Monday, October 5, 2020
The Holy Land has been experiencing a stretch of very pleasant weather, mild temperatures, dry, bright skies. Saturday, we took a walk with Judy and Roger P. to enjoy these conditions, agreeing to meet by Central Park. Cheekily, I suggested our attire as "business casual." Judy replied, "excuse me…in honor of LEAVING THE APT…we will be in black tie."
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Is there a group rate for Republican politicians under Obamacare?
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The real estate section had an interesting list of cities where buildings are being repurposed into residences. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/realestate/converting-factories-into-homes.html
A look through the 2010s shows that most of the traditional big cities (those that had people not cows before WWII), have created thousands of apartments from factories, hotels and office buildings fallen into disuse. Chicago leads in actual conversions, while New York produced the most new units. My first apartment here after returning from the Left Coast was in a building that had been repurposed from commercial operations, including a paint factory, in 1979.
I was my apartment's second occupant, staying then for 23 years. It was a great apartment, less than one block from the United Nations. Ceilings were 12-14 feet, allowing a sleeping loft that did not intrude on the floor space. Other attractions were distinguished fellow tenants, including Irene Cara, star of "Fame," Barry Beck, captain of the New York Rangers, and Ed Kranepool, recently retired from the New York Mets. Only the lure of marriage to America's Favorite Epidemiologist got me out of there.
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In graduate school, I became very friendly with a Jesuit priest, a fellow student. My research into the Catholic Worker movement also exposed me to some important (then) contemporary Catholic thinkers. Even if this nice Jewish boy never benefitted from these experiences, I would be indignant about the conduct of John I. Jenkins, University of Notre Dame President, a Catholic priest with a doctorate of philosophy from Oxford University. While it made perfect sense for him to attend the White House ceremony announcing the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, Notre Dame Law School graduate and former faculty member, going without a mask was reckless or worse. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/05/reverend-john-jenkins-u-notre-dame-president-has-covid-19
In less than one week, he announced that he had contracted Covid-19. What a shame that the highly-educated president of one of the nation's leading universities acted no better than the camp followers crowded into the White House Rose Garden. Of the 150 people attending, only a few showed proper regard for their own heath and the health of those around them by wearing masks. Did the good padre miss that page in the New Testament?
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
My brilliant friend Mark D. emigrated from Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1993. He is now a Silicon Valley executive. He recently told me that his company sent him to a series of meetings in Israel, his first and only trip there. In spite of a busy schedule, he went off to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. What startled him and gave him pause for the first time as a Jew in America was a copy on display of the Oath of Loyalty for All [German] State Officials instituted on August 20, 1934: “I swear I will be true and obedient to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, observe the law, and conscientiously fulfill the duties of my office, so help me God." This applied to judges, as well as civil servants generally, and that's what frightened Mark.
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The Nobel Prize in Medicine 2020 was awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus. President Donald J. Trump was reportedly undisturbed at being overlooked for this prestigious award, given to one British and two American scientists, because he did not want it to detract from the luster of his anticipated Nobel Peace Prize. On the other hand, he seemed well-positioned for the award in medicine, because, on a visit to the Centers of Disease Control in Atlanta earlier this year, he commented “People are really surprised I understand this stuff. Every one of these doctors said: ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability.” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-healthcare-us-medicine-coronavirus-centers-disease-control-a9384441.html
Thursday, October 8, 2020
3 Down - 44 years?
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"And the Lord said to Moses: 'I have seen this people and behold! they are a stiff necked people.'" Admittedly, I don't take the Bible at its word, but Exodus 32:9 seems to have landed right in my lap, actually right in my neck. Sunday, I woke up with a stiff neck that remains with me. Prudently, I had an examination this afternoon telepathically, televisionally, telecommunicationally, telemedicinally and the pain in the neck was diagnosed as a pain in the neck. Besides the continuing discomfort, this ailment limits me to only expressing agreement by nodding painlessly. Sharp pain prevents any attempt to shake my head in disagreement, on the other hand. So, get your plea in now.
Friday, October 9, 2020
In another rigged election, the World Food Program was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize today, a recognition of the critical work by the United Nations agency to battle hunger around the world, especially as the coronavirus pandemic has brought a global spike in poverty.
The president's reaction was swift and firm. He ordered Attorney General William Barr to investigate Alfred Nobel, the source of the prize. Trump said that "many people believe that he is a friend of George Soros." He reminded the press that his predecessor Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize even while planning to investigate the Trump presidential campaign years later, a disgrace, very sad.
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Answer - OBAMAERA
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