Trump beats 3 ex-presidents at golf. Sam Bee's Alt-left Dinner. Combatants for Peace. Advice from Sage Ladies. Goodbye plagues.
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #44 APRIL 18, 2017
TRUMP WATCH
For a photo retrospective on the first 100 days of the Trump Administration. click here. Just curious: Does anyone know anyone who is satisfied with what POTUS & Co have accomplished since Jan 20th?
Number of days recent presidents spent at a golf course in their first 81 days in office
Trump
Obam
Bush
Clintn
Total
17
0
0
3
Week 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Weeks are counted beginning on the first Friday on or after Inauguration Day.
Some people fault Trump for spending so little time in the White House. Others approve, insisting he does less damage playing golf than playing president. In both roles at least his behavior is consistent.
News from former Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, now a Florida resident. "The Florida State Health people cited Mar-a Lago for 15 health violations! How nice for all those with their $200,000. dues. In the last 3 years,Trump's country club has been cited 78 times for violations.
VIDEOS
Late night comedy star, Samantha Bee, will host "Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner," an alt-left answer to the WHCD (which Trump will not be attending, doubtless because he's too egomaniacal to laugh at himself or tolerate the ribbing.) Bee's alternative will telecast on the same night but not in a competing time slot. All proceeds will go to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Sat, 4/ 29, 10 PM ,TBS.
Bee's investigative piece on Ivanka -- "the nicest, smartest, best-smelling Trump" -- is both hilarious and deeply disturbing. (Incidentally, if you were counting on the First Daughter's "Secret Planned Parenthood Outreach" to save the day for women's health, it's time to retire that delusion.)
Last Sunday, Abigail Pogrebin was on "Face The Nation" on a panel about religion-- with a nice mention of her new book, My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew.
FILM
Get tickets now for Tribeca Film Festival. Seats always sell out fast.
Directors Deborah Kaufman & Alan Snitow have a powerful new documentary, "Company Town," about San Francisco's grassroots resistance to Citizens United, corporate abuse, & the ‘sharing economy’ that's tearing the city apart. NYC premiere Wed 5/24, 7pm, IFC Theater, 323 6th Ave, Trailer here.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Think about it! The women interviewed in this book were born before 1920! They've seen it all. Read their advice on how to endure the worst and recover. We The Resilient: Wisdom from Women Born Before Suffrage.
[ Dorit Rabinyan poses with her Hebrew-language novel Gader Haya. Photograph: Gil Cohen Magen/AFP/Getty Images]
Novel censored in Israel published in America. Last year, Dorit Rabinyan's book, All the Rivers – about a relationship between a Palestinian and an Israel -- was selected for Israel's national school curriculum until the education ministry suddenly withdrew it because of its subject matter. After the ban, sales doubled, the book was translated into 20 languages. and its prize-winning author is about to launch a one-month tour of the U.S. [English edition, translated by Jessica Cohen, available here. ]
Sylvia Plath's previously unpublished letters reveal that she was beaten by her husband, Ted Hughes, for some time before she took her own life. Sadly, this new evidence confirms what feminist scholars have been saying for years.
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
I just joined the American Board Combatants for Peace, an egalitarian, binational, grassroots organization founded in 2006 by former combatants from both sides of the ongoing conflict, fighters who laid down their weapons, and relatives who lost family members and yet decided to join forces in the search for peace. CfP pairs activists geographically (Tel-Aviv-Nablus; Beersheva-Hebron; Jerusalem-Jericho). At all their events an Israeli and a Palestinian describe their personal paths from violence to non-violence and peace-seeking. Watch video about their upcoming joint commemoration of Memorial Day on Apr 30.
JEWISH LIFE HERE & THERE
FRANCE. Marine LePen is currently a frontrunner for the French presidency. European Jews are divided about her candidacy. If elected, she pledges to stop all legal immigration. She has downplayed the role of France in deporting Jews to Auschwitz in 1942. About 600,000 Jews live in France today. She says they should sacrifice wearing yarmulkes to support "the struggle against radical Islam." What next?
