The FireBuzz December 15, 2021 An embroidered pillow in the window of a New Orleans shop reads: “I’m not Democrat or Republican, I belong to the Cocktail Party.” In that spirit of nonpartisanship, I today present a drink I recently invented. The FireBuzz. Ingredients: Coca Cola With Coffee/Vanilla . . . which you can buy on Amazon if your supermarket doesn’t have it. Fireball. Ice.* Mix, serve, and sip. Here’s looking at you, kid. * A recipe, if you don’t know how to make it. Plus: why hot water freezes faster than cold — and why it makes clear ice cubes.
Waiting For A Lot More Than Godot December 12, 2021December 13, 2021 If anticipation is half the fun, how can I not be giddy? I’ll get to the important, world-changing, democracy-saving stuff in a second, but first, on the investment front . . . > I’ve been waiting for Borealis since before some of you were born! Here’s WheelTug’s latest. It’s taken SO much longer than hoped — yet from what I can tell, they continue to inch forward. So I wait. Will our payday ever come? I don’t know. But with the company valued at $30 million, less than half the cost of a single Gulfstream G700 or Beeple’s NFT*, I have to think the risk/reward ratio remains good, real though the risk is. So I wait. > Likewise, PRKR. We’ve paid as little as a dime for these shares (most recently 99 cents), and in some cases more than a dollar. I’ve been with this one for just three years — a speck in the eye of time — and I keep waiting for trial dates that get postponed. But, again, I think the risk/reward is good. So I wait.** And there so many others, including a slew of private start-ups I’ve placed bets on — like BrainHQ and Pearl Certification and Trusty.Care — I’ve plugged here more than once, the way I used to flog Honest Tea. Honest Tea took 14 years from the first check I wrote to the last check I received (thank you, Coca Cola). But it was worth the wait. Remember “silt accumulates”? It took forever, but GLDD, suggested as low as $2.33 a share a dozen years ago, closed at $15.61 Friday. Patience, Jackass, patience. In the forthcoming edition of my investment guide (while I’m plugging things), I list a score of start-ups-turned-wipe-outs and how much I lost in each. So whether it be in BOREF or PRKR or any of the other things I suggest here from time to time, we must only invest money we can truly afford to lose. Yet for those of us fortunate enough to have such money, it sure keeps things interesting. *Beeple was at a friend’s beautiful home for a dinner last week and discovered there was no mirror in the guest bathroom. “You have no mirror in there!” he announced to the host (or words to that effect). The host admitted it was true. “Have you got a Magic Marker?” Beeple asked. One was procured. Beeple proceeded to draw a large mirror on the blank white bathroom wall, wrote MIRROR in the middle, and signed it. My friend’s home, already valuable, may now be worth $1 million more. **Sometimes, justice is eventually done. Many years ago, I put a bunch of dough into a friend’s deal that was so safe it could only go badly wrong if he were Bernie Madoffing us and would ultimately go to federal prison. And this lovely guy, with his lovely kids, was definitely not prison material. After years of waiting . . . Cut to the September 16 sentencing date! Hallelujah! Oh, wait. Postponed to November. Cut to the November sentencing date! Hallelujah! Oh wait, postponed again, to December 2. Waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. But December 2 arrived. Five years plus probation, forfeiture, and restitution. Will “December 2” arrive for PRKR? And now . . . I’m waiting for: > Reconciliation to pass, paid for in part by . . . > An income tax hike on billionaires and billionheirs (and corporations), many of whom (and which) pay none at all. > People to notice how much better things are getting. (It’s a Biden Boom—and No One Has Noticed Yet, writes Rob Shapiro. “If the current high levels of economic, job, and income growth continue, the 2022 midterms could look different than most are predicting.”) Did you notice that the number of jobless claims for the week of December 4 was the lowest in 52 years? > Our messaging to become sharp and relentless, so people know Democrats have delivered. Know we’re fixing their potholes and getting them rural broadband and strengthening their electric grid — all of which Republicans tried to block. Know we slashed the cost of insulin and the cost of child care and helped them get hearing aids — all of which Republicans tried to block. > More 30-second spots like this one. Democrats have consistently tried to deliver for the average American. Republicans have consistently voted no. No on Medicare. No on Medicaid Expansion. No on family medical leave. No on the minimum wage. No on universal background checks. No on women’s rights. No on LGBTQ rights. No on voting rights. But yes on tax cuts for those billionaires, billionheirs. and