Decency Does Not End at the Border

Look in any Bible, Old Testament, New Testament, Koran, Hindu holy texts, or any religious writings, and you are likely to find justification for almost any action you may desire to take. Slavery. Capital punishment. Treating women as chattel. All are condoned in various scriptures.

So it was not unusual for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to cite the Apostle Paul in his defense of Trump administration policy to separate children from their parents if the family unit tries to enter the United States illegally. 

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,”said Sessions (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/06/14/jeff-sessions-points-to-the-bible-in-defense-of-separating-immigrant-families/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8d4f916357a3)

It is futile to duel with Bible verses. Let’s remember religions set many of their guiding tenets during eras with mores far different than those of today’s western civilizations. 

Decency, on the other hand, does not require divine validation. So let’s be blunt: Trump and his minions are being indecent and cruel. They are traumatizing children, children!, perhaps for life, to win political points. 

Have they no shame? 

They are compounding their immorality by lying, by trying to lay the blame for their inexcusable actions on Democrats when they know perfectly well that under Barack Obama children were not separated from their parents (https://nyti.ms/2HS0MsV). 

The Big Lie is Trump’s usual defense, but even some of his evangelical supporters are not being duped by it this time. It is comforting to know even his own church, United Methodist, has disavowed Sessions’ use of the Bible to justify an abhorrent practice (http://theweek.com/speedreads/779547/jeff-sessions-church-slams-use-bible-defend-separating-migrant-families). 

Here’s a chilling perspective on the practice of separating children from their parents. As Sara Boboltz reported on HuffPost, families of color have been subjected to such cruelty since the 1800s (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/history-separating-families-of-color_us_5b241a78e4b0f9178a9d1866).

There is no denying the United States has a problem with illegal immigration, the severity of which is subject to honest debate (though it is difficult to imagine an honest, truthful debate from Trump’s side). But what should be obvious to anyone with a caring heart is the cruelty of taking children from their parents for no other reason than they sought a better future from the lottery of life that planted them in a country south of the United States border. 

Decency should know no boundaries. 

Tribute to George Rosenbaum; Hold The Nobel Peace Prize For Now But Give Trump the Chutzpah Award

I learned this week of the passing of George Rosenbaum. He was 88. When he was eight he witnessed Hitler’s troops marching through his home city, Vienna. Shortly thereafter his family emigrated to the United States. With that early experience seared into his memory, George would comment on some of my blogs, usually the political ones. 

I first met George in 1980. He was president of Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, a market research firm based in Chicago. Chain Store Age engaged George and Leo for what I thought would be a one-off project studying Kmart. Instead, for the next 29 years hardly a month passed without research from LJS appearing in my magazine.

As I wrote two and a half years ago when Leo passed away at age 94, the value of market research is dependent on how questions are structured and fielded. “Garbage in, garbage out” is a truism of the trade. George and Leo shaped my rough ideas into sharp analytical studies. 

Contributors to Advertising Age and often quoted in The Wall Street Journal and other business publication, LJS did research for many retail and health care companies. 

After I started my blog, George and Leo often would email their thoughts. When I hadn’t heard from George for several months, I did what is now an easy Google search. His death notice popped up. He passed away May 7. I called his wife Wednesday to express my condolences and appreciation for our relationship which continued beyond our work years.

Here’s a sample of George’s reactions to my blogs:

To a blog that asked, which is more of a threat to Western civilization: Islamic extremists or neo-Nazis? (http://nosocksneededanymore.blogspot.com/2017/11/existential-threats-jihadists-or-neo.html), George wrote: “Deaths by guns nor deaths by terror do not threaten Western liberty. The widening gap between have and have-nots caused mainly by technology makes fertile ground for despots who pledge to fix what’s wrong.  

“Bread has always pre-empted liberty. Europe has been deeded the vast number of refugees by the failed states it created after WW1 and defeat of the Ottoman Empire. 

“Pray that Israel continues to protect and support Palestine, especially if it should become a state.”

