Open Thread October 20 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 202024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Samson” by Jean Philippe Rameau, a composer of the baroque era. I Have see/heard one complete opera by Rameau – a comic one – “Platée” – which is a very funny comedy. I’m not sure I can really honestly say I have heard “Samson” now – the libretto (by Voltaire) is intact (all the versions), but the music has been lost and not yet found (and may never be), so this score was reconstructed from drafts, and from later operas Rameau may have recycled music from this one into. The opera was not heard in Rameau’s lifetime, and in fact has never been performed until this production. The censors of that time would not allow an opera on a “religious” subject and the wealth of non-Bibilical stuff Voltaire concocted would not budge them an inch. And, of course, it was Voltaire, whose opposition to the church was notorious. (now, next wek, the opera will be “The Shining” from the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Who knew?)  Off to see Virgil now – will check in on return.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/judge-chutkans-got-your-weekend-reading
Wonkette shares links to all four volumes (totalling 1889 pages) of the appendices released Friday. They are redacted but mostly the redactions are names. Many are identifiable.

https://19thnews.org/2024/10/latinx-artists-storytellers-border-narratives/
Last Tuesday was the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month – but this story from the 19th wasn’t available until Wednesday so I just held it till now. You know, all these people coming from countries south of us are doing so because our politics, our CIA, enabled terrible leaders to become strong in their own countries and by so doing made life hell for them. Now we are still making life hell for them by keeping them out. I’m sure there is a bad parenting analogy like this – something like bringing a child up to despise him or herself and then as adults locking the child up to prevent him or her from seeking psychiatric care. If you can imagine and phrase it better, please do. At least there are now creative artists doing their best to bring healing and we can be grateful for that.

‘New York Times’ To Cease Publication


This from The Onion is perfect for a Sunday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-election-chaos-detroit-misinformation-rcna174091
This was referred by Talking Points Memo, which also vouches for the quality of the journalism of the two co-authors. i guess I hope it scares you enough but not too much.

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Open Thread October 19 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 192024
 

Yesterday, another document was released in the insurrection case. It’s an appendix and essentially describes what Jack Smith expects to prove with which evidence, if I understand it correctly (as I type, I haven’t seen it yet.) Also, Dan Froomkin of Press Watch has published an opinion piece for Press Watch on what the mainstream media should be doing (as opposed to what they are doing.) I’m not holding my breath for anyone in the MSM or even small and local media to pick up on it.  Oh. amd Robert Reich’s election video of the week is here.

A Democratic Underground member found this on the Coachella Valley Subreddit. Sadly, I’m thinking that no major news outlets will ever pick up on it. And I haven’t seen any do so yet. So I thought I’d better post it.

Been waiting a L-o-o-o-ong time for this. While I’m happy about it, I’m still sad about those before “Don’t ask, don’t tell” who were treated even worse. I worked with a couple of Lesbian enlisted who were pretty clearly a couple. Even then (late sixties) no one minded but the Corps. One was transferred, and not just transferred, but transferred to Okinawa (I was in San Diego at the time.) It was just plain cruel. The one who was left asked if I would let her use my home hone to call the other, and of course pay for the call. And of course I agreed. It was – I hate the word pathetic, it sounds so condescending, but it was that impressive how grateful she was (it may well have saved the other woman’s life. Which didn’t occur to me then. But knowing what I know now, I think it’s likely.)

I haven’t shared Andy Borowitz lately because I haven’t been terribly impressed. I don’t think he’s losing his touch at all, but I think the GOP has gotten to the point of being next to impossible to satirize because they are so extreme already. But I did get a chuckle out of this one. I’m sure most eveeryone has seen the interview or t least a clip or two from it (if not, go find one now – even Steve Schmidt had nothing but praise for Kamala.)

