Open Thread January 26 2025

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 262025
 

Yesterday, the radio opers was Verdi’s Aida, which may be the most performed opera which exists. Certainly it is at the Met, which means it’s had more performances than La Boheme or Carmen. This may be the first time in my life – I don’t remember any other – when I have heard the tenor sang his opening aria the way Verdi wanted it sung – the high note ending on a pianissimo floating away. From the time of Caruso (which is pretty close to the beginning of recorded sound), few tenors have been able to resist the temptation to hit it an hold it forte to show off the high note. The soprano, Angel Blue, reminded me of Leontyne Price in the role. The only other I’ve heard who was as good as those two in the role was Latonia Moore.  I believe there is exactly one race of humans and that is homo sapiens, so I don’t believe in radial memory.  But it is interesting that all three of those divas are African American

I think I have all good news today – Well, Belle’s may not be exactly good, but it is funny.

A few days old, but it is good news. Besides the speed of getting this into court, there’s a short preview of other court action to come. I’m also linking to Joyce Vance, who has some additional details on what actually happened in the courtroom.

This happened on Tuesday, but was published Wednesday. I just received the link yesterday from JL. As y’all know, I got a very late start yesterday – and had email left over from Friday -and had not found any other good news yet, so I’m using this. I do subscribe to Huff Post, but not to everything, just the “Fringe.”

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Open Thread January 25 2025

 Posted by at 4:16 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 252025
 

Yesterday, before I could post, I attempted to restart my computer (because my browser kad kicked me out, and when it does that, it has a blackout on all my autofills, and I have to restart to get them back. But, instead of restarting, it gave me the “missing operating system” error. It'[s done that before, and if I leave it alone long enough, it usually eventually starts. I couldn’t start it last night, and I couldn’t restart it today until now. I occupied myself with untangling all the cords attached to it an/or accessories, figuring I would need help, though the help line was not open. After I made sure everything was plugged back in, I tried again and this time is stated. Since the sun hasn’t set yet, I’ just putting up what I had prepared, and then will start on tomorrow’s. Whew! Please send gratitude vibes to Nameless, who posted a reassurance, and to Trinette, who texted him so he knew to do so.

steveschmidt.substack.com/p/the-big-lie
I am as sure as I can be that there is no one who reads here who needs to read Steve Schmidt’s essay in order to understand where we are. I wish I could say the same of elected Democrats – but I can’t. I do note that a personal letter to an individual is not subject tp copyright law – you can quote the whole thing as long as it’s just in a private letter. Even if that person is an elected official. Just Sayin’.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do
On thie other side of the coin is this from Robert Reich. I live not in a city but in an unincorporated area, and I absolutely do not trust County officials. I leave my house only to see Virgil or for a medical appointment – neither are places I am likely to observe others’ unrestrained behavior. I have been boycotting X before it as X, and Amazon and Fox for years. There are better people out there – Penzey’s, for example. and everyone eats. Not everyone cooks, but Bill Penzey’s letters are worth the click. And who knows – you might find a product to try. And so on. Bottom line, all the advice is good, not all of is can follow it, those who can probably are already. But keep it in mind for sharing in case you are asked.

Belle Rosa Parks

Dog

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Open Thread January 23 2025

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 232025
 

Yesterday, following a day of undeserved pardons (and commutations), a day which itself followed a few days of richly deserved pardons (and commutations), many not even reflecting any crime, but issued for protective purposes – The Huff Post Fringe had words. Also, this happened. The link is from The Root, but I’m sure others are not getting left out of the purge. Meanwhile, The Root compiled a list of what it describes as the Canteloupe Caligula’s “most worrisome” executive orders.

This is only the second article from the Contrarian, and it has already come a long way. It is a roughly 18 minute video, and it has CC, and it has a transcript for which you have several options, including saving as a PDF (which I did), saving as something else, printing (which should mean either to paper or to your hard drive or a thunb drive), and reloading. I did save it as a PDF, haven’t looked at it yet, but assume it’s more accurate than YouTube – not that that’s hard.) Mechanics aside, the episode is a “how did we get here” story which should frighten (but not, I hope, paralyze) you.

