December 16, 2013 at 2:02 P.M. My laptop was turned off -- it just went black -- as I was drafting the essay appearing below from my home. I will attempt to revise and complete this text at the Morningside Heights branch of the library.
I am told that my laptop (or I) will be destroyed if I continue to write online. Funny noises are intended as a warning, I guess, and further threats must be expected as well as more plumbing problems.
I plan to continue writing by making use of multiple computers, private and public, and will refocus on New Jersey corruption soon.
Please contact the Partisan Defense Committee, 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y., (212) 406-4252 to contribute to efforts to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and Lynne F. Stewart, Esq., as well as so many others imprisoned, unjustly, for political reasons in America. http://www.partisandefense@earthlink.net
No hot water for a second day. I am told that repairing a "washer" or comparable matter in my shower will require a plumber's visit tomorrow. This means that no shower will be available, nor hot water anywhere in my home, for another 24 hours at least. I will continue to write. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "Wedding Bells Ring For Menendez!")
"The American Jew, if I may say so -- and I say so with love, whether or not you believe me -- makes the error of believing that his Holocaust ends in the new world, where mine begins. My diaspora continues, the end is not in sight, and I certainly cannot depend on the morality of this panic-stricken consumer society to bring me out of -- Egypt."
James Baldwin, The Price of the Ticket (1985).
Chris Francescani and Curtis Skinner, "New York Protesters Target Barneys After Black Shoppers Claim Bias," http://www.reuters.com
Cornel West, "On Black Jewish Relations," Race Matters (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993), pp. 69-81.
Cornel West, "Forging New Jewish and Islamic Democratic Identities," Democracy Matters (New York & London: Penguin, 2004), pp. 107-145.
Charlie Savage, "Judge Questions Legality of N.S.A. Phone Records," The New York Times, December 17, 2013, p. A1. (Finally, a judicial response to "spygate.")
David E. Sanger, "U.S.-Germany Intelligence Partnership Falters Over Spying," The New York Times, December 17, 2013, p. A16. (Is the NSA making us more secure?)
Jess Bidgood, "Prison for Rhode Island Lawyer In Tale of Insurance and Death," The New York Times, December 17, 2013, p. A18. (Joseph Caramadre, Esq. is "connected" to Bergen County, New Jersey "interests," Alicia Mucci perhaps? "Wedding Bells Ring For Menendez.")
Charlie Savage, "Two Saudi Prisoners Sent Home From Guantanamo," The New York Times, December 17, 2013, p. A20. (No apologies. No compensation. No conviction for anything after 10 years of torture and imprisonment.)
Michael Powell, "Cornered by Accusations, Christie Parries With Jokes and Stonewalls With Snarls," The New York Times, December 17, 2013, p. A24. (N.J. mafia-Democrat efforts to embarrass Christie are unsuccessful; Christie's efforts to embarrass Christie are more successful.)
"A Powerful Rebuke of Mass Surveillance," (Editorial) The New York Times, December 17, 2013, p. A28. (I concur.)
Mark Mazetti, "Senate Asks C.I.A. to Share Study On Detentions," The New York Times, December 18, 2013, p. A1. (Brutality, torture, hypnosis in interrogation faulted as "counterproductive," but the issue of violating human rights or committing crimes against humanity through interrogational torture has not been discussed very extensively.)
Please see: http://www.ThankYouEdSnowden.org (Links are blocked at these blogs. No images can be posted by me. All access to my email accounts is denied to me. My writings continue to be plagiarized in U.S. media. I have never been charged with a crime.)
We live in a city where profound divisions linger under the surface of our powerful and carefully constructed collective identity. We wish to see ourselves as Americans and New Yorkers, or as human beings -- whatever our ethnicities -- rather than to fall into sectarian or tribal hatreds and divisions.
This society and perhaps the entire human species cannot survive, nor is there any hope of overcoming the great challenges that we face, without creating a genuine community in New York and in the world.
New York -- with all occasional exceptions granted -- is one of the places where America's "melting pot" can and does work. However, even in this city, there are always forces seeking to destroy the cohesiveness of our social bond for partisan political reasons, or other tribal reasons, while failing to realize just how dangerous such a tactic can be.
The danger is only increased when the tactics come from outside the city.
Yesterday my shower exploded and nearly caused very ugly burns to a young lady, a guest in my home, who was about to take a shower. This person knows nothing of me or my opinions. Perhaps such a fate was prepared for me or my family members. I will continue to write. ("How censorship works in America" then "What is it like to be plagiarized?" and "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review.")
I recently visited what was always one of my favorite bookstores in the city, Strand Books. I have patronized this establishment for nearly 40 years. During those years, I am sure that I have spent many thousands of dollars at the store, often persuading others to do the same. I have written a story that is about to be more widely published set in the famous New York bookstore. That story has been read by persons in many countries who may wish to visit the store or make a purchase online.
