By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. The GOP is busy ginning up another phony issue, calling vaccine certifications “passports,” and claiming they are the gateway to a police state. But what could be more useful than having proof that you have been vaccinated? The Biden Administration and private industry are both investigating ways to allow people to obtain certificates showing just that. The purpose is to give the business community and the public it serves greater confidence that they can move forward safely as the economy opens up. The concept of certifying that a person has been vaccinated is not new. The World Health Organization's International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis acts as proof of vaccination for Americans who travel to parts of the world where there are diseases like yellow fever or polio. Proof of negative TB tests has been required by some colleges and professions involving health care. And children are generally required to have certain vaccinations before entering school. But some public relations genius decided to dub certification of Covid-19 vaccination a “vaccine passport.” This terminology has the “papers, please” flavor of old totalitarian regimes, and so has created an opening for right-wing politicians to attack it. (The PR use of the term “passport” apparently did not originate with Administration officials, who favor referring to it as “vaccine verification.”) QAnon’s favorite, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, labeled the so-called vaccine passport Biden’s “Mark of the Beast.” Republican Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan has tweeted that the Biden Administration is considering a vaccine passport for Americans, “but doesn’t seem to care about passports when it comes to illegal migrants crossing the southern border.” Florida’s GOP Governor Ron DeSantis said, "It's completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.” DeSantis plans to issue an executive order forbidding businesses from requiring vaccine passports in Florida. Newsmax’s conspiracy-minded correspondent Emerald Robinson has suggested that the misnamed “vaccine passport” is the introduction of a totalitarian communist surveillance system. Robinson has conveniently forgotten that the George W. Bush Administration instituted the Real ID, requiring people to obtain national identification cards or driver’s licenses with an ID chip, the same type of chip now embedded in every credit card. In reality, the White House is loath to make vaccine verification a governmental mandate. Rather, according to the Washington Post, the Biden Administration has identified some 17 certification initiatives currently being developed by private industry. The most prominent among these evolving certification systems are Travel Pass, a mobile application developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Excelsior Pass, IBM’s digital health pass. IATA’s Travel Pass allows travelers to store their verified certifications for Covid tests or vaccinations on their cell phones. Its technology is decentralized, meaning that the data is stored only on the passenger’s phone, not in any central database. So far, some 17 airlines have signed up to try IATA’s Travel Pass. IBM’s Excelsior Pass was devised for use at such venues as a workplace, school, stadium or airline flight. IBM says that the Excelsior Pass is “designed to enable organizations to verify health credentials for employees, customers and visitors entering their site based on criteria specified by the organization." New York City’s Madison Square Garden has already implemented the Excelsior Pass as a way to satisfy state testing and vaccination requirements for those attending its events. Because there is no one agreed upon standard for certificates, or for a computerized application to display them, business interests are concerned that people might need to use different apps for different venues. They also worry that what counts as an acceptable test or vaccine certification for one state or country might not count in another—with none of them being universally accepted. This could create chaos, especially for the travel industry. As a result, airline and business groups have been lobbying the Biden Administration to set some uniform standards for vaccine certificates. Accordingly, in January, President Biden issued an executive order directing agencies to assess the feasibility of linking coronavirus vaccinations to vaccine cards, also know as “international certificates of vaccination or prophylaxis,” and producing a digital version. The Administration’s coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients, has said that the Administration’s role “is to help ensure that any solutions…. should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy.” In response to questions from North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, Zients also explained, “We’re not going to have any federally mandated, universal vaccine credential, and there will not be a federal database.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki also emphasized this message, stating that the Administration’s effort will be “focused on guidelines” and that there are no plans for any federal requirement that all citizens have a vaccination credential.” While the right-wing brouhaha over “vaccine passports” is an attempt to create yet another political strawman to attack, there are serious, legitimate concerns about Covid vaccination verification. Among them are not only the problem of standardizing certificates, but protecting privacy, keeping data secure from forgery, preventing fraud, and making sure that low-income populations and others who may not have access to digital capabilities like smart phones still have access to certification. Over time, there will have to be adjustments to take into account the potential spread of Covid variants, how long immunity lasts, and the tracking of booster shots. Accommodations will also be necessary to prevent discrimination against people who, for health reasons, have not or cannot be vaccinated, and therefore will not be able to obtain certificates. Finally, it is not unreasonable to have some hesitation about the possible impact of governmental and corporate data collection on privacy and civil liberties. But if one has participated in daily life during the last decades—owning a smart phone, posting on Facebook or Twitter, ordering products online—that concern comes a little late. Compared to the data that can be mined from those Internet entities, the fact that one has been vaccinated against Covid seems very minor. Furthermore, obtaining a certificate that one has been vaccinated (or has had a negative test or recovered from the virus and so has immunity) is entirely voluntary. No one will be required to do it. But for anyone who has embraced vaccinations, having proof of that fact would be a boon. As vaccination verification fully develops, all of these concerns must be addressed. But we now have an Administration that is demonstrating its thoughtfulness in considering them. That should give us some confidence that we can keep America safe and well without infringing on privacy or civil liberties. 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 Marieke Slovin Lewis / Bailleul, France My husband and I have spent the past several years, lauding the incredible access and affordability of healthcare in Europe. Now, we joke that we will have to move back to the United States to get vaccinated. Just last week, we drove past an AstraZeneca facility a mere 30-minute drive from our house and I suggested to Richard that we go knock on the door to see if they might take pity on us and give us each a jab. My husband often jokes with me to be careful what I wish for because there are often repercussions I would not have anticipated and that I may not enjoy. When the gods want to have fun with you, they give you exactly what you ask for, he has told me, time and again. This certainly seems to have been the case with our wish to stay in Europe. Sure you can stay in Europe for another year, the gods whispered seductively in our ears over a year ago, but it won’t be all red wine and romance. The gods didn’t tell us that we would spend most of our time in France, sitting on a couch in a tiny farmhouse, feeling extremely isolated and raging against the agonizingly slow Internet. They didn’t divulge the challenges of French bureaucracy or the equally agonizing molasses-like movement of the vaccination campaign in France. This reality all came much later and