Make America America Again

Saturday, June 21, 2025

I report in real time more or less. If it happens on Tuesday, I usually write it on Tuesday. Last night was an exception, too much to write about when we got home late.

The Supper Club went to the Film Forum, 206 Houston Street, to see the premiere of “Familiar Touch,” a film written and directed by Sarah Friedland, first cousin once removed of Administrative Jerry, a Supper Club member. It wasn’t just the familial relationship that brought us downtown, however. When Sarah was making the film, she recorded the Supper Club chattering to serve as background for some scenes and we got a screen credit.

Kathleen Chalfant does a great job as an 86-year old woman, suffering dementia, who is placed in an assisted living facility by her son. The place, a real institution, appears comfortable and well-run. Yet, the woman has trouble adjusting. For instance, she marches into the kitchen and tries to take over meal preparation. 

If you know what Spring Chicken means, the Supper Club ranges from Fall Chickens to Winter Chickens. So, for us watching “Familiar Touch” brought to mind the Leonard Cohen lyric, “I’ve seen the future, brother, it is murder.”

After the film, we joined Eva and Jerry at dinner and I must apologize to Danny Macaroons. Last week, I chastised him for only opening his new pizzeria for dinner. “Hey, Danny, I want pizza for lunch.” And tonight I had a great pizza for dinner at Briciola Pizza Bar, 14 Bedford Street. After a good Caesar salad (needing more anchovies) that I shared with Jerry, I had the Salsiccia Pepperoni Coppola pizza, crumbled Italian sausage, pepperoni, Spanish onion and Fior di Latte (mozzarella made exclusively with cow’s milk), one of the 15 12” personal pizzas costing only $12. At that price, it was a ridiculous bargain. I was so euphoric that I drank an IPA instead of Diet Coke.

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Nothing to be proud of. “The Brooklyn 2025 Pride festivities will not include an interfaith service this year after at least one group allegedly pulled out due to the hosting synagogue’s ‘public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.’”

https://www.jta.org/2025/06/10/united-states/brooklyn-pride-interfaith-service-cancelled-allegedly-over-synagogues-public-alignment-with-pro-israel-positions 

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My country ‘tis of thee. “The measure passed by the House last month and on track to be considered in the Senate next week would cover part of the cost of extending and expanding large tax cuts by cutting social safety net programs including Medicaid and nutrition programs, including SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/us/politics/senate-snap-food-stamps.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Speaks for itself. “Trump Judge Gave Jew-Hating Neo-Nazi Coveted Academic Prize”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-judge-gave-jew-hating-neo-nazi-coveted-academic-prize/

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In addressing the nation last night, Our Leader said that he and Bibi “worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before.” Abbott and Costello, Beavis and Butt-head, Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn?

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Kebab Aur Sharab, 247 West 72nd Street, is a very good Indian restaurant very close by, only open for dinner. It was busy and noisy and expensive. The space may be described as having colonial era decor with filigreed wood and peacocks. The menu has 10 sections, but, except for beverages and breads, the distinctions are not obvious. Some dishes are familiar, such as Kashmiri Tandoori Chicken ($32), others not, Mushroom Galouti, “Smoky Mushroom Paté, blend of aromatic spices, Sheermal" (saffron-flavored traditional flatbread) ($24).

I had Nawabi Lamb Seekh, minced lamb, ginger, garlic, coriander roots and aromatic spices, shaped into two 7” kebabs ($29). They tasted very good, but needed a third piece to justify the price. I didn’t go hungry, however because my regular beautiful dinner companion ordered Lasooni Sabzi Palak, “Spinach Pureé, Confit Garlic, Aromatic Blend of Chili Rogan” (fortunately not related to Joe Rogan) ($28). It was delicious and the large portion allowed me to dig in.

I couldn’t help but do some calculations in my head. If Kebab Aur Sharab weren’t almost around the corner and we took a taxi, the evening would have cost pretty much the same.

Monday, June 23, 2025

Happy Birthday, Lord K.

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I have no objection to regime change in Tehran if only we can have regime change in Washington. 

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The obituary for the founder of FedEx observes that “thanks to the corporate tax cuts that Mr. Trump signed into law in 2017 — cuts that FedEx had lobbied for — the company's tax bills plunged to zero, from $1.5 billion.” 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/obituaries/fred-smith-billionaire-founder-of-fedex-is-dead-at-80.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Anybody see $1.5 billion lying around?

