Why Does this Story Merit

Up with my New York Times perusal in the early morning hours.  What the hell is this story:  A Chinese woman who was staying at Trump’s Mar-E-Lago estate in Florida was detained because she A. had a Chinese passport, (clearly suspicious) B. had four cell phones, (that’s two more than many people carry) she had trouble answering questions, (as 99.9% of Americans would when interrogated in Chinese) most damning of all, she had “suspicious malware” on a thumb drive in her room.  (Wechat AND Baidu maps, no doubt).  She became “argumentative” with the secret service and was charged with a crime.  Why does this story merit front page coverage in the New York Times?  Must they fuel xenophobia by blowing such an insipid non-story into something troubling and suspicious? 

From an article on this incident in the Guardian:  “An interview with the state-run tabloid Global Times, Song Guoyou, deputy director of the American Studies Center of Fudan University in Shanghai said the incident underlined current US hostility toward China.   “The US media has magnified such small things and elevated the unintentional behaviour of the Chinese in the United States as deliberate moves by the government… creating an atmosphere in which Chinese people close to important facilities or people in the US are suspected of spying,” Song said.”    Indeed.

Jimmy Heath has a big smile to go with his big eyes.  They define him whether you’re looking at pictures of him when he’s young or old.  Escaped the draft by being underweight, he played with Coltrane all the way back in the end of the 40s, in a combo that backed Charlie Parker.  You’d think that the fifties would have been a prolific time for Jimmy Heath but like so many of his luminary contemporaries he was saddled with a habit that sent him to jail once and then twice and it wasn’t until he kicked at the end of the decade in 1959 that his career began to take off again.   Enjoying “The Quota” this morning which was released two years later.

I warned my wife that while I was willing to make dinner, as the kids hadn’t had baba comfort food in a while, I had a bunch of calls on this evening as well.  I pushed through on one call to closure and went out and shared some time with the younger one, chopping garlic and rolling lentil balls, and then meatballs.  But mid-lentil fry I ran out of run way and had to set them off to the side and jump on a call with Boston.  With the mic unmuted first an older daughter let everyone know she was starving.  Then the Mrs. demanded to know when I’d be back on-duty?  I wasn’t quick enough with the mute button either time.  And, begging my clients indulgence I suggested a quick wrap-up for now and a more diligent follow-up sometime in the future would probably be best. 

And . . . the meatballs were damn good in the end.  I have missed my food too. 

Tuesday, 04/09/19