Author Archives: ronqueens

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, August 18, 2025. The Texas Democrats, equaling more than 50, who fled the state in the wake of their repugnican colleagues’ undemocratic redistricting of the state map, have now returned, restoring a quorum and allowing the shameful GOP’s efforts to proceed. This new development is covered in an online MSNBC article entitled “Texas Democrats who fled state in protest of gerrymandering return home, restoring quorum,” by Erum Salam.

A more outrageous corollary to this shameful episode in the further erosion of our fragile democracy is the news that I just heard on the Rachel Maddow show tonight about one lone Texas state representative named Nicole Collier, a six-term Democrat representing Fort Worth, who is now being detained in the Capitol only because she refuses to sign a “permission slip” that would place her under 24/7 police escort in order to guarantee that she and her fellow Democratic representatives show up for Wednesday’s special session that would allow repugnicans to ram through racist, pro-Dump gerrymandered maps that would give five extra seats to MAGA.

As of this writing, Rep. Collier is refusing to sign while invoking her First Amendment right to dissent, and the Republican response is to threaten her with arrest. According to an article on the MeidasTouch Network, this measure is “state-sanctioned intimidation designed to silence the minority party and crush any resistance to their fascistic power-grab.”

Today the true hero of the Ukrainian conflict, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and this performative president met in the Oval Office to try to try to remove the stain of Chump’s consummate fawning of his strongman chum, Vladimir Putin, last Friday. I don’t know, literally, how the meeting went, since I couldn’t bear watching the Orange Turd making any kind of pronouncements from the meeting. I did hear, though, that the pedophile in chief announced he wants to get rid of mail-in ballots for the next election, which is just par for the course of someone who is suffering from ADHD. I believe he went off the rails many times during the conference between Zelenskyy and other European leaders who were there to offer support for Zelenskyy.

Let’s just say that everyone should be disgusted with what’s going on in Texas and how this current president intends to steal the 2026 midterm elections. This would amount then to a tremendous abuse of power exercised by this president. But what else is new here with regard to this lawless turd?

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, August 17, 2025. Today Elliot and I ventured into Manhattan – even though I was a little apprehensive about riding the subway since my Friday night debacle on the E – for a day of culture by visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on 82nd Street and 5th Avenue. Elliot particularly wanted to see an exhibit on chinoiserie that was closing today, while I was drawn to an exhibit on Black dandyism called Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, which is actually running until October 26. I was also intrigued by another exhibit called Casa Susanna which chronicles a community of cross-dressers who met regularly in New York City and the Catskill Mountains in the 1960s and onward. This exhibit runs through January 25, 2026, so you have time to see it.

Earlier, I went out for coffee at Pink Forest before leaving Forest Hills at around 11:15. To get into Upper Manhattan, we took the R train instead of the E and got off at 59th Street to transfer to the 6 where she got off at 86th Street. Before going to the museum, we had brunch at a new place on 83rd Street and 2nd Avenue called the Penrose Bar. The meal I had certainly tickled my palate since I had lemon ricotta pancakes that were so very tasty. Even the coffee was quite robust.

After brunch, we walked up to 5th Avenue and to the Met. I looked at my watch when we finally paid our guest rate (we donated each $10 instead of paying the suggested $30) and thus entered the hallowed halls of this world-famous institution. We asked someone at the information desk to guide us to the chinoiserie exhibit and we actually found the floor and the gallery it was located in without too much ado. The exhibit on the ground floor is specifically titled Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie. The liner notes on it say the exhibit “radically imagines the story of European porcelain through a feminist lens.” So when porcelain arrived in early modern Europe from China, it led to the rise of chinoiserie, “a decorative style that encompassed Europe’s fantasies of the East and fixations on the exotic, along with new ideas about women, sexuality, and race.”

The exhibit supposedly features at least 200 historical and contemporary works spanning from 16th-century Europe to contemporary installations by Asian and Asian-American women artists.

For my book, the second exhibit we visited on the second floor, the one on Black dandyism, had the most crowds and was the best exhibition I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, I hope to return to it at least once more before it leaves. According to its liner notes, the exhibit “explores the importance of style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora, particularly in the United States and Europe.” Here there was an abundance of memorabilia such as photographs, paintings, garments and accessories, decorative arts, and even videos to help interpret the concept of dandyism as both an aesthetic and a strategy that allowed for new social and political possibilities. The exhibit is organized into 12 sections, which range over several rooms of stuff. I’m sure I didn’t cover all 12 sections since Elliot finished viewing it before I and I didn’t want to keep him waiting.

We finally left the Met at 4:40 p.m., just 20 minutes before actual closing time. I was ready for another cup of coffee so we stopped at a Joe & the Juice on Lexington Avenue for hot coffee and banana bread for me. Elliot just read a copy of The Wall Street Journal that was left by a departing customer.

Now we walked down to 77th Street to get the 6 downtown to 51st Street where we waited for the E to take us back to Forest Hills. This time there were no delays getting home.

In the meantime, the toddler in chief just finished his much-ballyhooed summit with war criminal Vladimir Putin in Alaska over the weekend that ended in what someone has called a “nothing burger.” An online article for MediaITE reports on this fucking unsuccessful meeting with the Russian aggressor entitled “Trump’s Red Carpet for Putin Ends in a Faceplant,” by Colby Hall.

Here this demagogue promised he would end the war in Ukraine – but so far he glaringly hasn’t in the long eight months he’s been in office. The article states, “Instead, he delivered a red carpet for Vladimir Putin – and little else.”

The much-hyped Alaska ‘peace summit’ ended not with a triumph but with a whimper.” Dump had to embarrassingly admit that “we didn’t get there,” which is a horrible admission of truth for this inveterate liar.

Fox “News” itself had to admit that Putin steamrolled over the fat golfer. They couldn’t put their imitable spin on this worthless meeting. Senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich bluntly reported that Chump “got steamrolled by Putin” on Fox News.

