Open Thread October 13 2024

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 132024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Clemenza de Tito” by Mozart. He wrote 22 operas in so many genres (and mixing them up) so that people are still arguing about what genre some of them are in. But at least some people would say he wrote four “opera seria” (“serious opera”) and this is one of them. Opera began with Monteverdi as an attempt to recreate Greek tragedy (which may or may not have included singing), and opera seria generally are based on ancient Greek or Roman plots. This one is centered on the emperor Titus, who ruled from 79-81 CE. The plot is an “idiot plot” which is generally taken to mean that if there were just one character who wasn’t an idiot, there wouldn’t have been a story. So I won’t go into it. Mozart wrote it at the same time as he was writing “The Magic FLute,” and those were his last two operas, so the music is some of his finest.

https://www.marytrump.org/p/what-it-costs-us
Every now and then, when something which will help everyone is being discussed and Republicans are asking “where will the money come from?” someone with an IQ of 100 or higher will ask, “What will it cost us not to do it?” Of course no Republican ever answers, because if they even treated it as a real question, people might learn that the answer is invariablty “a whole lot more than it costs to do it.” The people I have heard asking it include Robert Reich, Beau (and probably now Belle, though the topic hasn’t come up yet, or I’ve missed it), and now Mary Trump, all of whom have IQs which are clearly above 130. She mentions more than one project, although it’s child care which inspired the question.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-9-2024
I’m sure everyone here has heard this by now, but this is the most detail I have seen on it (outside of Woodward’s book, and it may even surpass that.)

https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/what-trump-is-calling-for-is-fascism
Steve Schmidt is getting real (pun intended.) And unfortunately he’s right. It’s not enough to cite fascism. Too many people have no idea what that implies. It needs to be spelled out.

 

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Open Thread April 4, 2024

 Posted by at 5:31 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 042024
 

Yesterday, Hump Day, I accomplished almost nothing. Fortunately, there are other days.

On the last day of Women’s History Month, Heather Cox Richardson posted a biography of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (And of Marty, from when they met.) I held it a few days because it’s timeless, as opposed to court and political news.

Thom Hartmann frequently uses clickbaity headlines, but he knows a fact when he sees one – his content is as reliable as possible.

From danarheaelliott’s keyboard to God’s monitor. I will say that some of this is so downright idiotic that people of normal and up intelligence may be confused. Don’t worry about it.

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Video Thread 4/6/2023

 Posted by at 11:56 am  Open Thread, Politics
Apr 062023
 

I don’t know for sure whether Glenn skipped a day… but he was very , very late, and the monthly review is coming up, so I thought I’d just use ths today.
Steve Schmidt reacts to Trump’s remarks after pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges

CNN – SE Cupp says ‘no one should care’ about GOP outrage over Trump indictment

Thom Hartmann – Fascists Ban First Graders From Singing Dolly Parton & Miley Cyrus song?

Randy Rainbow – Grumpy Trumpy Felon from Jamaica in Queens! (Seeing as how the song on which this is based is older than I am, I’ll share the title: “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B”)

Couple Buys A Farmhouse That Came With 16 Cats

Beau – Let’s talk about Russia, North Korea, and missteps…

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“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”

 Posted by at 4:50 pm  Politics
Mar 252023
 

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

~ Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

 

As someone who takes Dylan Thomas’ advice to heart, I’m please to let centenarian and “Craftivist” Grace Linn introduce herself to us all:

“I am Grace Linn.  I am a hundred years young.  I’m here to protest our school’s district book-banning policy.  My husband, Robert Nicoll, was killed in action in World War II at a very young age.  He was only 26, defending our democracy, Constitution, and freedoms.”

And with that opening salvo clearly aimed at DeSantis earlier this week, Grace Linn brought the house down at the latest Martin County School Board meeting in Florida!  Most of the 500-plus overflow crowd was there to show their support for Ms. Linn’s personal and heartfelt protest of Ron DeSantis’ fascist book banning obsession.

She continued:

“One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books they banned.  They stopped the free press and banned and burned books.  The freedom to read, which is protected by the First Amendment, is our essential right and duty of our democracy.  Even so, it is continually under attack by both the public and private groups who think they hold the truth.”

While addressing the crowd comfortably seated on her walker, a friend of hers displayed the quilt she made last year of just some of the books that have been banned.  At DeSantis’ goading, Florida’s public schools’ libraries have now banned close to 200 “offensive” tomes from their shelves.

Each square of Linn’s quilt shows a stack of books that have been banned and targeted – many of which have been penned by authors honored with numerous literary awards, including several by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison.

Linn said that burning books and banning books is done for the same reason: fear of knowledge.

She made clear she was there to oppose Florida’s schools that are being goaded by DeSantis to ban books that irritate right-wingers and evangelical fundamentalists – a danger she compares to the evil her first husband fought and died for fighting against Nazism in WWII.

“Banning books and burning books are the same. Both are done for the same reason. Fear of knowledge. Fear is not freedom. Fear is not liberty. Fear is control. My husband died as a father of freedom. I am a mother of liberty. Banned books need to be proudly displayed and protected from school boards like this. Thank you very much.”

On her departure, Ms. Linn was greeted as the hero she truly is …

During a later interview Ms. Linn explained the purpose of her quilt:

“To remind all of us that these few of so many more books that are banned and targeted need to be proudly displayed and protected—and read, if you choose to.”

Having lost her first husband in WWII’s battle against Nazis and Fascists, along with two brothers (one who was wounded while battling Hitler’s forces and the other suffering PTSD from personally participating in the liberation of Auschwitz), Ms. Linn (who still drives and lives by herself) promised to continue the good fight.

“I always feel that it’s my duty.  When history is forgotten or not used and not allowed to be used, history will repeat itself and we had enough of that during the Nazism that occurred in Germany.”

 

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