Heart of a Stranger vs. Heart of Stone

In May, 2018 I wrote the following in my blog:

Trump’s Washington is a political black hole whose denseness does not allow light to escape—or compassion to be released. (1)

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This past Tuesday, at the post-Inauguration Day interfaith ceremony at Washington National Cathedral, the Right Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, gave a sermon directed at newly-sworn-in President Trump asking him,

“In the name of our God, . . . to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”

Budde's plea mentioned “gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families,” across the country “who fear for their lives.” 

The bishop also spoke up for immigrant workers, including those who may not “have the proper documentation,” saying the vast majority of them are “not criminals” but rather “good neighbors.” (2)

She added:

“And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.”

The plea for compassion, “for we were all once strangers in this land,” should be particularly meaningful to Jews, who, Rabbi David Russo explains, 

 

are consistently reminded of our obligation to take care of those around us, to raise our voices in the face of oppression and to treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves. Far from exempting us from this special responsibility, the Jewish people’s history of hardship is exactly the reason why we are called upon to show chesed, lovingkindness, to immigrants in our midst. As the Torah says, we know the heart of the stranger, because we were once strangers in the land of Egypt. (3)

And what was Trump’s trenchant response to the sermon? As expected, he reached into his fifth-grade lexicon and came up with “nasty.”

Trump was supported by his MAGidiots, chief among whom was Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.): “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.” (4) (Where do you deport someone who was born in New Jersey?)

The statement by Collins falls in line with the lack of Constitutional awareness that afflicts TrumpWorld. In the past, Trump himself spouted such anti-Constitutional craziness as wishing to see Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley executed. Trump wrote that

Mark Milley’s phone call to reassure China in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.” (5)

As of 2019, according to Axios, Trump had accused 24 persons of “treason.” (6)

And he continued after that, the following year tweeting that

a statement by a Black Lives Matter chapter leader made during an interview with Fox News was “Treason, Sedition, Insurrection!”

That was just days after Trump became the first president in modern U.S. history to accuse his predecessor of treason.

“It’s treason,” Trump said during a Monday interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. “They were spying on my campaign, I told you that a long time ago. It turns out I was right.” (7)

One would think that the person serving as President of the United States would know the Constitution of this land: 

Article III, Section 3, Clause 1: Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

Trump, of course, would eliminate the word “only” and add “or offending the amour-propre of the President.”

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(1) https://drnormalvision.blogspot.com/2018/05/black-holes.html

(2) https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/22/what-did-the-bishop-say-to-trump-during-prayer-service-heres-the-full-transcript/

(3) https://journeys.uscj.org/strangers-in-land-of-egypt/

(4) https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-member-wants-bishop-added-224103604.html

(5) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/trump-milley-execution-incitement-violence/675435/

(6) https://www.axios.com/2019/06/16/trump-treason-russia-investigation-new-york-times

(7) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/27/president-who-cries-treason/

 

The Smell of Excess

Do you miss New York City?

Amazon has a product for those with Big-Apple-Lust. 

Ah, yes, nothing like the stink of hot pavements mixed with bus fumes! I’m getting nostalgic myself.

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And for those outside the hotbed of couture who fear missing out on the latest fashions, I give you the following:

What do you want to use to schlepp your goodies around town? How about the “L.L.Bean Boat and Tote [which ]was introduced in 1944 as the Bean Ice Carrier, a simple bag designed to help people transport ice blocks to their home freezers.” (1)

You can get a newly-designed model for a mere $475. 

The writer at New York magazine says she would buy it: “Yes! I think $475 is reasonable.” Of course, we non-fashionistas can go to the L.L.Bean catalogue:

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The fashionistas can tote their way around town while sporting the latest women’s fashion accessory: a baseball cap. Here are just a few at Saks Fifth Avenue:

For the best anticipation of this millenary trend, I cite Syd Hoff’s cartoon in the July 3, 1948 issue of The New Yorker:

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The Veblen Effect and the Reverse

A century-and-a-quarter ago Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class and introduced the phrase “conspicuous consumption” to describe the attempt by the moguls of the Gilded Age to distinguish themselves from the riff-raff. 

They exhibited their wealth in a novel manner, and their conspicuous leisure took on the forms that were not productive. They engaged in  ridiculous, time-intensive sports like riding and polo. Yachting. Mansions. Gourmet foods and liquors. Baby furniture. (2)

Paradoxically, however,

the goods the leisure class used to signal their freedom were perpetually made cheaper on account of mass manufacturing, and so the specifics of conspicuous consumption kept changing to ensure exclusivity, specialness and distance from lower class culture.

At each leap forward in productivity, the leisure class latched onto the next big, deluxe thing that could not be copied by the disgusting masses.

But something has radically changed. Today, instead of the underclasses imitating the rich, in fashion the rich display their wealth (conspicuous consumption) by appropriating lower or working class articles of clothing—sweatpants (3), jeans, baseball caps, and t-shirts (4)—and spending tons of money on items that are for sale elsewhere for a fraction of the price.

Fifty Years Ago

“The haute couture is a degenerate institution propped up by a sycophantic press.” 

Kennedy Fraser

The New Yorker, April 28, 1975

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(1) https://www.thecut.com/article/tibi-ll-bean-reimagined-boat-and-tote-review.html?origSession=D231101doYdRSHzZooVctx0GR5Vd9NO8TuC66IBftHx4KQKiME%3D&_gl=1*6boysz*FPAU*MTQyOTA0MzE0NS4xNzI3Mjk5Mjkw*_ga*NTYwNDg1Nzg1LjE2OTU4NTE2MzI.*_ga_DNE38RK1HX*MTczMzQyMTY5NS40MDAuMS4xNzMzNDIxNzQwLjAuMC4xNzY1NzMzMzA4*_fplc*aUtvdk9ITUczNGJaaThEWVRZJTJGZXZmY3NzWUx5M0YzRFhHTEprU2dlM2cyaUhpVzg2ZnowcDgyc2JRUFU1OWtWcGM2enBwOVUlMkJuQSUyQm0lMkJuJTJCamE1YUJxY1ZaWGFtY0tvajRkMEhTM2hLeG90UmxSbFZMSUZkQ0RSbUhubnNzUSUzRCUzRA

(2) https://lithub.com/my-babies-are-richer-than-yours-on-the-lie-of-the-online-tradwife/

(3) See my blog: https://drnormalvision.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-active-bottom-and-bottom-line.html

(4) "[T]he last Balenciaga couture collection,  in July, included what looked like ratty old concert tees but turned out to be shirts with hand-painted oils by the artist Abdelhak Benallou featuring images of members of the Balenciaga atelier as a heavy metal band.

That’s an extreme case, but many pieces of the “stealth wealth” trend could be lumped in the same category. Think of the Loro Piana cashmere baseball cap. Not to mention the sudden preponderance of haute jeans and chore coats. Every runway brand seems to have them. . . .

Because of the fabric and cut, luxury casual is more expensive — often significantly so — which is the downside. Sometimes it costs a lot to look unfancy. Whether that’s worth the price is up to you."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/style/under-over-dressed-events.html