Cats – Page 17 – Politics Plus

Open Thread January 20, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 202024

Yesterday, I worked on educating myself for today’s opera – “Dead Man Walking” by Jake Heggie. Obviously it is based on the book, but has probably also taken a thing or two from the movie. The book was published in 1993, the movie produced in 1995, and the opera premiered in 2000. Considering all that, I’d say the Met was dragging its feet. And I’m not alone in that – because this season is being different. Thankfully. The book is purely non-fiction, and includes Sister Helen’s experiences with two death row inmates … and their families. For both the movie and the opera, these two men were conflated into one and given the name Joseph de Rocher, which is far from close to either real name.It struck me as interesting (probably meaningless) that at the premier in San Francisco Sister Helen was sung by Susan Graham and the convict’s mother by Frederica von Stade. In the 2023 Met production 23 years later, Susan Graham is singing the convict’s mother and Sister Helen portrayed by Joyce di Donato – she’s a trifle older than Graham was when she sang it, but she also has real experience working with convicts in at least one prison that I know of – Sing Sing in New York. This opera is set in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, which, if you are aware of it, it’s probably under another name – Angola. Wikipedia has a fairly detailed sumary, and I will probably keep it open while listening. It certainly doesn’t appear that the opera shies away from anything. And, as if to demonstrate that capital punishment is an issue which has not gone away, here is a petition written by Sister Helen herself, sponsored/promoted by Move On, with whom Robert Reich works so much.

I haven’t mentioned Loper Bright v. Raimondo yet, but you may have heard about it anyway. It’s been before the Supreme Court this week. If it is decided wrongly (and of course the crazy justices are leaning that way), regulatory agencies will not be allowed to regulate. I can hardly begin to describe how catastrophic that would be. Little Sammy is calling regulation “the administrative state” as if it were a bad thing. It actually isn’t – it’s far preferable to an “anarchic state,” which is what we are likely to get. This quote is from Wonkette’s newsletter , and is chock full of links to blogs by people who actually have the credentials to have opinions:

What smart things do we need to know about Loper Bright v. Raimondo (the Supreme Court case in which they’re probably about to ban “agencies doing regulations”) today? Here’s Madibe K. Dennie on Samuel Alito’s latest power grab disguised as a legal theory. (Balls and Strikes) Here’s Justice Kegs pretending not to understand that agencies have different policies during different administrations because voters chose a new administration to make different policy — plus some bullshit on the “major questions doctrine” (made up) and delegation. (Dorf on Law) The Only Republicans Are Allowed to Govern Doctrine. (Lawyers Guns & Money) Chris Geidner says it’s one of the most disingenuous arguments he’s ever seen. It must have been SOMETHING. (Law Dork)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-labels-party-2024-presidential-ballot-access-effort-complaint/
Some people are saying that “No Labels” has lost, or is losing, it’s collective mind. Personally, I am not sure that No Labels has a mind to lose. It has made a complaint to DOJ with the premise that anyone who doesn’t want to see their candidate, whoever that may be (they don’t even have a clue yet), on the November ballot is part of a RICO conspiracy against them. The Justice Department has not yet responded. Hopefully someone will tell them that, because the Constitution directs them to, states have laws in place covering every aspect of elections, including who may and may not appear on the ballot, and that if the No Labels candidate doesn’t qualify, it is the duty of the state not to put them on it.

Open Thread January 17, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 172024

Yesterday, we received some unsurprising results from the Iowa Republican caucus (which they held on MLK Day, I presume because they don’t recognize it.) Of course the weather was not suchas to encourage participation … but those who think making Election Day a federal holiday will solve all ourtuenout problems might want to rethink that. Otherwise, the news today has for some reason given me this song (introduced by the Kingston Trio) as an earworm:

They’re rioting in Africa, they’re starving in Spain.
There’s hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don’t like anybody very much!

