By Jane Fishman It’s June, the month to be proud. The month to be loud. Have you noticed? Facebook pages, Instagram posts. Gay men, gay women, parents (proud) with their gay children. The message is clear. We’re here, we’re queer. And you thought “coming out” post-Covid meant leaving your house, leaving your kitchen? The last time I sat up and took notice to this degree was during the Gay and Lesbian Parade on April 25, 1993, not just because I got to ride the steep Metro escalator with my gay brothers and sisters also heading to the March in Washington D.C.–and before that to ride Amtrak from Savannah with hordes of people I suspected might be going as well (gaydar is real)– but because of who I saw on the sidelines cheering us on: straight middle-aged people (oh so straight) from Nebraska, Kansas and Vermont. They wore nametags that said that. They were proud (that word again) and loud members of PFLAG, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. I cried when I saw them. And I cried again. The tears just gushed up. It was almost embarrassing. They were so earnest. Their dignity and passion touched me. There was a time they wouldn’t have been there. There was a time I wouldn’t have been there. Does that group still exist? I’m thinking no. Maybe, God bless them, they are no longer needed. I hope they get the recognition they deserve. All of this, you understand, was way before Schitt’s Creek, which has put a very different spin on same-sex relationships. This out-and-about thing is real. And, I’m embarrassed to say, it still surprises me. Metaphorically I sometimes look over my shoulder to see if anyone else is seeing what I’m seeing. A few years ago, when I was walking my dog and I ran into two young women under 30 who had rented a house on our block. I asked one of them, “What brings you to Savannah?” “My wife is the new manager of Marc Jacobs,” she answered without hesitating. “We moved from New York.” I repeated it to myself. My wife. Not something I heard every day. Back in 1993, after the Year of the Queer celebration, when the train south to Savannah was delayed, I was late for work. When I showed up to the newsroom, my editor, a sharp woman I kayaked with once, who knew I had been in Washington, D.C., looked at me, kind of winked in a conspiratorial way and said, “I know where you were.” “Really?” I said, curious at her demeanor. “Where?” “You went to the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Museum.” She stumped me. I was speechless. Why would I keep that a secret? In fact I didn’t even know about that opening. But I said nothing. I did not correct her. Here I am, a woman in my 40s, in my first newspaper job, my fourth year in the features department with several girlfriends and crushes in my past, and my sexuality had never come up. We did not take any chances with the straight world back then. We had our secret club that only select people got to be in and we kept it to ourselves. There was no “pride” then. Fun? Yes. In retrospect, if it wasn’t homophobic, it was, well, closety. But mostly we didn’t care. We found each other. We searched between the lines in the works of Virginia Woolf for clues. We were in it but we needed more information about this world. We discovered Rita Mae Brown. Another member of the team! We reveled in Martina Navratilova, especially when she hooked up with Rita Mae Brown (and Nancy Lieberman, then a high-level basketball player). In 1981, we squirmed for months when love letters between Billie Jean King and her female secretary became public in what was to become an ugly lawsuit, especially since King was still married to her husband, Larry, and her brother, Randy Moffit, was a Major League Baseball player. That was the time I was playing in a weekly mixed doubles tennis game with three heterosexual couples and some random guy we’d find for me every year, only to discover two of the women (both good friends of mine) had been having an affair for years until their husbands found out and “forbade” the relationship to continue. One woman acquiesced and stayed in the marriage, the other left. The pain. The shock. The tears. How did I not know? It seems like yesterday. I still wonder about myself and my self-respect. After Carmela and I got married, she started wearing a lovely ring that had been my mom’s that I knew I would never wear. Too fancy. Too many diamonds. Not my style. But I needed a ring. I had no choice. I put on my big girl pants and with Carmela walked into a downtown jewelry store and announced I wanted to buy a gold wedding band. No problem. Commerce doesn’t comment. But I was never comfortable wearing that band. In the car a few weeks later I Iooked at my hand and shook my head. Finally I decided it was just too heteronormative, too much like that other world. (For the record I have never used that word in the life.) I had a brainstorm. I switched hands. Now the ring is on my right hand. Immediately it felt better, it felt right. At least that’s what I tell myself, along with “Hey, it’s European!” In my gut I know I have a ways to go. But I do love to say, “We’re here. We’re queer.” I say it whenever I can. That’s a start. Jane Fishman’s got a great life in Savannah. She gets to grow garlic, write newspaper columns in the Savannah Morning News about any wacko she can find (and get paid for it), publish books (her latest: I’d Rather Be Seen Than Viewed, a collection of her columns; preceded by So What’s the Hurry? Tales From the Train ; I Grew it My Way, How Not to Garden; The Dirt on Jane; and The Woman Who Saved an Island, the Story of Sandy West and Ossabaw Island), listen in on conversations with her two grandchildren, Baker and Benny, while going on morning nature walks as they debate which is better, living in the country or the city (“I like both habitats,” says 7-year-old Benny). Fishman owned a laundromat in Eureka Springs, Ark., cooked in a French restaurant in Key West, won a bunch of journalism awards in Savannah for humorous and serious columns. When she lived in Chicago and worked at WTTW public television, she met Fran of Kukla, Fran and Ollie and watched Abbie Hoffman rant at the trial of the Chicago 7. Fishman grew up in Detroit (Huntington Woods, really), where she never owned a car. She was the sports editor of her high school newspaper (The Acorn) at Royal Oak Dondero. This is her first wedding.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. WANTED $1,000,000 REWARD It is time for some straight talk. Democracy is being murdered right in front of us. Its assailants are coming at it from all directions at once. Democracy is being drowned by means of voter suppression laws proposed and/or passed by Republican-controlled legislatures in a myriad number of states. Legislatures are inflicting deadly blows with phony election audits. Democracy is being strangled by Mitch McConnell-led filibusters including the one on May 28, killing bipartisan legislation to establish an independent commission that would investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol and inform an effort to prevent it from happening again. And on Memorial Day weekend, Trump’s disgraced former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, in plain language, advocated a Myanmar-style coup; that is, violent overthrow of the U.S. government. If Flynn and Trump’s other coup-mongers have their way, anything left of democracy after the filibusters, phony audits and voter suppression will be trampled to death by an anti-democratic mob. While Flynn and his ilk rile up the QAnon true believers with lies and conspiracy theories, their compatriots in Congress are aiding and abetting them by denying the January 6 attack on the Capitol was a violent assault, and stalling investigation that could help prevent the next one. Meanwhile, Putin, who is well acquainted with the playbook for killing democracy, and may even have instructed Trump & Co. in it, cheers them on from afar. As recently as June 4, Putin defended the insurrectionists, saying, “these are not looters or thieves, these people came with political requests.” Absent 100 smoking guns, it’s difficult to find anyone who will stop addressing the danger of these manifold offensives individually, and instead argue that they are coordinated. But, how can they not be? The Set-up and First Try at a Coup Trump prepared the ground for a coup by whining loudly and often, for months before the election, that it was going to be stolen from him. In the September Trump-Biden debate, when asked by moderator Chris Wallace whether he would urge white supremacist groups that caused violence at protests to “stand down,” Trump publicly said the Proud Boys, a violent hate group, should “stand down and stand by.” In December, Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio visited the White House, claiming he was invited. When the press reported that fact, White House spokesman Judd Deere said Tarrio was on a public White House Christmas tour, and that he did not have a meeting with the President. The New York Times reported on March 5 that the FBI determined there was call record data tying a Proud Boys member to someone within the Trump White House in the days just before the January 6 assault, though the FBI had no information on what was discussed. On January 4, a judge banned Tarrio from D.C. based on charges that he had vandalized an historic church’s Black Lives Matter banner in December and had been caught in possession of two high-capacity firearm magazines when returning to Washington in January. So Tarrio himself was not present on January 6. But his Proud Boys were in the vanguard of the Capitol attack. According to CNN, at an Oval Office meeting in the last weeks of Trump's presidency, Michael Flynn suggested that Trump could invoke martial law to overturn the election. At Trump’s January 6 “Save America” rally, he had Rudy Giuliani whipping up the thousands of pro-Trumpers with exhortations to conduct “trial by combat” against lawmakers as those lawmakers prepared to vote to certify the electoral College results for Biden. Meanwhile, their cohorts inside the Capitol were busy challenging and slowing that process. Anyone with eyes and a TV set was able to see the vicious attack on the Capitol in real time. We also know of the calls for aid, President Trump’s long public silence, and the delay of his handpicked Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to permit deployment of the D.C. National Guard. There were reports that right wing members of Congress may have given the attackers tours of the Capitol the day before the assault, and that Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was texting about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s movements during the onslaught. How could this not smell of a possible setup? How could it not scream INVESTIGATION NEEDED? But Mitch McConnell cannily prevented any impeachment trial for Trump’s role in the attack until after the President was out of office. Then McConnell used the fact Trump was no longer president as an excuse for refusing to convict—despite the plethora of damning evidence presented by House Impeachment managers. Likewise, McConnell has blocked creation of an independent commission to investigate the assault. If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again A mere four months later, propagandists like Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, and Representatives Pat Fallon of Texas and Paul Gosar of Arizona are claiming there was no insurrection at all. That those entering the Capitol on January 6 were well-behaved tourists strolling calmly through the Capitol taking photos. Meanwhile, at the Memorial Day For God & Country Roundup in Dallas, Flynn was rousing the rabble to further insurrection, advocating violent overthrow of the United States government. Specifically, an audience member asked, "I wanna know why what happened in Myanmar can't happen here?" Flynn replied, "No reason. I mean it, it should happen here." The right-wing crowd roared its approval, and Flynn added, “That’s right.” Myanmar, formerly called Burma, suffered a coup d’état in February, in which the military deposed the democratically elected members of the National League for Democracy, and prevented the Parliament from swearing in the members elected in their 2020 election. The military detained the president and state counsellor along with ministers, their deputies and members of the Parliament. Subsequently, the military regime, operating under a self-proclaimed state of emergency, has murdered, tortured, or detained those protesting its takeover. This is the type of coup that Flynn was saying should happen here. The next day, in a written statement on Telegram, a social media network used by right-wing extremists, Flynn claimed that he had not said it, that reporters were “manipulating” his words, and pretended to backtrack, saying that there is no reason for a coup in America. But his words were on video. A day earlier at the same event, attorney Sidney Powell, who had been on Trump’s post-election legal team (until taken off it because of her outlandish conspiracy statements) claimed that former President Donald Trump could "simply be reinstated" as president and fill the rest of President Joe Biden's term. Powell said, "It should be that [Trump] can simply be reinstated, that a new inauguration date is set." Subsequently, according to the New York Times, Trump has been telling some people he expects to be reinstated to the presidency by August. MSNBC’s Steve Bennen opined that “there is literally no scenario in which Trump will return to the White House unless he runs and wins again in 2024. The election cannot be ‘undone.’ The former president cannot be ‘reinstated.’ This entire line of thought is stark raving mad.” Bennen’s reaction dangerously dismisses what is happening. While there is no lawful way in which the legitimate 2020 election can be “undone,” plenty of madmen have attempted coups, and many of them have succeeded. In furtherance of the stolen election lie, Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature ordered a new phony election audit by Cyber Ninjas, a company owned by Trump supporter Doug Logan. Logan, who promoted conspiracy theories about the election, has never done this work before, and isn’t certified by the federal government to test voting systems. Cyber Ninja’s audit has ruined Arizona’s voting machines for future use and tainted ballots. But Republican legislators from Pennsylvania nevertheless toured the operation on June 2 with the intent of doing the same in their state, and other states’ Republican-controlled legislatures may soon be following suit. Apparently, Trump’s acolytes will not stop recounting until, by hook or by crook, they get the result they want. But it is even worse than that. Marc Elias, an attorney specializing in election law, voting rights, and redistricting told MSNBC that lawsuits alone against phony audits and restrictive voting laws will not be enough, that “we win lawsuits and they pass new laws.” In continuing to challenge these laws in court, Elias sees his role as “buying time for democracy.” He warns that the danger to democracy is not just that a Big Lie is being perpetuated by these faux audits, but that, with the state legislatures’ involvement, this fabrication has become “a pillar of the State,” giving it the “veneer of officialness.” This institutionalizes the Big Lie. In addition, under the guise of protecting “voting integrity,” Republican-controlled legislatures in numerous states have passed or are in the process of passing a variety of laws to limit who can vote. These laws include restrictions on the use of ballot drop boxes as well as who can collect and drop off ballots; the removal of people from early voting lists if they don’t cast a ballot at least once every two years; and the criminalization of the distribution of food or water to those waiting to vote at polling stations. They also provide for heavy civil fines and criminal penalties—including possible prison sentences—for elected officials who send absentee ballots to voters who haven’t requested them (but no fine or penalty for officials who wrongly deny voting access to eligible voters). Some states are shortening the voting hours on Election Day. And where the Secretary of State is a Democrat, some Republican legislatures have replaced the Secretary’s authority over elections with their own. Furthermore, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, Republican lawmakers in 20 states have introduced at least 40 bills expanding the powers of poll watchers. Many of these laws would replace nonpartisan poll watchers with partisan poll watchers who can intimidate both voters and election workers. During the 2020 election, Donald Trump partisans targeted Democratic and Black communities, such as those in Detroit, trying to storm polling places where election workers were counting votes. The Republican-controlled legislature in Michigan is now proposing to exacerbate the disruption by barring nonpartisan observers from acting as poll watchers, allowing only partisan challengers to do so. A bill in Texas would also institute criminal penalties for officials who limit the movements of poll watchers in the polling areas. And, according to The Intelligencer, the Texas bill would lower the evidentiary bar for judges to find elections fraudulent. How Can These Attacks on Democracy Be Countered? There are some Democratic politicians in Washington, D.C. who are flagging the danger of these various offensives. But they are not raising the alarm on this real danger with an intensity equal to that of the Republican rabble-rousers. Why is no one pointing out that while right wing QAnon adherents insanely accuse Democrats of being Deep State Satan-worshipping pedophiles, it is Trump and associates who partied with Jeffrey Epstein, an accused child sex-trafficker? Why isn’t Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio’s visit to the White House a month before the January 6 attack being investigated? Why is the Trump White House statement that he was a mere tourist taken at face value? Why isn’t there a hue and cry to have Sidney Powell disbarred for her irresponsible statements that Trump can be reinstated and serve out the rest of Biden’s term—in contravention of the Constitution? Why isn’t there a clamor to prosecute Flynn for advocating a coup? Why is there no indignant call for investigation under the Smith Act, which made advocating violent overthrow of the government a criminal offense? But no. Most of the Democrats in Washington try to remain judicious, speaking in moderate language and measured tones. They essentially wring their hands over the misdeeds of their Republican counterparts, and propose curative legislation that the Republican minority uses the filibuster to block. The Texas House Democrats are the exception. On May 30, they staged a walkout to break a quorum, and thus prevent passage of a restrictive voting bill, the Election Integrity Protection Act. Texas Republicans, who control the legislature, vow to revive the legislation. “This is Texas, this is the Alamo,” Democratic State Representative John H. Bucy III said at a news conference. “We will do everything we can to stop voter suppression.’’ As Bucy correctly noted, they are at their Alamo, and begging the Federal Government to stop this massacre. As reported by the New York Times, State Representative Michelle Beckley, a member of the Texas House Elections Committee, said, “I’m asking Joe Biden, you need to help Texas. … We have done everything we can. The Democratic senators, you need to pass the voter bills.” President Biden called the Texas bill “an assault on democracy,” and urged federal lawmakers to pass HR1 and HR4 that would override the states’ voter suppression laws. These bills have been passed by the House, but are being blocked in the Senate. HR1, the For the People Act, would expand voting registration, early voting, voting by mail, and limit gerrymandering. It would also make Election Day a federal holiday, require the use of paper ballots and their preservation for recounts or audits; and require presidents, vice presidents and candidates for those offices to publicly disclose ten years of income tax returns. HR4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would restore federal oversight of discriminatory practices that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority threw out in 2013 in Shelby v. Holder, and put a stop to the Republican-controlled state legislatures’ anti-democratic push. But to prevent the state evisceration of voting rights, HR1 and HR4 must be passed before the midterm elections, and that requires overcoming a Republican filibuster. Given how tight the Democrats’ majority is in the Senate, there is no hope of getting the 60 votes needed. So, reform or elimination of the filibuster is urgently needed. That could be accomplished by a simple majority vote. Two Democratic Senators—Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema—stand in the way of that reform. Sinema has argued that the Senate has a responsibility to put politics aside and reach compromise on legislative issues. Perhaps Sinema should try that line on Mitch McConnell. I’m sure he’ll get a good chuckle out of it. Manchin has said he’s not willing to take away the involvement of the minority and has claimed that he will not pass bills without bipartisan support. On Sunday, he said, definitively, that he will not vote for HR1, and will never end the legislative filibuster. He wrote in the Charleston Gazette-Mail (the newspaper in his state’s capital), “Do we really want to live in an America where one party can dictate and demand everything and anything it wants, whenever it wants?” Someone should ask him: do we really want to live in an America where the minority can dictate whatever it wants whenever it wants? And block anything it doesn’t want regardless of the will of the majority? If that is how Joe Manchin defines democracy, he needs to look the word up in a dictionary. In his Charleston Gazette-Mail statement, Manchin also recites that absolute power corrupts absolutely and complains about partisanship, suggesting that in HR1, the Democrats are trying to wield such power. But what is more partisan than all of the voter suppression bills the Republicans are passing in the state legislatures in which they have total control? So in the name of being against absolute power, Manchin is taking the side of absolute power. In the name of protecting the people’s right to vote, he personally is weighing in to help the Republicans deny that right. Manchin had previously told ABC News that he intends to support the narrower John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and that he believes it could obtain bipartisan support. He reaffirmed this in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, writing that he has been joined by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in “urging Senate leadership to update and pass this bill in regular order.” Maybe Manchin, like Kyrsten Sinema, needs to talk to Mitch McConnell since, whether proposed legislation is bipartisan or not—whether Murkowski joins him in “urging” Senate Leadership to pass it or not—it will not get past McConnell’s veto. The filibuster of the bipartisan commission on the Capitol insurrection should have made that clear. In a video shared on Twitter, Manchin said of the Republicans who filibustered the commission, "Choosing to put politics and political elections above the health of our Democracy is unconscionable. And the betrayal of the oath we each take is something they will have to live with." The Republicans clearly live with it just fine. The question is—will Manchin be able to live with his role in destroying our democracy through the very means by which he pretends to defend it? Manchin has claimed that even a one-time change to the Senate filibuster rule will “basically destroy the Senate as we know it.” This illogically equates preserving Senate rules with preserving democracy. But preserving Senate operations that favor minority rule grievously harms democracy. We are left with the choice that Manchin is either a fool living in a dream world or a phony trying to pretend he acts on principle while having it both ways—that is, being able to publicly support a bill like the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and yet feel assured it will not pass. In any event, if we remain stuck with Manchin’s idea of how to protect democracy, there will be no democracy left to protect. Recently, President Biden has expressed an understanding of the danger our democracy faces, as well as the intent of the many state Republican bills to target minorities. As relates to the Texas bill, Biden said to the Texas Tribune, “It’s part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year—and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans.” Biden also attacked it as un-American and said we should be making it easier, not harder, for every eligible voter to vote. In his June 1 speech in Tulsa, President Biden called on Congress to pass HR1 and HR4, saying that he will fight for them with every tool at his disposal, and that June should be a month of action on them. But Biden also took notice of the Manchin and Sinema problem, stating, “I hear all the folks on TV saying, ‘Why didn’t Biden get this done?’ Because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and two in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.” (It is not clear that Manchin and Sinema vote more often with Republicans, but their obstinance on the filibuster renders the same result.) Biden’s statements, though heartfelt, are not strong enough, given the urgency of our situation. This is not a time for Mr. Nice Guy. We need Give-‘em-Hell Harry—a Truman who will decry the do-nothing Republicans and appeal loudly and plainly to the American people, telling them straight out that if they want anything to happen they have to give him more Democrats to work with. We need an LBJ who can twist Manchin’s arm (metaphorically, of course) to get him to join his party. And Sinema’s arm too. Some say the Democrats are afraid that if they pressure Manchin, he will switch parties and give McConnell back the majority. But what is the difference if, in this dire circumstance, he stands by the filibuster that permits McConnell to block all Democratic legislation? Furthermore, a recent poll by the political action committee End Citizens United found (within a plus or minus 4 point margin of error) that HR1 is favored by 79 percent of West Virginia voters—81 percent among Democrats, 79 percent among Independents, and 76 percent among Republicans. Perhaps the Democrats should take a page out of the Tea Party’s handbook and primary Manchin, or at least threaten to do so. If the President must remain above the fray, he needs surrogates who will serve the Give-‘em-Hell function for him. In Tulsa, Biden did announce that Vice President Harris will lead the push for voting rights. The Vice President said she would meet with voting rights groups, community organizations and the private sector in the coming weeks. When Harris was in the Senate, she was not only smart but a tough and logical interrogator. Perhaps that skill will enable her to make Manchin and Sinema face the contradiction between their position on the filibuster and democracy, and persuade them to truly protect democracy as opposed to Senatorial trappings. Joe Scarborough, a former hardline Republican who served in Congress, once said on his “Morning Joe” program that Republicans have a fighting mindset which they live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that Democrats need to have that mindset too. There is a fighting spirit among many grassroots Democrats, state Democratic leaders and progressives. But they need help. Where is the fighting spirit among the national Democratic leadership? Those who have the ability to be heard widely across the country when they speak? Where is it in the Senate? While Republicans attack and attack and obstruct and obstruct, the Democrats respond like polite Victorian ladies taking tea. Being reasoned is all well and good, but sometimes, to reach people, you need to get good and mad along with your delivery of reason and show it if you are going to rouse the public to your truly righteous cause—in this case, the saving of our democracy. Jessie Seigel is a fiction writer, an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. She has twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her work. But, Seigel also had a long career as a government attorney, in which she honed her analytic skills. Of this double career, Seigel would say, “I guess my right and left brains are well balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

