Feb 192025
 

Yesterday, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reported that a cybersecurity firm with substantial government contracts has hired a lobbyist (TSF affiliated) for “assistance in navigating DOGE.” So much for “honor among thieves” not that most people ever believed that anyway. And speaking of DOGE, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it needs a little more history and a little rant. The word “doge,” pronounced “doje” or occasionally “dozhe.” refers to an official of the late Medieval and early Renaissance (Renascence) times. In Italy, at that time, long before it was (finally re-)united in the 19th century, government was by city-states, and most city states had a Doge, or absolute ruler. The name derives from the Latin word “dux,” which means “leader,” and it also means “leader.” As does “Il Duce” (Mussolini) and “Der Führer” (Hitler). In Russia, Stalin held several titles, one of which was “Great Leader.” Are you seeing a pattern here? Dork Vader may be an idiot, but he is an educated idiot and I’m sure he knows every bit of this, and chose it to taunt us – telling us exactly who he is in a way he thinks we won’t understand. People who think that the acronym DOGE has anything to do with canines are simply not taking is seriously enough. Also yesterday I finally finished freezing my credit with all three bureaus. Experian was the hardest for me because, although they claim they will “text or call” for verification, they will not accept a landline number, so I had to phone them. But that’s done now. Finally, I imagine everyone knows the GOP majority in the House is only 3 votes, and that there are 3 special elections coming up to replace three R’s who accepted executive appointments. Dems are working their derrieres off trying to win all three, and what with buyer’s remorse, we might be able to do so. I am always forgetting the districts, which are FL-01, FL-06, and NY-21. The first one happens in April. Funds are being raised for all three of them here.

In this situation we can hope that the Reich on the left is wrong. He hopes so himself. Unfortunately, it is what it is.

This is the kind of civics that, even if you learn it somewhere between K and 12, unless you go to law school, or become a long-term Federal civil servant, you probably forget it. It’s another link in the chain of checks and balances, all of which affect us all in the long run, directly or indirectly, buy for most of us this one is pretty indirect. Even so, it matters. But it’s not sexy, so I doubt you’ll see much, if anything, in the mainstream media. Joyce Vance explains.

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Jan 262025
 

Yesterday, the radio opers was Verdi’s Aida, which may be the most performed opera which exists. Certainly it is at the Met, which means it’s had more performances than La Boheme or Carmen. This may be the first time in my life – I don’t remember any other – when I have heard the tenor sang his opening aria the way Verdi wanted it sung – the high note ending on a pianissimo floating away. From the time of Caruso (which is pretty close to the beginning of recorded sound), few tenors have been able to resist the temptation to hit it an hold it forte to show off the high note. The soprano, Angel Blue, reminded me of Leontyne Price in the role. The only other I’ve heard who was as good as those two in the role was Latonia Moore.  I believe there is exactly one race of humans and that is homo sapiens, so I don’t believe in radial memory.  But it is interesting that all three of those divas are African American

I think I have all good news today – Well, Belle’s may not be exactly good, but it is funny.

A few days old, but it is good news. Besides the speed of getting this into court, there’s a short preview of other court action to come. I’m also linking to Joyce Vance, who has some additional details on what actually happened in the courtroom.

This happened on Tuesday, but was published Wednesday. I just received the link yesterday from JL. As y’all know, I got a very late start yesterday – and had email left over from Friday -and had not found any other good news yet, so I’m using this. I do subscribe to Huff Post, but not to everything, just the “Fringe.”