Now here’s something to save and share. Blue Voters Guide is a non-profit which analyzes elections all over the country for you, so that if there’s some candidate you haven’t heard of – or for your friends who are wellintentioned but don’t follow politics – you will always be able to find out who is blue. 41 states have primaries scheduled between now and about June. Right now the guide for Colorado’s March 5 Presidential primary is pretty simple – though you’d be amazed by the length of the list of rag-tag nobodies who are running against Joe Biden. But later in the year we’ll have primaries for candidates for the House of Representatives and possibly for the Colorado House and the Colorado Senate, and who knows what. It probably won’t cover school board elections, which is IMO what we need the most at this time, but with enough support, it might be able to get there. In any case, I’m sure we all know someone (or someones) who could benefit from it. This information is courtesy of Robert Hubbell on Substack, whom I occasionally quote.

Joyce Vance’s “tomorrow” is now “today.” So it’s happening now. And it’s important enough that Robert Reich also addresses it, possibly even more starkly. So I’m providing both links, you can read or skim one or both. I expect eveeryone here can put their mind back to the days when we had rivers burning – and lakes full of dead fish – and that just scratches the surface. I don’t know whether this is accurate, but someone in a comment over at Crooks & Liars said that ancient Sumeria lasted for 3000 years. From the beginning, they had a legal system which protected the poor and weak and there were strict legal punishments for breaking those laws. But, every 300 years or so, the laws had been strayed from, but they had a king who brought the country into line with “the old laws.” We will be celebrating 250 years in just two years. (If it were up to me I would date our existence as a country from April 30, 1789, when George Washington took office and set the Constitution in motion, but no one asked me. And maybe I’m being unfair to the Articles fof Confederation which were the stopgap – but I don’t think so.)

Personal Update January 15, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:29 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 152024

Yesterday was a quiet day for me. I slept late, while still making sure to get up in time for my grocery delivery, which was mostly accurate, and which the drivers (it was a couple) did help me get into the house so I wouldn’t have to step over the threshhold. There was one odd substitution which I haven’t figured out yet. But they did bring the fresh fruit I ordered (cherries and pears) and it was all in good condition.

Heather Cox Richardson, writing in Substack, has also addressed the brutal murder of a mother and two children by Texas Guardsman, under the eyes of Border Patrol agents, who were prevented from dong anything to save the victims’ lives because “state’s rights.” She has found a very telling quotation to oppose Abbott’s view of state’s rights in the writings of, of all people, Andrew Jackson – one of the last Presidents whom one would call “woke.”

I put Beau second today because I wanted to re-post this from 2021 to demonstrate that I was on the Pope’s side even before the Pope was. I have been since long before I made the graphic even. The problem with early Christian lifestyle and also with Marxist Communism is not their principles, which are sound. The problem is that for a society to actually live that way and sustain it is that everyone involved needs to be too good to live.

But I don’t want to leave out this one today of all days –

Personal Update January 12, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 122024

I’m happy to say, and I’m sure you’ll all be happy to know, that my back door got fixed – it no longer opens from the slightest wind and lets in cold drafts – and this just a day before the Polar Vortex is due.

I did see the news when this happened. I didn’t watch the actual video – I think it was on X or something. But it was clear from the screenshot (which was blurry) that he moved very quickly to leap and/or reach across the bench to physically attack. Because he wanted probation, and she gave him some jail or prison time (IMO richly deserved.) No one other than the Atlanta Black Star seems to have even a sliver of this story… which I’d suppose means that the judge is a woman of color… except she isn’t, she’s blonde. It’s the perp who’s black. Well, I guess he’s now in the “Find Out” stage.

Personal Update January 10, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:05 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 102024

Yesterday I got a bunch of stuff done – mostly on the computer rather than with physical objects, but it still tired me. I guess whie I was busy, the Appeals Court looked at TFG’s “immunity” claim and apparantly those looks were all askance.

I thought this was kind of nice. I well remember Andy Kim starting on cleanup on that day.