Not that I saw a whit of this disgraceful display of fawning before Putin by Dump who was seen clapping enthusiastically for the Russian president as if he were a rock star and not a brutal murderer of women, children, and civilians in the Ukrainian war.

Here the assessment of what Putin got from this meeting on U.S. soil is brutal: “For Putin, the payoff was obvious. He stood shoulder to shoulder with an American president, was celebrated on U.S. soil, and gave nothing in return. For Trump, the cost is harder to quantify but potentially devastating. He has painted himself in a corner with his ‘peace on day one’ promise. Anything short of an actual cessation of hostilities looks like failure. And failure, dressed up with pomp and applause, is still failure.”

The world now saw a U.S. president who was outmaneuvered, outtalked, and definitely out of his depth. “Allies will wonder if America’s resolve is fading; adversaries will take note of how easily Putin extracted a victory.”

All in all, Friday was an enormously embarrassing day for America and it was all due to the buffoonish Demented Don. Thus the war drags on and Putin smirks. For his superfluous part, Dump is left clapping on the red carpet for a man who just walked all over him.

Do try to have a good week.

And so it went!

Here is one item in the chinoiserie exhibit.

Another remarkable piece in this exhibit.

Imagine having that in your possession. And someone certainly did!

This piece was situated outside in an area with other items.

These pieces reflect the “monstrous” nature of chinoiserie.

This is a very colorful, decorative vase depicting Chinese characters.

We are now in the Black dandyism exhibit which I enjoyed the most.

This is more of a contemporary look that is on display at this exhibit.

Not sure of the designers whose fare is on display here, but it’s still striking nevertheless.

These were actual letters written by celebrated author, historian, sociologist, and political activist W. E. B. Du Bois to Brooks Brothers in 1920.

Another striking outfit in this exhibit.

Here are some portraits of Black “dandies.”

This is from the last exhibit we saw: Casa Susanna. This is a copy of Transvestia, a magazine for cross-dressers from the 1960s.

This page is from the 1962 copy of Transvestia.

This is a picture of one of the cross-dressers who sought refuge in the resorts established by Susanna Valenti and her wife, Marie Tornell, in the Catskill Mountains. All of these snapshots were rediscovered at a Manhattan flea market in 2004 and they form the basis of this fascinating exhibit.

Another cover from this ground-breaking magazine.

Here is an open view of the “lego” building from Fifth Avenue.

And So It Goes

Today is Saturday, August 16, 2025. I know I was absent from this venue yesterday. I decided at the last moment to see a film playing at the IFC Center at 9:20 called The Night of the Juggler starring Barbra Streisand’s hubby, James Brolin, and Cliff Gorman in a rarely seen production from the late 70s which featured the raw grittiness of New York before its transformation in the 80s and 90s into a more livable city, albeit a more expensive one. Elliot and I wanted to see it before it allegedly left IFC in early August, so when I viewed the theater’s schedule online yesterday, I was surprised to see that it was still being shown these last few days. It was being shown only two times: 11:15 a.m. and then 9:20 p.m. It was too late to see it at that ungodly hour in the morning, so I left the neighborhood at 6 to wander around the Village before seeing the film. I had dinner at the Washington Square Diner right around the corner of the IFC Center and then sat at Father Demo Square on 3rd Street.

The film’s plot is laughingly simplistic: a divorced former cop, named Sean Boyd, portrayed by bushy-haired Brolin, is pressed into hyperdrive with the kidnapping of his 12-year-old daughter Kathy (Abby Bluestone) by psychotic Cliff Gorman as Gus Soltic who mistakes Kathy for the daughter of a real estate mogul. Soltic kidnaps the girl for a $1 million ransom, but doesn’t believe the his victim when she says he kidnapped the wrong girl.

Brolin’s daughter is first kidnapped out of Central Park, which begins the film’s most extended car chase sequence that almost parallels the under-the-el sequence in The French Connection. However, this sequence is way more out-of-control and frenetic with cars crashing into one another, and at one point, Boyd commandeers a taxi driven by a very young Mandy Patinkin with a Hispanic accent. Soon Boyd is forced to square off with almost all of New York in getting his baby girl back from the clutches of Soltic. Richard Castellano is adequate as Lieutenant Tonelli who clashes with Boyd over his lawless methods in extracting information from sources on the street.

The film is particularly notable for its depiction of New York City during a period of high crime and urban decay, adding to the production’s gritty and intense atmosphere. Gorman as Soltic brings his young victim to the burned-out rubble of the South Bronx to a building where he lived with his family, but is now a pile of rubble. His squalid living conditions and resentment over his family’s lost property form the crux of his motivation to kidnap Brolin’s daughter. He believes that the wealthy developer is behind the “niggers and the spics” inundating the neighborhood.

Even though the film couldn’t be produced today with this kind of dialogue and grittiness – since New York has been forever transformed – it was an intriguing time capsule, if you will.

My subway ride home was another matter. Usually a 45-minute ride or thereabouts, my commute home yesterday dragged into an hour-and-15-minute ordeal because of track maintenance on the E. I think I boarded the train around 11:45 – maybe sooner – and I didn’t get home until about 1. At Roosevelt Avenue, I exited the E to wait for an F which also wound its way to Forest Hills very slowly.

Today Elliot and I had a lovely dinner with our cousin “Sally” at the West End Cafe in Carle Place, on Glen Cove Road. The reservation was for 7 and we got to the destination a little early, so we darted into a Barnes & Noble just around the block for several minutes.

The eatery was bustling when we walked in. We had a lot to catch up with Sally since we couldn’t recall the last time we saw her. Mainly, we talked about family which occupied most of the conversation for the evening. And we ate!

For starters, we shared various appetizers: crispy fried calamari and Asian-style chicken and wild mushroom lettuce wrap. Then it was on to our entrees which consisted of pan-seared jumbo sea scallops for Sally and me, and pan-seared Atlantic salmon for Elliot. Then we shared a luscious key lime pie that looked more like a tart and had cappuccino, coffee, and tea.