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Jan 122025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi. It was the second opera I ever owned on vinyl. It’s also the opera from which a scene got me my A grade in conducting class. It’s notoriously dark, it had trouble with censorship (which was routine when everywhere was governed by an absolute monarch, and they were all terrified of looking bad, even just by proxy, so to speak), and the music is exquisite (and in places heartbreaking.) Noteworthy was the tenor, who is the very first opera singer born in Samoa, in his Met debut. Hearing him, I suspect his delay in singing at the Met may have been due to his being so in demand elsewhere that they just couldn’t get him. But all the principals were impressive. It’s an opera which draws tears, and then they piled on by picking this week for the annual review of people we lost last year. Somehow I missed the deaths of Seiji Ozawa and Lucine Amara (among others.) But it’s Sunday, so I’ll stop here and share an Andy Borowitz take on more current events. And, if anyone is interested, Robert Hubbell has transcribed Judge Merchan’s complete remarks from the sentencing Friday. Not that the Canteloupe Caligula will hear, understand, or care. But he was pretty clear in distinguishing between the public office and the person who holds it.

well, this is something new. I know we have at least a few readers who ar into astronomy, and that light pollution is a problem for anyone who wants to watch the stars, planets, galaxies, etc. I would also warn anyone over 50 that the San Luis Valley is mostly more than 7500 feet above sea level, and if you have any heart or respiratory issues, you should consult your medical team before planning a trip (and it isn’t open yet anyway.) Living at 6500 feet as I do, it would almost certainly not bother me. But it isn’t, sadly, possible to make lenses which would allow me to aee what everyone else sees when they look at the sky, so it would be wasted on me. Still, I’m all for it. And Mosca is a good location. Roughly 15 miles north of Alamosa – a college (excuse me, now a university) town – close enough to get to easily and far enough to provide a good dark sky.  And now I’m off to see Virgil, and will check in when I get home.

It’s telling that the only good news I noticed this week was from Colorado Public Radio (at least this week, CPR is cpr for the soul). And I’m well aware that people close to my age (and many of us are), old enough to remember “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, are going to be very skeptical. I was. But this treatment appears to be working very well for this young man, and the smile on his face in the accompanying photo is evidential. Especially compared to the second photo. I wish him and his family the best.

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Jan 112025
 

Yesterday, my attention was drawn to a story which everyone in Las Vegas, NV, probably is aware of but which seems to be going under the radar (literally as well as figuratively) elsewhere. It probably doesn’t help that the name of the company involved, owned by the Boer MuskRat, sounds like someone’s idea of a joke. But it’s pretty much a given that as a result of this project people will die, not to mention the property damage (less important unless one is the property owner, as the entirw population of Los Angeles County would probably tell you if you asked.)

Also yesterday, Heather Cox Richardson quoted from all the eulogies for Jimmy Carter. If you weren’t able to watch it or listen to it, as I wasn’t, you might find that Carter can be as inspiring in death as he was in life.

Joyce Vance explains why the government’s position on the documents case report is a “heads the people win, tails Trump** loses” kind of thing. Not that we really win overall, but both alternatives she discusses will be unsatisfying to the Tangerine Palpatine. Good.

For anyone with a short memory (probably not needed by y’all, but you might know someone who needs reminding), Wonkette has an article which help to refresh that memory – assuming we can get anyone who needs it to read, or listen. Republicans have no clue what they could be getting themselves (and all of us) into, and that goes double for elected and appointed Republicans who think they are untouchable by virtue of their positions and/or their money. The Nuremburg rallies were eventually followed by the Nuremburg trials and people were hanged. But that didn’t happen without a whole lot of destruction in between the two.

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Jan 062025
 

Yesterday, Joyce Vance‘s “Civil Discourse” addressed Trump**’s potential sentencing, and why it matters. The Readers Digest version is that the judge and the prosecution are looking to history in the future. As the only state which has currently achieved a jury verdict of “guilty” in a criminal case, New York is in a key position to make or break history here, and a;; involved on the right side appear determined to do what they can to make it. But for us non-legal people it’s going to be disappointing. Joyce explains it better then I can, so I hope you’ll at least skim it through.

Heather Cox Richardson on Friday (technically Thursday night, but it reached my inbox at 6 minutes to midnight, which would be after midnight Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii time, and do many people really stay up east of me until 10 or 11pm to read political posts?), after discussing the Presidential Citizens Medals which President Biden awarded Thursday, took a deep dive into what Republicans are saying and doing to distract us from their actual goal of robbing the poor to give to the rich. (I didn’t post this yesterday because this year I will be trying even harder to reserve Sunday for good news. We will be severely needing needing breaks.)