By Victoria Rolfe I’ll bet if you ask anyone if they are a gardener of vegetables or flowers, they will say one or the other, or might even say both, but they would not mean both together in one garden. In many minds, gardening is divided into two main categories. There is landscaping or flower gardening, and there is vegetable gardening. The vegetable garden is usually out back somewhere sight-unseen, with regimented rows of edibles, if there even is a veggie garden at all. This divide of different gardens is the result of the typical mindset that there are plants grown for beauty and plants grown for food, and never the twain shall meet. To this I say, Poppycock! A beautiful plant is a beautiful plant, whether you can eat it or not. And if you can eat it, then you’ve got an added bonus to your gardening efforts. Vegetables are not ugly. In fact, some of them are gorgeous. They deserve to be admired for their looks as well as their deliciousness and nutrition. Some folks, who will readily grow plants around the foundation of their home and maybe an additional flower garden or two, say that they don’t have the time or money or space for a vegetable garden. Au contraire! If you have the room for any plants at all, and you are putting in the effort to maintain and keep them alive and happy, then you can quite easily grow at least a few vegetables, herbs, or fruits. Almost a decade ago, when my team of Magical Gardeners (aka Master Gardener Volunteers) took over the planting of one of the gardens in the front of the Dutchess County Farm and Home Center as part of the Sustainable Demonstration Gardens, we made a strong commitment: As part of our education for the public, we would always grow something edible in our garden to show people just how easy and satisfying it can be to raise food, even without a vegetable garden. We have been faithful to this promise throughout our years together. In fact, when we recently renamed the demonstration gardens from the boring “locations” we originally used — ours was “Middle Lower” — to names that reflected more of what ours were all about, we rechristened ours the “Ornamentals & Edibles Garden.” We have gotten many compliments on it through the years and no one has ever commented that it looked like a vegetable garden. In fact, I don’t think most people even notice how many edible plants we have packed into our special space. There are so many lovely features that edible plants have to offer in an aesthetic design. Some offer stunning leaf color and texture. These include many lettuces, kale, parsley, oregano, basils, Swiss chard, and cabbages. Others offer pretty flowers, such as many beans, peas, and herbs like chives and lavender. The huge flowers of squash family plants can be quite dramatic in an ornamental setting as well. Even the actual vegetables themselves offer visual appeal in addition to nutrition. We have grown adorable orange “Tangerine Dream” peppers in our O & E bed, and multicolored cherry tomatoes have graced our archway as well. Not only are the plants we grow for food also pleasing to look at, but many of the plants we grow as flowers are edible as well. Some of these include nasturtiums, violets, pansies, marigolds, carnations, chrysanthemums, and bee balm. And, of course, fruit trees such as apple, cherry, and pear in your landscape can be just as attractive as ornamentals, with their delightful spring riot of blossoms. We have a simply magnificent elderberry bush in front of the Farm and Home Center that is a show stopper for its delicate lacey purple leaves as well as its spring blossoms and the lush fruit that adorns its graceful branches in the summertime. So, I say let’s put an end to this silly divide between plants grown for glamor and plants grown for food. They can be one and the same. Every plant is beautiful in its own way, and some are delicious and nutritious as well. Let them all happily blend together and the world will be a better place. Victoria Rolfe has had a love of gardening all her life, from the time she was a tiny child coveting the daffodils growing in her neighbor’s yard (and wondering why she couldn’t have them in her own), to her teenage years when she took her pot experimentation in a different direction by growing the seeds she extracted from the bag into a beautiful marijuana plant on her bedroom windowsill. She went on in her adult years to feed her family by growing a huge and bountiful vegetable garden, as well as beautifying her three-acre property with an array of ornamental trees, bushes and flowers in the magnificent Hudson Valley region of New York. Victoria learned a great deal in the process of all this plant experimentation. She then added to that knowledge by taking courses with the Cornell Cooperative Extension to become a Master Gardener Volunteer. In her volunteer capacity, she helps to educate the public on gardening through classes and information booths, most notably at the Dutchess County N.Y. Fair each August. Throughout the summer months, Victoria is most likely to be found among the weeds, either in her own garden or those of others who actually pay her to play in their dirt and do the thing she loves best, delight in the magical world of gardening. Victoria is not only a gardening aficionado; she is also passionate about helping people live a better life on less money. Visit her website and blog at brightfuture2budget4.weebly.com, or email her at brightfuture2budget4@gmail.com.

By Andy Borowitz June 9, 2021 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Senator Susan Collins said that she is “a little bit sad” to see Senator Joe Manchin replace her as the nation’s most annoying senator. “For years, I’ve been the most aggravating person in this legislative chamber, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” she said. “Still, if an obscure senator from Maine can’t wield outsized power anymore, it’s only fitting that the baton be passed to an obscure senator from West Virginia.” Asked to remember a particularly gratifying moment from her long reign of irritation, Collins said, “It would have to be when I kept everyone guessing about how I’d vote on Kavanaugh. Those were good times.” In an official response to her remarks, Manchin said, “I’ve been a big fan of Susan Collins’s work as a vexing time-waster for as long as I can remember. In terms of being infuriating, she has set the bar very, very high for me.” Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Andy Borowitz June 7, 2021 MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—Calling recent speculation “absurd,” Vladimir Putin said that he has “no intention whatsoever” of reinstating Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. Speaking to reporters, the Russian President bristled at the suggestion that he would reinstall Trump in the White House “this August or any other month, for that matter.” “I think if I were planning to put Trump back in power, I would know about it,” the visibly annoyed Putin said. “This was all news to me.” Irritated by the former U.S. President’s “needy” behavior, Putin said that he wished that Trump “would stop texting me.” “I realize that he’s been banned from Twitter and Facebook and God knows where else, and he’s probably lonely,” the Russian leader said. “But, really, he’s got to get a life. I’ve moved on. Why can’t he?” Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 37 By Laurence Lerman Yes, yes, movie theaters are back, with a host of new movies to fill ’em. Hollywood is cautiously letting out a collective sigh of relief as the horrors of 2020 slowly recede into the past. You would sigh, too: As reported by the research firm Comscore, the U.S. film industry suffered an unprecedented 80% slump in box office revenue in North America in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic closed movie theaters and studios held back the release of scores of new films. The North American box office brought in $2.2 billion in 2020, compared with $11.4 billion in 2019, marking a nearly 40-year low. But that was then. And this is now. Over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, North American cinemas pulled in nearly $100 million in ticket sales, the best weekend performance for theaters since the start of the pandemic last year. And though the box office brought in less than half of the $232 million that it rang up over the same holiday weekend in 2019, the holiday weekend was a hopeful sign for the industry this summer. According to the movie industry database The Numbers (www.thenumbers.com), there are 18 new feature films set to open exclusively in theaters this month and another 18-or-so that are premiering on streaming services. That’s three times the rollout 50 years ago, when 12 films opened in theaters across the nation and streaming wasn’t even a dream. As for the actual movies that are finally set to open in theaters, well, it looks like everything old may be new again, in the tradition of the cinema’s most popular and reliable film genres. A survey of what’s on tap for theaters in June, 2021 reveals that the slate has a lot in common with what rolled out to movie houses 50 years ago this month, in June, 1971. Among this month’s releases, there is a big musical (In The Heights, based on the Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes); a handful of horror movies, including the latest installment in a popular demonic possession franchise (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It); a foreign language arthouse drama (Undine from Germany’s Christian Petzold); a pair of high-end franchise action flicks, both offering a heavy dose of fast cars and high-speed hijinks (F9 and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard); an offbeat comedy-drama road adventure about an Florida stripper (Zola) and a trio of animated family films, including Pixar’s latest, this one set in the Italian Riviera (Luca), a Cuban-flavored musical adventure (Vivo), and Spirit: Untamed, a western melodrama about a bronco and his Native American gal pal spun off from DreamWorks Animation’s 2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron). Of the dozen films released a half-century ago, there are a good number of titles that directly match up with contemporary counterparts, reaffirming that while matters of race, politics and overall national mood are always changing, the movies remain a genre-driven commercial art form. The specifics may alter in terms of storytelling and style—and, certainly, when it comes to the newly acknowledged need for diversity in casting and the emergence of new filmmaking voices—but general audiences will always respond to a clearly delineated genre offering. Give’ em a song, a car chase, a foreign affair, a quirky character and a bunch of hummable songs appropriate for the whole family, and they’ll at least be initially satisfied, knowing what they’re going