Saturday, February 1, 2025
The Washington Post, CBS, NYU Langone, Meta, Lowe’s, the Los Angeles Times, and Target, among other thought-to-be powerful enterprises, have executed deep bows in the direction of the White House, demonstrating to our children and grandchildren that being a schoolyard bully is really a good thing.
Sunday, February 2, 2025
As Israeli hostages continue to be exchanged for imprisoned Palestinians, although at a slow pace, we can look forward to a long and difficult rebuilding process in Gaza. I can only imagine that the human and material resources needed will be vast, possibly exhausting what is available.
Much criticism and animus has been directed at Israel for the extent of the damage wreaked. Objectively, if there could be such, Israeli response to October 7th may seem overbroad and heavy handed. However, what did Hamas and its enablers expect? Would its attack, which not only inflicted heavy losses of life, but severe injury to the pride and reputation of the Israeli military, evoke only a modest reaction? Maybe the very success of the Hamas endeavor guaranteed a vigorous, brutal retaliation. I think that only those north and west of the Mediterranean were surprised by what ensued.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Terrific Tom and I caught up with the Year of the Snake on a pilgrimage to Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street. We had been away too long, I realized, even as we both struggled with the steep stairs that took us below ground.
As usual, Wo Hop was busy, its 11 tables filling and emptying with regularity. We had a comfortable booth, with enough room for our waistlines to expand. We ate egg rolls ($8.50), boneless spareribs ($13.95) and Singapore chow fun ($12.25). The large portions kept us from ordering more, even as enticing dishes passed by on the way to other tables. Of course, we could have left food over in order to get other items, but not making a clean plate seemed dishonorable. That’s why we usually have five or six guys when we attack Wo Hop.
. . .
The Defense Intelligence Agency is the intelligence gathering arm of the United States Department of Defense. Last week, it paused all activities and events related to:
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday
- Black History Month
- Women’s History Month
- Holocaust Day/Days of Remembrance
- Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month
- Pride
- Juneteenth
- Women’s Equality Day
- National Hispanic Heritage Month
- National Disability Employment Awareness Month
- National American Indian Heritage Month
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Caring Ken Klein joined my young bride and me on a shopping trip to Northern New Jersey. We started at ShopRite, 40 Nathaniel Place, Englewood, a conventional, but enormous, supermarket. Hundreds of dollars later, we headed to Grand & Essex Market, 89 New Bridge Road, Bergenfield, a very large, very Kosher supermarket. Besides cans and cartons of grocery products, it sells a large assortment of food items prepared on the premises. That’s what attracts me, the matzoh ball soup, the potato kugel, the chopped liver. It’s as if my mother were back in the kitchen.
Maybe the Stars and Stripes should be made of Spandex to easily accommodate the addition of Canada, Greenland and Gaza.
. . .
This promised to be a busy
day. Physical therapy at 9:40; urologist at 12:45;
Rangers game at 7, with free food and drinks in the hour before.
However, I was feeling a little peaked, actually a whole lot exhausted. So, my wife summoned the Emergency Medical
Service to get me out of bed and carted off to Mount Sinai
West/Roosevelt Hospital, 1000 Tenth Avenue.
More than seven hours mostly waiting, watching a very large contingent
of hospital staff scurrying around doing important things, but not for me. Finally, a diagnosis -- flu. I'll be contagious for five days, which precludes hosting Michael German, former FBI agent, at a synagogue event, discussing his new book "Policing White Supremacy." It contains 67 pages of footnotes, mostly identifying examples of local, state and federal law enforcement doing little to prevent or punish the illegal conduct of white supremacists or far-right militants, even participating in some cases. Also, we will have to skip a performance of "Urinetown" as part of the Encores! series.
On the other hand, the fatigue and malaise diverts my attention from the dismantling of the United States government now occurring in Washington. I'm leaving it to those of you still alert to keep track of the chaos.
Friday, February 7, 2025
The front page display of the New York Times on my phone this evening has these key
words in the headlines describing administration actions, Broadside, Cut, Dismiss, Upend,
Attack, Cuts, Targeting, Flips. It makes you want to stay in bed.
What is happening in the world has a surreal, nightmarish quality. Is it, can it be our new reality?
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