corporations (many of whom and which, I would stress, are fine people and terrific companies, abiding by the law . . . which is why the law needs to be changed). > Messaging that’s short and sweet, like this one on inflation my pal Paul Abrams suggests (feel free to tweet; no need for attribution): Fifty-six Leading economists have concluded that Build Back Better will help tame inflation. Any Republican who votes NO is pro-inflation. > The pandemic to subside. Did you know that even as Florida’s governor decries mandates and demagogues about “medical authoritarianism,” his state requires that all children receive vaccines protecting against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and other diseases for child care center or school attendance? It’s a mandate! And mandates the wearing of seatbelts? Florida is a virtual police state! (Like every other red state in the country, all of which, like the blue states, require these same sensible things.) > Trump to be indicted. And so many others around him to be brought to justice, as a few were before he pardoned them. > The spell to be broken, so tens of millions of Trumpers break free. Like Fred B., who wrote me this week: “I was a Republican, Conservative and gave you grief some years ago. I have to say, I’m sorry for that. Since then, I have had a change of heart. This past year, I found that DT was a truly a horrible person. I even voted for Joe, and made a few calls to folks for the Democratic Party. What a freaking trip that was. I haven’t crossed the line and become a Dem, but I think of that often.” No need to become a Dem! We just need people to stop drinking the Kool-Aid (or bleach) and return to sensible, fact-based, spirited-but-civil discourse. > The filibuster carve out needed to pass election protection legislation to thwart the ongoing coup. Yes, it was a coup attempt. And it remains underway: TRUMP’S NEXT COUP HAS ALREADY BEGUN. January 6 was practice. I’m not sure how much of this will happen — the last item being ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL. But just because it takes so much longer than it should doesn’t mean it won’t. So far this year, we rescued the American economy; we passed the infrastructure bill, something we’ve waited decades for; and, hey! Broadway is back! Yet to be a anything less than alarmed and engaged would be a terrible mistake, because this really is show time for America. If you missed Brian Williams’ final hour Friday — after 28 years on NBC– watch it in full if you have the time; or start here for Carville’s prescription — “we gotta stop this namby-pamby”; or skip all that and start here, with two of the great historians of our time. Have a great week. Help if you can. Early money is much more powerful than the exact same money next Fall.
It Was The Worst of Times, It Was . . . December 9, 2021 When a shared national crisis can’t bring people together (Pearl Harbor, say, or a pandemic), a society may have passed the point of no return. The political divide in the United States has become irreconcilable, study says. Putin is winning, but I refuse to believe we can’t pull back from the edge. We have to! This is America! Still — as per yesterday — January 6 Was Practice — boy are we ever hanging on by a thread. Brian S.: “Gellman’s must-read article is masterful and certainly no exercise in hyperbole. Fascism is a real threat. We must face the fact that we are in the fight of our lives for democracy, decency, civility, kindness and protection for the many vulnerables in our vast country.” On a brighter note, the story of the German election — Can Germany’s New Chancellor Revive the Left in Europe? — gives both hope and a path forward. “Olaf Scholz wants to win back workers who defected to the populist far right. Success could make him a model for Social Democrats everywhere.” . . . Mr. Scholz, a Social Democrat, wanted to talk to the philosopher, Prof. Michael J. Sandel of Harvard, about why center-left parties like his had been losing working-class voters to populists, and the two men spent an hour discussing a seemingly simple theme that would become the centerpiece of the [successful] Scholz campaign: “Respect.” . . . Worth reading in full. Brighter still: The Summit of Democracy begins today! Unemployment is at record lows! Wages and worker bargaining power are on the rise! The market — and 401k’s — are at record highs! Child poverty has been cut in half! (Democrats delivered that. Republicans voted to block it.) Revitalized infrastructure is on the way! (Democrats delivered that. Republicans voted to block it.) Childcare and health care and insulin costs are about to fall! And lots more. (COMPANY opens tonight!) So be alarmed — but not despondent. Join your local chapter of the League of Women Voters! Join Field Team 6! Join Vote Forward! Fund the Party! BONUS Speaking of Company . . . did you see this great Sondheim interview, 33 years ago?
