A Bourdain Retrospective, And Other Stories

I recently ran across an article in The New Yorker written in 1999 by the recently departed Anthony Bourdain, about what went on behind the scenes at restaurants where he worked.  As the title "Don't Eat Before Reading This" implies, it ain't pretty.  An excerpt:

I’ve been a chef in New York for more than ten years, and, for the decade before that, a dishwasher, a prep drone, a line cook, and a sous-chef. I came into the business when cooks still smoked on the line and wore headbands. A few years ago, I wasn't surprised to hear rumors of a study of the nation's prison population which reportedly found that the leading civilian occupation among inmates before they were put behind bars was "cook." As most of us in the restaurant business know, there is a powerful strain of criminality in the industry, ranging from the dope-dealing busboy with beeper and cell phone to the restaurant owner who has two sets of accounting books. In fact, it was the unsavory side of professional cooking that attracted me to it in the first place. 

That might seem a bit lengthy, but it's not even an entire paragraph.  Read the full story.

Some articles commenting on Bourdain's suicide indicated that he was very much on the political left.  I believe I got a taste of his views years ago while watching an episode of his show No Reservations.  One place he visited was in the southwestern United States within viewing distance of the border with Mexico.  He seemed to have the idea that the border not being open was preventing competent Mexican cooks from entering the United States, as if having authentic Mexican food here in the U.S. requires that we accept illegal aliens from Mexico.  Somehow, it didn't seem to occur to him that among the millions of American citizens of Mexican heritage and the numerous legal immigrants from Mexico, there might be at least a few people who could cook real Mexican food.
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And now, on to the news and views:

From Voice Of Europe, E.U. parliamentarian Marcel de Graaff wants helping illegal migration to be a crime (which it already is in the United States).

From Fortune, two Norwegian politicians nominate President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.  (If you ask me, they should wait to see if anything substantive comes out of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim.)

From EuroNews, a ship carrying almost a thousand migrants lands in Sicily.

From the Express, a Conservative MP calls the Scottish National Party an "embarrassment" after the SNP's leader is kicked out of a Prime Minister's Questions session.

From the NL Times, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte calls unity within the E.U. "more important than ever".

From B92, Austria confirms its plan to create migrant camps in non-E.U. countries.

From WestMonster, RyanAir announces plans to open a base at Southend Airport.

From The Times Of India, an Indian chess Grandmaster pulls out of an upcoming event in Iran, due to their head covering requirement.

From Breitbart London, a Moroccan-born knife attacker who took two people hostage in Paris is transferred to a psychiatric hospital.

From Arutz Sheva, in Toronto, a Muslim cleric says "Zionists should be eradicated".

From the Daily Mail, in Oxford, England, eight rapists groomers get sentences ranging from 7 to 16 years.

From the Quadrant, "Dim, Dimmer, Dhimmitude".

From AhlulBayt News Agency, pictures from an anti-Israel march in Montreal.

From The Slovak Spectator, Slovak President Andrej Kiska gives a harsh "state of the republic" address.

From National Review, when it comes to the Middle East, blame Obama.

From FrontpageMag, British author Anne Marie Waters (whose speech I recently blogged) "leaves the left".

From NBC News, Trump has a plan to end DACA.  (via Townhall)

From PoliZette, a federal court will decide if former First Lady/Senator/Secretary of State/presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will have to answer questions under oath pertaining to her emails and private server.

From Live Science, NASA astronauts "sort of" caused global warming on the moon.

From Ars Technica, a woman claims to own moon dust given to her by Neil Armstrong, and sues to keep it.

From Philly(dot)com, the Pennsylvania Senate passes a bill that would allow voters to amend the state's constitution to allow redistricting to be done by a citizens' commission.

From LifeNews, a federal judge stops two colleges from being forced to pay for abortion drugs.

From Breitbart Tech, Facebook now allows users to file complaints against advertisers.

From CNS News, "a broken society explains America's epidemic of loneliness".

From Fox News, Venezuela releases 43 prisoners as part of a "national dialogue".

From the New York Post, a "morbidly obese" VW bus will help people become obese, too.

And from The Smoke Room, the NCAA leaders in binge drinking.