to sink their teeth into. Just as this month’s release schedule offers the usual genre mix that audiences have come to expect, the June ’71 slate offered much of the same, There was a musical (Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory); a couple of horror movies, one featuring moviedom’s most famous monsters (Horror of Frankenstein) and the other a lesser entry in the era’s unhinged grand dames craze (What’s the Matter with Helen? with Debbie Reynolds and Shelly Winters); a glossy imported Italian language drama (Luchino Visonti’s Death in Venice with Dirk Bogarde); a superstar-driven racecar adventure (Le Mans with Steve McQueen); a pair of offbeat comedy-dramas (They Might be Giants with George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward and Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me! starring Dustin Hoffman as a pop song writer); and a pair of westerns (Robert Altman’s revisionist masterwork McCabe & Mrs. Miller with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie and Blake Edwards’ forgotten Wild Rovers). Still, even with the genre commonalities between this year’s June rollout and that of yesteryear, there are some marked differences between them. Following June 1971’s absence of any animated offerings (though the beloved family flick Willy Wonka is as colorfully cartoonish as it gets—and it has songs!), the most glaring difference for me would be June 2021’s dearth of westerns (not counting the animated Spirit: Untamed). The Seventies were the last decade to enjoy a steady stream of westerns, which were riding particularly high in 1971. There were some 30 of them released to the theaters that year, including such choice cuts as Sergio Leone’s Duck, You Sucker, Frank Perry’s Doc, Peter Fonda’s The Hired Hand, George Sherman’s Big Jake starring John Wayne and Don Siegel's gothic-drenched The Beguiled with Clint Eastwood. But western lovers shouldn’t despair, as there are a couple more on tap for 2021. The first, the Jeymes Samuels-directed The Harder They Fall, about an African-American outlaw who reunites his old gang to join him on the vengeance trailer, is a Netflix title tentatively scheduled to stream this fall. In the second, the neo-western Cry Macho, director-producer-star Clint Eastwood portrays a former rodeo star who’s hired to return a young boy in Mexico back to his father in the United States. Distributed by Eastwood’s longtime studio Warner Bros, it’s slated to open in theaters and simultaneously on the studio’s HBO Max streaming service in late October. Whatever the effects of the slowly retreating pandemic may be come this fall, if there are any plans to send Cry Macho exclusively to HBO Max without a theatrical premiere date, then someone at Warner Bros. is going to have inform the 91-year-old director, Mr. Eastwood, of their intentions. Does anyone have the guts to do that? Would anyone have had the guts to do that 50 years ago? More proof that, yeah, there are some things that really never change. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

By Bonnie Fishman Is it really true? Are we actually able to host friends and family in our homes again? Yes, it is! Let’s pull out all the stops and make delicious meals and glorious tables to gather around. Many of you have taken up cooking during the pandemic and others of you have honed your culinary skills. Now is the time to put them on display. I’m not just talking about the food preparation end of it. I’m referring to tablescapes. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a tablescape is “the arrangement of items on a table that produces an attractive and decorative effect, often with matching plates, bowls, etc. and items such as napkins, flowers, and candles.” Let’s face facts: No, we are not Martha Stewart, nor will we ever be. Her company has access to everything. We work with what we have on hand. What do you think of first–the menu or the table? I personally do the menu first, especially if it’s a particular theme meal or occasion that dictates what the table will look like. For example, my husband, Bob, turned 75 in January, right in the middle of the pandemic. Of course, I wanted to have a large gathering of friends and family, but obviously that wasn’t possible. I wanted it to be special, so I flew in live lobsters from Maine for our Fishman Family Compound of five. (One poor guy didn’t make it through the journey. He was at the bottom of the pack and got squashed.) I made side dishes to go with the lobsters, but the real fun was creating a festive table. I chose a New England theme, for Bob's lobster dinner, starting with a blue gingham cloth. The napkins were flour sack dish towels, with ball jars for glassware, galvanized chargers (large underplates under each setting), napkin rings, and lobster buckets. The candles resembled navy piers and the orange lobster bibs pulled the colors together with the flowers and ribbon trim. When building a tablescape, I typically begin with the tablecloth. It is the base upon which you build the rest of your scape: the dishes, flatware, napkins, centerpieces, and so on I have a zillion cloths. My sisters and I are “cloth-oholics”. We collect them from everywhere we travel. One time, on our way to Romania (really, Romania?) through London, we had a half a day and took the Tube to Harrods just to eyeball their table linen and dish collections. Another time, we were on Corfu, Greece and went into a linen shop the size of a postage stamp. We had the shopkeeper grabbing cloths and napkins from the ceiling and the walls, as we rummaged through the piles on the tables. It was a good day for her. I even collect vintage cloths from antique stores and flea markets. Many of these tablecloths are small. No worries--put a full solid cloth on your table first and use the smaller one as a topper. It really gives your table a lift without much effort. Not many of us have several sets of dishes to pick from when trying to coordinate a theme tablescape. Do the best you can to jazz up the look with props you find around your house. Exam your baskets, ceramics, containers, and decorative tchotchkes to incorporate into your centerpiece. Why confine your freshly cut flowers to a vase? Grab an antique pitcher or mason jar. Another technique to create a more interesting look is to have elevations in the center of the table. Prop up candles or small vases on risers. To make sure the sight line from one guest to another isn’t blocked, don’t build it too high. My sister Nancy is a master at do-it-yourself table settings. Her technique is really driven by using lovely dishes, chargers, table linens and flowers. Over the years, she has quite the collection and pulls out all the stops when someone asks, “Will you host?” Her fingers itch to set the table. My favorite theme dinner was a Moroccan evening, serving feta cheese drizzled with honey and pistachios, homemade flatbread, chicken pastilla, and Moroccan lamb stew. This was a really fun tablescape, because I have the perfect old pine octagonal coffee table for eight people to sit on cushions on the floor. For the centerpiece, I scoured my house. I began with a solid deep orange tablecloth. In my closet, I found a batik scarf from the ‘70s as a topper. Then I set a brass plate filled with brass candlesticks and mini brass teapots. Lucky me, my husband Bob is a gourd artist and had made a beautifully painted, beaded gourd that fit my theme and color scheme. Add lit candles, and voilà! Moroccan Lamb Stew with Couscous Yield: 6-8 servings Recipe note: If you are unable to find lamb stew, by all means substitute beef. I have even used boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1” pieces. The chicken stew would need only 45-60 minutes to cook. Stew vegetable oil for sautéing 3 lb. lamb stew meat, from the shoulder or leg 4 carrots, peeled, cut into 1” pieces 2 lg. onions, chopped fine 1/2 c. water 1 15 oz. can chickpeas with liquid 1 c. dark raisins 3/4 c. whole almonds 3 Tbs. honey 1 Tbs. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/2 tsp. saffron threads 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper 1-2 tsp. cornstarch, dissolved with 2 tsp. water 1/4 c. fresh chopped parsley Method #1: (This is the easier method, but the depth of flavor and color are not as rich): In a large mixing bowl, combine all the stew ingredients. Put in a covered clay casserole, tagine or Romertopf. Bake in a preheated 400° oven for 1 1/2-2 hours, until the lamb is tender. Drain off the liquid into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Whisk in the dissolved cornstarch. Cook until thickened. Stir sauce back into the stew along with the parsley. Adjust the seasoning. Serve over couscous. Method #2: (Worth the extra steps!) In a large Dutch oven, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil over moderately high heat. Add 1 pound of meat. Sear the meat on all sides. Remove to a bowl. Continue with remaining meat, adding more oil as needed. Turn heat down to medium. Add the carrots and onions to the pan. Continue to sauté until browned, about 10 minutes. Pour on the water and scrape up the brown bits from the bottom. Return meat and vegetables to pan. Add remaining list of ingredients through the cayenne pepper. Mix well. Cover and bake in a preheated 400° oven for 1 1/2-2 hours, until the meat is tender. OR you can continue to cook this on the stove top, covered, over low heat with a very gentle boil. Stir occasionally. Return pan to stovetop if it was in the oven. Bring to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Stir in. Boil until slightly thickened. Adjust the seasoning. Blend in the parsley. Serve over couscous. Couscous 2 c. water 1/2 tsp. salt 1 c. couscous 1 oz. olive oil Bring the water and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the couscous. Cover; allow to stand for 15 minutes. Stir in the oil. Fluff with a fork. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.