January 6 Was Practice December 8, 2021December 7, 2021 The story everyone is reading. No kidding around. I cede the balance of my time.
Odd Ends December 7, 2021December 7, 2021 Remind me to post next Thanksgiving: A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York two days before Thanksgiving and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.” “Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams. “We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says. “And I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her.” Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. “Like heck they’re getting divorced,” she shouts, “I’ll take care of this.” She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, “You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?” and hangs up. The old man turns to his wife. “Okay,” he says, “they’re coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way!” In that same holiday spirit . . . John Seiffer: “A few years ago I told you about the 412 Food Rescue non-profit I support which uses a network of volunteers to distribute food that’s about to go to waste to people in need. You said something like — Why isn’t this everywhere? Well it is not everywhere but it’s in over a dozen cities now, and in Pittsburgh where they started they are also cooking the food and delivering individual meals. If you feel like mentioning it to your readers, that would be great.” → How great! Pittsburgh Woman’s Food Rescue App Diverts 20 Million Pounds of Surplus into 17mil Meals For Those in Need. Who can resist chipping in? Speaking of good people: thanks to The Guy I accidentally PayPalled $1,000 yesterday, for letting me know that, yes, he was TheGuy@gmail.com, but not The-Guy@gmail.com. He returned the $1,000 before I even knew I had screwed up. See? Americans are a fundamentally good people. Mostly. As you may have seen (thanks, Rachel): Marcus Lamb, Christian Broadcaster and Vaccine Skeptic, Dies of Covid at 64. “Mr. Lamb, who co-founded the Daystar Television Network, repeatedly suggested on air that people pray instead of getting vaccinated.” And William Hartmann, who sought to overturn the 2020 election, and whose Facebook page blasted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, also died from COVID last week. He was apparently a very nice fella but, like millions, had been misled. Stepping up to get the vaccine protects the nation we all love, Republicans and Democrats alike. It’s exactly what stepping up to win World War II was, minus the harsh living conditions, separation from loved ones, fighting, amputations, and death.
Debunking The Debunkers December 6, 2021December 6, 2021 A wealthy progressive sent this to his list, saying he found it discouraging. Someone had sent it to him with the note: “Whether you’re a proponent of electric vehicles or not, this is very interesting information. An unusual and thought provoking article by Bruce Haedrich.” Meet me at the end for the truth: When I saw the title of this lecture, especially with the picture of the scantily clad model, I couldn’t resist attending. The packed auditorium was abuzz with questions about the address; nobody seemed to know what to expect. The only hint was a large aluminum block sitting on a sturdy table on the stage. When the crowd settled down, a scholarly-looking man walked out and put his hand on the shiny block. “Good evening,” he said, “I am here to introduce NMC532-X,” and he patted the block, “we call him NM for short,” and the man smiled proudly. “NM is a typical electric vehicle (EV) car battery in every way except one; we programmed him to send signals of the internal movements of his electrons when charging, discharging, and in several other conditions. We wanted to know what it feels like to be a battery. We don’t know how it happened, but NM began to talk after we downloaded the program. “Despite this ability, we put him in a car for a year and then asked him if he’d like to do presentations about batteries. He readily agreed on the condition he could say whatever he wanted. We thought that was fine, and so, without further ado, I’ll turn the floor over to NM,” the man turned and walked off the stage. “Good evening,” NM said. He had a slightly affected accent, and when he spoke, he lit up in different colors. “That cheeky woman on the marquee was my idea,” he said. “Were she not there, along with ‘naked’ in the title, I’d likely be speaking to an empty auditorium! I also had them add ‘shocking’ because it’s a favorite word amongst us batteries.” He flashed a light blue color as he laughed. “Sorry,” NM giggled; then continued, “three days ago, at the start of my last lecture, three people walked out. I suppose they were disappointed there would be no dancing girls. But here is what I noticed about them. One was wearing a battery-powered hearing aid, one tapped on his battery-powered cell phone as he left, and a third got into his car, which would not start without a battery. So, I’d like you to think about your day for a moment; how many batteries do you rely on?” He paused for a full minute which gave us time to count our batteries. Then he went on, “Now, it is not elementary to ask, ‘what is a battery?’ I think Tesla said it best when they called us Energy Storage Systems. That’s important. We do not make electricity – we store electricity produced elsewhere, primarily by coal, uranium, natural gas-powered plants, or diesel-fueled generators. So, to say an EV is a zero-emission vehicle is not at all valid. Also, since forty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. is from coal-fired plants, it follows that forty percent of the EVs on the road are coal-powered, n’est-ce pas?” He flashed blue again. “Einstein’s formula, E=MC2, tells us it takes the same amount of energy to move a five-thousand-pound gasoline-driven automobile a mile as it does an electric one. The only question again is what produces the power? To reiterate, it does not come from the battery; the battery is only the storage device, like a gas tank in a car.” He lit up red when he said that, and I sensed he was smiling. Then he continued in blue and orange. “Mr. Elkay introduced me as NMC532. If I were the battery from your computer mouse, Elkay would introduce me as double-A, if from your cell phone as CR2032, and so on. We batteries all have the same name depending on our design. By the way, the ‘X’ in my name stands for ‘experimental.’ “There are two orders of batteries, rechargeable, and single use. The most common single-use batteries are A, AA, AAA, C, D. 9V, and lantern types. Those dry-cell species use zinc, manganese, lithium, silver oxide, or zinc and carbon to store electricity chemically. Please note they all contain toxic, heavy metals. Rechargeable batteries only differ in their internal materials, usually lithium-ion, nickel-metal oxide, and nickel-cadmium. “The United States uses three billion of these two battery types a year, and most are not recycled; they end up in landfills. California is the only state which requires all batteries be recycled. If you throw your small, used batteries in the trash, here is what happens to them. “All batteries are self-discharging. That means even when not in use, they leak tiny amounts of energy. You have likely ruined a flashlight or two from an old, ruptured battery. When a battery runs down and can no longer power a toy or light, you think of it as dead; well, it is not. It continues to leak small amounts of electricity. As the chemicals inside it run out, pressure builds inside the battery’s metal casing, and eventually, it cracks. The metals left inside then ooze out. The ooze in your ruined flashlight is toxic, and so is the ooze that will inevitably leak from every battery in a landfill. All batteries eventually rupture; it just takes rechargeable batteries longer to end up in the landfill. “In addition to dry cell batteries, there are also wet cell ones used in automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. The good thing about those is, ninety percent of them are recycled. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to recycle batteries like me or care to dispose of single-use ones properly. “But that is not half of it. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and windmills and solar panels. These three technologies share what we call environmentally destructive embedded costs.” NM got redder as he spoke. “Everything manufactured has two costs associated with it, embedded costs and operating costs. I will explain embedded costs using a can of baked beans as my subject. “In this scenario, baked beans are on sale, so you jump in your car and head for the grocery store. Sure enough, there they are on the shelf for $1.75 a can. As you head to the checkout, you begin to think about the embedded costs in the can of beans. “The first cost is the diesel fuel the farmer used to plow the field, till the ground, harvest the beans, and transport them to the food processor. Not only is his diesel fuel an embedded cost, so are the costs to build the tractors, combines, and trucks. In addition, the farmer might use a nitrogen fertilizer made from natural gas. “Next is the energy costs of cooking the beans, heating the building, transporting the workers, and paying for the vast amounts of electricity used to run the plant. The steel can holding the beans is also an embedded cost. Making the steel can requires mining taconite, shipping it by boat, extracting the iron, placing it in a coal-fired blast furnace, and adding carbon. Then it’s back on another truck to take the beans to the grocery store. Finally, add in the cost of the gasoline for your car. “But wait – can you guess one of the highest but rarely acknowledged embedded costs?” NM said, then gave us about thirty seconds to make our guesses. Then he flashed his lights and said, “It’s the depreciation on the 5000-pound car you used to transport one pound of canned beans!” NM took on a golden glow, and I thought he might have winked. He said, “But that can of beans is nothing