Tuesday

Brian Flores, the Dolphins’ head coach who was fired, has instituted a discrimination lawsuit against the NFL. This prompted me to ask Google what percentage of NFL players are black. It was 57.5 in 2020, and I doubt it was much different in ’21. The percentage of blacks in the USA is 14.2. Does that entitle whites to sue to up their percentage in the league? Pro coaches and managers are fired all the time, occasionally unjustly. That’s the way it has always been. General managers should have the right to hire and fire anyone they want, regardless of color.

Headline from a nypost.com op-ed piece by Jonathon Podhoretz: “Drop the Goldberg name you co-opted, Whoopi — you don’t deserve it.” Born Caryn Johnson, she has been suspended from The View TV show for the asinine remark that the holocaust had nothing to do with race.

Headline from newsmax.com: “US National Debt Tops $30 Trillion.” It’s a first. Let’s hope it continues to not matter.

Amusing NM headline: “Democrats Dodging Biden as 2022 Midterms Loom.”

A sad one from NM: “30 Police Officers Shot in January, Up 67% From Last Year.”

According to an article by Julius Young at foxnews.com, fans are pressuring Taylor Swift, Adele and Madonna to pull their music from Spotify to protest the presence of Joe Rogan, accused of spreading misinformation by allowing those with contrary views to voice an opinion.

RIP Monica Vitti, 90. Born Maria Luisa Ceciarelli in Rome, she was the only member of her family not to emigrate to the USA. It proved a wise choice, as she had phenomenal success, winning 36 awards on the continent. Her career spanned 1954-’92. There are 64 titles under her name at IMDb, L’Avventura (1960) by far the most notable. She was the star of Modesty Blaise (1966), a disastrous spoof that tried to capitalize on the secret agent craze. She never broke stride, quickly recovering. Along her life’s path, she wrote a teleplay and three screenplays, starring in each, directing two: the wonderfully titled TV movie La fuggiDiva (1983) and Secret Scandal (1990). Brava, maestra. Grazie.

The milder temperature felt good at today’s session of the floating book shop. My thanks to the sweet lady library volunteers, who donated six books, three in Russian; and to the woman who bought two in that language; and to the one who purchased a three-in-one paperback of Shakespeare tragedies, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear; and to my constant benefactress, who insisted on paying for four kids books.

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