with it the dream of a vaccine and return to “normal” life. At the start of the wild Covid ride a year ago, my husband and I were living in Brussels, Belgium. We had just purchased tickets to return to the United States later in the spring. While we were making peace with leaving Belgium and the European Union (EU), we hoped there might be some paradigm shift that would allow us to stay. We had wanted to stay as far away from the politics and President as possible. We never imagined that the universe would respond with a global pandemic. Word of the pandemic began with rumors and hearsay. A friend mentioned a conference she was planning to attend in Prague had been canceled. Then the same friend told us a work trip to Strasbourg had been called off. We invited two friends over for dinner, one from Venice and the other a native Belgian. Our Italian friend mentioned that she was afraid to talk on her cell phone on public transport because people would stand up and move to sit farther away from her if they heard her speaking Italian. Our Belgian friend said she had been sitting on a bus beside a father and child when our friend started sneezing. The father had begun shouting at her that she was going to get everyone sick, even though she tried to explain she only had allergies. These were the early days, when the virus had only just begun to shift from China to Italy and the outer borders of Europe, places that still seemed far away from our “sanctuary” in Brussels. These were the days when we all thought the fear sweeping across the world seemed extreme. The virus did not appear to be as widespread as the flu. Why all the fuss? During the first lockdown, our focus was on figuring out the answer to the proverbial question, “should we stay or should we go?” In the end, the pandemic decided for us. With airlines temporarily shutting down any transatlantic transport of animals, we realized we were stuck in Europe with our three cats and big white husky. My husband would have been returning to work at a university in the southwest region of the United States. We came up with contingency plans for him to work remotely. When a postdoc position came through in France, we breathed a sigh of relief. We had been granted a temporary reprieve from returning to our home country, where the virus was sweeping across one state after another with a vengeance. At least in Europe we felt relatively safe. The government seemed to have things under control, and people were respecting the lockdown rules and regulations. At the time my husband was offered a position in France, the thought of a vaccine against the virus was a distant afterthought, a dreamy notion that was so far off in the future that I did not give it a lot of thought. Just motivating myself to go to the grocery store felt like an insurmountable obstacle. Thinking about a far-distant vaccine was surreal. As I moved in and out of each day in a kind of pandemic trance, I remember reading headline after headline about the slow march to a vaccine. Progress was being made. Vaccines had been made but not yet tested. A vaccine was showing promise. Vaccines were working but they had to be maintained at an ultra-cold temperature, which made shipping them around the world challenging, if not impossible. As I read the headlines, I also read article after article about the many different strains of the virus that were rippling around the globe. How could one vaccine possibly account for so many different variations on the virus theme? To say I felt hopeless would be an understatement. While my husband and I went through our own Mount Everest to get a temporary visa to move to France and then try to find a place to live, my attention was oriented to the trials of the immediate present. We settled into a small farmhouse in France and were just getting our bearings when France went into a second lockdown. A vaccine was still a dream. I remember reading about the “European strategy” unveiled by the European Commission back in June, 2020, when the commission president discussed the benefits and strength behind working together as a union. I found this hopeful while also experiencing a healthy dose of skepticism since my view of the European Union as an outsider looking in (and living in multiple EU countries) is that the countries that make up this union are not all that united. In our experience, the European Union has seemed a bit of an oxymoron. Each country seems to have different (sometimes wildly so) bureaucratic policies in place for everything from pandemic coping strategies to work visas to healthcare. While we wore masks in Brussels both inside of shops and walking around outdoors all summer, friends in the Netherlands told us that shops and restaurants were open and people were not wearing masks. When we went into a second lockdown in France in the fall, our friends in the Netherlands and Denmark were still going to shops and sending their kids to school. In talking with friends in Belgium, I noticed there were varied responses to the vaccine. Some were skeptical, talking about concerns over inadequate research and arguing that the entire development process had been hasty and rushed. There were questions about how much power and authority to grant Big Pharma and whether we could trust the government claims that vaccines were safe. Others had relatives who were anti-vaxxers. Most were pro-vaccine, however, and longing for life to return to normal. With 2021 well underway, normal has yet to show its mundane face. Where we live in northern France, we are now several days into our third lockdown. This was thanks to our location relative to Calais and Dunkirk, where the British variant had been arriving after making its way across the Channel. The United Kingdom may have left the EU, but this has not stopped the spread of the virus. While our family members and friends in the United States continued to send updates that they have gotten their first and second doses of the several iterations of vaccines over the past several months, we were still waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Nothing seemed to be happening, and we couldn’t figure out what was taking so long. Eventually, the answers became clearer. Even with the seeming discontinuities with the EU, the countries had come together to come to agreements on the price of vaccines to ensure equity across the region. The time it took to negotiate contracts with drug companies set the EU well behind the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel, which had spared no expense in purchasing vaccine doses and quickly taken the lead in their vaccination campaigns. There seems to be little hope that the EU will catch up with other countries or meet their original vaccination goals. Each week there are more roadblocks to normalcy. There was the blood clot scare that led to the halt of all AstraZeneca vaccinations across the EU, followed by the news that the company had selectively shared research results. The news headlines are grim, and each setback feels like a very real blow in an already sinking ship. With EU countries going into third lockdowns, one after another, and the even more dire state of less wealthy countries around the world with regard to vaccine rollouts, I find my spirits at an all-time low. I do my best to keep busy with creative projects and forays to the bakery and grocery store, but increased stress over transmission of the British variant weighs heavy. Each time my anxiety level rises, I walk around the farm fields that surround our home. With no end in sight for my own unanswered call to take flight, I try to take heart in the continued movement of life all around. Spring has finally arrived and with it a brief respite from the recent sweep of cold weather and high winds. Skylark and northern lapwings engage in dizzying aerial mating displays, and new flowers bloom each day. My daily walking record has already exceeded eight miles, and there are many miles ahead. Marieke Slovin Lewis is a writer, musician, composer, yoga teacher, and editor. She grew up in Massachusetts and holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Education from Prescott College. Marieke is a wandering soul and has lived all over the world. She currently finds herself in a third lockdown in northeast France with her husband, Richard Lewis, three cats and a big white husky. Marieke strives to create balance in her life through long walks around the farm fields that surround her home; practicing yoga and meditation; singing and strumming on her ukulele or banging on her bodhran; and writing, writing, writing.