compared to me! I am hundreds of times more complicated. My embedded costs not only come in the form of energy use; they come as environmental destruction, pollution, disease, child labor, and the inability to be recycled.” He paused, “I weigh one thousand pounds, and as you see, I am about the size of a travel trunk.” NM’s lights showed he was serious. “I contain twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside me are 6,831 individual lithium-ion cells. “It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each auto battery like me, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just – one – battery.” He let that one sink in, then added, “I mentioned disease and child labor a moment ago. Here’s why. Sixty-eight percent of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?” NM’s red and orange light made it look like he was on fire. “Finally,” he said, “I’d like to leave you with these thoughts. California is building the largest battery in the world near San Francisco, and they intend to power it from solar panels and windmills. They claim this is the ultimate in being ‘green,’ but it is not! This construction project is creating an environmental disaster. Let me tell you why. “The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium-diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicon dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled. “Windmills are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades. Sadly, both solar arrays and windmills kill birds, bats, sea life, and migratory insects.” NM lights dimmed, and he quietly said, “There may be a place for these technologies, but you must look beyond the myth of zero emissions. I predict EVs and windmills will be abandoned once the embedded environmental costs of making and replacing them become apparent. I’m trying to do my part with these lectures. Thank you for your attention, good night, and good luck.” NM’s lights went out, and he was quiet, like a regular battery. Entertaining, no? And compelling! Stuff like this seems authoritative as it ricochets around the internet. How are WE supposed to assess it? So I sent it to Amory Lovins, who responded: It is amusing, scientifically uninformed (e.g. Einstein reference is completely misplaced—it’s about Newton), often inaccurate (lithium is not a heavy metal; windmill blades and solar panels are routinely recycled; solar-panel manufacturing by reputable makers is clean and safe because the processing chemicals stay inside their interior plumbing; wind and solar kill orders of magnitude fewer critters than cats and powerlines; etc.). Most of all, it’s a novel packaging of standard anti-clean-energy propaganda. Since it’s about batteries, let me share two papers. The first, published in 2017, is about rare-earth elements, like the neodymium and dysprosium used in supermagnets. One of the important substitutions it mentions as emergent is iron-nitride supermagnets, with comparable or better performance but containing no rare earths. In the four years since, they have duly entered the market. This paper should help your thinking about “critical materials” in general. The second paper, specifically about battery minerals, is awaiting publication shortly at rmi.org, so please hold close until it’s out. He told me to hold it close, so I will; but hope to remember to pass it on when it’s out. My main takeaway is that — while there are trade-offs, for sure — very smart people have looked at all this and think it makes sense to move to renewables. The benefits, all things considered, significantly outweigh the costs. The best answer, of course, is just to use less energy to begin with — to live lighter on the land. (It was Amory who invented the concept of “negawatts” nearly half a century ago.) Especially where doing so requires no sacrifice. Keeping the lights on only in the room we’re in . . . boiling no more water than you’ll need for your tea . . . zooming to a meeting no one really wanted to travel to anyway. But even perhaps when it does require a little sacrifice, given that the habitability of our planet is at stake. Setting the thermostat to 78 in the summer and 68 in the winter. Or even 66 and wearing a sweater. Walking and biking more, driving less. Caulking your windows. All that. And then there’s nuclear. Many believe it should be part of the mix — and perhaps with new technology it will make sense. I, for one, had assumed so. But when I Googled to see what Amory may have had to say on the subject, I came up with this, arguing that the money needed to produce nuclear power would more effectively address climate change if spent on solar, wind, and efficiency. Well worth a read if, like me, you were quietly in the, “well, of course, nuclear should be in the mix” camp. Now I’m less sure. I sent Amory’s thoughts back up the line to my friend’s email list and received, in reply, “Please forward my/our gratitude to Amory Lovins for debunking this piece. He is an unimpeachable authority on this subject.” Have a great week!
