Open Thread February 25, 2024

 Posted by at 5:46 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 252024
 

Yesterday,as I said on Fridaay,  the radio opera wasn’t an opera – it was a Requiem Mass and a movement from a symphony.  But the orchestra was the Met Orchestra, and the Chorus was the Met Chorus, and the soloists – four for each pieces wereall Met Opera stars, and the conductor was the Met Opera Music Director.    And, as I listened to the Mozart Requiem, and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy from the Metropolitan opera, I realized it was the second anniversary of the (insert adjective here) Russian war on Ukraine. (At least for now, my adjective is “despicable.”)-  Well, the General Manager of the Opera is married to a Ukrainian-American, so it should surprise noone that the Metroplitan Opera does not forget Ukraine.

I realize this is a little late in the month. But I only just received it. And we do have a few days left

This has been on my mind. What is so different about it is that the murderers were children – not only the victim..

We already know – those of us who are alert to real news and intelligent enough to think about it – that the two partiea are not the same. So it’s no surprise that these contrasting arguments do not have the same legitimacy.

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Open Thread February 19, 2024

 Posted by at 5:42 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 192024
 

Yesterday, Trinette was over and said “Hi back” to everyone. She brought my ballot in from the mailbox, I filled it out, signed the enveloe, stamped it, and put an ostentatious veteran sticker on the back, which I doubt will be needed, because Trinette took it and will mail it at a Post Office pickup. I forgot to mention that Saturday I started looking for Colleen’s phone number, and actually found it – had to pay $1 for it, which I thought was well worth it. And I did reach her yesterday, and she is safe and well, but the weather has continued to be soggy and windy, which has affected her internet, and on top oof that she had a rare visit from her son and grandson, who are now on their way to Italy. Neither she nor the internet are ready to come back, but she definitely will when she can, and continues to pray for all of us. She says hello to everyone (Then, today, I got a message from my credit card company that they hadhad correctly charged the $1.00 but had also incorrectly separately charged $155.40 – twice yet. So I was also on the phone to them. This is different from every other time I have had unauthorized charges – those were always strangers, so there was no choice but to cancel the card and issue a new one. This time there is a chance the vendor just goofed. I have called them (but at leas on weekends they have  no phone service – the message gave me an email addresss and I have sent an email to them. But one way or another, I will not lose the money.)

Heather Cox Richardson has put together a lesson in (recent) Ukrainian history to include the ups and downs of Paul Manafort, which is pretty revealing.

Canadian Black history … brought to you by who else but Wonkette? (part of Substack so remember to look for and click the “keep reading” button.)

If anyone cares… the ad that came up for me right after this was for a “Trumpinator Bobblehead.” Seriously.

This is not a cartoon today – it is a link to a promotion for Joe Biden made by Harrison Ford, stressing what real Presidents do and don’t do (such as they don’t do thing he did in his role in “Air Force One.” It also contains a complete transcription of his thoughts, so you can skip the clip if you prefer.

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Open Thread February 16, 2024

 Posted by at 6:24 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 162024
 

Yesterday, I got a grocery delivery, and the driver was very helpful. I adjusted her tip accordingly.

Even if you know most of these, you will probably still learn something – I did. And your jaw may drop at the ignorance of people who believe some of the myths. Mine did at one in particular.

HuffPost Headline: The Biden Administration Is Investigating Israel’s Possible War Crimes — Despite Public Claims To The Contrary
If this surprises you, I won’t say you haven’t been paying attention, because you probably have. But maybe not to foreign policy in general and the Middle East in particular. If you are a country you simply cannot afford to break ties with a longtims ally, as an individual person might if their SO tried to kill them, or attacked one of their children. Because other allies would – not might – lose confidence in yo as an ally, and that could endanger the whole country – possibly the whole world. You have to publicly express support while privately trying to talk them down. If that doesn’t work, the smart thing is to go into detective mode, so that if you have to cut ties, the reason will be seen to be compelling, and your other allies can feel safe, while also being aware what they should not be doing if they value your support. This can be a painful process because it pretty much comes with bad things happenings. But at least you haven’t started a World War.

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Open Thread February 15, 2024

 Posted by at 5:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 152024
 

Yesterday, the exterminator came by. He said progress is being made, and if 2 weeks from now there is more, we need to dicuss longer intervals between visits. So that’s good.

Well, I was wrong. I apologize to anyone who may have thought I was right and watched the show. Mary Trump does a far better job of breaking down why than I could.

They have arrested a dude (and believe he was not alone) for “stealing” (no mention of vandalism) the Jackie Robinson statue. Sometimes it’s hardest to see things that are right under yor nose for the last 2 weeks he’s been locked up for something else. Try not to hit yourself in the head over what cops will believe or claim to believe in order to announce “No evidence of a hate crime.”