By Naomi Serviss I won the serendipity lottery a few days ago. I witnessed 13 fledgling starlings being released in Central Park. It was a perfect moment. Angely, 18, toted a chirping, zipped-up vinyl carrier to Summit Rock. She coaxed the discombobulated creatures out of the carrier. These lucky birds had been nursed back to health by volunteers at the Upper West Side’s Wild Bird Fund. Their emergencies had passed. It was captivity graduation day. They were ready for their natural habitat close-up. I chatted with Angely, a teenager who aspires to be a wildlife rehab veterinarian. She shared how injured birds come to be brought to the Wild Bird Fund. Nest cast-offs, cat-mauling victims and window-flying-into accidents topped the list. Did she ever get a crush on a particular bird or are they all the same to you? “They’re all the same.” The sun was bright. One last starling holdout played it cool in the carrier’s corner. Angely persuaded it to venture out. The mission was complete. A catbird flew down to inspect the interlopers. Angely said catbirds are very territorial. They shouldn’t bother the starlings. We watched the birds drunkenly hop around terra firma. Some winged it gracelessly to the bush above. The catbird kept a side eye on the mini flock. No harm was done. I hoped these baby birds would savor flight. I always dreamed of flying. Who hasn’t? There’s a new-car smell in the air. Lincoln Center jazzed up its plaza with green turf carpet. The topiary-like chairs are a nifty touch. Restaurant Row is inching back. Live theater will return in August. New York is the cat that always comes back. The May 24th New Yorker’s cover mirrors our collective psyche. A sliver of blue sky, a few puffy clouds and the Empire State Building beckons to a shadowy family of four. They’re holding hands, looking up into the golden light of an awakening New York. That issue goes in my gives me joy stash. We can hug fully vaccinated friends and family. Masks are sometimes optional. It’s a workable mess. I still carry colorful paper masks in my black and white nylon backpack. Just in case. I’m still getting the hang of life beyond fear. Most Central Park regulars are bare-faced. The dog playgroup people are jokey and chatty. My free-floating anxiety is morphing into equanimity. Acceptance of my limitations is getting easier. I no longer walk briskly. I notice water droplets on a green maple leaf. A dandelion waiting to be wished upon. A wallet. It takes me two hours to walk two park miles. Early morning walks have been my salvation. Every step is a tonic for my edgy nerves. Arm exercises helps regulate my breathing. People are here to exercise, run, bike, speed walk, stretch or dog tend. We’re all in the same zone. No judgment. I do a make-it-up-as-I-go walking series of faux rowing and yoga balancing dashed with tai chi. My depression and migraines have lessened. I feel cautiously optimistic. I hugged my friend Roberta right on the street. It had been a year since we last did that. We’re not out of the woods yet. But we’re starting to take flight. Naomi Serviss is a New York-based award-winning journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Highroads (AAA magazine), in-flight publications, spa and travel magazines and websites, including BroadwayWorld.com

FRED PLOTKIN is one of America’s foremost experts on opera and has distinguished himself in many fields as a writer, speaker, consultant and as a compelling teacher. He is an expert on everything Italian, the person other so-called Italy experts turn to for definitive information.  Fred discovered the concept of "The Renaissance Man" as a small child and has devoted himself to pursuing that ideal as the central role of his life. In a “Public Lives” profile in The New York Times on August 30, 2002, Plotkin was described as "one of those New York word-of-mouth legends, known by the cognoscenti for his renaissance mastery of two seemingly separate disciplines: music and the food of Italy." In the same publication, on May 11, 2006, it was written that "Fred is a New Yorker, but has the soul of an Italian."

By Alan Resnick Jeff and Karen were finishing lunch when Jeff took a sip of water and said, “Hon, I’m going out with the guys for a few hours this afternoon, but I’ll be back in time for dinner.” Karen looked up and responded, “Good for you. You deserve some time with your buddies. Playing nine holes or shooting pool?” “Neither,” he replied. “We’re going to get our Covid-19 vaccinations.” Karen was stunned but also elated. “That’s wonderful, I’m so proud of you!” she exclaimed. “But I have to say I’m really surprised. You’ve been an anti-vaxxer since Day One. I’m thrilled you changed your mind, but I’m curious what changed it.” “Well, I’ve been doing some thinking,” Jeff said. “I’d like to get back to going out for dinner with you, and many of the restaurants we like are requesting people wear masks or show proof of vaccination. And we talked about going on a cruise, but it looks like we’re going to have to show our vaccination cards before we can go.” “Better late than never,” Karen said. “So where are you guys getting your shots? The Walgreens by Keith’s house?” “No. I was in there a couple of days ago and people were sitting in the middle of aisles with their sleeves rolled up. It was a little too public for my taste.” Trying to be supportive, Karen said: “I get that. I know they’re doing vaccinations at City Hall.” But Jeff replied, “No, that’s a 20-minute drive.” “OK, so where are you getting yours?” Karen asked. Jeff’s face reddened and he glanced down at the tabletop. “At Deuces Wild,” he said. Karen was incredulous. “You guys are going to that strip joint by Vic’s house?” she said, her voice rising. “Since when does a strip club offer Covid-19 vaccinations?” Jeff fidgeted in his seat. “It’s a gentlemen’s club, Karen,” he replied, somewhat defensively. “And it wasn’t my idea, it was Vic’s. He saw it in today’s paper. You know how squeamish he is about anything medical, so he asked Keith and me to come with him for moral support. It’s the least I can do for a good pal.” Karen rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re a real hero, Jeff.. Who’s administering these shots, one of the dancers or the bartender?” “That would be dangerous, Karen,” Jeff responded. “A nurse from the county health department will do it.” “I imagine you guys will like the short little nurse’s outfit she’ll be wearing,” Karen said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Why do you think this will take most of the afternoon? That club is small and you only have to wait 15 minutes after your shot to make sure there aren’t any side effects.” “Karen, I don’t know how long the line will be,” Jeff said. “And I’d rather wait around a little longer just to be on the safe side.” “Oh, of course you would!” Karen was exasperated. “Jeff, do you even know what vaccine is being given?” “I think Vic said that it was Pfizer. So I suppose we’ll have to go back for another shot in about three weeks.” “Well isn’t that a big surprise!” Karen said with a sneer. While this conversation is fictional, I’ll bet it’s fairly representative of some of the chats that took place in Las Vegas households on May 21 when Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club opened early for several hours to serve as a walk-in clinic. The next day, Associated Press reported that approximately 100 people, some of them club employees, took advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated at the joint. AP quoted JoAnn Rupiper, the chief nurse of the Southern Nevada Health District who monitored the event, as saying, “This is just another way to access our population.” Indeed. Across the land, folks are being rewarded in interesting ways for getting vaccinated. According to AP, Hustler’s sister club in New Orleans now offers incentives such as free admission, complimentary bottles of alcohol, and dances from a “vaccinated entertainer” to patrons who show proof that they, too, got their proper jabs. “I just got my first shot” stickers sort of pale in comparison. The strip club’s approach is perhaps the most extreme in a variety of incentive programs that are being rolled out now that national vaccination rates have begun to plateau far below the 75% level estimated as necessary for herd immunity. California announced it is giving away $116 million in cash and prizes. Ten lucky residents will win $1.5 million apiece, with 30 others bagging $50,000 each. The drawing is open to residents who have gotten at least one dose. Anyone who previously got their jab will be entered automatically. There is no need to register. Another generous program is Ohio’s Vax-A-Million. Five vaccinated Ohio adults will win $1 million and five youngsters between the ages of 12 and 17 will get four-year rides to the state’s universities. More than 2.7 million Buckeyes signed up. On May 26, a 22-year-old woman won the first $1 million pot, and a 14-year-old boy was awarded the first scholarship. Nonwinners need not despair — they will be eligible for future drawings. “After announcing Vax-A-Million, the vaccination rate among Ohioan’s aged 20 to 49 increased 55%,” USA Today reported. Colorado, Maryland, New York, and Oregon have announced similar programs. Other states are not being quite as magnanimous. Last month, for example, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy rolled out a “Shot and a Beer” campaign, offering vaccinated state residents free suds at selected breweries. And any resident who is vaccinated during the month of May can enter a drawing to win a private dinner with the Governor and his wife. West Virginia is offering a $100 savings bond to residents between the ages of 16 and 35. Kentucky residents who get a jab at a Kroger or a Walmart in the state become eligible for a free lottery ticket in the nightly Cash Ball 225 drawing, where the daily prize is $225,000. And, according to Newsweek, “Vaccinated Kentuckians are also eligible for a dessert-on-a-stick from White Castle, glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme and lamination of their vaccination cards from Staples and Office Depot.” Not to be outdone, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has announced a “Good Neighbor” program to boost vaccination rates among residents who do not have access to personal