To a blog on Charlottesville and the lessons of history (http://nosocksneededanymore.blogspot.com/2017/08/charlottesville-and-lessons-of-history.html), George responded: “Well said…and even better written. Until now I never heard a spade being called a spade. The secession of the South was led by traitors. It was treason; it was not a matter of free choice or honor. The West Point graduate(s) and elected representatives took oaths and pledged to uphold the Union—UNITED States. To reconstruct that union, history was white washed. Hollywood contributed to the white wash. The removal of Confederate statues is a double edge sword that reminds us that the reconstruction is not complete. The unreconstructed want to hold on to what once was—embedded in their soul, to quote you. On the other hand, the many Southerners who want those monuments removed are working on behalf of reconstruction perhaps even themselves.

“I was still a child in Vienna when the American Bund rallied for Hitler, but this seems quite distant from present organized hate groups—some 1,300 in the US, according to the Southern Poverty League. It is now post WW2, post Holocaust. The western world and US have mobilized to control hate legally as well as socially to oppose it. The digital age makes us all vulnerable to the destructiveness of hatred. Society has reacted…as it is reacting to Charlottesville now. Prior history may relate but does not apply.

“Jews are a bellweather. We see them leaving France, Poland, Hungary. No American Jew is leaving because of fear; they are United citizens who entrust and are prepared to share their fate with all other Americans. 

“Surely this is unique…just as America is unique in all of history.”

Ever the market researcher, George contemplated a statistical response to Trump’s penchant for lying. Responding to my January 22, 2017, blog on Trump and the Truth: Never the Twain Shall Meet (http://nosocksneededanymore.blogspot.com/2017/01/trump-and-truth-never-twain-shall-meet.html), he suggested, “Autocrats are always enabled by the truths they create. And, correction is always silenced by their acolytes.  

“Truthtellers, if not removed from their jobs, are punished and pay dearly, even with their lives. Many attempts to silence Hitler failed. But, this is still the US. And, you are a flourishing truth teller, not a silent spectator. Moreover, a journalist with inbred and professional capacity for observation.  

“What is needed on behalf of America is an Autocracy Index. This is as follows:

Date   The Falsehood   The Medium   The Facts

“I believe that this could readily be funded. To date, there is already enough to create this with post inauguration material to avoid being written off as campaign rhetoric.  This could help attract financial support, establish a daily/weekly report published online by a responsible source, and even a weekly adjunct on television news, or its own show. While its beginning (the count so far) requires sweat equity, funding could reimburse daily continuity, both its management, support staff and interns.”

I will miss George’s insights, intelligence, experience and friendship.

Memo to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee: Not so fast!

While Donald Trump and his boosters tout a safer world from a denuclearized North Korea after his historic tete-a-tete with Kim Jong-un, saner, more rational observers express caution, even skepticism. As more daylight emerges from their Tuesday meeting in Singapore, it seems both sides have different interpretations of what transpired, what commitments each side made and how quickly, if ever, the Korean peninsula will be nuke free (check your preferred news outlet for details).

What you might have missed, in Trump’s euphoria and habit of hyperbole, is the reality that nothing new was contained in the photo-op signing of a joint statement. For context, read or listen to Joshua Pollack’s five minute interview on NPR (Pollack is an expert on nonproliferation and editor of The Nonproliferation Review). For those who want a quick summation here’s a pertinent Pollack quote: 

“On paper, neither side gave up anything or received anything. These are the same standing commitments that both sides have had for a while now. There’s not a lot new except, I suppose, the resumption of searching for the war dead. Having said that, the fact of this summit—the visuals, the flags, the handshakes, the smiles—all that certainly elevates Kim Jong-un internationally, enhances his credibility at home, assuming that he feels he needs that. And I think it will tend to confirm him in his mindset that testing probable hydrogen bomb and long-range ICBM is what has gotten him respect from the powers of the world, including the United States. And I don’t think he’ll be inclined to give it up” (https://www.npr.org/2018/06/12/619294287/u-s-north-korea-joint-statement-echos-past-agreements-between-the-2-countries).

Chutzpah Award: On the other hand, The Philanderer-in-Chief earned the Chutzpah Comment of the Week award by attacking Congressman Mark Sanford (R-SC) for his dalliance with an Argentinean woman while married and governor of South Carolina. 

