By Andy Borowitz December 15, 2021 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The Fox News host Sean Hannity sent a series of urgent texts on January 6, 2021, warning Donald J. Trump that the attack on the U.S. Capitol was boosting CNN’s ratings. In the texts, released by the House select committee investigating the attack, Hannity described a doomsday scenario in which the insurrection helped lift CNN over Fox in the cable news ratings contest. “CNN will get better numbers out of this than we will,” Hannity warned Trump. “A lot of our viewers can’t watch because they’re busy rioting.” The texts showed Hannity pleading with Trump to beseech the rioters to prevent CNN from reaping ratings gold. “You and I are on the same page as far as undermining democracy goes, but we need to think big picture here,” Hannity wrote. Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 63 By Laurence Lerman / New York City Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back premiered on streaming service Disney+ on November 25, Thanksgiving Day, and I’m as thankful as I’ve ever been for the release of an eight-hour, three-part film series. The film presents three weeks in early 1969 when the Beatles convened to write, rehearse, and record a dozen-plus songs and planned their first live show in more than two years. The result of the group’s endeavors was the 1970 album Let It Be, which was first covered in filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary by the same name. Jackson’s film draws from some 50 hours of unused film footage and 120 hours of audio recordings from the Lindsay-Hogg production that had never been seen before. The existence of the trove of additional material was first acknowledged by Apple Corps (the company which has handled the Beatles’ business affairs since 1969) back in 2000, and it took Beatles-loving filmmaker Jackson nearly a decade to negotiate a deal to restore all the film and audio footage and then move forward to create a film out of it. Playing like an addendum to the original 80-minute Let It Be, Jackson has described The Beatles: Get Back as “a documentary on a documentary.” Eight hours is admittedly a daunting running time for a fly-on-the-wall documentary—a film consisting solely of period footage and absent of talking head testimonials or a narrative thread (save for shots of a calendar as it counts down 21 days). But the eight-hour The Beatles: Get Back, every minute of it, is as absorbing and fascinating as any fan of the Beatles, rock’n’roll history or the creative process could ever wish for. So much so that Jackson has said his original cut of the project was 18 hours long and I pray that one day it will be released, as well. Get Back brims with material that reveals John, Paul, George and Ringo on the eve of what was to be their dissolution as well as one of their most admired artistic triumphs. There’s just so much here to dive into and delight in, beginning with the development and tinkering of dozens of Beatles tunes (including a handful that would later appear on Abbey Road, as well as older ones that pop up as they fiddle around). The creative interaction between the band members as they compose and play, especially between John and Paul, is wonderful to behold, as is the surprisingly benign presence of Yoko Ono in the studio (but oy, that singing!). And knowing that the stream of jams, jokes and jibes are masking the growing tensions that would result in the breakup of the band a year later is almost like watching a soon-to-be car crash in slow motion. At one point following a particularly uncomfortable series of exchanges, Paul sighs to Lennon, “Probably when we’re all very old, we’ll all agree with each other and we’ll all sing together.” It was a comment that brought a tear to my eye, knowing that John would barely make it to 40. That said, here are five memorable moments from The Beatles: Get Back as chosen by Reel Streaming for Insider readers—at last, as of this writing, I’m pretty sure if you check back tomorrow, we’ll have another five for you. And then five more after that. Reel Streaming’s Best of “The Beatles: Get Back” 1) Paul McCartney crafts “Get Back” Relatively early on in the film, Paul is seen giving birth to the Beatles number that gives the series its name. Strumming a riff on a guitar and humming a nonsensical lyric—both of which he seemingly pulls out of the air, in real time—Paul begins to create a song that would be released as a single a scant three months later and rise to the top of the charts around the world. It’s arguably the most magical and astounding moment in the entire series. Later on, we see Paul and John fiddling with the lyrics, tweaking the line “Jo Jo Jackson left his home in Arizona” to “Jo Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona.” Is Tucson in Arizona?,” asks John. “It’s is, yeah,” replies Paul. “It’s where they make High Chapparal.” Wild. 2) George Harrison announces he is leaving the Beatles During an increasingly tense back-and-forth between Paul and George over Paul’s arrangement of the song “Two of Us,” George, who clearly feels like he’s been ostracized for most of the sessions (that’s what it looks like, at least), tersely states, “I think I’ll be leaving the band now.” “When?,” asks Lennon. “Now,” replies George. “Get a replacement. Write into the NME [New Musical Express, a British publication] and get a few people.” He adds that maybe he’ll see the boys “round the clubs,” before walking off-camera—and away from the band. George’s departure didn’t stick, of course—he returned a few days later after a couple of meetings with John and Paul—but it’s still remarkable to witness the band’s most infamous near-breakup. 3) Billy Preston arrives and plays with the band Entering their second week at London’s Apple Studios, the band’s progress receives a serious boost with the arrival of keyboardist Billy Preston, who met the Beatles in the early Sixties when they were all touring Germany. Casually invited to sit in with the boys, Preston quickly energizes the session with his musicianship, professionalism and playful smile. He happily jams with the band for a couple of hours and adds an indispensable keyboard track to the still-evolving “I’ve Got a Feeling,” prompting John to declare to their newest almost-member, “You’re in the group!” 4) Heather McCartney gets some studio time At one point during the third week of the sessions, Paul’s soon-to-be-wife Linda Eastman arrives with her six-year-old daughter Heather (from her first marriage) in tow. It’s lovely to see the adorable, perky youngster interact with the Beatles, particularly Ringo, who lends her a couple of drumsticks for a few spirited minutes of percussive collaboration. It also reminds us that though they were only in their late 20s, both Ringo and John already had children of their own at home. Paul formally adopted Heather as his daughter when he married Linda in March, 1969, two months after the sessions wrapped. 