transportation. Anyone who signs up and drives a Detroiter to a vaccination site will receive a prepaid $50 debit card. And while a good neighbor will only be allowed to transport at most three residents at a time, there’s no limit on the number of trips a driver can make. However, those who accumulate more than $600 in gift cards will be required to complete a W9 form and file a 1099 with their 2021 tax return. I’m not wild about the idea of these kind of incentives. My naïve or optimistic side believes that people should simply want to do the right thing to promote their own health, protect others, and help stop the pandemic. But I also understand that we live in a far more politicized and complex time then when I was vaccinated for polio in the 1950s. I’m willing to trade my moral discomfort for the shot at herd immunity. But I wonder what will happen if booster shots become necessary or annual vaccinations are recommended, similar to the flu shot. Will folks lured by the promise of a gift card, lap dance, doughnut, beer, or lottery ticket expect another goodie? My pessimistic or cynical side says they will, particularly if there isn’t a better marketing program aimed at educating the skeptical or reluctant about the necessity of staying fully protected. But in the hope of getting us to that target 75% vaccination rate, I humbly offer a few other surefire incentive programs: “Shot and a Shot”—For the reluctant outdoorsman. Offered at firearms stores and gun ranges, enthusiasts can get a shot and squeeze off a few rounds on the house. A raffle will also be held with the lucky winner receiving a shooting iron of their choice. “The One-Armed Bandit”—For gamblers. Why not have vaccination stations next to the slot machines in casinos? After all, it only takes one arm to operate a bandit. A nurse could administer the shot in the other. The player wouldn’t have to miss a spin and probably wouldn’t feel a thing. And the casino could offer five free spins to each person who gets vaccinated. “An Evening with Marjorie Taylor Green or Matt Gaetz”—For Republicans only. Assuming these two controversial Congressional luminaries could be convinced to participate, this would likely cast the biggest net for the unvaccinated. You could enter drawings for one or both. The lucky winners would spend an evening with either Ms. Taylor Greene (R-Neptune) or Mr. Gaetz (R- Florida) swapping conspiracy theories and rehashing how the last presidential election was stolen. Please note that entrants must be at least 18 years of age to participate in the Gaetz drawing. I’m sure I’m merely scratching the surface of possibilities. Feel free to share these with officials in your state or let your creative juices flow. Some Prize! Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz! Alan Resnick is an industrial psychologist with over 40 years of professional experience. He and his wife are sheltering at home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He is passing the time by cooking, exercising, catching up on friends’ recommendations of must-see TV and writing.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. QAnon’s favorite member of Congress, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, is on a tear again. But don’t expect House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to do anything about it. Two weeks ago, Greene attacked Speaker Nancy Pelosi for requiring House members to show they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or else wear masks in the House chamber. In an interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Greene equated this reasonable requirement with the Nazi treatment of Jews: “You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens—so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.” Greene followed this up with a tweet last week equating the vaccination logo grocery workers are being permitted to place on their work badges—presumably to put customers’ minds at ease and aid commerce—to the yellow Star of David badges that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany so they could be identified, persecuted, and murdered. In reaction, Kevin McCarthy issued this statement: "Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling…Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language." But McCarthy did not make this statement for five days—until the coverage of Greene’s statements and negative reactions to them by some of his Republican colleagues, Democrats and Jewish organizations made it impossible for him to ignore them any longer. Joel Rubin, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, called for Greene to be expelled from the House. Rubin expressed outrage that she equated wearing a mask to save lives with walking millions of innocent civilians to the gas chamber. He told CNN, "Kevin McCarthy ... is not showing leadership and he needs to stand up and he needs to expel Marjorie Taylor Greene.” McCarthy did go so far as to condemn Greene’s words. But, knowing on which side his bread is currently buttered, he did not specifically condemn Greene—one of Donald Trump’s favorites at the moment—or even threaten to censure her, let alone advocate expulsion. In fact, McCarthy managed to work into his statement an attack on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, trying to distract from Greene and his own lack of action by claiming that Pelosi is ignoring a rise in antisemitism in the Democratic party. Greene, however, did not appreciate the thin line McCarthy was attempting to walk. She retweeted, praised, then deleted a tweet by Twitter user @SimplePatriot that called McCarthy a “moron” and a “feckless c**t.” SimplePatriot was right about at least one thing. As McCarthy’s career demonstrates, he is feckless; that is, lacking in strength of character. The Associated Press wrote in 2018, that McCarthy, first elected in 2006 as the representative of California’s conservative 23rd District, “is often first to admit he’s not the smartest guy in the room.” But McCarthy is clearly good at glad-handing other politicians to get ahead. Mark A. Martinez, a political science professor at California State University, Bakersfield, told AP that McCarthy had shown a talent for ingratiating himself to leaders in Bakersfield (within his District), Sacramento, and now Washington, D.C. Jim Brulte, a former McCarthy mentor and the California GOP chairman in 2018, said “Nobody didn’t like Kevin.” Brulte claimed that even McCarthy’s opponents liked him. Within three years of his first election to Congress, McCarthy became Chief Deputy Whip and subsequently Majority Whip. In 2014, he was elected to succeed Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor as House Majority Leader, making him second in command to then-Speaker of the House John Boehner. But ascending to Speaker of the House has always been just beyond McCarthy’s reach. His most incurable obstacle seems to be that he likes the taste of feet so much that he can’t keep his foot out of his mouth. In 2015, when Boehner left Congress, McCarthy was thought to be next in line for the Speakership —until he let the cat out of the bag, saying out loud the real reason for the Republicans’ interminable Benghazi hearings. The stated purpose of the Select Committee on Benghazi was to examine a terrorist attack in Libya that left four Americans dead. The committee grilled Hillary Clinton who had been Secretary of State during the incident and was expected to be a front-runner for the 2016 Democratic Presidential candidacy. But McCarthy claimed the Committee as an accomplishment for the Republicans—not because it discovered details about the terrorist act, but because Clinton’s favorable numbers were dropping. McCarthy couldn’t keep himself from using a Fox News interview to crow: “…Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee. A select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known that any of that had happened had we not fought to make that happen.” Paul Ryan got the Speakership. In 2018, McCarthy’s mouth threatened to get his party into worse trouble than his admission about the Benghazi investigation had. In a private, but recorded conversation with other GOP leaders a month before Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination, McCarthy said, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump." (Dana Rohrabacher was a California Republican Rep. known as a strong defender of Putin and Russia.) When some who were present laughed, McCarthy said, “Swear to God.” Speaker Ryan immediately shut McCarthy up, and advised those Republicans present not to repeat what was said. Ryan’s office initially claimed this never happened and then, when faced with the fact the Washington Post had a recording, claimed McCarthy was joking. Despite this tendency toward foot-in-mouth disease, McCarthy again had a chance at the speakership when, in 2018, Paul Ryan announced his retirement. But, alas for Kevin, the Democrats won a majority of House seats and, so far, have kept it. So, McCarthy has remained House Minority Leader. If the Republicans take back the House majority in 2022, McCarthy might yet make it to the Speakership. His challenge now is whether he can appear right-wing enough to satisfy the Trump adherents in Congress and still satisfy big campaign donors who are upset with the antics of fanatics like Greene. In trying to hedge his bets, McCarthy is the proverbial ball bouncing erratically off the walls. On Election Day, he appeared on Fox News insisting Trump had won the 2020 election and exhorting listeners: “We cannot allow this to happen before our eyes.” Yet according to a tweet by David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report, McCarthy told him weeks after the election that Trump had lost by a clear margin. Moreover, McCarthy told Wasserman that Trump’s continued challenge of the results could be dangerous—that he and McConnell might have to issue statements acknowledging the result. McConnell made such a statement on December 15. Five months later, on May 12, McCarthy said only “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.”