KOSHER SALAAMI
If you want to add a biographical comment, to appear in this space, send me around 30 to 45 words about yourself.
Recent Posts
Bed
I’m sleeping in this bed because the Home 2 was too pricey.eclipse
I’ve never seen that before and I doubt I’ll ever see it again. When the next total solar eclipse comes, and I don’t know where it will be total, I’ll be about 90. I’m glad I saw it once.Dartmouth returns to requiring standardized testing
Some poorer minority students who hadn’t submitted test scores and were rejected would have been admitted had they submitted their scores.Best Case Scenario
But what happens if the Palestinians get a state? The Arab debt to the Palestinians is paid, at least as far as the Arabs are concerned, and in this case that’s what matters.The White House Gigs
We’re warming up and playing. I glance up from my music and I involuntarily jerk, because the President of the United States is standing about ten feet in front of us looking at us and smiling.Meeting Rosalyn Carter
A photo was taken. I am lucky enough to be beside her.Two sentence post: 1. Ceasefire 2. Proportionality
It’s 2 sentences. Just read it.Jews and Hamas
For Jews, that’s where we are. This is either completely unacceptable or it’s not.Was Ronald Reagan one of the top 3 presidents after WW II?
Ronald Reagan presided over the real beginnings of American wealth polarization, which has resulted in the vast majority of Americans not seeing gains in America’s economy.Unintended Consequences
What happens to White students when race is taken out of the equation at premium institutions?Merry Christmas from Ohio
Right now it’s ten degrees. I never thought I’d look at ten degrees as a relief from the cold but it absolutely is.Dave Chappelle on SNL and Jews
Don’t blame us for reacting to attacks. We have to.Where is accountability for something this big?
This is one of the biggest smoking guns in American historyWhy Trump
The thing about Trump, the huge thing about Trump, is that he gets it. He’s the Only Sane Politician. Everything that’s obvious to you but not obvious to the politicians and the mediaThe terrorist next door
I didn’t hear anything in the morning when it happened. I was downstairs getting breakfast. I don’t think any shots were fired at the FBI building.Lunar eclipse right now
Go outside and look upMy latest thinking on Palestine
This particular path comes from wondering about Palestinian self-determination. I’ve noticed that the Palestinians seem far more concerned with getting the Jews out of IsraelIpswich
Sometimes age startles me. I’m looking at buildings in the US that were around for at least a quarter of a century before Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi were born.Musicians I found on YouTube during COVID
Like everyone else, presumably, I spent a lot of time on YouTube during COVID. I ran across a few musicians whom I thought were worth learning about.A story about Madeleine Albright
"Did you notice who we just passed?" I asked my wife. She hadn't. "Madeline Albright." "You're right."Nukes
Vladimir Putin recently brought up the idea of using nuclear weapons. When he talked about invading Ukraine he wasn’t bluffing. About using nuclear weaponsHow will you know if the news is real or fake?
Quora is a site where people pose questions and whoever feels like it answers them, with or without listing credentials. I sometimes find questions I’m interested in answeringA dog bowl
The bowl hasn’t worn at all in a half century of use.Site Closing, continuing to gather?
Just read the damned pieceJustice Sotomayor’s Question
”Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?”Monosentence Monday: the Filibuster
it’s a one sentence post, just read itAbortion
there are a lot of politicians and judges…not really trying to reduce the number of abortions in America by the most logical means, which would be reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies, putting the lie to what this issue is …Spoiled by music in college
Getting older, actually turning 67 yesterday, I was recently reflecting on the music I heard in college. I’ve spent a lot of time on campuses because my wife is a professor. We spent ten years with her teaching at Purdue. …Not exactly a silver lining, but close
Image taken 9/26/21, Stowe, VTOne sentence post: what defines conservatives
It’s a one sentence postLightning bugs
Forget the porcupine. This really is about lightning bugs.Mowing the lawn
This post is really about mowing the lawn. This isn’t code for anything andI’m not making a larger point.Understanding American wealth distribution
The problem with looking at wealth is that we don’t have a sense of scale.4,000 attempted murders that somehow don’t count
That’s over 4,000 attempts to kill civilians. If this was being done on the ground we’d call it terrorism, which is of course what it is.Guest Post: We hold all of these truths
In case you’re wondering what liberal Zionism looks like outside of meEast Jerusalem and what’s happening in Sheikh Jarrah
If Israel wants East Jerusalem to be considered other than occupied territory, it is incumbent on the Israeli government to treat the Arab population there like they are treated within Israel’s borders and not like they are treated in occupied …Let’s Flip This
It’s 2020, President Hillary Clinton runs for reelection and loses. She does not, however, accept her loss.One sentence post: Fringes
One sentence post, you don’t need an exerptEurope 1348
Art thou more afeared of side effects than of death?Scene from a Georgia voting line
see attached clip from Ben-HurAccountability – one sentence post
It’s a one sentence post. There’s no sense in reading an excerpt, particularly given that this excerpt contains one more sentence than the post does.Piano Magic Tricks
These tricks will work on an acoustic piano. If you hold down a key gently enough for the note not to sound and hit the right other key sharply, a third predictable note will ring.Revenge of the Boring Man
My wife, when having trouble sleeping, would sometimes ask me to tell her about the overtone series.Which posts would you save?
