Politics Plus

Yesterday, the radio opera was L’Inganno Felice (The happy deception), another early (1812) and rarely performed opera, but this time by Gioachino Rossini. It’s in one act, and is a flimsy little story about a faithful wife, who is slandered and kidnapped by a lech she turns down. He follows up by having his sidekick put her out to sea in a leaky boat. Now, if you or I were put out to sea in a leaky boat, we would drown, but this never happens in opera. She is rescued and, in the end, restored to the happiness she had with her husband. Rossini was very much a bel canto composer, at least until he retired, so there are arias and cabalettas whoch follow formulas, but that doesn’t keep them from being highly different and highly original. Also, it’s so early it still has recitativo, the sort-of-singing-but-more-like-talking lines which move the story forward. It was considered a comedy because it has a happy ending, but today we would call it a romantiv melodrama. One thing that is unintentionally funny, though, is that the character who rescues the heroine and takes her under his wing for the ten years between the murder attempt and the resoluttion, presents her as his niece, and calls her “Nisa.” (The Italian word for niece, “nipote,” doesn’t sound at all like “niece” – but “Nisa” does.)

In other news, the Lakota people )the Standing Rock Sioux) in South Dakota are holding a Get-Out-the Native-Vote evens which includes cultural events both for adults and for children, and they are live streaming it all weekend. If you have ever wanted to see some Lakota traditions which you would normally only see at powwows, now is the time. And this is the link.

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Finally: Here’s What Early Abortion Tissue Really Looks Like
Quote – Sometimes, patients want to see the tissue after an abortion. “They are stunned by what it actually looks like,” says Fleischman. “That’s when I realized how much the imagery on the internet and on placards – showing human-like qualities at this early stage of development – has really permeated the culture. People almost don’t believe this is what comes out.”
Click through for details. Figures don’t lie, but liars do figure. Pictures may not lie, but enough liars lie about them so that they don’t have to. All those pictures you see that are supposed to be fetuses and look like babies are lies, and it’s time that was publicized,

truthout – Report: DOJ Prosecutors Say There’s Enough Evidence to Prosecute Trump
Quote – A group of prosecutors within the Department of Justice (DOJ) believe there is enough evidence to charge former President Donald Trump with a crime relating to his improper removal of government documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago home, following his departure from office. According to Bloomberg, which cites unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, DOJ prosecutors believe Trump could be charged, at minimum, with obstruction.
Click through for story. The headline is imprecise, even misleading, if one doesn’t read at least the first two paragraphs, as it implies there might be enough evidence to charge him with any and every crime he has committed, and that’s not what it says at all. It says obstuction. My personal belief is that the smartest way to charge him is with whatever crime(s) will make the maximum nomber of Americans furious with him, and the minimum number of (armed) Americans go riot in the streets. Espionage might accomplish that. Ordinary obstruction maybe not so much. But we’ll see.

Food For Thought