Grape Balls of Fire, ‘International’ cuisine and my very first Flavor Tour of Rome
From the Chicago Tribune
If these were the old days of newspapering, we’d love to shout: “Stop the Presses!” That’s a phrase normally reserved for late-breaking, jaw-dropping news. What shocking event has inspired our outburst in the digital age? Only that Congressional Democrats and Republicans have worked together to advance a vital surveillance bill that helps keep America safe.
Under the program, U.S. authorities work with telecom companies to secretly gather phone and electronic communications of foreigners outside the United States. In doing so, some emails, phone calls and texts of American citizens may also be incidentally swept into the net.
That possibility upsets privacy hawks in both parties, who sought tough new limits on American surveillance. But more moderate lawmakers on both sides stiff-armed opponents because they feared, rightly, that weakening the program would hobble terror investigations.
Yes, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate cooperated with each other to achieve an important goal. Bravo.
Let’s slow this down and savor what is likely to be a fleeting moment of bipartisanship.
Last week the House voted 256-164 to renew this vital program with an unwieldy moniker: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act.
House lawmakers did so even after President Donald Trump issued a series of contradictory and monumentally uninformed tweets about the program that could have jeopardized passage of the bill.
In one tweet, Trump appeared to question his own administration’s support for the program. He finally made himself clear: “… today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!” They did. On Tuesday, the Senate overcame the threat of a filibuster, 60-38. That’s 18 Democrats, 41 Republicans and 1 independent. Fittingly, a bipartisan duo — Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisana and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri — provided the final votes to proceed.
A final Senate vote to reauthorize Section 702 is expected soon, perhaps Thursday.
Americans seeking signs that lawmakers from both parties can cooperate to advance America’s national security interests now have one strong piece of evidence. For some members of Congress, particularly Democrats buffeted by the left wing of their party, this was a gutsy vote.
Washington isn’t known for getting things done. The atmosphere is “toxic,” U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago tells us. But Section 702 transcended political turf fights because it “is a vital tool for our intel community,” says Quigley, a Democrat on the House intelligence committee.
“I can list specific examples of people and threats that were thwarted by 702.” One case previously highlighted: Intelligence collected under Section 702 helped prevent al-Qaida’s Najibullah Zazi from launching a suicide bombing on a New York City subway.
Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia also reminded lawmakers before the Tuesday vote that U.S. intelligence has used the surveillance law to track down terrorists abroad. Case in point: the 2016 killing of Islamic State’s second-ranking leader, Abdul-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, also known as Haji Imam, in a U.S.-backed military raid in Syria. Those are just the successes we’ve heard about. We don’t know what other violent plots have been thwarted but remain secret.
Six years from now, the law comes up for renewal. We wish it a stellar record of success — and continued bipartisan support. From The Los Angeles Times
After three churches in Texas were damaged last year during Hurricane Harvey, they discovered they were ineligible for federal disaster aid under a policy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Last week, the Trump administration came to their rescue — by abolishing a rule that prohibited federal aid for the repair or rebuilding of facilities used primarily for religious activities.
We don’t often agree with the administration, including on matters involving the separation of church and state. But this was the right decision.
A lawyer for the organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State objected that the policy change was a “clear violation of the U.S. Constitution and its protection of the separation of church and state.” But the constitutional issue isn’t that clear.
The 1st Amendment’s religious clauses pull in two different directions. The Establishment Clause indeed prevents government from giving official support to religion. But the Free Exercise Clause means that citizens can’t be penalized for practicing their faith, including when it comes to the allocation of government benefits. Withholding government benefits in this case from the churches would violate the 1st Amendment.
The Supreme Court cited the Free Exercise Clause last June when it ruled 7-2 that the state of Missouri couldn’t exclude a Lutheran parochial school from a program that provided grants to nonprofits for the resurfacing of playgrounds. In its statement revising its regulations, FEMA cited that decision.
Lawyers can disagree about whether that ruling required FEMA to revise its rules; a federal judge in a lawsuit brought by the Texas churches concluded that it didn’t, noting that the ruling involved state funding of a playground, not state funding for religious activity.
But the larger principle underlying the Supreme Court’s decision is that if the government provides a service, whether it’s police and fire protection or disaster relief, it shouldn’t deny that service to religious organizations. If a church were on fire, it’s hard to imagine anyone arguing that the 1st Amendment bars firefighters from responding.
Critics of the new FEMA policy make another argument: that the agency has limited funds for disaster relief and should focus on helping institutions that serve the larger community. They note that FEMA continues to withhold reconstruction aid from a variety of facilities that serve various purposes, such as vocational training, athletics and political education. Houses of worship, the critics say, should remain in this disfavored category.
FEMA’s eligibility criteria do seem arbitrary and may need to be revised. But a church whose stained-glass windows are shattered by an earthquake should be eligible for the same assistance as the school or community center down the street. Help for a library destroyed by a hurricane to restock its shelves shouldn’t come with the condition that only secular books will be replaced. Such evenhanded assistance is not an “establishment of religion.”
So, this past Saturday I was invited on something called a Flavor Tour of Rome. I had heard of them before but never actually gone on one.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau puts these on the second Saturday of each month and how it works is people sign up for each tour and they’re driven around downtown Rome in that little Roman Chariot golf cart.
It’s a guided tour and you get to sample food and drinks from four or five restaurants.
OK so on Saturday I show up for this tour right at noon and there were six of us. So we hop on the Roman Chariot and the tour guide — his name is Nic — drives us to our first stop with is Jamwich. I’m just going to list the places we went and what we had.