The Trumpster endorsed Sanford’s primary challenger as retaliation for the congressman’s less than blind loyalty. Sanford lost, another indication Republican Party masses have abandoned longstanding GOP principles and are now no more objective than any cult followers.

Mixed Messages: Ft. Lee, NJ, wants to promote business in its community, but a mixed message might be part of its campaign.

A billboard on Route 46 just before the George Washington Bridge cheerfully suggests stopping in Ft. Lee for Happy Hour drinks. Are town fathers really advocating drinking and then getting back into one’s car? 

Behind My Restless Night an Anthropomorphic Message

I had a lousy sleep Sunday night. My left knee felt sprained. My enlarged prostate kept demanding relief every 90 minutes or so. It was stuffy in the bedroom but I couldn’t open a window because Gilda’s allergies required us to keep outside air outside. And it was too cool for the air conditioner to go on. Perhaps I was tense about having to wake up early to drive Gilda to work in Manhattan. 

All legitimate and reasonable reasons why I tossed and turned all night. It wasn’t until I sat in the dentist’s chair Monday afternoon that I discovered the real reason behind my disappointing and unrestful night. I was being subjected to another bit of torture by an inanimate object that I was retiring from service. 

Mitch the dentist was putting the finishing touches on a new bite guard to lessen the impact of my teeth grinding and Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome. In other words, a persistent clenched jaw that really hurts and erodes the enamel on molars. 

After years of service my old bite guard needed replacement. It exacted its revenge on being displaced from usefulness in a most relative way, by denying me a good night’s sleep during its last hours of duty. 

Yes, I believe in anthropomorphism, the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. I’ve been anthropomorphisized before. 

My otherwise trustworthy 1973 Chevy Vega chose to partially lose its muffler on the day I was ending our 13 year relationship by handing it over to my brother-in-law. The muffler dropped as I was about to enter the Lincoln Tunnel. I had to get out and hook it back up to the undercarriage with a wire hangar a passing motorist gave me (I now keep such a hangar in my car trunk, just in case). By the time I reached the Manhattan corner where I was to give the Vega to my brother-in-law, the car could barely travel more than half a block without stalling. Clearly, the Vega was sending a message it was unhappy our time together was over.

Here’s another example: On the last day of my employment, after 32 years of walking up Park Avenue from Grand Central Terminal, it rained. Hard. It wasn’t a surprise, so I had planned accordingly. Instead of taking a collapsible small umbrella, I toted a large umbrella given to me as a gift by the Dolphin and Swan Hotels for bringing the SPECS conference to the Disney World properties for two years. 

It was a beautiful umbrella, automatic and vented to withstand wind gusts, with a carved wooden handle on which the logos of the two hotels were etched.

As I stepped out onto the street and opened the umbrella, a wind gust blew the canopy inside out. That was not supposed to happen. As I struggled to right the umbrella, the metal shaft broke in two, leaving me the handle and about three inches of shaft. A perfect metaphor for ending my paid journalism career.

I could give other examples, but I think those two suffice to convince you inanimate objects send messages, to me at least.

One would think the new bite guard would do everything within its power to insure that Monday night’s sleep was sound and refreshing. But one would be wrong. Apparently, anthropomorphic messages are sent only at the end of useful life, not at the onset. 

From The Americans to Wife Beaters, In Air Illness, Gaza and Roseanne, An Eventful Week

If you are a fan of The Americans, as Gilda and I are, you might wonder about the location of the last scene in the series finale Wednesday night in which we observed Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, if I might continue to use their pseudo-American names. As they stood on a bridge overlooking Moscow, with the Moscow State University looming in the background, reflecting on their children, their time in America and pondering their future back home in the Soviet Union, Gilda and I recalled the time we stood on the exact same spot nearly eight years ago. 

It wasn’t evening. Middle of the day. Part of a tour of the city included in our St. Petersburg to Moscow river boat cruise (one of the best vacation trips we ever took). The bus stopped so we could take advantage of the view but, more importantly, so we could buy souvenirs from Russian peddlers whose tables of wares spanned the width of the bridge. I bought a set of nesting dolls, two crocheted hacky sack balls, and a music box in the shape of onion-domed churches ubiquitous throughout Russia. (To read more of our trip to Russia, click on this link: http://nosocksneededanymore.blogspot.com/2010/08/from-russia-with-love.html).