We returned close to 10 and now it’s surprisingly late.

I wanted to report on the frustration I felt in trying to register for an online electronic travel authorization (ETA) for Elliot and myself for our imminent trip to Israel in early September. For the last two days, I unsuccessfully failed to finish registering the both of us for an online visa that is now required for certain countries like Israel.

So I called our good friend and neighbor “Diane” yesterday to come up and work with the website. Standing next to her, Diane was stymied by the same point in the process that prevented me from continuing and that was uploading our passports to the agency. She must have sat for over an hour before calling it quits.

Today I had time to open up this perpetual can of worms and decided to give it another whirl. Well, with how Diane first finagled resizing the size of the passport file, I was actually successful in now uploading both passports and continuing to the end of the process. I even paid for the damn thing. When I finally succeeded in getting our online visas, I ran into the bedroom to tell Elliot of my victory. It’s the littler things that give us so much satisfaction, don’t they?

Have a great Sunday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, August 14, 2025. “Wake up, America!” these are the words spit out by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom today as he outlined a muscular response to what’s happening in Texas over redrawing the electoral map which would favor Republicans over Democrats. An online MSNBC article lays out Newsom’s press conference which, coincidentally, was met with border patrol officers outside supposedly making Los Angeles citizens safe – what bullshit! – and it’s entitled “California governor announces redistricting in response to Texas gerrymandering effort,” by Erum Salam.

Newsom then has called for a special election on redistricting in retaliation against Texas Trumpicans, who have moved – for no apparent reason other than to disenfranchise minority voters – to redraw their congressional districts and further gerrymander the electoral map at the direction of their Demented Leader.

The special election, which Newsom has scheduled for this November 4, will be an ethical litmus test for California voters who must decide if they want to strip their independent redistricting commission of power temporarily in favor of a constitutional amendment to allow the state Legislature to create new maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 election cycles. Who knows? Maybe California voters might even vote against it, but I would not think so, given the urgency of the matter and the stakes at hand.

The suave governor was met with loud applause as he began his address on what he deemed “Liberation Day.” This is true Liberation Day, not the bullshit day that Dump announced in April over his ridiculous tariffs. Speaking directly to the camera, he said, “Wake up, America, this is a serious moment. Wake up to what’s going on.” Newsom spoke about the need to fight fire with fire and took direct aim at the dictator known as Chump: “Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back.”

He added, “I know they say, ‘Don’t mess with Texas.’ But don’t mess with the great Golden State.”

Trumpican lawmakers have been met with severe criticism over their acquiescence to Demented Don’s demand to redraw the map to gain an additional five seats – a move that would disenfranchise Democratic voters in the state, particularly communities of color. The move is especially brazen given its timing: Redistricting typically happens only after every decade, after the U.S. census has updated demographic information for each state.

A fucking repugnican Texas House member elucidated his whole party’s approach to going down this authoritarian path under Demented Don when he was asked why his fellow legislators were taking such drastic measures to unfairly tilt the balance of future elections, and he arrogantly replied, “Because we can.”

This response should now galvanize other blue state governors to pursue the same approach being undertaken by Newsom in California.

Other people who spoke at the press conference publicly supported Newsom’s strategy, primarily saying that democracy itself was on the line if nothing was done. Erika Jones, a representative of the California Teachers Association union, said, “Our union stands in full support of this ballot initiative. We are ready to do whatever it takes to stop this power grab and fight back against any and all attacks on our democracy, on our students, and on public education.”

What is especially humorous about Newsom’s messaging to Demented Don was his trolling the president on social media and poking fun at his linguistic mannerisms on his own tweets, with his press conference posting on X in all caps, which is a stupid style preferred by Demented Don. He wrote: “PRESS CONFERENCE COMING – HOSTED BY AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR, GAVIN NEWSOM. FINAL WARNING NEXT. YOU WON’T LIKE IT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.” Great, Mr. Newsom; hope your mirroring of the president’s own style will get his goat!

The adversary of Demented Don also railed against federal officers who showed up outside the presser: “BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED! . . . TRUMP’S PRIVATE ARMY IS ILLEGALLY ON PRIVATE PROPERTY!!! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY THIS WEAK LITTLE MAN!!!” It’s so easy to mock this little man who finds himself as toddler in chief a second time.

Today the highlight of the day was meeting four regulars from the Austin Street Diner somewhere else: Diner Bar, in Rego Park, at 12:30 for an early lunch or brunch, whatever you want to call it. Elliot, unfortunately, had two doctor’s appointments and couldn’t join us.

A round table in the back was reserved for us by “Rachel.” I walked in first, then “Norma” and “Marshall.” After them, walked in “Jerry.” Our last attendee was Rachel herself. I have to say that we didn’t speak politics that much, even though we did take a survey over whether Demented Don would survive his second term, and the consensus was that he wouldn’t. We actually spoke more about personal matters. That was quite refreshing. We must have held forth for at least two hours or more. I must have drunk three cups of coffee or more. Then Jerry and I walked back to our neighborhood. I said goodbye to Jerry at his skyscraper building.

Have a good Friday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is August 13, 2025. I haven’t written my blog for a while, with my last one on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, before we jetted to Los Angeles on Thursday, August 7. We did come home last night, but it was close to 12 midnight and I sure was not going to write this blog when we were traveling over 14 hours for some strange reason during the whole day. We started off around 8:30 when we left our hotel to drive to LAX to drop off our rented red Dodge Charger (the first time I was ever in one, I believe). This took unceremoniously long to get to the airport, but we had a 12:15 reservation, so it didn’t matter what time we got to the airport. We still had that much time to check in and walk to our gate which, for the very first time, was not too far away from airport security. So that was a relief!

