Music – Page 12 – Politics Plus

Open Thread September 17, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 172023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “La fille du régiment,” by Donizetti. This is a cute and funny opera, which is known outside the opera world for two reasons. For one, it is the opera which contains the aria which gave Luciano Pavarotti his nickname, “king [or admiral] of the high C’s.” (In this recording, it was, as it often is, encored. And then, just for a little more fun, in Marie’s singing lesson, they substituted “La Vie en Rose” for Donizetti. (It really isn’t possible to go over the top with this opera, since it’s over the top to begin with.) The other is that it is the opera in which Ruth Bader Ginsburg was given her first speaking cameo. {I’ll spare you the search – the link on her name is to the review, and here are links to video of the beginning and the end of the cameo. She wrote her own lines and spoke in English. Her reference to Marie’s birth certificate is not in the libretto, but is a poke in the eye at “birtherism.”) The comic plot centers on Marie (the daughter of the regiment) who was found as a baby and adopted by the regiment and raised as a tomboy. All grown up now, she falls in love with a local boy, Tonio, while the regiment is atationed in the Tyrol, and he with her. But the Regiment has sworn that she may only marry a member of the regiment. So Tonio signs up – just as a noblewoman (the Marquise of Berkenfeld) discovers that Marie is actually her illegimate daughter (though she says “niece” at first), and sweeps her away. Her mother hopes to get her married to the son of the Duchess of Krakentorp (which is where RBG comes in.) This would be a horrible fate, but it is sabotaged by Marie herself, her lover, the rest of the regiment, and especially the senior sergeant of the regiment, Sulpice (a charming role for a baritone – they are so often stuck playing the bad guy.) So all ends well. While I was listening, and checking my email, Robert Reich also cracked me up. He apologized profusely for missing his regular Saturday column, listing all the reasons why (all beyond his control, but he insisted he should have foreseen them) and ended by saying his New Year’s resolution is “to stop blaming myself for events over which I have no control, and to recognize when I have no control.” Right. Good idea, Bob. Good luck with that.

Cartoon – 17 new Norton (+JNY)

Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – Plans For A Trump Dictatorship Are Already Drafted
Quote – There’s enough precedent — both historical and current — to show how dangerous this moment is, and what lies on the other side of the tipping point. It would be checkmate for democracy, perhaps permanently. I don’t think this will happen, at least not this time around. But the blueprint for seizing the reins of power has been in plain sight for some time. Then last week, an article in the Associated Press (AP) put it on the front burner.
Click through for details. It links to the AP story, should you want to pursue it further. Sorry it’s such a downer. But if we don’t know, we can’t fight it.

NBC News – Rep. Mary Peltola’s husband dies in plane crash in Alaska
Quote – “We are devastated to share that Mary’s husband, Eugene Peltola Jr. — ‘Buzzy’ to all of us who knew and loved him — passed away earlier this morning following a plane accident in Alaska,” Peltola’s chief of staff, Anton McParland, said in a statement. Responding to requests for comment, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said in separate statements that a single-engine plane crashed after takeoff around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday near St. Mary’s, a small city in western Alaska.
Click through for story. I suppose there are things happening which affect more people, but what hurts an at-large Democratic Congresswoman from a state with two Republican Senators and IIRC a Republican Governor hurts us all.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 9/10/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:04 pm Open Thread, Politics

Sep 102023

Glenn Kirschner – Georgia grand jury recommends indicting Lindsey Graham, Mike Flynn, others. What now?

MSNBC – A siege mentality’: Former Evangelical church leader on why his flock votes for Trump

Joe Biden – War Zone | Biden-Harris 2024

The Soggy Bottom Boy [Patrick Fitzgerald] – In the Jailhouse Now

Husky waits 733 days to meet her familly [Don’t miss the organization’s name at the end LOL]

Beau – Let’s talk about the 14th amendment, Trump, and a GOP candidate….