The main building of the university is one of seven similar skyscrapers built in Moscow during Stalin’s reign. They all feature graduated facades leading to a single spire. Until 1990 the university building was the tallest in Europe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(Moscow)). 

Wife Beaters? For those in the Northeast, summer temperatures will eventually be the norm, trust me. With the warm weather will come more exposure from less skin-covering clothing. 

I’m not being sexist here. I’m actually referring to the custom of men walking around in T-shirts. Specifically, what I have in mind are what Chang-rae Lee in The New Yorker called a “ribbed tank top” (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/06/04/my-fathers-face), what Moises Velasquez-Manoff in The New York Times labelled a “wife beater” made notorious by Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (https://nyti.ms/2GQollo).

My father wore such undershirts, never without a collared shirt over them. He never hit my mother, though to be honest, being less than appropriate at all times with one’s spouse is not confined to physical abuse. 

I’m partial to V-neck undershirts. About a dozen years ago, Gilda prevailed upon me to buy some ribbed tank tops. Perhaps she thought I’d develop muscles to go with them. I didn’t. After spending about 10 years scrunched up in a closet drawer they became fodder for our charity giveaway pile. Hopefully, their new owner(s) do not hit their female companions. 

Sick in the Air: The linked article about airlines reluctant to make emergency landings for ill travelers surely gives any flier pause: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-29/airlines-count-costs-of-unplanned-landings-when-flyers-fall-ill

It reminded me of my own flight from hell as Gilda and I returned from London three years ago. Doubled over from pain in my back and groin from the outset of the eight hour flight I was an object of sympathy by the stewards. They wondered if an emergency landing in Labrador or Newfoundland should be made but nurse practitioner Gilda advised it wasn’t necessary as I was probably just suffering from my normal, though admittedly more extreme, gastrointestinal issues. She had ruled out any appendix or infection issues. 

I continued to suffer in silent but visual agony for the duration of the flight. I will never know if the pilot would have made an emergency landing. It turned out a kidney stone had chosen that particular time to make its presence known and felt. Interestingly, from the moment I later went to an emergency room I never experienced any further pain. 

More Pain From Gaza: Clashes are unabated along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. Here’s the latest note I received Saturday, this one from Orly, a first responder who lives in a moshav mere kilometers from the twin border with Gaza and Egypt:

“This last month was very difficult for (us), specially last week. All the first responder team are working very hard serving our community. We have unfortunately new persons traumatized, especially a lot of children who have been surprised by the first alert (that damaged the area near school). A lot of work to do to sew up the damage. Our beautiful area destroyed by fire in the fields and the forests burned. But we don’t give up and we’ll replant all what has been and even more.

“P.S.—Time is 00:55 in Israel. We have now a new rocket from Hamas and I hope this is not a new week with bombardments.”

Roseanne, We Hardly Knew Ya: Gilda and I were devoted viewers of the first Roseanne show. I remember seeing an early episode one evening in a hotel during a business trip and telling Gilda we had to watch that show. Because of her current political persuasion, we did not tune it to her reincarnation. 

I was intrigued, as I’m confident you will be, by this (long) reflection by her once close friend Michael Moore. Here it is: 

“I have known Roseanne Barr for over 25 years. I’ve known her as Roseanne Barr, Roseanne Arnold, just “Roseanne”, then back to Roseanne Barr. I’ve spent time in her home, criss-crossed the country with her to help remove George W. Bush from the White House, appeared on her shows, been there for her when she needed something, and connected her with one of my producers who did an insightful, one-of-a-kind documentary into the genius and the tragedy that is Roseanne Barr. 

“On Tuesday Roseanne posted hateful, slanderous tweets directed at four people: George Soros, Valerie Jarrett, Chelsea Clinton and me. A few hours later, she was fired by ABC. 

“For the past few years, Roseanne has been posting the craziest stuff on Twitter, like claiming Hillary was part of a child sex abuse ring being run out of a DC pizza place. She’s claimed that the Clintons have murdered people. And anyone who criticizes Benjamin Netanyahu is a “nazi.” 