5) The Beatles’ rooftop concert on January 30, 1969 More than just a moment, the famous concert on the Apple Studios rooftop in London on January 30, 1969 marks the final public performance by the Beatles. A chunk of the 42-minute, nine-song set (technically only five songs, but with multiple takes on a few of them) was featured in the earlier Let It Be film, but here it’s presented in its entirety. It was filmed by Lindsay-Hogg using six cameras, as well as one on a rooftop across the road and a couple on Savile Row below to capture the responses of passersby and the arrival of the Metropolitan Police to investigate the “disturbance.” The concert serves as the grand finale to The Beatles: Get Back, the wrap-up to seven hours of lead-in material that helps to reveal how The Beatles came to climb the stairs to the roof and deliver one of the most iconic performances in the history of rock’n’roll. For the Beatles, it was the end, and for their subsequent careers, it proved to be a midpoint. But for the countless others who over the subsequent decades would discover and rediscover the sound and vision of the most influential band in the history of popular music, it was only the beginning. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

By Emmy Serviss / Boston A story went viral recently, about how the CEO from Better.com laid off over 900 employees during a Zoom call. I wish I could say that I was shocked to hear the news. But since it has been almost two years since I was laid off in a group phone call at the very beginning of the pandemic – I was not surprised. It’s hard to properly explain how overwhelming that phone call was, and how emotional that day was. I had never been laid off before, and even though I knew the layoffs were due to Covid – I had an intense feeling of shame. I felt like it was my fault I was getting laid off. Maybe if I had worked harder or been involved in more projects, I would have been worth keeping. But almost worse than the feeling of shame, was the fact that because it was a group phone conference where we were all on mute –we had no opportunity to ask questions or get details or have an actual conversation. Much like that Zoom call at Better.com, (an ironic name, to be sure), the phone conference lasted about three minutes. And that was it. I spent the next year searching for a job. It was awful. I’ve been jobless before, but in those instances it was because I had moved across the country and was job searching in a new city. And in those instances, I was still able to pick up a gig here or there, so I had a little bit of extra income. This was entirely different. There was no income, and for the first time in my life, I had to file for unemployment. (cue more shame). The one thing about being laid off due to Covid that was sort of comforting was that I could find reassurance that if we WEREN’T in the middle of a global pandemic, I would still be gainfully employed. But on the flip side, because SO MANY people were let go due to Covid, the job market was absolutely flooded with people looking for new jobs. I was one tiny drop in an ocean of unemployed. I sent out resume after resume after resume. I filed for unemployment week after week after week. And I cried tear after tear after tear after tear. I got maybe one phone interview every couple of months, and they never panned out. Months went by and I felt utterly worthless. I FINALLY got a break in September, when a friend reached out and asked if I was still job searching. I gave her an enthusiastic “YES!” and sent her my resume. I quickly got a phone interview, then a Zoom interview, and then another phone interview. Within five days I had a new job as project coordinator. I was SO THANKFUL to be working again, and yet now I was faced with a brand new situation. Working 100% remote. At my two previous jobs, we were given the option of working from home once or twice a week, so it wasn’t an entirely new scenario. But starting a new job without ever setting foot in an office was strange. I didn’t meet new coworkers, I didn’t get assigned a desk, I didn’t have to figure out a new coffeemaker. (ok that last one was pretty nice). Boxes upon boxes were shipped to my house and I set up my new laptop, monitor and computer accessories in my dining room aka my new office. It was weird and nice at the same time. All my onboarding and training was on Zoom, which was again, weird and nice. For a year I heard people joke about “business on top and pajamas on the bottom” and I thought it was just a joke. I quickly learned that is 100% accurate. I have no more use for hard pants! Being completely remote has its perks. The biggest one being that I don’t have to deal with commuting anymore. I live in a city where public transportation is available, but I also have some anxiety, so stuffing myself into a packed train in the morning was stressful enough BEFORE Covid. Getting to avoid that nightmare all together is a blessing that I am oh-so-thankful for. Not to mention the fact that no morning commute means I can sleep later and then roll out of bed and start my day leisurely. Working from home is also nice if I need to do chores between meetings, run a couple errands during my lunch break, and give my pets some extra attention between 9-5. So there are plenty of reasons to love working remotely. (and believe me, I do). However, you do lose some things when you work remotely. When starting a new job, there’s always a learning curve while you adapt to new skills or work processes. It can be challenging to learn over Zoom, when you don’t have the luxury of looking over someone’s shoulder, or having a coworker look over your shoulder. Screen sharing is adequate, but not quite the same. Plus there’s the inevitable lag of real-time interactions, or not being able to see EXACTLY what is happening on the other computer. The other major hardship is trying to get to know new co-workers. There’s no built-in office comradery or water cooler chitchat. There aren’t instances in which you can just “run into” someone and start up a conversation. Sure, it’s still possible to get to know someone over Zoom, you just have to be much more intentional about it. Which is hit or miss. It’s only been a few months, but so far it seems like the cons of working remotely, pale in comparison to the pros. As we crawl towards a world where Covid is simply a minor inconvenience instead of a global pandemic, maybe companies will return to having staff in the office all or some of the time. Personally, I’ll stick with my pajama bottoms and Zoom calls. Emmy Serviss is a Boston-based writer, actor and video editor. Once it is safe to return to live theater, you can find her performing with ComedySportz Boston and the sketch group SUZZY. When not on the stage, Emmy enjoys indulging in her new pandemic hobbies, laughing way too loudly and counting the days until Halloween.