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Open Thread October 18 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 182024
 

Yesterday, I learned (and I may be late to the party, but I think not, since this is so damning) that Sheldon White house (God bless him) has released a report that during the Kavanaugh confirmation, the FBI didn’t even see the content the thousands of tips called in, because all calls were redirected to the White House. Meanwhile, Axios reports that Democrats have initiateed a llawsuit against the FEC for allowing the GOP to put out ads which are not just morally but also legally questionable. Also, for a while now Steve Schmidt has been sounding increasingly nervous because Kamala Harris has not been as forceful as he would like to see. But her interview with Bret Baier on Fox appears to have satisfied him. Finally, I think this is the first time I have seen Belle pissed off. Personally I found it both amusing and inspiring. See what you think.

I have been aware for some time that Rolling Stone, though not the first name most people thing of when the phrase “news outlet” comes up, does do journalism, much of it on subjects other news media won’t touch,some of it outstanding. I just never went there till now. Maybe I thought I’d be paywalled, and maybe if I go to the well too often I will be. But i was able to see this story. You know, back in ancient Greece and Rome, and even up into the Middle Ages, European rulers literally did kill the messenger who brought bad news. I thought humanity had grown beyond that by now – I suppose the pandenic should have given me a clue.

This is perhaps an extreme example, but it is an example of what Republican policies of starving the government so they can drown it in a bathtub will always lead to. But you knew that. Although you may not have expected to see quite so blatantly it in real time.

OK, I realize this post is getting crowded, but trust me, you do not want to miss the letter which former Governor of Georgia (who is now a lawyer representing Fani Willis personally and professionally) wrote to Jim Jordan. Joyce Vance publishes a photo and describes it as “civil discourse with a little twist of bless your heart attached.” (I magnified it to 500% just to see what it looked like and it’s still very legible, just a bit blurred.)

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Open Thread October 17 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 172024
 

Yesterday, I finished my research and filled out my ballot. I sealed and stamped it, but haven’t mailed it yet. I’ll work that out by the weekend though. There were more propositions and amendments than usual, and the big book (and it was indeed a big book) which the state publishes was useless. I think I’m smart enough to figure out from the wordings and descriptions how to vote, but in case i miss something, I also wasny to know who is advocating for and against each one. That was where Colorado Public Radio really helps. And there were no County measures at all on my ballot. i did look through the flyer to double check, and there was one for the city of Monument (on the north side of Colorado Springs), one for the city of Colorado Springs (i do not live within the city limits), one each for two school districts, neither of which was mine, and one for a fire district which also was not mine. So, i’m not sure how my school and fire districts collect the taxes due them, but however it it, it will not change next year. That’s a good thing.

Heather Cox Richardson wrote this earlier this week, but I wouldn’t call it stale. Eric Hoffer, whom she cites to good effect, wrote “The True Believer” even longer ago, and his observations are by no means stale. I read it years ago, and have remembered a lot, but had forgotten his thought on why people double down on support even when the lies are blatant – or should I say expecially when the lies are blatant.

Personally, I consider every Republlican candidate to be repulsive these days, simply because they can’t win primaries if they’re not. But that’s a digression from the main point of this story from Atlanta Black Star.

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Open Thread October 15 2024

 Posted by at 5:59 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 152024
 

Yesterday, I read Joyce Vance’s “The Week Ahead.” A day late, but since yesterday was Indigenous People’s Day, the week doesn’t start until today. Certainly not SCROTUS’s week – and she includes the SCROTUS week’s calender in her post.

It amazes me that it seems to have taken so long, and so much more evidence, for so many people to see this. I don’t even remember how long I’ve known this, except that it was sometime in his first (and I hope last) term.  I expect Robert Reich has known it for a minute also, but this is the first time I have seen him write about it quite this way.

I think that Wonkette’s Robyn Pennachia does a fine job with this story. She manages to make it both laughable and chilling at the same time, which is not all that easy. I have a bumper sticker – I’ve has it for more than 20 years and have always been afraid to put it on my car, here in Colorado Springs, the crazy Christian capital of the West. And people like the one Robyn describes are why. The sticker says, “Jesus called. He wants his church back.”