When you look at your posts, which ones would you want to save and why? I guess this is sort of an open call.Attacking 15th Amendment now, 19th later
“Because it puts us at a disadvantage relative to Democrats.”Texas, Take 3
You’d think that with all that weather-related power grid crap that the Texas government wouldn’t do anything else stupid. You’d think.Texas, Take 2
On August 29, 2011, I published a post on Open Salon called “Governor Perry’s Flirtation With Secession.” I’m reprinting it here, with an epilogue.Seeing the Capitol
Seeing it was jarring. I’ve never had a negative reaction to it before. It means something different now.A question, using the Rice Krispies jingle
Snat Crackle TotOnly Trump stands between us and the Tooth Fairy
She buys up teeth for a pittance, then sells them on the lucrative International Tooth Market.One Sentence post: on Fake News
Fake News is what cowards say when they’re afraid of facing something.Jonah’s Yorzeit, that time of year again
There are people here who were very supportive and I want to thank you. Oddly, that’s most of the people here. Not everyone here knew me at the time.For The Record: January 6, 2021
And now I’ll say something I never expected to say in my lifetime: How the police have treated Black protesters would have been more appropriate yesterday than how they treated those White protestors. They are terrorists and traitors.A photo for Christmas Eve
I like the mood.Good morning
However, it lacks a certain.........perspective.MLB Recognizes Negro Leagues as part of Major Leagues
...MLB commissioner Robert Manfred announced that the Negro Leagues are now recognized as Major Leagues by Major League Baseball. What that means is that Negro League stats now count, which of course affect the player and team rankings.For those of you who have trouble posting
I post from an IPad. This is how you do it.Where we are now
It’s life and death time. We have to stop this however we can and we have to survive this however we can.On the Second Amendment – one sentence post
No excerpt necessary for a one sentence post.The Affirmative Action Hire Fallacy
The assumption being made here, and it’s a surprisingly common one, is that in the workplace the choice is between Merit hiring and Affirmative Action hiring.Proposition 16 and unexpected consequences
What? You didn’t think that all college admissions policies favored women and minorities, did you?A quintessentially American photograph
What’s so American about that is precisely that it’s ordinary.A better image than a rising tide and boats
A while ago I thought of a way to illustrate the difference between injecting money into an economy at the bottom and at the top.A pair of one-sentence posts:Republicans, Have-nots, & Rising Tides
Not necessary for this short a postHow will you address civil unrest in South Carolina, Take 2
So what he was actually saying was: You cannot be elected to public office in South Carolina if you’re a liberal young African-American or immigrant.How will you address civil unrest in South Carolina?
Under review. Context of this post may be wrong. ks Answer: “If you are a young African-American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state. You just need to be conservative, not liberal. Sen. Lindsey Graham, 10/9/20The strange stupidity of the Supreme Court nomination
I don’t understand the Republican calculation here. The math doesn’t work.Reckless Endangerment
I understood that he wouldn’t care if people he didn’t know got sick with COVID-19. I didn’t know that not caring would extend to people he interacts with all the time personally.A new old photograph
The [photograph] above came into my mother’s possession (electronically) a few days ago. She’d never seen it. I think she was told it was taken in 1910 in Jamaica Bay, Queens. I think it may be a bit more recent, …Guess what other population Trump’s in trouble with?
A poll was just conducted by the Yale School of Management. They polled attendees at Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute CEO Caucus. These guys like Trump because of his tax and regulatory policies, right? Wrong.In 2017, Trump paid $318,672 in taxes. Why doesn’t he say that?