The Insider: Hi Guillermo! Thanks for agreeing to talk with us today. Guillermo: Hi and hello to all of the Insider readers! The Insider: What city do you live in? Guillermo: I live in Manhattan. I’m originally from San José, Costa Rica and have lived in New York City for 21 years. The Insider: How old are you? Guillermo: I’m 61 years old, The Insider: Did you go to school in Costa Rica? Guillermo: Yes. I was trained as an architect. The Insider: What made you decide to come to the United States? Guillermo: Many things! Since I was a little boy, I had a dream to visit the USA and learn to speak English like an American, and to learn American culture and food! I’m very lucky that my destiny put me in New York, I’ve met wonderful people here. After so many years of living in New York. I now consider myself a New Yorker! I’m very proud of it. The Insider: And did you fall in love here, too? Guillermo: Yes, I did and I still am! I met my husband here in New York in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The Insider: How long have you been married? Guillermo: Nine years and in a relationship for 18 years. My husband is a diamond! The Insider: At the beginning of the pandemic, things were very tough in New York City because of the high Covid rate. Did it affect your life a lot? Guillermo: Yes, it was very difficult. I missed seeing friends and going to work. I couldn’t watch the news. It was very sad. Also very scary! The Insider: When did you get vaccinated? Guillermo: My first Pfizer vaccine was in March; the second was on April 1st. After the first six months, I tried to get a booster but it wasn’t possible because of my age. I was worried because of my husband’s health condition. The Insider: What is your husband’s health condition? Guillermo: He has leukemia. The Insider: So he obviously needs to be very careful. Has he had three shots yet? Guillermo: Yes, He got the three shots at Memorial Sloan Kettering. We are extremely careful. The Insider: How do you define “extremely careful”? Guillermo: We follow the Covid protocols and at home we keep everything super clean. We even used to wash all the groceries, clean the doorknobs, etc. No people are invited over and we’re not visiting anybody. The Insider: Tell me about your own health. Guillermo: In general, my health is good for my age, with a few issues under control. I’m very worried about my high blood pressure, which was a reason to get the booster as soon as possible. Finally, New York Presbyterian Hospital gave me an appointment for January, 2022. It would have been better if they had given me an earlier appointment. That way, maybe it would have prevented me from getting Covid and protected my husband’s health. But unfortunately, I just got Covid! The Insider: Oh, no! When? Guillermo: I was diagnosed on December 8th. But the symptoms showed up days before that. The Insider: I’m so sorry!! How do you feel now? Guillermo: Now I’m feeling better. But getting the test results was a high stress moment, with worries about my husband’s health condition and guessing what happen if he were infected too. It could be a health disaster! In my opinion, with a patient with a health issue like his, I should have been able to get vaccinated immediately. It’s a big risk. The Insider: Has your husband been tested yet? Guillermo: Yes, he got tested immediately after my test result. We got his test result yesterday—negative. Thanks to God! The Insider: Yes! How are you handling the fact that you’re living in the same apartment? Are you staying in separate rooms? Guillermo: We live in a very small one-bedroom apartment. I spend all of my time in the bedroom and he uses the rest of the apartment to work and cook food. The Insider: What were the symptoms you had that made you get a Covid test? Guillermo: Very tired, coughing a lot and the loss of smell and taste The Insider: Are you still having those symptoms now? Guillermo: I can’t do much physical activity because I get tired easily, and don’t have smell or taste. The Insider: That sounds very difficult! And you were fully vaccinated and very careful. Guillermo: Yes. I got two vaccines, the second in April. The Insider: Do you know how you caught the virus? Guillermo: No! I have no idea where I got it. The Insider: You must have been shocked to get a positive test! Guillermo: It was shocking to find out that my test result was positive, and frustrating, after so many months of trying to be safe, to get the virus. The Insider: Are you in quarantine now? Guillermo: Yes, this is my tenth day at home. My doctor told me to spend four more days to be sure, and to get a test. The Insider: Did you have to contact people whom you had seen recently? Guillermo: Fortunately I didn’t see people because I thought I had the flu and didn’t want to expose anyone. I’ll like to say that it’s very important to increase the presence of the police in the subways and buses, to check that people really are wearing masks and covering their noses and mouths. Also, I want to recommend that people not eat inside of restaurants if there is not fresh air running and the proper social distancing of six feet between tables and waiters wearing masks. And if you don’t have to travel, don’t travel. I hope my personal experience can help somebody! The Insider: Do you think people are getting too relaxed about Covid now? Guillermo: Yes. People are getting 200% more relaxed about Covid. Part of that is because people are tired and sometimes it’s easy to forget the mask and so on. The Insider: Will you change your own life now? Guillermo: Yes. I’m definitely not going to travel outside of New York and not going to stay in a hotel. We had a bad experience in Washington, D.C at the hotel we stayed at on Thanksgiving weekend. The room wasn’t clean. The hotel concierge told us that the cleaning crew was reduced and that it’s hard to have perfectly clean rooms now, My answer to him was that in pandemic times, that is not an excuse. My opinion? Do not stay in a hotel. Using a pillow when you don’t know who used before you is dangerous. The Insider: Yes, it’s still so risky out there! Thanks so much for doing this interview. We hope you’ll be better soon! Guillermo: Thank you! The Insider: Be careful and be well!

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."