The Insider: Congratulations on you and your wife finally getting appointments to be vaccinated! Just a few few questions before we talk about your vaccinations. How old are you and your wife? Craig Davis: I am 60 and she is 62. The Insider: And how many children and grandchildren do you have? Craig Davis: I have three sons and four grandchildren The Insider: How many years have you been married? Craig Davis: 40 years in August The Insider: Wonderful!! You must have been high school sweethearts! Craig Davis: I met her a year after high school. The Insider: Where in New York do you live? Craig Davis: We live in Queens Village. The Insider: Is that in Queens? Craig Davis: Yes The Insider: And what kind of work do you do? Craig Davis: I am a doorman in Manhattan The Insider: The big day is coming! Where and when are you both being vaccinated? Craig Davis: At a CVS Pharmacy in Queens on Wednesday. The Insider: How long have you been trying to get vaccination appointments? Craig Davis: A month. The Insider: And it was frustrating, right? Craig Davis: Yes I was getting upset about how it was being run. The Insider: How did you get started in this process? Craig Davis: I was looking at the news and my union called me about getting the vaccines. The Insider: So where did you try to get it first? Craig Davis: At Long Island Jewish Hospital, at York College, and at my son’s old high school in Queens. The Insider: Did you go on their websites, or did you call them? Craig Davis: Called and went on the websites. The Insider: And what happened? Craig Davis: They said there were no appointments and no vaccines. I spent hours on the phone. My wife almost died latest year from Covid-19. The Insider: Oh, no! When did she have Covid? Craig Davis: In March of last year. The Insider: Very, very early in the pandemic. Craig Davis: Yes The Insider: That must have been so frightening! No one knew much about it yet. Craig Davis: So I was worried about getting the vaccines. The Insider: Of course! Was she in the hospital? Craig Davis: No I took care of her in a room upstairs. I got checked out . I was fine so I took care of her by myself. I thank God she is fine today. The Insider: Yes! Did anyone else in your family get it? Craig Davis: No, thank God. The Insider: Did you have neighbors or friends who had it? Craig Davis: Some members of my church had it and passed away. The Insider: I’m sorry! There were also clergymen who died of it, right? Craig Davis: Yes The Insider: Did you know any of them? Craig Davis: Yes. The Insider: Young? Old? Craig Davis: Young and old The Insider: So sad! No wonder you were so eager to be vaccinated! You said that before you got your appointments, you were starting to get upset about how the process was being run. Could you please tell me more about that? Craig Davis: Just waiting on the phone for a long time, being told “I will call you back” and it didn’t happen. The Insider: Please tell me about the experiences of other people you know, friends and family. Are they having trouble finding vaccinations too? Craig Davis: Yes. They’re going through this as well. The Insider: In your neighborhood? Craig Davis: Yes and in the Bronx and Brooklyn. The Insider: Does it seem like other areas are having an easier time? Craig Davis: Yes. The Insider: Whose fault is that? Politicians? Craig Davis: On the news, they show you people get the vaccines, but they do not show you the people being turned away. The Insider: Do you think Biden is doing a better job taking care of this now? Craig Davis: Yes I do, but more is needed. People are dying.. I do not want people to go through what I went through. The Insider: Do you know any people who say they won’t get a vaccine? Craig Davis: Yes, I do The Insider: Young? Old? Craig Davis: Young black men and old white men. The Insider: What reasons do they give? Craig Davis: Because of fear. Of the past. The Insider: Fear of what? Of the vaccines themselves, or the medical system, or the government? Are you talking about Tuskegee? Craig Davis: Yes.. The Insider: I can understand that. But this is such a horrible disease. It’s too risky to be like that. Craig Davis: True, but it is out there. The Insider: A common attitude, do you think? Craig Davis: Yes, but it is a concern of mine. The Insider: But you’re going to take it anyway. Why? Craig Davis: Yes. I have a loving wife and grandchildren. I want to be with them and my sons. The Insider: Good reasons! How do you expect your lives to change after being vaccinated? Craig Davis: I don’t really. No, but I pray for the better. I missed my father’s homegoing service when he passed. It was in Florida. The Insider: That’s so sad! You couldn’t go because of the pandemic? Craig Davis: Yes. The Insider: Was there a funeral with a lot of people, or they couldn’t do that either? Craig Davis: No. a very small number of people. It was sad for all of us. The Insider: I’m sure! I know families in the same situation. They have only been able to get together by Zoom. Craig Davis: Yes The Insider: Would you go on a plane after being vaccinated? Or in a restaurant? Or is it still too risky? Craig Davis: I have been in restaurant. The Insider: Inside? Craig Davis: Yes. With my mask on. The Insider: It still makes me nervous. People are taking off their masks when they eat. Have you traveled during the pandemic? Craig Davis: No. The Insider: It’s hard to know what to do these days! I’m all set now. I’m glad you’re finally getting vaccinated, and that your family. Is healthy now! Craig Davis: Thanks very much!

By Alan Resnick I can’t recall if I knew much about Hunter Biden, President Biden’s youngest son, before the last presidential election. But then Donald Trump and his henchman, Rudy Giuliani, dragged Hunter into the spotlight, raising questions about his board membership with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas firm owned by a Ukrainian oligarch-politician. And being the sensitive, compassionate soul that he is, Trump also decided it was appropriate to make Hunter’s ongoing substance-abuse battles public. Hunter’s tell-all memoir, Beautiful Things, is being published this week (April 6), so I decided to embark on a digital search to learn more about Hunter, to ready myself for my copy of the book, now winging its way from Amazon. Based on what I’ve gleaned so far, calling Hunter a troubled soul is like describing the Grand Canyon as a pretty big hole in the ground. As NPR’s book reviewer put it: “the details at times make one feel exposed to something like degradation porn.” I completely understand the sentiment; I too felt in need of a hot shower after my reading project. Hunter’s story is one of both great pain and great privilege. Part of his saga is well known: Hunter, age 3, and his brother Beau, almost 4, were riding in a car with their mom, Nelia, and their 13-month-old sister, Naomi, to pick out a Christmas tree in 1972. Their car was broadsided by a tractor-trailer carrying corn cobs. Hunter’s mother and sister died in the horrific crash. Hunter says he remembers that Naomi was asleep in her bassinet and that he recalls the look in his mom’s eyes and her profile immediately before the accident. He also remembers waking up in a hospital bed next to his brother and Beau saying to him: “I love you. I love you. I love you.” In the prologue of his memoir, Hunter acknowledges that he is a recovering alcoholic and crack addict: “I’ve bought crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, D.C., and cooked up my own inside a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles. I’ve been so desperate for a drink that I couldn’t make the one-block walk between a liquor store and my apartment without uncapping the bottle to take a swig. . . . At one point I dropped clean off the