Open Thread September 10, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:51 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 102023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Ballad of the Canal” by Yin Qing. It is not a “Chinese Opera” which is a genre all its own. It is a western style opera in Chinese, with Chinese subject matter and roots in Chinese folk music. It does borrow some from the Chinese Opera genre, but that is but one element among others such as bel canto and singspiel. It centers around life during the Ming Dynasty around the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the longest canal in the world (and, at 1104 miles, likely to remain so). There is a main plot, but the opera is hughly episodic, and thus can juxtapose characters from various social classes effectively. IIRC, when I was in school, this format was referred to as “a slice of life.” The performance was recorded in 2022. It was very easy to listen to, and not all that hard to follow. The brief interviews with the performers about their characters before it started and during intermission helped.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Wonkette – Fani Willis Roasts Jim Jordan’s D**k Over Open Fire
Quote – We are going to resist the temptation to share every hilariously shady comment, every time she just brutalizes Jim Jordan…. Quoting established case law, Willis writes that Jordan’s subpoenas are only valid if related to a real task of Congress, and investigations only for the aggrandizement of the investigators, or to punish those being investigated, are indefensible. “This unprecedented action serves no legitimate legislative purpose and would set a dangerous precedent for future Congresses… the American people deserve better,” she wrote, quoting directly from a letter written by [checks notes] Jim Jordan to Bennie Thompson, chair of the House January 6 Select Committee, back in 2022. That’ll set the tone for you. But it gets so much nastier.
Click through for full (NSFW) article. I doubt whether Jordan will ever learn not to leave himself wide open like that. Not if he hasn’t learned by now. (Oh yes, and it’s Substack now.)

The Daily Beast – How ‘Free Speech’ Warrior RFK Tried to Bully a DailyKos Blogger
Quote – “In truth, Mr. Kennedy gave a speech for peace and freedom in Berlin on Aug. 29, 2020, initiated by the group Querdenken—a democratic movement whose name means ‘lateral thinking’ and who vehemently oppose all forms of fascism and extremism,” the Barnes-written document reads, referring to Kennedy’s rant about Bill Gates and 5G. “Despite requests from Mr. Kennedy, Defendants have failed and refused to take down the Defamatory Article.” The problem with this argument is that The Daily Beast and numerous other organizations have extensively documented Querdenken’s extremist affinities and associations. Not only does it indulge in QAnon conspiracies and fawn over Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, but the U.S. State Department has highlighted its “anti-Semitic rhetoric and views,” and a top police official in the German city of Bremen has described it as “a serious threat to public security.”
Click through for details. “DowneastDem,” IMO, is entitled to wear this as a badge of honor. Kennedy’s siblings all (publicly) disagree with his claim not to be or associate with Nazis. (As do I – but I don’t have the standing.)

Food For Thought
I’d save this for a day when TFG is testifying – except that I’m not crazy enough to believe he will ever testify.

Video Thread 9/7/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:03 pm Open Thread, Politics

Sep 072023

Glenn Kirschner – More & more defendants are pointing the finger at Trump, & the flipping WILL begin accelerating

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – September 5, 2023

MSNBC – Trump tells Republicans to impeach Biden or ‘fade into oblivion’

Patrick Fitzgerald – The Donald Called Down To Georgia –

Hungry Cat Went to a Store with a Leaf to Buy Fish, Then the Seller Did Something Unbelievable! (hanky alert)

Beau – Let’s talk about the Treasury report and you….

Video Thread 9/6/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:06 pm Open Thread, Politics

Sep 062023

Glenn is over-simplifying a bit. You don’t have to be 35 to be running. You need to be 35 on Insuguration Day in case you win. If you start running more than a year in advance of the inauguration Day, you could even be 33.
Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump is ALREADY DISQUALIFIED under the 14th Amendment from being president again.

The Lincoln Project – FAFO is right

Farron Balanced – Trump’s Indicted Lawyers Want Speedy Trials To Destroy His Legal Defenses

Patrick Fitzgerald – Over on Truth

“Zorse” Thanks His Rescuer In The Sweetest Way

I couldn’t agree more with Beau. I said the same thing about Boehner – and when it happened, we got Paul Ryan.
Beau – Let’s talk about McConnell and being careful what you wish for….