December 4, 2021 Jeffrey D. Sachs | Project Syndicate In the first year since the end of the Trump administration, the United States is still in the throes of a struggle to overcome decades of political corruption and social neglect. The outcome remains highly uncertain, and the outlook for the coming years is fraught with peril. NEW YORK – Almost a year after Joe Biden’s narrow election victory over Donald Trump, the United States remains on a knife-edge. Many political outcomes are possible. These range from the gradual economic and political reform that Biden is seeking to the subversion of elections and constitutional rule that Trump attempted last January – and that he and the Republican Party are still intent on pursuing. It’s not easy to diagnose exactly what ails America at its core so deeply that it incited the Trump movement. Is it the ceaseless culture wars that divide America by race, religion, and ideology? Is it the increase in inequality of wealth and power to unprecedented levels? Is it America’s diminishing global power, with the rise of China and the repeated disasters of US-led wars of choice leading to national agony, frustration, and confusion? All of these factors are at play in America’s tumultuous politics. Yet in my view, the deepest crisis is political – the failure of America’s political institutions to “promote the general Welfare,” as the US Constitution promises. Over the past four decades, America’s politics have become an insider’s game to favor the super-rich and corporate lobbies at the expense of the overwhelming majority of citizens. The 1% Above the Rest Warren Buffett homed in on the essence of the crisis in 2006. “There’s class warfare, all right,” he said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” The main battlefield is in Washington, DC. The shock troops are the corporate lobbyists who swarm the US Congress, federal departments, and administrative agencies. The ammunition is the billions of dollars spent annually on federal lobbying (an estimated $3.5 billion in 2020) and campaign contributions (an estimated $14.4 billion in the 2020 federal elections). The pro-class-war propagandists are the corporate media, led by mega-billionaire Rupert Murdoch. Nearly 2,500 years ago, Aristotle famously observed that good government can turn into bad government through a flawed constitutional order. Republics, governed by the rule of law, can descend into populist mob rule, or oligarchic rule by a small and corrupt class, or a tyranny of personal, one-man rule. America faces such possible disasters unless the political system can detach itself from the massive corruption of corporate lobbying and campaign financing by the rich. America’s class war on the poor is not new but was launched in earnest in the early 1970s and implemented with brutal efficiency over the past 40 years. For roughly three decades, from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inauguration in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression to the Kennedy-Johnson period of 1961-68, America was generally on the same development path as postwar Western Europe, becoming a social democracy. Income inequality was declining, and more social groups, most notably African-Americans and women, were joining the mainstream of economic and political life. Then came the revenge of the rich. In 1971, a corporate lawyer, Lewis Powell, laid out a strategy to reverse the social democratic trends toward stronger environmental regulation, worker rights, and fair taxation. Big business would fight back. President Richard Nixon nominated Powell to the US Supreme Court in 1971, and he was sworn in early the next year, enabling him to put his plan into operation. Under Powell’s prodding, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to corporate money in politics. In Buckley v. Valeo (1976), the court struck down federal limits on campaign spending by candidates and independent groups as violations of free speech. In First National Bank of Boston v. Belotti (1978), Powell wrote the majority opinion declaring that corporate spending for political advocacy was free speech that could not be subjected to spending limits. The Court’s onslaught on campaign finance limits culminated in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010), which essentially ended all limits on corporate spending in federal politics. When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, he reinforced the Supreme Court’s assault on the general welfare by cutting taxes for the rich, waging an assault on organized labor, and rolling back environmental protections. That trajectory has still not been reversed. As a result, the US has diverged from Europe in basic economic decency, well-being, and environmental control. Whereas Europe generally continued on the path of social democracy and sustainable development, the US charged ahead on a path marked by political corruption, oligarchy, an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, disdain for the environment, and a refusal to limit human-induced climate change. A few numbers spell out the differences. Governments in the European Union raise revenues averaging roughly 45% of GDP, while US government revenues amount to only around 31% of GDP. European governments thus are able to pay for universal access to health care, higher education, family support, and job training, while the US does not ensure provision of these services. Europe tops the World Happiness Report rankings of life satisfaction, while the US ranks only 19th. In 2019, life expectancy in the EU was 81.1 years, compared to 78.8 years in the US (which had a higher life expectancy than the EU in 1980). As of 2019, the share of the richest 1% of households in national income was around 11% in Western Europe, compared with 18.8% in the US. In 2019, the US emitted 16.1 tons of carbon dioxide per person, compared with 8.3 tons of CO2 per person in the EU. In short, the US has become a country of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich, with no political responsibility for the climate damage it is imposing on the rest of the world. The resulting social cleavages have led to an epidemic of deaths of despair (including drug overdoses and suicides), declining life expectancy (even before COVID-19), and rising rates of depression, especially among young people. Politically, these derangements have led in varied directions – most ominously, to Trump, who offered faux populism and a cult of personality. Serving the rich while distracting the poor with xenophobia, culture wars, and a strongman’s pose may be the oldest trick in the demagogue’s playbook, but it still plays surprisingly well. Powerful Headwinds This is the situation that Biden is trying to address, but his successes so far have been limited and fragile. The simple fact is that all congressional Republicans and a small but decisive group of Democrats (most notoriously Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona) are intent on blocking any meaningful increase in taxes on the rich and US corporations, thereby preventing the growth in federal revenues urgently needed to create a fairer and greener society. They are also blocking decisive action on climate change. Thus, we are arriving at the end of Biden’s first year with the rich still entrenched in power, and with obstacles in every direction regarding fair taxation, increased social spending, protection of voting rights, and urgently needed environmental safeguards. Biden could still eke out some modest wins, and then build on them in the coming years. The public wants this. Roughly two-thirds of Americans favor higher taxes on the rich and corporations. Yet there is a real possibility that Biden’s setbacks in 2021 will help the Republicans win control of one or both chambers of Congress in 2022. That would put an end to legislative reforms until at least 2025, and could even presage the return of Trump to power in the 2024 presidential election amid social disarray, violence, media propaganda, and voter suppression in Republican-controlled states. America’s turmoil has disturbing international implications. The US cannot lead global reforms when it cannot even govern itself coherently. Perhaps the only thing that unites Americans nowadays is an overwrought sense of threats from abroad, mainly from China. With America in domestic disarray, politicians of both parties have escalated their anti-China rhetoric, as if a new Cold War could somehow soothe America’s homegrown angst. The only thing that Washington’s bipartisan belligerence will produce, alas, is more global tension and new dangers of conflict (over Taiwan, for example), not security or real solutions to any of our urgent global problems. The US is not back, at least not yet. It is still in the throes of a struggle to overcome decades of political corruption and social neglect. The outcome remains highly uncertain, and the outlook for the coming years is fraught with peril for both the US and the world. https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/america-struggling-at-home-to-reverse-decades-neglect-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2021-12 Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, is Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has served as adviser to three UN Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General António Guterres. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, Building the New American Economy, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism, and, most recently, The Ages of Globalization.

