Feb 072024
 

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.

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Feb 022024
 

Yesterday – well, actually all this week I have been sleeping later than usual. I’m pretty cool with that, except that I don’t want to do it Saturday – the radio opera will be Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. It premiered in 1986… so it’s about time it came to the Met. Two of his four other operas have been “The Central Park Five,” for which he won a Pulitzer (but which I have not heard) and “Amistad,” which I have heard, on the radio, from Chicago Lyric Opera, and which choked me up. That must be almost 20 years ago – or more – , since I attempted to capture it on cassette tape, and only partially succeeded. Do I need to say that this Anthony Davis does not play pro basketball? So if you wasnt to learn more, be sure to Google (or Duck Duck Go) “Anthony Davis composer.”

Robert Reich has posted an article which is, or ought to be, pretty scary. How do you even prepare for something like that?And we know there are a lot of people who would gladly go along with it. We need our best legal minds to start getting on it right now (yesterday would be even better.)

Joyce Vance explains the border “crisis” as well as possible. But it’s hard to explain why states like Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Ohio are so worried. We don’t actually have a problem with illegals from Canada – do we? (By the way the answer to that first question is “No.” If you secede, you lose your citizenship. It’s not like someone who moves to another country but retains US citizenship.


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Jan 172024
 

Yesterday, we received some unsurprising results from the Iowa Republican caucus (which they held on MLK Day, I presume because they don’t recognize it.) Of course the weather was not suchas to encourage participation … but those who think making Election Day a federal holiday will solve all ourtuenout problems might want to rethink that. Otherwise, the news today has for some reason given me this song (introduced by the Kingston Trio) as an earworm:

They’re rioting in Africa, they’re starving in Spain.
There’s hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don’t like anybody very much!

Now here’s something to save and share. Blue Voters Guide is a non-profit which analyzes elections all over the country for you, so that if there’s some candidate you haven’t heard of – or for your friends who are wellintentioned but don’t follow politics – you will always be able to find out who is blue. 41 states have primaries scheduled between now and about June. Right now the guide for Colorado’s March 5 Presidential primary is pretty simple – though you’d be amazed by the length of the list of rag-tag nobodies who are running against Joe Biden. But later in the year we’ll have primaries for candidates for the House of Representatives and possibly for the Colorado House and the Colorado Senate, and who knows what. It probably won’t cover school board elections, which is IMO what we need the most at this time, but with enough support, it might be able to get there. In any case, I’m sure we all know someone (or someones) who could benefit from it. This information is courtesy of Robert Hubbell on Substack, whom I occasionally quote.

Joyce Vance’s “tomorrow” is now “today.” So it’s happening now. And it’s important enough that Robert Reich also addresses it, possibly even more starkly. So I’m providing both links, you can read or skim one or both. I expect eveeryone here can put their mind back to the days when we had rivers burning – and lakes full of dead fish – and that just scratches the surface. I don’t know whether this is accurate, but someone in a comment over at Crooks & Liars said that ancient Sumeria lasted for 3000 years. From the beginning, they had a legal system which protected the poor and weak and there were strict legal punishments for breaking those laws. But, every 300 years or so, the laws had been strayed from, but they had a king who brought the country into line with “the old laws.” We will be celebrating 250 years in just two years. (If it were up to me I would date our existence as a country from April 30, 1789, when George Washington took office and set the Constitution in motion, but no one asked me. And maybe I’m being unfair to the Articles fof Confederation which were the stopgap – but I don’t think so.)

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Dec 272023
 

I’m afraid I really am not feeling good today.  I could use one of those ginger mints Ruby gave Shaye – I hear both ingredients are good for nausea.  But I just got an emal I had to pass on – Alexander Vindman’s twin is running for Congress in Virginia, and pairing up with Adam Schiff for fundraising.  I personally have not given anything to the California Senate race because I don’t want to diss Katie OR Adam OR Barbara – it’s not even that they are all the same, because they aren’t – they are all distinct and each would be a fantastic Senator in diferent ways.   But I’ll quote from the email from Alexander including the link.

