Don't You Rhyme With Me

Monday, December 9, 2019

My favored candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination was Kamala Harris.  I envisioned her shredding President Lump on the debate stage and I am disappointed that she will not have the opportunity.  I am also almost equally disappointed how quickly some folks resorted to identity politics to explain her lack of success.   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/us/politics/kamala-harris-black-women.html

 

There is no evidence that her candidacy failed because of race.  There is no evidence that her candidacy failed because of gender.  There have only been fact-free contentions that she could not succeed because of the ingrained misogyny and racism of our society.  Yes, misogyny and racism corrupt our public and private lives in myriad ways.  However, Hillary Clinton outpolled her opponent by almost 3 million votes and Barack Obama got more votes for the presidency than anyone else before or after. 

 

Kamala Harris's candidacy failed because she ran a lousy campaign.  Money dried up, endorsements dried up because her popular support dried up, not the other way around.  After her rollicking kickoff rally in Oakland and the riveting moment in the first debate picturing her being bused to school, she seemed to have little more to say that interested African Americans, women or the public at large.    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-happened-to-the-kamala-harris-campaign/

 

She struggled with her past image as a tough prosecutor and waffled on the central issue of health insurance.  Not gender, not race, but politics beat her.  

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It wasn't just politics that annoyed me this weekend.  On Saturday, I was unable to finish the crossword puzzle, leaving about 1/3 undone, a major defeat.  A critical factor was not recognizing CHIBA as a Japanese seaport and you want know why?  "It is the 14th most populated city in Japan."  Can you name the 14th most populated city in France?  How about Italy or England?  Are you kidding?  Oh, yes.  San Francisco, California.

http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/

Usually, I respect the New York Times as the newspaper of record, dubious crossword answers aside.  Its studied seriousness makes it hard to hard to ignore or refute.  However, as Boldness is my middle name, I venture forth to question its judgment in an area that I, too, have developed expertise -- cookies. 

Last week, it published "12 Stunning Cookies That Will Impress Everyone You Know."  https://nyti.ms/382kznM  Today, it explained how this project came to pass.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/reader-center/holiday-cookies.html

It claimed that it turned to the "Babe Ruth of Cookies" to conceive and develop the recipes.  Well, I'm sorry, but the Sultan of Sweets had a feeble batting average in this game.  Of the 12 cookies, only one is a real chocolate cookie, Gingery Brownie Crinkle Cookies, containing cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate pieces and bittersweet chocolate chips.  Another merely drizzles chocolate on the finished product, Peanut Shortbread with Honeycomb; one coats its thin cylinder shape with white, milk or dark chocolate, Homemade Pocky; one offers Nutella, the hazelnut cocoa spread, as an optional filling in its Thumbprint cookie.  This does not amount to a major league performance.

This great country was built on chocolate chip cookies and now, as so many of our institutions are being besieged, we must cherish what made us great.  Don't give up the chip!

. . .

The headline in print is "Warren Discloses $1.9 Million in Earnings as Consultant."  Gasp!  That shameless pseudo-progressive lining her pockets while the rest of us struggled.  One detail, though.  It took 30 years for her to earn this much, translating into $63,333 a year not quite a boondoggle when looked at that way.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

This afternoon, riding on the subway after lunch with Max the Wonder Boy Emeritus, I received a telephone call on my mobile telephone that I was unable to answer.  It originated in White Pigeon, Michigan, population 1,522 in the 2010 census. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Pigeon,_Michigan

While I don’t have Senator Lindsay Graham to attest to my veracity, I ask you to believe that I have no conscious connection to anyone or anything in White Pigeon, Michigan.  I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau's reaction to news that a new cross-country telegraph line had been installed: "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate."

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann on the president's  plan to identify Jews as a nation: "Jewish identity defined by a person who regularly engages in anti-Semitic tropes must be especially suspect."

. . .

Cindy Wilkinson, our favorite Steel Magnolia, submits this surprising bundle of information about the most expensive rental locations in the country.   https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/americas-most-expensive-zip-codes-2019/

The Holy Land dominates the list; Battery Park City, Tribeca and the grounds surrounding Palazzo di Gotthelf are in the top slots.  Only 4 of the 50 most expensive locations are not in New York or California. 

. . .

I admit to having trouble with year-end "Best of" lists.  Books, movies, television shows, recordings.  They basically add up to show how out of touch I am and remind me that I don't care very much about making up the deficits.  However, let's consider the list of the best local restaurant dishes.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/dining/best-restaurant-dishes-in-nyc-pete-wells.html  

Normally, specially recommended dishes are bound to evoke crowds, over-priced menus and long waits for reservations.  To the credit of Pete Wells, the New York Times restaurant critic, this list bends towards modest establishments, where your level of satisfaction might exceed the depletion of your wallet.  Bon appétit. 

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Frank Sinatra's 104th birthday.

. . .

Jared Jushner, noted problemsolver, has an op-ed in today's paper.  "In signing Wednesday’s executive order the president makes clear that such anti-Semitic hate isn’t to be tolerated at home, either, except in Charlottesville, Virginia."  Or something to that effect.

. . .

I am reading The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein, which argues that law and governmental policy supported the casual prejudice, self-selection and demographics which resulted in the segregation that we experience today, residentially, educationally and economically.  It is a companion to Ira Katznelson's When Affirmative Action Was White. 

Allow me to offer a telling quote from Rothstein.  "We don't hesitate to acknowledge that Jews in Eastern Europe were forced to live in ghettos where opportunity was limited and leaving was difficult or impossible.  Yet when we encounter similar neighborhoods in this country, we now delicately refer to them as the inner city, yet everyone knows what we mean.  (When affluent whites gentrify the same geographic areas, we don't characterize those whites as inner city families.)"

Friday, December 13, 2019

Harold Gotthelf's birthday < Frank Sinatra's. 

. . .

The British electorate has spoken.  Instead of merely making the United Kingdom unlivable for Jews, it will be unlivable for everyone.
. . .

"Clad in black suits, white shirts and black ties, hundreds of lawyers forced their way into the Lahore [Pakistan] cardiology hospital, smashing windows and damaging equipment."  In spite of or because of the arrival of the police, three patients died.  "Some of the lawyers involved in Wednesday’s attack said they were moved to act by a viral video by one of the doctors, who mocked and ridiculed them through reciting poetry and belittling remarks."  Don't go near those Pakistani lawyers with iambic pentameter.  They are tough dudes.