grid, living in $59-a night Super 8 motels off I-95 while scaring my family even more than myself.” (As an added bonus for readers who are avid do-it-yourselfers, he provides step-by-step instructions for cooking powder cocaine into crack in the kitchen.) Hunter does not make excuses for his addiction, but describes a long-running feeling of alone in a crowd, which he says is almost universal among those with real addiction issues. Hunter bought his first rock of crack cocaine in a public square in downtown Washington, D.C. and admits, “I could drink five times as much as anyone.” Hunter discloses that a large part of his college years were spent drinking. He got to know his first wife, Kathleen Buhle, during the year he took off after completing his B.A. degree in history at Georgetown University in 1992. They met while Hunter was serving as a Jesuit volunteer at a church in Portland, Ore. Kathleen became pregnant after three months of dating, and they were married in July, 1993. Their first daughter, Naomi (named after Hunter’s deceased sister) was born that December. Hunter then enrolled in law school, graduating from Yale in 1996. So Hunter was married, had an infant daughter, and was attending law school while dealing with an alcohol and crack cocaine addiction. This is multitasking at its finest. Hunter and Kathleen had two more daughters and were married for 22 years. He began to visit rehab facilities while still in his early 30s, about 10 years into the union. Hunter describes checking into multiple celebrity treatment centers in both the U.S. and Mexico. Not surprisingly, Hunter’s substance abuse put a tremendous strain on his marriage. Meanwhile, the life of Hunter’s brother, Beau, was on a very different trajectory. Beau had served two terms as Delaware Attorney General, but he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013. The next year, with his cancer in remission, Beau announced his intention to run for governor of Delaware in the 2016 election. But in 2015, at age 46, the older son died after a battle with cancer, Back at Chez Hunter, Kathleen filed for divorce in December 2016 after a two-month separation. The court documents revealed that Hunter had entered into a romantic relationship with Hallie Olivere Biden, Beau’s widow. Hunter writes that the relationship began as a “shared-travails bond” that collapsed largely because of his addictive tendencies. No doubt, the public scrutiny this relationship faced didn’t help. The relationship ended in August 2017, even though Joe and Jill Biden had voiced their public support for it. Shortly afterwards, Hunter fathered a child with a woman he does not remember having met. The woman, Lunden Alexis Roberts, sued Biden for child support in an Arkansas court. A 2019 paternity test found with “scientific certainty” that Hunter was the child’s biological father. At least there appears to be a happy ending thus far in his personal life. Hunter was introduced to Melissa Cohen by a friend of hers in May, 2019. He says they proclaimed their love for each other on their first dinner date and were married six days later. (For purposes of comparison, I just picked up a picture that took two weeks to frame.) They have a son, Beau, named, of course, after his late older brother. Hunter credits Melissa with helping him break his cycle of addiction and rehab. Good news for them both and their son. Hunter’s business career has also had major trials and tribulations, to say the least. I thought I was well-connected back in the day when my father, who was an executive at a local grocery chain in the Detroit area, helped to snag me a summer job as a bagger in one of his stores, but this pales in comparison to Hunter. Hunter’s first job after law school was for MBNA America, a Delaware-based bank-holding company. As coincidence would have it, the firm was reported to be a major contributor to his father’s political campaigns. Hunter left WBNA America in 1998 to serve at the U. S. Department of Commerce, focusing on ecommerce policy for the Clinton Administration. In short order, Hunter then became a lobbyist, co-founding the Washington, D.C. firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair. The firm reportedly lobbied Hunter’s father’s office when Joe Biden was a senator, although Hunter Biden was not involved. Nonetheless, the relationship the firm had with Joe Biden certainly gave off a strong whiff of cronyism. Hunter was appointed to a five-year term on the board of directors of Amtrak by President George W. Bush in 2006. He resigned in 2009, shortly after his father became Vice President. Hunter’s lobbying activities also ended at this time. It is a little fuzzy to what extent this decision reflected his father’s election or his ongoing struggles with substance abuse. From 2013 to 2019, Hunter Biden served as a member of the board of the China-based equity fund BHR Partners, of which he acquired a 10% stake in 2017 at a discount. While Trump was accusing Hunter Biden of malfeasance in Ukraine, he also falsely claimed that Biden “walked out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund” and earned “millions” of dollars from the BHR deal. Biden announced his resignation from the board on October 13, 2019, citing the “barrage of false charges” by then-President Trump. But his participation on the board remains in question. And then there is the Fox News favorite, Burisma Holdings, which offered Hunter a board seat and compensation of at least $10,000 per month, even though Hunter had no special experience in gas or the political economics of Ukraine. Now, after being battered by public criticism from the GOP for years, Hunter acknowledges, “There’s no question my last name was a coveted credential. . . My response has always been to work harder so that my accomplishments stand on their own.” Hunter maintains, though, that neither he nor his father did anything illegal regarding Burisma Holdings, and that he vetted Burisma with a reputable U.S. law firm and helped them comply with United States and European Union demands for greater transparency. Hunter does admit, though, that if given the chance, he would not again agree to be a Burisma Holdings board member. Trump and his political cronies argued that the only reason Hunter was offered a board position was because his father pushed Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, because the prosecutor was investigating Burisma. But the then-Vice President’s actions were in concert with U.S. policy looking to root out corruption in foreign governments. This, of course, was at the heart of Trump’s first impeachment, when he attempted to get Ukraine’s president to investigate both Joe and Hunter Biden by holding off providing $391 million in military aid. (Remember “Quid pro quo”?). So, Hunter Biden is out of the woods both personally and legally–almost. Although he makes no mention of it in his memoir, Hunter’s involvement as a board member with BHR Partners is the subject of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into his tax affairs. Federal prosecutors are attempting to determine if Hunter failed to report income from China while on the BHR board from 2013 to 2019. It's also been reported that the Justice Department has subpoenaed documents pertaining to his involvement with Burisma Holdings as part of this investigation. Hunter’s last comment on the subject was in December, 2020: “I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers." Stay tuned. Personally, I hope Hunter is right. Being the son of a supermarket executive has been hard, but nowhere as challenging as being the son of a Vice President-turned-President and the younger brother of a rising star in the Democratic party . 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.

