Saturday, April 19, 2025
Today
is the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing when a white
Christian nationalist manufactured and detonated a bomb in front of a
federal office building. It killed 167
people, including 19 children in a daycare center and injured 684 other
people. A former U.S. Army sergeant was convicted and executed for this
atrocity.
Maybe
I am a sentimental slob, but I am surprised that the Republican
presidential candidate has won the majority of votes in all 77 counties
in Oklahoma in each of the six presidential elections since 2004. Were the
politics of the tragedy too subtle to be recognized by the local
population, if not in more remote parts of the state, but at least in
and around Oklahoma City?
Sunday, April 20, 2025
“How Wealth Reduces Compassion.” Does the title of this article from the Scientific American surprise
you? “It’s tempting to think that the wealthier you are, the more
likely you are to act fairly. After all, if you already have enough for
yourself, it’s easier to think about what others may need. But research
suggests the opposite is true: as people climb the social ladder, their
compassionate feelings towards other people decline.”
A significant part of the film is devoted to Sylvia Foti, a Chicago Catholic woman of Lithuanian heritage, who wrote “Storm in the Land of Rain: A Mother’s Dying Wish Becomes Her Daughter’s Nightmare,” where she uncovers her grandfather’s past as a mass murderer of Jews. The experience was sobering for her and the audience, as well.
Friday, April 25, 2025
. . .
One
group of Americans who are deserving of compassion are the many who are
rent burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing,
forcing harsh economic choices on them. Government programs to assist
them have not kept up. Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8 vouchers) from the Department of Housing and Urban Development provide rental assistance to low-income renters. However, there are 17 million more severely cost-burdened renter households than available vouchers. https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-choice-vouchers-4-35059/
Is
there any reason to believe that the budgetary slash and burn going on
in Washington will result in improved support for ordinary Americans?
. . .
I
was trying to reach #2 grandson Noam this afternoon to see how things were going in
the 8th grade, but I couldn’t interrupt the conference call he was on
with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
The front page of today’s New York Times has
two headlines side by side that illustrate the craziness of our
national leadership. “E.P.A. Poised to Cancel Grants To Study Dangers to
Children” and “Would $5,000 Bonuses Spur New Baby Boom?” This reminds
me of the observation by former Congressman Barney Frank that our
conservative politicians believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth.Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Spring is finally here in the Holy Land and lunch in Chinatown is an appropriate way to celebrate. Seven of us met at 456 Shanghai Cuisine, 69 Mott Street, where we indulged in soup dumplings ($8.75), steamed vegetable dumplings ($8.50), scallion pancake with egg and beef ($10.95), cold noodles with sesame sauce ($7.50), orange flavored chicken ($19.95), spicy shredded beef ($20.95), “Walnut with Jumbo Shrimp” (really the other way around) ($25.95), vegetable chow fun ($12.95), Rice Noodle Singapore Style ($13.95). It wasn’t easy, but we got to the Clean Plate Club. P.S. Mark was not an hour late. He was only 58 minutes late.
. . .
Hebrew days begin at sunset, not at sunrise. Yom haShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, began this evening. Among the many local events on this occasion, we chose a film screening at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, 30 West 68th Street. “J’Accuse!” is a documentary about Lithuania, where 95% of their Jews, 220,000 people, were murdered, as often by local forces as by the Nazis.
Today, the Lithuanian government honors Holocaust perpetrators with monuments and schools while the fate of the Jews is barely acknowledged.
Thursday, April 24, 2025
I don’t know what cuisine Wolfnights - The Gourmet Wrap, 489 Third Avenue, represents, or what the name means, but it comes up with some unusual combinations. For lunch, I had the Carnivores Delight, grilled steak wrapped in date & pumpkin seed dough with fried egg, sumac onions, pickles, mustard horseradish sauce ($14.99). It doesn’t just sound like a lot, it was a lot, a big handful of food.
The joint only has one 12” deep stainless steel ledge with four stools and a swing hung from the ceiling for seating, my choice. The rest of the modest space was used for food preparation and the generous use of stainless steel made it look like a test kitchen.
While walking to the hardware store this afternoon, I received an airmail delivery from the bluebird of happiness or at least a close relative. To some, this connotes good luck; to me, it means a dry cleaning bill.
. . .
Acadia Healthcare, one of the country’s largest providers of mental health services, is under federal investigation for ill-treating patients. Since the charges became public last year, the company’s market value has fallen from $7 billion to $2 billion. Nevertheless, its CEO has just been awarded a bonus of $1.8 million to help respond to “unprecedented governmental inquiries.”
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