My optimism didn’t pan out, did it?
But the good thing involves that quasi-religious-Jewish ritual, Kinahora phuh phuh phuh, a Yiddish invocation for warding off The Evil Eye. Reminder: As soon as somebody remarks on a good or hopeful upcoming event, like Kamala will win the election, you do the kinahora thing and spit three times on the ground somewhere in the direction of The Evil Eye, or else the Evil Eye will stomp on your hopes.
Almost everyone I know was kinahora-ing like crazy before the election but it didn’t work, did it? So why is this a good thing? Anything that disproves religious or quasi-religious superstitions is good.
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I’m fairly sure my piece yesterday, the one calling for Democratic governors and AGs to take up arms, had nothing to do with Gavin Newsom’s fierce announcement today, as per the New York Times, but still I feel I’m on top of the fight:
Newsom Moves Quickly to Counter Trump in California: Gov. Gavin Newsom called the Legislature back to the Capitol for a special session to bolster civil liberties, reproductive rights and environmental protections.
I await more such announcements. (Relately, someone on TAFKAT reminded us all that California has the fifth largest economy in the world.)
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I’ve been reading recommendations that since we probably won’t be able to depend on the federal government, we should turn, for our legal, civil and human rights, to the large network of terrific pro-bono organizations such as the ACLU, Brennan Center, CREW, Planned Parenthood and hundreds more, as well as our governors, state legislators and our Congressional representatives, who are not without power.
Today, the great investigative journalistic organization ProPublica published a manifesto for their immediate future vis-a-vis the Trump presidency, and an invitation.
Do read it; it’s really exciting. Plus, they are directly asking for internal information from anyone who works for the federal agencies. As at least one pundit has pointed out, in a Trump administration there will be a regular stream of leaks. ProPublica depends less on leaks than on direct contacts, but leaks are good, too. So if you can, contact the appropriate ProPublica journalist (they cover separate large issues) and spill. If you have no info, send them money if you can. They are a treasurable journalistic entity.
P.S. It suddenly occurs to me that here’s a situation where moles could take jobs with Trump’s administration and spy and report. Just a thought.
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Plunk in the middle of my city’s big housing crisis came lovely news and pictures in the Times about a new residential building up in the Morningside Heights neighborhood, chock-a-block with the gorgeous Gothic structures of Riverside Church and Union Theological Seminary.
Several fine things about this. First, the brand new building is beautiful. Instead of being an ugly glass tower or the blah usual high-rise brick thing, the apartment building, called Claremont Hall (it’s on Claremont Avenue, which must be one of any knowledgeable New Yorkers special, sort of hidden and magical streets) looks like…an old Gothic building. That is, it nestles into a space within the church-seminary area, as if it has always been there.
It’s a condominium and the apartment prices are, well, New York City prices, and the amenities are lush lush lush. But, the nice part is the six lower floors “contain classrooms and apartments for seminary faculty and staff, who were formerly housed off-campus.”
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I was scrolling through TAFKET when I ran into a post by a guy named Corey Richardson, who wrote about how he belongs to a group of parents who have autistic kids. And how he was explaining to his fellow parents, some of whom voted for Trump, why the upcoming administration was not going to be good for them, since Trump intends to cut Department of Education funds, if not the entire Department of Education.
His fellow parents were stunned. “He can’t do that, can he?” And Richardson said, “Yes, he can and he will.”
So that was the heart of the tweet. When I looked at his profile, I got a big, warm laugh. Mr. Richardson has written a book which carries one of life’s great titles: We Used To Have Money. Now We Have You: A Dad’s Bedtime Story.
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A toasted buttered bialy with my V8 juice.