Art is 80

So I was wrong when I suggested that the proposal to redo the Congressional districts in Virginia to favor the Democrats would not pass. Yesterday’s election showed that Virginia will have (barring Court interference) new districts at least for the 2026 midterms. The proposal to redo the districts passed by 3 percentage points, 51.5% to 48.5%, or by a little fewer than 100,000 votes in an overall vote of just over 3,000,000. But in the election for governor of the state (okay, the Commonwealth), only 5 months ago, Democrat Abigail Spanberger won by over 15%, so at least I was on the right track.

The GOP will of course run to the Courts, and will certainly forum shop for the right District judge in Virginia, but it will probably be a tall order, even for our Trump-tilting Supreme Court in light of previous decisions, but you never can tell. But will it will mean is that a quite purple state will be almost entirely represented by blue members of Congress. Is that alright? On the one hand, it looks unfair. On the other hand, if there is a full state race, say for a Senate seat, and the winner wins by one vote out of 3 million, the winner still wins and the losing party is out of luck. So maybe it is just a question of how you look at it.

As of now, it looks like there will be an extended ceasefire in Iran. For how long? For as long as Trump wants it to continue. It might never end; it might end by noon. We don’t know and the Iranian people don’t know. In the meantime, there seems to be no ceasefire in the Persian Gulf or in the Strait of Hormuz. Both sides seem to feel that they can do whatever they want (as long as they don’t attack each other, I guess), and the third party shippers and the worldwide customers are the victims. Just like the victims of the American strikes on Iran have been ordinary Iranians (by the numbers), if Iranian political and military leaders (by the percentages).

There seems to be a feeling in the United States that Iran is a country of democratic-leaning citizens and religiously radical leaders. I would suggest that this is not fully the case. As in most countries, the residents of large urban areas, more educated and worldly than their rural counterparts, tend to favor more sophisticated forms of government. So when you look at Tehran, where the large metropolitan area contains about 15% of the total population of the country, and in other major cities, you do have a lot of support for a different form of government. But the rural population is probably much more religiously conservative, and (this is a guess on my part) provides an outsized number of members of the IRGC and the military.

In other words, Iran, like other countries, is complex, and even if the majority of its residents would like to see a major governmental shift, the existing government, with its exclusive control of internal power, is not fully unrepresentative of the country. And clearly all elements of the country – religious or not, educated or not, governmental supporters or not – are very patriotic and do not want to see their country become a vassal of the United States of Trump.

So while Trump may think that Iran is just another Venezuela (assuming that Venezuela is just another Venezuela), it isn’t. Years ago (many, many years ago), I read through a Penguin paperback on the history of Iran by a man named Roman Ghirshman (no, I didn’t remember his name; had to Google the book, simply called Iran), a Ukrainian born, French archeologist who spent 30 years in Persia/Iran and died in Budapest. I remember (I think) that he started the book (written in 1954) saying that the Persians/Iranians felt that they lived in the center of the world, that their civilization was the oldest and most central to human history. And I remember scoffing at that, but – by the end of the book – thought that this might just be correct.

That’s all I remember. No details at all. But since then I have understood that, in dealing with Iran, we are dealing with a very proud, and very accomplished people. This is not Venezuela, a still young former Spanish colony in the tropics of South America.

So, que sera, sera (as Gogi Grant or Rosemary Clooney or someone else, but not Theresa Brewer, used to say), and as they still must say in Venezuela. We will see what happens in Iran. But a few things are clear: neither side wants to give in and neither side will, and neither side is trustworthy, meaning that the results of the negotiations (should they actually continue to take place) and the results on the ground may have nothing in common with each other. And whatever is decided by either on Tuesday can be undecided by Wednesday evening. We are playing a long game here.

I gotta run. Rockville calls.

Today is the referendum in Virginia as to whether its Congressional districts dhould be withdrawn to possibly give Democrats four more, and Republicans four fewer, seats. That is important, and as we drove almost 400 miles across the state last weekend, we saw many billboards on both sides of the issue.

Virginia is pretty purple. Its blue districts are blue and its red districts red. The governorship goes back and forth.

Odds say that the “yes” votes, the Democrats, will win by a small margin. Maybe so, but I am concerned. No Republican will vote for redistricting. And there are two kinds of Denocrats or left leaning independents who will. One consists of those who are strongly against gerrymandering as a matter of principle, no matter what the rationale. The other consists of moderates who voted for recently elected Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger and who believe that she has moved too far to the left since her inauguration and who have developed a fear that other Democrats will do the same.

We shall see how many voters are in those two categories. And we shall see that soon.

I am sitting in the lobby of the Bethesda Endoscopy Center waiting for Edie to finish her colonoscopy. The prep ended with a 4 a.m. dose of whatever it’s called, and Edie was not the only one who woke up. Then, we needed to be up for real at about 6:45 to get here in time for her appointment. So, as I now sit in thr lobby, what I need more than anything is a good cup of coffee.

The Bethesda Endoscopy Center is not located in downtown Bethesda, but in that no man’s land that is no longer really Bethesda, but not quite yet Rockville. It is on Executive Boulevard, a street with 6 or 8 story contemporary office buildings, each on its own large, landscaped lot, surrounded by parking.

The Endoscopy Center shares the third floor of its building with an office of Capital Digestive Care. Don’t let anyone fool you. These two organizations look to be one.

There are, I am sure, state of the art facilities. They have everything you could possibly need. Except that longed for  cup of coffee. In fact, that cup of coffee can’t be found anywhere in the building.

There is also no coffee in the next building up the street. Or in the one after that. You have to walk three buildings away to find a cafe in an office building on Executive Boulevard.

I do wonder what type of offices are in these buildings. This one, and the one with the cafe, seem spacious and quiet. I think there is a marquis in the lobby. I should look. My phone tells me that there is a shared office suite at this address. That probably explains the young woman in the elevator who told me she wished someone opened a coffee shop in her office, that they have extra space.

The cafe is at 6120 Executive Blvd.

The cafe is on the lower level. There is a large conference center down there, where they were serving breakfast, and where I almost helped myself. The spread looked pretty good. There is also a Game Room where, even though it was dark, I spotted a ping pong table. Who knows what else they have there. And on the lobby floor, there seems to be a large day care center.

6120 did not have a lobby marquis. It has a desk for a receptionist, but it was unmanned. My phone though makes me think that interesting things go on there. The American Association of Anatomists, the American Physiological Society, and the American Society of Human Genetics are all there, along with a variety of medical and dental offices.

Well, I still have about an hour to wait. I think I have said enough for today. I brought Rachel Maddow’s Drift to read. I have now had enough coffee to give it a try.

I am not sure that I quoted Cole Porter exactly right above, but it’s close enough for government work. And speaking of government work, now that I am back home, I am able to look at a morning newspaper, in this case the NYT, and refresh my perspective on the world.

There are two articles on the front page of the NYT that caught my attention, and that you may want to look at. The first one is headlined “Syrians, Needing U.S. Help, Invoke Trump Name”. Looking at that headline, you might imagine that they are talking about a large movement composed of Syrians who need some assistance to navigate this world. But, no, they are talking about the Al-Khayyat family, led by three brothers who seem to control everything worth controlling in the new Syria. The article starts out by talking about the Al-Khayyat plan to build a mega-resort on the Syrian coast, and how for this to be accomplished they needed, among other things, the relaxation or elimination of sanctions against the company, and how they accomplished this by one simple move. They decided to name the resort after President Trump. The article goes on to discuss the corruption of the Al-Khayyat family and the corruption of the Trump family, and how while the Al-Khayyat family may be working in the way wealthy families normally work in Syria, the Trump family has turned American standards and morals upside down. No surprise here, but the article lays out the relationship between the two families very clearly and makes for very interesting reading. For example, while all this is going on, did you know that the Ivanka Jareds are helping finance a large Al-Khayyat family resort development in ……….. Albania?

The other article is “Justice Dept. Installs Trump Loyalist to Head Effort to Paint Foes as Conspirators”. The question is: “whether former federal officials committed crimes in investigating President Trump”. The investigation is being undertaken in Florida, using a grand jury supervised by good old Judge Aileen Cannon (Trump’s favorite) and headed by a new “counselor to the Attorney General”, Joseph diGenova. DiGenova, who is 81 years old and a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, is a nut (that probably goes without saying; it is obvious or he would not have been selected for this task). I quote from Wikipedia: “He is known for promoting conspiracy theories about the Department of Justice and the FBI. He……frequently appeared on Fox News and Fox Business channels, until [he] used a November 2019 appearance to spread conspiracy theories about George Soros, leading to widespread calls for him to be banned from the network”.

It just goes on and on. And we have no idea, of course, what is happening with the war against Iran – I will say that the turns and twists are interesting and entertaining. I just wish they didn’t affect real people. My assumption is that things will probably work out before we go back to active war (my assumptions are right about 50% of the time, you know), and that there will be some accommodations on the Strait of Hormuz (hence the Strait of Trump/Hormuz, and the most beautiful strait of them all) that will satisfy the Iranians and the Trump family.