I always thought of Strand Books as an oasis of peace and civilization in an otherwise hectic and frequently stressful city. As a result, I made it a point to donate books to the store for resale and have seen these books on their shelves, even first editions with pricey signatures have been given by me for resale, and I was planning on leaving a number of books signed by authors worth hundreds of dollars each to the store.
On a recent visit where I made a number of purchases and brought fine books to give to the store, I found myself insulted by a person who purported to be a store employee. Perhaps it was only someone who "appeared" to be an employee with the necessary tag. I was told (prior to anyone looking at them) that the books would be thrown away. "Sheldon"?
Considering that some of these books are collectors' items worth good money, and that I am someone spending even more good money in the store, this seems to me like an absurd and idiotic response to my gesture that must have been designed to offend rather than a casual error. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
Perhaps this "gesture" was arranged by New Jersey officials with some connection to this establishment. Maybe much the same is true of the building where I live and its plumbing problems. These "games" are dangerous to many persons and violate legal rights of all victims. ("An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli" and "Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?")
Given the anger in New York that is directed at Barney's and Macy's, I find it bizarre that anyone -- much less a public official in any state -- would wish to increase tensions along racial or ethnic lines, or to have them focused on any commercial establishment, or identifiable group of people. The level of anger in the streets of this city in difficult economic times is palpable. People are not as stupid as some officials may imagine.
After my experience of plagiarism at The New York Review of Books, the objective for some persons in New Jersey may be to generate intemperate or antisemitic remarks from me, possibly accompanied by a distressing display of political incorrectness. Antisemitism is not possible for me. Happily, being "politically incorrect" is always possible and welcome. ("Drawing Room Comedy: A Philosophical Essay in the Form of a Film Script.")
I will rely on the example of Dr. King and rise to higher ground. Passionate and, potentially, violent or hostile reactions to such experiences of denigration on the part of young African-Americans and Latinos -- many of whom are coping with a great deal already -- must be expected: 22,000 children are homeless in this city; 58,000 more persons will be added to the ranks of the poor in New York in 2014, often persons who are treated as sub-humans, denied (let us say) the opportunity to shower on a daily basis despite paying substantial rents to say nothing of far worse deprivations that are ignored in the media.
Shutting off my computer as I am writing an essay will not make these realities disappear nor will the corruption, incompetence, lies and cover-ups no longer exist in New Jersey if you silence me. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
Some things should be above or beyond politics; some aspects of human beings merit respect that transcends political differences; some means of extracting acceptance of oppression are themselves oppressive and evil. Human dignity requires respect for every person living peacefully in this city regardless of what you think of his or her opinions.
New York is not -- and must not become -- New Jersey. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.")
Americans will spend $900,000,000,000 (nine hundred billion dollars) on "defense" in 2014. Much of this money will be stolen or wasted. This is about 42% of all the money in the society's economy, not just the government budget.
These absurd military expenditures are financed by the middle class and poor people who will be cut off from food stamp programs, emergency assistance, tuition assistance, and many other services in ridiculous numbers.
Inequality will increase, more prisons will be filled as we criminalize poverty and stigmatize as well as insult middle class people, let alone the poor.
Does this madness not create a security issue? I think so.
In light of these realities it is unsurprising that millions of young people live on the knife-edge of hatred and deal with violence as a daily feature of their lives. An explosion from such persons is expected and, perhaps, desired by those creating such conditions because it helps to confirm some stereotypes and racism.
I will not play your game, New Jersey. I will not behave as you wish me to behave, despite all provocations, in order to confirm your racism. Others may not have the same level of self-control.
I will do the opposite of responding in anger. I will say, sweetly, business persons will lose many thousands of dollars in profits and it will cost you more in lost good will to continue to abuse persons who will resist the effects of all insults by struggling for what we all should receive without struggle: dignity, respect, equal rights and our unique as well as unobstructed pursuit of happiness. People will take their business elsewhere. ("Marilyn Straus Was Right!")
"You know that as a female I am particularly attached to her -- I feel more than a mother's fondness and anxiety." Mary Wollstonecraft writes of her first daughter, Fanny: "when I reflect on the dependent and oppressed state of her sex. I dread lest she should be forced to sacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to her heart. With trembling hand I shall cultivate sensibility and cherish delicacy of sentiment, lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to the rose, I sharpen the thorns that wound the breast I would fein to guard -- I dread to unfold her mind, lest it should render her unfit for the world she is to inhabit -- Hapless woman! what fate is thine!"
Janet Todd, Mary Wollstonecraft: A Revolutionary Life (London: St. Martin's, 2000), p. 327 (emphasis added).
