Open Thread November 5 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 052024
 

Yesterday, I learned that Kamala Harris had appeared on Saturday Night Live’s cold open along with Maya Rudolph. (Yeah, even with the extra hour, I didn’t get through Sunday’s emails on Sunday.) Mitch, sweetie that he is, had sent me a link to the NYTimes article on it, which I did archive, but frankly I don’t much care what the NYTimes has to say about anything any more. So here’s a link to the Cold Open on YouTube. Also yesterday I learned that Quincy Jones died Sunday – and I might not have learned that without subscribibg to The Root’s free enail newsletter, so much has the election sucked the life out of all other news (although in the evening I did hear about it on CPR Classical.)

Heather Cox Richarddson has just returned fro a thirteen month book tour, and is admittedly exhausted. But, while o tour, everywhere she went she was asked the same question – to wit, how she managed to maihtain hope in the face of – well, everything. this is her answer. I’m not adding a tissue alert – I needed one, but I think that’s at least in large part because I’m low on antidepressant just now – and I don’t see this history being taught in red states any time soon. But the history itself is filled with hope.

Joyce Vance’s “The Week Ahead” (also from Sunday evening) may not be as radiantly hopeful as Cox Rixhardson, but it is full if information which should not be missed. What we don’t know about, we cannot defend against. And it’s not all bad. There’s some good news also. (And did you know that chickens can purr? The previous day’s column even had a short video with sound which proves it. I am speechless.)

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Open Thread November 3 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Nov 032024
 

Well, it’s the time of year for the radio operas to be productions from Beijing. This year there are four of them; two are Italian , one is German, and one is a new commission from a Chinese composer (and librettist. Yesterday was the first, “La Sonnambula” by Bellini. This may be the only opera which has a farther-fetched plot than Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” but to make up for it, it at least has a happy ending. Europe in the early 19th century was fascinated by sleepwalking, and medicine was in the stage of starting to look fo causes of and treatments for phenomena which were just beginning to be understood as medical conditions. By 1831, the villagers, who at first have thought the “lady in white” to be a ghost, have learned enough about sleepwalking (actually from the local count, who has been traveling and learning stuff and has just returned home) to know they need to save her first (as she sleepwalks across the framework of the village’s water mill – or across local rooftops, depending on the staging – it could also be the edge of a steep cliff, I suppose) and wake her afterwards, or it would have been a tragedy. A line from her last aria about the flower (of her love) which she did not expect to have faded so soon (having been set up by a rival using her sleepwalking to convince her fiancé that she has been unfaithful) was inscribed on Bellini’s tomb in reference to his having died so young (at 34.) Anyway, the music is gorgeous, as is all of Bellini’s work – there’s a reason he was known as “The Swan of Catania.” This opera was one of many “Bel Canto” operas championed by Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge, and has not fallen out of the repertory since.  Also, I’d like to apologize for being late for Diwali (I didn’t get the email until it was already over.)  Now I’m off to visit Virgil, and will check in in the comments.

Well, the Reich on the left is most assuredly right this time. Not that we needed one, but this is certainly another reason to be voting for Harris-Walz. Lina Khan is doing her job, using but not exceeding her authority, and long may she continue!

This from Crooks and Liars is not as good as it could be – but at least it’s honest and as something to be played at a citizenship ceremony, it beats the holy crap outof “God Bless the USA.” (Not that that is difficult. We actually have had for decades something better than either – the second verse of “This is My Country.” You know, the first verse starts “This is my country, land of my birth,” and the second starts “This is my country, land of my choice.” Both end “This is my country, to have and to hold.”)

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Open Thread October 27 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 272024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was a new one, “The Shining,” by Paul Moravec, whose name is new to me. I never read the book nor saw the movie, but living in Colorado, and especially being married to the grandson of a former caretaker of the Stanley Hotel, on which the hotel in it was based, I did know something about the plot. This opera was based on the book alone, rejecting some concepts introduced by the movie. It was presented by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. I didn’t previously know any of the singers. The opera has it’s own website at operatheshining dot com, and KC Lyric has some photos at their site from this production from March, 2023. One could tell is was a 21st century opera, not by any dissonance (of which there is very little in operas of today anyway), but by the structure. older operas have arias – standout songs, and the older the opra the more repetition in them – separated by sections of more speech-like music which moves the plot (the older the opera, the closer it gets to actual speech.) This opera was structured like a sung play and also included some straight speech. Danny’s part in particular was all spoken. Incidentally, an opera company whose name includes the word “Lyric” is messaging “please understand we are not the Met or La Scala.” But the production values looked pretty good to me, and the voices held up. (Chicago Lyric dropped the “Lyric” sometime in the last 10 years or so, and rightly so, and about time, too.) Also, if you’re still with me, I want to call some attention to the fact that MAGA spreading lies about groups is not limited to immigtants. They are now spreading lies about Benedictine nuns. The sisters are not amused.

This from Crooks and Liars is hardly breaking news. Probably we could also have guessed the names. But it’s good to see it in print in order to be prepared.

It’s Sunday, and we deserve a good news story. This one from the Atlanta Black Star is pretty darned good, and especially for Texas.

