By Sienna Beck / New York City On May 9, I went with my class to a captivating museum exhibit in Industry City in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Museum of Failure (MOX) is by far the most unusual but intelligent museum I’ve ever been to. Many museums tell us about inventions that have worked out, but none of our incredible technologies and inventions would be here today without failure. This museum is dedicated to all of the failed inventions to remind us that even the most successful companies and inventors had failures along the way. All around the museum are quotes from famous inventors and successful people talking about how failures were necessary for their successes. Now let’s talk about some of these failures! Take the Hula Chair. It was the most hilarious spinning chair to strengthen your abs while working! When you sat on it, you could control the intensity, speed and twistiness of the chair. When I tested it out, I put it on the highest setting, but I cannot imagine working like that! Imagine typing on a computer while your torso is being twisted left and right. Office chair? Out of the question. But maybe for fun! I still feel the spinning sensation in my waist from the Hula Chair! Next to the Hula Chair is the wall of rejected Oreos. (The wall that made me incredibly hungry at 10:15 a.m after a huge breakfast!) It made me sad to see that so many Oreo flavors failed! Ninety-nine out of 100 of the flavors sounded appealing to me: the Fruit Punch Oreo, the Brookie Oreo, the Dark Chocolate Oreo… What was the Coolest Cooler? It was an orange cooler that had a blender on one flap and silverware and plates on the other flap, a stereo that played music, and a lot of space for food. The only reason it failed was because they couldn’t make enough of them! LOOK OUT, Coolest Cooler company! As soon as they’re back in stock, I’m buying a million! Have you heard of the Growing Up Skipper Barbie doll? When you twisted her left arm backward, her breasts grew and she grew an inch taller. As you might imagine, many people thought it was sexist and inappropriate. So, Mattel stopped production. What about a glowing hockey puck called Foxtrax? The point of the glowing puck was to make it easier for television watchers to follow the puck during televised games, but all it did was annoy the spectators who thought the glowing puck looked cartoonish. Or the BIC for Her pens that were supposed to help females have better “smooth, trendy handwriting” (yeah, right) but it failed because why would females need special pens? The pens were made fun of for a long time because of the foolish idea. Little Miss No Name was hands-down creepy. Dressed in rags with blonde hair and brown eyes, Little Miss No Name was the opposite of glamorous. Her sad, tearful eyes seemed to be following you wherever you were standing! I would definitely call that a failure, and a creepy one, too. After seeing other people’s failures, it’s time for visitors to think about their own failures at the Wall of Failure. Using Sharpies, museum-goers write their own failures on Post-its and put them on a crowded wall of personal failures. After adding their own, many visitors then browsed the other Post-its to see which others applied to them. My takeaways from the museum are that 1) It is okay to make failures, and even successful people and companies fail; 2) Not all failures are colossal ones; and 3) It is the best museum ever. I loved it so much, I brought my family back over Memorial Day Weekend. Unfortunately, time is running out to hit the exhibit! It closes on June 18. I love it so much I would go every day until it closes. I would definitely recommend a visit. When you break for lunch, Industry City has all sorts of other cool stuff to see, too! But if you don’t make it to MOX on time, follow it to its next location: Washington D.C.! Sienna Beck is a future author. She would like to become president when she is older. She lives in New York City (the best city in the world!) and spends her days ping-ponging between her two sisters, Willa and Olive.

Fred Plotkin, a pleasure activist and passionate Italy and culinary expert, speaks each Friday with leading people in the arts 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 Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area You all know that adage, “Sow your wild oats." It was first intended to tell a young man to have some sexual dalliances before he settled down. The phrase originated back in the 1500s in England, and sounds rather musty in modern times. But the literal meaning of sowing wild oats has been happening here in California since April and will continue through June. Wild oats abound in empty fields, boulevards, neighbors’ yards, and just about everywhere they want to go. Wild oats are eaten by human beings when ground into flour. They are usually mixed in with bales of alfalfa and other grasses for horses and other domesticated animals. Deer and many bird species also feed on wild oats. A field of wild oats is quite beautiful and I’m forever admiring the golden color of oat stalks waving in the breeze. The problem with this plant, however, is that it is very invasive to other crops, such as wheat. Old-fashioned or rolled oats are eaten by many Americans. Still, though oats are very nutritious, only about three pounds of oats per capita are eaten in this country. Denmark, on the other hand consumes three times more than we eat. Oats are mostly grown in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin or they are imported from Canada and a few European nations. Oats are synonymous with the brand Quaker Oats, which has the largest oat milling plant in the world, located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Eating a hot, steamy bowl of oatmeal really warms your insides. I have fond memories of consuming them most of my life. I remember at summer camp, there was always this large beat-up aluminum pot of it on the stovetop for campers as an alternative to cold cereal or the occasional egg breakfast. My favorite part was eating the lumps. Cora, our cook, wasn’t the best at making smooth porridge. Because the pot bottom was so thin, she had a tendency to scorch it on occasion! In grade school, it was the BEST breakfast before going out in the snow to play or trudge to school. Back in the day, my mom always made it on top of the stove. With the advent of the microwave, I have moved into the 21st century by zapping my cereal. I usually use 2 parts water to 1 part oats. I prefer rolled oats, as they have the most texture next to steel-cut. Quick cooking oats are processed thinner and require last water. Instant oats are thinner yet, and quite frankly, I don’t find them very appealing. An observation of mine at my gourmet food shop was how some of the staff ate oatmeal. We never had less than a 50 lb. bag on the rack, so mind you, oats were widely available. But two of my chefs repeatedly brought in those puny bags of instant