Is Anything Alright?

Saturday, June 18, 2022 

There’s catholic and then there’s Catholic.  A bishop has ordered a school in Massachusetts to remove Catholic from its name, because of its expressions of racial and gender inclusivity.  https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/16/us/massachusetts-middle-school-bishop-statements/index.html

Apparently, the universality of Catholicism ends at the Worcester city limits.

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According to a profile in The New Yorker, Yoko Ono organized a series of concerts and performances in 1961 in a downtown Manhattan loft.

“At some sessions, Ono herself ‘performed’ art works.  One consisted of mounting a piece of paper on the wall, opening the refrigerator and taking out food, such as Jell-O, and throwing it against the paper.  At the end, she set the paper on fire.”  Ars gratia artis.

Sunday, June 19, 2022

You can add Antioch, Tennessee, Baltimore, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia to the places I am least likely to move to as explained by their prominence in this survey of “fastest-emerging dog-friendly cities.”

https://www.zillowgroup.com/news/top-10-fastest-emerging-dog-friendly-cities/

I’m just not a dog person.  It seems to involve all the responsibilities of child raising without the prospect of eventually providing you with adoring grandchildren.

By coincidence, I lived in Alexandria, Virginia for a very pleasant year over 30 years ago, presumably when there were far fewer dogs.

Monday, June 20, 2022

There is a lot of gloom and doom about these days with two exceptions — the National League standings and the strength of the American dollar abroad.  The British pound is down to $1.23 and the Euro almost $1.05. So, if you have any dollars lying around, you may be able to enjoy “Europe’s Top New Restaurants,” according to Opinionated About Dining.

https://www.oadguides.com/lists/europe/top-new-restaurants/2022

Don't despair at facing the starchiness of these elite establishments.  OAD also provides a list at the other end of the economic bell curve.  https://www.oadguides.com/lists/europe/cheap-eats/2022

If you would rather stay home, here is an authoritative list of the best pizza in the good old USA.  Note where #1 is.

https://www.50toppizza.it/50-top-pizza-usa-2022-the-pizzeria-una-pizza-napoletana-in-new-york-has-been-named-the-best-pizzeria-in-the-usa/

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

In convention, the Texas Republican Party "reject[ed] the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/20/politics/texas-gop-convention-resolution/index.html

Interesting, but how are they going to handle the fact that in 2020 Texas voters also elected a U.S. Senator, 1 of 3 members of the Texas Railroad Commission, 8 of 15 members of the Texas Board of Education, all of its seats to the House of Representatives, 4 of 9 seats on the Supreme Court of Texas, 3 of 9 seats on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 21 of 80 seats on the Texas Appellate Courts, all of the seats of the Texas House of Representatives and 17 of 34 seats in the Texas State Senate, predominantly Republicans, as well as giving a majority to the incumbent.  Why did the demonic Soros/Venezuela/Chinese ballots/vote flipping machines/Sharpie marker/stuffed suitcase/blocked poll watcher conspiracy fail so miserably here? 

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Normally, Times Square is not a dining destination unless you want to know what the rest of America is eating.  Fortunately, there has been a relatively recent outcropping of dim sum joints that warrant a visit to the Crossroads of the World.  Tim Ho Wan, 610 Ninth Avenue at West 43rd Street, is the best settled, part of a Hong Kong-based chain that has won praise from Michelin and me.  Less than a year old is AweSum Dim Sum, 612 Eighth Avenue near West 40th Street, bright and airy with a reliable kitchen.  Newest is Dim Sum Sam, 240 West 40th Street near Eighth Avenue, newly-opened, where I had lunch today.  After ordering at a counter in front, seating is in an open room entirely furnished in blonde wood at the end of a long narrow corridor. 

I had good company in Terrific Tom and Johannes Groschupf, a novelist visiting from Berlin.  Johannes is a successful author of mystery and young adult books, with an absorbing interest in New York and New York things.  That included Chinese food.  He started with a bowl of spicy BBQ pork noodle soup ($11.95) and then he joined us in sharing a scallion pancake (not recommended) ($6.25); shrimp dumplings ($6.95 for 4 pieces); "Crispy Roast Pork Buns" ($7.25 for 3 not crispy pieces); "Crispy Shrimp Roll" ($6.25 for 3 pieces); spicy mushroom dumplings ($6.25 for 3 pieces); roast duck spring rolls ($6.25 for 3 pieces); black peppercorn chicken puffs ($7.25 for 3 pieces). 

In addition to dim sum, Sam serves BBQ chicken, duck and pork in various forms.  Overall, it rates as Good, AweSum as Better and THW as Best.

 

Friday, June 24, 2022

Some folks will attempt to rationalize the overturning of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), today by citing other examples of jettisoning precedents, most typically Brown v. Board of

Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), overturning Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).  It ain't the same, bud.  Plessy institutionalized harm to citizens of the United States.  Mississippi, Texas and other states poised to effectively eliminate abortion in the absence of Roe will be imposing harm on its citizens, denying them medical choices and control over their own bodies.  

And, don't get me started on guns.