All in all, the several days we spent in Los Angeles and its environs were very jam packed with things to do. We even got to celebrate our anniversary on Sunday, August 10, after going to our friends’ gala anniversary dinner on Saturday, August 9. We also got to see our friends in a more intimate setting Friday night, also on Ventura Boulevard, in a less glitzy place called Bacari with fewer people. I now think that first dinner was arranged for all of the guests who traveled from afar to get to the main celebration on Sunday. Thus there were only about 10 of us. I think Elliot was speaking to a couple who flew in from Georgia. The main attraction, so to speak, was quite the chic and elegant affair: it was held at a restaurant on Ventura Boulevard called Casalena. There were cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and then a formal sit-down dinner, replete with a DJ, and, even, dancing. Plates of food were delivered to the tables after speeches were given to honor the coupler celebrating 50 years of married bliss. I was a little surprised that Elliot didn’t stand up to deliver one himself, but he didn’t. I had my chance this time to get up to dance, and boy, did I take it. I ended up dancing with a single older guest who I never learned how she knew the couple. I just shimmied my way up on the floor for upwards of two hours or so.

The most exasperating thing I hated about this trip was the constant driving we did. You don’t walk in California; you drive if you can afford it. So the minute we rented our car on Thursday night, we drove everywhere. Even though we were on Melrose Avenue, we did resort to walking but only locally. You rarely see people walking the streets in Los Angeles. Though I didn’t drive, I considered myself the navigator. At first, we couldn’t hook up the bluetooth in the car with my phone; we had to ask a friend, “Albert,” who we saw Thursday night at Canter’s, a kosher-style deli located on North Fairfax Avenue. We actually went to this fading symbol of the Old Los Angeles three times. Twice for dinner and once for lunch.

Actually, it was I who hooked up my phone to the car’s system since after Albert supposedly installed it Thursday night, it stopped working on Friday. I touched some buttons here and there, and voila, it worked the entire time we used the car. So I didn’t have to resort to giving verbal instructions on route directions; that was delivered by a very proper English woman voicing directions from Google Maps. It was great.

On Monday, we went to the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures not far from our hotel. It’s on Wilshire Boulevard. I bought two senior tickets in New York and scheduled a 1 p.m. visit about two weeks ago. Parking was not easy there; we originally looked for parking on the street, but that was impossible, so I got out of the car and asked a security guard outside the entrance to the museum where we could park, and he mentioned to go across the street to the Petersen Automotive Museum, and to the parking garage there, so that’s where we parked. The two museums share the facility, so there was no problem parking there.

Our hotel was called the Palihotel and was located on Melrose Avenue. It was not far from the Improv, a comedy club, where we saw a revue on our anniversary. I booked the ticket as an impromptu gesture – just a day or two before the show itself and was able to get two tickets to the 9:15 show. The headliner was comic Will Burkart whose name I at least knew. The comedian going on earlier was someone I never heard of. Burkart’s Wikipedia page says he was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, and he’s only 32 years of age.

We had no complaints about the hotel – only that the parking garage needed a security code to get in and you had to call the front desk for someone to open the yawning doors of the gate. One time no one answered and I had to get out of the car to run up to the front desk to seek out the late-time clerk to open the gate. Also, the creaky elevator broke down on Sunday and was not operable until past our check-out. Thank God our room was on the second floor, so that didn’t involve too much walking up and down the stairs, except for check-out which was on Tuesday, August 12, and that did involve us taking both of our suitcases down two flights of stairs. That wasn’t so good! Oh, the shower was also quite unusual: every time you took a shower, the water didn’t drain out in enough time, so you had a tub almost filled to the brim. I called the front desk to announce my displeasure over this and a maintenance person was called up to do something about it. The only thing he did was remove the stopper. Even after this so-called “repair,” the water still almost crested to the top, but at least, the water drained much faster after this. Also, the air conditioning was a little too high one night, so I had to report this the next day too. I just changed my mind here; we will not stay at this hotel in the near future anytime soon. Even the area surrounding the hotel was a little grungy.

One good thing about this trip was that there was a news blackout of sorts for the duration of our time in sunny Los Angeles. The TV remote was the darndest thing; here I should have complained about it too, but I didn’t. I couldn’t get live TV on, so I abandoned that idea to find something else on other venues. We were able to watch some old movies on something called Samsung TV. But no news!

The worst thing about the trip was the commute to Newark Airport which took almost two hours one way. But that was my choice: I decided to trade in United miles for a practically free trip to LA which required that we needed to travel out of Newark Airport. The outgoing trip wasn’t that bad, even though our flight was delayed for over two hours because of a glitch in United Airlines’ own systems the day before. We had a 2:10 p.m. flight out which was delayed until about 4:32 now. But we didn’t know this; we first got an alert about this at 10:46 a.m. We were already on our way to the airport.

The return flight was a real doozy. There we had that 12:15 flight which this time did leave the tarmac basically on time. It was getting into New Jersey around 8:40 which now required a 2-hour commute home. Where we had to deplane which took more than a half hour to get off, then find where the Air Train is, board that for three stops to Penn Station, then find where the subway is located. At least we didn’t have to wait a long time for the E. I wanted to have something to eat at Penn Station since nothing was offered to us on this flight except for beverages and snacks. I settled for an Auntie Anne’s pretzel costing about $8.

Getting in close to 12, our trip was finally over! What made it all worth the while was seeing Atticus coming out of the bedroom to greet me a little warily. However, he was sitting on my right leg soon thereafter as I began watching the programs I taped.

And so it went!

I believe this is a gown that Barbra Streisand wore in one of her films. This is from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The dress is from Funny Lady, I just recalled.

This is one of the big exhibits at the museum: the worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer who are veteran production designers who have worked on many films as diverse as Anna Karenina to Barbie, last summer’s major blockbuster hit.

This is from that exhibit honoring Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer.

This is a mockup of Barbie’s pink Cadillac.

This is a costume worn by that Brazilian spitfire, Carmen Miranda.

Here’s my Oscar!

This is from Beauty and the Beast, another film that Greenwood and Spencer worked on.