USA. Veteran journalist Jesse Zel Lurie dies at 103. Benjamin Ivry's tribute captures the spirit and substance of the Jewish community's indefatigable progressive gadfly and intrepid peacenik.
ISRAEL. A friend whose taste I trust says the Israeli TV series, 'Srugim,' is addictive. It's about the dating life of Modern Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem. Streaming now on Amazon and Hulu.
ACTIVISM
Upcoming marches: Support science. Save the planet:
Earth Day. The March for Science "is a celebration of science. It's not only about scientists and politicians; it is about the very real role that science plays in each of our lives and the need to respect and encourage research that gives us insight into the world. Register for the March in Washington, D.C. and 514 other int'l locations. Sat. 4/ 22
People's Climate March Markthe 100th day of Trump's presidency by marching for Climate and Our Communities. Big one in DC (sign up for buses). Other locations, too. Sat. 4/29
Americans for the Arts Action Fund aims to protect the arts against GOP attacks. You can help.
Refugees. Most effective organizations working on refugee issues are HIAS and the International Rescue Committee. Why not make a Mothers Day contribution to one of these groups in honor of your mom? She probably already has enough stuff.
Congress is in recess until Apr 23. Marija Stroke suggests what to do this week. (Edited for brevity. My choice of illustrations):
-- Turn out in large numbers at protests, town hall meetings, and congressional offices. -- Make frequent phone calls to your members of Congress & leave a message.
-- Tell legislators you won't re-elect them unless they work for all the people, not the wealthiest few.
-- Ask them pointed questions about specific issues, such as:
1. Syria: Though the taboo against use of chemical weapons is correct and important, it's clearly illegal under international law for one country to bomb another (except in self defense) without the approval of the UN Security Council. Demand that Trump admit 100,000 Syrian refugees and protect the foreign assistance budget to help Syrian families; that the U.S.call for a cease-fire and join a multi-national UN campaign to achieve a diplomatic-political-economic solution to the conflict; that Congress stop Trump from sending troops or allowing further escalation; and that Congress invoke the War Powers Act (passed by both Houses in 1973 to check the president's power to commit the U.S. to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress).
2. Trump's budget: Ask your legislators to speak out against GOP cuts to vital programs and protest the use of your tax money for huge military expenditures and action against immigrants.
3.Demand that Trump release his tax returns.
4. Ask your Congress member to advocate for a fair tax system and protest the Trump/GOP "tax reform" plan which gives the wealthy massive tax breaks to the detriment of everyday Americans.
5. Defend the Affordable Care Act. Tell your Congress members (even if you know they agree with you) to refuse to accept any compromise on Obamacare. Advocate for Medicare for All as proposed in HR 676.
6. Request an independent investigation into Trump campaign's Russian ties, conflicts of interest of the Trump administration and GOP Congress members. Demand that Devin Nunes be expelled from the House Intelligence Committee, (Though he has been forced to recuse himself, he is still passing information to the White House while the Trump campaign is under FBI investigation).
7.Demand protection for Social Security. No raiding of social security contributions.
8. Demand that they close the Carried Interest Loophole. Click carried interest for definition of it.
9..Block U.S. from selling arms to Saudi Arabia until the civilians of Yemen are protected. Senators, support SJ Res 40.
10. Support Bernie Sanders College For All Act.
11. Support net neutrality. It's urgent that everyone have equal access to the internet.
12. Support 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act to protect the public from greedy banks.
MUSIC IN BROOKLYN IN THE SPRING
Triple your pleasure. Hear live chamber music (Shostakovich and Brahms), performed by the Apollo Trio (whose pianist Marija Stroke supplied the text of the action memo above), at Bargemusic, a refurbished old vessel moored on the East Rive in Brooklyn with a boffo view of the Manhattan skyline. Sun, 4/30 @ 4 P.M If you can afford to splurge, dine before or after across the street at the River Cafe, one of the most romantic (expensive) restaurants in New York.
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TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF PASSOVER
After 8 days of matzah and macaroons, tonight, at a celebration dinner for our son's birthday, I plan to OD on pasta. (The birds have had enough too.)
Ten modern plagues to get rid of before next year's seder:
Have a great week!