Lawyer-Wearing-Yarmulka

Nice to know that Joe Biden thinks that Barack Obama is “clean”.  

Joshua Muravchik on Jimmy Carter. It's long, but really worth reading.

Money quote:

Ever since his presidency, there has been a wide gap between Carter’s estimation of himself and the esteem in which other Americans hold him. This has manifestly embittered him. For all his talk of “love,” the driving motives behind his post-presidential ventures seem, in fact, to be bitterness together with narcissism (as it happens, two prime ingredients of a martyr complex). But he has worked hard to earn the reputation he enjoys. In contravention of the elementary responsibilities of loyalty for one in his position, he has denigrated American policies and leaders in his public and private discussions in foreign lands. He has undertaken personal diplomacy to thwart the policies of the men elected to succeed him. And in doing so he has, at least in the case of North Korea, actively damaged our security.

From my recent trip to Vail. Yes, that's me holding the camera.

First day of Trademark today. Everyone is sitting and waiting for the professor to come in. Professor walks up to the podium, presses a button on a remote, and music starts blaring.

Within a second, everyone recognizes the song as Barbie Girl, and everyone starts laughing.

Jesus has turned into a Komodo dragon.

Are phasers next?  

For some weird reason many Orthodox Jews seem to to take pride that Sacha Baron Cohen is a religious Jew. Every time he was mentioned in the papers, it always said that that he is "religious" or "observant". And every time I read that, I wanted to pull my hair out, because I simply didn't believe it. Somehow I couldn't imagine an Orthodox Jew dressing up in a thong or talking the way Borat does. Well now the record is straight. Cohen has finally done some interviews out of character.

Religion is observed in the Baron Cohen family but does not dominate. “I wouldn’t say I am a religious Jew,” he told NPR. “I am proud of my Jewish identity and there are certain things I do and customs I keep.”

It’s what you might call Church of England Jewish: he tries to keep kosher and attends synagogue about twice a year. Where possible he goes home on Fridays to observe the Sabbath with his family. Not that he gets home very often. He lives in Los Angeles with his fiancée, the Australian actress Isla Fisher (perhaps best known
as Shannon from Home and Away).

The lot attendant calls out to me as my car pulls up, “Hey are you voting for Hillary?” Momentarily confused, I quickly assume that the query must be in response to the GOP elephant sticker that I have on one of the side windows on my car. (Yes, I have a GOP sticker on my car; it makes the car easy to spot in a crowded parking lot).

Not wanting to start a political argument with a complete stranger, I holler back, “I have no idea!” The attendant shoots back, “Why?” I end this weird conversation with, “Hey, the election isn’t for another two years.” That finally quiets her. I’m still scratching my head over this incident.

I'm heading off to Colorado in search of ski resorts that actually have snow. It's been a miserable skiing season so far here on the east coast.

Good stuff.

So I was at this wedding the other night in Brooklyn. One of those Jewish-owned catering halls. Really nice affair- when it comes to these kosher places, there's a direct correlation between how much you spend and the quality of the food. I've been to this place before and the food was decent, the other night, though, the food was really good.

So as I'm enjoying my prime rib, a waiter shows up and places a plate of potato kugel on the table. Huh? What the heck is 13 inch round, uncut kugel doing on the table?

No disrespect to the kugel; I love potato kugel. But it seemed a little out of place next to the prime rib and pistachio nut encrusted chicken, baby vegetables, and potato puree.

Has anyone seen this before?

I've been avoiding the whole El-Al boycott thing, but I've been just told that the El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv tonight had to turn back after losing an engine. They dumped fuel and landed safely in JFK.

[UPDATE]

El Al flight 002 turned around after 1 hour in the air after one of the 4 engines failed. They turned around, circled for 45 minutes to dump fuel, and landed safely. f

[UPDATE]

I'd love to provide a link to the story, but as of 11:10 P.M., EST, my only source is my cousin who was on the flight.

Yes, I'm still alive, regular postings to resume whenever I get my blogging mojo back. It seems to fade during winter vacation.