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 Naomi Serviss When I was a student at Shoemaker Elementary in Elkins Park, a tony Philadelphia suburb, I walked home. I ambled past Victorians and stately mansions bordered by thick hedgerows. Lush, weedless, verdant lawns. Untrodden, like private arboretums. Forsythia led the way down Montgomery Avenue. Honeysuckle sweetened my tongue. I was a conscientious observer. My observational skills have anguished this past year. Quarantine has made me cranky and antsy. Lockdown sucks the oxygen from our 750-square-foot, one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Next door, construction ramps up at 7 a.m. sharp. A symphonic cacophony murders our peace. Deafening airhorns, sirens and drills seed my migraines. Daily I flee the suffocating space and incessant din. Exiting the prewar, past-its-glory building, I doggedly approach Central Park a half block away. My pre-surgery pace was New York-fast. Post-surgery I baby-step on high alert for sidewalk defects. The park is my sanctuary, sacred and constant. Fellow Upper West Siders gather. They unleash their hounds giddy with freedom. My bad mood lifts. Frenchies and pugs race around like unhinged lunatics. Hip-replacement surgery put the kibosh on my long walks. Before surgery and Covid, I clocked a daily mile. Free-range park dogs lift my quarantine blues. Some adore being petted. I’m happy to oblige. When I began photographing dogs, their humans were New York-suspicious. They defrosted as their dogs greeted me warmly in recognition. Frenchies, Maltese, mini and standard poodles, corgis, terriers, goldens and labs chase yellow tennis balls. They pause to snack on vegan cookies. I snap iPhone photos with owners’ permission. Barry, a majestic Bernese Mountain dog tapped my heart. I met Jagger, a Bernese puppy, when he was eight weeks old. He refused to take the steps near the Hippo Playground. Tan and black pugs play keep-away with a squeaky blue rubber bone. Masked humans swap vet woes, sipping from “Happy to Serve You” cups. Blue and brown-eyed Aussies, shepherds, Maltese, goldens, labs, Great Danes, collies, corgis and greyhounds cavort. They bring me unquarantined joy, a respite from isolation. Dogs were not of my childhood landscape. My chaotic childhood was graced by a motley bunch of freelance felines. Toots, Sharkey, Tulip, Murray, Jason and Pookie passed through. Temporary kittens were discarded like loser bingo cards. A black kitten was dropped from a third-floor window onto the concrete slab below. I was an unmoored, unsupervised child. The youngest of five. I roamed Elkins Park neighborhoods unleashed. A beckoning creek ignited curiosity when hopelessness crushed my tender dreams. Towering weeping willows delivered temporary reprieve from dysfunction. So I recall innocent days exploring safe-to-wander neighborhoods. A creek down the hill from Ogontz Junior High thrummed with paramecium. Weeping willow tree whispered in the wind. Sheltering me from harm. I was 10, brimming with escape fantasy and rescue. Now Central Park comforts me with four-legged blessings. Barry parks his furry bulk against my good leg. Jagger at 14 weeks is a fluffy brown, black and white furball. He’s no longer afraid of the Hippo Playground steps. Zeno, Mia, Tilly, Fifa, Ollie, Stevie, Ozzy, Lily, Oscar, Ruby, Evie, George, Don Corleone, Hercules and Apollo are regulars. These lovely creatures mend my spirit as my body heals. But none compare to Maggie, a discarded Rhodesian Ridgeback we rescued from a Long Island pound. Dagmar had been scribbled on her intake card. She was no Dagmar. Maggie graced our lives for 15 years. Emmy and Ben thrived with her constant loyal companionship. She loved us all unconditionally. I have her collar still. 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

By Pernel Berkeley For the past year, my creative process has altered in quite substantial ways. The fact that I am no longer working as a substitute teacher in the local schools has created an enormous change in my routine of many years.  I was suddenly free to experience uninterrupted work time in my studio. There were no distractions of any sort.  Weekend trips to New York City to look at art and see friends completely ended, of course. What remained was my painting, and it has completely absorbed me. I work with intensity for the better part of every day. A large group of paintings has accrued. Recently, a completely new idea came to me in the form of collages created from old drawings.  I had never thought in terms of black and white and shades of gray other than as notes for a painting. I pursued this idea for several weeks with great excitement. This experience has enriched my painting and I am now involved in a new series that integrates the images I created in the collages. A fairly large obstacle I had to overcome in the past year, though, was that I could no longer rely on outside assistance with the carpentry necessary to execute the shaped wooden panels that compose my sculptural paintings.  I have been forced to learn how to use a jigsaw, a saw with a slender blade used to cut curves, if I wanted to keep working. Necessity was truly the mother of my inventions. I haven't suffered any major bodily harm yet. It is gratifying to acquire a skill you didn't imagine to be in your repertoire. There are frustrations with the limitations to my "skill,” but I'm working to overcome them. The limitations imposed by the pandemic on me have only occasionally been mourned as deprivation. I miss my friends and going to museums, but the creative return for me has been very rewarding. We can find inner reserves when we are forced to rely upon ourselves. I think many of us have made discoveries about our priorities, expanded our intellectual pursuits and formulated revised thoughts about the future. There are some advantages to being part of the older population, no longer responsible for children or parents. Of course, what I have been speaking about is coming from the vantage point of that phase of life. I have recently had my second shot and I look forward to returning to some semblance of “normal" life, but I know I will make permanent my work ethic of the past year. Pernel Berkeley attended Bennington College and graduated from the School of Visual Arts. She can be found every day in her studio with a pencil or paint brush in hand, listening to Tom Petty.

By Victoria Rolfe Well, it’s here! Spring! A season of gladness and hope for gardeners everywhere. Seed planting time! There is nothing so wondrous as taking a little piece of seemingly inert nothing and watching it grow into a glorious, bountiful living thing that will provide delicious nourishment and beauty for the body and soul. Throughout this gardening season, I will be devoting this space to tips for growing your own food or creating a lovely flower garden to enjoy, in a timely manner as the growing season progresses. Anyone with access to the smallest plot (or even a patio for plant pots) should be able to grow an assortment of summer vegetables, herbs, and beautiful flowers to enjoy, for no more than the amount of money some people spend on coffee. I know it can be tempting, when bitten by the garden bug, to go out and dig up a big ol’ plot of land or buy cartfuls of plants and seeds and bulbs. But I would caution you to start small with what you can comfortably handle and enjoy. That way, you are more likely to be successful. You can always expand your activities as the years go by and you become more knowledgeable and experienced. Early spring is a time for seed planting. Most seeds can be started directly in the garden in the spring, but there are a few vegetables that require a much longer growing season. Others will not tolerate our cool spring climate. They must be started indoors during the winter and early spring and then be transplanted into the garden, when the weather and soil warm up in late spring to early summer. Some vegetable seeds you’ll need to start indoors are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and certain herbs, such as basil. And some gardeners like to give some of their other crops an early start too (cabbages and melons to name a few). There are flowers that can benefit from this head start as well, such as zinnias, marigolds, nasturtiums, and sunflowers. But it is generally easier to either plant the seeds directly outdoors when the time comes, or buy them as plant starts in the garden centers. In fact, it is not strictly necessary to plant any seeds indoors if you don’t want to. The plants that need this head start can all be purchased when the time comes at the garden centers. But if you do want to start your own seeds (to save some money, or just for fun), here is a quick primer: So, how do you know which ones to plant