Nobody asked me, but if Mayor Brandon Scott can pull off even half of what he proposes for downtown Baltimore in the sweeping “action plan” he revealed on Thursday, it would give the city, and his reelection chances, a huge boost. Glad to see, in the plans for a spruce-up, an attack on graffiti. It is depressingly out of control. While downtown needs help in that regard, so do a bunch of neighborhoods, not to mention some of the main roads into the city, including the Jones Falls Expressway. If the mayor wants photographic evidence, I have plenty.
Nobody asked me, but the foreign policy video Larry Hogan released the other day looked like a commercial for a presidential campaign. Hogan, who decided against challenging Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, obviously wants to remain mentionable in presidential politics. In the 90-second video, produced by An America United, Hogan’s messaging platform, the former Maryland governor deplores Republicans in Congress who do not support Ukraine in its existential war with Russia. “Our allies question whether they should still trust us and our enemies question whether they should still fear us,” Hogan is heard to say as he stands in what looks like a hangar at Joint Base Andrews, gazing at Air Force One. The moderate-compared-to-MAGA Republican invokes his hero, Ronald Reagan, saying that he, like the late president, believed in “peace through strength.” I don’t know what this gets Hogan — do all but a few Republicans even remember Reagan? — but it certainly reflects a determination to remain relevant.
Speaking of political commercials: Democratic candidate David Trone released a clever and effective one for his campaign for the Senate during last Sunday’s Ravens-Seahawks telecast. It features a children’s choir singing sardonic lyrics about climate change to the tune of “America, The Beautiful,” referencing “smoke-filled skies … mudslides down from mountaintops … from sea to rising seas.” Trone is spending millions of his own dollars on the campaign, and it shows.
Nobody asked me, but, given the state of Congress, is anyone shocked that John Sarbanes — and Anthony Brown before him — decided to give up their seats in the House for more productive pursuits? One thing about Sarbanes’ decision that Sun reader Blaine Brooks pointed out to me: It breaks a 46-year tradition of Democratic representatives from Maryland’s 3rd District moving up to the Senate. Sarbanes’ father, Paul, was the first, in 1977, followed by Barbara Mikulski, in 1987, followed by Ben Cardin, in 2007.
Nobody asked me about any of the following, but here goes:
♦ Best comment on Tuesday’s off-year election results, with abortion rights (Ohio), reading rights (Iowa) and Democrats (Virginia and deep-red Kentucky) prevailing: “Appears the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ people are really upset that they lost the ability to tread on others.” (A friend found that, of all places, in a comments thread on the FOX News website.)
♦ The greatest thing about my TV remote: the MVR, the “Mute Vivek Ramaswamy” button.
♦ Best recent management decision by Giant: Limiting the self-checkout registers to shoppers with 20 items or less.
♦ The worst thing about Halloween: Those fake spider webs people stretch over shrubbery; there’s more of that stuff than ever, and birds get caught in it.
♦ The greatest thing about a trip on Amtrak: the quiet car and passengers who follow the rules.
♦ Jackson Browne’s most underrated song: “Lawyers in Love.”
♦ Steven Spielberg’s most underrated movie: “Empire of the Sun.”
♦ The best thing I’ve found in the entertainment stream in months: “Press,” a six-part drama series about rival British newspapers.
♦ Joe Manchin’s legacy: Wealth from fossil fuels, putting a livable future at risk for his 10 grandchildren and everyone else’s.
Chef Reactions, on TikTok and Instagram, provides a great public service: He rips apart some of the breathtakingly grotesque cooking videos people post on those platforms. (No, Chesapeake crab cakes are not better when you add canned sardines to the mixture.) Chef is salty, funny, sometimes praising, and always right.
Nobody asked me — back on the graffiti gripe — but North Howard Street really needs help. Starting in Remington, I took a long walk the other day, and the graffiti along Howard was ridiculous, the trash less so but still bad. People trying to live and make a living along that corridor deserve better from the city. The 400 block, for instance, is an oasis of inviting storefronts, with a plant-based creamery, a vegan juice bar, art galleries and Cuples Tea House. “It’s dedicated to making tea culture available to all,” says a friend who took breakfast at Cuples recently. “Plenty of choices, and they’re eager to educate. Open Wednesday through Saturday.”
Nobody asked me, but if you can find your way to the Ekiben location in Hampden — entrance in the alley behind the 900 block of 36th Street — order the tempura broccoli. Still amazing.
You didn’t ask for it, but if you want it, drop me a line (drodricks@baltsun.com) and I’ll email you the recipe for Portuguese stuffing for Thanksgiving. You want something different this year? You want to surprise your guests? Then try the recipe from Justina Gomes Rodrigues (my paternal grandmother, my “avó”) who, a century ago, adapted a traditional New England stuffing to her Madeiran tastes. It’s a family recipe, and I know: Everybody’s got one. But my avó pumped real flavor into a bland yankee dish, and her descendants are eternally grateful.