Open Thread January 15, 2023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Fedora” by Umberto Giordano. It’s his second-best-known opera, the best-known one being “Andrea Chenier,” set during the French Revolution. “Fedora, based on a play by Sardou (right up there with Victor Hugo and David Belasco as an operatic inspiration) set in Russia in the 1880s, a time and place when the local political bogeyman was “Nihilism.” Fedora is a Russian noblewoman whose feance is killed on the eve of their wedding. After the arrival of the police and on-stage questioning of the servants, she comes to the conclusion that Count Ipanov did it – he was a nihilist sympathizer and her fiance a trarist. Learning Ipanov has gone to Paris, she decides to go there and attempt to seduce him to get a confession. Well, she gets a particl confesion, and invites him to come to her room and tell her the whole story. While awaiting him, she writes and posts a “come-and-get-him” letter to the police in Russia. When he arrives, he tells her that her fiance and his wife were having an affair, and that he caught them in flagrante and killed him (and he shot first). Between this news and the fact that Ipanov is basically a decent guy, she falls in love with him. But it’s too late – the letter is already gone. Eventually she has to confess that the “Russian woman” whose information sicced the cops on him is she – whereupon she takes poison and dis. It’s a “diva vehicle” which has been championed by Maria Callas and Mirella Freni, among others. An influential singer certainly can use her or his influence to get an opera performed which has been overlooked, but ultimately it’s the operagoers who decide whether any opera, new or revived, will make it into standard repertory. After those two strong attempts in the 20th century I’m not expecting this one in the 21st century to succeed, but I could be wrong – it’s a very strong cast. The Met audience is changing, if the choices each season are any indication. It’s becoming moch more interested in new operas, and much more open to the work of black composers, and to women conductors. There are still many who are older and fond of the old standard rep, which definitely shows up when there is voting on what old recording should be played on the “Listeners Choice” weekend. But that audience is dying off, and in any case, I suspect there are more than one would expect who, like me, are very open to the new stuff. Maybe if I live long enough a star tenor will come along who believes in “The Great Gatsby” by John Harbison, and I can hear it once more. Or a star baritone who believes in “An American Tragedy” by Tobias Picker, and I can hear it for the first tiem – since the mamager of the local radio station when it was a matinee was too cowardly to air it when it was broadcast.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

PolitiZoom – Closest Trump Allies Assert Biden was Set Up in Docs Case – Why?
Quote – Little did I know as I wrote yesterday that two of Trump’s closest allies in the public sphere, blowhard Sean Hannityjob and failed Surgeon General aspirant Adm. Ronny Jackson would take to the airwaves and do precisely what I decided to do not – circulate conspiracy theories about the placement and uncovering of the classified documents in question…. Now why, when the simple facts, as known, in the case are already so damaging to the President, would two of his biggest and most ardent supporters take to the airways to suggest in any way that Biden was not responsible for the security breech?
Click through for story. I admit it occurred to me, and, based on Lona’s comment on Thursday’s video thread, it appears to have occurred to her. Of course the idea that the setup could have been done by Democrats is pure projection. You might, if you looked really hard, find a Democrat or two who might contemplate it, but it would not be anyone in leadership, and the leadership would not permit it even if someone had the temerity to suggest it. Do they know that it was done, done by them, and are they pre-emptively trying to look innocent?

HuffPost – Here’s The Real Agenda Behind The Republican Debt Ceiling Threats
Quote – As McCarthy explained it, “one of the greatest threats we have to this nation is our debt,” noting that the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product ― a widely used metric for measuring the federal government’s debt levels ― had not been this high since World War II…. It’s absolutely true that the debt-to-GDP ratio hasn’t been this high since World War II (or at any other time in U.S. history). But it was so high back then because the U.S. faced a once-in-a-lifetime crisis that required a massive, sudden, one-time burst of spending. That’s precisely what just happened because of COVID-19, and why deficits (which lead to debt) suddenly spiked.
Click through for details. McCarthy is being extremely disingenuous (which is the polite way to say “attempting deliberate fraud.”)

Food For Thought