when? There is a very easy way to determine this and it is right at your fingertips. You simply have to read the backs of the seed packages! Those tiny rectangles are chock-full of all the handy information you will need to plant that seed. The first thing to look at is “maturity” or “days to harvest.” This number will let you know if a seed can be grown directly outdoors. Our growing season here in (planting) Zone 5, New York, is approximately 165 days. If this number is larger (as it is on the above mentioned vegetables), then it must be started indoors to grow in a climate like the Northeast. (If you live in a different area, you can easily google your planting zone by zip code to know how long your growing season is.) That little packet will also tell you how deep to plant the seeds, days until they germinate, how far to space them, what their mature size will be, and provide information about when to move them outdoors and what kind of growing conditions they prefer. So don’t throw away those informative packets! To get started, all you need are some containers, plastic bags, and twist ties. Use empty yogurt cartons, the bottoms of cardboard beverage cartons, Dixie cups . . . the possibilities are endless (I save cell packs and pots from plants I buy to reuse.) Wash them out thoroughly before you start (a 10% bleach solution is recommended to sterilize them) and poke a few holes in the bottom. You can, of course, go out and buy whole seed-starting kits in nurseries if you prefer, but it is totally unnecessary to spend that kind of money. It is, however, imperative that you purchase a sterile soilless seed starting medium, rather than using potting or gardening soil. This helps to eliminate diseases and fungi that can kill your tender seedlings. Moisten it in a bowl to the consistency of a damp sponge, then fill your plant containers. Plant 2-4 seeds in each container at the recommended depth, tamp down lightly, and place in a plastic bag with a twist tie. Make sure you label each container with the type of seed and date. Do not overplant! You don’t want your tender babies overcrowded. Another reason to save those packets is that you probably won’t need all the seeds in a packet for one year. Save them for future use in a cool dry place. (I keep mine in a Tupperware container in the back of the fridge. After they are planted, put them in a warm place. I usually place mine on the heat vents. Watch carefully day to day, as they need light as soon as they sprout. Once they do, place them in a sunny window (south or east is best). No need for grow lights just yet. You can “spring” for those later. I grew seeds indoors this way for at least 20 years, until my husband bought me grow lights for Christmas a few years ago. If your plants are on a windowsill, turn them every day so they do not bend in one direction toward the sun. That is the advantage of grow lights: plants grow straight up to the light. But it is certainly not necessary to have them. You can keep your seedlings in the plastic bags for now. No need to water them while they are in their little bag “greenhouses.” When they outgrow the bags, you will need to take them out, place the containers in a waterproof tray (I mostly use recycled aluminum lasagna trays; when they become dry, water them from the bottom, directly into the lasagna pan. Only fill it ½ inch or so, and do not flood the tray. Do not water from the top onto the plants. Do not overwater. Let the soil get fairly dry between watering. Then enjoy watching your little babies spring to life Their first leaves (called cotyledons) will not look like the mama plant, but the next set of (true) leaves will. And it is such joy to delight in watching your little seedlings grow sturdier, healthier and more beautiful with each passing day. And, miraculously, all from that little piece of inert nothing! That’s all you need to know for now. Next time, we will get outside and play in the dirt! And I will continue to guide you as we go forth on our journey into the wonderfully rich world of gardening. I would love to hear from you, dear readers, about your own garden experiences. Have you ever grown seeds in the past, or is this your first experiment? (And, yes, gardening is always an experiment.) Let me know how it goes for you and feel free to ask me any questions that you may have. 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 Bonnie Fishman Nothing says “welcome home” more than a steaming bowl of chicken soup. It’s like being wrapped up in a warm blanket when you have a chill. The aroma fills the whole house. The kitchen windows are fogged, the dogs are standing at your feet when you’re cleaning the cooked chicken, the table is set with large bowls waiting for happy guests. When we lived in Michigan, whenever my kids or other family members would return to visit, as they arrived straight from the airport, I ladled out some love. I looked forward to nurturing them as much as they enjoyed being nurtured. Add a great loaf of bread–perfection! This deep connection you feel when filling a bowl with warm deliciousness and serving it to those you love and care for is applicable in many situations, especially during the pandemic. You’re having a hard day? Eat soup. You’re sick of being cooped up? Eat soup. You’re feeling a little under the weather? Eat soup. My chicken soup is really chicken in a pot. The difference? I don’t just use the chicken to flavor the broth. This chicken is not skipping through the water. It’s actually being cooked in the water with the vegetables to form a homogeneous flavored broth. The chicken meat becomes an integral part of the dish and there’s loads of it. I almost always begin my soup with the triumvirate: carrots, celery, onions. In French, the mirepoix. Where you go from there can vary. I began adding parsnip to my chicken in the pot about 10 years ago. It creates a great depth of flavor along with a subtle sweetness. Some people add parsley root or celery root, but I’ve never felt the need to do so. Be forewarned: there is nothing worse than having a thin slime of fat floating on top of the soup. It is unappealing to look at and creates an icky “mouth feel.” There are two ways to avoid this. The easiest and most popular method is to make your soup the day before. In the recipe, take the steps through removing the chicken from the bones and putting it back in the soup. Stop there. The next day, scrape the solidified chicken fat off the top and discard. Then bring the soup to a boil, cover, and turn down to a simmer. Add the matzo balls. After 15 minutes, add the noodles. Cook 5-7 minutes more. Season well with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the parsley. The second method is what I do most often. Unfortunately, it requires you to skin the chicken while it’s raw, a most unpleasant task. I dread this step. Glove up! Most of the fat is in the skin, so by removing it before you get started, you can serve it the same day. I take a sharp boning or paring knife to the chicken breast and just wail away. It’s not pretty but hey, I get great results! Chicken in a Pot with Matzo Balls Yield: 8-10 servings 1 4-5 lb. roasting chicken, skin removed 1 large or 2 medium onions, cut into 1” dice 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2” rounds 2 large celery stalks cut into 1/2” dice 12 oz. parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2” dice 1 gallon water 2 bay leaves 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves 1 Tbs. salt 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper 6 oz. fine soup egg noodles 1/2 c. chopped parsley Matzo Balls Yield: 18 3 eggs 3 Tbs. oil 3/4 c. matzo meal 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper Put in a large pot along with the vegetables, water, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 1 1/4 hours. Meanwhile, prepare the matzo balls: In a mixing bowl and using a fork, scramble together the eggs and oil. Blend in the matzo meal, salt, and pepper. Stir until just combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Using damp hands, gently form the batter into 18 1-inch diameter balls. Try not to overwork, pat, or squeeze the dough, because it will make the matzo balls tough and dense. Keep refrigerated until ready to cook. Remove the chicken from the pot. When cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones, breaking up larger pieces. Return it to the soup. Add the salt, pepper, and the matzo balls. Cover the pot. Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Add noodles and cook for 5-7 more minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle with parsley. 