—this while his party is actively attempting faux election fraud investigations and passing voter suppression laws in the guise of needed election protections all over the country. Despite McCarthy’s initial denunciation of the election results, he did not, at first, sign on to the legal brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn them. But, when it was noted that his name was absent from the brief, which contained the names of 100 other Republican House members, his name suddenly appeared the next day. During the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, McCarthy went on television to decry the violence, and tried to get Trump to issue a forceful statement to stop it. On January 13, McCarthy acknowledged that Donald Trump bore responsibility for the attack. But at the same time, he implored members not to hold Trump responsible. And two weeks later, McCarthy traveled to Mar-a-Lago to get back into Trump’s good graces. According to CNN last week, several GOP sources have said that McCarthy currently has one goal—getting to be House Speaker—and won’t do anything he thinks will hurt his chances. As far as taking any action against Marjorie Taylor Greene, one GOP donor said, “Donald Trump likes her, he supports her, and Kevin doesn’t want to upset Trump.” Is it any wonder then, that McCarthy avoids taking any real action to reign Greene in, but allows the ouster of Rep. Liz Cheney, who opposes Trump, from leadership? Is it any wonder that he is sidelining conservatives and elevating the power of extremists like Jim Jordan and the far-right Freedom Caucus? Nor, given the man’s nature and ambition, is it any wonder that, whenever possible, he avoids making any decisions that could be controversial within his party? After all, taking a stand one way or another could lose him votes that could make him the Speaker. So, in February, when Greene’s spreading of conspiracy theories and endorsement of threats to the lives of Democratic colleagues became an issue, McCarthy found a way to avoid being the one to make a decision. He reluctantly had a private conversation with Greene, then passed the buck to the Republican Steering Committee, which adjourned without rendering a decision on Greene. McCarthy then proposed to the Democrats a compromise in which he would remove her from one committee. When they rejected that, he pretended not to know anything about QAnon, the source of her theories, and refused to take any disciplinary action. This resulted in a full vote on the floor of the House with the Democratic majority stripping her of her committee assignments. Though Greene is continuing her outrageous and dangerous behavior, she has also raised at least $3.2 million in the first quarter of this year from many thousands of people who share her views. From McCarthy’s perch, what’s not to like? Kevin McCarthy continually shows himself to be a man who has no principles of his own, good or bad. He’s just a barnacle that will latch onto any passing ship he thinks will take him where he wants to go. If—the fates forfend—he should become the Speaker of the House in 2022, a lesson in the evil that banality ushers in may follow. Jessie Seigel is a fiction writer, an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. She has twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her work. But, Seigel also had a long career as a government attorney, in which she honed her analytic skills. Of this double career, Seigel would say, “I guess my right and left brains are well balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

Can you be both an online entrepreneur and a pandemic mom? You bet! In Seattle, Alyssa Brantley, the mother of two sons, ages 6 and 11, is giving Martha Stewart a run for her money. Brantley’s popular website Everydaymaven.com has hundreds of recipes, made with whole food and real food ingredients. Flavor-packed and easy-to-make, Brantley’s recipes are sorted into convenient clickable categories so that readers can quickly find what they are looking for, whether it’s a special diet, or a special occasion. The Insider recently spoke with Brantley, who shared a few secrets about how she has built a successful brand and dealt with the pandemic challenge of working remotely from home with two energetic boys. The Insider: Please tell us a little about where you’re from and how you ended up in Seattle. Alyssa Brantley: I’m from Philadelphia and grew up in a cooking family. My mom trained as a French chef when I was about seven and taught my brother and me to appreciate food and cooking. After the birth of our first son, my husband and I wanted a different, more outdoor lifestyle and came to Seattle for a job at Amazon for him. The Insider: Before that, did you go to school on the East Coast? Alyssa Brantley: I went to college at NYU and lived in Manhattan, but returned to Philly for grad school at Drexel. The Insider: What did you study in school? Alyssa Brantley: Broadcast journalism at NYU and commercial design at Drexel. The Insider: How did you happen to start Everyday Maven? Alyssa Brantley: After my first son was born, I went to Weight Watchers to lose the baby weight. I was turned off by the “diet” recipes and started creating my own and sharing them with people. Everyday Maven became the central place for me to organize and share those recipes. The Insider: What year did you start it? Alyssa Brantley: Late in 2011. The Insider: 10th anniversary this year! Alyssa Brantley: It was a hobby at first, as I learned what it takes to build a website and manage it. I didn’t really start to make money from it until 2014 or 2015. The Insider: How did you learn the ropes? Alyssa Brantley: From other food bloggers, conferences, seminars, books…honestly, anything I could get my hands on. The Insider: What was your first foray into the business side? Alyssa Brantley: Putting ads on my site. The Insider: And how did you start to make money? Alyssa Brantley: Partnering with brands to create content The Insider: Has your mission changed since the beginning? Alyssa Brantley: Yes. I moved away from the Weight Watchers information and began focusing on whole food recipes and more seasonal ingredients The Insider: I see that your philosophy is “Whole Food. Half the Time”. Did that come out of developments in your family’s life? Alyssa Brantley: I’ve always felt strongly that delicious and healthy food doesn’t need to be overly complicated or take all day to make. I want my readers to know that my recipes are accessible The Insider: Naturally, because we’re a pandemic publication, we’re interested in what changes you’ve seen in reader interest during the pandemic. Alyssa Brantley: Yes! So many! At first everyone was home and cooking for fun. Then the shortages began and a pattern of popular recipes would follow. There was obviously a huge uptick in sourdough bread baking and baking in general. For my site, I saw that readers were looking for new ways to use canned foods or shelf-stable foods. Beans, rice, pasta, canned fish. The Insider: We have a section in The Insider called “Recipes for Disaster,” where people write about what they are cooking and why. We also saw a big bump in stories about baking. Why do you think so many people have gone in that direction during the pandemic? Alyssa Brantley: I think it’s comforting. Also, baking can be time-consuming. With so many people at home, they could invest the time The Insider: I bet you’re a great cook. Don’t be modest! Alyssa Brantley: Thanks! I really love experimenting with flavor. The Insider: What kind of dishes are your personal favorites? Alyssa Brantley: I LOVE savory food! I rarely eat sweets or desserts. My favorites are the cuisines that are loaded with herbs and spices: Indian, Thai, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. The Insider: Do you entertain a lot? Has that been curtailed by the pandemic? Alyssa Brantley: Yes and yes. We love to entertain! We haven’t entertained anyone inside of our home since February of 2020.. We did host some friends outside over the past year to for a bonfire and takeout, but no shared food. Huge shift. The Insider: Tell me more about your family’s pandemic lifestyle. Alyssa Brantley: We have added a bunch of outdoor toys and activities for the kids. A trampoline, basketball hoop, foldable sports nets, inflatable pool, etc. so that we can keep them occupied here at home. The Insider: Your sons are 6 and 11? Alyssa Brantley: Yes they are. We paired up with one family and “bubbled” together all summer last year so we socialized with them outdoors. Lots more TV shows than we used to watch. More reading and playing games. The Insider: Are your kids going to school in person or remotely? Alyssa Brantley: Both. It was mostly remote after March 2020 and then hybrid. They are now on campus for the last month of school. The Insider: I would imagine that you have been working remotely at home, right? What is that like with two energetic young boys? Alyssa Brantley: Very, very difficult. It’s been a challenge to stay focused and creative. I definitely feel like I’ve had to let go of a lot of my personal goals to be present and available to them. The Insider: Do you have any advice for parents working remotely at home? Have you learned any useful techniques for getting your work done and paying attention to your kids? Alyssa Brantley: Set a schedule and rewards. My husband and I created time blocks for our kids. They have very limited screen time so we built in some screen time rewards at the end of the day if they met their time blocks. Examples of time blocks were exercise, household chores, music practice, reading, playing together, playing solo, being creative. The Insider: So it’s a bit like having classes in school? Alyssa Brantley: Sort of. Just structure to the day, when they weren’t in school over the summer. The Insider: If they start offering kids under 12 vaccines, will you let them take it? Alyssa Brantley: We will want to see longer term data before we decide. I’m not comfortable with my children being part of a medical experiment. It’s very difficult. I logically see the value in it, but rationally feel like we need longer time data to understand the true impact on children. The Insider: Last question--did you ever think of opening a restaurant or a catering business? Alyssa Brantley: Actually, I used to own a catering company! When I was in grad school in Philly. The Insider: It would be logical. Alyssa Brantley: I have thought about opening a restaurant or a line of food products The Insider: We’ll be first in line! Many thanks.