Personal Update December 8, 2023

 Posted by at 11:30 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion
Dec 082023
 

Well, if the ADL is wishing people Happy Hanukkah, then I guess I can (In fact, I’m probably a day late.  Even so, I have more days available.)

Theologically, Hanukkah (however you spell it) is considered to be a minor holiday commemorating a military victory.  But there are reasons why it’s more widely recognized (particularly in the United States) than more major Jewish holidays.  For one thing, every human culture since pre-pre-history has had sone kind of holiday, festival, ritual – centered aroind the winter solstice, and celebrating light.  For another, Hanukkah, certainly in the United States, has become very much about the children.  And parents of any culture can see an opportunity to teach religious and cultural principles without pushback just as well as parents of any other culture.

In fact, I find actions like those of Hobby Lobby – removing all Hanukkah merchandise from all stores – to be shameful.  I’ve said this before, but I think not here.  The historical events upon which Hanukkah is based can be roughly dated to 170-160 BCE.  (I grant that at that time history was not considered an exact science deserving of accuracy, but there are written histories datable to at least sometime in the BCE referencing Antiochus abd the Maccabbees.)  That certainly suggests that Joseph and Mary grew up celebrating Hanukkah, which in turn siggests that Jesus as a child also celebrated, even in Egypt.  All these self-styled Christians who whine about this or that attempt for any person to be the person they were born to be “makes the Baby Jesus cry” should start asking themself  what taking away the baby Jesus’s dreidl and gelt away – let alone latkes – does to the baby Jesus’s mood.

It’s still possible to find the books of First and Second Maccabbees in some (though not all) Catholic versions of the Bible.  And Handel’s Oratorio “Judas Maccabeus” – at least parts of it – are still being sung (probably mostly by Jews for Hannukah, ironically.)   I’m not trying to advocate cultural appropriation, but would it hurt us to give a nod to a story which is part of our story too?  One which shows what religious persecution really means (and that it DOESN’T mean people saying “Happy Holidays”)?

Religious persecution also doesn’t mean a menorah (specifically a Hanukkiah – menorah basically means candlestick, and there are different kinds) like this one.  Anything that holds the right number of candles in the right configuration will do – and probably has done, at some point in history.

 

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Personal Update December 7, 2023

 Posted by at 1:36 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 072023
 

I missed a positive story last week, and am just picking it up today.  The Colorado state Peace Officers Standards and Training board has voted, unanimously and without debate, to strike the controversial diagnosis “excited delirium” from all training documents starting in January.  Yes, this is a move which is long overdue – and is srill long overdue nationally (although every state which does the right thingh helps) – the whole idea is not just a dog whistle but an extremely loud one – and eliminating it will certainly not replace the injustice of the treatment of Elijah McClain’s killers (five were charged, three have been tried of whom two were acquitted and one convicted of a lesser offense, two – both EMTs – are yet to be tried.)  But it is one small gleam of light in a far too big darkness.

Here are two cartoons about Pearl Harbor Day, both drawn from a column filled with them – here’s the link if you can handle the rest of them.

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Personal Update December 6, 2023

 Posted by at 10:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 062023
 

So Kevin McCarthy is leaving Congress at the end of December.  Well, with McCarthy gone, and Santos gone, we may just be able to find enough sane Republicands to pass an actual budget – but I wouldn’t count on it.  For Santos’s seat, we do have a good chance of picking up a Democrat.  McCarthy’s seat, not so much.

I have been thiki a bit about two-party systems as opposed to multiple-party systems, in which no party ever gets a majority but has to form a coalition in order to have a government.  But I think that is true in two-party systems as well.  It’s less obvious, perhaps, in out Republican Party today, which has morphed into a single-minded raving maniac.  But it’s pretty clear the Democratic Party is a coalition extending from people who just want things to work through Democrats who have a clear ideology of how things work, all the way to actual Progressives who are often clearly unconfortable, but still taking the bus which brings them the closest to their destination, because what else can they do?

It’s also pretty clear that neither a two-party system nor a multi-party system can immunize a nation against turning fascist.  But it’s not at all clear what can.  My best guess at this point would be reforming journalism – But I say that looking back at the 30’s and early 40’s, knowing we had just as many people then susceptible to becoming fascist, and having at least some idea of how many of us did, and yet somehow we didn’t.  But we did have real journaalists with real journalistic standards – who were not perfect – they missed a lot, but they got a lot right too.

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Personal Update December 4, 2023

 Posted by at 12:21 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 042023
 

As of now, I finally have all of my meds.  So I feel I can finally actually start to recover (as opposed to whatever the appropriate equivalent is of treading water.)

It looks like this would be a good week to read Joy’s Vance’s “Civil Discourse” Substack column “The Week Ahead.”  She often does one of those on Mondays, but not every Monday is so fruitful of interesting things due to happen which might also go under the radar because they aren’t flashy.  Here’s the link, and don’t forget to (scroll if necessary and) click the link to “keep reading,” or “let me read it first.”

