A'COSTCO'ed: Boosted With No Waiting...and Eyes Opened Wider

The joys of old age! 

One of my hearing aids was a bit wonky, so I popped into Costco to have someone tell me what I screwed up. The nice lady had someone ahead of me, and said it would be about  10 minutes before she could do a total reset on my hearing aids which would probably solve the problem. Well, I had only one thing I needed from Costco today, so off I went to find PreserVision Areds 2 vitamins. (More about that in a moment,) As I headed to the vitamin aisle, I was accosted by two ladies, one with a syringe and one with a clipboard who smiled as she said, "Free COVID samples today! 

Huh? It was a good tactic. I stopped.

"I've got your booster right here, no waiting," grinned the syringe lady. And then they both giggled. 

Like every other drugstore, Costco is doing boosters. I figured, what the heck? I was going over to Walgreens anyway. So, in ten seconds, I had my new COVID booster and I crossed that obsession off my list. I coulda gotten my flu shot, too, but I usually wait for October for that one. Shot done, vax card updated, I set off into that great labyrinth of retail to find my vitamin pills.

And speaking of old age, I have macular degeneration. This is a fine legacy from both sides of my family, and one I have been monitoring for years. Well, a couple of years ago, my eye doctor announced, "It's time," and I headed straight to the drug store for PreserVision Areds 2. I've been popping them twice a day ever since. The need was subsequently confirmed by my cataract guy AND my retina guy. Both of those ophthalmologists specified PreserVision Areds 2. I trust these guys with my eyes, and after seeing my dad and grandfather go nearly blind from macular degeneration, I am doing what they tell me to do.  Enough with the endorsement.

What I have discovered since I started taking them is 1) they are really expensive in comparison with other regular vitamins, 2) there's almost always a coupon in the box, and 3) prices vary wildly from place to place. So while I'm standing at Costco in front of the display, I note that 210 capsules is $36.79, or 17.5¢ per dose. I decide to check prices on my phone just for the heck of it. I quickly learn Sam's Club is a buck cheaper for the same pill count, but then it gets crazy. 

This screenshot is taken from Google Shopping. The prices are consistent with the prices on websites today. The top one is Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The middle is Walgreens, the bottom is CVS. The boxes on the left are all 120 capsules, the ones on the right are 130. Anyone wanna explain Bed, Bath, and Beyond's pricing? Unless that's a loss leader and folks, that made about as much sense as the 120 capsule price being almost identical to the 210 capsule price. I wish I knew what the wholesale costs were because people, we are totally getting gouged here. Keep in mind, this is an Over-The-Counter drug, not eligible for most insurance, and access controlled. Why do the prices swing so wildly from store to store?

I know drugs in general are a racket. People in other countries pay a fraction of what we pay for specific drugs. Insulin is the biggest racket of all. And people die because of this.

Yeah, sure, this is nothing new. But why do We, the People allow it to continue? Why aren't there riots in the streets protesting the general lack of health care? Why isn't access to meds as big a hot button issue abortion? Where are all those fine right-to-life people when it comes to right-to-life for diabetics? Are they worth less than blighted fetuses? 

This is supposed to be the Golden Land, the Land of Opportunity, yet We, the People don't think enough of ourselves to demand any sort of responsible/responsive health care system. Insurance is basically prohibitive, there is no social safety net for even the working poor, and a significant portion of kids don't have any access to reliable, regular healthcare. Still, an entire political party is devoted to adding more kids with absolutely no access to reliable healthcare into the ranks of uninsured Americans.

It's not just about social failures; there is a significant amount of infrastructure sagging its way to collapse. The 35W bridge collapse was a canary in this coalmine. Rolling blackouts strain the power grid during heatwaves in California putting millions of people at physical risk. Floods in a whole variety of places that never had floods before will require all sorts of changes to topography and physical plants of cities and towns. Jackson, the capital city of Mississippi hasn't had DRINKABLE water since July. Seriously....the GOP doesn't want to invest in infrastructure? What is wrong with those people?

What makes anyone think this is a one-off summer when we can see years of systemic degradation in the highways, rail lines, airports, water systems, and power grids tumbling into tragedy as we speak?

The only noise I hear from the GOP side is that Democrats spend money on this stuff. Why the hell aren't they? All those great behemoths can't do their good ol' bidness if there's no electricity, can they? They can't move all those Chinese shlock products to markets if bridges collapse under the weight of 18 wheelers rolling with no standards. They sure as hell won't have any low wage workers if the water supply is unsafe to drink. Never mind who's gonna take care of Grandma in the home or serve up their chicken sandwiches at Chick-Fil-A?

And they want tax cuts?????????

Maybe it's time for the political wonks to start hitting the electorate with the real cost of tax cuts. If anyone caught PBS Newshour tonight, there was a discussion about just this topic. Instead of fanning flames of terror tactics, the campaigns oughta try presenting unvarnished facts. Tell the people the truth about what is happening to the internal workings of this country without finger pointing and assigning blame. Tell your constituency what you actually support to make their lives easier...things like water and electricity. Use examples. Talk about Jackson, Mississippi and Flint, Michigan. Remind them about the 35W bridge collapse and the stress fractures in rail lines. Show them what their tax money is paying for in their district/state/country and let them decide if the investment is worth it. Yeah, yeah, pork barrel boondoggle from the other side. But just lay out the reality in terms that are close to home and personal.

