2020 Vision

Monday, December 30, 2019

To help close this year and the decade (counting January 1, 2020 as the start of a new decade), the New York Times gathered a handy collection of "scammers, conspiracy theories and fake news."  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/27/opinion/sunday/fake-news-decade.html

Indeed, our regression towards the mean, intellectually and morally, is amply demonstrated by Donald Trump, Lance Armstrong, Jeffrey Epstein, "pizzagate", Jussie Smollett, the college admissions scandal and the Fyre Festival, among other examples.  If I had an intern, I would assign [pronoun of choice] to compare our aughts to prior decades.  We'd be hard to beat.
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A political science professor has just sliced and diced some survey data to examine the attitudes of white evangelicals on immigration and abortion.  https://religioninpublic.blog/2019/12/26/just-how-far-are-white-evangelicals-out-of-the-mainstream-a-case-study-of-immigration-and-abortion/

He concludes that "white evangelicals hold to positions [on immigration] that are very much at odds with the average American and hope to isolate America from the rest of the world."  As one who has occasionally considered founding his own religion, I am interested in the theological angle here.  These are Christians, after all, extremely devoted Christians or so they profess.  Yet, they approach immigration and immigrants with a harshness to fellow humans in stark contrast to the teachings of their Guy.  See Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7.
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The New York Times on-line often provides interesting graphics to help tell a story.  Today, it is the decade's dramatic growth of residential and industrial development as seen from above by satellite imagery.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/27/upshot/america-from-above.html

I oohed and aahed two weeks ago as I observed the changes in scenery at eye level, while walking a mile in Manhattan with grandnephew Benjamin Gonzalez.  This article gives a bird's-eye view of square miles, from empty lots, forest groves or broad pastures to densely-packed communities.  At the same time, we have a political system that rewards space that remains empty.

Tuesday, December 31. 2019

I got married 47 years ago today.  The wedding was lovely, the marriage wasn't. 
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I left the premises today for the first time in a week.  Even though my cold lingers on, I was driven by necessity.  We were down to our last chocolate-covered pretzel and the forthcoming holiday promised to delay a successful replenishment effort.  Fortunately, I encountered no one that I know on my venture outside, so I did not have to give a jovial false answer to the polite inquiry, "How are you?"

Wednesday, January 1, 2020
I just finished reading The City Game by Matthew Goodman, a somewhat breathless account of a singular occurrence in American sports -- one college basketball team winning the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in the same year.  It happened in 1950 to City College of New York (CCNY), almost a decade before I got there.

It's a remarkable story for many reasons.  Admission to the college was strictly by high school grades and admission test, although numbers were jiggled.  The team consisted solely of Jews and African Americans.  When CCNY faced the University of Kentucky in the NIT, it started 3 African Americans against a school that barred them under state law; the result 89-50, CCNY.  Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois was the runner up each time. 

All starters during the championship season were taking money from gamblers to shave points, arriving at favorable final scores.  They were arrested, along with two reserves; all pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge.  Five were given suspended sentences, but two were sentenced to six months in prison.  Separately, six were barred from returning to CCNY, one having graduated.  Several years later, "Cool Buell" Gallagher, who became college president after the scandal, allowed readmission. 

Players also from Long Island University, New York University, St. John's University, Manhattan College, Toledo University, University of Kentucky and Bradley University were eventually implicated, several going to jail.  However, no one from St. John's was every punished because of recognized connections between the school, police brass and the district attorney's office, facilitated by the local hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.

The college basketball scandal was only part of a huge gambling operation that was protected by the New York City Police Department throughout its ranks.  All criminal charges against cops were dismissed and there was no follow up to sworn testimony that the Police Commissioner, the Chief Inspector and the Chief of Detectives took bribes.

The NIT and NCAA tournament were subsequently scheduled to coincide, so that no team could appear in both, leaving CCNY with the singular distinction of dual victories.  Madison Square Garden, which was CCNY's home court for most of its games and the site of the championships, banned it from returning.  CCNY now is a NCAA Division III team, with a record as of this writing of 0-10.   

Thursday, January 2, 2010

The first mail of the new year brought an unusual item.  The statement of my Citi Premier World Elite Mastercard contained a charge of $729.74 from "GEICO *AUTO."  However, I am not now and never have been a GEICO customer.  Over the many years, I have had credit cards hacked a few times, once a mattress illegally purchased in New Jersey, another time some camera equipment.  But, how can you charge automobile insurance and expect to get away with it?

I've notified the bank; the charge has been suspended and an investigation commenced.  I want to know how this story ends.

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Still doing some coughing, schpritzing, hocking, sneezing, I ventured out in the new year to hear retired University of California historian Irwin Wall discuss the Jewish side of Albert Einstein, the third of four related lectures at West End Synagogue.  Not unlike Freud, Einstein eschewed any connection to Judaism as a religion, but they differed on Zionism.  While they both felt the sting of anti-Semitism, only Einstein considered a Jewish homeland as a needed haven, "ever since I became fully aware of our precarious situation among the nations of the world.”  His empathy produced, after the death of Chaim Weizmann, an offer to become president of Israel, which he diplomatically refused.  

Freud was more aloof from the concept of a Jewish state, partially because of a realistic appraisal of the likelihood of success: "I do not think that Palestine could ever become a Jewish state, nor that the Christian and Islamic worlds would ever be prepared to have their holy places under Jewish care.  It would have seemed more sensible to me to establish a Jewish homeland on a less historically-burdened land."

Professor Wall, as usual, was lucid and erudite.  It was worth getting out of bed.  His next and final talk on Franz Kafka will be on Wednesday evening, January 15th, 7 PM, at West End Synagogue, 190 Amsterdam Avenue.