Joey’s Caroline December 3, 2021December 3, 2021 But first, COVID. . . . I guess, seeing as how I have an M.D. and manage a fund, I should write something about the new Covid-19 omicron “variant of concern.” To be honest, at this point I’m more concerned about the potential oversteps of various governments than I am about this new variant, which doesn’t seem to be extra lethal from what we know so far. Governments seem to be making policy decisions as if we’re battling the early stages of a pandemic, whereas in reality we are now battling an endemic, seasonal disease, which for vaccinated people has a mortality profile very similar to influenza; it’s not great, there’s a small chance it may kill us, but there’s only so many reasonable precautions one can take. We’re all going to be exposed to Covid-19 variants every Covid season for the rest of our lives. I think we should all get vaccinated and get boosters as they become available, help other nations to get vaccinated (to decrease the risk of worse variants), wear a mask when we are in a space where we might pose a high risk to immunocompromised people (e.g. medical settings, public transit), and go live our lives. The medical literature strongly suggests travel bans are of shrinkingly small benefit in a situation like this, but they do have real costs for families and for society. Also, by all means, if you haven’t, you should definitely get a flu shot this year unless you have a contraindication; flu is extra tough this year because our bodies haven’t seen it in a while. So writes Chris Brown, to whose Aristides Capital I’ve had the good fortune to entrust a chunk of my IRA. And second, SPECULATION. Back in July I suggested buying puts on three stocks my Guru thought were overvalued. The one that’s worked out best, RFL, was $60 at the time, $5.66 last night. We sold most too soon for a quick quadruple/quintuple, but if you have any left, congratulations: the underlying stock was a lemon, and you’ve now squeezed all the juice out of it. Two others were PLSE, about unchanged, and EVLO, then $13.49 now $8.48. Guru expects both to go lower. And in September I told you about PLXP, then $18.48, now $8.48 with further to fall. Thank you, Guru. Also: If you’ve not yet sold most or all of whatever crypto and meme stocks you may have purchased against the advice of boring people like me, now would be a great time to do so. If you want to wait until January so the tax on your gains isn’t due for an extra year — don’t. If you want to wait until they go back up to their recent highs — don’t. If they all go to the moon, you will hate me. But I still think it’s good advice. On the potentially undervalued side of things, I like to think PRKR is back under a buck because of year-end tax-selling and understandable impatience. If those are the reasons, they provide a good buying opportunity for those with money they can truly afford to lose. And now, JOEY’S CAROLINE. There’s a lot of really good stuff to see on Broadway these days. I’ve told you about Chicken and Biscuits (don’t read the reviews — the audience laughed its head off both times I saw it). David Byrne’s American Utopia — more of a concert than a show — is terrific. And much much, more. (One easy way to scan what’s out there and buy tickets is the TodayTix app you can put on your phone.) Another show I’ve seen twice is Caroline, or Change. I didn’t necessarily mean to see it twice, but somehow double-booked . . . once direct with the theater and then, not seeing it in my TodayTix list, added it there as well. Listen: I got a lotta balls in the air. The first time, I got a frantic email warning that the star who plays Caroline would be replaced by her understudy. But do you know what? She was wonderful. The whole audience was pulling for her — and the standing ovations at the end would not stop. It was one of those Broadway moments. So I figured it would be interesting to see, the second time, how the real star played Caroline. And again I got the e-mail. So in case the same thing happens to you, be not disappointed: if you ask me, it is the understudy who should win the Tony. Anyway, it’s a musical about a Jewish boy growing up with his parents and a black maid, as the playwright, Tony Kushner (Angels In America) — and lots of upper-middle-class Jewish kids in the Fifties and Sixties — did. Including my friend Joe Cherner (pictured below, being mock-spanked) who saw Caroline, Or Change recently and sent the playwright this letter in care of the theater: November 13, 2021 Dear Tony, My Caroline taught me my values. I taught her how to read. For all intents and purposes, she raised me. She took me to elementary school in the morning and to Hebrew school in the afternoon. And I took her to my Bar-Mitzvah. At home, My Caroline was often my only companion. I’d call her name incessantly while she tried to work. She’d answer, “Caroline isn’t here anymore. She changed her name and took a slow boat to China. Now, go out and play in traffic.” She said things