Maybe when We, the People, start demanding answers as to why we cannot afford basic living conditions, the GOP et al will figure out we're getting to be mad as hell and with any sort of spine, we're not gonna take it any more. If they can't tell you what the government is going to do to improve the actual quality of life, then you don't want them in office because they're not there for YOU, they are there for themselves.

Actually, some of us may not have to take it much longer because a whole lotta people will be dead, and it won't be from some random pox. It will be from drinking local city water. 

Oh, yeah. The hearing aids were ready in ten minutes, and they are much less wonky now. Don't get me started on the price of hearing aids. There's an abusive market if ever there was one. But let's save that screed for another day.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you want to know what made Elizabeth II a great queen,

look no further than what she didn't say.

Her job was to advise and warn, not to demand or enforce.

She did her job well.

Queen Elizabeth II with her eyes closed.
Photograph: Chris Levine

*DFL: STOP PANDERING TO THE LOWEST POSSIBLE IQ. YOU'RE ONLY HURTING THE STATE.

 [*DFL: Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party...aka Minnesota Democrats]

I like Esme Murphy of WCCO. Because I want to know what the opposition believes, I watched her interview with Scott Jensen, the GOP candidate for governor live from the State Fair on the Sunday morning show. Murphy tends to ask blunt questions then not back down from pushing for an answer. And when she asked Dr. Jensen about his position on abortion, I stopped. I wanted to hear what he had to say because the ads made him out to be as regressive as a Mississippi legislator. I wanted to hear him tell Minnesota he was so "pro-life" that he would push to outlaw abortion completely.

Boy, was I surprised at his answer. So surprised I went to his website to see what it said there. And that matched exactly what he told Murphy. The following is the Dr. Scott Jensen for Governor  website's section on women:

Acknowledge Circumstances [when abortion is requested]
Acknowledge that any arbitrary list of exceptions to abortion restrictions in the future would include, but not be limited to, allegations of rape or incest, or circumstances endangering mental or physical health of the pregnant woman. As a physician, Dr. Scott Jensen has consistently talked about life being fundamentally threatened by such events. The life of the mother extends beyond the process of childbirth.

Going forward, the highlights are mine.

Endangering mental or physical health of the pregnant woman. The life of the mother extends beyond the process of childbirth. I found nothing objectionable in his statement on abortion. Sure, it's carefully worded, but what he says on his website is, indeed, vastly different from what he said in early interviews before back-peddling. So I went to check the interviews cited in the WRONG FOR MINNESOTA ads. 

Whoa, Nellie! There are some major discrepancies between his statements and his website.

In a "meet the candidates" interview with MPR's Mike Mulcahy and Maja Beckstrom back on March 18th, 2022, the following exchange occurred:

The U.S. Supreme Court may well overturn Roe vs. Wade this summer. If that happened, abortion would still be legal in Minnesota. If you were governor, would you try to impose new restrictions on abortion? Or would you try to ban it outright?

I would try to ban abortion, I think that we're we're basically in a situation where we should be governed by … there is no reason for us to be having abortions going out. We have tremendous opportunities and availability of birth control. We don't need to be snuffing out lives that if left alone will produce a viable newborn, that may go on to be the next Albert Einstein. We can be so much better than we've been. We do not need to be having Hillary Clinton casually discuss the value and the reasonableness of late third trimester abortions, when you've got literally, you've got a life that's a few inches away from passing through a birth canal and being the source of tremendous love. And we're saying no, if mom changes your mind, she can go ahead and slice and dice it and be done with it. I don’t think that’s where we want to be.

But on the other hand, you say people should have freedom over their medical decisions. Many women would just hear what you had to say and say, you're taking away my freedom to decide my medical care.

I think it gets down to, so and I understand your, your situation, Mike. You're basically saying, OK, Scott, you're for choice when it comes to health, freedom and taking a vaccination. But then when it comes on the issue of abortion, you're not for choice. And I understand exactly what you're saying. And I would say that my position is based on the fact that I think that that's a life in utero. And if left alone, spontaneously, it will grow. It will get to a point where that will come up. You don't have to have any doctors around, don't have to have any hospitals around. That baby will grow. And that baby will come up, and you then have a life. That is a life. And I think you and I may have a fundamental difference between what you think a life is and what I think a life is. And I think we have we can still honor each other's perspective and talk about so many other issues. But on that one, we sharply disagree.

In a second interview with Mulcahy on August 10th, 2022, Jensen said something quite different.

A few months ago, before the Supreme Court ruled you and I were talking and you told me you would try to ban abortion outright if Roe v. Wade were struck down. Lately, you've said you would not seek to overturn the State Supreme Court ruling that found a right to abortion in the Minnesota Constitution and that you do support some exemptions to an outright ban. Can you just clarify for us now, what your position is?