The Theater of War has a new project called “An Enemy of the People,” using the play by Ibsen. “The play tells the story of a doctor who discovers the water supply in his small, rural town has been poisoned by a tannery. Despite his efforts to convey the truth to the public, the doctor fails to save his community from environmental disaster and is ultimately scapegoated for his whistleblowing.” Ibsen didn’t pussyfoot around the truth, as long ago as 1882. This sounds a lot like how Fauci was treated – and in fact Dr. Fauci will be one of the actors (the actors will change from one event to another so if you want to hear what he has to say you will need to checking cast lists.) The first two events are 2/22 and 2/24, and Fauci is scheduled in the 2/24 event but not the 2/22 event. This is the link for 2/24 (it looks like you might be able to scroll from it.)

Here’s my response to the “poop Nazi” telling everyone to get over stuff – stuff like their kids being shot in school:

Personal Update December 16, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:18 am Politics

Dec 162023

Yesterday, after posting here (including the update), I felt enough better to look up today’s radio opera – it’s “The Magic Flute” in the abridged English language version aimed at kids – and who doesn’t love that! There are five-year-olds out there getting kicks out of singing the Queen of the Night’s aria (and pretty durned well, most of them.) Sure, it’s sexist, but no worse than Disney, and it does have goodies, baddies, and figures of pure humor of both genders, which even Disney doesn’t consistently do.

I also listened to the full RBG CD. You know how CDs come with booklets with some backstories and with lyrics sometimes – this comes with two booklets – one of each, lyrics and backstories. The poems were selected to give a mixture of history, humor, and heart. I thought the funniest one was about Ruth’s son Jamie stealing the elevator at his prep school (yes, the same James who now owns the record label which put it out) and the most heartbreaking was Marty’s note to Ruth written in hospital shortly before his death. But I will not argue with anyone who thinks the pot roast recipe is the funniest (I’d surely love to taste that pot roast.)

Also, Robert Hubbell put out a second day of analysis. I know it’s not the same as getting my take, but at this point, he is paying attention and I’m not.

And Mary Trump posted and emailed this – I held it for a couple of hours but have found out it is a real story – it was carried at least by CNN and y’all may have heard it – but her viewpoint really is like no one else’s

I was thinking about looking for a cartoon … but so little happened on December 16 through history that “On This Day” was reduced to reporting that, on this date in 1997, Bill Clinton named his Labrador Retriever “Buddy.”

Here’s a Christmas vid for the animal lovers –

Personal Update December 10, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 102023

Yesterday’s radio opera was “Florencia en el Amazonas” by Daniel Catán. It was a joint commission in 1996 from the opera companies in Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and premiered in Houston. It’s said to be based (loosely) on “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez, but the story line is not so much Márquez’s as are the characters and mythical occurrences. From the very beginning, when Riolobo starts to serve as a quasi-narrator, it should be pretty clear just from his name that the opera is in a space where things happen which are not strictly explainable by science. And they do. I’m not a big fan of Ailyn Perez, for reasons which have nothing to do with opera, but perhaps it’s time for me to let that go – everyone else seems to have done so. The music is very listenable – and manages to avoid all the cliches that Americans (including me) associate with Spanish music, much of which was built up by French composers (I’m sure with good intentions.)

Peter Gelb – the managing director of the Met – really is trying to bring opera together with America – and to beinr America together through opera. Don’t say “Impossible” just yet. Even if opera is not for everyone (which I’m not convinced of, but will accept as a basis for discussion) it definitely is for a lot of people who don’t know it yet.

Interestingly, Heather Cox Richardson this weekend makes an understated but interesting case for using art (visual art) as a means to bring Americans together – and for the government’s role in doing that. Heather doesn’t say so – but we all know that Republicans aren’t actually opposed to spending money – they are only opposed to spending money on things that would help real prople – which certainly includes things which would help all Americans (or at the very least, more Americans) come together to work toward goals which would help all Americans. And that may be the best evidence that spending money on art helps real people – regardless of the genre of the art in question. I might also express this principle a different way by pointing out that there’s a reason Republicans like things to be bleak.

I don’t have a profound though tor image to hand just now … but Il’ll throw in a critter vid. They generally generate something on the order of joy, or at least restored faith.

Woman Becomes Third Wheel In Her Cat And Husband’s Relationship