Yesterday, I dealt with the package from saturday which contained crafting supplies.. No, I didn’t make all the crafts, but I did get stuff put awaw. The other package was a small electronic with which I am still dealing. And rested.
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And, of course, I wish all a
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Crooks and Liars – Democrats Should Be Fighting The Next War, Not The Last One
Quote – Here’s my unpopular opinion: Getting angry at Susan Collins now is a waste of time. Okay, sure, get angry. But don’t fight the last war. We had a chance to defeat Collins in 2020, and we blew it, badly. She won by 9 points. She’s not up for reelection for another five years. Click through for what do do instead. At least some of it. There’s probebly something in your own state which is also more constructive.
Washington Post – One tactic to stop abortion bounty hunters from demolishing women’s constitutional rights
Quote – When thinking about Texas’s nefarious scheme to deprive women of their constitutional right to seek an abortion, I am reminded of the tactics White segregationists used in the years following the Brown v. Board of Education decision…. In the case of Texas’s antiabortion law, state lawmakers know that Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land, establishing a woman’s right under the 14th Amendment to control her own reproduction. So they came up with the idea to enlist private citizens to rat out women exercising their constitutional rights. They offered these people a bounty of $10,000. Think of them as hiring every Texas resident (and residents outside the state!) on a contract basis to make abortion services virtually impossible to obtain. Click through to the Washington Post for the full editorial, or click through to Democratic Underground for a larger excerpt. I was paywalled out of the Post myself, so I’m supplying both links.
Yesterday, having made so many typos and other errors on Monday, I tried to pull myself together. Hopefully I can be a bit more accurace today. Mitch’s issue is not yet solved, but a lot of ideas have come up that he can try, and I also sent him some links to videos to tide him over.
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The Hill – School districts impose mask mandates, defying GOP governors
Quote – “We believe that we have a constitutional obligation to protect the lives of our students and staff,” Rosalind Osgood, chair of the Broward County, Fla., School Board, said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “We’ve received, you know, threats from our governor. And it’s been really, really dramatic and horrible to be put in this position.” Click through for more. It’s going both ways I’m really, really glad I’m in a position to just stay home – I only wish everyone were.
Mother Jones – This Former Pastor Is Changing Evangelicals’ Minds on COVID Vaccines
Quote – Chang’s group produces a series of videos that dispel some of the myths that circulate widely among evangelicals—some believe that the vaccine is a form of government control or that it contains fetal tissue and is therefore pro-abortion. The group works with organizations including the National Association of Evangelicals and the Ad Council to distribute the videos both to churches and through social networks. Chang’s technique seems to be working{.} Click through for story and a link to one of the videos. I wish I were more optimistic about who is reachable … but anyone reached will help.
Upcoming event: This Sunday, August 22, is designated “Thank a Criminal Day.” I don’t kow who designated it, because there’s very little information about it. So it’s probably not “official” in any sense. But the point is to recognize that many people who, today, are considered heroes, were, in their own time, considered and treated as criminals. Some examples are Jesus, Galileo, Gandhi, Dr. King, John Lewis, Rosa Parks, John Brown, all those people who signed the Declaration of Independence (thereby committing treason against Great Britain), and so many others. There’s a saying, “the military may defend your freedom, but it was a criminal who gave it to you.” If you think of other historical figures, please recongize them in the comments. I can think of a few who are not yet recognized widely as the heroes they are, but I can and do hope they will be someday: Thomas Drake, John Kiriakou, Jeffrey Sterling, Reality Winner. All four have served time. All four are now, thankfully, out of prison now. I certainly want to thank them. Then there’s Scott Warren, who (after two trials) was finally acquitted of the terrible felony of leaving water in the desert to prevent “illegal” immigrants from dying, but who was locked up for much of the time from the charge to the final acquittal. If you think of more like this please share their names in the comments too. Then there are those who have spent time in prison for something which was not liberating,, which was in fact reprehensible, but who turned their lives around and became heroes. John Dean comes to mind. So does our own beloved TomCat. More examples of these would also be welcomed in the comments – I know they exist. I realize the date is four days down the road, but I wanted to give people time in advance to think about it, since this is an unrecognized day; plus the fact that I am working in advance means that the work itself is often behind when posted. I absolutely did not want to miss it.