This peephole made up of books is found in The Last Bookstore, Downtown Los Angeles’ famous bookstore that Elliot and I always visit when we go there.

This leaning tower of books is also located in The Last Bookstore.

Don’t touch those books! Also found in The Last Bookstore which has been voted “the most photographed bookstore in the world.” And for a very good reason!

Wanna a book?

Another much-photographed area in The Last Bookstore.


And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, August 6, 2025. In light of the despicable Texas attempt to redraw the political map in order to pick up more Republican seats – in which the pedophile in chief arrogantly chimed in that repugnicans are entitled to five more seats when clearly they’re not – NBC Politics has an article today entitled “Democrats draw up plans to retaliate if Republicans gerrymander Texas – but they face legal hurdles,” and it’s by Sahil Kapur and Adam Edelman and it outlines steps that Democrats could adopt if Texas gets away with this effort to suppress the vote for millions of minority Texans.

Retaliation threats have come from California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who lead states where Democrats control large legislative majorities. Two can play at this game, they say, vowing to eliminate GOP-held seats in their states.

But that’s easier said than done, according to this article. Democrats have legal hurdles to clear in California and New York, which have restricted partisan gerrymandering, which liberal advocates pushed in previous years in the name of good government. But as expected, Texas has no such limits, and that’s why odious Governor Greg Abbott can call a special session to draw a new map.

Still, Newsom of California intends to get around those limits in his state only if Texas dares to enact its GOP-favored map, which is aimed at giving GOPers up to five more seats in the U.S. House, thus giving them a majority yet again.

Newsom hopes to work with the Democratic-dominated Legislature starting this month to set up a special election for a statewide ballot measure on November 4. It would offer a newly drawn map if Texas moves forward, a source close to Newsom told NBC News.

In a fighting spirit after hearing about Texas’ immoral bid to stack the deck against democracy, Newsom said, “We’re not going to roll over. And we’re going to fight fire with fire.” The governor added, “We will also punch above our weight in terms of the impact of what we’re doing. And I think that should be absorbed by those in the Texas delegation. Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California.”

The potential Republican-held seats that could be flipped by Democrats in California if this change does go in effect is three, four, or five seats, according to Paul Mitchell, a California-based redistricting consultant who has advised Democrats and has said any new House map would be constrained by the Voting Rights Act as well as the governor’s office and the Legislature, which would need to green light it.

As for New York, changing the redistricting process must move forward as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment – a lengthy and arduous exercise that probably wouldn’t lead to new congressional maps until the 2028 election cycle, even if Texas acts before the upcoming midterms.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on All In, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, “I wish I could just call a special election and change it. I’d do it in a heartbeat.” She added, “But we have a constitutional amendment process that’s required first. I’m willing to do that. I’m working hard with our legislative leaders to pass legislation immediately – as soon as they return in January – pass it in this current session of the Legislature, go to the next one, which is required, so it won’t be until 2027 we can get it on the ballot. But what would that mean – is that in 2028, we could have different lines.” Thus it appears that New York will have barriers to redraw the map before the 2026 midterms, which is bad.

Maybe only California will be able to sidestep the ingrained barriers to redrawing their maps and can effect change only if Texas gets away with its undemocratic move. The article doesn’t mention other blue states, so I’m not sure what these states could do in light of the Lone Star State’s push for unfairness in the political realm. Let’s see what happens next.

Democracy was in sharp relief at a repugnican town hall held by Representative Mike Flood (R-NE) in Lincoln, Nebraska, as he was pelted with boos, catcalls, and fierce opposition from his constituents who voiced their opposition to his endorsing the “big, beautiful bill” that his party rammed through Congress. You can say that this representative was “flooded” with his constituents’ ire at this town hall.

Thus House members are facing mounting backlash from voters on multiple fronts, including controversies around convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein and the slashing of Medicaid funding.

In light of such hatred directed at them, it’s totally inexplicable that House repugnican leadership has demanded that their vulnerable members go home on a hopeless mission to try and sell this cruel, unpopular law that election experts have said will cause House Republicans to be ‘eaten alive’ for their support of it. I say, “Let them be eaten alive by their voters who now wish them dead!” Or at least to be removed from political office.

On a personal note, this will be my last blog until next week, probably until next Wednesday, since we will return later on Tuesday. As I mentioned, we’ll be flying to the West Coast to attend our friends’ 50th-wedding anniversary party. And to celebrate our 11th-wedding anniversary on Sunday.

Have a great rest of week and a good weekend.

See you next week.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, August 5, 2025. It’s late here owing to Elliot and my having dinner with our new friends “Jerry” and “David” at Diner Bar. Instead of meeting there at 6:30, we met David first coming out of Jerry’s apartment here on our floor and we offered to drive him to the restaurant. What a coincidence – meeting David first and being able to drive him to the restaurant in Rego Park. Actually, when I checked my text messages, I did receive a message from Jerry asking us to take David to the eatery. But I didn’t see this until after we brought both of them home from Diner Bar.

We’ve had both Jerry and David at our apartment for coffee and dessert some time ago, and we just talked about getting together sometime over the summer and, though today marked my gay men’s reading club meeting, I was not going to attend the forum anyway since I didn’t read last month’s book: I Make Envy on Your Disco. I got in touch with an infrequent member of the club today and he mentioned that the author, Eric Schnall, was asked to address the group. I would have enjoyed this, but I knew I couldn’t attend.

When we neared the restaurant, I dropped off David and Elliot at the restaurant so that I could find a convenient parking spot. Yes, I drove this time! I lucked out in finding a spot around the corner.

When I entered the restaurant, I located David and Elliot at a round table in the back. I sat down and joined in the conversation. We waited only about 10 minutes for Jerry to come in. He was on time.

