunk dramatically, the client's cost to have it done seemed to jump geometrically.  

Now, the New York Times reports that AI is having this same counterintuitive economic effect.

Less (human activity) is more (expensive). Go figure.

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We went to lunch at Butch and Toby's, in the sukkah that Butch has been proudly erecting for more than 50 years. While there was no rain while we were there, a major storm had left things damp enough that we sought comfort indoors. We were not only comfortable, but well fed. Toby made apple/butternut squash soup, a green salad with tangerines and slivered almonds, roasted salmon, haricot verts (green beans with a passport) and chocolate chip cookies.

Sunday, September 27, 2026 
We have been watching the fifth season of Fauda on Netflix, the mostly fictionalized exploits of an Israeli commando team after October 7, 2023. However, episodes 6, 7 and 8 offer a view of the events of October 7th as Hamas attacked civilian and military targets inside Israel. I remember thinking back then that Hamas had scored an immediate tactical victory, only to expose itself and all of Gaza to violent retribution. Could it be worth it? 

Whether or not Hamas's leadership planned it, Israel stands largely defeated today in the aftermath of October 7th in spite of or maybe because of disproportionate casualty figures. Admiration by governments and populations has been replaced by skepticism and aloofness; toleration by other governments and populations has been replaced by scorn and opposition. The peace and security of diaspora Jews have been collateral damage. 

Tuesday, September 29, 2026
I had a session with my new physical therapist this morning. I took some time initially to explain that I am older and have a worldview rooted in many ways to events in the distant past. Additionally, I explained that I am prone to draw on cultural references from another time. That led, of course, to Charlie Chan and what going to the movies was like back then. You went to a double feature and entered at your convenience, not regarding starting times. You left when "this is where we came in," a phrase that proved useful on other occasions, but heard much less often now.
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In a hearing today intended to embarrass and compromise former special prosecutor Jack Smith, Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt accused Smith of perjury when Smith denied attending an Atlanta Hawks home game in February 2024. Schmitt then provided a blow up of text messages from Smith's colleagues discussing the basketball game and labelled him a "dirtbag"!!! It took Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar to explain that Smith attended a game at the University of Maryland on the date in question when the University of Iowa "Hawkeyes" were the visiting team.

Bags of dirt may be sent to The Honorable Eric Schmitt, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510. 
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Hey, single guys, Kristi Noem, the sharpshooting former Secretary of Homeland Security, is getting divorced.

Wednesday, September 30, 2026
The handling of a rape case at Cornell University has aroused a lot of indignation. A couple of male students were expelled and several others disciplined in unspecified ways. No criminal charges were filed. The local district attorney seemed ineffectual, relying on university supplied evidence. However, our legislature is much to blame. It has failed to amend the governing statute, accurately paraphrased by the New York Times. "The way the [New York rape] law is written now, people who were voluntarily intoxicated cannot claim they were mentally incapacitated during an assault, unless they can show they were physically helpless. This means that they had to be unconscious or physically unable to communicate consent at the time of the act."

In this case, the female student victim was given beer, marijuana, rum and ketamine. She claimed to have been pressured, but not necessarily forced, to ingest them. No matter how her behavior is characterized, though, her impaired condition was evident and any exploitation of it warrants legal punishment.
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Once inside Westway Diner, 614 Ninth Avenue, you can easily forget that you are in midtown Manhattan and imagine that you have just pulled off Route 46 near Totowa, New Jersey. As Stony Brook Steve, Terrific Tom and I observed, Westway has the thick, plastic-coated menu, all-day breakfast, display of layer cakes too good to eat, and choice of any food that can fit in a microwave oven essential to a roadside diner. 

I had the Lamb Dip, sliced leg of lamb, melted mozzarella, au jus on toasted garlic bread with French fries ($17.99, $18.57 on credit card). The cheese was good, the bread was good, the French fries were good. The lamb, however, seemed to have missed even qualifying for the halal carts found on midtown street corners. Next time, I'll go for the vegetarian version.