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 Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. So here we go again. The mass shootings in Atlanta (8 dead) and Boulder (10 dead) this month were no more nor less shocking than all those that preceded them. They are only more recent. And we are hearing all the usual lines from the usual suspects. The NRA immediately quoted the Second Amendment. The Colorado State Shooting Association argued that “emotional sensationalism” about gun laws will cloud remembrance of the victims, and put out the statement: “There will be a time for the debate on gun laws. But today is not the time.” The cartoonish Texas Senator Ted Cruz has decried the effort to regulate firearms as post-massacre “theater.” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, metaphorically wringing his hands, said he hoped something could be done about “what has happened in the last few days,” but that “we ought to keep this in perspective.” This time, however, despite the belittling by those who oppose gun control, there seems to be a greater will to action. Something has coalesced between the psyche of the public and that of federal legislators who actually want solutions. A movement built over decades—from the early days of Brady Bill advocates, to Gabby Gifford’s Americans for Responsible Solutions, to the activism by survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., in 2018—may finally see its efforts bring some legislative sanity. When the House of Representatives passed a bill extending background checks last year, of course, Mitch McConnell blocked it in the Senate. But this year, the House quickly passed very similar legislation. Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer—not McConnell—is now running the Senate. And President Biden not only has called on the Senate to pass the House bill, but has also called for reinstatement of the 10-year assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, as well as a ban on high capacity magazines. (A high capacity firearms magazine is one capable of holding more than 10 or 15 rounds of ammunition.) In addition, the same day the House passed its bills, California Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced one in the Senate to renew the expired assault weapons ban. For now, though, the Senate Democratic leadership is putting its energies toward passage of the House bills. The House Bills On March 11, the House passed two gun control bills: (1) the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021(H.R. 8), which would expand background checks; and (2) the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 (H.R. 1446), which would give law enforcement more time to screen gun buyers. Currently, federal law only requires background checks for purchases from licensed firearms dealers. H.R. 8 would extend that requirement to private sales or transfers, including those at gun shows and online. Anyone who does not have a license would have to sell through licensed firearms dealers, who would run the necessary checks for them. H.R. 1446 would extend the FBI’s period to conduct a background check from three to 10 business days. This would close the so-called “Charleston loophole,” a gap in federal law that has allowed gun sales to proceed if a background check has not been completed in the current three-business day period. In 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof was able to buy the gun with which he killed nine Black people during a Bible study session at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston because his background check was not wrapped up in three days. For anyone who is a law-abiding citizen, the delay contemplated by these House bills would be, at most, an inconvenience—well worth it when weighed against the threat to public safety. What will the Senate do? Predictably, Republican response to the shootings and opposition to the House bills runs the gamut from deflection to absurdity. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, Cruz decried the consideration of legislation after the Atlanta and Boulder shootings, saying: “Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders.” Never mind that the hearing had been scheduled before the Atlanta and Boulder shootings occurred. And never mind that Cruz’s committee performance was a textbook example of theatrical humbug. Louisiana Senator Kennedy has idiotically tried to equate gun violence with drunk driving, arguing that “the answer is not to get rid of all sober drivers. The answer is to concentrate on the problem.” This comparison is utterly brainless on all counts. First, if Kennedy ever bothered to read the House bills, he would find they “concentrate on the problem” by providing some sensible, life-saving rules for future firearms purchases. Neither bill provides for “getting rid” of anyone’s guns. And second, we not only take away drunk drivers’ licenses, but we require all drivers to obtain licenses, and to take driving tests to get them. We also regulate the rules of the road—nationally. So Kennedy has unwittingly—or perhaps one should say, half-wittedly—made the case for federal firearms regulation. Although these GOP antics are transparently inane, GOP opposition will still likely be unanimous. This leaves Senate Democrats with two serious obstacles: the need for 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster preventing any vote on the bills; and the need for a 51-vote majority to pass them. To achieve the needed 60 votes ending a filibuster, 10 Republicans would have to vote with the Democrats. Finding 10 amendable Republicans is unimaginable. But Majority Leader Schumer does not intend to let the GOP use a filibuster to silently and anonymously obstruct. To force Republicans to go on the record before the public, Schumer has pledged, “H.R. 8 will be on the floor of the Senate, and we will see where everybody stands. No more hopes and prayers.” If Democrats manage to eliminate the Senate’s filibuster rule, they will still need every Democratic vote to pass the House bills. And at the moment, West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin opposes them. He concedes there should be background checks for commercial transactions but insists he doesn’t want checks on transfers of firearms between people who know one another. Manchin explains, “I come from a gun culture, and I’m a law-abiding gun owner who would do the right thing. You have to assume we will do the right thing. Give me a chance to.” He also has said, “Commercial, you don’t know a person. If I know a person, no.” Manchin is either stubbornly myopic or he is not being upfront about his real objection, because the House legislation contains exceptions for loans, gifts between family members, and temporary transfers to people in situations of self-defense or at a shooting range. Furthermore, not all private sales will be between people who know each other. And even if someone is an acquaintance, whether you really “know” them depends on how perceptive you are. How many astonished neighbors have called serial killers nice quiet people who never made trouble? Manchin claims to want a narrower measure like the bipartisan legislation he and Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey introduced in 2013—a compromise bill that failed to pass the Senate. Conveniently, just before the current 2021 House bills arrived at the Senate, Manchin and Toomey joined a bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers—five Democrats and five Republicans—to reintroduce a defunct 2018 Senate bill “to help make our communities safer by better enforcing existing gun laws and responding to warning signs of criminal behavior.” Toomey has acknowledged that passing this through a 50-50 Senate “is going to be difficult” but that there are “discussions under way.” One can’t help wondering whether the formation of this Gang of 10 was a last minute preemptive move in just another effort to water down the House requirements before killing gun regulation yet again. But President Biden is not waiting for the Senate to overcome opposition. The Administration is taking steps on two tracks: pushing for the legislation, but also exploring possible executive actions to address gun violence until Congress passes legislation providing a more permanent solution. In addition, gun control advocates are determined to make the issue a factor in the 2022 midterms. Brian Lemek, executive director of the Brady PAC says, "Between now and 2022, Brady PAC will make sure every voter knows and doesn't forget who did and did not vote for this lifesaving piece of legislation that 90% of Americans support." For the Democrats to pass sane firearms legislation will require a change in the filibuster rule and a larger Senate majority. Those are tall orders. But with passage of the background check bills in the House, and President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and gun control advocates coming at the problem simultaneously, there is finally some hope that we will soon be able to stop asking the question like a ritual after each mass murder: “If not now, when?” 