oats, preferring that over the real deal. Harrumph! When we drove across the country from Michigan to California twice a year for eight years, I always packed my own oats. The motels had microwaves and bags of flavored instant oats which tasted awful. I much preferred real rolled oats. Eating the oatmeal along with some fresh fruit carried me all the way to a lunch spot, avoiding a fast-food breakfast. I would be remiss to discuss oats and not talk about Cheerios, the first oat cereal, created back in 1941 by General Mills. It has graced tables worldwide for decades. Over the years, General Mills has developed many iterations of Cheerios, different flavors and other grains thrown in. Who hasn’t given them to little kids as a great finger-food snack? Cheerios are healthy and easy to pick up by baby or toddler hands. I’ve even used them as a training tool for my dogs. I’ve never seen a dog get so excited for a reward as small as a Cheerio. I can’t imagine what they’d do for a hamburger! Full disclosure: I like my Cheerios soggy. I like all cold cereals soggy. There, I said it. Is that a travesty? I also eat mine with bananas first choice, blueberries second. Let’s not forget to discuss the versatility of rolled oats in baking. It is a staple in my pantry. Streusel topping on a fruit crisp is more appealing with oats mixed in. Oatmeal raisin cookies are a national treasure. After chocolate chip cookies, our “oaties” at my bakery were second in popularity. Quick breads and yeast breads, cookies, and power bars–these are terrific uses for oats. An oat porridge can also be served savory with cooked greens, topped with a poached egg. In the past several years, there’s been a push to make overnight oats. That’s when you assemble your rolled oats, milk, yogurt, fresh fruit, dried fruits, sweetener, peanut butter, Nutella and/or nuts in a jar. Leave it overnight in the fridge and in the morning, you can microwave it or eat it cold. It’s great for a healthy, filling on-the-go breakfast. Today, I’m offering a recipe for breakfast or brunch created in a different way. It is Oatmeal Pudding, made in a casserole. It’s a great dish for company or to make a batch, keep in the fridge, and microwave in the morning. I’m putting dried cherries in, but feel free to add any dried fruits or nuts. I’m also topping it with a fruit compote as a nice contrast to the texture and flavor of the pudding. Tell us here at The Insider if you have fond memories of eating hot oatmeal and what you like to put in it. Make sure there are no lumps! Oatmeal Pudding Squares with Fresh Fruit Compote Yield: 9-12 servings 3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats 1 qt. milk 1 qt. water 1/2 tsp. salt 6 lg. eggs, beaten 3/4 c. packed brown sugar 2 tsp. vanilla 1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 2 c. dried cherries OR 1 1/2 c. raisins Oatmeal Pudding Squares In a large saucepan, bring the milk and water to a boil. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the oats. Bring back to a boil. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the oats are fully cooked, about 7 minutes.  Pour into a large bowl. Cool to room temperature. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9”x13” casserole with pan release. Reserve. Add the eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon to the oats.  Fold in the cherries or raisins. Pour into prepared dish.  Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes or until set. Serve warm with fresh fruit compote or pure maple syrup. Fresh Fruit Compote 1 lg. ripe mango, peeled, and cut into 1/4” dice 1 ripe firm banana, cut into 1/4” thick circles 1 1/2 c. strawberries, cut into 1/4” pieces 1 1/2 c. blueberries 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar, or to taste 1 Tbsp. Cointreau or Grand Marnier In a medium bowl, combine all of the fruit. Sprinkle in the sugar to taste. Blend in the liquor. 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. To many, Rev. Al Sharpton has been and remains a controversial figure. Reverend Al, as many of his admirers call him, heads the National Action Network, an organization he founded in 1991 to advocate for Black and poor people. The organization has made a priority of fighting against voter suppression and voter ID laws, as well as combatting racial profiling, stop-and-frisk policing, and police brutality. In addition, during the past few years, Sharpton has been a prominent, almost ubiquitous, presence for innumerable Black families who have lost loved ones to police violence. His advocacy has helped to keep that serious issue nationally visible. Shapton also hosts the MSNBC show PoliticsNation on weekends and is a contributor on various other MSNBC news shows. In addition to current political doings, he addresses important political issues that might not otherwise be given national attention. His style is more educational than militant. Thus, Sharpton is Johnny-on-the-spot for abuses of power wielded against Black people. As far back as 2012, former New York Mayor Ed Koch told the Associated Press that Sharpton had justly earned respect from Black Americans, adding, “He is willing to go to jail for them, and he is there when they need him.” However, Sharpton’s fiery and sometimes recklessly unthinking rhetoric in the 1980s and early 1990s created a long-lasting impression that he is a noisemaker who, at best, overshadows the causes he represents and, at worst, merely uses them for self-aggrandizement. Sharpton’s first serious misstep was his advocacy on behalf of Tawanna Brawley. In 1988, Tawanna Brawley, a Black teenager, was found alive covered with feces and wrapped in garbage bags outside the Pavilion Condominiums in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. Parts of her hair were cut off, her pants were slightly burned, and there was a racial slur scrawled on her body. Brawley said she had been held for four days and repeatedly raped by a gang of white men, one of whom had a police badge. Given how Brawley was found, it was understandable that Sharpton declared his support for her. But as evidence mounted that Brawley may have fabricated the events, Sharpton alleged there was a cover-up in the investigation, and threw around unsubstantiated accusations of participation in the alleged rape by the Assistant District Attorney Stephen Pagones. A grand jury dismissed the case, and afterwards, Brawley’s attorneys faced disciplinary proceedings from the New York State Bar for their conduct. In addition, Pagones sued Sharpton and Brawley’s lawyers for defamation and won $345,000 in damages. Sharpton’s share was $65,000. For many observers, Sharpton will never not live down this fiasco. Another controversy stoked by Sharpton’s actions came in 1991, when he led a protest march through the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn after an Orthodox Jewish motorist accidentally ran his car into two children, killing a seven-year-old Guyanese immigrant, Gavin Cato, and severely