I also assume that the Trump family will be satisfied once things are more clarified in Gaza and they can begin to build their resorts there (perhaps with the Al-Khayyat family in tow). Today is Memorial Day in Israel, a serious day indeed, when everything stops and silence reigns for a short time, bringing all traffic to a halt in the country. And, of course, it is being memorialized at a time when the country is at war (ceasefire or no) with both Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and yes still with Hamas in Gaza.

Let’s repeat what I have suggested before. The current government in Israel, which shows no real signs of changing or disappearing, will not be satisfied until Israel’s boundaries go from the sea (including all of Gaza) to the rivers (plural, because I am referring to the Jordan to the east and the Litani to the north). The theory is that these areas are all infested with Hamas and Hezbollah, and their Palestinian or Lebanese supporters, and the only way to rid the areas of mortal danger to Israel, is to engage in what is in effect ethnic cleansing, although this can never be admitted.

The problem is, that as much as this goes against both international law and the sense of morality that most of us have grown up with, it may be correct. It may be a question of Palestinian suffering today, or Israeli suffering tomorrow. And that, if the ethnic cleansing is not successful, Israel will always be in danger of attacks from across borders. This makes the moral judgment of what is going on now much more difficult that one would like it to be. And, as I have said several times, if the Netanayhu government is successful in pacifying (by whatever means) Gaza, southern Lebanon and the West Bank, so that Israel can live in security over the next 50 or 100 years, he will be a hero. And if he is not successful, or if his success is short lived, he will be a villain.

Whether it is what the next step regarding Iran should be, or what the next move for Israel should be against Iran or Iranian backed groups just over its borders….the world is just not as simple as one would like. But somethings are clear, like: Donald Trump is evil. There can be no equivocating on that.

Having now spent two straight nights at a Comfort Inn, I will say that I am not going to rush back soon. Not that there was anything particularly bad, but I just wouldn’t rush back. Well, a few things. In the hall, you could hear the conversations in every room. The breakfast had a large variety of things you don’t want to eat. On the other hand, very comfortable beds and today, an excellent shower.

Our driving day was to be only three hours, forty eight minutes. But I took care of that by stopping first at a McDonalds to get a coke because my mouth was dry. The very astute server in the sleekest, most modern McDonalds in the world told me that I was very lucky, that today he was allowed to sell a $1 senior coke to me, even though he could see how young I was.

And then I pulled off the road in Staunton (pronounced Stanton) to show Joan Woodrow Wilson’s birthplace.

Staunton is a beautiful town of about 25,000. It has extensive neighborhoods of beautiful, mostly older, homes, Wilson’s birthplace and presidential library, a well respected theater, and many trendy and (today) busy shops. Here is the Wilson library.

Staunton is also home to the Cabell Log House, built by a former enslaved man in 1869, and the center of a preservation effort. It is apparently one of the only existing log homes built by a freed slave in existence.

Throughout the trip, I have pointed out universities which I suggested Joam should consider, including of course Washington University in St. Louis. With each suggestion, Joan would tell me there was no chance. So when we got to Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, I told her I didn’t expect she would go there. Her response? ” I don’t know. I might want to go to college in Staunton.”

Her interest increased when we located a synagogue in Staunton.

It is a small synogogue with services only once or twice a month, but it has been operating for 150 years. We will see what effect Joan will have on it.

We had lunch at the Route 11 Diner in Woostock. What kind of a diner doesn’t serve breakfast after 11 a.m.? You guessed it. This kind! I reacted by eating my only meat of the trip. A Reuben. My reaction? Top quality. How do I judge a Reuben’s quality? By the ratio of sauerkraut to corned beef.

We continued up I-81 and then I-66. No problem until we got close to DC and the traffic picked up. But we were home by 3:30 and greeted by an important neighborhood resident, the Forest Hills fox.

You win some, you lose some. That is the teaching of today.

The goal of the day was to get within 4 hours of Washington, so we would have an easy day tomorrow. We accomplished that, but at a cost of a lot of highway driving with no diversions.

Of course we did have to stop for lunch. I got off the road about 1 p.m. My watch said it was noon, because I hadn’t taken the half hour it takes me to move it forward an hour, as I needed to do when we crossed Crossville, not long before we skirted Knoxville. The last time we traveled this route, Edie and I stopped at Oak Ridge and saw a number of sites dedicated to “the bomb”. This time, we just kept going.

Diversion. To change my Casio watch, you push the A button and hold it until the word “set” stops flashing. Then you push the B button 2 times. Then you push the C button 13 times. Then you push the A button again. See why I waited?

Well, at 1 Eastern time, noon Casio time, we got off the road to venture into Morristown TN. The two blocks that comprise downtown are unique in that there are two levels of establishments, the upper level reached by an outdoor walkway that also protects the street level sidewalks from hot sun and wet droplets.

Brilliant.

They also have a mailbox in the middle of the street.

Seen that anywhere else?

And, finally, they have a restaurant, The Little Dutch Restaurant, which has been in business since 1939. The current owners are not the original owners, and appear not to have figured out how a restaurant should operate, as they have only run it since 1973. Edie asked for the spinach quiche, right there on the menu. The waitress said they were sold out of spinach. I said that I would just have a tuna salad sandwich, but the waitress returned to the table to tell me they were out of tuna salad, too. Say, what? What were they missing? A can of tuna, a jar of mayonnaise, a jar of relish? She said, “But we can give you chicken salad. How’s that?” Edie got a Greek salad (pardon me, a Grecian salad), which came with a slab of feta about the size of a deck of cards. My chicken salad came on a dainty croissant, which had not been cut and was totally impossible to pick up, or to cut with a standard knife. As we left, the owner asked me how everything was. I said “fine”. He did not believe me for a second.

We drove on until we reached Roanoke, which looked like Boomtown, USA. Much has changed since my last visit. And all for the better, it seemed. And it was a top notch place twenty years or so ago.

Unfortunately, not one hotel in or around the city had a room. I was told there was the Miss Virginia contest, the Blue Ridge marathon, a baseball game, and more.

So here we are, about 15 miles further north, in a Comfort Inn room half the size and twice the price as the one in Lebanon last night. Go figure.

And, yes, supper at Angelle’s Diner was just fine. As has been the weather and scenery all day.

Before I get to today, our first day back on the road, let me tell you about yesterday at the St. Louis Zoo, always one of the highest ranked zoos in the country, which Wikipedia says has 16,000 animals, 25% more, for instance, than San Diego.

After we left the Art Museum, we had about 30 minutes to kill before our next engagement. We drove past the zoo and found a lucky parking space across from one of the two zoo entrances. Joan and I decided to take a quick look, to walk in and see the nearest animals and come back to the car.

Somehow, we walked to the center of the zoo, and saw no animals other than a flock of flamingos and a pond of stingrays.

Joan saw a sign that said that you could buy food to feed the stingrays for $2. I gave her the money and she took the receipt to the man at the gate who told her that the food was not sufficient, that she needed a $5 ticket. What’s more, he told her that because she wasn’t 14, I had to go in with her for another $5. So, it would be $12 to feed the stingrays, and neither of us wanted to do it that much, so Joan gave her receipt to another family. We then found the home of the red pandas, where there was a sign that said “We aren’t home today. Sorry.” And then various monkey homes, which were also all empty.

We concluded there were no animals at the zoo. We asked a zoo employee where they were and he told us the monkeys were in the monkey house because it might rain, and the monkey house entrance was far away. We had no  time to go there. We asked why the monkeys were removed when it rained. He had no answer, saying “I am not an animal person.” We all laughed at the strangeness of it all.

When we got to the zoo central plaza (all food and souvenirs), we realized we had better turn around and go back to the car. The only other animals we had seen were two ducks, and a number of squirrels.

As I said, there were two entrances. We tried to retrace our steps, but failed, and exited at the wrong place.

Well, we said, let’s walk around the outside until we see the car. How far can it be? We walked and walked, realizing we were in trouble. Then another zoo employee was walking the other way, off his shift and on the way to get his car. We asked him how far to the other entrance and he told us the quickest way was to double back, re-enter the zoo and retrace our steps. He then offered to walk with us and would not take no for an answer.

All in all, Joan and I each walked about 2 miles and the entire venture took about an hour. It also meant that we had walked in two separate directions from the center and had seen no additional animals. Oh, the second zoo man? He was not an animal man either. He was their HVAC guy. Our suspicions increased that the entire zoo was a fraud.

On our last night in town we had pizza and visited with good friends. This morning we had breakfast with cousins Donna and Ed, and then hit the road. What followed was a long day of driving with only one stop.

The stop?

Metropolis. Well, Metropolis IL. It was very disappointing. We saw the world’s largest Superman statue, and visited the cluttered seeming gift shop, overstocked with kitsch. We couldn’t bear to spend $24 to visit the unappealung looking Superman Museum with its 20,000 items. We had lunch at an adequate and very friendly Mexican restaurant, El Tequila, where you can find the largest and most bewildered Mexican Superman.