When all of us were now seated at the table, the conversation flowed mellifluously as we caught up with all of the traveling the four of us have done most recently. Elliot held court on our most recent Disney cruise with my son and his friend and family. We learned that Jerry served one summer as an intern with Disney in Florida. Jerry revealed that he and his partner just came home from visiting family in Los Angeles and Mississippi. Sadly, on his return trip home, Jerry’s mother died.

Anyway, we conversed so long that our server came to our table several times to ask if we were ready to order. Finally, we said we were now ready to order, and we did. I ordered chicken parmigiana with a cup of creamed broccoli soup. I was the only one to have a doggie bag brought to me. Everyone finished their dinners.

We intended to invite both guys in for dessert and coffee/tea since we didn’t order that at Diner Bar. I had brought three yummy slices of pie and cake at Bonnelle Pastry Shop around 3 earlier in the day. I was afraid that David and Jerry would say they were too tired to have dessert with us. But they said they would return with us, and I felt relieved.

However, when we got back, we discovered that David came down with an upset stomach, so the only one who happily sat down for further conversation with us was Jerry. He had a little of the key lime pie, while I nibbled on the cheese cake. The only slice left was a nectarine pie. At the end of the evening, we gave Jerry the nectarine pie to take home with him. We now have only the key lime pie left.

We then said good night by 9:30 or so. We said we’d get together real soon. Jerry invited us to his house in Litchfield, Connecticut, and we said we’d love to see it.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, August 4, 2025. The newest repugnican outrage comes out of that fucking red-hat stronghold Texas with a battle brewing over this state’s redistricting effort that will plunge Republicans into the majority in 2026. This is outright stealing an election that hasn’t even been called yet, and this is the strategy that Dump’s lapdogs in Texas are trying to engineer. An online article for CNN by Eric Bradner entitled “How Texas’ redistricting effort is having major implications across the US” lays out the awful tactic that this state is attempting to carry out.

Bradner indicates that this move by Texas to strip minorities of their vote is already having major implications across the country. This effort is already spurring other Republican-dominated states to consider following the Lone Star’s lead as Democratic governors weigh their options to retaliate with their own mid-decade redistricting efforts. But Democrats in the state have staged a walkout before the Texas legislature could carry out a vote in favor of this immoral redistricting. They have fled the state in a bid to block the repugnican effort to redraw congressional districts in the GOP’s favor. I don’t know how long these brave lawmakers can stay away since the disgusting governor Abbott announced that arrest warrants can be issued against the Democrats who fled the state.

The convicted felon in chief is pushing this gerrymandering effort, and it is his lapdog Abbott who called the 30-day special session in which the GOP unveiled proposed maps that could shift as many as five U.S. House seats in the republican column, thus ensuring the ugly republicans maintain their majority in the House for the entire duration of the convicted felon in chief’s second terrible term.

Why this is being done now is that Dump fears that if Democrats regain the House, they will launch full investigations into all of his lawless policies that he succeeded in carrying out without compunction.

Democrats are in the minority in the Texas House, but they hold enough seats that they can deprive the chamber of the number of legislators necessary to do business under House rules. That’s why many fled the state on Sunday, with most flying to Illinois and others traveling to New York, outside the reach of Texas law enforcement.

Finally, Democratic governors are now pledging to “fight fire with fire,” as New York Governor Kathy Hochul has stated when presented with the news out of Texas. Thus the governors of California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York have suggested they will explore redrawing their own congressional district maps to add more Democratic-leaning seats, or left the door open to doing so. Today, Hochul said, “The gloves are off, and I say, bring it on.”

Let’s hope and pray that other repugnican-led states do not follow Greg Abbott’s lead. But if they do, let’s hope that Democrats will grow a spine and not sit back and let democracy be lost in 2026. It’s already moribund, thanks to this sexual predator in the White House doing anything he wants to do without any guardrails stopping him. Democrats really must become as ruthless as their repugnican counterparts – there’s no getting around it.

Just to mention some personal news: Elliot and I are leaving for the West Coast on Thursday, August 7, to attend our friends’ 50th-anniversary party on Saturday, August 9, since Elliot sort of invited himself to the party several weeks ago when he was on the phone with “Elana.” It is Elana who has had a lifelong relationship with Elliot’s beloved deceased aunt Esther. She would have been considered somewhat of a daughter to Esther who had no children of her own. She has lived in Woodland Hills for many years now with her husband “Cary,” who is a retired rheumatologist. What is nice about going to Los Angeles now is that we can celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary with these friends as well. Our anniversary this year is on Sunday, August 10. Personal anniversary greetings are particularly welcome here. LOL

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, August 3, 2025. Today Elliot and I spent a day walking through nature’s bounty at the Bronx Botanical Garden, located at 2900 Southern Boulevard. We took the subway instead of driving there and having to worry about parking the car. We went there at the invitation of our Amherst friends “Laura” and “Richard” who were coming in to spend some time with Laura’s cousin, “Albert,” who hails from New Jersey. Albert is disabled and he had his attendant “Kelly” and his wife “Bette” drive him to the Garden. The exhibit we were all interested in seeing was Van Gogh’s Flowers that captures the many multifaceted flowers that constituted some of the artist’s most indelible paintings.

We were all supposed to have met by 12, so we set the alarm for 8:45 a.m. and naturally got up before the alarm. Today marked the second day that the tenants in the building had issues with water pressure due to some mechanical malfunction in the pumps or whatever is responsible for delivering the right measure of pressure through the pipes. Luckily, we still had some water and I was able to take an attenuated shower. We decided to have breakfast outside, so that we could use the bathroom instead of relying on the toilet in the apartment to not do its intended job. And here I just watched Netflix’s special on the doomed 2013 Carnival cruise where toilets failed to flush altogether and passengers had to resort to defecating in biohazard bags. Yuck! I know, too much information, too much information!

Anyway, we walked to Pink Forest on Austin Street and had something (I had a ham and cheese omelet while Elliot had a vegetable sandwich) to tide us over until lunch at the Garden.

