Monday, December 7, 2020
Lists of best of anything and everything appear at this time of year. I started to record these compilations two weeks ago with the year's best books according to the New York Times and the New York Public Library, but I soon realized that it was a fruitless or maybe too fruitful pursuit. For every best television show list from Time Out New York, expect one from The New Yorker. Do you want the best movies from The Guardian or the Wall Street Journal?
There will be best new restaurants, classical recordings, cookie recipes, stand-up comedy performances and so on. Even though it would be easier for me to track all this right now, spending almost all my time inside Palazzo di Gotthelf, I am unwilling to be limited to a role as a scrivener. I would like to think outside the box, although confined to it.
On the other hand, I can't resist, recognizing far and away the best book title of 2020, a biography of chef and cookbook author James Beard, "The Man Who Ate Too Much." Whether you read it or not, you want the cover of that book to be on display in your household.
. . .
Some people definitely think outside the box. "Just 27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Biden’s win, Washington Post survey finds." https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-who-won-election-republicans-congress/2020/12/04/1a1011f6-3650-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html
Part of me admires the stance of the Republicans; annoy the Democrats, keep them off balance. It's politics, after all. But, it doesn't stop there, unfortunately. "White supremacist extremists will remain the deadliest domestic terror threat to the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security's first annual homeland threat assessment," released October 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/white-supremacists-anarchists-dhs-homeland-threat-assessment/index.html
Smug Republican legislators may enjoy teasing the opposition, but, on the ground, repeated charges of rigging, cheating and fraud may be pushing buttons that will prove hard to unpush. Do I have a Republican friend who will claim to feel at ease amidst heavily-armed, agitated Michigan militia members?
As we approach Inauguration Day, the president continues to stir the paranoia pot vigorously. Last week, he sent 135 Twitter messages complaining about the election, while addressing the pandemic in just 4 messages, not quite living up to his job description. https://nyti.ms/36LYxXy
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Today is the long-awaited opening of Pastrami Queen, 138 West 72nd Street. The excitement increased last week, when a sign appeared in the window promising they would "Roll Back Prices to Our Earlier Days," a frankfurter with sauerkraut and mustard for $.99 and, most dramatically, pastrami on rye for $4.95 (normally $20 at their East Side location). That was good enough to get Stony Brook Steve and me to walk over at noon.
As we went along West 72nd Street, I counted 75 people waiting in line, in 35° temperature. We kept walking, of course, but here's a report from a more patient (??) friend.
I biked to the joint and got in line at the east end of the Citibank at 11:45. I reached the Queen’s door at 1:45 (yup, 2 hours) and placed my order—one pastrami promotion sandwich for Nancy, and a ½ lb of corned beef for Nancy’s father. I then waited indoors in the back, between rows of empty booths, until my name was called and I got the chow at 2:15.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Echoing what I wrote about on Monday, “As Trump Rails Against Loss, His Supporters Become More Threatening.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/politics/trump-election-challenges.html The article describes behavior that "even some Republicans say has become dangerous." How about some Law and Order?
. . .
I prefer corned beef to pastrami, but Pastrami Queen's inaugural promotional offer of a pastrami sandwich for $4.95 exerted a powerful magnetic force. In light of yesterday's crowd scene, I came up with a different strategy today. I set out at 5:45 P.M., figuring that a hefty sandwich would make a good dinner and few others would be foolish enough to come out on a cold night. Well, I was partly right. When I got to Pastrami Queen, only 7 people were waiting ahead of me. The only problem was the store's manager announcing that they had just run out of food and they were closing down for the day. I confirmed that they would be restocked and open tomorrow -- at regular prices.
. . .
Dealing with New York City's one million plus public school children during this pandemic is a problem that might defeat King Solomon. "New York’s issues with remote instruction begin with a lack of basic infrastructure for students learning from home. Many low-income students, including some living in homeless shelters, cannot even log on for classes because they still do not have devices or Wi-Fi. Educators also said they were scrambling to make lessons more engaging for students without much helpful guidance from the city. So while individual teachers and schools have honed creative strategies to improve online instruction, there is no clear citywide plan to do the same, leaving a patchwork system of learning across the city’s 1,800 schools." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/nyregion/ny-schools-reopening-inequality.html
It should follow that low-income (euphemism for minority) families would be eager to have their children in the classroom where equipment and planning would best serve them. Wrong. "There are nearly 12,000 more white children returning to public school buildings than Black students — even though there are many more Black students than white children in the system overall. Latino students are returning at a rate roughly proportional to their overall representation in the school system." Discuss and then explain to me, because I still don't understand the situation.
Thursday, December 9, 2020
Can you remember way back to 2012, when Mitt Romney was challenging Barack Obama? He claimed that "[t]here are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it." This was quickly characterized as "makers vs. takers." See, for instance https://www.deseret.com/2012/9/19/20506887/makers-takers-and-mitt-romney-s-47-percent-comment and https://www.economist.com/special-report/2012/10/11/makers-and-takers
In Mitt's case, enough makers joined the takers to limit his access to the White House to the guest entrance. Eight years later, the makers moved even further from the Republican presidential candidate. "Biden won 17% of the nation’s counties, but those counties account for 71% of U.S. gross domestic product."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-2020-election-deepened-americas-white-collar-blue-collar-split-11606219208While I don't expect that the makers will soon host a dinner in honor of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this time, they found a line that even a big tax cut couldn't get them to cross.
. . .
Last night's sojourn to Pastrami Queen was not a total failure. Before leaving the house, I took aim at the curse of wearing a mask outdoors, blinding me with fog on my glasses. One mask or two, cloth mask or paper mask, I can't proceed more than a few yards without having an opaque barrier before my eyes. I stop and wipe off my glasses a few times and then wind up holding them at arm's length while straining to discern what I am approaching or what is approaching me on the sidewalk.
At the suggestion of America's Favorite Epidemiologist, I taped the top of my mask to my face, using masking tape, what else? It worked. I saw every step of the way to not getting a bargain sandwich and back. Today, I bought surgical tape to do the job right; removing the masking tape, in fact, resembled a surgical procedure. On my walk to Barnes & Noble, 2289 Broadway, and back, with stops at Zabar's and Fairway, over 5,000 steps according to my (you'll pardon the expression) fitness tracker, everything was crystal clear. I didn't step into a pothole, stumble over a small animal, or bump into any object fixed or moveable. Now, I am ready for cold weather.
Friday, December 11, 2020
I promised to skip end of year lists at the end of this year, but there are some unique items that deserve recognition on their own. On the other hand, breaking a three decade tradition, the British editors of the Literary Review have suspended an annual contest to award the worst sex writing in the English language. They announced that 2020 was bad enough. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/books/bad-sex-fiction-award-canceled.html
. . .
The Republicans are a gift that keeps on giving. Now, they have redefined States' Rights, a beloved principle on the right, for their temporary convenience. State of Texas v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State of Georgia, State of Michigan and State of Wisconsin proposes that the State of Texas has the right to interfere in other states' elections. For the sake of brevity, it may be referred to as Texas vs. Democracy.
. . .
"Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, blocked the creation of Smithsonian museums honoring women and Latinos, warning they would worsen societal divides." https://nyti.ms/3qP1FtI
You are right, Senator Lee. If we don't tell them how they have been treated, they won't bother us.
. . .
Late news flashes
- Democracy Wins
- Indoor Dining Banned In NYC
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Lots to chew on...
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