“Roseanne seems to be suffering from some sort of madness. It’s more than just saying she’s a racist. She operates in the same sewer of lies, conspiracy theories and bigotry that's been rising in America for years and that has now succeeded in electing our current president. Totally nuts. 

“Here’s who’s not crazy: Donald J. Trump. 

“Trump, though he shows all the signs of being absolutely bonkers, is not insane. He’s the real deal. His racism and hate is real, it’s well thought-out, he’s the true master of manipulation, a brilliant performance artist, and an evil genius. He outsmarted a nation of liberals and Democrats and won the White House by losing the actual vote of the people. He neutered and then destroyed the Grand Old Republican Party. He knows exactly what he is doing. 

“Roseanne, on the other hand, is a person who long ago broke through and brought an authentic voice of working women and men to television via one of the greatest TV series of all time. It was groundbreaking because the TV industry had historically either ignored, ridiculed or patronized those of us who grew up in the working class. Roseanne changed that. 

“But she is also a damaged soul. Most people don’t know that she has suffered her entire life from a massive head injury she received during a serious car accident when she was a child. Her brain injuries were immense and she spent months in the hospital struggling to recover. 

“I also have no idea what it was like to grow up, as she did, as a Jewish girl in Salt Lake City. Not a tolerant state, to be sure. She told me how her parents, who owned an apartment building, were asked by the U.S. government after World War II if they would be willing to house Holocaust survivors who had come to the U.S. as refugees. Her parents took dozens in, and Roseanne’s childhood was spent with these survivors as her ‘family.’ ‘The stories they told me,’ she said, ‘were filled with unimaginable horror. I’ve always wondered what effect that had on me as a little girl.’ 

“Now, sadly, for the past few years, Roseanne has been in a downward spiral, ranting like crazy on Twitter, spreading conspiracy theories, attacking the people she used to love, supporting Trump, and being just an outright hateful and racist person. It has been a difficult decline to witness. She has repeatedly attacked me, and on Tuesday, after calling George Soros a ‘Nazi’ (he’s a Jew and a Holocaust survivor), Valerie Jarrett an offspring ‘of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes,’ and saying that Chelsea was ‘married to’ a Nazi relative of George Soros, she then retweeted a disgusting new word for me because I have spoken out against the Netanyahu government and its killing of Palestinians -- ‘#JewHater’. Nonstop insanity and sickness. 

“I guess there might be 20 million Americans (out of 320 million) who probably agree with her. She has thrown down with the lowest of the low, and who knows if she’ll ever recover from this descent into her own personal hell. 

“To close, I want to say just how great the new Roseanne show was. It was funny but brutal to watch because it showed how our system of greed has hurt millions of families like the Connors of Illinois. On the final episode last week, Roseanne was addicted to opioids because she couldn't afford the knee surgery she needed, so she suffered along in agonizing pain. Dan, her husband, in order to raise money for her surgery, decided to take a non-union job -- and Roseanne berates him for doing so and letting his union brothers and sisters down. There are a couple quick knocks on Trump, making it clear that the real Roseanne was not writing or running this show. For the past 9 weeks, the new Roseanne show has shined a powerful and necessary light on what it means to be working class in 2018. Her blended family on this new series was white and black and LGBTQ, and her generous neighbors next door were Muslims who forced her to confront her own bigotry. 

“If only her art could have helped her in her real life. 

“(Also, let me say this: There’s no reason the show has to go just because she’s gone. Over the years, TV has found ways to bring Bobby Ewing back from the dead on “Dallas”, forced us to accept the two Darrins on “Bewitched”, and found ways for hit shows to survive when their stars bolted after a year or two [David Caruso on “NYPD Blue”, Pernell Roberts on “Bonanza”]. The smart people who were writing this Roseanne series can surely find a way to let the non-bigoted portion of America’s working class [which I can tell you is the VAST majority] have their voice heard on network television. Why should it be silenced by one lost soul?)”

In Death Westerns Hero Clint Walker Provides Source of Reflection on American Heritage

It wouldn’t surprise me if you missed his obituary, but Clint Walker died last Monday. He was 90 (https://nyti.ms/2LoTEY2).