Yeah, I do remember our conversation. First and foremost, abortion is not on the ballot in November. There's no question about that Doe v. Gomez in 1995 assures Minnesota women access to abortion. So from that perspective, it is not on the ballot. The conversation you and I had, seems almost like eons ago, it was prior to the Roe v. Wade overturning by the Supreme Court. It was in the process of an endorsement. And I didn't think that it was necessary to articulate what specific types of exceptions or exemptions would take place. Because I've always felt that if a pregnancy is jeopardizing a woman's mental or physical health, that that would always be a situation where you're not dealing with the legal matter, you're dealing with a private health care matter.

But in the conversation that we had after the courts overturned Roe v. Wade, at the end of June, I think both Matt Birk and I, together, arrived at a place of consensus that yes, we need to articulate very clearly that rape and incest would absolutely be exceptions. But we also say clearly, that it has to at the end of the day, if a pregnant woman's mental or physical health is endangered, then this is no longer any kind of a situation for the legal system. This is a private matter between patient and doctor and we have to do everything we can to preserve the health and the life of the pregnant woman. So that would be my position.

Those are diametrically opposed ideas. Granted, this is Minnesota where two-face is an art form. it's conceivable that Dr. Jensen believes one thing on Monday and something else on Thursday. Near as I can tell, that slides right into line with some of his more controversial medical opinions... like vaccinations should be optional.

And  if all that isn't scary enough, we can't exclude his running mate. Cretin-Derham Hall and Harvard grad, and former NFL center who has clearly had a few too many concussions, Birk made the following comments at an anti-abortion event in Georgia (not even Minnesota) back in July. The guy's a Neanderthal who thinks rape shouldn't be an exception. You gotta listen if you dare. 

Our culture loudly but also stealthily promotes abortion. They’re telling women they should look a certain way. They should have careers, all these things... 

....One of the arguments I probably saw 20 times online today was about rape. And obviously they always want to go to the rape card...Rape is obviously a horrible thing. But an abortion is not gonna, it’s not gonna heal the wounds of that. And, and two wrongs is not gonna, is not gonna make it right... 

A lot of things have been legal before that we’ve changed, right? I mean, we always hear about the — I know I’m talking to a bunch of pro-life warriors here — slavery used to be legal, right?  Which is an interesting comparison to make, because, really, the way that the other side treats an unborn child is the unborn child is the property of the mother.

Excuse me? Is that jackass implying women shouldn't have careers? What century is this dweeb from? 

There is no response to that level of stupidity other than to say what was once the proud Independent Republican party of Minnesota is anything but. These two clowns are Kool-Aid imbibing disgraces to the IR. 

But there's a punch line here. I still think the ads being run by DFL-type operatives are low class, low bar, low everything insults to the people of Minnesota who are already fed up with election bullshit and it's the first week in September. What's pissing me off is that instead of addressing how to handle an issue, they are already relying on scare tactics. Come on, party-goers, you know better than that. 

Sometimes, I listen to these guys and I wonder how America has lasted this long when this is the caliber of our candidates. Unless someone actually begins to take the high road and starts talking to the constituency like we have a brain, and pays attention to the total dislike of shrill in this state, the DFL is doomed. 

I cannot begin to tell you how nauseating this campaign is already. And ya know what the worst part is? It's playing right into Feckless Loser's strategy. He is playing a very cagey long game and the Dems don't even know it. 

I am gonna try like hell NOT to write about politics in the next few weeks. I'll try to save it up for closer to the election because right now, every time I think about it my hair spontaneously combusts.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day

I'm really excited that THE POMEGRANATE has been selected for Amazon Prime Reading. Already it's in the top 100 list for Historical Fiction on Kindle. 

That might not seem like a big deal to you, but it's huge for me.

As Sally Field once said, "They like me! They really like me!"

The Not-So-New GOP: Guns, Oligarchy, Pollution

The National Archive in Washington DC

I wish I could take credit for that revised definition of GOP, but alas, I cannot. I found it as part of a comment attached to a Washington Post article, Inside Trump’s war on the National Archives. The commenter, AM in NC, is the originator and yes, I reached out to let him/her know I was using it. He/she replied with a variety of other versions of GOP, but this one struck me as particularly cogent. At this particular time, at least. 

See, here's the thing. After the Nixon tapes debacle, there was a giant gaping hole in how presidential records were kept. In the past, presidents were largely responsible for their own legacies, and records routinely were stored and sent to presidential libraries with little oversight. Nixon managed to change all that. That an official policy was required resulted in the Presidential Records Act that is administered by the apolitical, non-partisan National Archives Records Administration (NARA) of the United States.

As per Wikipedia's article on the Presidential Records Act,

Enacted November 4, 1978, the PRA changed the legal ownership of the President's official records from private to public, and established a new statutory structure under which Presidents must manage their records. The PRA was amended in 2014, to include the prohibition of sending electronic records through non-official accounts unless an official account is copied on the transmission, or a copy is forwarded to an official account shortly after creation. 

Additionally, 

For most of American history, presidents kept their own papers and their personal ownership had never been challenged, according to a 2006 article co-written by [Gary M. ] Stern, NARA’s general counsel since 1998.

This wasn't simply about Rose Mary Woods and the 18.5 lost minutes on tape; the act was created to stop a bigger problem before it happened. Hold that thought.

