Yesterday, the radio opera was Richard Strauss’s “Die Frau Ohne Schatten,” considered to be a “fairy tale” opera. It certainly is one that would likely warm the hearts of right wimgers, since the shadow of the title is a symbol of the ability to bear children. But, on the other side of the equation, it’s also all about choice. It’s long – four hours including intermission – but the music is powerful, and in its way so is the story.
Steve Schmidt goes through a lot of information before he gets to his title point, but that’s the point for which I am posting it.
Andy Borowitz gets serious with advice to survive Trump** II. Andy is the epitome of the jester of the past who through humor managed to be the wisest person in the room at any given time. I’ll take him seriously.
Yesterday, the exterminator came and checked inside and out. He said there was a little activity indoors, which didn’t surprise me because last time he came too early and didn’t check inside. I just need to make sure that either the email specified an afternoon time or else I call to confirm that. Here are a couple of extras – Andy Borowitz Richardson on the failed coup in Korea
This is from Driftglass, though I found it through Crooks and Liars. Sometimes a really crude analogy is what is needed to make a point (and this one is about as crude as it gets.)
This is a history from Heather Cox Richardson specifically of how the liberal consensus, which I grew up with and so did many of you, was formed – and of what happened to it. And why we need it back – but not exactly how to do that. In my opinion, it’s a keeper – not that I expect to be able to do much of the work. And I have no children or grandchildren. But those of you who do will want, I am sure, to preserve for them as much of it as possible.
Robert Reich endorses Ben Winkler for DNC Chair, and makes what I would consider a strong case. But, you know, there are a lot of Democrats in leadership positions who would disagree. We’d need to convincing that it isn’t just that we are losing with their mode – it’s that their model is causing the losing trend. (BTW, everyone else spells it “Wikler” so Robert Reich may be wrong in his spelling.
Yesterday, I had blood drawn for four tests. The appointment was for 3:00 pm, and I was prompt. The actual draw too well under a minute, and by 6:00 pm I could see the results on line. If I had been worried, that would have been a real blessing. In fact, just about everything was in normal range, and most right in the middle of normal range (I didn’t have to do the math – they gave me colored graphs.) I also had over 100 emails – but it was Cyber Monday and today is Giving Tuesday and Thursday is Colorado Gives Day. So that comes as no surprise. I have a bunch of stuff picked out, and most of it I still think is important, but I’ll try to put newer stuff in as extras this week. Also, as I came to post this, I realized I hadn’t posted yesterday. I do apologize.
Robert Reich provides the news sources he relies on for the truth. All are good (I will say the New Yorker has become a little to far right for me, and there are others.) I would add to Reich’s list Wonkette, The F*ing News because I often don’t have the time or energy to do my own sarcasm, and from them I get it ready made. For people who can tolerate videos, there’s “Legal AF” with Harry Litman, which is under the Meidas Touch umbrella, and he doesn’t have the annoying habit the brothers do of repeating things over and over, On Substack you can take your pick – besides Cox Richardson and Reich himself, I trust Joyce Vance, who doesn’t just stick to law and the courts, though that’s her area of expertise. Also, sign up for one unpaid subscription on Substack and whoever you subscribe to will occasionally (not often enough to drive you nuts) recommend other Substackers, and Substack will send you a short email with those recommendations. As Joyce often says, We are in this together.
So Erin Burnett at CNN is “an observant Catholic.” Well, I’m a Catholic. And I’d like to tell Erin Burnett a story. Many years ago – in the late seventies, to be precise, a gentleman named Charles Buswell was the bishop of the Pueblo, CO diocese. And I use the word “gentleman” advisedly. He was such a sweet, real Christian that he was written up by Time magazine. Alamosa was in that diocese then (may still be), and he had come to Sacred Heart parish there for I forget what ceremony – it might have been confirmations – and was relaxing at a barbecue afterward when I got into a conversation with him. In that conversation be mentioned that he has released from his vows a priest who was trans, and had recently completed surgery. “He said, I think that transgender is considered to be when the soul of one sex is born in the body of the other?” and I replied, “That is what I have always understood.” He grinned and replied, “Our diocese then should get the credit for having ordained the first woman priest.” That is how a real Catholic responds to transgender. You know, Christine Jorgenson was still alive then (she died in 1989). Her glory days were over then, but they lasted long enough into my childhood for her to be discussed in our home and for my mother to have given me the explanation on which I agreed with the bishop. Gender affirming care is not something frivolous. It’s much like needing an abortion when the fetus is already dead. Oh, wait – they oppose that too.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Capriccio” by Richard Strauss. It addresses the age-old questin of whether the music or the words are more important in an opera. It does this theough the mechanism of featuring a poet and a composer both in love with the same woman expecting her to choose between them, In the end, she can’t. Some people think that Strauss hid the answer in the scoring of the final scene. But those people don’t always agree in which choice they think she made. So I don’t believe that. Operas have succeeded with strong music and weak libretti, and also the other way around. And some have failed in both of those categories. But a strong libretto with strong music is also no guarantee of success – and a weak libretto with weak music may be a hit for a while (though it’s unlikely to be remembered long. But good ones can be forgotten also. Welp, I’m off to see Virgil. I will check in in a comment when I get home.
This is late for Thanksgiving, I grant. But Andy Borowitz‘s tips may give you a SUnday smile or at least a Sunday snicker. nd Christmas is coming. And there’s always next year. And, speaking of Andy, there’s a video here – it’s about 15 minutes and is very funny, though just at the very end you may want a tissue.