Thursday, October 1, 2026
Happy Birthday to Susan and Moshe, otherwise unconnected.
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Madam and I went to hear Patti LuPone in concert, a program titled A Life in Notes. It was wonderful. She was accompanied by a pianist and a fellow on stringed instruments, violin, mandolin, guitar. The audience was interesting, definitely appearing to be a deserving Social Security crowd, yet able to jump to its feet several times for standing ovations, a feat exceeding my physical limitations.

Friday, October 2, 2026
When I first read about the Cornell rape scandal online, I thought that the story would come and go in a flash as often happens. I forwarded what I read to two friends, both proud Cornell alumni, one also the mother of a current student there, the other also a father of a graduate, thinking that they might miss it.

Instead, it has become a major story. Today's New York Times devotes more than two whole pages to it, beginning on the front page above the fold. "In direct and sometimes angry remarks, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Friday questioned how Cornell University’s police department and the local district attorney handled sexual assault allegations made by a former student, who said she had been raped at a fraternity house in 2024."

What will change in a country governed by a convicted sexual predator?
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Saturday, September 26, 2026

Trigger Warning


September 19, 2026
I went to synagogue services today, usually considered a slow day in the worship business, because it falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, akin to the gap between the conference championship and the Super Bowl. I went for two reasons, my lovely wife was going to make a presentation and it was the anniversary on the Jewish calendar of my mother's death, her Yahrzeit (literally year time), beginning at sundown tonight.

My wife spoke about Connie Goldfarb, a towering figure though standing barely over five feet tall. Connie emerged from the very insular Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community to get a doctorate and teach college, when most of her peers were limited to a high school education. We knew her as an accomplished and articulate woman as well as a caring wife, mother and grandmother.
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Time Out has identified the alleged 40 coolest neighborhoods in the world, "selected by its global network of local editors and experts." https://www.timeout.com/about/latest-news/seouls-jongno-3-ga-named-the-coolest-neighbourhood-in-the-world-by-time-out-091526

Now, I believe that it is perfectly reasonable for you to assert that wherever you live is a cool neighborhood, a crucial factor in choosing to live there, and the expertise of the experts may be measured by their agreement with your opinion. While I lack the experience to dispute the choice of Seoul’s Jongno 3-ga as the coolest neighborhood in the world, I know that the "network of local editors and experts" needs to get out more and discover parts of the Holy Land that they obviously overlooked. The best that we can do, according to them, is the Financial District (Wall Street and environs) at #28, considerably lagging Chinatown Los Angeles #4 and West Town Chicago #18 on the domestic front. Without even bothering to name them out loud, there are so many local neighborhoods that should pepper this list, attracting more than struggling starlets and stand-up comedians.

Sunday, September 20, 2026
Our household subscribes to the New York Times, giving us digital access and the daily printed newspaper. As I noted before, the occasionally long gap between seeing an article online and its appearance in print can be disorienting. When a week intervenes, as it sometimes does, I lose confidence in the space-time continuum.

An important article appeared online today, "In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?"

It will be printed in the magazine section of September 27th. A reporter discusses the choice that she and her husband, a prosperous Black couple, made concerning their daughter's education.  They consciously avoided racially integrated schools with a socioeconomic profile closer to their own, staying with neighborhood Brooklyn schools, mostly low income and Black, with recognized deficiencies. They felt that their presence and values might, to some degree, elevate the environment and advance the quest for educational equality. 

Read the article one way or the other and consider our seriously flawed public education system. 

Monday, September 21, 2026
Benjamin Moser has written Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History, discussing the often-overlooked history of Jewish anti-Zionism, a position that he has adopted. I haven't read the book, but I saw his interesting observation on how American Jews traditionally viewed Israel: “Israel was like a hospital or a university or a park, and I think that most Jewish-Americans looked at Israel with the same kind of benevolence with which they might view a dog shelter or a food bank: which is to say that they were happy it existed, willing to help, grateful for a brief tour, but not overly interested in its inner workings.”  

Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Speaking of Israel, an article in the New York Times about the feud between Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani contained such a stupid statement that I quickly wrote a letter to the editor, never to be published.
"You write that 'there have been no riots targeting Jewish New Yorkers in the city since Mr. Mamdani was elected mayor in November.'

This contrasts with which American city?"

Upon reflection, I might have also noted that there have been no elephant stampedes in the city since Mr. Mamdani was elected mayor in November. 

Wednesday, September 23, 2026
The New York Times asks "Is this the busiest restaurant in America?" It looks for the answer in a recent article in the Houston Chronicle. Aga’s is No. 1 in the world for Uber Eats orders

Aga's Restaurant & Catering, 11842 Wilcrest Drive, Houston, Texas, with seating for over 700 people, "has the most Uber Eats orders of any single-location restaurant in the world." For what it's worth, Palak Paneer, cubed cottage cheese in pureed spinach, often my dinner date's first choice, is $14.99, while I like Goat Biryani (lamb not offered), spiced meat, slow cooked in rice for $17.99. These prices are about 10-30% less than what I am used to paying.  

Thursday, September 24, 2026
Here is an illustration of the changing face of American employment.

In the crudest terms, we have gone from a nation of makers to a nation of caretakers.
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I parked my car around the corner from Milano Market, 1582 Third Avenue, so I would have a place to eat my sandwich. Otherwise, I would have to rent a place in the neighborhood or schlep a chair to East 89th Street. A reasonable effort would be justified. They make a nice sandwich, but offer no seating.

I had eye of round roast on a freshly-baked 6" semolina roll with horseradish mayonnaise ($15.95, credit card 3% more). The meat was one inch thick throughout the sandwich, I am pleased to report. It took some twisting and turning in the driver's seat, however, to avoid all but a few crumbs as I bit into the crunchy bread. Mission accomplished.

Friday, September 25, 2026
We are in the middle of Sukkot, one of the string of Jewish holidays at this time of year, giving us two days a week off, that eased our transition from summer vacation back to school.

A special treat for the Upper West Side's Power Couple regularly at Sukkot is the festive meal prepared by Aunt Judi. Her mastery of Kosher cuisine is legendary. The menu tonight was zucchini mushroom soup with matzoh balls and meatballs; coleslaw; brisket in brown gravy; corn flake chicken schnitzel; pargiyot (grilled marinated chicken thighs); brown rice with onions, scallions and dates; cauliflower soufflé; apple crisp; chocolate chip cookies; pareve ice cream (homemade [come on, everything is homemade]). Lots of wine, including a delightful Goose Bay (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc, Perrier and Coke Zero. All of this was consumed in the outdoor sukkah (temporary shelter evocative of the time spent in Sinai) before the threatened storm reached the metropolitan area.







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Saturday, September 19, 2026

Brave New Year

Sunday, September 13, 2026
Just as the Jewish New Year period was coming to an end, sundown Friday to sundown Sunday, we got a surprise gift here at Palazzo di Gotthelf, the freezer portion of our refrigerator stopped working, defrosting its contents and leaving puddles of water. Whether a minor repair or a major replacement is needed can only be determined tomorrow morning. 

This evening, I identified a credible replacement appliance, if needed. I spotted some possible vendors as well, but I will be missing the initial household excitement tomorrow morning because I will be having some personal excitement — cataract surgery on my right eye. 
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By the way, I am well aware that not all of you dear readers are Jewish. So, while we often-chosen-for-the-wrong-reason people contemplate our coming year, I want to offer the rest of you some spiritual support.