Jamwich — This was the very first stop and I was already impressed. The owner had a table reserved just for us and we were served these tiny bottles of Coca-Cola (which is the way to my heart) and then they brought out these little sausage balls called Grape Balls of Fire. It’s like a hot sausage ball made with a type of jelly. It was FANTASTIC. Apparently it’s not on the regular menu but it’s on their catering menu. Someone said that they’d consider adding these to their main menu if enough people asked for it. If that’s true, then y’all please ask them to add it permanently because you’ll want to order them. Trust me. Then they also served delicious hot dates stuffed with goat cheese, strawberry jam and basil, all wrapped in bacon.
Let me add here that after leaving Jamwich the Roman Chariot broke down and wouldn’t start. I’m not making that up. It lasted one stop on the tour. Charlene Mathis who’s the gift shop and visitor center manager was also on the tour and she offered to chauffeur us around in her car for the rest of the tour. Her sun roof is a little jacked up but other than that we had a blast riding around in her car.
Doug’s Deli — I think the restaurants are asked to supply samples or just small appetizers for the tour since there are several stops. Well someone didn’t give Doug’s Deli the memo because we were served what I would normally eat for a full meal. We had a chipotle chicken wrap, a loaded potato soup and broccoli salad. My friends Blake and Blaine Kirby had introduced me to the broccoli salad there and I love it. Everything was delicious.
The Foundry — The next stop was the Foundry Growler Station. I really like this place so I was happy it was on this particular tour (not all the tours are exactly the same). Gorg Hubenthal, the owner, had us each select two beers we wanted to sample. I’m a sucker for anything with the words “Kentucky” or “Bourbon” so I had a Kentucky Old Fashion and I also had a Service Savannah Banana. They were both good and I was pleasantly surprised by the Savannah Banana. The Foundry also serves food. Gorg brought out these delicious pretzel bites with an in-house mustard that had a kick to it. I highly recommend it if you haven’t tried it.
Loco Mex — Here’s where the day took an interesting turn. Just like Doug’s Deli, Loco Mex’s idea of a sampler was three large street tacos — pork, steak and chicken. They were pretty flavorful and the staff was very friendly. But the best thing about this stop was that they served us samples of their margaritas. Now I’m not a margarita guy but I guess if it’s flavored I’ll give it a shot. They brought out three
Email letters to the editor to romenewstribune@RN-T.com or submit them to the Rome News-Tribune, 305 E. Sixth Ave., Rome, GA 30162.
Please limit letters to 250-300 words in length. Be sure to include a daytime telephone number so the letter can be verified. All letters are subject to editing. types. There was the traditional, the pink sombrero (my favorite) and a blue one called the “Dirty Mexican.” While margaritas are usually made with tequila, the server told us that the blue one was made with GOLDEN GRAIN. Yes, the very same golden grain you remember from years ago when you drank it and almost died. Well lemme tell y’all .... it’s pretty dang good in that margarita. But it’ll put some hair on your chest. Well the other people on the tour tasted theirs and sipped a little but didn’t finish all and I didn’t want the people at Loco Mex to be insulted that we didn’t drink their margaritas so I selflessly offered to drink all the leftover margaritas.
Miniyar’s International Food Court — First of all ... let me just say that I felt like I should have brought my passport to this stop. It’s like I was being whisked away to exotic destinations across the globe where one could sample such international cuisine as Philly cheesesteaks. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. I guess when I hear the word “International” I was expecting maybe a Thai restaurant, Indian or Pakistani food, maybe Vietnamese or Caribbean fare. But anyhow, the gentleman who brought us our food was extremely friendly. He brought us each a box containing a Philly cheesesteak called “The Bus” as well as fried wontons and a crab angle (I think it’s called) which is like a crab rangoon you’d get at a Chinese restaurant with cream cheese fried in a little shell. The Bus was good. It had a lot of flavor. I wasn’t a huge fan of the fried wontons (I prefer them steamed), and the crab thing was really good. It came with a sweet dipping sauce.
Honeymoon Bakery — At this point in the tour we were all pretty much stuffed ... and I was a little tipsy from the Golden Grain. Honeymoon Bakery’s chocolate mousse was the final thing we’d sample and to be honest I was afraid I just couldn’t eat anything. HOWEVER, this thing is amazing. It’s looks like half a ball of smooth chocolate. It’s a thin layer of chocolate cake with whipped chocolate mousse on top and a thin layer of chocolate ganache and which chocolate on top. It sounds like a lot but it’s extremely light and perfectly delicious. I usually get the creme brulee here but I might be switching to the chocolate mousse from here on out.
The tour took about two-and-a-half hours and I have to say I was really impressed with it and would definitely go on another one. The guide, Nic Diaz, was very knowledgeable about food in general and I actually learned a lot about downtown Rome as well as the individual restaurants and food items we sampled.
I’d definitely recommend this for out of towners as well as Rome residents. It’s a great little outing for a group of friends or family members. Each tour has a maximum of 10 participants and the cost is $35 to $45 depending on the tour. It’s well worth it considering all the food you get to sample.
I believe there are two tours coming up on Feb. 10 for Valentine’s Day. One is a couplesonly tour.
My only recommendations are that the Tourism Office invest in a new Roman Chariot (apparently this one is older and has broken a few times before) and to do a tour of beers, wines and liquors. They could call it Spirits of Rome. Make sure those margaritas are on there. SEVERO AVILA
Published mornings daily at 305 E. Sixth Ave., Rome, GA 30161 by Times-Journal Inc. Publishing. Carrier delivered, monthly $14.73, three months $40.79, six months $75.91, yearly $146.16 (plus sales tax) paid in advance. Mail rates on request. Periodical postage paid at Rome, Ga. Want Ads, 706-290-5300; other departments, 706-291-6397. (POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rome News-Tribune, P.O. Box 1633, Rome, GA 30162-1633.)