I’m writing to ask you to split a $10 contribution today between my brother Eugene Vindman’s campaign for Virginia’s 7th congressional district and Adam Schiff’s campaign for Senate.

Please let me explain why:

In 2019, in my role on the National Security Council, I witnessed a telephone call between then-President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump pressured Zelensky to launch a political investigation of Joe Biden as a quid pro quo to continue receiving United States military aid. I was shocked.

I alerted my brother Eugene who served as the NSC’s ethics attorney. We immediately informed our superiors and I eventually testified before a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee, on which Rep. Adam Schiff served as chair.

He led a thorough, honest investigation and eventually secured the first bipartisan vote in a Senate impeachment trial to convict a U.S. president in the history of our country. Each in our own ways, we exposed Trump’s abuse of power to the American public.

It was the right thing to do, Joanne — but we all paid the price.

Then-President Trump retaliated swiftly and fired Eugene and me from the White House, ultimately ending our decades of military service.

And Trump, the Republican Party, and the right-wing media have spent every day since seeking to take down Adam Schiff, censuring him on a partisan vote and even trying to remove him from Congress — simply for championing the rule of law.

That’s why it’s up to us to have Eugene and Adam’s backs. Because they will always have our backs in the fight for our democracy and stand up for the integrity of our Constitution like they have for years.

Just look at January 6th and the ongoing attacks on fair elections. Look at Republican attempts to strip the fundamental right to vote. Look at Trump’s plans to purge the government if he wins again.

It’s more important than ever that we have staunch voices in defense of democracy in the House and Senate. Those voices are Eugene Vindman and Adam Schiff.

So please, split a contribution of $10 or whatever you can afford today between Eugene’s campaign for Virginia’s 7th district and Adam’s campaign for Senate. Every dollar makes a difference as we approach the end-of-year FEC fundraising deadline.

Here’s one to show the anti-immigration people (not that they’ll understand it) –

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Aug 302023
 

Glenn Kirschner – Judge Chutkan sets speedy trial – March 2024 – in Trump’s trial for trying to overturn 2020 election

Thom Hartmann – GOP’s Bizarre Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory Targets…Beyonce?!

The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party – August 29, 2023

Liberal Redneck – The battle for White votes in the South

Mangey Street Puppy Completely Transforms

Beau – Let’s talk about FEMA, Hawaii, and hotels….

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Aug 132023
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Sonnambula,” by Vincenzo Bellini. Bellini, along with Donizetti was at the top of composers working in the bel canto style, and this is an opera full of beautiful ornaments, and beloved by both Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland – both of whom had ranges which included solid low ranges, which is the kind of singer for whom the star role was written (when it’s sung by those who basically just sing soprano, some of the low notes are adjusted a bit.) I’m not familiar with the soprano in this production, which was recorded in Liège, Belgium; the only name I recognize is that of René Barbera, whom I heard in Santa Fe years ago – maybe as many as ten years ago. The story is easier to wrap your head around if you can get into the frame of mind at the time – sleepwalking? What’s that? The plot turns on the heroine sleepwalking into and collapsing in the hotel room of a man not her fiancé, being found there by her fiancé’s jealous ex-fiamcée, and almost losing him as a result. But it does end happily. A phrase from this opera is the epitaph of Bellini, who died young: “Oh, lovely flower, I did not think that you would fade so fast” (but in Italian.) Off to see Virgil now, will let y’all know when I get back.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

SPLC – Florida sets up formerly incarcerated people to vote, then arrests them
Quote – [John Boyd Rivers] was among 41 formerly incarcerated people, also known as returning citizens, who were arrested in 2022 and 2023 for voter fraud in Florida following the 2020 election. Nearly half took plea deals, fearful of facing the unknown of a jury trial and guilty verdict. To date, only Rivers and one other have been tried in court. He drew a split verdict: not guilty of knowingly registering to vote while ineligible but guilty of willful, fraudulent voting.
Click through for story. Administrative incompetence is one thing. A deliberate set-up is quite another. As always, the cruelty is the point.

