Daily Office:
Wednesday
Morning
¶ Settlement: The $2.7 million payout with which New York City settled lawsuits brought by fifty-two individuals who were arrested, allegedly without reason, during a 2003 protest against our Iraqi misadventure reminds us that the much bigger group of cases generated by similarly groundless police conduct during the 2004 Republican Convention must not be settled.
Noon
¶ Surprise: Imagine that! The Chinese Ministry of Culture has reneged on a promise to help out the Asia Society with a massive show of Chinese revolutionary art, up to and including the Cultural Revolution. I’m breathtook!
Night
¶ Wheeze: The Mayor sure knows how to get a conversation going. Topping the city’s bridges and skyscrapers with windmills is a very bad idea. Wasn’t the PanAm Building helipad closed for a reason? Oremus…
Morning, cont’d
§ Settlement. In order to break the cycle of police-waged culture wars, senior officials must be found responsible, and they must be punished. Rank-and-file police officers must be trained smarter.
Noon, cont’d
§ Surprise. This is what I like about Vladimir Putin: you wouldn’t see him making promises that he had no intention of keeping!
The approach of the Olympics seemed to have been the deal breaker. “Initially, they said, ‘Any loans you want; no problem,’ ” said Vishakha N. Desai, the society’s president. “The closer it got to the Olympics, they changed their policy.”
Enjoy the show! The ongoing one, I mean.
Night, cont’d
§ Wheeze. But wait. Maybe I’d never have thought of this if 9/11 hadn’t happened, but what if you perforated tall buildings with turbines? Floor-through units, in real-estate parlance. Building a jet engine into the building and reversing the energy transfer.