By Naomi Serviss / New York City Diehard fans of HBO’s megahit, “The Sopranos,” may remember when Tony experienced a profound epiphany during a psychedelic trip. His bloated face crinkled with laughter watching the sun rise. He enthusiastically proclaimed repeatedly, joyously: “I get it!” “I get it!” What exactly did he get? Radical acceptance of his murderous habits? A cosmic thunderbolt of self-awareness and shame? Maybe a pledge to refrain from overeating? The realization that psychotherapy was for the birds? Postulate away, no answers were revealed. I, too, have had an “I get it!” thunderbolt or two but without pharmaceutical midwifery. After years of searching for my life’s purpose, I gracefully accepted my limitations. I’ll never learn to tightrope walk and that’s okay! Apparently, my struggle for a meaningful existence doesn’t hinge upon what I do for a living! Eureka! My inner judge was shushed, my compulsion to contribute SOMETHING MEANINGFUL to the world was deflated. Who cares if I’m never a renowned artist, heart surgeon or Olympic figure skater? I’ll never conduct Mozart’s 40th, memorize Waiting for Godot or nab a MacArthur Genius Grant. If I don’t ever shimmy into my skinny jeans again, c’est la vie. My values haven’t changed, but my once-shaky core has stabilized. It’s been a rocky road, pockmarked by bouts of depression, anxiety, a “little” disordered eating, you know--the works. And of course, don’t let’s forget the ever-mutating virus, for extra discomfort! Mental and emotional distress shapeshifted, running amuck in my malaise. Gratefully, my sense of humor helped save me from the brink. That and the unconditional love of my husband and kids. If my theater of-the-absurd life wasn’t cause for levity, nothing was. While on the hunt for a purpose-driven existence I wended my way through a potpourri of vocational aspirations. Some highlights: As publications editor for the New Jersey National Bank’s inhouse employee newspaper, I wrote a lengthy feature about women executives in the banking industry. It was a deadening job in a windowless office whose walls I plastered with New Yorker covers to distract from the hospital-beige paint. I was also the designated treasurer for the Employee Social Committee. Full disclosure: Math is not my strong suit. Don’t quiz me on multiplication tables. I majored in English and Journalism at Temple University. Economics and equations gave me the willies. Mr. Harvey Fleegler, my 10th grade algebra teacher, shamed me into crying when I gave the wrong answer to a blackboard problem. Cheltenham High School was a purpose-driven institution, teachers were humorless and pushed overachievers to a fault. In biology class we had to dissect frogs! Whose brilliant idea was that? Many a freshman nightmare burbled with vengeful amphibians with tiny scalpels. During the late ‘60s, Vietnam was shaking and waking the high school student body. A strict dress code forbidding culottes, miniskirts AND granny dresses seemed absurd. We questioned authority and were reprimanded with suspensions and worse. The best thing about the school was its 35-cent brownie, a generous square of fudgy decadence. Circling back to the New Jersey National Bank job: I assigned myself an article featuring women banking executives. One woman had just been promoted to vice president and made for a tight, albeit boring, feature. The issue was completed, the papers were stacked in my office ready for delivery among the employees. Only, there was a sticky problem. Turned out, it was common knowledge that the aforementioned executive was having an affair with the bank president. 

Whoops. Once word got out, the kibosh was put on distribution. I took a few surreptitiously. It was disappointing, but my competitive nature was sharpened. The National Association of Bank Women was sponsoring a writing competition. About women executives in banking. I had already submitted the issue before the guillotine fell. Already determined to get out of that suffocating job, that censorship prodded my resignation. Good timing, since my husband Lew was fed up with reporting for the Trenton Times. Also, it was in Trenton, New Jersey! Armpit of the East! I interviewed for a quasi-public relations director position at a foreign exchange student organization recently based in D.C. Turns out there had been a wee bit of shady shenanigans prompting the move from its original Michigan location. Of course, I didn’t learn that until after I ditched the joint. The best thing about that position was: my office faced the National Cathedral! The weirdest thing was: I had a series of secretaries, including an exchange student named Bent. And a young woman named Brenda. I never tired of hearing her answer the phone in a southern drawl: “Naomi Freedman’s office.” What did I know from having a secretary? Too bad about my boss, who was a sexual predator decades before Me, Too, outed the rat bastards. That was then, this is now. Life is good, could be better, could be worse. I no longer mistrust gut feelings. Toxic relationships are cut off at the butt. Good health is quality of life currency. As for the writing competition I mentioned…. My story won. But seriously folks, it's not about the winning. It's about being present in the game, no matter where it leads. 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 Andy Borowitz December 13, 2021 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In his weekly appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Chris Wallace told his viewers that he was “ecstatic” about never having to ride an elevator with Tucker Carlson again. “After eighteen years at Fox, I’m excited about my next chapter,” a visibly giddy Wallace said. “And that’s because I’ll never again share an elevator with that unhinged sociopath Tucker Carlson.” Wallace revealed that for years he “dreaded” stepping into an elevator at Fox for fear of an unwanted encounter with the execrable Carlson. “On the occasions when I found myself in the same elevator as that bastard, I’d stare at my shoes and pray he wouldn’t strike up a conversation,” Wallace said. “Those minutes seemed like hours.” “Even Hannity was better,” he added. Stressing that his decision to leave Fox “wasn’t about money,” Wallace said, “At CNN+, I’ll never have to ride an elevator with Tucker Carlson, and you can’t put a price tag on that.” 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 Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area When I was growing up in the ‘50s, our house was always full of people coming and going. We had four girls, three dogs, and Mom and Dad. Plus, next door, our neighbors had three girls and two dogs. It was one seamless residence of girls and dogs. Our parents loved it, though Dad had a way of slipping off to the golf course on Saturday mornings. Every Saturday, my mom’s sisters would come over for coffee, a chat, and lunch and bring a couple of extra girls to add to our already full pack. Many times, you’d find extra bodies asleep between my sister Cindy’s bed and mine. We thought this tumult was normal. This was the tip of the iceberg as to the number of kids who streamed through our doors. Our backyard abutted the elementary school so just about every kid had to pass our house on their way home. Dad was a perpetual dreamer. He had some wild ideas! One of the best ones was procuring a legit 8-foot stainless steel full-on soda bar, with pumps, scoops, big freezers, the works. He also bought a 4-foot stainless chest to hold the dozens of banana split boats, sundae dishes, and milkshake glasses. Again, I thought this was normal. What kid didn’t want to come over for delicious sundaes after a hard day playing in the schoolyard?! When