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 Naomi Serviss Broadway and Off-Broadway productions have been shuttered at least until May. Last year, on March 12, I had tickets for Six, a fresh Broadway musical. A smash in London, Six premiered in Boston to raves. My pandemic-induced disappointment in its cancellation paled in comparison to the devastation felt throughout the theater community. One day Broadway will rebound, forever transformed. But for now, the theater is really dead, paraphrasing a Simon & Garfunkel lyric. The last show I attended was The Sound Inside, starring Mary-Louise Parker in a gut-punch performance. Thrilling, mysterious, heartbreaking and funny, that production still haunts my dreams. I’ve contributed to BroadwayWorld.com for more than seven years. I’ve interviewed the famous and the near-famous. I’ve listened to acclaimed playwrights, actors choreographers, directors, costume, make-up and hair designers. My son Ben and I met Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Two hours zoomed by when I interviewed Idina Menzel in her dressing room after a Rent matinee. My daughter Emmy and I met Jonathan Larson’s father at a party honoring his late son. Danny Burstein, whose comic timing and nuanced acting has no equal, shared his love of family with me. I had the divine pleasure of discussing Seven Guitars with August Wilson. Chatted with Jekyll & Hyde’s Robert Cuccioli and rode on an elevator with Patti LuPone. August Wilson’s eviscerating Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom broke my heart in 2013. I interviewed director Kenny Leon when it was staged at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in Lower Manhattan. WNYC and WQXR helped make that production happen. Marion McClinton, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Ebony Jo-Ann transported audiences as they bared the music industry’s racism. It’s a fun gig. These days Broadway is reflected only in my rearview mirror. But don’t cry for me, Argentina. I have signed Playbills and photos. I have videos of my kids acting out Gypsy and Miss Saigon. Emmy will launch into Hamilton tunes if I ask nicely. The plucky Irish Repertory Theatre rolled out virtual productions of storied plays and musicals. Emmy and I watched Meet Me in St. Louis virtually together. Still, I pine for live theater, as I suspect you do, too. I don’t miss subway schlepping or loud audience coughers or self-centered candy unwrappers. The torturous seats and inflated concession prices are not fondly recalled. Do I have to even bring up the restrooms? I peruse photos of Ben on stage of Beauty and the Beast, Terrence Mann in full makeup. Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday, Natasha Richardson in Cabaret. Ben and I sat at an onstage table during Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. We were blown away by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. We rode a freight elevator to catch Aasif Mandvi’s modestly brilliant Sakina’s Restaurant. And were awed by Ben Platt’s breakout performance in Dear Evan Hanson. Michael Cerveris in Tommy was astonishing. His Fun Home performance was heartbreaking. Perhaps I shouldn’t have taken the kids to Tokyo Shock Boys, which I will refrain from explaining. Months from now, theater lovers will cautiously inch back to Midtown, masked and distanced. Half-price tickets will beckon, Playbills will be thumbed through and restaurants will dangle pre-theater deals. And with a little bit of luck, Emmy and I will sit side by side in less uncomfortable seats, squeeze each other’s hands and watch Six take center stage. The author and her family, in their travels through the Broadway community 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

Opinion by Jeffrey D. Sachs | CNN.com March 31, 2021 Editor's Note: Jeffrey Sachs is a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His most recent book is "The Ages of Globalization" (Columbia University Press, 2020). The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author; view more opinion on CNN (CNN) - President Joe Biden has delivered on his promise to follow his Covid relief bill with a long-term recovery plan. His new American Jobs Plan is a comprehensive, well-targeted and timely approach to America's many long-term economic ills, responding powerfully to 40 years of federal neglect. Many conservatives will object, but their relentless naysaying has been the primary reason for America's growing crises of inequality, precarious work and environmental disasters. Biden's plan is built around the idea of sustainable development: an economy that is prosperous, fair and environmentally conscious. It does so by funding upgrades to education, advances in digital technology, renewable energy and our transportation infrastructure. And the plan goes back to the basics -- echoing the boldness of past federal projects as varied as the Tennessee Valley Authority, the federal interstate highway system and the creation of the internet. The breadth of the Biden infrastructure program is impressive and well designed, including electrified transport, safe drinking water and high-speed broadband for all Americans. These investments are combined with modernizing homes, commercial buildings, schools, hospitals and federal buildings. The plan includes two additional pillars: research and development funding to put the US back in the lead on cutting-edge green and digital technologies; and a nationwide industrial policy to ensure that all parts of the nation share in the green and digital boom. In short, this is a jobs program for all regions, not just for today's high-tech coasts. The logic of such an ambitious plan is simple -- public investment in these critical areas of growth will help build a more prosperous, equitable and greener future. And yet, despite this reality, the federal government has failed to pass a massive infrastructure package on this scale for decades. The main reason? A combination of financial oligarchy and racism. These two political forces may seem disconnected, but they are not. Tax cuts and small government have served both the wealthiest Americans and the racists who rejected the federal enforcement of 1960s civil rights legislation in areas ranging from environmental justice to quality education for all. Together, they've been part of the base of the Republican Party since the 1980 election of former President Ronald Reagan. Biden and a majority of Americans get this point, in part because former President Donald Trump made it so vivid in his four years of corporate tax cuts, despoilation of the environment, brazen neglect of crumbling infrastructure (despite his repeated promises to the contrary), attacks on public education and, of course, his loathsome racism. The Biden plan aims to spend an additional 1% of GDP per year over the next eight years -- a total of roughly $2 trillion -- to be paid for by long-overdue taxation on corporate America, comprised of the country's leading financial oligarchs. The list of proposed tax measures is so obvious, so basic and so right, that it's a wonder how corporate America has evaded them for so long. In the Biden proposal, the corporate tax rate would be raised from 21%, set by the 2017 Trump tax cuts, to 28% percent. Crucially, the plan also commits the Biden administration to work with other countries to implement corporate minimum taxes everywhere, and to prevent companies with management and operations in the US from artificially declaring their tax residence in a tax haven. These steps are bolstered by the promise to restore tax enforcement by the IRS, after years of dire IRS underfunding that led the agency to cut back sharply on corporate audits. It's no accident that Biden launched the plan today in Pittsburgh. Western Pennsylvania straddles the old declining economy of fossil-fuel-based industry and the rising 21st Century economy of artificial intelligence, robotics, low-carbon steel and renewable energy -- with major innovations coming out of Pittsburgh's top universities and its leading local companies. As the White House has explained, currently "half the jobs in our high growth, high wage sectors are concentrated in just 41 counties" -- out of over 3,100 counties in the country. The Biden plan will fundamentally change that arithmetic, by creating a new "social infrastructure to support innovation and productivity across the nation." This is a plan for all Americans in all parts of the country. The time has come to build America's future. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/31/opinions/biden-ambitious-jobs-plan-sachs/index.html