Robert Reich – Donald Trump, Samuel Bankman-Fried, and the rule of law
Quote – A prominent billionaire is arrested on criminal charges. At his arraignment, the presiding judge releases him pending trial on condition he not to try to influence potential witnesses and orders him not to speak with the media about the pending trial. He repeatedly violates the order. Eventually, the judge has had enough. He revokes bail and orders him jailed pending trial. I’m not referring to Donald J. Trump…. No, the person I’m referring to is Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried — whose wealth had soared to $28 billion before the collapse — had been under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California since his arrest in December on fraud charges stemming from FTX’s implosion.
Click through for full article. Yes, I realize if Trump** is put into pre-trial detention, there will likely be some violence. And I’m in favor of preparing for that as much as necessary to minimize the damage. I’m not in favor of just letting it go. Letting it go would be neither just nor prudent.

Food For Thought

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Aug 112023
 

Yesterday, (OK, actually the day before but I didn’t get the email from Joyce Vance until after midnight) Trump** advised the court that he wanted his very own SCIF built at Mar-a-Lago. He claimed it would be cheaper than his (and his SS) travel expenses to and fro (it wouldn’t.) But the main reason, IMO, is that if there were a SCIF on his property, he would think that gave him the right to keep any and all classified documents tht he touched. (Building it would also delay the proceedings indefinitely.) For a guy who has no balls when it comes to courage, he has balls the size of church bells when it comes to arrogance. Also yesterday (really) I took in a grocery order which contained everythingI had ordered – but cost $25 less than predicted the previous night when I placed it. I’m still a little confused, but I’ll take it. The thing that made me the happiest was – let me backtrack a little – this spring they came out with a new flavor of unsweetened seltzer in their house brand which I really, really like. Apparently so did everyone else, since for about three months I haven’t been able to order it – it’s been labeled “pickup only.” Finally this week it was available for delivery, but with a noet, “low inventory.” I ordered 2 12-packs, hoping to get one anyway, and received both. It’s called “blackberry citrus,” and it really does taste like that, only not sweet. Yum.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Here’s an “Oregon leads the way” story.
AP News – Post-GOP walkout, Oregon elections chief says lawmakers with 10 or more absences can’t run next term
Quote – Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade made the announcement in a news release to clear up confusion over how reelection rules would affect those senators. Under Measure 113, which was approved by voters in 2022, lawmakers with more than 10 unexcused absences were supposed to be disqualified from being reelected for the following term. But some Republicans raised questions over the measure’s vague wording, sparking confusion over what the consequences of the walkout would be for boycotting senators. “My decision honors the voters’ intent by enforcing the measure the way it was commonly understood when Oregonians added it to our state constitution,” Griffin-Valade said.
Click through for story. Now that’s the kind of Secretary of State I want (and at this point have, though that hasn’t always been so.) There are some very spunky SoSes out there, mostly women.

Colorado Public Radio – ‘Hank the Tank,’ the California bear behind 21 home invasions, has been moved to Colorado
Quote – Tweet from Governor Jared Polis: “Today, wildlife biologists for the @CaliforniaDFW captured a large female black bear, who will be transferred to @animalsanctuary upon a one-time permission from @COParksWildlife and @coagriculture1. We welcome “Hank the Tank” (turned out to be Henrietta the Tank) to Colorado!”
Click through for more details. While in the service, I worked with a Master Sergeant named Henrietta, and she preferred to be called Hank, so I’m very comfortable with “Hank the Tank” being female. (P.S. I also love my governor.)

Food For Thought

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Aug 042023
 

Glenn Kirschner – The 3 most incriminating witnesses in new Trump indictment? Meadows, Pence and …. Trump himself!

The Lincoln Project – Unintelligent Life

MSNBC – ‘Fearless’: The judge Trump will face in Jan. 6 criminal coup trial

The Ring of Fire – Biden’s Biggest Election Threat Isn’t Trump It Is Voters Not Showing Up

Great Dane Finds a New Grandma On Hiking Trail

Beau – Let’s talk about Biden, complaints, and jobs….

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