Let's play a game of "What If...."  First, we have to agree on a few things that are really pretty obvious. 

Let's all agree the records handed to the NARA in January were a disorganized mess, lacked an inventory of property; all procedures for presidential records keeping appeared to have been ignored.

Let's all agree additional record requests made repeatedly since January have gone unanswered. Various agencies have presented proof of request until as a last resort, the Department of Justice was involved. 

Let's all agree that Merrick Garland was taking great pains to make certain this process was correct, above board, as transparent as possible, and as free from politics as possible...which is pretty impossible considering the recipient of the search warrant. 

What can one do with all those presidential records, including 67 labeled confidential, 92 marked secret, and 25 designated top secret?

Ready to play? Good.

What if the removal of materials sensitive to the security of these here United States was neither haphazard nor even accidental?

What if the Great Deal Maker really thinks he can make a deal because he has access to classified information? This is exactly what oligarchs do: they cut untenable deals benefitting only themselves. 

What if the guy who brought you Feckless Hotels, Feckless Airlines, and Feckless Steaks, colossal failures all, now wants to deal with his good buddies Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jung-un? What's a few billion for nuclear secrets between friends?

What if this guy is selling anything and everything to the highest bidder to bankroll another coup d'etat? 

What if he succeeds?

What if the potential sale of secrets harkens to other parts of this country for sale during the Feckless Reign of Decomposition? There are those who will happily insist that the bids for mining, pipelines, and drilling are all attempts to derail the environment. 

What if there was substantial baksheesh going on in the background? I mean, have you ever heard of a government where bribery wasn't an issue? Filthy lucre changes hands for all sorts of reasons. 

What if those schemes actually put the planet we all inhabit at risk? 

And as if that was not enough grimness for one week, let's not forget that ol' Minnesota standby: antisemitism. 

At the GOP convention back in May, candidate for Secretary of State Kim Crockett wasn't satisfied with calling the 2020 election rigged and stolen, she had to ice that cake with a video depicting the current secretary, Steve Simon, a Jew, as George Soro's puppet. As reported in TC Jewfolk, a local Jewish ezine:

David Hann, the MN GOP’s chairman, released a statement on Thursday apologizing for Crockett’s video after speaking with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

“The MN GOP strongly condemns the rise of antisemitism in recent years from all corners, including on both sides of the political aisle,” Hann said. “We wish to assure the JCRC and our friends in the broader Jewish community that the image was not intended to invoke hostility toward the Jewish people. It should not have happened, we apologize.”

The statement is a far cry from the MN GOP’s May 18 comment to Twin Cities Axios reporter Torey Van Oot, which didn’t mention the video and instead spoke about standing with Israel while calling Democrats “radicals.”

Not that it was enough to stop the Minnesota so-called Independent Republicans from actually awarding her the nomination. As she said at the conventions:

We have to kind of embrace where we are, and have some fun. This is where we are, and I've always loved the American Revolution, and now we get to live through the second one.

Really? What exactly is she running for? I'm not quite sure it's the office of Minnesota Secretary of State. 

Lest you think that's a one-off for the local GOP, guess again. It just keeps getting better. 

The gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Scott Jensen, has compared the COVID mask mandate with the Holocaust. As reported in The Jewish Telegraphic Service on August 24th:

When the Minnesota GOP’s nominee for governor invoked Kristallnacht and Hitler at a recent anti-mask mandate rally, it was a by-now familiar scene: a public figure comparing life under COVID-19 restrictions to the days of Nazi rule.

But on Tuesday, former State Sen. Scott Jensen did something unusual: he doubled down.

“I want to speak to a little bit of a hubbub that’s been in the media lately about whether or not I was insensitive in regards to the Holocaust. I don’t believe I was,” Jensen said in a Facebook video. “When I make a comparison that says that I saw government policies intruding on American freedoms incrementally, one piece at a time, and compare that to what happened in the 1930s, I think it’s a legitimate comparison.” 

I'm guessing anyone still around with a number on his or her arm might disagree. Certainly, a whole lotta people disagreed with that odious comparison but not enough to make him stop making it. This guy is supposed to be a physician. What? He was absent the day they taught preventative medicine in med school? It's entirely possible he went to Dr. Mengele's Medical Academy with Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Rand Paul because none of those three give a tinker's damn about saving lives. (Don't even get me started on women's health issues with those three.)

But I digress....so back to Minnesota.

Once again, Minnesota is flying the antisemitic flag high as elections draw near. If anyone believes for a New York minute that Jews are safe in this state, guess again. Based on the number of flyers showing up on lawns and in mailboxes, open season on Jews is coming soon to a neighborhood near you. 

Is there a what if here? Sure there is.

What if Feckless Former Leader runs and even if he's not elected, his minions win enough seats to give White Nationalists a wedge in one or both houses of Congress? 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

A lie, if repeated enough, takes on a veneer of truth.

Truth, on the other hand, when inconvenient, is easily dismissed as a lie.

Choose your truth carefully.