Monday, September 14, 2026
I was up and out early to have my cataract surgery. It went well as far as I can tell with one eye completely bandaged.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the first miracle of 5787 seems to have occurred. The freezer compartment of our refrigerator, emptied of everything and wiped dry, resumed normal operations on its own. Just as we were preparing to place a rush order for a replacement, an ice cube tray left behind froze up normally.

My multi-talented young bride had rescued the defrosted beef and chicken by cooking it to be used in future meals. Now, it is watchful waiting even as I contemplate which ice cream I should purchase to restock my freezer.
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Well before I went to law school, I was interested in constitutional law. It was a small component of the introduction to American government class that I taught centuries ago. It is the critical glue to our ongoing experiment in democracy and I urge all of you to have command of some of the basic principles: case in controversy, standing to sue, the role of precedents.

A simple guideline to evaluating the opinions of the current Supreme Court is Alito is Wrong. Whenever the Court faces the opportunity to broaden democracy and narrow the control of selfish interests, Samuel Alito is a consistent opponent of progress. His opinions harken back to a history and morality of his own invention, independent of the lessons of our own past.
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By coincidence, with the arrival of 5787, Trader Joe’s reopened at 2073 Broadway, at the very busy intersection of West 72nd Street. It had been closed for four months to install new escalators and elevators for this entirely subterranean enterprise. Some of their products were so attractive that I would occasionally shop at their store at 670 Columbus Avenue at West 92nd Street or even 123 West 125th Street in the interim. Try the tangerine juice, 100% pure juice ($3.49/quart), if you need convincing.

Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Dr. DeLuca removed the bandages from my corrected right eye this morning. As my vision adapted to the new circumstances, I was able to find my way to Pastrami Queen, 1125 Lexington Avenue, to meet Michael Ratner for lunch.

We were able to benefit from the Twin Tuesday special, pastrami and corned beef each on a dinner roll, coleslaw, pickles and a small order of French fries, for $22.95. Additionally, I had a 10% off coupon as a regular customer. This was an excellent start for my corrected vision.

Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Our youngest grandchild had her Bat Mitzvah earlier this year. Her older brother recently graduated high school and is in Israel for a gap year before college. Allison and Will have been married for 10 years, Irit and David for 22 years. This means that there is no anticipated major lifecycle celebration on our calendar for the foreseeable future. Our progeny, therefore, are unable to benefit from the largesse of Umar Kremlev, a regular attendee at Vladimir Putin’s gin rummy games.

Kremlev, who recently paid for a substantial part of Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding festivities, seems eager to show Americans how to have a good time. He has established the Russo-American Bureau of Hotcha Happenings to handle applications and coordinate events. My lovely wife and I await word whether a public renewal of our wedding vows will qualify for Mr. Kremlev’s generosity.
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A couple of weeks ago, to satisfy my curiosity, I did a simple poll of likely Democratic voters of my acquaintance. I asked their personal preference for the 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and their prediction as to the candidate. The preferences were scattered mostly among Andy Beshear, Kentucky Governor; Mark Kelly, Arizona Senator; Gavin Newsom, California Governor; Jon Ossoff, Georgia Senator and Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania Governor. Several people, Jewish people, explicitly rejected Jewish candidates: Rahm Emmanuel, former Chicago Mayor; Ossoff; JB Pritzker, Illinois Governor and Shapiro. No women seemed to want a woman either.

The predictions were much narrower, Beshear and Newsom named most frequently.

Thursday, September 17, 2026
The Thai restaurant that we picked for dinner before the theater was too crowded. So, we went down the block to Yum Yum Too, 652 Ninth Avenue, where we were immediately seated. 

The menu was pretty conventional and we didn't order much. We both had noodle dishes, Madam had Pad Thai with vegetables, stir-fried rice noodles, egg, tofu, peanut, beansprouts and scallions ($21) and I had Pad Woonsem with beef, stir-fried glass noodles, egg, scallions, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, dull nevertheless ($17).
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School Girls, or the African Mean Girls Play, written by Jocelyn Bioh from a Ghanaian family, is a revival from 2017. It is set in a Ghanaian girls school where the Queen Bee feels threatened by the arrival of a new student who is richer and paler. Combining melodrama and comedy (America's White Castles are thought of as palaces of privilege), it addresses colorism, status and the Eurocentric standards of beauty. However, these legacies of colonialism seem readily adopted by these young people 30 years after Ghana's independence.