Robert Reich is optimistic here – but not optimistic enough to post on Sunday, And also, there’s all that depressing history to get through first.

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Jan 052025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Les Contes d’Hoffman” (the tales of Hoffman) by Jacques Offenbach, who is best known for having composed the “Cancan.” The Tales of Hoffman was his only serious opera, and it is not without comedy. The most obvious is, I think, the “Doll Song,” in which the soprano plays a mechanical, life sized doll with whom Hoffman has fallen in love. During this aria, the soprano “runs down” twice and the toymaker has to run up behind her and “wind her up.” Literally. Back in the day, I was driving on the Washington DC beltway, and this aria came on the radio, sung by Joan Sutherland. Even without the sight gags, she made it so funny that I had to pull off – I was so distracted with laughter – until it was over. The doll is one of three women with whom Hoffman falls in love and loses – this one because she isn’t real, the second because she dies, and the third because she has stolen his soul – well, that’s pretty un-comic. There is also an “evil genius” who in some way comes between Hoffman and all of the women he falls for. It is filled with catchy tunes, a specialty of Offenbach. If you have ever heard his “barcarolle,” which is a real earworm, this is the opera from which it comes. Also yesterday, I received several emails about Ann Telnaes leaving the Washington Post. I’ll link to Andy Borowitz on this, although Heather Cox Richardson also covered the story. We can hope hat she finds a position worthy of her talent and integrity.

In keeping with my intent to reserve the Sunday Open Thread for good news, here is a story from Colorado Public Radio, about a remarkable man, and the tribute to him which is now being paid.

This from Axios is at best halfway good news. I was hoping something better would come along, but sadly, if it has, I haven’t seen it (and I have been looking.)

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Jan 042025
 

Yesterday, while looking at a petition to the Senate to reject Kash Patel as FBI director, I started thinking of why his photos, and particularly his eyes, unnerve me so much. So I looked up the body language of “wide-eyed stare” and discovered it has three possible interpretations – attraction, fascination, and intimidations. I’ll give you three guesses what his is, and the first two don’t count. Also yesterday, Mike Johnson was reelected Speaker. Form the remarks that have been released, I suspect some Republicans had to superglue their noses to vote for him – just holding the nose wasn’t enough. Not that we didn’t all know they were all mouthbreathers anyway (normally I take exception to that word because severe allergic reactions have caused me to temporarily have to breathe through my mouth or suffer possibly fatal anoxia – but for this it seemed to fit.)

Heather Cox Richardson revisits the year 2000 and the “millennium bug” fears. I lived through it and I expect y’all did too, and it’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years. I still have my “Crash: the millennium bug” stuffie which, if you throw it at something hard, like the floor, makes the sound of shattering glass.) But it’s not just nostalgia – there’s, if you will, a moral: “Crises get a lot of attention, but the quiet work of fixing them gets less. And if that work ends the crisis that got all the attention, the success itself makes people think there was never a crisis to begin with.” And also some actual news.

Robert Reich sums up what our final recourses are for just about everything. You may want to bookmark this one.

(possible rerun, but id so, it’s been a minute)

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Dec 252024
 

Yesterday, I considered starting a crockpot, but decided against it. Instead, I did a little knitting – very little and not really necessary, just a short flurry of mild OCD. But nonetheless satisfying.

I’m not thrilled to be sharing negative news on Christmas – but it won’t hurt to know a little more about the Georgia case, from Harry Litman at Talking Feds.

If you have been wishing for a recipe for a holiday cookie (I say holiday because her family celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, and I’m not sure which tradition this comes from. I suspect Hanukkah but could be wrong), Joyce Vance has you covered. They sound quite decadent. I can figure out a substitute I could use for the flour that I could have, but, although I’ve been collecting information on egg substitutes, I’m not sure about that one. Also, there’s no need to go to the linked article she recommends, since I’ll be using it tomorrow.

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