El hombre de acelo…

We drove through impressive downtown Nashville in rush hour (which means we drove very slowly) and got off the highway in Lebanon TN. By quirk of fate we found a 7 month old 19 seat restaurant. Run by a family of Laotian descent, it features  a pan-Asian cuisine. Because it is so small, and heimisch, we talked to the owner, his family/staff and some of the other customers, all of whom seemed to be regulars. The food gets an easy A.

And then? And then the skies opened up and we were lucky to get back to the hotel.

This is Joan. Yay, I get to be helpful.

Today we left Judy’s at around 9:30 and went to the Illusion Museum. BUT, I wanted to go to the store  known as IKEA! But, no.

From the Illusion Museum:

Next, we went to Crown Candy. G-pa got a tuna sandwich, grandma got an egg salad sandwich, and I got a grilled cheese. And ice cream.

Now the phone goes back to G-pa. He was my spelling editor.

The Museum of Illusion, at the St. Louis Foundry, like the City Museum, is great for a 10 11/12 year old. Crown Candy in North St. Louis has been around for 113 years. Their ice cream is top notch, they have a variety of candies, and their lunch menu is nothing to write home about.

From Crown, we continued north to Bellefontaine Cemetery, a 314 acre cemetery at its 175th birthday with over 87,000 graves. It is easy to get lost in Bellefontaine, as we proved today, trying to find the exit. A lot of famous people here. We found Adolphus Busch (Anheuser is somewhere here as well) and William S. Burroughs.

Then, on to the art museum

I showed Joan the Anselm Kiefers in the main lobby, but we spent the most time with Impressionists and their contemporaries. Joan was her thoughtful self.

For example, she noted that Matisse painted three women looking at a turtle, and noted that one pet it, one looked at it, and one was afraid of it. Different reactions to the same object.

She was also interested in Max Beckmann’s portrayal of New York City nightlife, analyzing every character and their roles.

And she was very hesitant to praise Adolph Ivon’s Genius of America (1867), which she didn’t think portrayed the unified America it was supposed to.

She thought the Blacks were portrayed in darkness and being patronized while the Whites were beung welcomed with open arms.

After that came the discovery that the world renowned 16,000 animal St. Louis zoo has only stingrays and flamingos. But that is too long of a story to tell now.

Still in St. Louis

We had lunch with old friends, and then dinner with other equally old friends, both at their residences. This had two advantages. It gave us delightful company. And we didn’t have to buy any meals. Joan came with us to both and bore the meals in good humor. My friend Stuart “insulted” her by suggesting that she inherited my sense of humor. I think this was after he asked her, “What have you planned for the future?”. Her response? “Middle school.”

By the way, when you and most of your friends are 83, the most common question no longer appears to be “So tell me what’s new?”

Now, it seems to be, “What day is it today?”. And this is a question that is asked over and over by each friend, about ten minutes apart.

Our morning, with Joan and her Aunt Michelle, was spent looking at the house I lived in through third grade at 7133 Delmar (now white, then dark red), and retracing the walk between my house and Flynn Park School. Then we looked at house I lived in through high school at 8590 Colonial Lane (also now white, and enlarged). Joan had already seen my high school.

We also went to see the house my Aunt Loraine and Uncle Sam lived in (now within walking distance of a Costco of all things), and then went to the cemetery where my parents, my four grandparents, and most of my aunts and uncles are buried.

But the highlight of the day was our almost three hour trip to the City Museum, just right for a ten year old. Mysterious tunnels to crawl through all over the 11 story former International Shoe Company building with a Ferris Wheel on the roof. For the adults, a mini-aquarium, and insect and taxidermy collection and much more.

And robots

Hard to break away. But glad we did.

I have no idea what is going on in the rest of the world. Is Trump still president? Has he renamed the Strait of Hormuz? Is Victor Orban going to try to ressurect his career and, if so, will he call it Orban Renewal? Is J.D. Vance going to defend the Pope? Can the Pope run for president and still wear his red shoes? Does he want to? 

Today is our last day here. No toasted ravioli, no Ted Drewes frozen custard. By the way, do you know that Ted Drewes has a kosher menu? Look at their website.

Where to go today. Joan wants the aquarium. Maybe the Art Museum. Could do the zoo. We shall see. Crown Candy for lunch?

So……a relatively quiet day in St. Louis yesterday largely devoted to family, and ending with dinner with first cousins all around. Here is our delightful dinner group, without my cousin Donna and me, who were too intent in our conversation to join in.

We did take a break from family for a few hours to show Joan the arch from up close. It is still here,

but I am sometimes a bit slow. I should have taken a picture with her in it. You know: Joan of Arch.

The rest of the day?

Lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in University City. The pho was apparently good, but everything else, food and service, well under par. It’s called Pho Long. I would suggest staying away.

On the better news side, a bump in the road had dislodged something under our car, which we dragged along for 800 miles, or so. Dumb, I know. But it was not mechanical and was plastic, and I was worrried about a long delay to get it fixed. It turns out the Prius has a plastic undercoating to protect the car from water damage and the like. It got pretty messed up, but the magicians at the Firestone auto center were indeed able to perform magic by putting it back in place with a bunch of zip ties and telling me it should be okay until we get home. I hope. What was extraordinary was the charge for about 45 minutes of hard work. $22. If only the Vietnamese restaurant was as cheap.

Finally, the lemon meringue pie we brought to Donna’s last night. We had gone off I-70 at Highland IL because of a beckoning billboard advertising mile high (or maybe foot high) pies at the Blue Spring Cafe.

We had no idea how

it would be. It turned out to be the absolute best lemon meringue pie ever baked. No question about it.

We are overscheduled for today. Probably not the best idea. But we try to cram in what we can.

We are in St. Louis, having completed three days on the road.

At 10 a.m., we pulled into First Watch on W. 86th Street in Indianapolis to have brunch with my favorite third cousin, Susan Lite Lerner and my favorite third cousin by marriage, Charlie Lerner.

The brunch was made better by the addition to our table of Michelle’s old friend Jenna, her husband Ken and 5 year old daughter Shannon.

We could have sat at the table forever, but the line outside First Watch became lengthy, and our guilt got the better of us.

We drove west on I-70, passed Terre Haute, and crossed into Illinois. At the Casey IL exit, I noticed a sign that said that Casey had the biggest something or other, and I decided to pull off the road and see, since I needed gas anyway.

Well, it turns out that Casey has the biggest almost everything.

For example,

The biggest mousetrap.

The biggest mail box,

The biggest golf tee,

The biggest bird cage,

The biggest rocking chair. Can you find Joan in this picture? And one more

The biggest barber pole.

We were told by the man who runs the world’s largest see-saw (electronic), a retired minoster who seems to like his current job more than preaching the gospel that all of the large items in Casey have been built by the Bolin family which was determined to keep the town alive. They succeeded. Joan wants to move there.

Before leaving Casey, we were stopped at a railroad crossing, where the little engine that could pulled a train that was 170 cars long.

All day long, we followed the Hungarian election, the war in Iran, and the fate of Rep. Swalwell. Along with the Caps 3-0 victory over Pittsburgh, and the Nats 3 game sweep over the Brewers.

Two hours later, we were in St. Louis. A visit with cousins Donna and Ed followed by dinner with our host Judy at Oishi Sushi.

We will be here three whole days. Tomorrow is a family day to be spent with the Schnidman/Karfeld cousins.

1. The Strait is open. The war results in the Strait closing. The goal of the war? Open the Strait. We have lost here.
2. Iran always said they wanted no nuclear weapon. We start a war. Now they say they won’t agree to a peace treaty that precludes a nuclear weapon. We lose here.
3. Where do we win? We knocked out most of their military! But wait. We weren’t at risk from their military. So we can’t count this as a win.
4. And world approval? Lose. Moral ground? Lose. Wasting our resources? Lose. Inflation and affordability? Lose and lose.

You can’t deny any of this. But Trump says we won big.

25th amendment time.

No AI or sleight of hand here. This is Joan standing next an enormous something next to the front door of the Zanesville (Ohio) Museum of Art. Joan is not 3′ 6″, she is almost 5′ tall, so this is one big something.

We stopped by the museum today. We had been by about six months ago and thought Michelle and Joan would like it. It is a very well curated small museum. You can see much of its holdings of about 8000 objects online.

One of its best collections is its extensive ceramics and pottery collection, unsurprising as many of these pieces were crafted in Zanesville. Here are some random examples.

They also have some fine examples of paintings from well known European artists, from Ohio artists, and even from Grandma Moses.

Another one of their collection from the 1860s is both anonymous and extremely well done.

Before reaching Zanesville for lunch we drove through downtown Pittsburgh, maybe the first major downtown Joan has ever seen, other than Washington and New York. And she was clesrly interested in how different Pittsburgh and Washington looked in so many ways.

Clearly, this is not Washington.