like that, but I knew she loved me. I pleaded with My Caroline to attend my Bar Mitzvah. She got all dressed up. There is even a full-page photo of her in my Bar-Mitzvah album, sitting majestically in our living room looking at the camera. But she would only come to the ceremony, and sat in the back. My Caroline dreamed of going to Atlantic City. When I finally received my first paycheck, I called her. She was already too sick. My parents were kind to My Caroline, but rarely around. My father gifted my mother with a painted, framed portrait. My mother didn’t like it. It lived for years in various piles of debris in our basement. I begged My Caroline to quit smoking. When she was bedridden and close to death, I drove to her home for the first time. I made my way through a poor neighborhood, got out of my car, opened her building door, and climbed the stairs to her bedroom to say my last goodbye. My mother’s discarded portrait hung at the top of the stairs. On My Caroline’s dresser were pictures of her children . . . and a picture of me. She died of lung cancer, and I was the only one in my family to attend her funeral. Call her the maid if you want, but she taught me my values. And most people and their values couldn’t hold a candle to hers. My husband and I have been married for almost forty years. We have two grown children. I wish they could have known My Caroline. I often think of her. Thank you for telling our story. Sincerely, Joe Cherner Here’s to the Carolines of the world. We owe them big-time. Have a great weekend!
Here’s A Question: December 1, 2021December 1, 2021 Here’s A Question: Should Steve Bannon, who refuses to talk, be waterboarded? Waterboarding, Bush, Cheney, Trump and others have assured us, is not torture. And what’s being investigated here is not a plot to kill Americans, but a plot to kill American democracy itself . . . long the world’s beacon of hope . . . a counterbalance to tyranny . . . to last-century autocrats like Stalin who branded the press “the enemy of the people” and Hitler who was adored by white supremacists . . . a counterbalance to contemporary autocrats like Putin and Duterte and Kim who have journalists and political rivals murdered. The answer is of course is no. Bannon should not be waterboarded, Just reviled. BONUS Conservative columnist Max Boot on the anti-democracy party he once championed.
A Ton Of Things Going Right November 30, 2021November 30, 2021 Even as democracy is at risk — so much so that traditional Republicans like this one are urging everyone to vote blue (and when has that ever happened before?) — the irony is that a ton of things are going right. And so, as I ended yesterday’s post — “you can’t listen to Kid Rock, watch January 6, and read Picciolini’s warning, and not be deeply concerned” — I promised something brighter today. To wit: Investment banker Bill Derrough argues in the Columbus Post Dispatch that It’s time to give Joe Biden his due: . . . Personal bankruptcy filings are at the lowest levels since 1985. Unemployment is down to 4.6% from nearly 7% when Joe Biden was elected president and average hourly wages are the highest for Americans than they have ever been. . . . Notwithstanding many naysayers, under President Joe Biden’s administration, the United States economy is not just back on track to tremendous growth, but, thanks to a number of legislative and administrative measures, is on its way to being less trickle down and more bottoms-up. Perhaps the most significant of these so far is the Biden Administration’s infrastructure bill. . . . And the story will, I think, be even better, when that landmark physical infrastructure bill is joined by its counterpart, the human infrastructure bill, very possibly this coming month. Together, they will go a long way toward revitalizing our economy — and righting the imbalance that’s grown ever more extreme over the past 40 years. Namely, the imbalance between ordinary Americans, who have been doing most of the nation’s work . . . . . . and those at the very top, who have been reaping most of the rewards. I’m a fan of Jeff Bezos, as I’ve acknowledged before. But would he or anyone dispute that much of his $200 billion net worth derives from the labor of others? The economic squeeze most Americans find themselves in, that Trump tapped so successfully, is brutal. Voters have every reason to be frustrated and angry. But the culprit are not Jews or blacks or asylum seekers hoping to pick our tomatoes. The culprit is a party whose signal achievement in recent decades has been lowering taxes on the very rich while blocking progress, wherever it can, for everyone else. The culprit is not Benghazi, that consumed so much of their attention, but the oil-industry-inspired invasion of Iraq — on the drawing board before 9/11 — that wound up costing us trillions. And no, these two infrastructure bills will not meaningfully prolong or amp up inflation. It’s a singularly strange time. So much to be worried about — and so much to be hopeful for.