I learned today of the existence of a company which makes recordings of classical music , called “Cedille Records.”  That would not be earthshaking news, except that the founder and CEO is James Ginsburg, and yes, that’s Ginsburg as in Ruth (who was his mother.)  So it should come as no surprise that Cedille has released many a recording featuring non-lily-white musicians and composers, and continues to collaborate with the Sphinx Organization, notably the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and the Sphinx Virtuosi.  But they are also more than happy to work with any artist, and in particular any artist who has their own message to tell.

I would have loved to find the complete opera “Scalia/Ginsburg” listed among their recordings, but no (at least not yet.)  But there is a recording of songs written in Ruth’s honor – sung by Patrice Michaels (AKA Mrs. James Ginsburg.)  And there is a playlist of her favorite opera excerpts.  And another playlist compiled in honor of her would-have-been 90th birthdqay.

If anyone wants to now more about the company, what I heard was the first of a five-part program, so any day this week (through Friday), whatever time it is in your time zone when it’s noon in Chicago. you can pull up wfmt.com and hear more about Cedille.

Here’s a little something we may at least hope for this week:

 

 

 

 

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Personal Update December 1, 2023

 Posted by at 6:12 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Dec 012023
 

Thanks to everyone who is helping to lift me up through your comments.  Just now I am trying to push myself, not too hard, but just to do one or two small things each day which make a visible change in the house.  Just something i can look at and tell myself I made that happen.  So far it seems tp be hrelping.  Rome wasn’t built in a day either.

One of the Substack columns I read is that written by Robert Hubbell, a Democratic lawyer in (I believe) the Los Angeles area who was recommended by my cousin. Yesterday, his newsletter was all over “life isn’t fair” – which of course is true,, and which is why Democrats had to be invented –  and why being a Democrat can be a thankless job indeed.

Hubbell writes:

“Still, it is unfair that Democrats must win in a disinformation environment where the media has lost its collective mind—despite the flashing red lights. Jonathan V. Last of The Bulwark addresses this phenomenon in a tongue-in-cheek article (that will leave you feeling good), Dear Democrats: Here Are the Facts of Life. Last writes,

I regret to inform you that America is relying on you to win a presidential election less than 12 months from now. In order for you to accomplish this objective, you will have to do many things. Some of these things may seem unfair. Many of them will be hard. A few of them are probably impossible.

Hubbell quotes quite a bit from the Bulwark, but I have linked tp it anyway.  I hope it leaves you feeling a bit better.

-Here’s an old cartoon (even more up to date now than when originally published by TC) just to help keep us on track.

 

.(

My cousin – my second cousin, Nancy, who recommended Hubbell to me – is four or five years older than I, which makes her two or three years older than Joe.  She wrote recently that she is considering, when Joe’s age comes up, saying, “I’m older than he is, and I still pack a punch” – and then proving it. With a demonstration.  (I think she was joking.)

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Personal Update November 29, 2023

 Posted by at 12:01 pm  Politics
Nov 292023
 

I can’t remember a time in my life when I have just been so tired (and also sleepy – they aren’t the same thing). Not that I have ever been exactly a ball of fire, even as a child, but this is getting ridiculous. I am hoping (not without reason) that most if not all of this is related to having been off my meds for so long and the difficulty in catching back up (and delays in getting refills are not helping.) I was also off of OTC (but doctor approved) supplements for all of that time, and one or two of those are also energy related, but at least those I have more control over. Thanks for your patience and wish me luck.

I’ll leave you with this cartoon, which actually choked me up, revealing so plainly, as it does, everything which is wrong with “conservative” claims to be “Christian” – with just two pronouns. Do you suppose any of them would be smart enough to get it (assuming they would be anywhere they might see it?)

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Personal Update November 26, 2023

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 262023
 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Mine was pleasant and quiet.  And there was an opera yesterday – Pelleas and Melisande, by Claude Debussy (an imprressionist), based on a play by Maurice Maeterlinck (a symbolist), and by the time those two got through with it – well, there are events – at least things do happen – but it’s all so dreamlike I wouldn’t call it a plot.  The music is pretty and the cast was amazing.  There’s only one more left in the summer series – it’s a 21st century opera by Rhiannon Giddens (not a person one would expect to be writing an opers, but it won this year’s Pulitzer.)  After that the Met takes over, also with a new opera.

I’m still not up to writing (or researching, which is the real time-eater) yet, but I did want to share this – it’s a resource for keeping up with all the cases, and only the cases, where someone or some group or some state is attempting to use Section 3 of the 14th Amentment to keep Trump** off of the ballot – any and all ballots.  Trump** himself is such an attention grabber that he tends to suck the oxygen out of everything else, so it’s good that someone is paying attention to this.

And here’s something from Trae Crowder –

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Happy Thanksgiving! November 23, 2023

 Posted by at 5:32 am  Holiday, Politics
Nov 232023
 

Happy Thanksgiving from TomCat

 

And from me –

https://jlcards.com/aQ3fK8

And if you need a lttle something extra to be thankful for, this just might be it.  It certainly would have made TomCat’s day – if not his whole year (he would of course wish it had happened in Oregon, but the fact that it happened at all is eexlilarating.)
 

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