We then walked over to the subway to wait for the E to take us to 7th Avenue, where we then transferred to the uptown D train and got off at Bedford Park Boulevard. The train ride took all of an hour before we came to our stop. As we exited the station, I looked for signs pointing to the Garden and found a small sign saying to exit the station to the left. When we got outside, I thought we were walking in the correct direction until I stopped a young girl lost in listening to music on headphones who couldn’t answer where the Garden. It was then that a woman overhearing my question stuck her head out of a second-floor window and pointed us in the right direction. That is who we need to guide us in the right direction: a woman in an apartment building listening to us from a second-story window. I find it very New York-ish. Only in New York then!

We made a left and here were clearly posted signs telling us we were walking in the right direction and that our destination was just eight blocks ahead. We must have arrived close to 12 and I looked for Laura and Richard at the front of the Garden, but they weren’t there. So I called her and she said she was at the other entrance to the Garden and that we needed to walk there after buying our tickets. We were at the Mosholu Parkway entrance, not at the Southern Boulevard entrance, so we made our way through the park, past the reflecting pool, and to the other entrance, where we now saw Laura and Richard.

We hugged and embraced and then waited for Laura’s cousin to arrive. We didn’t have to wait long, as Laura soon recognized her cousin’s car. Kelly was waving out of the car so we all walked to it and introduced ourselves to Albert and the others.

In all, I think we stayed at the site for about 3-and-a-half hours, if you include lunch at the Pine Tree Cafe. We were a little disappointed to discover our admission ticket did not give us access to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory in which everything was inside. There were so many acres and acres of plants and flowers that we could only see that much, given how warm it was in the sun. Of course, I would forget to use sunscreen on my skin today.

There was a tram running through the Garden, but we discovered that it wasn’t wheelchair accessible, so we had to eschew taking it. Therefore, we just used our feet to get around and I feel we barely scratched the surface of seeing mostly everything in the Garden. Maybe this means that we can return to the site in the fall or early spring when it’s not so hot.

One highlight of our visit today was the opportunity to take watercolors and a palette and to draw a picture of nature on a small piece of paper. This was provided in some pavilion near a lake with turtles swimming in it. Laura took the plunge, so to speak, while Elliot and I were picture shy. Sadly, I have no talent in that area and have always known it.

When it was time to call it a day, we walked Kelly, Bette, and Albert to their car in the lot, saying goodbye. We then walked to Laura and Richard’s car at another locus point in the vast parking lot, whereupon Laura gave us a little bag sporting maple syrup and Laura’s own special brand of chocolate cookies. I can’t wait to sample them later or tomorrow. They also drove us to the nearest subway stop, so we didn’t have to walk those eight blocks back to the D. We were very grateful for that.

Now we just took the subway back to 7th Avenue and then transferred to the E once more. In that time (the trip back just consumed a little over 65 minutes or so), I was able to finish Edmund White’s Hotel de Dream, just one of White’s many novels he wrote over five decades.

I enjoyed this reimagining of American literary phenomenon Stephen Crane’s last days wasting away at the young age of twenty-eight from tuberculosis. The novel deals with his relationship with his wife Cora and presents a novel within a novel, as Crane feverishly dictates the story of a married banker named Theodore Koch who falls in love with a young male prostitute named Elliott. Crane called this story The Painted Boy after the mascara the 16-year-old wears to attract male customers. Even though Crane was patently heterosexual, it is pointed out that his early days as a journalist sensitized him to the plight of the poor, and it was quite possible that he did meet such a lad in his days wandering the lower bowels of Manhattan. And it is possible that Crane originally planned the book as a companion piece to Maggie, Girl of the Streets which is obviously about a female prostitute.

Anyway, it’s getting late here, so now I can move on to another book, this time one of nonfiction. This one is called Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of Modern Empire. I saw this book at this new Kim’s Video store in Brooklyn, and I just ordered it on Amazon two days ago, and it just arrived today.

Oh, good news: our water pressure issue was resolved by the time we got back from our visit to the Garden. Even though we met a neighbor by CVS on Queens Boulevard as we got out of the station who informed us that things were still the same, so maybe it got repaired just about the time we returned to the apartment after seeing her. Who knows? All I know is that I won’t have to use the bathroom at the Austin House Diner tomorrow. Boy, is that a relief!

Have a good week, everyone.

And so it went!

Here is the sign announcing the exhibit that we saw today.

Here is a floral palette. Anyone care to draw?

Here is a field of yellow.

You read the sign stating what these flowers are.

This I can read as Japanese maple.

This is that reflecting pool I mentioned earlier.

This is a cool Bedford Park Presbyterian Church that we passed on the way to the Garden.

And So It Goes

Today is Saturday, August 2, 2025. Even though the Jeffrey Epstein imbroglio seems to have consumed Capitol Hill over the last month, an online article in CNN reports on what truly concerns Americans now since Congress has taken an unworthy month off for the rest of the summer, and it ain’t this matter. The article is entitled “Epstein files controversy consuming Capitol Hill has fueled less fire at first lawmaker town halls of summer recess,” and it’s by Eric Bradner.

As the subject of the Epstein files has resulted in driving a wedge between Republicans and Democrats who have finally taken the offensive in pressing Donald Chump’s Justice Department to release more investigative material on the issue, lawmakers are not hearing much about Epstein at public town hall meetings they’ve hosted so far.

The debate that’s dominated Washington in recent weeks didn’t come up at all in some town halls Republican and Democratic House members have held – including a raucous event Thursday hosted by Wisconsin GOP Rep. Bryan Steil and two more mild-mannered affairs held by Wyoming repugnican Rep. Harriet Hageman. During others, it’s been the topic of just one or two questions.

“In Wisconsin, on Thursday, Rep. Mark Pocan – a Democrat who hosted a town hall in Prairie du Chien, in neighboring Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s district – brought up Epstein himself, as part of a response to a question about whether Trump might declare martial law and cancel elections.” Which is what I fear the most since this bastard must know that his terrible policies will shrink the GOP’s stronghold on the House in 2026, so why should he allow fair and equitable elections to proceed if he knows he can get away with terminating them altogether, thus leaving the House in republican’s hands for another two years? Before anyone can do anything to stop him, the elections will be history by then.

