Saturday, January 4, 2025
Last week, I noted the pessimism that many of my fellow successful, professional, urban, American Jews feel today, especially dismayed at the sense of abandonment by other segments of society. I, for one, continue to test my patience by reading the Middle East coverage of the New York Times and the New York Review of Books.
I don’t for a moment deny the plight of Palestinians at the hands of a frighteningly nationalistic Israeli regime. But, and it’s a big BUT, there is more to the story than that. Death and destruction of Arabs by Arabs just don’t seem newsworthy until they reach the level of the anarchy in Syria. How about equal opportunity for bad guys?
. . .
There is another important distinction that I have been thinking about — Democrats, Republicans and reading. There is no doubt that they read different newspapers, magazines and online media, offering contrasting views of events. It’s what they seem to do with the information that intrigues me. Democrats are enervated, “Oy, gevalt! What is this world coming to?” Republicans are energized, “Let’s get those S.O.B.s.” Just saying.
Sunday, January 5, 2025
If you are wary of life in the big city, the Holy Land has just published its list of most frequent complaint (311) calls for the past year.
The top five:
- Noise
- Illegal parking
- Heat/hot water
- Blocked driveway
- Unsanitary condition
. . .
CNN.com this morning asks “Golden Globes: How, when and where you can watch the 2025 awards.” To me, the operative question is Why?
Monday, January 6, 2025
A guiding principle of medical practice is “First, do no harm,” which, with its fraternal twin “Do not offend,” has come to define liberal politics. However, these platitudes fail when it comes to governance and, more importantly, campaigning for office and winning elections. Without the latter, the former is daydreaming.
Policy requires choices, inevitably producing winners and losers. We liberals sometimes fear harming or offending, no matter to what degree, allowing the greater harm or offense to prevail. On ne saurait faire d’omelette sans casser des œufs, you know, eggs and omelettes. (I had such success with French last week, I’m pushing ahead.) . . .
Toby McMullen was 35 years old last week. In fact, I was visiting his family in Charlotte, North Carolina, up until two days before he was born. Today, we celebrated at lunch at Smith & Wollensky, 797 Third Avenue, a classic steakhouse, that means big portions and prices to match. We jumped right in as if I were a hot shot salesman and he a big prospect instead of retiree and standup comedian.
Toby had filet mignon ($59) and I had prime rib ($78). We shared creamed spinach ($17) and Loaded Baked Potato Gratin, with cheddar cheese, bacon and chives ($15). When I told the solicitous waiter that I was disappointed with the potato, because it was lukewarm and gluey, he removed it from the table and the check and, unbidden, brought creamy mashed potatoes at no charge. All else was excellent.
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Having shed their ethnic origins, bagels and pizza are All-American symbols today. While pizza, which apparently made landfall in New York around the beginning of the 20th Century, is now available in many varieties, the New York slice is still an important reference point. An authoritative source found that three of the top 10 American slices are in the Holy Land.
On the other hand, the universality of hot dogs has been thwarted in North Korea. The Morning Star King a/k/a Kim Jong Un has banned hot dogs, labeling them treasonous.
In Coney Island, it’s Nathan’s Famous; in Pyongyang, it’s Nathan’s Infamous. Wednesday, January 8, 2025
My budding acting career has not bloomed. Here's why.
Thursday, January 9, 2025
The destruction of thousands
of structures by fire in Southern California will require a massive
restorative effort. It will take money, material and labor, some
skilled, such as architects, engineers, electricians, plumbers, others
just needed to supply muscle to sweep, to shovel, to haul, to lift, to
hammer. It's likely that much of this hard work will be done by folks who risked all to
find a semblance of security, otherwise known as immigrants.
. . .
I might have found the secret to get the New York Rangers back into championship form. Take an Englishman to the game. John Mervin came with me tonight to the exciting 3-2 overtime victory. We started strong with free eats at the Chase Lounge in Madison Square Garden, mini tuna tacos, black bean taquitos, "totchos" (tater tot nachos) and beef empanadas. I just hope that John has lots of free evenings through June.
. . .
I learned that this modest effort is 15,482,084 in the global rank of websites.