We also stopped in the small Ohio town of Cadiz to see Clark Gable’s boyhood home.

Sadly, at least at this time of year, it is by appointment only. So we drove on.

But not before looking at the beautiful 1894 Harrison County Courthouse.

Other than that, pretty scenery, good food (Muddy Miser in Zanesville and Galo’s in Richmond IN), and an on time arrival in Richmond.

Nations beat the Brewers two games in a row.

Tomorrow…St. Louis.

We are off on another road trip to St. Louis. With us this time is our daughter Michelle, here with Edie at dinner tonight at the Union Grill in Washington PA

And our granddaughter Joan, on spring break this week.

Michelle and Joan are aunt and niece. Joan will turn 11 next month. Michelle is …. older.

We didn’t leave Washington DC until after 1, and stopped for lunch at the Urbana MD Waffle House, which I rate an A. It is sleek and clean and very friendly. And where else can you get three egg orders, a waffle, several orders of hash browns, toasts and grits, plus a coffee, for $35?

We then headed west on I-70 to Breezewood PA and then west on US 30 to Bedford, PA, a regular stop. We went into the Peppercorn Market and bought fig infused balsamic vinigar, which they import and which we had bought there before. Our talk with the always friendly proprietor was the highlight of the day.

This is the Peppercorn, filled with gourmet foods. It is a very well stocked place, but what is most interesting is the building constructed in 1758. The sign on the exterior of the building says that this is the only remaining building in the entire country with a connection to the French and Indian War.

I had been in this store twice before, but had never noticed the stairs going down to a basement covered by a sheet strong enough to walk on, and clear enough to see through. What is this?

It turns out that, during the French and Indian War, Ft. Bedford played a prominent role for the British. The building now housing the Peppercorn was used as a storage facility for armaments. The steps leading down led to a tunnel that went about 100 feet to the fort. The fort is no longer there, and the tunnel is blocked near the bottom of the steps. But this spring, archeologists from Temple U. are supposed to come and work on opening the tunnel to see what, if anything, is there.

Bit that is not all. He took us through a door in back of the into what looks like a living room. It is beautiful. Exposed old brick walls and a handsome old brick fireplace, original flooring, samples of wallpaper dating from the 18th century, and a ceiling with old joists.

This room, and perhaps more, date from the early 19th century. They believe the ceiling joists were taken from a building in the old fort. The room, perfectly furnished, is beautiful.

The interesting thing is that, when they bought the building, the proprietor knew none of this. All was discovered during its renovation. Even the beauty and history of this room was unknown, as the floors and ceiling had been plastered over and painted, and the floor covered by layers of linoleum. Everything they found was totally unexpected.  I didn’t get any photos, but go to fortifiedbedfordhouse.com, and you will learn more.

For some reason, GPS didn’t take us to I-70, but put us on PA Rte 31, a beautiful country road that goes through Somerset and Mt. Pleasant. We saw more cows everywhere than you normally see anywhere along with horses and sheep. A beautiful ride.

We had a fine dinner at the always crowded Union Grill in Washington PA, and retired to local Hampton Inn.

Tomorrow, to Indiana.

This week, Pew published a new poll. Among its many results, one stood out. 80% of Democrats (and I believe left leaning independents) in the United States have an unfavorable view of Israel, and about 40% of Republicans (and right leaning independents) do, so altogether, 60% of American adults have an unfavorable view of the Jewish State. And, not surprisingly, the negative numbers run higher, the younger the voters are.

This is extraordinary in many ways. First, it is just plain extraordinary. Second, it shows a massive change from similar polling in previous years. Thirdly, it gives the Republican party a campaign issue that you know they will exploit to its limits. Fourth, it portends a possible movement away from the Democratic party by Jews (especially by Jews), which may impact on a number of close races. Fifth, in can feed into Jewish fears of rising antisemitism and can in fact lead to additional antisemitism at a time when Jews can’t really afford it.

We (and others more expert that I am) have discussed the reasons why Israel is viewed, especially by younger people, as an arm of outmoded European colonialism. We have talked about the pervasive feeling about Israel as an occupying power (in the West Bank, and even in Gaza, although until the attacks of October 2023, Israel had no recent physical presence in Gaza). And both of these reasons clearly play a large part in the Pew numbers.

But we have to also look at the way Israel is being governed by the Netanyahu coalition, and especially by those who believe that Israel used excessive power in Gaza, is continuing to promote excessive actions in the West Bank, and now is engaged in a massive bombing campaign not only in southern Lebanon, but in Beirut and in Tyre. All of these actions involve harsh measures against civilians, the same crime that Israel accuses Hamas of committing coming out of Gaza.

I have suggested earlier that a hundred or so years from now, Benjamin Netanyahu will either be looked upon as Israel’s greatest hero, or its biggest villain, and that what we feel now will be unimportant, although it is important to us and to everyone who is living at the same time that we are. But either his measures, which are clearly to me measures of ethnic cleansing and which are being done in the belief that leaving Palestinians on Israel’s current borders will never result in a secure Israel, and that the only way to secure the state for the long run will be, in effect, to create militarized no-man’s lands along Israel’s periphery.

We all know the basic history of the region, but most Americans don’t. And there has not been much of an effort to educate America by supporters of Israel (whether they are also Netanyahu supporters or not), to compete with the Palestinian positions which you find vocalized all over. It is obviously true that it was the Arabs who first started the current fight in 1948, but after winning the Six Day War in 1967, rather than trying to normalize relations with their neighbors, Israel became an occupying power and remained such, although at first, it was not necessarily the position of many prominent Israeli leaders. And, more than this, Israel became not only a political occupying power, but began to move Israeli citizens on to the occupied land. It started as a movement of extremist Zionists, but it became a movement of real estate entrepreneurs supported generously by the government. Today more than 600,000 Israeli citizens live in the West Bank, and units are being built for thousands more as we speak. In addition, Israel has not moved out of Gaza after the major fighting ended, and say that they will not until Hamas is destroyed (which may be never), and Israel is not only attacking southern Lebanon but talking about annexing the territory of Lebanon south of the Litani River. And, back in the West Bank, the Israeli government seems to have given free rein to radical settlers to do away with Palestinian residents without fear of punishment.

With this in mind, it’s hard to say it is only the Palestinians who want to control the land from the river to the sea. Obviously, the Israelis want to do the same. And the only way either can succeed is to remove the other from the area, or subjugate them for the long run. Unless they can figure out a way to live together. And how can they live together? A two state solution seems impossible at this time. And a joint state where they share power seems equally impossible.

Back to reality.

There is a two week truce between the US, Israel (I guess), and Iran that’s unsurprisingly not holding very well. But is Israel’s action in Lebanon part of the truce or not? The fact that no one is sure is absurd, don’t you think? I guess they didn’t write anything down, were never in the same room, didn’t transcribe or record anything, etc. This is the Trump way to rule the world.

Trump can control neither the Ayatollah nor Netanyahu. That is clear. And the next sets of negotiations will be separate. US and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon.

There is asymmetry in the two situations. The government of Iran is in a war with the US and Israel, but is apparently not talking to Israel. Israel is not in a war with the government of Lebanon, but with a Palestinian movement funded by Iran, which Lebanon can not control. Israel and Iran are in both wars. Shouldn’t Israel be involved in both settlement conversations? Your answer: of course, but they won’t talk to each other. My answer to that? There will be no peace.

Elements of peace? Iran opens strait, stops funding Hezbollah, recognizes Israel. U.S. helps fund rebuilding of Iran. Israel stops bombing Lebanon. Everyone lives happily ever after. Except in the US, where Trump still reigns.

Leaving for annual St. Louis road trip today with daughter Michelle and granddaughter Joan. Next 8 days, reporting from the road.

The Nationals only got 6 hits yesterday (the season lowest), and it was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the shaded stands with occasional wind gusts, but still fun being there with our friends, the Markisons and our cousin Alison.

Edie and I arrived at Nats Park early, and had time to wander a bit. We first went into the team store, which is  now almost as big as a Walmart or Ikea, it seems. There was quite a bit of commotion in the store, with strangers talking to each other, shaking their heads, and laughing. The subject of the conversations? The prices.

Want a cap? $45.

A t-shirt? $40.

Short sleeve shirt? $135

Jacket? $250.

They even were selling t-shirts with names on the back of Dylan Crews and Josiah Gray, both of whom are now playing at Rochester in the AAA, without a discount.

I actually did buy something. A key chain (which I needed to replace one that broke) for $9.99. But wait! Always observant Edie saw a small sign on the counter that said if you show them your AARP membership card, you get 20% off. So, I did, and I did. Now if I had seen that before  we were looking at those $250 jackets…..

The Nats were playing the Cardinals, and lost 6-1. That is a special score for me, as my first baseball game, back in 194_ something ended with a 6-1, score, the Cubs beating the Cardinals. Equally disappointing, although in those days, I was a fan of the Browns, not the Cardinals.

The park looked good yesterday, if underpopulated.

And the scoreboard looked as cluttered as it did last year. Maybe more so.

