Saturday, April 12, 2025
We woke up to winter, snow on the ground and 33° temperature here outside of Boston when we had anticipated decades in the desert.
America’s Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob flew in last night for the Seders that begin tonight. Before the period of Passover privation, we met for a last lunch at The Cottage, 190 Linden Street, Wellesley, a large, smooth-running restaurant this side of slick.
I had two large appetizers, carefully fried calamari with chili aioli ($18) and Garlic Crostini Steak Bites, sirloin pieces with horseradish cream on toasted baguette slices ($18), very good choices. To top it off, I had affogato, a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream in a cup of espresso ($9). Now, I am prepared to outrun Pharaoh’s minions.
. . .
David Brooks is a conservative New York Times columnist, a right wing affirmative action baby. Yet, I have to admire his description of Donald Trump’s trade policy. “Producing something this stupid is not the work of a day; it is the achievement of a lifetime — relying on decades of incuriosity, decades of not cracking a book, decades of being impervious to evidence.”
. . .
Law Professor David conducted the first Seder very effectively. He passed along one comment that I found particularly interesting. “This is the bread of our affliction,” a famous line when the matzoh is held up to the gathering, is usually explained as an example of the haste that the Israelites fled Egypt, not having time for bread to rise. He offered the alternative that the simple, crude matzoh is what the enslaved Israelites would normally be fed, a symbol of their dire existence.
Sunday, April 14, 2025
We slept in, missing the hotel’s free breakfast, a sign of our own liberation. It was lunchtime when we entered the very busy Mel’s Commonwealth Cafe, 310 Commonwealth Road, Wayland, a perfect example of a diner except for being embedded in a larger building.
I had no problem adhering to the broad outlines of holiday observance. I ordered lox and onions and eggs, with home fries and matzoh instead of bread or a bagel ($17.99). The portion was large, it must have been three eggs, cooked just right. The joint is owned by the Bloomstein brothers, Mel’s sons, appropriately enough.
. . .
I learned something at the second Seder that is beyond the scope of the Exodus. #1 Grandson Boaz taught me about Bageling, actually the term itself, because the practice is familiar. To Bagel is a semiotic exercise, communicating your Jewishness without being explicit. “This is the best whitefish salad I’ve ever had.” It’s sort of a defense mechanism, probing your surroundings without risking everything.
Monday, April 14, 2025
I am several steps removed from public education. Therefore, I have regarded the subject of school vouchers primarily through a legal lens, where have they breached or threatened to breach the separation of church and state, for instance. A new book, “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers,” pierces the public relations bubble around school vouchers, “save poor kids trapped in failing schools,” and looks at actual performance.
Demonstrated academic gains have eluded school voucher programs consistently. “In the last several years, major studies in Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio and Washington D.C. have shown that low-income students do not see improved test scores from attending private schools. If anything, students’ scores tended to decline.”
Rather than benefiting public school students seeking better educational opportunities, a majority of school vouchers go to students already in private schools. The evidence supports this provocative headline: “Most Voucher Recipients Are Wealthy Families Who Never Attended Public Schools.”
https://www.ncpecoalition.org/voucher-recipients
Incidentally, voters have rejected school voucher programs consistently in places, such as Utah, Arizona and Florida, but the beat goes on.
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Over my many years, I was fired from jobs several times. In one instance, I was fired before I even started working. I never made anywhere near the millions of dollars that equity partners are typically making annually at big law firms and only reached half of what their first-year associates now make.
While I believe that money talks in our society, I naively thought that money also would fortify resolve. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with our largest law firms where profits per partner reach $9 million.
One after another, they have cut outlandish deals with the administration when threatened with illegal and unconstitutional interference with their operations. Rather than use the ingenuity and clout that drove their success in the courtroom and the boardroom, they abandoned their scruples to a blustering bully, admittedly a dangerous one.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a firm that I admire, states its principle “in all things to govern ourselves as members of a free democratic society with responsibilities both to our profession and our country.”
https://www.paulweiss.com/In bowing to the bullying of President Trump, it failed its responsibilities both to the legal profession and our country.
You know what? Take a hit, lose some money, but hold your head up.
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
The August 3, 1938 issue of The Manchester Guardian contained these classified advertisements.
Does this give you a little insight into the mindset of many Jews even today?
Thursday, April 17, 2025
I am not an Uber person. While I downloaded the app to my phone, I have never used it. I recall one occasion when Michael Ratner and I had lunch at Ben’s Best Delicatessen, 96-40 Queens Boulevard, of blessed memory, before a Mets game at Citi Field. Michael called Uber for a ride, just a short distance, but quite convoluted by public transportation. When Michael’s phone informed him that the car arrived to pick us up, nothing was in sight. He called the driver and they went back and forth.
“Where are you?”
“I’m here.”
“No, you’re not!”
“Yes, I am.”
“Where are you?”
In spite of reading off the right address, the driver was a mile away. We quickly found a regular taxicab and got to the ballpark on time.
I recollected this when reading about Uber’s Lost & Found Index, the never-ending report of the probable and improbable items left behind by Uber passengers.
It’s no surprise that phones, wallets and keys head the list, but breast milk, mannequin heads, and a urinal? New Yorkers forget the most stuff, with Miami and Chicago close behind. October 26th seems to be the most forgetful day of the year and different days of the week have different patterns of loss, gloves on Monday, medicine on Wednesday, umbrellas on Friday.
Friday, April 18, 2025
"The United States could end its efforts on ending the Ukrainian conflict within 'days' if there are no signs of progress, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Friday[, April 18th]."
"Donald Trump has repeatedly said he could settle the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day if he’s elected president again."
I still do not understand the school voucher thing. Everyone I know with a grandkid in a voucher school is happy. Not the same case for public schools.
ReplyDeleteGlad to read that my restaurant " Mel''s" is doing well. Mel
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