injuring his cousin. While the child remained pinned under the car, the Jewish driver was taken away in a private ambulance on the order of a police officer, who later said he was worried for the driver’s safety. After being extricated from under the car, Cato and his cousin were treated by a city ambulance. However, rumors that the private ambulance refused to treat the child set off four days of rioting by Black residents, during which Yankel Rosenbaum, an Australian Jewish scholar, was attacked by a mob and stabbed to death by one of them, Lemrick Nelson, Jr. After the riot, Sharpton led a march through Crown Heights, and incited more anger with contemptible rhetoric like: "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house." And in his eulogy for Gavin Cato, Sharpton declared: "The world will tell us he was killed by accident… It’s an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights.” Added Sharpton, “Talk about how Oppenheimer [Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, a German-born industrialist who was prominent in diamond mining in Africa] in South Africa sends diamonds straight to Tel Aviv and deals with the diamond merchants right here in Crown Heights. The issue is not anti-Semitism; the issue is apartheid...All we want to say is what Jesus said: If you offend one of these little ones, you got to pay for it. No compromise, no meetings, no kaffe klatsch, no skinnin’ and grinnin’. Pay for your deeds." Years later, Sharpton wrote an acknowledgement in The Daily News that his language and tone had exacerbated tensions and played to extremists. He wrote: “Twenty years later, I have grown. I would still have stood up for Gavin Cato, but I would have also included in my utterances that there was no justification or excuse for violence or for the death of Yankel Rosenbaum.” At a 2022 event celebrating Hanukkah and Kwanza in a unifying holiday ceremony, Sharpton said: "You can’t fight for anybody if you don’t fight for everybody. I cannot fight for Black rights if I don’t fight for Jewish rights ... because then it becomes a matter of self-aggrandizement rather than fighting for humanity. It’s easy for Blacks to stand up for racism. It’s easy for Jews to stand up to antisemitism. But if you want to really be a leader, you got to speak as a Black against antisemitism and antisemites, and you got to speak as a Jew against racism.” It can be argued that Sharpton’s change of heart has been too convenient, that because voter suppression and the rise of white supremacist nationalism threaten to utterly undo the rights hard-gained by Black people over decades, he suddenly sees solidarity with Jews as a necessity. However, I think that Sharpton’s change has not been merely pragmatic, but an evolution on his part. To me, Sharpton’s first indication of growth was his run for president in 2004. While on the debate stage, he pleaded with the other nine Democratic candidates to stop taking verbal swipes at one another and, instead, aim their fire at Republican policies. Sharpton’s manner led me to think that he was not running with any thought of winning, but to make sure certain issues got raised and addressed. My interpretation was borne out by Sharpton himself when, in 2007, he told Wikinews, "Much of the media criticism of me assumes their goals and they impose them on me…So they will say, 'Well, Sharpton has not won a political office.' But that might not be my goal! Maybe I ran for political office to change the debate, or to raise the social justice question." In 2019, at a Reform Jewish gathering in Washington, D.C., Sharpton spoke of receiving a call from Coretta Scott King during his Crown Heights activity. As he recounted it, she said, "Al, the purpose of our movement has never been to just get civil rights for us. It’s to protect and stand for civil and human rights for everyone. Sometimes you are tempted to speak to the applause of the crowd rather than the heights of the cause, and you will say cheap things to get cheap applause rather than do high things to raise the nation higher." Sharpton said that nothing ever affected him more than Mrs. King’s “gentle but firm way of correcting some of my excesses.” All this suggests to me that in his earlier activist years, Sharpton may have been overeager to jump at any apparent wrong without sufficiently investigating the circumstances, and, as King put it, played to the crowd. The change in his thinking and actions may well have occurred because he took her criticism to heart. Though he has matured, Sharpton still seems intent on highlighting and combatting all injustices he sees. Thus, he has taken a role in organizing protests to obtain investigations of police and vigilante killings of unarmed Black people around the country—such as those of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, George Floyd, Tyre Nichols, Tanya McDowell, and Trayvon Martin. If Sharpton’s rhetoric has cooled somewhat, his passion has not. On May 1, Jordan Neely, a homeless man, was choked to death on an northbound New York City subway train by former marine Daniel Penny. Penny has claimed that he was protecting himself and other passengers from Neely and had not intended the death. It appears that Neely was shouting about being hungry but was not physically threatening anyone. Penny has since been charged with manslaughter. In his eulogy for Neely, Sharpton denounced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for calling Penny a “good Samaritan.” Sharpton pointed out that the biblical good Samaritan helped a starving man, but that when Neely yelled that he was hungry, Penny didn’t feed him; rather, he choked him. Sharpton also used the occasion to address the neglect of the homeless and the mentally ill writ large. “He’d been choked much of his life,” Sharpton declared. “The agencies that failed to keep him and give him mental health choked Jordan. Those that let him go even though they had his record of needing help—they choked Jordan. The city agencies choked Jordan…He’s an example of how you’re choking the homeless [and] the mentally ill.” Sharpton has maintained, “An activist's job is to make public civil rights issues until there can be a climate for change.” Agitators like Rev. Al Sharpton are needed to prod us, to make the nation sit up and take notice of wrongs that need to be righted. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is 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. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “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 Andy Borowitz | The New Yorker June 5, 2023 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—As Mike Pence prepares to announce his bid for the Presidency, political insiders are questioning whether he has more to offer the nation than unbridled sexual magnetism. For years, the former Vice-President has wisely refused to dine alone with any woman other than his wife, fearing the havoc that his overpowering pheromones could wreak. But now, as he hopes to convince voters to elect him leader of the free world, he risks being perceived as little more than a smoldering slice of beefcake. “Whenever Mike Pence gives a speech, his crackling sexual energy is so palpable that all the women in the audience and a goodly number of men swoon,” Davis Logsdon, who teaches political science at the University of Minnesota, said. “But is that what people want in a President?” “Sex sells,” he added, “but Mike Pence might just be too smokin’ for the White House.” 