A new feature is a mini-food court, called Change-up, which features food from the visiting team’s home city. Yestetday, you could get toasted ravioli, St. Louis slingers, Gerber sandwiches (Say, what? Apparently, it is a thing.) and an assortment of milk shakes. We just looked. Passover and all.

The game was at 4. We were home by 7:30. Soup and an omelette for supper. Regular food starts tonight. And we are scheduled to leave town tomorrow. Looking forward to some toasted ravioli.

Remember The Mouse that Roared? It’s been a long time since I have seen that Peter Sellers film, but it’s worth remembering, because it contained as much truth as comedy. The Grand Duchy of Fenwick, a small impoverished country, needed funds to repair itself, and it decided to attack the United States, expecting to quickly lose the war, reach a truce, and obtain the kind of rebuilding aid the U.S. has given to countries it defeats (think Germany and Japan). But things didn’t go the way Fenwick expected, and Fenwick won the war (the United States being caught with its pants down) and wound up on possession of the world’s most powerful weapon, and now can assure their future security as they announce that they are ready to drop it on any more powerful country that decides to attack them.

I titled this post The Lion that Cowered because we seem to have reversed that 1959 film. The powerful country attacks the much less powerful country because it fears that the less powerful country has a super weapon that could be used against it, expects to win the war handily, but one month in – not knowing how to use its strength to reach a satisfactory result, and seeing its war plans (to the extent that they existed) go awry – they enter into a temporary cease fire which seems to give the less powerful victim at least as much power, and perhaps more, than they had before the war started.

And yes, if Peter Sellers could be resurrected (and why not?), and the film The Lion that Cowered could be made, Sellers would play Trump, Hegseth, Bibi Netanyahu, and yes, the Ayatollah (both ayatollahs). What a great film it would be.

There were so many good Peter Sellers films including not only The Mouse That Roared, but also Dr. Strangelove, another film where fiction comes too close to fact. You remember Strangelove, where the United States gets word that the USSR is attacking them, and that the planes with the bombs have left their homes and are on their way. The U.S. orders a counter attack, learns that it was a false alarm and there are no Russian bombers coming, but it is too late. Nuclear war is inevitable. Slim Pickens (right?) is ejected and rides that bomb right down to its destination.

And then there was the James Bond spoof film, Casino Royale, which brought together Peter Sellers and Woody Allen (we have weeks ago explored the relevance of Allen’s Sleeper and how close parts of that film portend the Department of Health and Human Services under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.). Casino Royale had nothing to do with reality, although it did wind up with what were called “atomic time pills” in Woody Allen’s brain ready to go off as an atomic bomb (which it eventually did). I mention this film because it brought these two comic genii together, and when I looked it up (having less than perfect recollection about it), I see that the cast is clearly one of the all time best casts ever assembled:

Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, David Niven, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles, Deborah Kerr, George Raft, William Holden, Charles Boyer, John Huston, Barbara Bouchet, and more. I remember enjoying that film (it came out when I was 30), but I don’t have a desire to see it again.

All this reminds me of several nights ago, when we were at dinner with others, someone couldn’t think of a name of comedian she liked. She needed help remembering it, and described him this way: “You know who I’m talking about? ….. He isn’t Jewish.”

How true that seems to be (although there have been a lot of Black comics in recent decades, I discount many, or maybe most, of them because it is hard for me to relate to their humor, and because so many of them – like other comedians today – need to fill their routines with subject matter and language that only Donald Trump should be allowed to use). But most comedians that you can think of are Jewish, and have been since Red Skelton bit the dust. (I know I am generalizing. Don’t criticize me on this one.)

One who wasn’t, of course, was George Carlin (who was able to perform without sounding like Donald Trump, and able to perform as if he were Trump’s teacher – which for all I know, he might have been). I recently found Carlin’s routine comparing baseball and football on YouTube and sent it to a friend. Worth listening to (no improper sex, no improper words), and it is only about 5 minutes long. Very funny.

Which reminds me. We are going to the Nationals-Cardinals game today. It starts at 4. It is a beautiful sunny day. That’s the good news. The high is going to be in the low 50s. That’s the news that’s not so good.

It looked, two months ago, as if the Democrats would dominate the 2026 mid-term elections, taking a sizeable lead in the House and having a chance to flip the Senate. Two months later, I think this is still the case, although there has been a wild card or two (depending on your definitions) thrown into the race which might change things a bit, one way or the other (or both). Two months from now (and that is still five months from the elections), things might look different again.

The two things I am thinking about are the war in Iran (the Trump-Iran War), and the (perhaps inevitable) centrality of Jews and Israel in the thinking of so many people.

The Trump-Iran War is not very popular, and we don’t know where it will stand in early November. Tonight is the latest deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or to see (in Trump’s rhetoric) the country blown back into the stone age, with all bridges and electric power plants destroyed. Whether Iran will cave or Trump will live up to his TACO habits, we don’t know on April 7 at 9 a.m. But we will find out. In any event this war, with looming price rises and shortages would seem to increase the Democrats’ chances, but again we really can’t yet tell. And wars obviously, good or bad wars, bring out patriotism and lead to accusations that those who oppose the wars are being anti-American, so you don’t yet know how the voters will react.

I have given up wondering why Jews and Israel (small people, small country) remain so often at the center of world thinking, and now just accept that. It is what it is.

We all know that the vast majority of Jews have voted with the Democrats at least since the New Deal days, and that is still the case, although Trump has managed to siphon off a surprising (to me, surprising) number of them, largely because of his outspoken support for Israel. No need now to analyze his reasons for this (plenty of time to do that), but it has had two effects. It has solidified or increased support of his administration by many Jews, largely orthodox Jews, but not only orthodox Jews, and to a great extent Jews with a lot of money and influence. And it has helped him hold onto support from the evangelical Christian community.

Both of these groups look at Israel from biblical perspectives, albeit very different biblical perspectives. For the Jews, the land of Israel is part of the Jews’ covenant with God, and rightfully belongs to them. For the evangelicals, the concentration of Jews in the biblical land of Israel is a necessary precursor to the end of days and the “second coming” of Jesus. Although their reasons, goals and expectations are radically different, these two groups are happy to ally with each other to support the current State of Israel, apparently no matter how it acts or what it does.

The Democrats were, too, always seen as supporters of Israel, from the day that Harry Truman rushed to have the United States recognize the new state in 1948. But today, in 2026, that support doesn’t seem as strong as it did in 1948 (or in, say, 1967). The younger generation of progressives have been raised in an era where social scientists have concentrated on the rights of indigenous ethnic groups to obtain self-realization and autonomy, and to view the eradication of European colonialism throughout the world as helping these groups reach those goals. Many of them have come to understand Israel as one of the last remnants of European or American (read: western) colonialism, in spite of the fact that the majority of Israelis did not come from Europe, but from other parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

While people talk about the Jewish lobby (which has been indeed strong), perhaps the Arab or Muslim lobby (or lobbies) which have concentrated not only on politics, but also on academics and media influences, has been even stronger. The big question of course seems to be whether the land of Israel is Jewish land or Muslim land, and the second big question is how to define the boundaries of that land. There has never been a Palestinian state in what is now Israel; before World War I, it was part of the Turkish run Ottoman Empire, and between World War I and 1948, it was controlled by Great Britain as the mandate overseer under the auspices of, first, the League of Nations and then the United Nations. And it was the United Nations who recognized the State of Israel as a sovereign state after the British withdrew from administering under the UN mandate.

The relationship between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza and on the West Bank of the Jordan River has vacillated between terrible and really terrible. No peace plan or boundary lines has been able to be agreed upon. And both sides have committed egregious errors, although it was clearly the Palestinians and Israel’s other Arab neighbors who started the fight when they jointly attacked the new state in 1948.

The attack on Israel in October 2023 from Hamas (an Iranian financed group which controlled Gaza) was an outrage. No question about it. And Jews and Israelis and supporters of Israel expected the world to agree that it was an outrage. But the world did not take this position. Much of the world seemed to say that the Israelis had it coming to them. And this was a shock.

On the other hand, Israel’s reprisals on the population of Gaza was (and is) extraordinarily harsh, and Israel’s most nationalist groups, which now have control of Israel’s government, also encouraged Israelis living in the occupied West Bank to rise up against their Palestinian neighbors, causing more distress and problems. All this fueled the “progressive” opposition in the west.

Back to the elections. The Democratic Party has a strong progressive wing. The Trump Party wants to portray this as the core of the Democratic Party, which it really is not, but the Trump Party is often very effective in its propaganda. Many of the progressive Democrats are also members of (maybe not formal members) of the Democratic Socialists. Bernie Sanders is an obvious example, but there are others. And the Democratic Socialists, which has a lot of influence, especially among younger progressive Democrats, has taken a harsh anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian position, and has required a number of pledges from any candidates for office (local and state; not only federal) to take – including not taking money from Zionists, not attending certain events, supporting the BDS movement and so forth).