From Whence We Came

I learned something recently that, in hindsight, I should've known but didn't. It's one of those weird factoids anyone who lives in the L'Etoile du Nord should know. Seriously. I was even at the State Capitol a few weeks ago and didn't see it mentioned there, although I'm sure somewhere in the building, probably the gift shop, it's mentioned. I mean, it's even on Minnesota's Wikipedia page :

The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the Minnesota River, which got its name from one of two words in Dakota: "mní sóta", which means "clear blue water", or "Mníssota", which means "cloudy water." Dakota people demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mní sóta. Many places in the state have similar Dakota names, such as Minnehaha Falls ("curling water" or waterfall), Minneiska ("white water"), Minneota ("much water"), Minnetonka ("big water"), Minnetrista ("crooked water"), and Minneapolis, a hybrid word combining Dakota mní ("water") and -polis (Greek for "city").

 Another version is Mní Sóta Makhóčhe; where the water reflects the sky. 

I just asked the Senior Son if he knew the original name of Minnesota and he did not. He did say, however, that it was probably a Dakota name, which it is, as opposed to Ojibwe or Chippewa. At least they taught them that much. 

Bdote Mní Sóta - where two rivers meet

I am in great favor of recognizing and renaming places with original names. I was thrilled when Lake Calhoun became Bdi Maka Ska. Although the high school formerly known as Henry Sibley (as in not a nice man who should have things named for him) became Two Rivers High School, I would've preferred Bdote Mní Sóta High School... The Joining of Two Rivers High School. There is something overwhelming and powerful at the place where the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers meet. The Mdewakanton Dakota thought of it as sort of a Garden of Eden kinda place. You can see why even now. 

Since I, too, grew up in the land of Indigenous Names, albeit ours were heavily Mohegan-Pequot, an Algonquin language group that dominated New England and Eastern Long Island, and Mohican upstate, I can actually spell all sorts of weird towns without thinking too hard. We learned this stuff in junior high civics class. Seriously. We did. We were expected to know what was spoken where and how the names came to be because, after all, this is how our state was born. 

As the kids come up on a new school year, I hope someone is taking the time to teach them about from whence We, the People, came. Not just the stories of immigrants and slavery, but of the people who lived here. The ones treated as less than human beings throughout much of the history of this country. The ones portrayed as ignorant savages when they were the ones who knew this land best. They may not have built cities or industries, but they lived full lives off the land as active stewards, a skill we have yet to master. They were the ones caring for the planet, not the Europeans who came having already befouled their half of the hemisphere. Not knowing is more dangerous than knowing. Understanding that the earth requires active care is key if we're gonna live here. Ignoring the heritage of the land, the lessons we need to learn, the practices of the past that must come into our future...is all at our own peril. 

On the other side of my world, we are coming up on the Yamim Nor'aim, the holiest days of the Jewish Year. I cannot help but think we should be pounding our breasts for more than the usual sins on the list. All of us need to add the sins we commit just living in our urban/suburban little bubbles. We need to add the sins that divide rather than unite a community. I think it's pretty much safe to say every one of us owns a sin or two for scoffing at the beliefs, religious or political, of others. Maybe as summer slides into autumn this is a good time to examine what we had, what we want, and/or what we actually need. I do believe all those answers are very different one from another. 

Everyone knows the first part of Deuteronomy 16:20: 

.צֶדֶק צֶדֶק, תִּרְדֹּף 

Justice, justice you shall follow...

But how many people know the rest? 

--לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ 
...that you may live and inherit the land that G-d had given you.

 See how that all dovetails one into another? Teaching our children and ourselves is a communal, civic, and environmental responsibility. Make no mistake; this planet belongs to all of us. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o' the Week

Introspection is rarely a fun-filled activity.

Still, owning up to stuff we need to change is important.

More than important, it's crucial to our very survival as a species. 

Wanna See My Vacay Pictures?

This is going to be a very short post. Or not.

I just got back from my sojourn on the east coast and I am completely wiped out. The kids have officially moved to their temporary quarters and I am sitting here relishing the silence. Not that I'm not a great fan of chaos, but....

Staying with my family on the Island is always good medicine. We don't have to do special stuff; we just get to be. I always laugh so much when I'm with them, never mind that my cousin Tracey Simon is a stand up comic. She's funny in regular conversation. Staying with Ellis and Tracey is always a hoot. 

The beach was fantastic. See those boats in the background? That's the reason we have supply chain issues. They cannot get into port to unload. They are sitting out there in a tidy little line waiting their turn to sail into the docks of New York.'

Yes, there was ample pastrami, but the best was from the Lido Deli and picked up with the Mallomars Fairy. Talk about catching up! Like it's been a lifetime since the last time I saw her at her sister's wedding (I was a bridesmaid) and she was just a kid! 

Dinner with my grad school buddy Diz who has stayed in the business that is show and her husband was perfection. Just to talk real theater...the nuts and bolts kind...makes me remember who I am underneath the words: I am forever a director and damn proud of it. 

Despite the semi-cold and cloudy Friday morning, I sat on the sand at the water's edge with my cousin Perdie discussing all things consequential and trivial. See, I was sitting on the beach with my kid cuz just talking. That was worth the trip right there. 