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 Laurence Lerman / New York City Dalíland revolves around the legendary surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala and the life they lived during their annual extended visits to New York City in the 1970s. The film opens in limited theatrical release around the country and On Demand on streaming platforms on Friday (June 9). The idiosyncratic artist and his equally distinctive (and complicated!) wife were in their mid-to-late 70s at the time the film is set, but hadn’t lost a bit of the zesty and decadent lust for life they had enjoyed for many decades. The first time we are introduced to the Dalís—through the eyes of a young man named James, a new employee of the New York City gallery that handles Dalí’s work—is at a raucous daytime party they are throwing in their regular suite in Manhattan’s tony St. Regis Hotel. James has been sent to the soiree to bring Gala a briefcase full of cash, and has been told by the gallery’s owner to avoid any possible intimacy with the lady, who has been described as having “the libido of an electric eel” and a penchant for adding beautiful young men to her and her husband’s ever-changing entourage. My, my. But Dalíland is not an overly naughty descent into the Dalís noted lifestyle but rather a wider ranging portrait of the era’s premier art-world celebrity as it follows the artist, his wife and their team as they prepare for a major gallery show. And though there are arty, Daliesque flourishes, the film isn’t even all that surreal (though there is a memorably dreamy flashback that finds Dali crafting his most famous painting, 1931’s The Persistence of Memory) The movie features a first-rate, dignified performance by Ben Kingsley as the aging artist with the twirling moustache and another fine one by the always-game Barbara Sukowa as Gala. As we learn, it is Gala who manages her and her husband’s affairs (be they Salvador’s finances or her own sexual dalliances), while keeping a close eye on the celebrities, hangers-on and would-be muses who parade through their lives. Newcomer Christopher Griney holds his own alongside veterans Kingsley and Sukowa as the third member of the Dalís’ New York trois. Strong support is lent by Suki Waterhouse as a sweeter-than-most party girl, Ezra Miller and Avital Lovova as the young Dalí and Gala, and Mark McKenna as rocking Dalí devotee Alice Cooper. Written by John Walsh, Dalíland is directed by Canadian filmmaker Mary Harron, who navigated similar waters with her 1996 breakthrough film I Shot Andy Warhol. As she did back then, Harron tells the story of an artist on the New York art scene who frequently plays out his life in public. But Harron keeps a tight hold on a colorful story that could easily spiral into a mélange of sensationalism and montages. Dalíland’s story is a decidedly offbeat one, but Harron’s grasp on the material is never off-center or excessive, even during James’ frequently wild adventures with the Dalís. One imagines Harron worked closely with Kingsley in bringing restraint to what could have been a much more flamboyant interpretation of his role. For me, it is virtually impossible to watch Dalíland or any movie about Dalí—or probably anything that references his name or surreal style—without considering Dalí’s own work in the cinematic world, which was limited, to be sure, but legendary. Leading the way were Dalí’s collaborations with the Spanish-Mexican filmmaking giant Luis Buñuel, beginning with the two co-writing Buñuel’s short film Un Chien Andalou. The 1929 landmark movie was received with enthusiasm by the burgeoning French surrealist movement of the day and remains a staple in college cinema courses and film societies to this day. The same holds true of Buñuel and Dalí’s second screenwriting collaboration for Buñuel’s 1930 surrealist French satire L'Age d'Or. Dalí also engaged with Walt Disney for the 2003 short film Destino, which actually kicked off back in 1945 when Disney hired the artist to create storyboards for the project. It was shelved when Walt Disney Studios was hit by financial burdens during World War II, but resurrected in 1999 when Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, re-discovered the dormant project and decided to move forward with it. Dalí’s biggest moviemaking venture fell into his lap in 1945 when his agent called him up to inform him that none other than the great Alfred Hitchcock was interested in Dalí for, well, a nightmare. That is, he was planning a dream sequence for his 1945 psychoanalytic thriller Spellbound and was hoping that Dalí could contribute some of his artistry to its look. “I wanted Dalí because of the architectural sharpness of his work,” the filmmaker explained in an extended 1962 interview with François Truffaut that was published as a book several years later. Rather than the kind of hazy Hollywood dream sequence that was de rigueur at the time, Hitchcock “wanted to convey the dream with great visual sharpness and clarity, sharper than the film itself.” In Spellbound, Ingrid Bergman plays a psychiatrist who falls for her new boss, played by Gregory Peck, an amnesiac who may be a murderer. (By the mid-1940s, pop psychology was beginning to take a major foothold in America—enough to propel the plot of a major Hollywood production.) To prove his innocence, Bergman must analyze his dreams, which prompted Hitchcock to set out on a search for some fresh and striking imagery for the dream itself. Though many designs and idea were floated, Hitchcock and the production house, David O. Selznick Pictures, ultimately only used three minutes of Dalí’s designs in the completed picture. (The dream was initially imagined as a 20-minute-long sequence!) But brief as it was, Dalí’s richly drawn visions of giant eyeballs, masked men, oversized scissors and dripping wagon wheels proved to be some of most memorable moments in the film, which became a box-office hit. Dalí’s excursions into moviemaking are not explored in Dalíland, which is set many decades after he dipped his toe into the industry's stormy waters. But Harron’s portrait of the artist as an old man remains a compelling piece. Examining the later years of an artist whose greatest achievements and fame are behind him but who continues to thrive in his own particular way, when in the right hands, is the kind of stuff that makes for an engrossing movie. 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.