There isn’t really a place to click to. Here’s the link to how I learned of its existence (two years old, but I didn’t see it until last year – and then late).
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Statements at FLA Rally Can be Used as Incriminating Evidence in DA Vance’s Tax Prosecution
The Lincoln Project – Independence Day
Now This News – Birds Aren’t Real Movement Says Birds Are Government Drones
Vote Vets – Independence
The Franklin Project – Organization Spotlight: Raise Your Voice with Deliberations.US (This is a model which works – but which requires people to participate.)
Woman Gives Toys to a Wild Magpie — and He Invites His Friends Over to Play
Last night’s opera was “Akhnaten,” the third in Philip Glass’s “Portrait Trilogy. In his case, it seems to be the first one – “Einstein on the Beach” – which doesn’t get heard and I don’t know why not. Anyway. Akhnaten was the Pharaoh who tried to eradicate polytheism in favor of monotheism of the sun god, Aten. It did not go well. The role is written for a counter tenor (God’s gift to composers who want to write for characters who are in some way androgynous – and also to revivals of Baroque and early Classical opera filled with “trouser roles.” This one is Anthony Roth Costanzo who comes across as avery sweet person, and those who know him confirm that. He had thyroid surgery, and had to grapple with the possibility of not being able to sing any more – and came to peace with the thought that as long as he could do something to make people happy, that would be acceptable. (Fortunately he is still singing – including at Santa Fe this summer in a world premier.) The libretto of Akhnaten is in ancient languages when possible and random syllables when not, with the exception of the “Hymn to the Sun,” which is to be sung in the primary local language wherever it it performed. Here’s an analysis of why (in case anyone cares.) Akhnaten is the last “American Composer” opera. Next week is Strauss week (Richard, not Johann, sorry) and there’s only one – well, maybe two – I’ll want to see so I’ll try to be more on top of things.
Axios – Biden launches effort to bring back deported veterans (about GD time)
Quote – “The Department of Homeland Security recognizes the profound commitment and sacrifice that service members and their families have made to the United States of America,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Friday. Click through for a little more.
Washington Examiner – White supremacist marchers ‘ran away’ from Philly residents, police say
Quote – “They started engaging with citizens of Philadelphia, who were none too happy about what they were saying. These males felt threatened, and at one point, somebody threw a smoke bomb to cover their retreat, and they literally ran away from the people of Philadelphia,” Philadelphia Police Officer Michael Crum told reporters. Click through for story.
Food for Thought
Bonus video – Lona suggested this on the 3rd, and between my internet going in and out and some other things, I didn’t get it up then. So here it is now.
Last night’s opera was “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” by Kurt Weill. Weill died an American composer, but when this was written and premiered, he had never even cnsidered coming to America – he was still working in Germany with Bertolt Brecht. So I think it’s iffy to call this “by an American composer.” However, it is – sort of – set in the US (though you’d be hard put to figure out exactly where.) With the llibretto by Brecht (translated of course) it’s a stunning indictment of capitalism. But I don’t suppose RWNJ’s would watch opera much, and those who did wouldn’t get it. Over a decade ago, LA Opera put it on with Patti Lupone and Audra MacDonald, and that version was aired on PBS “Great Performances.” I think it plays best when the character of Jimmy is played by someone sweet and vulnerable, and that is hard to find. Here’s a small taste, without Jimmy, but with Patti Lupone.
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Short Takes – trying for good news so we can relax on a holiday.
A nice editorial from the Miami Herald Biden’s small gesture toward DeSantis highlighted the president’s human touch
Quote – After almost 18 months of a highly politicized response — or maybe non-response — to the deadly coronavirus, in this state and others across the nation, it is breathtaking to see Florida’s Republican Gov. DeSantis standing shoulder to shoulder with political rival, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz one day, and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on another — both Democrats. But a photo of our governor, sitting next to our president who, as he talks to local leaders, lightly places his hand on DeSantis arm, is the most moving of all. Click through for more niceness.