Took the Long Island Railroad into Penn with my cousin Ellis-the-train-expert and managed to see the new Moynihan Station. Lovely...but brief. Thank goodness for Ellis's aid in shlepping the damn suitcase, wheels be damned! Even in a cab, it was close. But off to Connecticut I went to see my friend Wendy. Don't tell her, but it was really to sit in her hot tub and watch for meteors. Oh, and eat. Lots of great eating.

And visiting. We had a lovely lunch with my friend Lynn at a lovely Ukrainian spot: The Good News Restaurant. It was the first time we ever managed to have lunch together and now that we're both retired, I sure hope not the last! 

On the friend front, I finally met my editor, Gail, in person. She's been my second set of eyes on Tuesday mornings for about 9 years, and while we do talk on the phone, this was a first hug. I didn't tell her I was coming, so I got to surprise her. The look on her face was priceless. I was over the moon to finally see her in person. She has been the voice of reason when my thoughts were muddy. She is a wonderful friend and terrific copy editor. I cannot imagine doing this without her....and now I'm gonna sit back and wait for her to complain about the picture. I think it's lovely, Gail!

One of the highlights was discovering The New England Accordion Museum in Canaan, CT. Mr. Ramunni was a delight. Considering I have three cousins who play accordion, and any number of friends who used to play accordion, this was a heck of an education. If you are ever in the area, stop by, and if you're really nice, Mr. Ramunni will play for you. His passion for the instrument is contagious; if you're ever in Canaan, CT, be sure to stop there. It's a total hoot.

I also managed to see two things that were bucket worthy. 

We were in Sandy Hook, and we saw the new school that has been built over the site of the old elementary school. It's very beautiful and fitting that it's over the same spot: a sort of phoenix rising from the ashes. I could not take a picture. I just couldn't.

The other bucket list item was the Guthrie Center. Anyone of a certain age cherishes that perennial Thanksgiving earworm:

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the Restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the Church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog. 

No Thanksgiving is ever truly complete without at least one awful rendition of Alice's Restaurant Massacree, and lord knows, I've heard many of them. 

I cannot say enough about staying with my friend Wendy. Her house is magnificent, her pool is to die for, and her skills as a tour guide around western Connecticut are unparalleled. It's not enough that the area is stunningly beautiful, but her explanations of who, what, where and when are amazing. She's a human catalogue of information and I am in awe of her. That and her effortless ability to navigate back roads. Man, I would be sooooo lost!

The house itself is partly made from the reclaimed parts of a barn that was original to the property. This is dawn as taken from my bed. It was breathtaking. Each morning I awoke to some feat of nature happening outside that window. And I will tell you waking up at dawn was worth it. It's a whole 'nother level of peace. That the remnants of the barn make up large portions of the house blend old and new into a welcoming and almost dream-like experience. For the record, the kitchen is pretty cool.

Floating in an infinity pool was a whole new experience. Magic. Seriously. We soaked in the hot tub end while we waited for the Perseids meteor shower to commence, but clouds got in the way. Not that I cared much; the hot tub in the pitch dark or night was a spiritual experience

 

And no discussion about my sojourn in Connecticut would be complete without mention of Fergus. Yes, he is as fluffy as he looks, and at 18 weeks, he already knows how to turn on the charm. This guy is one fun puppy.

The journey ended in Boston, where I got to talk politics with Luke, a fine Coast Guard officer, lawyer, and son of Minnesota Minda. What a joy to sip a Guinness with a kid who's not such a kid anymore. We sat outside at a tavern and talked about all the problems of the real world. He actually knows about these things from the other side and it was a delightful hour. 

Equally delightful was dinner at Petit Robert where the food was as good as the show going on around us. Two of the most handsome men I've ever seen, deep in their Arabic conversation at the table next to us, totally ignoring the three women preening, making eyes, and generally sending out "take me" signals to the two guys. It was the best floor show in town.

The adventure ended on Sunday morning with me sprawled on the pavement in front of the Prudential Center because I cannot walk and laugh at the same time. My Apple watch asked me if I was okay, (I was,) and then asked me for more information. The correct answer? 

I've fallen and I can get up. 

Yes, I've got a couple of bruises and a scraped knee, but I am just fine.(And no, I'm not posting a picture of either the bruises or the knee, thank you very much.)

All in all, it was a great two weeks away. I am grateful to my cousins and friends who made this a great adventure. If I learned nothing else, I learned that I need to go east more often. Say what you will, you skeptics; it's still home. 

The WP's Tip o'the Week

Cherish your family and friends. 

Visit as often as you can, talk on the phone when you can't.

Having people that know you well is a good thing. 

Stuff I Didn’t Wanna Think About

I was planning on a completely different blog today, but real life has gotten in the way.

My cousin Perdie asked if I would write about the anniversary of the Sbarro bombing in Jerusalem. If you don't remember the Sbarro bombing that took place on August 9th, 2001, this is the short version:

The Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing, also called the Sbarro massacre, was a Palestinian terrorist attack on a pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem, on 9 August 2001, in which 15 civilians were killed, including 7 children and a pregnant woman, and 130 wounded. 