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Open Thread February 13, 2024

 Posted by at 6:16 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 132024
 

Yesterday, it was quiet enough.  I had sent Nameless a quick email the night before congratulating KC in the SuperBowl win, and he responded with a video of fans celebrating at the Electric Company, with plumes of steam (I guess it was) blowing.  And when that video ended is showed so many links t animal videos I didn’t have that I wasted an hour or two looking them all  up and keeping a record of most of them. OK, that wasnt really a waste.

UNC, which is in Greeley, I presume has a fine medical school, but it’s the veterinary school which has a national reputation. I’m glad it’s being included. I also hope a bunch of the MDs will be OBGs – Republicans have greatly multiplied the patient base for that specialty.

I liked the lead article in this newsletter (the first three titled paragraphs) because it makes no excuses for the stupid – stupid, after all, is stupid. And it reveals the game and gives us alittle something to throw back.

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Open Thread February 9, 2024

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 092024
 

Yesterday, my state’s attorneys were at the Supreme Court presenting oral arguments in Trump(**) v. Colorado, along with some amici curiae, including CREW. It wasn’t going well in the morning, and, according to Harry Litman, it won’t go well in the deliberations or the verdict.

Robert Reich has some good news which surprised even him.

I’m a bit late bringing this piece of Black history news – but I think it was worth waiting for.

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Open Thread February 6, 2024

 Posted by at 6:08 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 062024
 

Yesterday was another quiet day, which is fine with me.

Harry T. Burleigh, born in 1866, was a black man with a desire to become a classical composer. With the encouragement and assistance from Frances McDowell, the mother of Edward McDowell (“To a Wild Rose” and much more), he was admitted to the New York Conservatory of Musicon work study as a janitor. While he swept the halls, he would sing Spirituals, and was heard by Antonín Dvořák (New World Symphony), who was enchanted, and requested Burleigh to sing for him as much as possible. (Contrary to myth, Dvořák did not use any actual spirituals in The New World Symphony, though he was good enough at working in the style to make people think he did, and a later Black American wrote words to the most recognizable theme therein and called it “Going Home.”) Burleigh graduated and had a career as a composer, writing both instrumental and vocal music. In particular he composed songs to poems by “Laurence Hope” (a pseudonym for a woman, – and not only was it next to impossible for a woman to get published then in her own right, but a lot of those poems were pretty hot stuff for the day) including a set called “5 Songs of Laurence Hope.” Jim Ginsburg, the son of Marty and Ruth (Bader) Ginsburg, and the founder of Cedille Records, is featuring a record of music by Black composers, called “Dreams of a New Day,” sung by Will Liverman (the baritone protagonist of choice of today’s Black opera composers) which includes Burleigh’s “5 Songs of Laurence Hope,” and the first of them is available on Spotify at this link. Call me a name-dropper, but I think those are some names worth dropping even when it’s not Black History Month.

This column is a rant, and an exceedingly righteous one at that, IMO. I could wish I’d said it first … but it’s better this way, since he has the larger following. Basically, he compares and contrasts encouraging news with the discouraging words in which the media presents it. Certainly we should never take winning for granted. But the media seems to want us to take losing for granted, and that is a bridge too far for us to be going over. I did get some encouragement myself from Hubbell’s counterarguments, and hope you also will.

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Open Thread February 5, 2024

 Posted by at 6:25 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Feb 052024
 

Yesterday, Trinette came by (and yes, Nameless, I told her “Hi” from you). She brought in the mail and packages and took out the trash and recyclables. She also started the car (i had been worrying about that) and ran it for a while, then took it out to get filled with gas (which reminds me of a very silly penguin joke).

It was a slow day for email, and there wasn’t much on Black History that I could find. I was attracted to an article in The Root, which was also cited on MSN but not reproduced in full. I’ll share The Root’s link, and hope at least some of you can see it. Its premise was that, while we normally celebrate people and events with praise for the heroes, we maybe should not forget the villains who made the journey harder than it needed to be. I’m old enough to remember George Wallace (shown in the lead photo) and something of Bull Connor, and more recently David Duke and possibly so are some of y’all. I agree with the premise – I think that attempting to change the minds of bigots by convincing them that whoever they love to hate as a group are in no way lesser than they are is non-productive, even counter productive – because on some level they know that, and it scares them more than anything.

Robert Reich turned his Substack over to a guest writer. The title of the column is How to understand the politics of Israel and Palestine? (Query his.) I hope anyone who thinks there is only one side in the current conflict will give it a chance.

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