Walker held a special place in the Forseter household from the mid-1950s to early-1960s. Tall, rugged, Adonis-shaped with a laconic, baritone voice, Walker portrayed Cheyenne Bodie in the ABC-TV series Cheyenne that aired Sunday nights (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_(TV_series).

It was among my mother’s favorite shows, not the least reason being her pleasure at ogling Walker, especially when he took off his shirt. In the small of his back Cheyenne had a scar, a divot shaped like an arrowhead.  (She also favored William Hopper who played private detective Paul Drake on the CBS-TV series Perry Mason. Hopper never took his shirt off). 

Perhaps it was a reflection of the era, but westerns made up a considerable volume of the television fare enjoyed by our family more than six decades ago. A quick list of the prime time oaters we watched included Maverick (we preferred the episodes featuring James Garner as Bret Maverick over those with Jack Kelly (Bart) or Roger Moore (Beau), The Rebel, Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and Wagon Train. I never knew why, but we mostly resisted tuning into Sugarfoot, Bonanza, and Rawhide, the series that launched Clint Eastwood’s career. 

My father was a big fan of westerns. There were, of course, westerns targeted at children that I watched without him: Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Broken Arrow, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickok, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, Broken Arrow, Sky King (a “modern” western—the hero piloted a twin-engine Cessna instead of riding a horse around Arizona territory), and, my personal favorite, The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin, because its main human character was a boy just a few years my elder. 

I cannot remember any episode but one, wherein the young orphan Rusty is saved from a deadly buffalo stampede by the appearance on a hill of a mystical white buffalo that caused the herd to stop its charge, but I often called out, “Yo, Rinny,” as Rusty did at least once each show to get his faithful German shepherd dog to spring into action to save the day (to be honest, I always said “Yo, Rinty,” but in researching this blog I listened to part of the first episode and heard Rusty say, “Rinny.” Ah, well, so my memory is not infallible).

These westerns were small morality plays. Aside from life lessons, the mini horse operas imparted a bit of historical context to the saga of America. Don’t dwell on their accuracy. They were no more true to facts than most Hollywood biopics or history-based films. 

Yet, they provided background to our collective national experience, with one glaring omission—rarely, if at all, did they portray the lives and contributions of Black Americans, or those of Mexican and Asian heritage, in exploring, taming and settling the Old West, unless they were shown in servile positions (Hey Boy in Have Gun Will Travel is an example). Their more meaningful achievements were not part of small screen fare (http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4807). 

Star Trek, Star Wars and their ilk, along with superhero movies that defy credulity, have replaced westerns as the genres beloved by juveniles. They’re OK, if you like computer aided graphics, but I wonder how much the younger generation has lost identification with the American experience. Has the Millennium Falcon’s speedy Kessel run replaced the cumbersome Conestoga wagon trudge along the Oregon Trail as the touchstone for intrepid treks? 

Westerns were not alone in glossing over the full reality of our multi-cultural history. Textbooks I used in elementary and high school neglected non white contributors. I cannot say what today’s textbooks include, but if the behavior of our president and many of his supporters is any indication, I would guess we still do not count Native Americans, African Americans, Mexicans, Chinese and numerous other immigrant nationalities among the heroes and shapers of America. 

Covering Conflict in Context, Trump's Retreat, Traffic Lights, Russians on My Mind

Amid all the media coverage of the tragedy in Gaza, an Israeli Op-Ed contributor provided The New York Times with a chilling example of conditions under which reporters cover some war zones. 

While working for the Associated Press, Matti Friedman wrote, “Early in that war (in Gaza in 2008), I complied with Hamas censorship in the form of a threat to one of our Gaza reporters and cut a key detail from an article: that Hamas fighters were disguised as civilians and were being counted as civilians in the death toll. The bureau chief later wrote that printing the truth after the threat to the reporter would have meant ‘jeopardizing his life.’ Nonetheless, we used that same casualty toll throughout the conflict and never mentioned the manipulation.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/opinion/hamas-israel-media-protests.html)

Given a choice between untruthful, misleading reporting or no on-site coverage, I would opt for the latter. Not having a reporter embedded where the action is no doubt would limit the ability to provide a full, factual, eyewitness account. But purposely leaving out details, writing untruths or misleading information, distorts reality and provides an inaccurate record that too often cannot be erased from memory by subsequent corrections.  