Fred Plotkin, a pleasure activist and passionate Italy and culinary expert, speaks each Friday with leading people in the arts 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 Judi Markowitz / Detroit Choosing a name for a baby is a daunting proposition. There are a myriad of books published yearly with the most popular names to help expectant parents with the selection process. These publications may tout anywhere from 25,000 to over 150,000 names. This can make the process easier for some, but more confusing for others. Having nine months to contemplate the perfect name can be overwhelming. My youngest son Eli and his wife Alex are expecting their first child in October. This will be our eighth grandchild. My husband Jeffrey and I are absolutely thrilled. A few weeks ago, they had a “Gender Reveal” celebration which indicated the sex of the baby. After having a delicious dinner for our small gathering of family members at their house, cake was served for dessert. But this was not your usual cake — inside was the secret to the gender of their child. The interior frosting was to be the indicator — pink for a girl or blue for a boy. Sometimes the layers of the cake hold the coveted secret as well. The frosting on top does not give away any surprise, as pink and blue are arrayed evenly to add mystery and intrigue to the event. The Reveal trend originated in the late 2000s and it’s been on the fast track for expectant parents since then. For those who are not familiar with this type of ceremony, it can be done in numerous ways — launching or popping balloons, using colored smoke, streamers, pinatas, sparklers and even fireworks. Some couples choose to have big parties, while others desire a more intimate venue. The list of possibilities for this festive event is endless. When Alex was 11 weeks pregnant, her bloodwork was checked for genetic/chromosomal abnormalities. Such bloodwork also contains the gender of the baby. If prospective parents want to know this information, they have several options. The doctor or office staff will gladly reveal the gender, either in person or by phone. If a surprise is in the works, then a sealed envelope may be picked up from the office and viewed at the discretion of the parents.  Eli and Alex chose to give the unopened envelope to a friend. This valuable information was then taken to a bakery that specializes in these high-demand cakes. When Eli and Alex were prepared to take a leap into the unknown, they opted to use champagne flutes, instead of a knife, to dig into their cake. They were excited beyond words and then timed their approach to start the festivities together. The look on their faces was priceless as they gazed at the color of the cake and frosting in their glasses—a boy! The family gathers for the big reveal moment After receiving this news, all the names Eli and Alex had contemplated for girls were instantly eliminated. Now the search is on in earnest, and the net has widened for prospective boy names. When I reflect on names in my family, I am immediately drawn to memories of my parents — Bob and Marian Foster — where the name saga begins. I never heard them call each other by their actual names — not even one slip. My parents always addressed one another as “Honey.” It was a constant “Honey, can you answer the phone”  or “Honey, I’m leaving the house,” or  “Honey, I love you.” It was completely endearing, and I never gave it a second thought. When my mother was having children from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s, women were routinely administered “twilight sleep.” The Embryo Project Encyclopedia (2019)  explains that this was a common practice where “drugs caused women in labor to enter a state of sleep prior to giving birth and awake from childbirth with no recollection of the procedure.” The Encyclopedia adds that “scientists first discovered scopolamine and morphine in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but physicians did not use the two drugs to alleviate pain from childbirth until the twentieth century.” These drugs were used because they decreased pain and impaired memories. My sister, Gayle and I suspect that twilight sleep was the beginning of a name bonanza for our mom. Whatever names she contemplated during her pregnancy became skewed after the event. When my brother was born in 1944, they affectionately named him Alan Jay — but called him Butch. My sister Gayle was born in 1949. Her middle name is Lorene — which she hated, and my brother teased her relentlessly. But to top it off, my mother never called her Gayle — it was always Lori. Our friends thought there were three girls in the family. It became quite confusing. When I was born the name Judyth Lynn was bestowed upon me — Bubbles became my nickname. My parents said I bubbled over with laughter when I was a baby. The name stuck. My mom also told me she preferred the name Robin, but after I was born, she changed her mind. She said that people would call me “Robin Red Breast,” – Judi seemed the safe alternative. I remember asking my mom if she ever thought that kids might tease me and say “Judi Doodie” It didn’t occur to her at the time — twilight sleep was the obvious culprit. As we got older, my siblings and I carried the tradition of nicknames one step further. When we were teenagers Gayle and I generously provided new nicknames for the family — we added to the craziness.  I was Juba, my parents became Muba and Duba, Gayle was Luna, and Alan became Aloon. My parents still used their original nicknames for us kids, in addition to these newer models.  These nicknames have held for over 50 years. When my siblings and I married and had families, the nickname saga kept evolving. When I was pregnant, I pondered the consequences of a name — could it be dissected and what nicknames might be associated with a particular name? I wanted to ensure that each of my children had a strong name and I certainly didn’t want a repeat performance of my mom’s naming debacle. A 2010 article from theirishexaminer.com discusses the psychology behind nicknames. They reported, “A nickname reflects how others view the person and comes to mirror how that person sees himself/herself. Nicknames can affect a child’s self-esteem positively or negatively.” This is definitely food for thought. And sure enough, as the years progressed, nicknames started creeping into the mix. My husband joined our crew with his own nickname — The Mouse. Our four children acquired varying nicknames throughout the years, some stemming from their first initials and others, well, just because they seemed to fit them. Lindsay became Linny, Lindsay Lou, Linatta, Beezer, and Mina B. Todd was called T., Titto, and Toddy. Chad ‘s nicknames are Wick, Chadwick, and Chochie Evan, and Eli has a few extra names as well — Eenie Beanie, E, and Ennis. Ironically, my husband and I still use some of these names for our now adult children. My siblings also made up nicknames for their kids. It was a natural progression since we were surrounded with them while growing up. It appears to be in our genes. Even our seven grandchildren have nicknames. I’m sure that many families share in the pleasure of creating nicknames for their children. Afterall, it’s a custom which dates back to the 14th century. With our eightth grandchild making an appearance in October, I can’t help but wonder what name, let alone nickname will be his moniker. I know that Eli and Alex will choose carefully, but in time, a nickname will be revealed. Judi Markowitz is a retired high school English teacher of 34 years. She primarily taught 12th grade and had the pleasure of her three sons gracing her classes. In addition, she taught debate, forensics, and Detroit film. Judi has four adult children and seven wonderful grandchildren. She is married to Jeffrey Markowitz, whom she met in high school. Judi grew up in Oak Park, Mich. which had a stellar school district, with excellent teachers. The city provided activities for all–and there were even sidewalks. Judi moved to Huntington Woods as an adult, which is a half mile from her childhood home. She wanted the same experience for her children as she had growing up, and Huntington Woods provided that. The View from Four Foot Two is Judi’s first book.