Very Different Rocks November 29, 2021November 28, 2021 The first thing to say is that Kid Rock is not Chris Rock. Both are shocking, but Chris is often very funny and I’m all but sure he votes blue. Kid, I’m certain, does not. His governing philosophy: Don’t Tell Me How To Live! You should watch at least a minute of it, because it sets the tone for: An ex-Nazi worth listening to . . . “Everything happening right now is the skinhead’s dream of the 1990s coming true,” Picciolini told me. “Donald Trump’s ideas are not new, but he has made people in influential positions comfortable in expressing racism. In a relatively short time, we’ve gone from not talking about these things, even if they were always there, to no longer feeling shame about it. Tucker Carlson, other right-wing pundits, congressional representatives like Paul Gosar and Mo Brooks, are saying exactly what I was saying when I was a Nazi. They are using softer terms, but the message is the same.” Picciolini says he understands how this strategy has played out. “We advised infiltration,” he said, “infiltration of law enforcement, the military and political offices with low barrier of entry, like the school board, town council, county election positions. And that’s exactly what we are seeing now: a widespread, coordinated effort for the far right to take power at the local level.” He specifically means the use of racial paranoia and panic, through invented culture-war issues like “critical race theory” and “voter fraud,” as a pretext for far-right political victories. . . . which I urge you to read in its entirety. Scary, no? Putin’s choice for President . . . a man who called torch-carrying marchers “very fine people” . . . whose grandfather was Friedrich Drumpf . . . whose dad was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally . . . and who himself kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside . . . has brought us to a dangerous place. Putin is having a field day. The judo black belt has succeeded in setting us against each other, amplifying our distrust, feeding our worst wolves. From Jesse Kornbluth’s post: Hanukkah starts today in the shadow of an alarming expression of ignorance of 20th century history. From the Guardian: << Almost two-thirds of young American adults do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and more than one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust, a new survey has found, revealing shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century. . . .>> What can a decent person do to reach these people? If you recall my short story, The Pied Piper of Park Avenue, I’m a big believer in ignoring adults and reaching out to their children, because when kids take on a mission, the parents have to deal with it. And how do you reach kids? Stories. Amazon says that “Number the Stars” is an excellent book for kids 10 to 12 — 5th to 7th graders — but I can’t think of a more appropriate book for Americans of any age to be reading right now. Lois Lowry published this 135-page novel in 1989. It won the Newbery Medal — the highest honor for a children’s book — the following year. It has become one of the best-selling children’s books of all time. In short, it’s that rarest of novels: important and addictively readable. [To buy the paperback from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.] In 1940, Denmark couldn’t have fought Hitler; its surrender was prudent. And in 1943 the German presence isn’t a concern for Annemarie Johansen, a 10-year-old fourth grader who lives with her parents and younger sister in Copenhagen. King Christian X still rides his horse through the city, and the Danes, sharing his disdain for the Germans, go on about their lives. But now life is starting to change — as Annemarie and her best friend Ellen Rosen run home from school, two German soldiers stop them, just because they can. Small inconveniences become real threats. Jewish businesses suddenly close. Jews take unannounced “vacations.” Ellen’s parents vanish, and Ellen comes to live with Annemarie’s family. And then the Germans, aware that Ellen and Annemarie are friends, visit the Johansens in the middle of the night. . . . It’s impossible to read this book now and not think of… you know. A ton of things are going right — come back tomorrow. But you can’t listen to Kid Rock, watch the footage of January 6, and read Picciolini’s warning, and not be deeply concerned. There’s an iceberg ahead. We can avoid it. But we have to be leaning on the tiller now, while still at the helm.