This may put many main line Democrats in a bad position, and many left leaning Democrats. If you support the Democratic Socialist position on Israel, you may get for yourself progressive votes that you otherwise would not have received. But you will lose your Jewish votes, for the most part. If you don’t take the pledge (which most will not), you will perhaps retain your Jewish votes, but not get the progressive votes you otherwise would. A lose/lose situation if I have ever seen one. And, it is in fact worse, because this debate bleeds from one electoral district to another. Even if a pro-Israel Democrat lives in a district, for example, where none of this matters as to the election because the candidates are not focused on this issue, that pro-Israel Democrat will certainly hear what is going on elsewhere in the country. Because of this, if the Democratic Party is believed to harbor a bunch of anti-Israel folks, or even moderately anti-Israel (“I love Israel, but don’t want to give them a blank check.”) candidates, the pro-Israel voter may choose not to support the Democratic candidate, whoever he or she might be.

So this situation is a wild card in the upcoming elections, and we don’t know if, or how much, it might determine outcomes. As an aside, of course, we have the question of antisemitism, which will be thrown at progressive Democrats, who might not at all be antisemitic. And those who accuse them will include the pro-Israel far right evangelicals who, pro-Israel they may be for the reasons stated above, are in fact, in their heart of heart, antisemitic. That is part of the problem of equating opposition to Israel policies or actions, on the one hand, and antisemitism on the other, something that many Israeli politicians want to equate on the theory that this will help, rather than hurt, Israel. I disagree.

And as a further conflation, take the Trump-Iran War, and the Israeli-Iran War. They are both going on at the same time. But are they the same war? And if American opposition to the Trump War will hurt the Republicans, will it also increase all of the differences within the Democratic Party that I have referred to in this post? And will it potentially increase or decrease antisemitism in this country?

A lot more to say on these subjects. But not today.

You probably don’t remember this, but the Nationals had a pretty successful spring training, but I pointed out something odd. Their hitting statistics were just awful, but their pitching statistics were excellent; this was unexpected and the opposite of what had happened over the preceding two or more years. They started the season strongly, winning three of their first four games, but now have lost five in a row, ending with a three game series loss to the world champion Dodgers.

But while this might have been expected, the way this happened has been odd, compared with the way the Nationals played during spring training. Today, with a 3-6 record, after nine games, the Nationals have the third highest batting average of any team in the National League (just behind the Dodgers and the Marlins), and have scored more runs than any other team. But, they have the poorest pitching statistics. They have averaged over 6 runs per game (the typical major league team scores just under 4.5 runs per game), but their pitching has allowed the opposing teams 6.5 runs per game.

Today begins a three game series with the Cardinals. We have tickets for the Wednesday 4 p.m. game.

Yesterday, we had brunch at friends’ house; there were a fair number of people there, largely people we knew slightly or not at all, and that was refreshing, because we do tend to see the same people over and over (and that is refreshing, too). Our host cooked six Indian dishes, suitable for Passover. He cooking is always good, and this was no exception.

We left the brunch early because we had tickets at the Shakespeare Theatre for Hamnet, a play based on the same book as the award winning film (which we have not seen), and which played for quite a while in London, and now is in the middle of a three city tour in the United States. The production is that of the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was raining fairly hard, and I was concerned that we couldn’t find street parking near the theater and would have to resort to the expensive garage, but there it was: an just opened parking space, right on F Street, maybe 25 or 30 steps from the door. We parked. It was Sunday, so it was free. What could be better?

The theater is right across the street from the arena where the hockey Capitals and basketball Wizards play, and there is a sign where you park that prohibits parking when there are events taking place there. They normally then close off the street, which can be filled with fans coming and going, etc. It turns out there was a Capitals/Rangers game scheduled for last night. We did not know that, and there was nothing to tell you that. But as we were leaving our seats after the play, there was an announcement over the Shakespeare loud speaker that said (I paraphrase): “If you parked your car on the street in front of the theater, please be aware that the police are now clearing the street, and if your car is not there, that means it has been towed to another location. Just ask any policeman outside and they will direct you to where it has been towed.”

Well, that was a surprise.

We left the building, the rain had stopped, and our car was still where we parked it. But there were four police tow trucks working on cars, one at a time, and if we had been five or ten minutes later, I think that we would have been moved. So it was sort of an adventure that wasn’t.

Passover is now half over, ending at sundown on Thursday, and on Friday, we are packing (really packing, it seems) the car and driving to St. Louis. This is not unusual for the two of us, but this time…..it will be the four of us. Daughter Michelle is coming with us (driving there, staying a short while, and flying home), and 10, almost 11, year old Joan is now coming along. It’s her spring break, and she has never been to St. Louis, and is very excited. She wants to see some relatives she hasn’t seen since she was very young, she wants to see where I grew up, she wants to see the Arch, the City Museum, the Zoo and more. And to meet some of our friends.

Oh, and Hamnet? It’s an interesting play, based on a novel by Maggie O’Farrell. The general story line is that Shakespeare and his wife had three children, a boy and two girls, and the boy died at age 11 of “the pestilence”, while his father was play making in London. That much is almost true (no one knows how Hamnet died), but the rest of the story line is imaginative or make believe and the staging is highly choreographed (which for this story works well). Because we are dealing with an English cast, the accents for those of us who were born in the U.S.A. are sometimes hard to understand. But even though Shakespeare himself was, to put it mildly, quite a wordsmith, the dialogue in the play seems less important that the careful staging and choreography (not formal dancing, but movement in general). In the DC area, there is a mime/dance theater company called the Synetic Theater, and I think Hamnet is made to order for them.

We will see if they pick up on it.

Of course, I should add that yesterday was Easter Sunday, and that I saw nothing at all that was Easterish. That’s not quite true. I saw a lot of three and four year old girls dressed in fancy pink dresses. That I did see.

I apologize in advance for not taking any photos to share. I wanted to, but was preoccupied. I was driving.

Yesterday was a perfect and beautiful day in Washington. Our goal was to go to the National Gallery to see the Mary Cassatt exhibit, and I decided to take the scenic route, which means driving through Rock Creek Park and then along the Potomac, the monuments, and the Mall to get to the museum. It took longer than usual because of the enormous amount of traffic, especially near the Tidal Basin, although the cherry blossoms have all faded. But there certainly were a lot of people taking their Sunday drive on Saturday.

But in addition to the cars, I was astounded at the number of pedestrians and bicyclists. From the foot/bike paths in the park all the way to the museum, there were people. It was like being in London, Paris or Prague in mid-August. Thousands of people. Mainly young (a few gray heads, but barely enough for a minyan), and a lot of family groups. Many were clearly tourists; others, it was hard to tell. In 57 years of living in DC, I have never ever seen so many people.

I guess this has something to do with this being Easter weekend. But maybe I guess wrong and it will be this way until the first snow falls in December.

A digression: My Christian theology is fairly week. I know Friday was Good Friday, and today is Easter Sunday, but what was Saturday? It must have a name. How could no one have given it a name over a 2000 year period? They even gave a name to Palm Sunday, Maundy Tuesday (does anyone know what that even is?), and – way back – we had Ash Wednesday and Shrove Tuesday. If the day before Easter doesn’t have a name, it is, in my opinion, time to name it. How about Throng Saturday? There’d be nothing throng with that.

Not surprisingly, parking near the National Gallery was at a premium. The few handicapped spaces were taken, and there was an added complication from a festival on the Mall right near the East Wing of the Gallery. We couldn’t tell what it was, but I think it was the festival celebrating the Laotian New Year. Parking has also been limited by the city putting bike lanes in on the north/south streets, including 4th Street, where the gallery is. The bike lanes replace the parking lanes as those streets cross the Mall from Constitution Ave to Independence Ave. Several weeks ago, the Trump government announced that they wanted to remove those bike lanes and, I assume, bring back the parking. There was a big rally against this move led, as you would expect, by bikers.

For maybe the first time, I support the Trump administration here. These streets are very broad and I do not think were dangerous for bicycles using the lanes also used by automobiles. I think here (not everywhere) the needs for more parking should trump (no question here about capitalization) the desires of the cyclists.

At any rate, we did not see Mary Cassatt yesterday. She is going to be at the National Gallery until late August, I think, so no panic. We will see her at some time.

I decided that we should not look for a museum and then hunt for parking, but that we should hunt for parking and go to whatever museum is the closest. This is brilliant thinking, I know.

Actually, we did not have to go far. Driving south on Fourth Street, beyond the mall a few blocks, we did find someone leaving a parking space, and we were able to stop the car and get out. We were only a block from the Museum of the Bible, and that became our destination.

The Museum opened shortly before the pandemic and for the first year or two, you could get in free. I went several times, including once or twice for programs, and found it a first class museum. But in recent years, it began to require paid admission (a general no-no in DC) and I stayed away. When I say a “paid admission”, I am not talking about $5 or $10. General admission is $35 for an adult. Even for seniors, it is $30. That has to put it near the top in that category.