By John Woodford / Ann Arbor, Mich. Giannis makes waves with his postgame remarks after the Milwaukee Bucks are eliminated from the NBA playoffs After his team was upset on April 26 in the opening round of this year’s NBA playoffs, a fate probably attributable to the back injury he had sustained in the series’ first game, Giannis Antetokounmpo showed up for the compulsory postgame news conference. The Greco-Nigerian superstar of the Milwaukee Bucks could hardly conceal his exasperation, as a Milwaukee reporter asked him if he considered the year a “failure.” Mind you, in 2021 Antetokounmpo led the Bucks — long an undistinguished basketball team before his arrival in 2013 — to their first championship in 50 years, and the team reached the conference semifinals the next year. This year, the Miami Heat knocked them out in five games, no doubt helped by the back contusion that kept Antetokounmpo out of three games. And now, here was this reporter repeating a question he’d posed last year: Was the season a failure? The 28-year-old Antetokounmpo replied with an eloquence and insight that athletes and fans alike would do well to enshrine in their memories: Do you get a promotion every year at your job? No, right? So every year, your work is a failure? No. Every year, you work towards something, which is a goal: It’s to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your family, provide a house for them, or take care of your parents. It’s not a failure, it’s steps to success. There’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played for 15 years and won six championships. The other nine years were a failure? That’s what you’re telling me. There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days— some days you are able to be successful, some days you’re not, some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. That’s what sport’s about. You don't always win; some other people are going to win. And this year, someone else is going to win. Simple as that. So, 50 years from 1971 to 2021 that we didn’t win a championship, it was 50 years of failure? No, it was not, there were steps to it, and we were able to win one. Hopefully we can win another one. That response should serve as the credo for all who are engaged in sports. But, alas, most sports talk show hosts and reporters I heard sneered at Antetokounmpo’s statement and encouraged their audience to dismiss it as the whining of a failure. We’re conditioned in our country to see athletic competition through the eyes of the late football coach Vince Lombardi: “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” A notable exception to that attitude, however, was offered by Steve Kerr, coach of the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, who also got knocked out of this year’s playoffs. “He’s so right,” Kerr said of Antetokounmpo. Kerr said that although NBA owners and executives encourage the notion that there are 29 losers and only one winner every year, “it just can’t be a zero-sum game.” “When you hear terms like ‘embarrassment’ or ‘ashamed,’” Kerr continued, “like, why should anybody on the Milwaukee [Bucks] be embarrassed? As long as they put in the work and put in the effort—which you know they did—this is sports at the highest level.” As of this writing, Kerr still has his job. But Antetokounmpo’s coach, Mike Budenholzer, was fired a few days after the Bucks’ defeat. And two other highly successful coaches, Glenn “Doc” Rivers of the Philadelphia 76ers and Monty Williams of the Phoenix Suns, soon followed him off the plank after their teams lost in the playoffs, even though injuries to key players hurt both teams’ chances, a circumstance that no coach can control. Sports executives seem to need to behave as if they, themselves, never lose at anything and can prove their managerial mettle by firing coaches because, well, because they can. And fired coaches usually wind up moving along to another team for another round of musical chairs. But the execs can’t fire players like Antetokounmpo, who signed a five-year $228 million contract last year. At 7’ tall and 243 pounds, power forward Antetokounmpo was immediately hailed as the “Greek Freak” when he joined the NBA in 2013, in recognition of his rare combination of size, agility and indomitability on both offense and defense. His parents, Charles and Veronica, moved from Nigeria to Greece before he was born, after his father retired from pro soccer. Their name is actually “Adétòkunbọ̀,” but it was transliterated in Greece to its present form, although it’s certainly a mouthful either way. The family was hardly well-to-do. His parents didn’t have work permits or citizenship status, and Giannis himself did not receive Greek citizenship till he was 19, two years after he’d established himself as a basketball star in Europe. As a child he contributed to the family income by hawking watches, handbags and sunglasses in the streets of Athens. Biographers quote Giannis as saying that when he was growing up, Greeks considered him not really Greek and his fellow Africans considered him not authentically African because he could speak neither the Yoruba language of his father nor the Igbo of his mother. Chris Odoemelam, a Greco-Nigerian who grew up playing pick-up games with Antetokounmpo. told the New York Times, “He was just a guy you would see in the street, hungry and looking for food. He didn’t have anything. He had one pair of shoes that he had to share with his brothers. And now he’s a millionaire. It’s crazy.” Antetokounmpo has begun to question the nickname that was hung on him. He acknowledges that the rhyme is good for recognition and marketing purposes but notes that it obscures his true heritage. Nevertheless, he is proud to have parlayed his renown into a huge endorsement deal for an undisclosed amount of money with the Nike shoe company, supplementing his league-leading salary. His shoes carry his motto, “Family, Loyalty, Legacy.” (His family also includes his two brothers, Thanasis and Kostas, both also professional basketball players and both also members of NBA championship teams, making them the only trio of brothers with that distinction.) “Obviously, a lot of people don’t know where I’m from,” he told a publication called the Undefeated. “A lot of people think my mom or my dad are from Greece, but no. Both of my parents are Nigerian, but no one calls me the Nigerian Freak.” His father, Charles, died of a heart attack six years ago at the age of 54, too soon to see Giannis’s two children with his longtime girlfriend Mariah Riddlesprigger, 30, who grew up in Fresno, Calif. She is an alumna of Rice University, where she played volleyball. The couple recently announced that they are expecting a third child to join their two toddler sons. “I love my kids to death,” Antetokounmpo told ESPN, “[and] would do anything for them, the way, you know, my dad did for me, and hopefully I can be as loving a father as my dad was to me.” I think we can all use more poetry in our lives, I'm going to accompany my column with poems that rhyme in some way with my topic. Money Madness by D. H. Lawrence Money is our madness, our vast collective madness. And of course, if the multitude is mad the individual carries his own grain of insanity around with him. I doubt if any man living hands out a pound note without a pang; and a real tremor, if he hands out a ten-pound note. We quail, money makes us quail. It has got us down, we grovel before it in strange terror. And no wonder, for money has a fearful cruel power among men. But it is not money we are so terrified of, it is the collective money-madness of mankind. For mankind says with one voice: How much is he worth? Has he no money? Then let him eat dirt, and go cold.