Facts, of course, are vital. But so is context. Times columnist Bret Stephens provided much needed context surrounding the explosive events at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip: https://nyti.ms/2Go1ywM

I don’t have any contacts with Palestinians in Gaza, but over the last eight years I have met more than 50 Israeli women who live along the border with Gaza. Several of them responded to an email I sent asking about conditions along the border.

“Here in Israel you can feel the tension and we pray for a solution that in these days seems sometime farther than ever,” Inbal wrote. 

For Shalhevet, “The media cannot fully explain the situation here for the Israeli settlements surrounding (the) Gaza Strip.

“The daily life is very complicated for both sides, though we are trying to keep our normal daily routine.”

“Strange as it may sound,” said Ofra, “life under constant pressure can be lived. Our sense of security is that the IDF (Israel Defense Force) will always protect us. 

“My young son serves in the Paratroopers Brigade and is guarding the northern border of Israel. I am very worried for his safety. 

“Life goes on, whether we like it or not. Even if we live on a barrel of gunpowder.”

Yael observed, “It is very scary and upsetting that quite a small child can burn tires. Those who sent them don’t have a happy childhood and they have no future as long as their leaders won’t talk. 

“It is very close to the village where we live. It is scary. So many fields of hay have burned, valleys of beautiful nature. Yet, we go to work. I work very close to the border; we have many soldiers around.” 

As if to underscore their sense of anguish and exasperation, Israelis profiled in a Times article the day after the assault on the border fence expressed no glee in the aftermath (https://nyti.ms/2Gl2diQ).

Not to be typecast as dreamers, Gazans as well expressed disillusionment with their leadership. “Nothing achieved,” said Mohammed Haider, 23 (in The Times). “People are dead. They deceived us that we would breach the fence. But that didn’t happen.”

“Our future is lost because of the Jews, and because of Hamas,” said Mahmoud Abu Omar, a 26-year-old with one arm wrapped in bandages (https://nyti.ms/2IxNnaH).

I am encouraged by their forthright comments, but the cynic in me wonders if Haider and Abu Omar have been placed at risk because of their honesty. Hamas does not treat lightly those who openly criticize its rule. Will there be retribution? I doubt The Times will, or be able to, check up on their short and long term safety.

Student Safety: His first instincts usually are acceptable if not good. I believe Donald Trump does have compassion for the students and adults killed at school shootings and other mass murder sites. His first impulse is to rein in our collective Wild West mentality with its pervasive gun availability. 

But then politics takes over. He listens to the clarion call of right wing voters who might abandon him, as if they would ever vote for a Democrat, or find another Republican who could out-Trump Trump. 

So despite saying he could stand up to the gun lobby, Trump caves in. He retreats. Safe to say, Trump would not qualify for inclusion in an updated version of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. Trump has no spine. He is the human incarnate of a political bully. He talks tough but weasels out of principled stances when confronted by right wing politics. 

And so, as it happened again in Santa Fe, Texas, we can only wonder how many days before the next school shooting in a town whose residents wonder how it possibly could have happened within their All-American community. But that’s the point—these shootings have come to define America and what it means to be a teenager in America.

Four Decades Later: After last week’s storm and tornados in New York and Connecticut, I heard a news report that all traffic lights in Southbury, Conn., were out because power had been lost. 

Forty-five years ago Gilda and I lived in Seymour, Conn., just a few miles from Southbury. We’d visit there regularly. Neither of us remember any traffic lights in Southbury. 

Russians on My Mind: With just two more episodes of The Americans before the FX series concludes its six season run, Gilda and I watch the drama with a critical eye toward recognizing local White Plains locations. 

Already this season we’ve identified several scenes filmed on Church Street, at the Bocca restaurant and in front of 55 Church Street, as well at the apartment houses at the northern end of Old Mamaroneck Road. 

Our fascination with recognizing White Plains locations began quite by chance about half a year ago. I asked an acquaintance who recently moved from a home in Gedney Farms how she was enjoying her new residence in a nearby cluster development of attached homes along North Street and Bryant Avenue. 