The NY Times has reported that Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes in 2017. Well, that’s how most people are reading it but, strictly speaking, that’s not what the Times reported. They reported that he paid $318,672 in taxes in …Perspective
Saturn is quite a bit dimmer than Jupiter is, even though Saturn isn’t all that much smaller. It is, however, roughly twice as far from Earth as Jupiter is. That’s the main reason it’s dimmer. So I look at them …AGT: bad news, not a real $1 million, good news, who won
The winner is promised $1 million and headlining a show in Las Vegas. The show turns out to be two performances of a variety show, and the million is paid out over forty years.T’kiah
the shofar didn’t originally exist for the High Holy Days. It existed as a sort of ancient siren, a call to action, often with military applicationsPack The Court
Packing the Court is a violation of tradition, but so is refusing to vet the Supreme Court nominee of a sitting President. Both are technically legal. The fuss will be asymmetrical. That will be the height of hypocrisy and we …Rock Bottom
What happens after an alcoholic or addict reaches bottom is they start to develop new habits and priorities that will help them remain clean and get prosperous. That’s exactly what I expect to happen to the United States.The most blatant racism in Kenosha
Can you imagine the Kenosha police waving past a seventeen year old Black kid with that kind of weapon?To America’s College Students
You might wonder why most schools don’t just bite the bullet and operate almost entirely on line. The reason is that a tremendous amount of their revenue comes from housing. They need this revenue to operate.If I were a family doctor, I’d reach out to my patients about COVID
I have been saying for a while that it makes no sense for those claiming that COVID-19 is a hoax to be relying on their politicians for information about infectious diseases rather than talking to their doctor, the person in …What the Hell is China doing?
From an international standpoint, [the Chinese] are basically shooting themselves in both feet. It isn’t prudent, it isn’t playing the long game, it isn’t anything that we normally expect from China.To anyone still defending Trump
If you needed an unassailable assessment of national leadership, you’re looking at it.Making America Great Again….No, not MAGA, For Real
We are not in the middle of a long, awful slippery slope. We are at the apex of a very violent swing of the pendulum.If you have a hidden belief in Black inferiority
Most racism in the United States is perpetrated by people who don’t admit their racism. Because they don’t admit their racism, the reasons for their views are not discussed; if they do discuss their reasons they are dismissed as immoral. …A lesson from Anne Frank about martyrdom
How would we feel if modern day Nazis or Nazi sympathizers presented evidence that she wasn’t as nice as we thought? Documented evidence that she was nasty to her sister or her parents? Would that mean every bookstore would pull …Knees
The strangest irony in all this is that NFL players will now be free to take a knee, not because Kaepernick did but because Chauvin did. And, in dying, George Floyd became one of the most potent political activists in …What police chiefs and prosecutors should be telling cops
Doing something really stupid qualifies as fucking your fellow officers because we’re all going to have to deal with the fallout.Three good things that will probably come out of the epidemic
The COVID 19 epidemic is obviously a net negative. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t have any positive consequences.65 Degrees
This is what it looks like at my house. Maybe I should go somewhere warm.The Democratic electoral impeachment mistake
It doesn’t matter that the majority of Americans want testimony or even if the majority of Americans want Trump removed. What matters is where those Americans liveA scenario and a question about it
The couple is ordered out of the car. The young man is cuffed and kicked in the back of the legs. The young woman is ordered repeatedly to exit the vehicle but she’s on a side in the back seat …Chutzpah Redefined
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this particular Yiddish word, it means unmitigated gall but more extreme than that. My father used to give the classic example of the guy who kills his parents, then throws himself on …The one advantage to Trump’s Syria withdrawal
......the move has a single silver lining. It has badly undermined Netanyahu’s position in Israeli politics.Jon Wolfman’s book challenge #3
I usually stay away from terms like Paradigm Shift but this was one.Jon’s Open call on books #1
One of the biggest ideas I got out of it is that we shouldn't expect our lives to resemble those of our parents when we get to their age because what our lives look like at any given age is …My answer to Jon’s most recent post about Israel & the Palestinians
This is fundamentally a fixable problem, and it could be accomplished by either side damned near unilaterally. Frankly, it could be accomplished by the US damned near unilaterallyAre they completely out of their minds?