– And if I have no money, they will give me a little bread so I do not die, but they will make me eat dirt with it. I shall have to eat dirt, I shall have to eat dirt if I have no money. It is that that I am frightened of. And that fear can become a delirium. It is fear of my money-mad fellow-men. We must have some money to save us from eating dirt. And this is all wrong. Bread should be free, shelter should be free, fire should be free to all and anybody, all and anybody, all over the world. We must regain our sanity about money before we start killing one another about it. It’s one thing or the other. John Woodford lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he retired after two decades as the executive editor of Michigan Today, a University of Michigan alumni/ae publication. His career in journalism includes editing and/or reporting duties for Ebony magazine, Muhammad Speaks newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times, the New Haven Register, the New York Times and Ford Motor company publications.

By Laurence Lerman / New York City The movies are back…again! Dozens of new films are scheduled for release in theaters and on streaming platforms this summer, just like they were in the days prior to the pandemic shutting down theaters in the summer of 2020. It begins on Friday, May 26, with a dozen films coming out of the gate and arriving on screens to kick off Memorial Day Weekend, the movie industry’s unofficial beginning of summer. A few of them have already garnered some significant buzz. Among them are the raucous Italian father-and-son comedy About My Father starring Robert De Niro and stand-up comic Sebastian Maniscalco; Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, the studio’s beloved 1989 animated musical of the same; and writer/director Nicole Holofcener's You Hurt My Feelings, a comedy-drama starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus about a novelist’s marriage becoming unmoored after her husband negatively reacts to her latest book. I’m looking forward to seeing them all--when they make it to a streaming platform. But there are a trio of summertime must-sees on my list. Must-sees in a nice air-conditioned theater where I can give myself up to what’s happening on the screen, with a large popcorn and Diet Coke in hand. Sign me up for the following three and I’ll see you at the movies! Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny (June 30) There are at least a half-dozen major franchise installments coming this summer, including the latest entries in the Mission: Impossible, Transformers and Spider-Man series. But it’s all about the intrepid Professor Jones for me. It’s been more than 40 years since Harrison Ford first cracked his whip as moviedom’s favorite archaeologist-adventurer and he’s back for what it being billed as the final installment in the series. The accomplished James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari, Walk the Line) sits in the director’s chair with usual helmer Steven Spielberg taking on producer duties. Written by veterans Jez and John-Henry Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow), the story is set in 1969 and concerns the U.S. government’s attempts to beat the Soviets in the Space Race. Joining Ford in the outing are franchise newcomers Antonio Banderas, Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones and, as Indy’s goddaughter Helena, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who we’ve seen too little of since the final season of Fleabag in 2019. I’ve seen the previous four Indiana Jones sagas in the theater—the first two are among my favorite nights at the movies as a teenager—and I’m not gonna let this one slip out of the theaters before I queue up and grab a seat. (Who am I kidding—I’ll probably buy the ticket online!). Afire (July 14) The latest entry from German auteur Christian Petzold won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. It’s Petzold’s sixth to have played in competition at the Berlinale. Though his work is frequently set in cities, here the writer/director places his characters in a cozy coastal cottage in a sleepy beach town. In this case, it’s three young men on a low-key working vacation, and a young woman whom the cottage’s owner forgot to tell the boys would also be staying there. Simmering tensions and sexual dabblings come into play just as the skies begin to turn red and the threat of seasonal forest fires inject a foreboding feeling into the quietly anxious mix. Petzold is the most successful director of Germany’s “Berlin School” film movement of character-driven, aesthetically restrained works that are best represented by his well-received Barbara (2012), Phoenix (2014) and Transit (2018). Afire’s trailer gives me the sense that it could be a little less restrained and more emotionally layered that his previous films. I’m game for that. With its primary cast of four and secluded setting, Petzold’s new movie also appears to be more of a chamber drama than his earlier films, which means it would probably make for an acceptable title to stream on its first viewing. But I’m excited to see it all its bigger-than-life glory on a movie house’s sizable screen. Oppenheimer (July 21) After his only partially successful attempt to bring audiences back to theaters in the fall of 2020 with the theatrical release of the large-scale Tenet, filmmaker Christopher Nolan returns to the big screen with his equally expansive historical drama starring Cillian Murphy as the titular nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the film follows Oppenheimer working with a team of scientists during the World War II era Manhattan Project, with a goal of developing the atomic bomb. Treading the precarious line between creation and destruction proves to be trickier than Oppenheimer ever imagined. Or, as Murphy's Oppenheimer puts it in the trailer, “We imagine a future, and our imaginings horrify us." It's a massive and explosive subject (pun intended) that received a provocative telling in the 2014 TV series Manhattan and Nolan’s big screen take on the material will undoubtedly be incendiary as well. He’s certainly tapped a combustible supporting cast to help tell the story, including Robert Downey, Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Tom Conti, Kenneth Branagh and this year’s It Girl Florence Pugh of Don’t Worry Darling, A Good Person and the upcoming Dune: Part Two. Like Nolan’s Tenet, Inception, Interstellar and others, Oppenheimer was shot with IMAX film cameras and is set to open on the nation’s widest and finest screens. So I’ve got that going for me when I slip into my seat. Still, I like to remind myself how there was a time not too long ago that movies of all sizes and scopes would first be seen in a theater—and usually look great!. And the “theatrical experience” wasn’t the primary selling point for a film. Remember those times? 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.