we grew into our teenage years, Dad installed a basketball hoop in our cemented backyard to accommodate our boyfriends. Mom stocked the cupboards with after school snacks, adding to her array of fresh baked coffee cakes, mandel bread and cookies. The door was never locked and everyone knew it. Our Fishman family’s hospitality carried into our college years, in the early ‘70s, when two pairs of sisters who are our first cousins shared a Craftsman-style house in Ann Arbor while attending University of Michigan. Our mailbox read: Fishman, Fishman, Fishman & Fishman. No, we weren’t a law firm. Plus we had three dogs (of course we did!). Our Mack Street house was the hub of activity. Anyone passing by at dinner time knew they could pull up a chair and share our meal. On weekends, we often had extra bodies strewn on the couch and living-room rug. It was both familiar and blissful for me. Chaos was a comforting state of being. Many people might find it nerve-wracking but I thought it was perfect. When our own kids were growing up, needless to say, our house was a hub for playing, shooting hoops, watching ball games, and eating pizza. I would come home from work and see the familiar pile of shoes in the front hall. Invariably, a pair or two remained at our house along with the occasional scarf, sweatshirt, hat, or socks. We actually had a lost-and-found department. Our closest neighbor ended up with a locker to hold all the stuff that he left behind! Fast forward to the present day: The Hotel California here at the Fishman Family Compound. My two sisters, my brother-in-law, and my husband and I live together in a compound in semirural California. Visitors abound as we are located near San Francisco and anyone passing through might stop by for lunch, dinner, or an overnight stay. We love it! Having been schooled by our mom, who was the quintessential hostess, we do it right. My sister Marcia has a lovely casita where she has welcome gifts for her guests. We always have well-stocked pantries and fridges to cater to our visitors’ diets. Gluten-free? No problem. Don’t eat dairy? Been there done that. Vegetarian? Gotcha covered. My sisters and I are now at the point where we have to coordinate our guest calendars so we don’t double-book! The first night of Hanukkah, we had nine adults, three children, and 11 dogs. The dogs formed a rugby scrum, moving about the front porch and yard in one large pack of activity. It was very entertaining. One thing Mom often did was make a big pot of something for dinner. Not knowing who was going to drop by, she was prepared to expand the meal to accommodate the extra mouths to feed. We did this at college too. A crowd favorite was Mom’s Beef Stroganoff. Back then, beef was cheap, though not so much now. She could make it ahead. When she reheated it for dinner, she then added fresh dill and sour cream. I prefer to use Greek yogurt, as it’s less rich. I’ve toyed with the idea of using boneless skinless chicken thighs for the stroganoff. Obviously, the recipe won’t cook for as long, maybe only 30 minutes, because chicken is much more tender. I hope this will be a crowd pleaser for your holiday guests, whether invited or just dropping by. Feel free to expand this recipe to suit your needs. Bon appétit, Insiders! Boots’ Beef Stroganoff Yield: 6 servings 1 1/2 lb. top sirloin steak 1/4 c. flour 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper 3-4 Tbs. vegetable oil 1 c. small diced onion 2 garlic cloves, minced 10 oz. mushrooms, sliced 1/4 c. dry Marsala wine or red wine 2 Tbs. catsup 3/4 tsp. thyme 1 1/2 c. beef or chicken stock 1 c. sour cream or Greek yogurt, 5% or full fat 6 Tbs. chopped fresh dill 12 oz. wide egg noodles Slice the steak in 1/4” x 2” pieces. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl. Toss the meat in the flour. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil over high in a braiser or Dutch oven. When hot, add only half or one third the beef to the pan, making sure not to overcrowd. Sauté the steak until browned on all sides. Transfer to a clean bowl. Repeat with remaining beef, adding more oil as needed. Turn heat down to medium. Sauté the onions and garlic until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until they begin to brown. Mix in any remaining flour from the dredging bowl. Pour on the wine. Scrap up brown bits from the bottom. Add the catsup, thyme, and stock, continuing to scrape. Return beef to the pan. Bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer, cover, and stir occasionally. Cook about one hour or until the meat is tender. Turn heat off until 10 minutes before dinner. Cook the egg noodles in salted boiling water for 8 minutes. Drain well. Meanwhile, fold the yogurt and dill into the beef. Reheat over a very low flame or the sauce will curdle. Adjust the seasoning with additional salt and pepper. Place noodles on each plate. Top with stroganoff. Garnish with extra chopped dill if desired. 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. No good deed goes unpunished. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and chief medical advisor to President Biden—as well as six presidents before him—is under persistent siege by this nation’s right-wing propaganda machine over his work in fighting the Covid-19 virus and its variants. At the end of November, Lara Logan, a host on Fox Nation (a streaming service of Fox News Media), equated Fauci’s devotion to saving people’s lives with the Nazi Josef Mengele’s murderous experiments on prisoners. Employing Trump’s technique for spreading excrement while disclaiming responsibility, Logan said: “this is what people say to me: that [Fauci] doesn’t represent science to them. He represents Josef Mengele. Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews during the Second World War and in the concentration camps. And I am talking about people all across the world are saying this, because the response from COVID, what it has done to countries everywhere, what it has done to civil liberties, the suicide rates, the poverty, it has obliterated economies. The level of suffering that has been created because of this disease is now being seen in the cold light of day.” Logan—who should not be called a journalist—does not name even one person making that comparison. And never mind that it is the disease, not Dr. Fauci, that has caused the “level of suffering” which she pretends to decry. Fauci is the man trying to help Americans and the world survive the disease. That, of course, won’t keep Logan and those of her ilk from deliberately conflating the two in an effort to demonize him. In October, Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul both claimed Fauci had lied to Congress about U.S.