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Open Thread October 14 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 142024
 

Yesterday, Trinette came over and moved a bunch of stuff for recyclables, trash, and sharity, so that I have “traffic lanes” again. And she brought in all the mail, which included my ballot, which arrived Saturday (I thought it might, though it was just sent Friday.) She also showed me some pictures from her trip to Portugal last year and of her family. Her mother is as beautiful as she is (and she is names after her mother, Trina – Trinette means “little Trina,” which is ironic considering how tall she is.)

I’m not quite sure exactly what the author means by “the political set.” It could mean politicians and their staffs. It could mean people who are outside of politics, but read about it and discuss it because they darned well want to know what they are voting for – or against. It could also mean that segment of the media which concentrates on politics. Or any combination of those three. If there’s one group there which really should be listening to “ordinary people,” though, it’s the politicians. Politicians represent ordinary people, and therefore should always be listening to them.

The entire newsletter from In The Public Interest is in this newsletter, but I’m sharing for just the first article (feel free to read on.) There is a great meme on this topic which I’ll share as today’s cartoon.

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Open Thread October 13 2024

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 132024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Clemenza de Tito” by Mozart. He wrote 22 operas in so many genres (and mixing them up) so that people are still arguing about what genre some of them are in. But at least some people would say he wrote four “opera seria” (“serious opera”) and this is one of them. Opera began with Monteverdi as an attempt to recreate Greek tragedy (which may or may not have included singing), and opera seria generally are based on ancient Greek or Roman plots. This one is centered on the emperor Titus, who ruled from 79-81 CE. The plot is an “idiot plot” which is generally taken to mean that if there were just one character who wasn’t an idiot, there wouldn’t have been a story. So I won’t go into it. Mozart wrote it at the same time as he was writing “The Magic FLute,” and those were his last two operas, so the music is some of his finest.

https://www.marytrump.org/p/what-it-costs-us
Every now and then, when something which will help everyone is being discussed and Republicans are asking “where will the money come from?” someone with an IQ of 100 or higher will ask, “What will it cost us not to do it?” Of course no Republican ever answers, because if they even treated it as a real question, people might learn that the answer is invariablty “a whole lot more than it costs to do it.” The people I have heard asking it include Robert Reich, Beau (and probably now Belle, though the topic hasn’t come up yet, or I’ve missed it), and now Mary Trump, all of whom have IQs which are clearly above 130. She mentions more than one project, although it’s child care which inspired the question.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-9-2024
I’m sure everyone here has heard this by now, but this is the most detail I have seen on it (outside of Woodward’s book, and it may even surpass that.)

https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/what-trump-is-calling-for-is-fascism
Steve Schmidt is getting real (pun intended.) And unfortunately he’s right. It’s not enough to cite fascism. Too many people have no idea what that implies. It needs to be spelled out.

 

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Open Thread October 12 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 122024
 

Yesterday, I heard from my “frosted sister” who lives in Bradenton, FL, right in Milton’s eye. I didn’t hear sooner because she had evacuated (which I was hoping she did), but she’s going back by Monday. The only structural damage to her house this time is to a room that’s more loke a covered porch, but she also lost a shed and a lot of fencing. (Michael, I think it was, took out all her windows, and she only just finished getting them fixed earlier this year.) I’m just glad she and her family and all their pets are safe. But now there’s this (Joyce Vance)   Finally, Robert Reich’s election video week is here.

There has been a lot of complaining by people who do not follow politics that “We don’t know who [Kamala] is.” This week she has addressed that with appearances in the media which this article from HuffPo addresses – and also the effect of it on the polls (mostly good).

Living through Hurricane Milton must be just like living through the pandemic for those in the path, except that the liars aren’t in power (at least not in federal power) and not everyone lives in the danger zone. Doktor Zoom’s “Don’t make me”is actually pretty mild. I’m a “Don’t make me rethink free speech” level myself.

Belle EVs

Dog

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