Jeffrey D. Sachs | May 20, 2023 | Common Dreams To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex, the most powerful lobby in Washington. In the year 2000, the U.S. government debt was $3.5 trillion, equal to 35% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2022, the debt was $24 trillion, equal to 95% of GDP. The U.S. debt is soaring, hence America’s current debt crisis. Yet both Republicans and Democrats are missing the solution: stopping America’s wars of choice and slashing military outlays. Suppose the government’s debt had remained at a modest 35% of GDP, as in 2000. Today’s debt would be $9 trillion, as opposed to $24 trillion. Why did the U.S. government incur the excess $15 trillion in debt? The single biggest answer is the U.S. government’s addiction to war and military spending. According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, the cost of U.S. wars from fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2022 amounted to a whopping $8 trillion, more than half of the extra $15 trillion in debt. The other $7 trillion arose roughly equally from budget deficits caused by the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), the most powerful lobby in Washington. As President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned on January 17, 1961, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Since 2000, the MIC led the U.S. into disastrous wars of choice in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and now Ukraine. The Military-Industrial Complex long ago adopted a winning political strategy by ensuring that the military budget reaches into every Congressional district. The Congressional Research Service recently reminded Congress that, “Defense spending touches every Member of Congress’s district through pay and benefits for military servicemembers and retirees, economic and environmental impact of installations, and procurement of weapons systems and parts from local industry, among other activities.” Only a brave member of Congress would vote against the military-industry lobby, yet bravery is certainly no hallmark of Congress. America’s annual military spending is now around $900 billion, roughly 40% of the world's total, and greater than the next 10 countries combined. U.S. military spending in 2022 was triple that of China. According to Congressional Budget Office, the military outlays for 2024-2033 will be a staggering $10.3 trillion on current baseline. A quarter or more of that could be avoided by ending America’s wars of choice, closing down many of America’s 800 or so military bases around the world, and negotiating new arms control agreements with China and Russia. Yet instead of peace through diplomacy, and fiscal responsibility, the MIC regularly scares the American people with a comic-book style depictions of villains whom the U.S. must stop at all costs. The post-2000 list has included Afghanistan’s Taliban, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Libya’s Moammar Qaddafi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and recently, China’s Xi Jinping. War, we are repeatedly told, is necessary for America’s survival. A peace-oriented foreign policy would be opposed strenuously by the military-industrial lobby but not by the public. Significant public pluralities already want less, not more, U.S. involvement in other countries’ affairs, and less, not more, US troop deployments overseas. Regarding Ukraine, Americans overwhelmingly want a “minor role” (52%) rather than a “major role” (26%) in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This is why neither Biden nor any recent president has dared to ask Congress for any tax increase to pay for America’s wars. The public’s response would be a resounding “No!” While America’s wars of choice have been awful for America, they have been far greater disasters for countries that America purports to be saving. As Henry Kissinger famously quipped, “To be an enemy of the United States can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.” Afghanistan was America’s cause from 2001 to 2021, until the U.S. left it broken, bankrupt, and hungry. Ukraine is now in America’s embrace, with the same likely results: ongoing war, death, and destruction. The military budget could be cut prudently and deeply if the U.S. replaced its wars of choice and arms races with real diplomacy and arms agreements. If presidents and members of congress had only heeded the warnings of top American diplomats such as William Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia in 2008, and now CIA Director, the U.S. would have protected Ukraine’s security through diplomacy, agreeing with Russia that the U.S. would not expand NATO into Ukraine if Russia also kept its military out of Ukraine. Yet relentless NATO expansion is a favorite cause of the MIC; new NATO members are major customers of U.S. armaments. The U.S. has also unilaterally abandoned key arms control agreements. In 2002, the U.S. unilaterally walked out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. And rather than promote nuclear disarmament—as the U.S. and other nuclear powers are required to do under Article VI the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—the Military-Industrial Complex has sold Congress on plans to spend more than $600 billion by 2030 to “modernize” the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Now the MIC is talking up the prospect of war with China over Taiwan. The drumbeats of war with China are stoking the military budget, yet war with China is easily avoidable if the U.S. adheres to the One-China policy that properly underpins U.S.-China relations. Such a war should be unthinkable. More than bankrupting the U.S., it could end the world. Military spending is not the only budget challenge. Aging and rising healthcare costs add to the fiscal woes. According to the Congressional Budget Office, debt will reach 185 percent of GDP by 2052 if current policies remain unchanged. Healthcare costs should be capped while taxes on the rich should be raised. Yet facing down the military-industrial lobby is the vital first step to putting America’s fiscal house in order, needed to save the U.S., and possibly the world, from America’s perverse lobby-driven politics. This article was updated with the $9 trillion figure in the second paragraph. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/military-spending-debt-crisis Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Sachs is the author, most recently, of "A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism" (2020). Other books include: "Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable" (2017) and "The Age of Sustainable Development," (2015) with Ban Ki-moon.