For his part, Pocan kept his comments focused largely on the GOP tax and spending bill that Dump signed into law on July Fourth – repeatedly warning that cuts to Medicaid could gut Wisconsin’s public health insurance programs and force the state to spend tax dollars filling gaps left by the federal government.

The Democratic congressman said afterward that’s why he mostly avoided talking about Epstein.

“I keep it to economics. I’m an economic, progressive populist. I think that’s how most people make decisions when they go to elections. That’s how Donald Trump won the election. That’s why Donald Trump’s doing poor in the polls,” he said.

At the town hall, one of those people who did bring up the Epstein matter was 38-year-old stay-at-home mother, Krista Brown, who said she has bigger concerns than Epstein – such as whether steep cuts in staffing at the Department of Education will delay action on a Title IX complaint she’d submitted on behalf of her children or whether National Weather Service offices will be staffed, two significant issues worthy of concern.

As for what concerns her, Brown said, “When you live rural, you care about who’s going to plow your goddamn roads – when it’s going to get plowed, if the buses can get through, how cold it is, if the weather’s going to be reported. That’s what matters. And the rest is just going to float away, because pretty soon it’s going to get so hard in real life that there’s not even going to be time to talk about that.”

The relative lack of focus on Epstein at town halls reflects the broader priorities of Americans. A recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that the economy and immigration-related concerns are the issues Americans most important. The poll also found increased Democratic attention to government spending, concerns about separation of powers and the rule of law, and Chump himself.

Even if Epstein isn’t Americans’ top priority, half of respondents said they are dissatisfied with the amount of information released about the Epstein case after the Justice Department released a memo saying there is no evidence the convicted sex offender kept a so-called client list or was murdered. People are not that stupid when it is so clear that Dump is hiding something in this case. That includes 56 percent of Democrats., 52 percent of Independents, and 40 percent of Republicans.

Despite what most Americans think about the Epstein matter, Democrats have sought to force the issue most recently, using an arcane procedural tool to try to force the Justice Department to release all the files related to the odious Epstein, including video, video, and any other relevant documents.

As fucking expected, Trumpicans are now eager to stay away from the topic of Epstein since it’s now perceived as their Achilles’ heel. This issue provoked MAGA Johnson, the Speaker of the House, to even cut short legislative business, sending his cowed members home earlier than expected so as to avoid being forced to hold votes on releasing Epstein-related files. As if this issue will go away by the fall; Democrats should force the matter to rise from the dead when the House returns from its superfluous recess.

At a telephone town hall last week, Republican Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina fielded questions from callers, where one person shared his “outrage” over the Epstein files – asking why the House adjourned “when this hasn’t been dealt with.”

The caller continued, “If there’s a group of pedophiles out there who are just getting away with it, this is an outrage, and I don’t care who they are. I don’t care if they’re the president of the United States.”

Timmons responded that “there is evil in this world, and we have to protect the innocent, so we need to get to the bottom of it.” Then he devolved into the cult of Chump, saying, “The president and the attorney general are doing the work necessary to release all of the information,” which is fucking further than the truth than anyone could believe. Then he continued his groveling before the Supreme Leader, saying, “The Republican Congress should not be attacking the president.” And why fucking not if he’s withholding evidence from the American people?

Well, there you have it, this president is held in contempt by a wide margin of the American populace just seven months into his second term, and it can’t go well for him as he plows on in enacting his very unpopular agenda.

In the meantime, this 79-year-old baby just fired the person who leads the office of labor statistics just for the sole reason that she stated that the jobs outlook was quite dismal right now under Dump’s leadership. Dump stupidly believes that by firing the person who just told the truth will make the truth disappear. It won’t, crybaby! He also evinced his childish persona by telling Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to “go to hell” because he couldn’t get his fucking way with his horrible nominees to be confirmed in the Senate. How this man is president is beyond me!

On a nicer note, Elliot and I took in the lovely weather today by motoring to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and having brunch at Juliette, on Bedford Avenue, and then taking in a thought-provoking jewel of a horror film at the Williamsburg Cinemas called, simply, Together.

This is the debut feature from writer-director Michael Shanks who casts real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a thirtyish couple who give up their Brooklyn home to move upstate so that Millie could pursue a position at an elementary school. It is Franco as Tim who is floundering as a 35-year-old struggling musician, while Millie is the more poised and confident partner. At the beginning of the film, Tim and Millie throw a farewell party in their city apartment, and it is here that Millie gets on one knee and proposes to Tim, which actually results in flustering him in front of their friends. Thus it’s Tim who is more nervous and unsure of himself, and Franco conveys this indecisiveness very well.

When the couple finally move to their new home nestled in a secluded area of upstate, with nature surrounding them, they take a walk one day and get drenched in a rainstorm. It’s when they fall into a hole in the ground and come across a chasm with a pool of water that things take on a menacing turn. The couple see what looks like monstrously destroyed pews and bells in the cave before they drink the water in the pool after depleting their water supply. That’s when the word togetherness takes on a horrific meaning in more ways than one.

The film becomes a metaphor eventually of the kind of codependency many couples prescribe to in long-term relationships. We learn that Tim and Millie know each other a decade and they’re still not married. In a incisive review of this movie by David Crow for Den of Geek, Crow writes, “Tim and Millie are beyond just the monotony of life’s daily indignities and rigmaroles; theirs is an unhealthy marriage, if in name only (he never proposed and flinches when she does at the start of the movie).”

I found this film quite satisfying as a horror film but also as an examination of how a couple truly interacts with one another, and the fact that this is a real-life couple just enhances the whole experience. Go see it and see if you won’t want to be bonded together to your loved one like the couple in Shanks’ film.

Have a good Sunday.

And so it went!