Open Thread August 27, 2023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” (The coronation of Poppaea) by Claudio Monteverdi, who is considered to have invented what we recognize as opera. His first operas were based on Greek/Roman mythology, but this was the last one he wrote, and was about historical figures (although the characters given to them are nor exactly historical. Not that history, certainly at this period, is all that reliable. Ancient historians were like the Fox News of their day. A lot of it was just flat made up, and sometimes with an ulterior motive. Nero never fiddled while Rome burned {he wasn’t even there} and he didn’t attempt matricide with a collapsing boat, because it’s impossible for a boat of the the type which was supposedly used to be made to collapse the way it supposedly did. Of course none of that means that he had no flaws, or even that he never tried to eliminate his mother – but he didn’t do either of those things as described. Just as Marie Antoinette never said “Let them eat cake.” OK, end of rant.) Nero seems really to have had an affair with Poppaea, to have divorced and exiled his wife at the time in order to marry her, and to have ordered the suicide of Seneca, for whatever reason. The plot is essentially set up to lead into Nero’s and Poppaea’s final rapturous love duet, which is somewhat repetitive, but – as anyone who has ever been in love knows – there are only so many ways to say “I love you” in any language, and lovers’ conversation tends to be repetitive. This production was recorded in Barcelona in July of this year, which informs me that WFMT wanted (and waited) to present up-to-the-minute productions now that there are enough live performances to do so, which is why they have only scheduled through September 9 at this point, when they expect to be going through November. Also, yesterday was National Dog Day. To all who celebrated, I hope the day was happy – and woof. Off to see Virgil, will post when I get back safely.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Colorado Public Radio – Northwest, West Denver’s House District 4 will soon get a new state rep. Here’s how residents can be part of the process
Quote – How the process of filling the vacancy works: A vacancy is filled by the representative’s party, in this case Democrats. A vacancy committee is formed by Democratic precinct organizers who will go on to elect the new representative. That election will take place on Aug. 26. On Saturday, community members can attend the committee meeting, which includes a forum between the candidates and the actual voting from committee members. Check-in for the event starts at 12 p.m., followed by the forum at 1 p.m. and the voting at 2 p.m. It’ll take place at Peter Claver Hall at Regis University, 3333 Regis Boulevard. The event can also be streamed here. [Yes, it’s over – but should be still up .]
Click through for details. Every state does this differently (and we do it differently if the removal was due to a recall) – this is very different from what happened in Tennessee with Justin and Justin – and both are different fom how we handle a vacancy in the US Congress. But understanding the differences can help us evaluate what’s the most fair – and by fair, I mean fair to the consituents.

Reuters – NLRB paves way for workers to unionize without formal elections
Quote – The U.S. National Labor Relations Board on Friday resurrected key elements of a policy it eliminated more than 50 years ago requiring businesses that commit labor law violations to bargain with unions without holding formal elections…. In Friday’s decision, the Democrat-led board partially revived a doctrine known as Joy Silk, named for a 1949 case in which the NLRB said employers must bargain with unions unless they have a good-faith doubt that majority support exists. The NLRB abandoned the Joy Silk doctrine in the early 1970s after the U.S. Supreme Court imposed a different standard in the 1969 case NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co. In Gissel, the court said the NLRB could force employers to bargain when they engage in misconduct so severe that any election would be tainted. Friday’s decision came one day after the NLRB announced a final rule reviving Obama-era regulations designed to speed up the union election process, which is seen as giving an advantage to unions.
Click through for story. If Reuters paywalls you, yu can go to your preferred search engine (mine is DuckDuckGo), put in NLRB and then select “news” as the filter and you’ll have multiple options. This is a BFD for unions.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to get stuff dne with it before SCROTUS steps in.

Food For Thought