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

The B-2 is the most expensive airplane ever made, $2.2 billion each. 

https://finbold.com/heres-how-much-a-b-2-stealth-bomber-costs/

It was an amazing accomplishment for two of them to fly for 37 hours from Missouri to drop 30,000 pound bombs in Iran. Sunday night, we heard the President proudly announce that "Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated." Even people outside the MAGA orbit were taking a victory lap and breathing a sigh of relief for removal of an existential threat to Israel and other neighboring countries. 

Whoa, Nellie! It seems like Trump’s first word is never the last word. CNN.com says, “Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy  nuclear sites, sources say.” 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/politics/intel-assessment-us-strikes-iran-nuclear-sites 

The New York Times says, “Strike Set Back Iran’s Nuclear Program by Only a Few Months, U.S. Report Says.”  

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/us/politics/iran-nuclear-sites.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Where is Kellyanne Conway now that we need her? But, maybe we don’t need her with Pete Hegseth on the job. Earlier today, he said “Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons.” Calls to his ophthalmologist went unanswered.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Male bovine excrement! I yelled into the telephone this morning when a strange voice from a strange number told me that my (non-existent) loan application file had just landed on his desk. I await the development of an app that allows me to reach through my smartyphone and throttle the caller.

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The result of yesterday’s New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary was as big a surprise as the 2016 Presidential election. While there are obvious differences between the two winning candidates, I perceive significant similarities — inexperience and questionable ideas wrapped in glitz. Regarding the current crop of "progressive" Democrats generally: When are they going to start beating Republicans?

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Speaking of New York mayors, you can't keep a good man down. Rudy Giuliani is returning to public service as a member of the Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council.   

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/politics/trump-appoints-members-dhs-advisory-council?cid=ios_app

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The Secretary of Education expressed her concern for “the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions” when trans athletes are involved and who would know more about unfair and unsafe competitions than Linda McMahon, co-founder, president and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna215022

Thursday, June 26, 2025

I am a person of inconsistent morality. I do not advocate a total ban on capital punishment, although I prefer that the state rarely if ever execute a criminal. Yesterday, Mississippi executed Richard Gerald Jordan, a 79-year-old man who was sentenced to death in 1976 for killing and kidnapping a bank loan officer’s wife in what was described as a violent ransom scheme.

A 49-year interval between conviction and execution seems crazy to me. Whose interest is served at that point in executing a 79-year old man for the acts of a 28-year old man? Shakespeare had it right in “Macbeth.” 

 

“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well

It were done quickly.”

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The Washington Post presents fascinating data which is worth navigating around its paywall to see — the changing demography of every county in the United States. The pluses and minuses of Hispanics, Non-Hispanic Whites, Asians and Blacks since 2020. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/06/26/baby-boom-aging-population-immigration/

While U.S. children outnumber older adults, older adults’ share of the population is growing. It concludes that “[i]mmigration is driving U.S. population growth and helping offset a broader demographic shift as the baby boom generation ages, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.” America For Fewer Americans may be the new chant heard in Washington.

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Time Out New York offers a valuable service in trying to identify the “11 Best Ice Cream Shops in NYC.” https://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/best-ice-cream-shops-in-nyc

I’m neutral on the subject, because of my uncritical acceptance of all ice cream, although I adored the original Ample Hills Creamery (and have not tried the resurrected version). The problem with this list is mechanical not gustatorial. A lot of stuff intervenes on my screen as I go down the list, frustrating my search for truth.

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Gentleman Jerry and I bought lunch from a food truck today, but not an ordinary food truck. Chef Kwame Onwuachi, who presides over the highly rated, highly expensive restaurant Tatiana, has stationed a food truck on the plaza at Lincoln Center selling delicious curry chicken patty sandwiches on coco bread (Jamaican bread made with coconut water and yeast) with green aioli, jerk barbecue sauce and ginger cabbage slaw ($19.50). They are sloppy, spicy and taste great.

With the heatwave over (Monday  96°, Tuesday 100°, Wednesday 96°), at least temporarily, we ate outdoors on the triangle in the middle of Broadway opposite Lincoln Center. Caveat -- The food truck, called Patty Palace, only offers flavored seltzer at $5 a can. We sought street vendors for Diet Coke instead.

 

Friday, June 27, 2025

I'm going to offer a poor excuse for not commenting on today's and other recent terrible U.S. Supreme Court decisions. I've run out of space.