-funded research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. Paul called for him to be fired, while Cruz called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute him. In April, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had led the parade, introducing a bill to reduce the salary of the present NIAID director to zero, and audit the correspondence, financial statements and policy memoranda within his office during the Covid outbreak “and for other purposes.” The bill states that the Act would only apply until a new director is appointed and confirmed. And just in case the target of this proposed legislation was not clear, the bill states that the Act may be cited as the “Fire Fauci Act.” One must wonder whether Greene and Donald Trump together contrived this method to get the former president his revenge on Fauci for daring to correct Trump’s Covid-19 disinformation. Though this travesty of a bill will surely die in the Democratic House, it conceivably could be resurrected if the Republicans take control in 2022. Reactions to the Fauci Attacks Dr. Fauci responded to the Rand Paul and Ted Cruz attacks with equanimity. On a November 28 episode of CBS’s Face the Nation, Fauci said, "So anybody spins lies and threatens and all that theater that goes on with some of the investigations and the congressional committees and the Rand Pauls and all that other nonsense, that's noise." When asked about Cruz’s call for his prosecution, Fauci laughed and said, referencing the January insurrection Cruz supported, "I have to laugh at that. I should be prosecuted? What happened on January 6, Senator?" Seeing the attacks on him as a proxy for an attack on science, Fauci added, “If they get up and criticize science, nobody's going to know what they're talking about. But if they get up and really aim their bullets at Tony Fauci, well, people could recognize, there's a person there." Fauci has also made short shrift of Lara Logan, calling her statement “absolutely preposterous and disgusting.” On December 2, he told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, “It’s an insult to all of the people who suffered and died under the Nazi regime in the concentration camp,” and expressed astonishment that Fox News has not disciplined her. Various Jewish institutions immediately condemned Logan’s Mengele comments. The Auschwitz Museum wrote on Twitter: “Exploiting the tragedy of people who became victims of criminal pseudo-medical experiments in Auschwitz in a debate about vaccines, pandemic and people who fight for saving human lives is shameful. It is disrespectful to victims & a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline.” Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), told The Washington Post “there’s absolutely no comparison between mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and other COVID-19 mitigation efforts to what happened to Jews during the Holocaust.” He added, “This includes making outlandish and offensive analogies suggesting that somehow Dr. Anthony Fauci is akin to Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, known for his gruesome medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners.” Finally, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) said Logan’s comments were “utterly shameful,” that “an apology is needed,” and “Josef Mengele earned his nickname [the Angel of Death] by performing deadly and inhumane medical experiments on prisoners of the Holocaust, including children. There is no comparing the hell these victims went through to public health measures.” Though the statements of the Auschwitz Museum, ADL, and AJC are correct and their outrage understandable, they are still focused more on the insult to the dead than the gross insult to Dr. Fauci. And that misses the point and purpose of Logan’s analogy: to smear Fauci’s reputation, erode public support for him, and thus destroy Fauci’s ability to lead NIAID in its work. In some quarters, the smear campaign is working. According to USA Today, a Hill-HarrisX poll conducted from October 26-27 found 52 percent of registered voters polled felt Fauci should resign. But Dr. Fauci is going nowhere. Taking the attacks in stride, he said to USA Today, “If you keep lying about someone and keep spreading preposterous accusations, there're going to be some people, if they hear that often enough, [who] are going to believe it." He added, "But that's just the way it is. I can't change the fabric of society about social media and how it works." Determined to press on nevertheless, Fauci does not appear to be concerned about the attacks on him, but about the danger of discrediting science, and thereby discrediting what is needed to prevent and treat disease and preserve peoples’ health. This, he fears, could disrupt society long after he is gone. As Director of NIAID for 37 years, Dr. Fauci has devoted himself to finding solutions to one viral epidemic after another: H.I.V., SARS, avian influenza, swine flu, Zika, and Ebola, among others. Throughout, he has shown singular dedication to defeating deadly contagions. During Trump’s term, Fauci attempted to adhere strictly to science, politely disputing and correcting Trump’s disinformation about Covid-19 when necessary, but otherwise trying to stay out of the politics. Nevertheless, according to the New York Times, he was accused of inventing the virus and of being part of a secret cabal with Bill Gates and George Soros to profit from vaccines. Scurrilous lies like these do not invent themselves. Someone must create and disseminate them. My bet is on a propaganda machine. Because of the attacks, Fauci’s family received death threats and, ultimately, in 2020, while Trump was still president, Fauci had to be provided a protective security detail. The Bigger Picture To call this man—who has made saving lives his life’s work and who, even now, persists in that work despite death threats—a “Joseph Mengele” is disgusting. However, this assault is more than an attack on one man. It is part of an organized campaign, one arm of the many-armed octopus attempting to strangle our democracy. And those involved are employing their usual tactic of projection: accusing their opponents of what they actually are doing. While callously killing off even their own constituency with their lies, they accuse Dr. Fauci and anyone trying to save people of being killers. While promoting Nazi-like Brownshirt groups like the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and the others who march with torches shouting, “the Jews will not replace us,” they have the nerve to appropriate Jewish pain to attack Covid prevention efforts, and to equate public health measures with fascist incursions, and their inconvenience with the extermination of the Jews. As enumerated in the Washington Post, Republican politicians at every level have been concocting analogies of any Covid prevention efforts to the Nazis. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado called those involved in door-to-door promotion of vaccination “needle Nazis.” Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina has claimed vaccine certifications are “papers please” passports that “smack of 1940s Germany.” Rep Scott Perry of Pennsylvia compared criticism of anti-lockdown advocacy and Trump’s hydroxychloroquine promotion to Nazi book burnings. Arizona Republican Party Chairperson Kelli Ward gauchely promoted a tweet stating “What’s the difference between vaccine papers and a yellow star? 82 years.” Not to be outdone, the Oklahoma Republican Party posted on Facebook an image of a Star of David with print reading “Unvaccinated.” Several Alaska state GOP Representatives compared vaccination efforts to Nazi medical experiments and Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson said of mask-mandate critics who put on a yellow Star of David, that the use of a yellow star was a “credit” to the Jewish people. Maybe Bronson should ask the Jewish people how they feel about it. Maine State Rep. Heidi Sampson said of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, “We have Josef Mengele and Joseph Goebbels being reincarnated in the state of Maine.” Arizona state Senator Kelley Townsend shared an image of needles in the shape of a swastika. Washington state Rep. Jim Walsh wore a Star of David and said: “It’s an echo from history. In the current context, we’re all Jews.” The Washington Post’s list goes on and on. And yet, despite the almost identical substance of this rash of Nazi comparisons, the Post characterizes Republican party leaders as having “all but given up trying to rein in the extremists in their midst (to the extent they actually want to),” concluding, “So, increasingly, they