Open Thread April 24, 2022

Yesterday, sadly, I got an email cancelling my visit to Virgil. He has been transferred to a different facility. I called that facility and found out that my credentials are still fine, what the visiting hours are, the email address to schedule visits, and a couple of other things. I won’t be able to see him tomorrow but there shouldn’t be any delay to get back on schedule. I’ll still have to do some driving today to keep the battery charged, but it won’t take as long as a visit would. In other news, the radio opera was Porgy and Bess by George and Ira Gershwin from the book and play Porgy by DuBose (and Dorothy) Heyward, who, though white, was – were – respected by Langston Hughes and others of the Harlem Renaissance. The play and the opera were among the earliest representations of black people as real people on stage. The Gershwin Brothers stipulated that Porgy and Bess should never be perfirmed unless the cast was all black (except the cops, who only have short speaking roles – and, frankly, are not depicted as real human beings.) The premier of this production is available through the Met’s streaming service, with almost the same cast as this performance, and I have seen it a couple of times. But I was delighted to hear a little bit of jazzy improv from the same cast members who previously played it straight. I think the Gershwins would have approved.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

Daily Kos (Jeremy Rodden) – WTF is PragerU and why is it all over my children’s YouTube videos suddenly? (An exploration).
Quote – It is particularly alarming that this organization is making animated short videos and clearly deliberately targeting children with their advertisements. It’s like if Joe Camel (the old mascot for Camel cigarettes, for those younger readers out there) was repackaged for the white nationalist and anti-science agenda. It made me wonder exactly who these guys are and why they’re suddenly flooding our children with ads with anti-climate change, anti-COVID19 mitigation, and white nationalist stances about white erasure and the like. So who are they?
Click through for details. This is not addressed only to parents of children, but also to grandparents, great-grandparents, guardians, educators, bebysitters – anyone who needs to know about it.

The Guardian – Prosecutor drops all charges against Pamela Moses, jailed over voting error
Quote – The central issue in her case was whether she had known she was ineligible to vote when a probation officer filled out and signed a form indicating she was done with probation for a 2015 felony conviction and eligible to cast a ballot. Even though the probation officer admitted he had made a mistake, and Moses said she had no idea she was ineligible to vote, prosecutors said she knew she was ineligible and had deceived him. Moses stood in the lobby of the probation office while the officer went to his office to research her case for about an hour, he said at trial.
Click through for story – If I’m not mistaken, this is the best possible outcome at tis point. The award of a new trial voids the conviction, and then the charges being dropped puts an end to the matter. This is better than a pardon, which, if accepted, would imply guilt.

The Hill – Disney government dissolution bill signed by DeSantis
Quote – The law would eliminate the Reedy Creek Improvement District, as the 55-year-old Disney government is known, as well as a handful of other similar districts by June 2023. The measure does allow for the districts to be reestablished, leaving an avenue to renegotiate the future of the deal that allows the company to provide services such as zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure.
Click through for more. There is a lot of both information and speculation out on this – Beau even touches on it (not in today’s thread, but in tomorrow’s.) It seems to me very like Putin in Ukraine – very different consequences, but both men are, in the words of the old saying, cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Just mean and petty little men.

Food For Thought