Oct 052024
 

Yesterday, I discovered Brave New Films has released its newest documentary – about the E. Jean Carroll case (They have quite a catalog – the earliest one I remeber them putting out was exposing the Koch Brothers, u they also did one with Ed Asner playing the Fox-owned grandfather. That’s just what I remember. there are lots more.) Also, Robert Reich posted the newest video/article in his current series.

This is not election news, but it is equally disgusting. Since the article is in a local paper, it’s not that specific to where this is happening, but Wonkette, who referred me to it, identifies the district as being in Yotk County, PA. Since we are in the overlap of Hispanic Heritage Month and LGBTQ’s month, I thought I’d share this even without any Hispanic link. My response to this would be a lot of every-thing-proof black paint on the inside (along with protesting.)

Heather Cox Richardson‘s column from Thirsday nigh started me thinking. I am not thrilled by our two party system, yet I fear the formation of a third party because in my lifetime I have seen too many spoiler candidates negatively affect our government. But what if we had four parties, and each one stood for one quadrant of the political compass? I think potential leadership actually exists – Kamala Harris is clearly a strong leader in the lower left quadrant. Jill Stein appears to represent the upper left, and Liz Cheney (along with Adam Kinzinger and Michael Luttig, and likely a lot more who have not spoken out) is clearly in the lower right quadrant. I can think of far too many “leaders” who are solidly in the upper right quadrant, and I expect so can you, and though I would love to make a statrmrnt by alluding to a woman here, I can’t think of one who would actually have that party’s support (Sarah Huckabee Sanders may be the closest.) I doubt whether any one of the four would have a majority without forming a coalition of some kind. It might be fun to speculate who would form a coalition with whom and on what grounds. And it would be much easier to setermine where any given candidate “really” stands. It certinly couldn’t happen in my lifetime. But maybe some day (aessuming we don’t lose the 2024 election.)

Joyce Vance finished and posted here analysis of Jack Smith’s superseding indictment and I, at least, am not disapponted. I hope you’ll think it was worth waiting a day for also. It clarifies the hoops he had to jump through as well as how he did it. When – not if – this comes to the Supreme Court, ALito and Thomas should, of course recuse, but won’t, and can’t be forced to. Although if we get a majority in both the House and the Senate, we may be able to tell them “recuse or be impeached.” If we could get rid ofjust those two, I’d be a happy camper. We’d have a 5-4 majority, and Gorsuch respects tribal law (most Republicans and even some Democrats don’t), and Barrett is a nebbish.

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Sep 222024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot.” It’s one of the most performed operas in the repertory, so I’ve almost certainly described it before. People who don’t care for opera often cite their feeling that it presents stories so improbable that it makes no sense. On this one they have a point, except that it’s supposed to be a fairy tale, so it’s not supposed to make much sense, if any. It does sweep the listeners and viewers along emotionally with great success, and maybe it’s better to just accept that and not try to make sense of it. Anyay, also yesterday, Steve Schmidt wrote a powerful piece about Ohio. I’ll just link to it, and you can see it for yourselves. Well, off to see Virgil now, and will report my safe return when I’m back, as always.

Heather Cox Richardson starts with (the disgusting) Mark Robinson, but soon swings in to the history of the two-party system, why the founders hated it, why they ended up with it anyway. Reminds me of the quote “Democracy is the worst possible system of government – except for all the other systems.”

This is certainly not news, although the way the word “Patriotism” was defined in 1774 and thereabouts would certainly be news to a lot of Americans today who think they are patriots. I hope on a Sunday you’ll have more leisure to digest it.

Cartoons by Tom the Dancing Bug are generally too large for me to just put them into a post here and still have them legible, and this one is no exception. Sometimes I can reorganize the panels and make it work, but time is tight just now, and I didn’t want to wait with this one. If the last line of the last panel doesn’t have an impact on you, you might want to check your pulse.

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