When I read this article from Steve Schmidt in situ, I also looked at one of the comments – the first one (I don’t know whether they change position as time passes, so I’ll add it was by Martin Dillon.) It ended with “Are there no Republicans that want to save this country?” My mental response to that was “Yes, there are, but few, if any, are in office, elected or appointed.” And that makes them difficult to find. Many have re-registerd as Independent or Unaffiliated. Don’t try to look for them in Congress or State legislatures. Look for them in your community. There are at least 3 Special Elections coming up, to replace Congressmen who have been appointed to some other position, and there are non profits who want to save democracy helping to fund Democratic candidates. That’a the place to start. And sooner than later.

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Open Thread January 21 2025

 Posted by at 5:53 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 212025
 

Yesterday – Protective pardons, political and family. Tangerine Palpatine orders executive shock and awe, and promises “Golden Age of America” (but I think he means “Gilded II.”) And all of that was before 4:00 pm EST. I signed petitions as many as possible, and skimmed through most of my email. I’m tired already. Even Axios is tired. They didn’t do a new email each time they sent an alert on TSF, just added to the story and updated the old one the earlier one. That’s why only one link for multiple headlines. Oh, and Ceclie Richards died. It was announced in the morning, so at least she escaped before the inauguration. But she’s a great loss.

ProPublica sent the newsletter including this link on Friday. But I figure since TSF was inaugurated just yesterday at noon, he only had a half day anyway, and then there are the inaugural balls. So the headline’s question will not have been answered yet.

This from The F* News, is a list of some of the Biden Administration’s achievements. It isn’t 27 pages long (I have one that is, although it’s somewhat double spaced -I would guess somewhere around 18-20 pages if all the extra spacing was removed; if anyone wants it as a PDF let me know) but is also offers some of the reasoning behind its choices, and sorts them into categories rather then just listing by date. So they both may be keepers.

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Open Thread January 20 2025

 Posted by at 6:03 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 202025
 

Yesterday, Steve Schmidt posted a column which is near perfect for today. I can disagree with him on a couple of minor points, but that’s really just nitpicking. I cannot disagree with his conclusion, even though I don’t clearly see how it is to be done. Also, I read yesterday that the Mango Monster’s cryptocurrency scan is called $TRUMP. Does that make him a $TRUMPet? And to top off the day, the word “Villainaire[s]” has been coined.

Crooks & Liars is really speaking to elected Democrats here. But one of the things we do best is to nag our elected officials to do the right thing. So we need to think about how we can best do that under this administration.

This was in a Contrarian newsletter from Friday. I’m sorry to have to say that all the information is in a video, it doesn’t appear to have CC, and you need to jump on the button to unmute the sound. I missed about a minute but I think what I mostly missed was courtesies. Joyce Vance is known here as a Substack author, but from now on she will also be working (not alone) on a project for the Contrarian called the “Democracy Tracker. The idea is to have something which will catch us up to as much as a week’s important news into minutes. I want to say “Good luck with that,” but this time I really mean it. I hope they do pull it off. Everyone working with The Contrarian is an expert in their own right, so I think they do have a good chance. We shall see.

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Open Thread January 19 2025

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 192025
 

Yesterday, Axios published the evaluation of the 10 US cities that “did the best” in 2024. Colorado Springs is on it at #5. We are in one of only two blue states on the list, and I believe the only red city in a blue state. Of course, in general, red areas have considerably more room to improve than blue ones. It doesn’t mean we’re one of the top ten places to live, speaking economically (though speaking scenically, we probably are.) Also, the radio opera was Puccini’s Tosca – a tragedy in the literary sense, but also politically. The eponymous heroine’s lover, whose life she tries and fails to save, his friend, and she herself are on the right side of the autocracy vs. democracy divide, and although she manages to kill one pre-fascist (who is a real piece of work – I can only think of a couple of others in opera who even come close to his pure evil), his flunkies only fail to catch ans torture her because she suicides first. Yes, I know, Napoleon was no liberator, but you can’t blame people of the time for thinking he was or might be. Even Beethoven thought that – until he didn’t. “Tosca” is a very tight story- everything moves the plot, even the one comic-relief character, so the more you know about it the more heart-wrenching every note is – and the harder it is to look away. (A side note – this is the opera which contains the aria over which Puccini won a copyright infringement lawsuit against the composer of the song “Avalon.” Of course I was not on the jury – I wasn’t born yet -but had I been, and just knowing the two pieces, I would have been inclined to vote the other way. Only one phrase that’s in the opera is in the pop song, it’s not used “verbatim”, and it is developed very differently.)