The pregnant woman, Judith Greenbaum, was American. From the larger Wiki article:

They arrived just before 2:00 pm, when the restaurant was filled with customers, "dozens of women, children and babies", and pedestrian traffic outside was at its peak. Tamimi departed before Al-Masri, thought to be carrying a rigged guitar case or wearing an explosive belt weighing 5 to 10 kilograms, containing explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb.          

(You can read the full account here.)

In the end, 15 were dead, one, Chana Nachenberg, an American, was left in a vegetative state that persisted for over 20 years, and 130 were injured. Seven of the dead were children. The homicide bomber also died. 

The woman who planned the bombing, Ahlam Tamimi was freed in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and now lives in Jordan. Because she orchestrated the murder of 2 US citizens, Malki Roth and Judith Greenbaum in the bombing, she remains on the FBI Most Wanted List; attempts to extradite her have failed. She loves to talk about the fantastic success of the Sbarro bombing. In an interview on Al-Aqsa TV on 12 July 2012 (as translated by MEMRI,) she said:

Afterwards, when I took the bus, the Palestinians around Damascus Gate [in Jerusalem] were all smiling. You could sense that everybody was happy. When I got on the bus, nobody knew that it was me who had led [the suicide bomber to the target]... I was feeling quite strange, because I had left [the bomber] 'Izz Al-Din behind, but inside the bus, they were all congratulating one another. They didn't even know one another, yet they were exchanging greetings...While I was sitting on the bus, the driver turned on the radio. But first, let me tell you about the gradual rise in the number of casualties. While I was on the bus and everybody was congratulating one another...

She went on to say: 

I admit that I was a bit disappointed, because I had hoped for a larger toll. Yet when they said "three dead," I said: 'Allah be praised'...Two minutes later, they said on the radio that the number had increased to five. I wanted to hide my smile, but I just couldn't. Allah be praised, it was great. As the number of dead kept increasing, the passengers were applauding.

Dozens of women, children, and babies. This woman targeted women, children, and babies.

At the time, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing. 

For the past few days, Israel has been targeting Gaza with air attacks. Operation Breaking Dawn is targeting the leadership of Islamic Jihad. In return, there is retaliation from inside Gaza. During one of those rocket barrages, one misfired and took out a civilian camp. 

This is radar tracking of the barrage of rockets fired by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in Gaza last night.

As per the IDF:

This shows the site where the rocket landed—a place where Palestinian civilians, including children, were killed by a misfired rocket. 

If you read the time stamps, and look at the firing patterns, you can see Palestinian targeting went right over their own people. This is the risk you take when you use your population as human shields. I get that no military operation is perfect and civilian casualties happen, but firing missiles over refugee and housing camps is a recipe for disaster and cannot be laid at the foot of the enemy.

The intrinsic, inherent evil of doing that also points to the depravity of homicide bombers attacking women and children in restaurants. Is no life sacred? Not even the lives of your own people?

In her own words, Tamimi proudly tells the world that murdering women and children is an acceptable action. One can stretch that to include the women and children of Gaza who are to be sacrificed on the altar of their own military hubris. Palestinian missile misfiring is not exactly an unknown event, given the rudimentary composition of their weaponry. 

In 2021, the summary of a BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,081, June 27, 2021 stated:

Much of the coverage and commentary surrounding the fighting in May between Hamas and Israel has focused on numbers, especially the much larger number of Palestinians than Israelis killed. The number of deaths is actually very low for such an intense conflict, a testament to Israel’s Iron Dome and civil defense systems, and its use of precision weapons and warnings aimed at minimizing Palestinian civilian deaths. Of course, Hamas aims to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible, but its rockets place both Israelis and Palestinians in peril, because many of those rockets—in this case 680—misfire and explode inside Gaza. The death and destruction caused is, of course, usually blamed on Israel. The question addressed here is how many Palestinians are likely to have been killed by these errant Palestinian rockets in May. The estimate arrived at is 91, amounting to 36% of the alleged Palestinian death toll. 

[BESA, the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, is a non-partisan, independent think tank devoted to stability issues surrounding Israel and the Middle East.] 

It's very popular to accuse Israel of war crimes. It's equally popular to publish photos of victims who are either posing or the photo is demonstrated to be from someplace else entirely. Blame is always convenient for the haters. You know the UN et al is gonna try to pin this latest missile launch on Israel. 

But demand a bragging terrorist face up to crimes against humanity? Ha. Tamimi's case for extradition began on July 15, 2013 when the DoJ filed criminal charges against her for "conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US resulting in death." The Jordanian courts ruled she could not be extradited because the Jordanian Parliament had not yet ratified the extradition treaty.

When American citizens are languishing in foreign jails, why waste time on this? When the Ukraine is being bombed daily with less than surgical strikes, why pay much attention to Operation Breaking Dawn? And why should we be surprised or perturbed at the blame-game name-calling?

Let me tell you why: because if we don't care, we are inhuman. If we stop caring about justice, we are inhuman. If we stop caring about all citizens in Israel and in Palestine, we are inhuman. If we stand around saying "meh" at the name calling, we have lost all shred of decency. 