Today the Israeli government, after being advised by President Trump to ban Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from visiting Israel, banned them from entering Israel. This is both ridiculous and insane.The day White people are no longer the majority in America
There are apparently White people out there who are afraid of this day. This day will eventually come, and you know what will happen when it does? Absolutely nothingI discover the Social Security Admin. didn’t know I’m a citizen
My question is whether it would have been an issue had McCain run as a Democrat. Would Fox News have been talking about Panamanian gunboats on the Potomac?Trump’s influence on hate crimes
The study compared counties that hosted rallies vs. counties that didn’t. In comparison, the counties that had rallies had a 226% rise in hate crimes.Go Back Where You Came From
Go Back....MAWA (Make Ariel White Again)
It’s not just the virulent racism, masquerading as usual as something else, in this case some sort of concern for authenticity. Of an animated character. The arguments here go from ridiculous to clinically insane.Who did Trump pull out of the Paris Accords for?
When Trump pulled out of the Paris Accords, I assumed he did it to take limits off of American corporations. I guess that’s a logical assumption.An incident with my stereo in college
I had a clock radio at the time. I couldn’t figure out how to rig up my stereo system to wake me up, so I had an idea: take an earphone, the kind we used to use with transistor radios, …What I wrote about
What did you find when/if you saved your old posts? Did anything surprise you? koshersalaamiWhy income polarization is a problem
Someone comes to a Chamber meeting and announces that you all have a choice: Either one person is going to move to town who makes a billion dollars a year or ten thousand people are going to move to town …Single Sentence Sunday: Playing the race card
Playing the Race Card is one of those expressions like Class Warfare that is all about a dominant population telling a dominanted population to shut up and accept oppression. KoshersalaamiRegulation is good for business
A lot of economists and business people will tell you that regulation is the enemy of business, that a free market left alone functions optimally and that government invariably screws it up - the more regulation, the worse. According to …Factoid:NYC borough populations compared to other cities
“The remaining borough, Staten Island, would show up as #42 on the actual city list if it were broken out....greater than: Minneapolis, New Orleans, Tampa, Cleveland, Honolulu, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Orlando.” koshersalaamiI get hired for a recording session
By: koshersalaami I’ve been doing some local playing and a guy I’ve done some playing with told me about a local recording studio where he does a lot of work. He’s mainly a guitar player/bass player but he’s been playing …
Most Read
4,000 attempted murders that somehow don’t count
71 CommentsThat’s over 4,000 attempts to kill civilians. If this was …Nukes
66 CommentsVladimir Putin recently brought up the idea of using nuclear …Rock Bottom
59 CommentsWhat happens after an alcoholic or addict reaches bottom is …Where we are now
52 CommentsIt’s life and death time. We have to stop this …Dave Chappelle on SNL and Jews
50 CommentsDon’t blame us for reacting to attacks. We have to.East Jerusalem and what’s happening in Sheikh Jarrah
36 CommentsIf Israel wants East Jerusalem to be considered other than …Monosentence Monday: the Filibuster
33 Commentsit’s a one sentence post, just read itUnintended Consequences
33 CommentsWhat happens to White students when race is taken out …Seeing the Capitol
31 CommentsSeeing it was jarring. I’ve never had a negative reaction …Good morning
29 CommentsHowever, it lacks a certain.........perspective.Europe 1348
29 CommentsArt thou more afeared of side effects than of death?For The Record: January 6, 2021
29 CommentsAnd now I’ll say something I never expected to say …
Grab Bag
The Democratic electoral impeachment mistake
5 CommentsIt doesn’t matter that the majority of Americans want testimony …A question, using the Rice Krispies jingle
28 CommentsSnat Crackle TotPiano Magic Tricks
8 CommentsThese tricks will work on an acoustic piano. If you …The White House Gigs
1 CommentWe’re warming up and playing. I glance up from my …If you have a hidden belief in Black inferiority
23 CommentsMost racism in the United States is perpetrated by people …Europe 1348
29 CommentsArt thou more afeared of side effects than of death?What I wrote about
11 CommentsWhat did you find when/if you saved your old posts? …On the Second Amendment – one sentence post
21 CommentsNo excerpt necessary for a one sentence post.Chutzpah Redefined
2 CommentsFor those of you who aren’t familiar with this particular …A story about Madeleine Albright
9 Comments"Did you notice who we just passed?" I asked my …Are they completely out of their minds?
10 CommentsToday the Israeli government, after being advised by President Trump …How will you address civil unrest in South Carolina, Take 2
6 CommentsSo what he was actually saying was: You cannot be …