This also appears to be good news, although Republicans seem always to find ways to take the joy out of everything. The F* News is snarky, of course. But it appears to be baseline true.
Yesterday, I continued some computer chores of moving infornation from one to the other. I also took in a grocery delivery, and though I haven’t checked it all yet against the order, I don’t think anything was missing. I aldo noticed – yes, I’m late to the party – that Elon Musk had posted something quite a while ago calling Kamala Harris “the ultimate diversity hire.” You may remember that my definition of “diversity hire” is “I can’t stand another ignorant white boy, I need someone who comes with actual qualifications.” Now that definition she might fit.
Our states are by no means all the same. I don’t suppose Ruben Gallego’s campaign strategy, as described by Huff Post, would work in every state. In fact, I believe that in many states our candidates should sound more progressive rather than moving center. But it did work for him (which means it also worked for all of us). and would work in many states.
Joyce Vance will sound overly optimistic to many of us, but she has some good points. And no one ever said or suggested that getting the Republic back could be done without a powerful resistance.
Yesterday, for a change, I caught up on my email. That doesn’t mean I didn’t find anything in my inbox this morning, of course. I hope the featured image doesn’t squish today. I tripped over the quote, from a survivor of the Holocaust, but finding the right background and getting the quote into the right place took time. Just in case: “I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving the worst conditions conceivable
“I wasn’t going to post anything about Matt Gaetz following his dropout, but Amanda Marcotte used him as our poster boy to help us decide exactly what to oppose and exactly how to oppose it. Of course at this point I don’t suppose anyone ia 100% correct on that (though there probably are some who are 100% wrong), but Amanda Marcotte writes well and makes a good case. There isn’t a pay wall, but there is an ad blocker wall. You can keep the trackers blocked.
You may have already heard this from The F* News, but maybe not said so well, and maybe not in quite as much detail. This would not be the only thing where what’s floating around is not 100% accurate. In fact, I used one yesterday.
I wanted to get this up for the holiday because is is something I have been concerned about for a while now off and on, and maybe you have also – conservatives pushing an Article V convention. In fact, I’m going to quote a couple of sentences: “Two bodies can propose constitutional amendments: Congress or a “convention of the states” called under Article V of the Constitution. But regardless of which body proposes a constitutional amendment, an amendment does not become effective until it is ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures (38). Accordingly, any 13 state legislatures can block ratification of a constitutional amendment.
Yesterday, I got my internet back, but only on one computer, not the one I usually use for this. It had ben down since Friday, and so were my phones. SO I didn’t hear the opera Saturday, since for the summer season (which is for one more week now) I need the internet – no internet, no opera. Fortunately it’s one I know well, and some time ago I even downloaded an old recording of it. And on December 7 the Met season starts, and my local radio station carries that. Anyway, I’ve been struggling all weekend with trying to reach my provider, and this is my first chance to post. I hope things are better with all of you than they have been this weekend. But it’s just the electronics, not me, which are ill. I’m fine physically, I have all my meds now and am taking them
With the one exception that this uses the term “Christianity” and “Christian” where it should use “Christian Nationalism” and “Christian Nationalist,” this article is as good a portrait of the Republican concept of education as you are ever likely to see. Yes, there’s a lot of profanity in it. That’s just how The F* News rolls.
Mary Trump‘s observation that cruelty is the point is not new, but it’s at least as accurate as it ever was. And there is no simple answer (in fact, there’s more than one complex answer – probably as many of those as there are people on earth) to the question, “Once a person gets into that mindset, how can they get out of it?”
Claudia is saying, “You know what, we will pay for that wall after all!”
Yesterday, the Riccardis took the song “Who shot the Sheriff” and turned it into “I thought the tariffs” and really covered just about every discouraging point. Well done. I also learned that a 2025 commemorative stamp for Betty White will be released sometime in 2025. She’s one of those people who are/were pretty much universally loved. I also did a little online shopping – I need to get what I need from China before the inauguration while I can still afford to.
Robert Reich on DOGE. I can’t imagine Trump** has the foggiest notion of the other meaning of the acronym – a term from the Italian Renaissance for an absolute ruler. Most people think first of Venice, but other city states also had them, notably Genoa (Simon Boccanegra was one, though the Verdi opera based on him is not 100% historically accurate.) The word is a now obsolete variant of “Il Duce.” Hiding fascism in plain sight. I’d also point out that destroying “bureaucracy” is not an admirable or a desirable goal. As i learned in MBA school, “bureaucracy” was invented to replace partisan government service which had unfairness baked in with a non-partisan, merit based system which would be unbiased. No human institution is perfect, but I would far prefer and always recommend some form of bureaucracy over any other system for running a large country. You might still get screwed by a bureaucrat, but it wouldn’t be for any personal reason. With Trump** and apparently Elno, everything is personal because everything is transactional. (And that part of Verdi’s opera – the dude saying “you gotta reward me because I made you Doge” – and not getting his way and then poisoning Simon – is quite historically accurate, and appropriate to a Trump** administration.)
Robert Hubbell points out that the “red mirage” has not ended, and that the count is still changing – certainly through this week, and maybe longer. More counts will not change the results, because of the electoral college – but we have already seen Trump** fall below 50% of the popular vote, and we may yet see him slip below Kamala’s popular vote total. So much for the “landslide” that really never was anyway.
I don’t know what to do about this -I tried everything I could think of including re-downloading it from my original source, which by the way is here – https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219725786