Edie had never been to the museum, so I thought we should go anyway. I gave us about 1 and 1/2 hours, although looking carefully at the Museum of the Bible takes much longer than that. When we got to the ticket counter and I took a deep breath, the ticket seller greeted us with: We are in the middle of our 40% off period, so your two tickets together will be (I think she said) $34, $17 each. That put it in the range of other museums.

As an aside, I should tell you that the staff at the museum (and it is a very large staff – starting with two greeters at the front door before you get to the three people managing the security check) are either hired because they smile a lot and only say nice things, or they are trained this way. Donald Trump would never be hired at the Museum of the Bible.

Yes, the museum is owned by the Green family, and they are Evangelical Christians who own Hobby Lobby, and it has come under some attack because of that. But, truth is, you would never know where they stand religiously, as long as you stay off the third floor (which we did). The third floor leads you through a number of visual interactive exhibits to tell you the chronology of the biblical story, ending with you-know-who. Or should I say You-Know-Who? Those capital letters get me every time.

It is a very large museum (6 floors, altogether), and we stopped on floors 4,5 and 2. Floor 4 gives the story of the Bible, including a fair amount on the Old Testament and Jewish history, complete with manuscripts and Torahs and more. We skipped most of the Christian part of the Floor 4 (floor 4?). We then went up to the archeological exhibit on floor 5 (Floor 5?), which contains a large number of things on long term loan from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Then we stopped on floor 2 to look through part of the large exhibit on the history of the Bible in America, which again includes many old bibles and artifacts and a lot of good explanatory material.

Even though we did not go to the Dead Sea Scrolls or the other special exhibits, or look at the Christian parts of the History of the Bible exhibit, or see the full American History exhibit, we saw quite a bit and we filled our parking meter time.

And then I began to think about how much I do enjoy this museum, and how much there is to learn there. So, I went back to the ticket desk as we were walking about and asked a different ticket seller if we could apply what we paid today to a dual, one-year membership, and she said that we could. And she said we could with such a broad smile and such gracious thanks that I knew that we had made her day and her week, and that she was so happy that we were doing this that she couldn’t wait to celebrate.

So, we are now members of the Museum of the Bible, just as are members of the Phillips Gallery, and of the Capital Jewish Museum. It is so nice to belong to so many communities and get invited to so many Galas (galas?) which we turn down.

Today, Easter Sunday for some, we are going to a brunch, to the Shakespeare Theatre to see Hamnet (on stage, not the film), and then to Michelle’s for dinner for Olie’s 18th birthday.

Will probably report on all of that tomorrow when I have the task of picking up our tax returns from our accountant. I already know what they will show, and they will show that we owe a ridiculous amount of taxes as a result of some of our mutual funds having sold off stocks late in 2025, giving us capital gains on income we will never see. Go figure. At least, we know that our money is going to be used for good causes: war in Iran, ICE in the U.S. and so on.

As you probably realize, Passover lasts 8 days. The first 2 days (where there are seders) and the last 2 days are considered major holidays (i.e., no work) and the interim days are days when you keep the food restrictions, but are allowed to treat them otherwise as normal periods of time. At least this is true for the diaspora. In Israel, however, Passover lasts only 7 days, and only 2 of those days (the first and the last) are major holidays. There is only one seder in Israel.

Last night, we had Shabbat dinner at Hannah’s, where we had had the second seder the night before. All the food were seder leftovers, which of course was fine, but it got me thinking about the d ifference between the celebration of Passover in Israel, and in the diaspora. And so….I wrote a haiku.

“Pesach last eight days

Seven days would be enough

Next year? Jeruslem.”

Well, the plumber came and fixed our two broken toilets and told us they were as good as new, as he gave us his ridiculously high bill. The plumbing company gets 4.9 on Yelp, and has (as far as I can see) a very good reputation. But I don’t trust this guy. I am not sure that he didn’t do more than was necessary and I know he charged us a lot (I bet that was more than necessary as well). But what really makes me wonder is that he told me that two of our other toilets really needed the same kind of work done, that our 9 year old water heater should be replaced and that if we don’t replace it soon we will find that prices will go way up, and that the flue from our HVAC system has corroded and needs repair. We didn’t ask him to look at any of those things; he just did. And he sent me over 50 photos. Whew! Hard sell to the gullible old folks.

It is Saturday morning, and we really have no plans today. Tomorrow, we have a brunch, a matinee at the Shakespeare Theatre and a dinner party (small) for the 18th birthday of our older step-grandson. That’s a busy Sunday, so we better rest up today. The forecast is for 89 degrees today, and tomorrow it is supposed to rain. That means that the third game of the Nationals/Dodgers series probably won’t be played. The second game is at 4 today, and we will probably be home to watch it. Yesterday, the Nats had 11 hits and scored 6 runs. That should be enough to win any game, right? Well, not if the other teams hits 5 home runs and scores 13 runs. I guess that is why they won the World Series last year. Our starting pitcher, Miles Mikolas allowed 11 earned runs, which seems to be a team records. Congratulations to him. There is already a sense that he may not be around too much longer. He is a 37 year old veteran who pitched several years with the Cardinals, but his time might be running out. I don’t know much about him, and he was only signed for a year, but he has pitched and lost two games, and his ERA, which you want to be below 4.00, is above 14.00. The Nationals have a lot of promising pitchers in the minors, and if Mikolas goes, there will be someone to replace him.

I will tell you a secret: I don’t care if Mikolas stays or goes at this point. Once I told you about the plumber, I had to come up with something else to write about and this seemed one possibility. I could have talked, instead, about Donald Trump, whose first year is equivalent to Mikolas’ first two games, and it would be nice to see him go. But guess what? Those waiting in the minors to replace him don’t look too promising either.

I am watching the TV news while I write, but not listening. The focus all seems to be on Pam Bondi, but she is so 2025, so who cares? The talk seems to be of a bunch of folks who will be no better, so that it really doesn’t make a difference who the next AG will be. At least no one has suggested Rudy Giuliani.

Some coincidences are just coincidences. One of those facts is that (1) Pam from Florida and (2) Beach in Sydney are both named Bondi, and that both signify considerable tragedies. I am actually surprised at the press that Pam Bondi, no longer Attorney General, is getting. Not that it is positive press, but it isn’t as negative as I would have expected. I found Pam Bondi to be just a horrible public person, lying without shame, avoiding answering any question asked her at Congressional oversight hearings, and insulting members of Congress as if she were Donald Trump incarnate. “Good riddance”, I say. (I think someone else said that, too, but I don’t remember who. Could have been anyone.)

There is a rumor that there are going to be Cabinet level firings, perhaps even Kash Patel, the Junket King, or Howard Lutnick, Mr. Laugh and Smile.

None of this would surprise me. It also would not surprise me to see old Sam Alito and old Clarence Thomas resign very soon. Yes, they are the most reliable votes for Donald Trump, and this might give him pause. But if there is a chance that the Senate will flip Democratic in January, there might be a reason to get some 40 or 50 year old Federalist Society nominees into the Court while he can. And of course, this deadline would also hold for replacement Cabinet members, and other presidential appointees who must go through Senate confirmation.

Trump has himself in quite a box these days, and when he gave his prime time nothing-burger speech on the war in Iran the night before last, he looked very tired and old. The war is a quagmire. He wants help from NATO countries for an offensive war, not a defensive war, and while the Arabian gulf countries are being hit by Iran, he has not asked them to step up and help. His war has led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Iran, which as of today has raised worldwide oil prices to over $110 a barrel. Many of our foreign military bases are in danger, and we still do not know what goals of this war are in his thinking. Our last successful war, World War II, ended with a total, unconditional surrender of our enemies, and with a years long occupation of both Germany and Japan. World War I ended with a total, unconditional surrender, with rigid restrictions on German militarization, and with a treaty with all neighboring countries, closely policed. Our more recent wars have not ended with “victories”, but were with opponents who were not, in any event, looking to control or infiltrate neighboring countries, or develop nuclear facilities. The case with Iran appears to be much different in this respect, and when you add the connection between Iran’s oil production and world oil production, you get a completely different situation.

It would seem that continuing this unpopular war, especially if a ground invasion of any sort is added, would be very difficult politically for Trump, and it would seem that any abandonment of the war would be equally difficult. So, it is a quagmire.

And, for Israel? And for the U.S./Israel relationship? If the U.S. decided to pull out of Iran, it leaves Israel in a place where it would not want to be. The war may be unpopular here, but it is very popular in Israel, where they are working hard (whether they are working appropriately is a question for a different post) to rid themselves not only of a dangerous Iran as an enemy, but to rid themselves of Iran’s proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen, and their own enemies in the West Bank. Their actions in Gaza were controversial at best, and their current actions in Lebanon may wind up the same (it’s a knack that Israel seems to have perfected), and whether they will be successful, who knows? But, at any event, this is the policy now being pursued, and while it may lead to short term disasters, the hope is that for the long term, it will bring regional stability. But Israel probably needs American support, just as we may need Israeli support in this effort. A break between the U.S. and Israel would have repercussions that we would like to avoid, but the Israeli aggressiveness certainly bothers many here and, with control of Congress changing, we may find a breach in the alliance. This may be painful in the short term, but again may be helpful in the long run. Hard to say.

