Open Thread June 2 2024

 Posted by at 6:02 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 022024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Cinderella (not the Italian “Cenerentola” by Rossini, but the French “Cendrillon” by Massenet, which is much more like the story as we know it, while the Italian one is funnier and played more for laughs.) Massenet is the composer who wrote “Thaïs”, and you have almost certainly heard the “Meditation” from that opera – it’s a solo violin over the orchestra, and so often played it’s almost elevator music now. “Cendrillon” has arias, but none that has been overplayed as a standalone, and is also very listenable, even full length and in French, and this was neither – it was one of the abridged versions the Met does especially for children, usually around New Year’s Day (which this performance was taped on in 2022.)

Just for fun. One for every two counts.

A glimpse of the MAGA universe. But they haven’t thought of everything. No one seems to wonder why, if this were all a setup by Biden, what on earth took him so long? Even if he were in cognitive decline (which I hardly need to say he isn’t), surely (in their world) he would have Machiavellian advisers (which he doesn’t – and apologies, Niccolo) who would have finished the job a couple of years ago.

Several people have put together memes or articles to make the point “This is what ‘Not guilty’ looks like.” Wonkette doesn’t even make that point, being so in awe of the gentleman’s classiness, but I make it, and it’s my favorite in that category.

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Open Thread May 31 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 312024
 
Yesterday, the plumber did come and quickly determined that the problem was the water heater, Sadly, water heaters have become quite pricey. Coincidentally, though, my credit union, which issued the card I use the most, just made me an offer to get a large purchase charged in installments, with no interest on the balance, only on the installments as they are charged, That sounds like something I could do and leave my emergency stash intact, and also not touch my one remaining 401(k). And then, of course – I expect like all of you, I did my best impression of a Happy Dance. GUILTY ON ALL 34 COUNTS!
This one s new – but he also did one earlier on the same subject to the tune of “Evergreen.”  I’ve copied thw link which should start right after the ad (which is where the song starts,  Before the ad, there’s only talking.)
I actually do try to be mindful of others. It’s not so difficult wen they are struggling with something I have struggled with, even when it was long ago. But it’s terribly easy to be absolutely gobsmacked when they are struggling with something I have never experienced and never expect to. Such as this. And the articles earlier this week on trans men.

 

Jamie Raskin writes about possible disqualification of two justices in a New York Tmes op-ed. No paywall, Kind of surprising they printed it.

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Open Thread May 26 2024

 Posted by at 6:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 262024
 

Yesterday’s radio opera was Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del Ouest” (Girl of the Golden West.” It was taped before the pandemic, and it’s one of the operas I streamed during the pandemic, so no surprises, and I was glad to hear it again. Puccini is famous (notorious?) for the pathos of his doomed heroines, and most of his operas certainly fit the pattern. I am sure of only three operas where the heroine doesn’t die (one is iffy, as there are two heroines, and one dies and the other doesn’t.) This is the only one where the heroine can actually look forward to a new ife with her lover. It follows the play closely, including the blood dripping from the ceiling, and the cheating at cards, but leaving out some things because singing takes longer than speaking – her trip to the mission (on which she meets Dick Johnson – and feel free to laugh – everyone does) is not shown, only alluded to. And this summer Tme General manager’s wife will be touring with the Ukrainian Freedom orchestra, including in Kyiv and Lviv. and next year – Moby Dick.

Although today is not Memmorial Day, the National Memorial Day Concert  on PBS airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. most places (but check your local listings( and again at 9:30 pm (immediately after the first airing.)  If you have ever seen one of these concerts, you will likely not want to mss it.

I no longer ger newsletters from Mother Jones, but Talking Points Memo referred this article about RFKJr. David Corn has always been an excellent writer and a real journalist, and I think it’s worth sharing.

Heather Cox Richardson looks at Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP through the lenss of Lincoln’s “House Divided speech, including some background that most people don’t know. If only Republicans had any shame, this would devastate them. It’s a pity they don’t.

RGB version

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Open Thread May 24 2024

 Posted by at 6:12 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 242024
 

Yesterday, I picked up a new Randy Rainbow parody, the first one he has made since “Don’t Arraign on My Parade, which was 9 months ago. (He made an “Interview with Mike Johnson,” but it’s not musical.) This one is called “Forty-Five” and based on “Nine to Five.” Here’s the link.

This is just the introduction of a bill. It doesn’t mean it will pass, with or without amendments. But it is IMO a good, even a great, bill and long overdue. Kudos to Elizabeth Warren.

Well, this is – unfortunately – unusual. A littlr more of it and it would be more than Texas which would see improvement.

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Open Thread May 12 2024

 Posted by at 5:45 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 122024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Madama Butterfly. I assume everyonehas at least heard of it and maybe something from it, even if not the whole thing. Certainly from the song “Poor Butterfly” all the way to “M(onsieur) Butterfly on broadway, creative artists have assumed that everyone knows the story (which is probably as old as humanity, though the odlest i can trace it to is “Madame Chrysantheme” by Pierre Loti, which itself inspired the opera “Lakmé,” set in india with an English cad, whereas of course Butterfly is set in Japan with an American cad. It’s always beautiful to listen to, and always makes everyone cry, which “Lakmé” doesn’t necessarily/ I’m pretty sure that’s because somewhere between Loti and Puccini the detail got added of her having birthed a child in his absence, and that really ups the stakes. It also makes the opera more difficult to produce, but everyone stages it anyway. Totally unrelated, but May 12, today, always reminds me of my (very) long ago youth. In my last year of high school and my first couple of years of college I enjoyed playing bridge, and preferred the high school club even after graduation because the college one was duplicate bridge, and very, very serious. You know kids that age – we all thought we were clever. We had nicknames for certain kinds of tricks, such as one where all the cards were honor cards was called a “Summit Conference.” A trick where three cards were honor cards and one not was called a “May 12th, because, on May 12, 1960, Khrushchev had walked out on a summit conference – and that was such a short time before it was practically still news.

