Yesterday, it was quiet enough. I had sent Nameless a quick email the night before congratulating KC in the SuperBowl win, and he responded with a video of fans celebrating at the Electric Company, with plumes of steam (I guess it was) blowing. And when that video ended is showed so many links t animal videos I didn’t have that I wasted an hour or two looking them all up and keeping a record of most of them. OK, that wasnt really a waste.
UNC, which is in Greeley, I presume has a fine medical school, but it’s the veterinary school which has a national reputation. I’m glad it’s being included. I also hope a bunch of the MDs will be OBGs – Republicans have greatly multiplied the patient base for that specialty.
I liked the lead article in this newsletter (the first three titled paragraphs) because it makes no excuses for the stupid – stupid, after all, is stupid. And it reveals the game and gives us alittle something to throw back.
Yesterday, Trinette came over again, to run the car, bring in mail, and take out recyclables (I didn’t have enough trash to make that worth while.) She says “Hi back, especially to Nameless.
This is late news, but as Susie Madrak points out, you wouldn’t know it, from the coverage it didn’t get. And it’s game-changing – if only it can gain traction.
Yesterday, I got to thinking about “The City at the Edge of Forever – Episode 29 of Season I of the original Star Trek, it first aired in the spring of 1967. It made a deep impression on me. Just the thought of having to make a decision like that gave (and still gives) me the heebie-jeebies. But there is also trmendous relief associated with realizing one does not personally required to make that decision. Except that we are. Any election (not just Presidential) in which there is a spoiler candidate requires every eligible voter to make exactly that decision, and do it without the benefit of an omniscient entity who can show us exactly what the future will be on both sides of that decision. I can still hear in my mind the dialogue (Kirk) “But she was right!” (Spock) “Yes, she was. But she was right at the wrong time.” ooking back 57 years, I probably don’t have the exact words. But the meaning is exact. If you want to view it, it can be streamed free (but with ads) here, [You may need to turn on the sound and tell it to restart] or paid at Paramount Plus (you mught be able to get it on free trial) or Apple TV if you use either of those. If you just want to refresh your memory of the plot, Wikipedia is the place – and thrown in you get production history, information on all kinds of production disagreements, history of the music used, and a whole lot more, if you want it. And yes, I deliberately put together this and today’s cartoon.
Not only did the GOP (in the House) kill the National Security bill this week, but the GOP (all of them, even non-elected ones) are working overtime to make sure that security spending stays higher than is manageable. They yell at us for “Tax and spend,” but to me spending money you don’t have, and don’t have any idea how to get, is far more irresponsible.
At least something good happened (besides the Appeals Court verdict)- “The Post-Conviction Justice Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office moved to exonerate the two men after an investigation with defense counsel found the teenage witnesses who testified at trial had been treated as suspects.” No, they haven’t been locked up since 1987, thank God- they were released, one in 2007 and one in 2011, but that’s still way to long, and until now, they didn’t have a citizen’s full rights. And they’re far more gracious about it than I would be.
Yesterday, Trinette came by (and yes, Nameless, I told her “Hi” from you). She brought in the mail and packages and took out the trash and recyclables. She also started the car (i had been worrying about that) and ran it for a while, then took it out to get filled with gas (which reminds me of a very silly penguin joke).
It was a slow day for email, and there wasn’t much on Black History that I could find. I was attracted to an article in The Root, which was also cited on MSN but not reproduced in full. I’ll share The Root’s link, and hope at least some of you can see it. Its premise was that, while we normally celebrate people and events with praise for the heroes, we maybe should not forget the villains who made the journey harder than it needed to be. I’m old enough to remember George Wallace (shown in the lead photo) and something of Bull Connor, and more recently David Duke and possibly so are some of y’all. I agree with the premise – I think that attempting to change the minds of bigots by convincing them that whoever they love to hate as a group are in no way lesser than they are is non-productive, even counter productive – because on some level they know that, and it scares them more than anything.