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Open Thread October 20 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 202024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Samson” by Jean Philippe Rameau, a composer of the baroque era. I Have see/heard one complete opera by Rameau – a comic one – “Platée” – which is a very funny comedy. I’m not sure I can really honestly say I have heard “Samson” now – the libretto (by Voltaire) is intact (all the versions), but the music has been lost and not yet found (and may never be), so this score was reconstructed from drafts, and from later operas Rameau may have recycled music from this one into. The opera was not heard in Rameau’s lifetime, and in fact has never been performed until this production. The censors of that time would not allow an opera on a “religious” subject and the wealth of non-Bibilical stuff Voltaire concocted would not budge them an inch. And, of course, it was Voltaire, whose opposition to the church was notorious. (now, next wek, the opera will be “The Shining” from the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Who knew?)  Off to see Virgil now – will check in on return.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/judge-chutkans-got-your-weekend-reading
Wonkette shares links to all four volumes (totalling 1889 pages) of the appendices released Friday. They are redacted but mostly the redactions are names. Many are identifiable.

https://19thnews.org/2024/10/latinx-artists-storytellers-border-narratives/
Last Tuesday was the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month – but this story from the 19th wasn’t available until Wednesday so I just held it till now. You know, all these people coming from countries south of us are doing so because our politics, our CIA, enabled terrible leaders to become strong in their own countries and by so doing made life hell for them. Now we are still making life hell for them by keeping them out. I’m sure there is a bad parenting analogy like this – something like bringing a child up to despise him or herself and then as adults locking the child up to prevent him or her from seeking psychiatric care. If you can imagine and phrase it better, please do. At least there are now creative artists doing their best to bring healing and we can be grateful for that.

‘New York Times’ To Cease Publication


This from The Onion is perfect for a Sunday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-election-chaos-detroit-misinformation-rcna174091
This was referred by Talking Points Memo, which also vouches for the quality of the journalism of the two co-authors. i guess I hope it scares you enough but not too much.

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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 October 9 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 092024
 

Yesterday, I posted an article about rhe DHS Inspector General and what a (insert epothet of choice) he is, and mentioned I didn’t know the procedure for firing him. Apparently POGO does, because after the OT posted, I received from them a petition to sign. Here’s the link. Then, last week, Whitney Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, died at the age of 90. Unless you are a huge fan of gospel music, you likely don’t know that Cissy Houston was a great singer in her own right as well as a major inspiration to her daughter. Here’s her story.

I can be blunt when I need to, but I don’t like to need to (even though I personally prefer to hear my news blunt.) I don’t like needing to know about Donald Trump**, but we do. I don’t like what his niece Mary has to say about Trump** and revenge, but we need to know it – we especially, because we on the right side of the divide are all his targets. Steve Schmidt has also written on this topic, and I plan to share his work tomorrow.

This from the Atlanta Black Star – I don’t know whether to be glad that am innocent man won one in Alabama, or outraged at the assault on he rights which had to go to an appellate court at all. I gues I don’t need to decide – no matter how I look at it, it’s both at once.

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Open Thread October 6 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 062024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Madam Butterfly” by Puccini, the first opera I ever saw, when I was 8 years old. Despite the tenor being a jerk, it’s a pretty good first opera for a young person. For one thing, it’s generally gorgeous to look at. No one seems to have thought it a good idea to do it in black and white. For another, like all Puccini operas, it has catchy melodies, and Puccini takes advantage of them, not quite as leimotifs, but to associate with characters, and if nothing else, that helps clarify who is entering or exiting. And it’s a story line which has probably been told as my times, in as many languages, with local detail, as Cinderwlla. And now I’m off to see Virgil. I well as always check in when I get back.

I certainly do not want to praise the Heritage Foundation, so please don’t take it as praise when I say “they’ve thought of everything.” Everything to silence every last vestige of truth, integrity and just plain virtue from not only our goveernment but our entire society. If we lose this election, we will never be able to trust a government employee again. Ever. Not without a revolution.

If you wonder why I am citing this article by Steve Schmidt when it seems so self-evident – stick with it. I will say that, if you don’t know who MSgt Rodrick Edmonds is, hang tight – he will eventually tell you. Anwhen he does you may need a hanky. Also, “revanchist” as an adjective means “seeking revenge.” That was a new word for me, so I thought I’d try to save you a trip to the dictionary.

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Open Thread October 1 2024

 Posted by at 6:04 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Oct 012024
 

Yesterday, a radio program dedicated to American composers featured Robert Russell Bennett. If you think you have never heard again, let me tell you what I have been calling him for almost 50 years now: “the man who wrote Rodgers and Hammerstein.” Seriously, hammerstein wrote the words, which is not a trivial thing, and rodgers wrote the melodies, also not a trivial thing. But bennett did all the prchestrations – yhe harmonies, the non-verbal countermelodies, the instrumentation – wrote out all the parts – and to do that, you must also know how to transpose some parts, because some instruments play in different keys from others. it ain’t easy – and it’s also not all mechanical. To do it, you must be a real musician. And he also found time to compose original works. (There is also a Richard Rodney Bennett, who is no relation – he’s a Brit -who has composed a whole bunch of movie and TV scores and been knighted for them. I have to keep pinching myself to remember they are not related, the names and their talents being so similar.) Does all this qualify as a “Now you know the rest of the story”?

Mary Trump’s morning dispatch addresses CBS’s decision not to fact check on TV in real time. If I am reading her correctly (and if she is reading them correctly) they will fact check in real time in their live blog in social media. But it seems pretty cowardly of them to fear being yelled at by Trump** – even to fear a lawsuit from him which would surely fail. I wanted y’all to know this in advance in order for you to find a more principled source (in fact, I bumped another of her articles to Thursday to make room for this one. And, if you already learned it elsewhere and have prepared, she also includes a meaty section on how finland teaches its citizens to discern propaganda.)  Also, I should say I plan on watching the debate tonight, but am not looking forward to it.

Rasmussen Reports used to have a halfway decent reputation. They were known to have a mild Republican bias, but only about 1.5 point. But then Nate Silver stopped using them, which says something – and now, I guess, they’ve lost any reputation they ever had.

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