Well, this is interesting. Sure too bad this didn’t come out earlier.

There’s a whole lot of information here, and some, but not all, of the snippets which follow the longer first section have some relevance to that section.

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Open Thread May 5, 2024

 Posted by at 6:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 052024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera, “El Niño,” by John Adams, was originally an oratorio. But the Met decided it deserved a fully staged production it is of course the Christmas story. It premiered in December of 2000 in Paris. Some of the libretto is in English, some in Spanish, and even some in Latin, and Adams draws heavily on folk and other traditional carols. The angel Gabriel is sung by a trio of counter-tenors (fortunately for Adams they are getting easier and easier to find.) It’s very listenable (of course I have heard a lot of Adams’s work, some many times, so I don’t know how it would strike someone who doesn’t listen to any composer newer than Debussy.) Also, I learned that “Meet The Press” today features an interview with Cindy McCain, not a John’s widow, but as the head of the UN World Food Program. She speaks about the famine in Gaza. Sight unseen, I recommend it for anyone interested in that conflict.

I am not trying to beat this to death. But what is now going on is in some ways very much like how we got Nixon in 1968 (ans then in 1970 we got Kent State.) In other ways it is very much like how we got Trump** in 2016. And I don’t have to tell you what happened after that. I don’t know that all those who are protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza are honest protesters with moral reasons – I suspect not, exactly because of the violence – but I do know those who see it as a moral issue are making false assumptions and drawing erroneous conclusions. Robert Hubbell says this better than I could. Heather Cox Richardson also addresses the protests and how Republicans are using them to hurt Biden in the short run and destroy higher education in the long run.

On the lighter side, the Daily Beast has an article about warrior princesses in real life (and yes, they do mention Queen Elizabeth II’ service during World War II.)

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Open Thread May 1, 2024

 Posted by at 6:21 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 012024
 

On Monday, Steve Schmidt’s two related articles got me thinking about the church during my lifetime, in which time there have been 7 popes: Pius XII, John XXIII (the one under whom I became a Catholic), Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and now Francis. Of them, only two IMO were any good: John and Francis (I think John Paul I might have been, but he only lived 30 days after election, so it’s not easy to tell.) “Catholic” is Greek for “universal” or, as we now say, “big tent,” and the bigger the tent, the more likely there will be rogues in it. That’s just a fact. But that’s one of the things the papacy is for – to correct the rogues. Not as was done for so long, by burning them alive, but through counseling. And if that doesn’t work – well, that’s what excomminication is for. Not every Catholic agrees with me on that, and that’s fine – a big tent is supposed to be big. It’s just how I feel, and it may be because I’m more aware of the dangers of – shall we say, allowing poisonous serpents around the house. And stories like this one – well, I’m sure y’all can see where I’m coming from.

Steve Schmidt is pissed, and so am I.  He posted two articles on this, one with more background, the other with more details on this assault.  Grrrr.

I can only hope this “Founders Sing” video (NSFW) about Don Snorleone (AKA the Nodfather) will alleviate some of the sting from the first article.

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Open Thread April 14, 2024

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 142024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss Jr (“The Waltz King”). This and “The Merry Widow” bY Lehar are the only two operettas I can think of which are sometimes done by regular opera companies. Both can be described as “zany.” Of course so can Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas – and, really, most operettas of the period. People have always enjoyed far-fetched humor. “Fledermaus” means “Bat,” and the premise is that, a year before the operetta, the lead tenor and the baritone went to a an event together, something between a party, a costume ball, and an orgy, and both got drunk. The baritone, who dressed as a bat, passed out, and the tenor (dressed as a butterfly) left him in a public park to sober up, and he woke to crowds pointing and laughing. This year, he wants revenge – and he gets it. And everyone except the tenor gets amusement and laughs at the tenors expense. When I was working as a volunteer costumer for my local college’s music department (before I got hired and paid by the theatre department), this was one of the shows I dressed. That was even longer ago than when the recording was made which they used yesterday to celebrate the operetta’s 150th anniversary (it premiered in April, 1876.) Also, I heard from Pat, who said her doctor’s apointment went well, and she is greatly relieved.

This is neither political, medical, financial, or helpful in any other way. It’s just interesting in that it reveals issues in the way we think about time (and probably other things as well.)

Many sources are discussing the decision by the Arizona Supreme Court that an abortion law from 1864 can stand. Much of the coverage includes lurid detail about the life and actions of the author of the law, which may be interesting, but really isn’t germane to the merits (and demerits, which outnumber the merits) of the law itself. This (gift-linked) article from the Washington Post doesn’t go there, instead concentrating on the effect of the ruling on the 2024 general election, both statewide and nationwide, and the reactions of Arizonans both in and out of politics.

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