Video Thread 9/3/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:07 pm Open Thread, Politics

Sep 032023

Glenn Kirschner – Judge orders that Donald Trump’s Georgia state RICO trial will be televised

The Lincoln Project – Electile Dysfunction

The Ring of Fire – Trump’s Legal Team Gets Scolded Before Judge Rules Against Them

Parody Project – Not You, Ron-Ron – A Parody

Woman Finds Stray Mama Cat And Kittens Outside Her Office

Beau – Let’s talk about impeachment in Wisconsin….

Open Thread September 3, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:59 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 032023

Yesterday, the radio opera was Richard Wagner’s “Tannhäuser,” from Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA). The events of the opera have a definite historical date – during the lives of the real people Wolfram von Eschenbach and Walther von der Vogelweide, but it’s far from historical. As it starts, Tannhäuser has been living in the Venusberg (which means “the mount of Venus,” and yes, the double meaning in English also exists in German) where the goddess Venus has been keeping him satisfied for at least months if not years. The “Venusberg music” is supposed to be a bacchanale (orgy), but I certainly don’t think “orgy” when I hear it and I doubt anyone here would. Now, Saint-Saëns bacchamale from “Sanson et Dalila” is hot. Richard Strauss’s “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Salome is wicked hot. The Venusberg music is inspiring and even noble, but not hot. But Wagner’s (IMO very odd) attitudes toward sexuality don’t really come out until later. Anyway, Tannhäuser decodes he wants to go home where there are other minstrels and a girl, Elisabeth, who loves him, and he arrives just on the eve of a big singing contest, in which he is expected to participate. His entry is too erotic for everyone else, and when it comes out he has been in the Venusberg, all heck breaks loose, and Elisabeth’s uncle (the local feudal lord) in particular, but everyone really, demands he travel to Rome and get absolution from the Pope. He goes to Rome, and the Pope tells him that his staff (a piece of pretty old, very dead wood) is as likely to bear green leaves as he is to be forgiven (terrible theology, BTW). He comes back, travelling with a bunch of ordinary Pilgrims, whose chorus is very familiar outside the opera house, as is Wolfram’s song to the Evening Star, which he sings not long before Tannhäuser gets back. Tannhäuser tellsWolfram what the Pope said, Elisabeth dies (the salvation of men through the deaths of women is a very common 19th century romantic trope, it’s not just Wagner, but Wagner kind of did beat it to death), and green leaves burst out of his staff (very glad I never had to build that prop). It really is beautiful musically, which certainly saves the ridiculous (even offensive) story line. Wagner is not known for realism – his one comedy, Die Meistersinger, does actually show people with real feelings and quirks, and if you can get past the magic love potion, so does Tristan und Isolde, but mostly his characters – humans, gods, giants, dwarves, witches, dragons, birds – seem a little off. But one can get carried away by the music in spite of that.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Zip Recruiter – Professional Troll
Quote – As of Aug 25, 2023, the average hourly pay for a Professional Troll in the United States is $67.39 an hour. While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $141.59 and as low as $5.29, the majority of Professional Troll wages currently range between $16.35 (25th percentile) to $129.57 (75th percentile) across the United States. The average pay range for a Professional Troll varies greatly (by as much as $113.22), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.
Click through. It likely wil come up with information on your area. Someone at Democratice Underground found this … and found it scary. I concur.

MSN/Axios – AG Merrick Garland denounces election worker threats as DOJ charges over a dozen people
Quote – The DOJ announced Thursday that two men in two separate cases in Arizona and Georgia had pleaded guilty to threatening election officials in Arizona and Georgia in separate cases, brought by the the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force — which has now brought charges in 14 cases…. “The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute those who target election officials and election workers as part of our broader efforts to safeguard the right to vote and to defend our democracy.”
Click through for a bit more. I’m glad they are taking this seriously, and hope there are not people failng to report for fear nothing – or worse – will be done.

Food For Thought