just let it happen.” One must ask why the Washington Post insists on pulling its punches and going soft on Republican party leadership. The party’s hands-off approach is not a matter of giving up on “trying to rein in the extremists.” Rather, their silence constitutes complicity with the extremists. They are not passively letting it happen. At a minimum, the refusal of Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell and others to act makes them a part of it. But given the number and kind of statements made in such a short period from so many different Republican quarters, it is nearly impossible to conclude that this was other than an effort coordinated throughout the party—top to bottom—and with the same ultimate goal as the January 6 attack. They are simply pursuing that goal from another angle. And in making the bogus association of Covid prevention with Nazism, they themselves are employing the Nazi tactics that gained Hitler his power. Ultimately, these attacks are not merely about vaccines, Dr. Fauci, or science. To create a fascist dictatorship, you need villains. Enemies to be fought. You need to stoke hate, fear and anger. And you need to create chaos to confuse your opposition. The Republican party is expert at manufacturing such enemies, and turning truth upside down to incite violent hatred and anger. Vaccine mandates, masks, and Dr. Anthony Fauci are only the most current of their never-ending supply of straw-man villains. The nation is being buried under the barrage. Responding with logic and reasoned explanation alone takes too long. By the time one counters a single lie, manipulation, or deception, there are 10 more to address. With the approach of the 2022 elections, which could solidify Republican extremist control, the nation cannot afford the “slow but steady wins the race” approach taken by many of our leaders. Now is the time for all good men and women, Democrats or not, to come to the aid of their country. They can begin by loudly calling the real Nazis—Nazis. 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 Madeline Barry / New York City Move over, Elizabeth, there’s a new queen in town. Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, the adored British singer-songwriter who is universally known as Adele, is currently Billboard’s reigning monarch. Three of the songs from her newest album, 30, which was released November 19, are Top Ten on Billboard’s “Global 200’s” list. “Easy on Me,” her single from 30, which was released on October 15, is currently No. 1, “Oh My God” is situated comfortably at No. 3, and “I Drink Wine” has made its way up to No. 10. What makes Adele’s chart-topping success even more monumental is the fact that she has not released an album since 2015. Her last album, 25, featured well-known songs like “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” and “Hello,” which was No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100’s chart for 10 weeks. But 30 is a departure. The album allows listeners to get to know a very vulnerable side of Adele, which makes sense considering the songs are centered around her recent divorce and the emotional turbulence that inevitably followed. Adele’s ex-husband is Simon Konecki, a New York-born, London-raised businessman and CEO of the charity Drop4Drop. The organization’s stated mission is to “fund sustainable clean water solutions to countries that need it most.” Konecki and Adele began dating in 2011, wed in 2017, and divorced in 2019. The timeline is a bit cloudy, however, because the pair did not initially announce their marriage publicly. In 2012, the couple welcomed their son, Angelo. The song “My Little Love” from 30 is written for and features Angelo in the form of snippets from a voice note conversation between him and Adele. In the song, Adele speaks honestly to her only child, “Mommy has been having a lot of big feelings recently” she begins, referring to the demise of her marriage. Angelo interjects, “like how?” to which Adele responds “…like um I feel a bit confused… I don’t really know what I’m doing.” It is a very intimate moment between the two and is perhaps one of the most personal songs on the album, which as a whole is intensely personal. In “My Little Love,” Adele also alludes to her own childhood trauma. Her parents, Mark Evans and Penny Adkins, separated when she was young. After the divorce, Evans became estranged and this past May he lost his battle with cancer. While Adele and Evans patched things up in the months before his death, the singer laments that she did not want Angelo to grow up the way she did, “I wanted you to have everything I never had/ I'm so sorry if what I've done makes you feel sad.” “Easy on Me,: “Oh My God” and “I Drink Wine,” the three tracks that have dominated Billboard’s “Global 200’s List” also deal with heartbreak, but in different ways. In “Easy on Me”, Adele explores her impressive vocal range, which is emphasized by the minimal instrumental section. She admits her defeat. “There ain't no room for things to change/ When we are both so deeply stuck in our ways/ You can't deny how hard I have tried/ I changed who I was to put you both first/ But now I give up.” When asked why she chose to release “Easy on Me'' as her single in a radio interview on Q on CBC, Adele responded that she felt the song was “calm” but also very “grown-up...it’s the right tone for where I am with relationships falling apart right now.” Clearly she was on to something. The song’s success speaks for itself. In “I Drink Wine”, Adele takes ownership of and accepts her flaws and decides that perhaps she should just be herself. “Well I hope I learn to get over myself/ stop trying to be somebody else.” The song “Oh My God” is pop driven. The beat is quick, and Adele is more optimistic about her future. She is a “grown woman” and she will do as she pleases: “I know that it’s wrong, but I want to have fun.” It is worth mentioning that the split between Konecki and Adele was amicable. In an interview with Vogue that was published in October, Adele discusses the reason for their decision to part ways. “Neither of us did anything wrong. Neither of us hurt each other or anything like that. It was just: I want my son to see me really love, and be loved. It’s really important to me.” Adele quashes any rumors that the split was messy or that the couple do not get along. She goes on to explain that Konecki lives across the street and that the two are very much involved in raising Angelo, so much so that they even host regular family movie nights. Another rumor she addresses in the Vogue article is her body transformation. The singer has lost 100 pounds in the past two years, and as is the case whenever a female celebrity loses weight, folks are curious. Adele attributes her weight loss to intense daily circuit training and weight-lifting workouts she does at her private gym, “Heart and Hustle,” located in Los Angeles. She explains that the gym became a cathartic space for her in 2017 while she was dealing with anxiety about damage to her vocal cords. “I realized that when I was working out, I didn’t have any anxiety. It was never about losing weight. I thought, ‘If I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong.’” Listening to 30, it is obvious that Adele is indeed strong. The 15-time Grammy Award winner (she is tied with Alicia Keys and right behind Aretha Franklin, who won 18 Grammys), is back, baby. For her sake, we can only hope that the next album isn’t a teary 36. Keep the hits coming, Adele! Madeline Barry is a junior high school teacher at the Ronald Edmonds Learning Center in Brooklyn, New York. Listening to music and writing for The Insider has kept her semi-sane during the pandemic.