Friday, September 18, 2026

This illustrates the budget for football at America's leading (football) schools. CCNY, my alma mater does not appear; it hasn't had a football team since 1950. It's just that I like the colors.

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Friday, September 11, 2026

How Time Flies

Saturday, September 5, 2026
Mama’s TOO, 2750 Broadway, is extremely popular, having placed near the top of many local best pizza lists. When I walked in at 2:30 this afternoon it was jammed with kids young enough, but not interesting enough, to be my grandchildren. There is no seating for customers, just room to lurk.

Most of their pies are cut in squares, what we call Sicilian style, others Detroit. However, I had a wedge slice, “Uncle Joe’s” a special for the day, with pepperoni, whipped ricotta, pesto and plum tomatoes. Adding a 20 oz. bottle of Coke Zero came to $11, a formidable amount, too much by at least a couple of bucks. By the way, while I doubt that the pizza was named for Joseph Stalin, no one was able to explain the nomenclature.
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 In an essay in advance of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Paul Goldberger, architectural critic, writes: “You can destroy something in an instant, but it will take a generation to rebuild it, and even then it cannot ever be the same.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/opinion/ground-zero-world-trade-center-rebuilding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Although he is referring to physical structures, this wise observation applies to human relationships as well.

Sunday, September 6, 2026
We had brunch with David and Julie Sandler Friedman today, two of the best people around, at Casa Carmen, 5 West 21st Street. This Mexican restaurant evokes a comfortable hacienda, with pinkish beige adobe walls and exposed wood beams.

We shared Trio de Quesadillas filled with Oaxaca cheese, sautéed mushrooms, poblano peppers, zucchini blossoms, just delicious ($19). I had “Enfrijoladas de huevo a la Mexicana,” Mexican scrambled eggs, black bean sauce, crema, Cotija cheese ($21). For better or worse, we all skipped alcoholic drinks although Carmen makes powerful fruity margaritas. On the other hand, I got a parking space right in front of the door.
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This study answers the question How Climate Resilient Are the World’s Largest Cities? https://alphageo.ai/how-climate-resilient-are-the-worlds-largest-cities/

Risks and preparedness are assessed. Some places are more naturally prone to threats making the quality of planning critical. Finding Chicago at the top is understandable, no hurricanes, no forest fires, no earthquakes. In contrast are Ahmedabad, India and Hyderabad, India, at the bottom of the list, facing extreme heat and flooding for months at a time. Addis Ababa follows Chicago, something that I would never guess. Alexa tells me that it "enjoys a calm subtropical climate . . . year round thanks to its elevation." By the way, if you are considering buying property in Addis Ababa, don't be put off by prices in the millions. One Ethiopian birr is worth about 0.0062 U.S. dollar.

Monday, September 7, 2026
Susan Sarandon is a fine actress; regard her work in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She is also a committed advocate for Palestinians and is blaming Zionist forces for impinging on her career as a result. https://www.timesofisrael.com/blaming-zionists-susan-sarandon-says-shes-still-losing-film-roles-over-gaza-stance/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2026-09-07&utm_medium=email

My question is if it's okay to boycott a country's film industry (I "pledge not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions" https://www.avclub.com/israeli-film-institution-boycott), is it okay to boycott one film star?
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"Deny everything; apologize for nothing. Hog the spotlight. Counterattack, counterpunch, countersue. Always declare victory, even when you lose (especially when you lose). Resentment sells. Nativism sells. Cruelty, if not yet normal, becomes the norm. Rules and traditions are for suckers; everyone is, if not corrupt, at least corruptible.These are President Trump’s instincts, yes. But before they were his, they were Roy Cohn’s." From Carlos Lozada's review of a new biography of Roy Cohn. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/opinion/roy-cohn-kai-bird-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1._VA.GAfY.xIWfddhpRpDP&smid=url-share

Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Barbara & Bernie, cousins of cousins, will soon be returning to California for the Fall and Winter seasons, so tonight was our last supper in the Holy Land. We went to Crave Fishbar, 945 Second Avenue, and had an excellent meal and a very good parking space. We assembled an assortment of appetizers, side dishes and salads with complete success: Italian Burrata, creamy cheese, date-blood orange jam, pickled red onion, pistachio, grilled sourdough ($20); Tri-Color Crudo, seared tuna, Faroe Island salmon, yellowtail over Greek lemon parsley sauce ($22); grilled fish tacos, ancho chili espresso dusted sea bass, black bean puree, chipotle crema, cabbage slaw (four for $36); rice dusted Point Judith calamari, Thai miso sauce, mung bean sprouts, aleppo chile ($22); garlic chive griddled rice with snap peas and egg ($11).

A Van Leeuwen ice cream shop was nearby to finish the evening. I had one scoop of "Bigface Coffee Affogato" with hot fudge at no extra charge on Topping Tuesday ($7.95). We had to sleep well after all this.

Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Haunted houses are often windswept, isolated mansions. If you spend enough time in a local neighborhood, you might discover a commercial site that seems haunted in spite of its benign appearance. 208 West 70th Street fits that picture. I found evidence of six previous restaurants at that location, four of which we ate at before they closed. In fact, our great friend, that fabulous gentleman, Dean Alfange dined with us on Friday the 13th, 2020 at Tavola Della Nonna (our grandma's table) two days before the Covid shutdown. Unfortunately, grandma had her grand opening on February 3, 2020. The space lay idle for over six years. 

Wu's Dynasty had its soft opening on September 3rd on this site. The Boyz Club came for lunch today. The interior has been completely renovated, creating a big, open space with tasteful Chinese touches. A bit old school were the big tanks in the front window where lobsters, crabs and fish resided unaware of their pending fate.

The place was nearly full at lunchtime and service was smooth. It has a conventional Cantonese menu, no Peking duck, hot pot or cumin lamb. Carts circulate with a variety of dim sum, although not carrying as many as listed on their menu which could presumably be ordered directly. We only had dim sum, 12 dishes. The quality was generally B while the unit prices were A to my Chinatown trained eyes. We spent $31 each, some of it on real estate.

With the exception of Shun Lee West, 43 West 65th Street, there is no other “nice” Chinese restaurant on the Upper West Side and that might help Wu overcome the jinxed location.

Thursday, September 10, 2026
I skipped reading most of the newspaper this morning in order to get to a medical appointment. As it turned out, I could have dawdled another hour until I heard my name called. When I got to the newspaper late in the afternoon, it finished a story that I began on July 24th with a death notice for William Ciporen, someone I never met. However, I taught with Fred Ciporen in 1967-68 and Fred was listed as William’s brother.

I went to the funeral home on July 26th hoping to reunite with Fred, a very bright and witty fellow. I gave Fred’s son my card when he told me that his father was too ill to attend. I never heard from Fred in the next six weeks. Today, I read Fred’s death notice. He left teaching and had a very successful career in publishing. His funeral was this morning while I sat in the doctor’s office. 

Friday, September 11, 2026
As the anniversary of 9/11 continues through the day, Rosh haShana begins at sundown, the Jewish new year 5787. 

My sort of gift to myself were two shots in the tuchus yesterday to relieve hip and leg pain. I will search the prayer books over the weekend for the proper liturgical support. Accordingly, I will stay away from a keyboard for two days and release this contribution to the progress of civilization late this afternoon.
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