The concert “A Capitol Fourth,” which is produced by the same people who produce the National Memorial Day Concert, will be broadcast today. My personal opinon is that the Memorial Day Concert is always better, generally much better, but that’s because the Memorial Day Concert goes so deep into the lives and issues of veterans, service members, and their families. the Capitol Fourth is more of a party. Parties bore me (except the Democratic Party OL). But if they don’t bore you, it should be excellent. Click through for television listings, a trailer, a couple pf previews, a link to FAQs, a link to history, and more.
Food for Thought
In case anyone has been worried about Lynn Squance, after a few tries I was able to speak with her yesterday. We talked about an hour. She is – as fine as pretty much anyne in our age group can claim, and has been (and will be) very involved in political action regarding the events referenced in this article It’s very time consuming but we may eventually start to hear about it if and when it lets up enough to have writing time.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, Independence Day, the commemoration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, our first national founding document (as you’ll see, there were local ones which preceded it and servied to authorize it.) There is much that we know about it (and I include in that the things we know that ain’t so) and much that we don’t. Some of the information which follows was news to me.
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The Declaration of Independence wasn’t really complaining about King George, and 5 other surprising facts for July Fourth
Editor’s note: Americans may think they know a lot about the Declaration of Independence, but many of those ideas are elitist and wrong, as historian Woody Holton explains.
In celebration of the United States’ 245th birthday, Holton offers six surprising facts about the nation’s founding document – including that it failed to achieve its most immediate goal and that its meaning has changed from the founding to today.
Ordinary Americans played a big role
The Declaration of Independence was written by wealthy white men, but the impetus for independence came from ordinary Americans. Historian Pauline Maier discovered that by July 2, 1776, when the Continental Congress voted to separate from Britain, 90 provincial and local bodies – conventions, town meetings and even grand juries – had already issued their own declarations or instructed Congress to.
In Maryland, county conventions demanded that the provincial convention tell Maryland’s congressmen to support independence. Pennsylvania assemblymen required their congressional delegates to oppose independence – until Philadelphians gathered outside the State House, later named Independence Hall, and threatened to overthrow the legislature, which then dropped this instruction.
American independence is due in part to African Americans
Like the U.S. Constitution, the final version of the Declaration never uses the word “slave.” But African Americans loomed large in the first draft, written by Thomas Jefferson.
In that early draft, Jefferson’s single biggest grievance was that the mother country had first foisted enslaved Africans on white Americans and then attempted to incite them against their patriot owners. In an objection to which he gave 168 words – three times as many as any other complaint – Jefferson said George III had encouraged enslaved Americans “to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them.”
Britain really had forged an informal alliance with African Americans – but it was the slaves who initiated it. In November 1774, James Madison became the first white American to report that slaves were plotting to take advantage of divisions between the colonies and the mother country to rebel and obtain their own freedom. Initially the British turned down African Americans’ offer to fight for their king, but the slaves kept coming, and on November 15, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the last British governor of Virginia, finally published an emancipation proclamation. It freed all rebel- (patriot-) owned slaves who could reach his lines and would fight to suppress the patriot rebellion.
The Second Continental Congress was talking about Dunmore and other British officials when it claimed, in the final draft of the Declaration, that George III had “excited domestic insurrection amongst us.” That brief euphemism was all that remained of Jefferson’s 168-word diatribe against the British for sending Africans to America and then inciting them to kill their owners. But no one missed its meaning.
Britain’s king is the subject of 33 verbs in a declaration that never once says “Parliament.” But nine of Congress’ most pressing grievances actually were about parliamentary statutes. And even British officials like those who cracked down on Colonial smuggling worked not for George III but for his Cabinet, which was in effect a creature of Parliament.
By targeting only the king – who played a purely symbolic role in the Declaration of Independence, akin to modern America’s Uncle Sam – Congress reinforced its novel argument that Americans did not need to cut ties to Parliament, since they had never had any.
The Declaration of Independence does not actually denounce monarchy
Indeed, several members of Congress, including John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, openly admired limited monarchy. Their beef was not with all kings and queens but with King George III – and him only as the front man for Parliament.