And, for reasons that no one can possibly understand, the funding of the Department of Homeland Security (minus TSA and portions of Border Control) continues to be held up. At first, it was because the Republicans in the House of Representatives wouldn’t agree to the bill passed unanimously by the Senate (Democrats and Republicans), with Speaker Johnson calling it idiotic, or nonsensical, or something like that. But then, Trump told Johnson to accept the proposal and get beyond this problem and, like the good soldier he is (maybe “good” is not the right word), Johnson spun around and said OK, only to find that one or more conservative (maybe “conservative” isn’t the right word, either) member of his pack has blocked the bill from coming to the House floor. What does this show? Among other things, it shows that Trump’s power over the entire GOP Congressional membership, like the old gray mare, ain’t what she used to be.

As if this isn’t enough, after two seders (one here, one at Hannah’s), we can’t even take the full day off, because we have been joined by a plumber here to fix the two toilets (of five) in the house that have been on the fritz. One of them, in our downstairs powder room, has actually been leaking, and we did not know it. The other, our guest second floor bathroom, had the toilet repaired about six months ago, and conked out again.

I am not very good on home repairs. I put things off, and then when something needs to be done, the last thing I want to do is get three estimates, dicker about the price, and so forth. Our long term plumber aged out, and since then we have tried a couple of others, but not successfully. One of them, I am sure, has a drug problem, as every time he was scheduled to come, he would call to postpone, giving reasons that were hard to believe. Our current plumbing company gets a 4.9 Yelp rating, and I am relying on the Yelp rating more than anything else as to their qualification.

What I do know (that’s wrong: what I do think I know) is that we are overpaying them for what they are doing. But that is what I do. But at least, when they are done, we won’t have to tell guests, when they ask where the bathroom is, to find a secluded place in the back yard.

The good news? Only 6 more days of Passover, and then things can back to normal. The bad news? It must be one more sign of aging, but I don’t even like whole wheat matzo any more.

It was complicated last night, trying to have a seder crunched between the Artimus II launch and the Trump speech on the Trump War in Iran. But we did, a little abbreviated for our youngest guest who showed off his ability to read, and our second youngest, who has the Four Questions (there is that mysterious capitalization choice again) down pat.

The launch was spectacular of course and while Joan was nervous for the safety of the astronauts, 5 year old Izzy was gung-ho. After all, his plans for the future have long been connected with astronauts. He doesn’t to be one, but when asked what he wants to do when he grows up, he consistently seems to respond, “I want to train the astronauts.”

While the readings were shortened a bit last night, including omitting references to the plagues, the food was delicious, thanks in part to Edie’s visiting cousin Debbie, who worked with her all day, and to Hannah, who came with various ritually connected foods. We are going to do it all again tonight, but thankfully at Hannah’s, not here.

I did want to hear what Trump was going to say in his major speech on the war. There was a lot of speculation, but it turned out he said nothing that he hadn’t said before. And he didn’t even say it well.

He looks terrible, he read the speech with a single ad-lib, and said good night after 20 minutes. Basically, he said it was a great, necessary and courageous war that only he could wage, that it would go on for a period of not less than two weeks and not more than forever. That we had accomplished our goals and would accomplish them soon. And we don’t care if the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t ever open, but if it doesn’t, we will attack Iran’s oil facilities and their electric power plants and send them back to the stone age (Stone Age?), which, by the way, is where they belong anyway.

Of course, we are conducting this war with, or  perhaps just along side of, Israel, which hardly got a mention in last night’s speech. The absence of references to Israel was the only thing about the talk that interested me. Was that meaningful? If so, what does it mean?

I can only assume that the speech he gave last night was not the speech he intended to give when he decided to talk to the American people. He does see the poll numbers and he has already caved on the TSA DHS issue, so maybe he had something else in mind, but decided against it. Maybe we will find out. Or not.

Well, happy Passover to all. We have received greetings from as far away as Israel and Australia. It is now 8:30 a.m. Time for breakfast. I think I will have something on a matzo.

Yes, I have been to all sorts of seders. From the ones that start at 6 and end after midnight (I remember one filled with Jewishly educated folks who knew, and had to sing, at least three versions of every song) to the ones where the leader says, right after “this is the matzo”….”Let’s eat.” As they say in show-biz, “you have to know your audience”, and then “the show must go on.” Actually, I have no idea whether they say in show business, “you have to know your audience”. But it would be a good idea. Much better than “break a leg”.

I know there are some seder leaders who religiously (that is a double entendre if I ever heard one) follow the most traditional of Haggadot, and others who have written their own, or who have purchased multiple copies of freedom Haggadot, or women’s Haggadot, or social justice Haggadot, or what have you. We use the old Rabbi Goldberg Haggadah (we have thousands of copies, mostly stained and torn) and I, when I lead, improvise.

I am fairly serious about the seders I lead. Now, that may surprise you, because people who read what I write often think that I am not serious at all, since so much of what I write seems a little off-center. But, in fact, the more off-center, comical, satiric that it is, the more serious I am. This is a statement of fact, not satire.

So, with a 10 year old, a 5 year old, 4 people in their 40s, 1 barely in her 50s, two in their 70s and me (that’s 10, right), and with a variety of Jewish practices (even within single houses), I have to judge my audience. But I also have to keep to my own values as closely as I can, and there are a lot of things about the Haggadah that I find troublesome.

Generally, let me say it this way: I accept it as a description of the departure of the Jews from Egypt (which may or may not have really happened). But I don’t accept that the departure of the Jews from Egypt has anything to do with the political State of Israel, and because Egypt is still a real place, I don’t accept anything that would be offensive to me, if I were an Egyptian.

This means that I don’t like to have my seder become political, and while I can accept the Pharaoh as being a stubborn guy, I can not accept the plagues. Now for many (most?), reading the plagues and dollopping the wine is a highlight of the seder. For me, it’s an embarrassment and should be discarded. Of course, no one listens to me, so for that part of the seder, I just sit there and look at my phone.

Think about it. You are an Egyptian and the Jews of the world are celebrating their freedom on the basis of a decree from God that your first born were all slaughtered. That doesn’t strike you as bizarre? Or worse? And, remember, there are 9 other plagues, not as bad as that one, but pretty bad.

A brief history: Perhaps a group of people now called Jews left Egypt as related in the Bible and repeated in the Haggadah. We can assume that (history would support a theory that these Jews lived comfortably until there was regime change in Egypt and, because they were identified with the defeated regime, their comfortable lives ended) the Jews went into what is now called the Sinai peninsula, and eventually settled in what was historically known as Canaan and part of which now is the State of Israel. While the idea that a million of them wandered around for 40 years is hard to take as fact, let’s assume that they colonized (if that now-dirty word is the right word) Canaan, and created a civilization interrupted by Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans over the next 1000 years or so.

During that 1000 year period, many Jews left the Middle East. Some as a result of the Assyrian assault on the Northern Kingdom (when the lost tribes were lost), and some when the Babylonians took Jerusalem (leading to the Babylonian exile), some when the area became part of the cosmopolitan Greek empire and later the wide-spread Roman empire, when relocating for commercial or other purposes. Thus, Jews were everywhere (or at least everywhere in the expanded Mediterranean world) – the Middle East, Northern Africa, southern Europe, the Euphrates valley, and beyond.

But the heart of the Jewish world was still in and around today’s Israel. That is, until the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, killed many thousands and then, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, made Jerusalem Juden-frei. It is shortly after these events that the five rabbis mentioned in the Haggadah sat around Bnai Barak and wondered if “day” meant when the sun was up, or when the world was dark as well. (You are excused if you have no idea what I am talking about here.)3

You can argue (perhaps correctly) that had the Jews not left Egypt when they did, there would be no Judaism today. You can also argue (even more likely correctly) that had the Jews not moved throughout the “known” world before the Romans destroyed the Temple, that there would be no Judaism today. I know you can counter that by talking about those rabbis at Bnai Barak who created rabbinic Judaism, but rabbinic Judaism need the Jews in the diaspora to adopt it and maintain it.

Where am I going with this? I am trying to say that it is the diaspora that saved the Jews, and over concentration on Israel as needed to protect and save the Jews may be overstated. If all the Jews lived in Israel, what an easy target they would be. We need to learn the lessons of Roman times. The maintenance of the diaspora is crucial.

This is not to say that Israel is not a remarkable place, but Israel will not save the Jews in the long run.

So, to summarize what is perhaps a confusing (and not to be edited or proofed post), celebrating the freedom of the Jews is great, celebrating the suffering of Egypt under the plagues is terrible, celebrating the State of Israel as the most important result of all of this is shortsighted.

Next year in Jerusalem? Catchy, but not a requirement.

Chag sameach to all.