I expect everyone here knows this by now, since it came out on Friday. But Sundays are for good news – and right now it just doesn’t get any “gooder” than this. The Contrarian was where I first saw it.

This also came out Friday and started me wondering what else on our wish list would be announced today. Whatever would have been, I would have added. We need all the good news we can get just now.

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Open Thread January 17 2025

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 172025
 

Yesterday, I made an appointment on line to get blood work done. Besides being able to make appointments on line, and communicate with providers through what is essentially email but on their site, so with all the privacy of HIPAA. Another is that they have multiple locations, so if the lab closest to you is booked up through March, nd they want it done in early February, you can choose another location. Yes, the lab I chose is farther, but I can get to it on the Interstate, so it should take about the same amount of time. It’s also in one of my old neighborhood – one of them – so I know exactly where it is.

On Wednesday, Steve Schmidt, after a short rant about Pete Hegseth, addressed the My Lai massacre, it’s [lack of] consequences for the murders, and finally described his own journey to Viet Nam and the forgiveness he found there (he was not born yet when My Lai happened, but what he found was an attitude of forgiveness for all.) I was alive then – I was on active duty in the Marine Corps – but I was not aware of all the details he includes (and of course it did not become public knowledge for quite a while.) Someone who was aware of it was Scott Peck (known as the author of “The Road Less Traveled,” though I personally consider his second book, “People of the Lie,” far more significant – and about eight years ago would have been a good time for it to become popular again.) It is, I think, obvious why Schmidt connects My Lai to Hegseth, since a military filled with war criminals who are “tough” is the kind of military Trump** wants, and wants Hegseth to make it so. Steve sees this as an issue of courage – I see it as an issue of truth – but we are really in the same position in the end. Anyway, consider this a plug for “People of the Lie.”

I really don’t have much, if anything, to say about this Talking Points Memo article. Except that it would have been nice to know about it years ago, like, say, early in Obama’s first term, when we might have been able to start a reform movement. We won’t be able to do that during this administration, and even if we could, it’s already too late to accomplish much. Hopefully we may get another chance, down the road.

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Open Thread January 14 2025

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jan 142025
 

Yesterday, it occurred to me that the name Zuckerberg – with just a little bit of license – translates to “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” I couldn’t even begin to count the possible disrespectful jokes that could be gotten out of that. Also yesterday, the story which was yanked last week did get published, and I went to the new link, and it is working. Here it is. You can see why I jumped to the conclusion I did. It’s very frank.

The Reich on the left is right again. I, and progressives and liberals I am aware of, generally have positive impressions of universities, nonprofits, and labor unions. The media is in a different position. But allowing media, however imperfect, to be destroyed by The new administration’s lawsuits and other attacks is not the solution. And that goes multiple times for small and independent media, who are as much more likely to promote truth as they are to come under attack. I know I probably sound like an obsolete “broken record,” but go over to Substack, see the many people who are posting there, and if you find someone or some two or so whom you respect (and preferably whom I am not regularly citing, to broaden yourself,) sign up for a free subscription. That costs nothing but time – and knowledge is priceless.

(Edited just before midnight to add link to Jack Smith’s Volume #1 (Jan 6)

Robert Hubbell debunks all the lies being pushed by MAGA about the Los Angeles wildfire(s). Unfortunately, the LA Times, now MAGA-billionaire-owned, is widely spreading them anyway. Was it Mark Twain who said “a lie can get halfway around the world wile truth is still putting its pants on”? Or is he just one of the many to whom it has been mis-attributed? Also, you might appreciate, if you have any past or present connection to California, his next rant is here.

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