The Declaration of Independence fell short of its most pressing purpose
In June 1776, delegates who supported independence suggested that if Congress declared it soon, France might immediately accept its invitation to an alliance. Then the French Navy could start intercepting British supply ships bound for America that very summer.
But in reality it took French King Louis XVI a long 18 months to agree to a formal alliance, and the first French ships and soldiers did not enter the war until June 1778.
Abolitionists and feminists shifted the Declaration of Independence’s focus to human rights
Lemuel Haynes, a free Black man, was one of the first to interpret the Declaration of Independence’s words as applying to individual liberties. New York Public Library
In keeping with the Declaration of Independence’s largely diplomatic purpose, hardly any of its white contemporaries quoted its now-famous phrases about equality and rights. Instead, as the literary scholar Eric Slauter discovered, they spotlighted its clauses justifying one nation or state in breaking up with another.
But before the year 1776 was out, as Slauter also notes, Lemuel Haynes, a free African American soldier serving in the Continental Army, had drafted an essay called “Liberty Further Extended.” He opened by quoting Jefferson’s truisms “that all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
By highlighting these claims, Haynes began the process of shifting the focus and meaning of the Declaration of Independence from Congress’ ordinance of secession to a universal declaration of human rights. That effort was later carried forward by other abolitionists, Black and white, by women’s rights activists and by other seekers of social justice, including Abraham Lincoln.
In time, abolitionists and feminists transformed Congress’ failed bid for an immediate French alliance into arguably the most consequential freedom document ever composed.
================================================================ Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, I have been thinking this year that it isn’t really appropriate to make July 4th a celebration of freedom. It actually sympolizes poltical independence – a very different thing from personal freedom. To properly celebrate personal freedom, all of us need Juneteenth. Not that I’m trying to appropriate that holiday, which has the effect of taking it away from those who originated it. I don’t want to do that. But all of us might do well to quietly consider over it.
Last night’s opera was “Nixon in China.” It’s the first in John Adams’s American history trilogy; “Doctor Atomic” was the second. “Nixon in China” is fairly straightforwardly historical, until the second act, when a plot point of Mme. Mao making up a clownish exaggeration of a villain as Kissinger in a performance for the guests requires the storyteller singing Kissinger to double. The more you detest Kisinger, of course, the funnier it is. As with “Doctor Atomic,” actual journals and quotes from contemporary interviews were used in the libretto. The only character who is spared some mockery is Chou En-Lai, who at the time of Nixon’s visit was dying of cancer but also ersonally invested in the meeting going well – good reasons to treat him kindly. There is a piece which was contemplated being in the opera but withdrawn which is known as “The Chairman Dances” or, alternatively, “Foxtrot for Orchestra.” (I guess the idea of a mobility challenged Mao dancing for 12 minutes, energetically at that, was simply too much.) I’ve never seen the third opera in the trilogy, because it involves terrorism and ends up getting boycotted. Since I haven’t seen it, I can’t say whether the boycotting is justified, but I suspect it isn’t. Perhaps some day I’ll find out.
Yahoo!news – Tropical Storm Elsa is the latest evidence climate change is happening now
I’m not a big fan of yahoo news, but this was the only source I could find quickl which made the link to climate change explicit
Quote – While Elsa, whose maximum sustained winds are 45 miles per hour, is unlikely to inflict the same amount of damage as a stronger hurricane if and when it makes landfall, its formation on July 1 — following Ana, Bill, Claudette and Danny — fits into a pattern in which the changing climate makes conditions for life-threatening storms more favorable. Click through for the rationale.
Axios – Poll: Americans more worried about restrictive voting laws than election fraud
Yes, I know, this is one of those “file under No Shit, Sherlock” stories. But there’s so much denial of it.
Quote – Why it matters: 67% of Americans — including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents — said they believed American democracy is currently under threat, though the survey did not ask what they believed is threatening it. Click through for details.
Food for Thought
Just a little extra – Smithsonian Trivia for July 4. Their quizzes are generally tough but I managed 4 out of 5 on this one.
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