I have my doubts Tamami will ever be extradited, just as I doubt anyone associated with the execution of Adnan Khashoggi will ever be extradited.  But to stop caring is not an option. The act of not caring about Brittney Griner and other Americans in Russian jails is to give Russia tacit permission to keep snatching American citizens on trumped up charges. 

We cannot stop caring about Ukraine, nor can we stop caring about Palestinian missiles trained on Israeli civilian targets. The perpetrators must never be given tacit permission to continue bombing civilian populations and silence IS consent.

And shrugging our collective shoulders at the blame-game name-calling political poison ads from both sides allows it to continue. It is NOT okay. And more than ever, it's tacit permission to continue the screed.

The WP’s Tip o’ the Week

Do not give in to despair.

Be like the Ukrainians....fight, fight, fight! 

Lonely sits the city once great with people!

I have escaped! 

I have temporarily sought refuge on the outwash plain of my favorite forked-ended island where it's hot and sticky and feels just about right. We don't need no stinkin' air conditioning!

Yeah, it was a little plane, but I gotta admit, I have no idea how the flight was; I fell asleep before we finished backing up and I really didn't wake up until we landed. I missed the traditional waving as I fly over the cemetery. I never miss flying over the cemetery. I think I was tired. It was a pretty busy few days getting ready to split the scene for two weeks while the kiddies camped out at my house. I think they'll have fun...mostly because we have a pool and this weather makes having a pool a pretty big plus.

But before I left town, I went to be part of the first in-person audience for CHUTZPOD, a podcast with Josh Malina and Rabbi Shira Stutman. They are well paired and well suited. I'd listened to them before, but being in the audience for their first one was actually pretty fun. Their intention is to talk Torah, specifically the parashat ha'shevuah, the section of Torah read in a synagogue on Shabbat morning, but they incorporate events of interest into the conversation. So it was no surprise when the chat turned to the January 6th hearing. And something was said that I found not merely interesting, but rather surprisingly insightful.

Okay, they were talking about Jewish holiday cycle and why Tisha b'Av, the 9th of Av,  is different. It's really a second level major holiday. Shabbat, of course, is every seven days, and occupies its own space.  First tier consists of the Days of Awe: Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, followed by the second tier with the three pilgrimage festivals: Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot.  Everything else comes after that. Tisha b'Av, however, sorta stands on its own. It's unique in a whole bunch of ways in that it commemorates the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem, and it is said, somewhat apocryphally, that many other tragedies befell the Jewish people on that date, including the start of the Spanish Inquisition. So they kept talking about how to celebrate Tisha b'Av...and frankly, I took issue with the word celebrate. 

Celebrating death and destruction seems antithetical to me. It's a day of sadness, mourning, and ultimately, hope. But that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about how one commemorates a day of sadness and despair, like Tisha b'Av or January 6th.

Yes. January 6th. Like November 22nd, or December 7th, January 6th was a watershed moment in American history. Was it an insurrection? Was it a protest march? What exactly was it? Semantics matter here. IF it was a successful insurrection and they had succeeded in taking the Capitol, then those people would have celebrated. But if you view it as a watershed moment in the history of this country that could have gone either way, then you're probably not gonna celebrate it. That's what had me stymied: how do we label the events of January 6th?

In talking about Tisha b'Av, one is really marking the destruction of two Temples. That's the genesis of the fast day. One cannot ignore the reasons for those destructions; they are two very different reasons:

Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because of three evils in it: idolatry, sexual immorality and bloodshed . . . But why was the Second Temple destroyed, seeing that during the time it stood people occupied themselves with Torah, with observance of precepts, and with the practice of charity? Because during the time it stood, hatred without rightful cause prevailed. This is to teach you that hatred without rightful cause is deemed as grave as all the three sins of idolatry, sexual immorality and bloodshed together.

Babylonian Talmud Book III: Yoma 9b
circa 500 CE

Hold that thought.

When Malina and Stutman talked about January 6th, they proposed calling it a National Day of Reckoning. I kinda like that title. I also like the questions they posed about how we see ourselves when we are the other. Any civil separation is going to cause the perception of the enemy to morph into something unexpected. Is the recognition of the destruction about the loss of a physical space...or is it really about the internal fracturing of a community? Is the absence of that physical space more or less important than retaining that physical space under any and all circumstances?

Rabbi Stutman also pointed out the importance of horizontal memory. The idea that we are standing on the shoulders of others is probably overlooked way too much. We do stand on the accomplishments of others; it becomes our responsibility to not simply protect the base, but to insure upward growth. 

Since We, the People have indeed fractured the pedestal of civic community all by ourselves, admitting to and recognizing we are living in a time of fomented hatred means we cannot turn away or pretend damage has not been done. We have an obligation to shore up the base as we reach for the sky. The Book of Lamentations, read on Tisha b'Av, opens with great sadness: Lonely sits the city once great with people! I suspect this will be an all too familiar phrase. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Shabbat outranks all holidays except Yom Kippur...therefore

Tisha b'Av observed begins at sundown, August 6th 

and ends Sunday, August 7th at sundown.

If that also just happens to be your 41st birthday, bummer.

Have an easy fast and break it with ice cream and cake.