Saturday, April 30, 2022
They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
I was reminded of this union organizing song from the 1930s when reading this morning's Forward.com. The Harvard Crimson endorsed the BDS movement, boycott, divest and sanction activities with Israel. https://forward.com/fast-
Pro-Palestinian students at Rutgers University harassed members of a Jewish fraternity. https://forward.com/fast-
Which side are you on?
. . .
The Upper West Side's Power Couple took a short vacation today. Acting like tourists, we spent three hours in or about Hudson Yards, an artificial neighborhood along the Hudson River in the 30s. It includes part of the High Line, new high-rise apartment buildings, a theater, a collection of luxury retail stores and the Vessel, a tall sculpture/fabrication that has proven an attractive venue for suicides.
We headed to Mercado Little Spain, 10 Hudson Yards (at West 30th Street), a collection of 12 or so restaurants, bars and kiosks offering Spanish food and drink. I didn't catch the name of what we ate, 3" x 4" stuffed rectangles of phyllo dough, one with tuna fish, one with spinach ($8). They were a bit pricey, but acceptable, unlike the can of Diet Coke at $3.75. From another kiosk, I bought churros, fluted donut sticks ($6), with hot chocolate syrup to dip in ($3.50), for our dessert. They were probably three times more expensive than what the little Mexican ladies in the subway sell them for, but we were on vacation.
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Today was L*I*F*E. Full of highs and lows, the ridiculous and the sublime. Let’s start at the bottom.
The leaked draft United States Supreme Court decision
overturning Roe v. Wade contains this amazingly specious comment: “the
Constitution makes no reference to abortion.” The Constitution makes no
reference to corporations, but for 150 years the United States Supreme
Court has offered them protections at least equal to those available to
mere human beings. Cf. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 US 310 (2010) and notably
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 573 US 682 (2014), holding that a corporation may have "have a sincere religious belief that life begins at conception . . . [and] object on religious grounds to providing health insurance that
covers methods of birth control."
I believe that there are principled grounds to oppose abortion, consistent with conscientious objection to military service and opposition to capital punishment. Dorothy Day and many of her followers in the Catholic Worker movement adhere to these views. However, I can think of no politician, prattling about the “right to life”, who comes close to such a world view. Indeed, as former Congressman Barney Frank famously said, conservative politicians believe that
“life begins at conception and ends at birth.”
https://quotes.yourdictionary.
For the rest of us, the attack on abortion amounts to a continued attempt to have women pay a price for sex. It's too good not to be sinful. By the way, the author of the Hobby Lobby opinion disadvantaging women happens to be the author of the leaked draft on abortion.
Now, we should go back to court with Ruth Bader Ginsburg's approach that "explicitly sex-based classifications" violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Whether or not a right to privacy can be found in the Constitution is irrelevant to "statute[s] that intolerably shackled a woman's autonomy."
. . .
Lunch with Terrific Tom at Tim Ho Wan, 610 Ninth Avenue, was a delight. We ordered in parallel, two of each: Baked BBQ Pork Bun, 3 pieces, the joint's deservedly signature dish ($7.50); Steamed Rice Roll stuffed with minced meat, 3 pieces, dull ($7.20); Deep Fried Spring Roll with Egg White and Shrimp, 2 pieces, excellent creation ($6.80). However, the price for all beverages, hot or cold, was outrageous. One can of Diet Coke was $4.50. It might as well have been filled at the Fountain of Youth.
The good solid food fueled us to go to Citi Field for a Mets doubleheader with the abominable Atlanta Braves. I can't begin to remember how many decades, generations even, since I sat through a doubleheader. Well, I did and the Mets won both games.
. . .
I returned home while the first playoff game between the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins continued on into three overtime periods, allowing me to watch the unexpected, unwarranted, unsightly loss by the Blueshirts a/k/a the New York Rangers.
By the way, the Blueshirts were also a paramilitary organization, founded in the Irish Free State in 1932. According to Wikipedia, "There has been considerable debate in Irish society over whether or not it is accurate to describe the Blueshirts as fascists." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Blueshirts also appeared in 1932 halfway around the world. “The Blue Shirts Society (藍衣社), also known as the Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People (Chinese: 三民主義力行社, commonly abbreviated as SPTPP), the Spirit Encouragement Society (勵志社, SES) and the China Reconstruction Society (中華復興社, CRS), was a secret ultranationalist faction that modeled [itself on] Italian fascists).” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/
What would we do without Wikipedia?
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Note to certain Supreme Court Justices who read the Constitution literally at their convenience. Omitted from mention are skateboards, peanut butter and toothbrushes, among other items familiar to the rest of us.
. . .
Every lunch is special, but today was even more special. Hank Sondheimer was here from Washington, D.C., for his medical school reunion and we rounded up his nephew John Mervin, Anglo-American media mogul, to join us at Baekjong, 1 East 32nd Street. Baekjong is a highly reputed Korean barbecue restaurant, with 12 tables embedded with grills. While it offers seafood omelets and japchae noodles, meat cooked at your table is what you sit down for.
We shared the small Beef Combo ($109.99), thin sliced brisket, marinated short rib and prime flat iron steak, all cooked in front of us. Eggs and a cheesy corn thing were cooked around the hot collar of the grill. The table was also covered with ten small stainless steel bowls, containing kim chi-flavored tofu, cabbage, cucumber and potato and other spiced and marinated vegetables and two green salads. We ended with Beef Brisket Soybean Paste Stew, a peppery goulash. A proper lunch, wouldn't you say?
Friday, May 6, 2022
While I normally direct folks to Chinatown for first-rate Chinese food, Midtown has provided two excellent lunches this week, Tim Ho Wan, 610 Ninth Avenue, on Tuesday with Terrific Tom, and AweSum DimSum, 612 Eighth Avenue, today with Susan Beckerman. Susan is an accomplished and generous woman, who has successfully tamed the wolves of Wall Street among other animals.
We ate well in this bright, airy, very casual joint decorated in pale wood. We ordered in two waves, first Special Chicken Siu Mai ($6.75 for 4 pieces); soup dumplings, very small ($7.75 for 4 pieces); scallion pancake, thin, small diameter ($4.50); pan fried bun with cabbage, pork, shrimp and mushroom ($4.50 for 2 pieces. Round two: baked BBQ pork bun, the only disappointment, very little filling ($5.50 for 2 pieces); crispy shrimp roll, outstanding, lacy wrapper ($6.75 for 2 pieces); vegetarian dumpling ($5.75 for 4 pieces). Everything was quite good except as noted. Also, everything came in an even number of pieces (the scallion pancake in quarters), allowing a fair distribution, eliminating the "No, you take that."
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