Robert Reich turned his Substack over to a guest writer. The title of the column is How to understand the politics of Israel and Palestine? (Query his.) I hope anyone who thinks there is only one side in the current conflict will give it a chance.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” by Anthony Davis. Most of us probably remember Malcolm X, if not in great detail. The important parts of his life were not published at the tiem, and after his death mostly in books, which fewer people read than read newspapers or the equivalent. At that time there were some real journalists, and I can’t help wondering what they would have come up with for public consumption at the time if only black people had been considered to have any importance. I don’t expect we’ll ever know. There was, as Lona predicted, a choke-up moment – according to the opera Malcolm’s last words were “As-Salamu Alaikum” – peace be upon you – and then the gunfire. Those who were closest to him at the time don’t agree, but the variants they remember, although in English, are actually pretty close. Musically – well, I’ve said for years the man can write music, and I stand by that. I was reminded a little of Lin Manuel Miranda discussing how he determined in what style to write all the Hamilton characters’ music – partly by their ages. “X” covers several decades, and Davis nods to that specifically in the jazz styles. In a different way, it struck me that three operas I have heard which were writtin by black composers about black people have all included a boy soprano to play the protagonist as a child. I don’t recall any other opera depicting that, and I have to wonder why not.
Also yesterday, I saw Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letter from an American” from Friday, since it came, as always, late in the day. I got a feeling of deja vu, and quickly realized it was because it was the same information Beau provided in the video in February 3’s Open Thread – except that Heather’s letter was in National-Security-speak whereas Beau’s was in Beau-speak. Still, it was cool to revisit the same story in different words.
I subscribe to newsletters from both the Atlanta Black Star and The Root – not just for Black History Month, but all the time, because it helps keep me on track with the perspective. For some reason, every time I attempt to load a full article at The Root, the screen goes white after a short time (I know, I know, past time for an upgrade. But it will have to wait until I am ready.) It’s long enough for me to get inough detail to search for the story elsewhere, and this time it was long enough to tell me that MSN had reprinted the story – for which I was most grateful. It helps to clarify the difference between money and votes. Yes, they go together, sort of – but they are not each other, and the one is not necessarily a predictor of the other. And the one will not win elections. But the other one will. Jaime Harrison is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and I believe his opinions are worth a listen. And I deeply believe we need to show more love than we are currently showing to black Democrats. Especially now, going into an election which we cannot win without them.
Yesterday,it was pretty quiet again, though there was a grocery delivery. I may be getting the hang of how to ask for help getting them in the house, or I may just have been lucky in who was assigned, but either way, it went smoothly.
VoteVets is up in arms, almost literally (quite literally if you can count words and images as weapons of war.) Yes, the link I’m providing is to a donation page, but at least at this page you can watch it without YouTube ads popping up. If you’re not aware of the kerfuffle from MAGA after they released their previous ad, this one may make you furious.
I don’t know how well I’ll be able to keep up with black history this month, but I don’t think I could have passed this up in any month. It’s good, very good, to see the “backbone of the party” receiving some the recognition which it so richly deserves.
Yesterday, I slept late, wnt to bed early-ish, and accomplished very little in between. I can’t say I feel bad about it – it was clearly needed – but I was finding it difficult to describe it. I guess this is as good as anything. Now, tomorrow – on the 31st – I will load all the contining logos and images that we use. I was in no shape to do it on December 31, but on January 31st, I’ll have no need to stay up late to do it. And I won’t have as many as I did a year ago either.
While this is good news, it is also too little, too late. Between the systemically excluding black jurors (from the jury pool – they never made it to voir dire) to the truly outrageous use of a blind man as an eyewitness, this case should have been laughed out of court before it started.
Another gift from my cousin. The Post calls this an opinion piece – but I see very little opinion accompanied by a lot of history and Constitution (which might actually be a good rule for opinion pieces in general, mightn’t it.)
Yesterday, I got up somewhat earlier than I had been doing… which means I also got sleep earlier than I had been doing. But I did accomplish this. And we shall see whether this attempt to change the shape of my day works or not (i expect it will through opera day, and not much if any after.)
OK, this isn’t really news – it’s a recap and overview of the House Dems campaign to make the House Oversight Committee look like a multiple of The Three stooges. Not that that’s difficult, but I don’t know that we have ever seen such a coordinated effort from elected Dems before – and guess who is masterminding it. Three cheers!
Now this really is news, and about GD time too. My link is to Democratic Underground, but this DUer got it from Reuters, so in case you want more detail, that’s where to go.
