Politics Plus

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Falstaff,” based on Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor. Back in the day when the filmed matinees were replayed on PBS, I remember there were a couple of very odd (to put it nicely) schedulings – like for instance “Medea” being replayed on Mothers’ Day (and there were others.) And then, of course, , hthey were being played after the fact, so that those scheduling them could have looked at the calendar and noted that “Medea,” for instance, was not the best choice for Mothers’ Day. That’s the one I remember, but I also remember that similar contretemps occurred several times. They seem to do better when the related real life occurrences are spontaneous – such as “Falstaff” being on radio (and also HD broadcast into theaters) in a week when a real life misogynistic conman has just been indicted after way too long a hiatus (of course, they were thinking of April Fools’ Day). There are differences – Falstaff gets his comeuppance from the very ladies he planned to seduce and swindle, and (ar least apparently) learns from the experience. I don’t anticipate any learning from experience to be happening in a Manhattan courtroom any time soon. The prodution is apparently the second one within about ten years – the previous one was very 1950’s, including a midcentury modern kitchen (through the window of which Falstaff got dumped into the Thames in a laundry basket.) This production doesn’t look consistently like any particular time and place, but it does appear to have a lot of color – reds, blues, and for one of Falstaff’s costimes an almost flueorescent orange. Also a lot of standing on tables. But then with such an absurd play it’s not out of line for the production to be a bit absurdist. (The play was supposed to have been inspired by Queen ELizabeth I telling Shakespeare she wanted to see “Sir John in love.” If so, evidently the best he could do was Sir John in heat, and certainly not forgetting about money. Falstaff may have been a knight, but he was not a noble character.) But it’s all in good fun, and the singers always seem to have at least as much fun as the audience – maybe more.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – DeSantis Gets Caught In The Disney Mousetrap
Quote – The previous board, Disney controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District, approved the last minute agreement on Feb. 8, the very day before the Florida House voted to put the governor in charge. They knew what was coming and had a plan. The Board had a public meeting, but didn’t get into great detail about the document before unanimously voting to approve it…. One of the funniest parts of the declaration is the following rule: The declaration is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England.”
Click through for details. DeSantis thought he was so smart appointing his own board to control Disnet territory. Dunning-Kruger prevented him from realizing that Disney has real lawyers – and real mockery.

The First Amendment Encyclopedia – Actual Malice
Quote – Actual malice is the legal standard established by the Supreme Court for libel cases to determine when public officials or public figures may recover damages in lawsuits against the news media…. Beginning with the unanimous decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), the Supreme Court has held that public officials cannot recover damages for libel without proving that a statement was made with actual malice — defined as “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”
Click through for article. When we non lawyers hear the word “malice,” we think of feelings – a hatred of someone or something, and a desire to harm that target. But that’s not what it means in law. Dominion has received summary judgment against Fox for everything except Actual Malice (and therefore damages.) Given the texts and emails, I believe that too could be proven without a trial. The judge is probably thinking that those texts, emails, and other evidence need to bemore widely publicized.

Bonus: In the Public Interest – The Privatization of Everything: Now in Paperback
Just to announce that this book, subtitled “How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back,” has been reissued, now in paperback, which makes it both easier to handle and less expensive. So many people have fallen for the myth that “Government should be run like a business” -which may be applicable to authoritarian governments, but certainly not to a democracy – and if you are seeking talking points to push back, this would be a great source.

Food For Thought