In telling me she liked it she related that her house served as the exterior of FBI agent Stan Beeman while the house across the street was the home of Russian spies Philip and Elizabeth Jennings. Interior sets of both homes are filmed in a studio. 

Pneumonia Got Me Down

Missed me? It has been almost a month since my last blog post. So a little update seems more than fitting. 

In case you’re wondering, and I hope care, you might be interested to know I have spent the last two weeks succumbing to and recovering from pneumonia. Without any proof whatsoever I am convinced I was exposed to the illness by tainted equipment an ENT specialist used to explore the recesses of my nasal cavity. Three days later I started to sleep 16 to 18 hours a day, a sure sign something was amiss as I did not cough or sniffle, though I did run a slight temperature. 

The pneumonia could not have come at a more inopportune time. I was leading a group of eight Israeli women on a three-day trip to Washington and Philadelphia as part of Shalom Yisrael’s annual program of support of deserving women from tension spots in Israel. This year’s contingent came from the region adjacent to the border with Lebanon in the shadow of the Golan Heights. 

Last Tuesday I dropped them off at the Museum of African American History in Washington before going to a walk-in clinic. An X-ray confirmed the pneumonia. I finished the 10-day Doxycycline protocol this morning. Now I’m hoping for enough energy to resume softball in a senior citizen (50 and older) league White Plains is inaugurating next Thursday for eight weekly games.  

So, what else is new? Oh, yeah, it’s Nobel prize season, so let’s be upfront right away with our biases:

Barack Obama did not deserve his peace prize, not when he won it as a counterpoint to a regressive and repressive Bush II administration, nor in subsequent years when his eloquence as the leader of the free world camouflaged drone deaths, red line faults, undocumented immigrant deportations, and acts that otherwise would have disqualified his nomination. 

The Swedish academy has a habit, a bad habit, of premature advancement of peaceful achievement. Can an award presented to Yasir Arafat and his Israeli counterparts be considered legitimate? Yes, Yitzhak Rabin died in pursuit of peace. Shimon Peres valiantly tried to achieve peace, but despite living 22 years after receiving the award in 1994, never saw peace implemented. Why? Because Arafat (and his successor) continually rejected peace offers. The trio may have deserved certificates of merit—good first step, now let’s see you sustain the effort—but not a full-fledged-world-watching ceremonial award. That comes after a lifetime, okay years, of peacemaking, not a blip in your highlight reel of death, violence and assault on all things noble and civil. 

Which brings us to Donald Trump. The excitement of a possible breakthrough with North Korea is palpable. However, it is too early to crown any of his and Kim Jung Un’s initiatives as historically peacemaking. 

One book does not make a Nobel prize in literature. One summit meeting does not mean peace is breaking out all over. Will North Korea become less repressive? Will Trump become more tolerant toward the disadvantaged, including refugees and those seeking asylum, and less tolerant of dictators like Putin, Duterte, and Erdogan? 

Better Living Thru Chemistry: Did you see the report earlier this week on the classroom science experiment in a Tennessee high school that went awry and injured 17? (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/05/09/a-classroom-science-experiment-turned-into-a-chemical-fire-injuring-17/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1cefe2960fea)

During my junior year in high school a chemistry laboratory demonstration blew up. It was quite common for our Jewish day school, Yeshivah of Flatbush, to hire retired or near retirement public school teachers to provide quality secular instruction. Mr. Nash had been hired the year before to teach biology. He was a crusty old man with a raspy voice, probably close to my current age of 69, with wisps of hair on an otherwise large, balding head. With no prior experience teaching chemistry Mr. Nash embarked on his new mission with the apparent tactic of staying one textbook chapter ahead of the class. 

The experiment of the day was to observe the reaction when water is mixed with sulfuric acid. You are supposed to add the acid to the water. But Mr. Nash did the reverse. When no discernible reaction occurred, a few students suggested he add more water. 

He did, causing a most violent reaction. The glass beaker containing the sulfuric acid exploded, sending shards across the room. Several students were injured, none seriously. There was lots of smoke and a severely bruised teacher’s ego.