Yesterday, the radio opera was one of the ones which have me so excited – “Assassinio nella cattedrale” by Ildebrando Pizzetti. That means “Murder in the Cathedral,” and it is based on the T. S. Eliot play. So, though I didn’t even know it existed, I knew it could not have been written before 1935. In fact, it debuted in March 1958., at La Scala in Milan. The premier was recorded, as was a live radio broadcast in December of the same yesr. (I was 12 in March and 13 in December of that year. I had seen my first live opera – whe I was 8 – but I was definitely not tuned in to the international opera landscape then. I think I would have liked it. I certainly did yesterday.) The bass who sang Becket said {I’m paraphrasing) that if there was one word for what he wanted his character to conve y it would be “sincere.” I think he did that. Basses have it rough in opera when it comes to juicy parts, but this definitely is one. With luck, perhaps a bass with star clout will come along and make a case for doing it at the Met. Hey, I can dream. Certainly I’m not the only person who was excited about this production. The materials made available included 174 pictures. So I can tell you from photographic evidence that it was fully staged in a church (The Chicago Temple, to be precise) with gorgeous stained glass windows. Also, my new keyboard came. It has the Logitech layout, wich is what I am used to (with a few tiny differences) and is so fancy I had to go to support online to figure out how to set it up. It’s working now, I typed this sentence on it, but I am running late now.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
New York Magazine/Intelligencer – A Left That Refuses to Condemn Mass Murder Is Doomed
Quote – And no small number of supposed leftists found in all this cause for celebration. Others, meanwhile, loudly refused to condemn Hamas’s atrocities, insisting it was not their place to decry the “military strategy” or “violent resistance” of oppressed Palestinians. In my view, these responses constitute a betrayal of the left’s most fundamental values. Either one upholds the equal worth of all human lives, opposes war crimes, and despises far-right ethno-nationalist political projects or one doesn’t. What’s more, cheering (or publicly announcing your refusal to condemn) the murder of children isn’t just morally grotesque but also politically self-defeating.
Click through for argument (I doubt anyome here will disagree.) Other publications tend to be more generous with their archives than the latest news – New York mag does it the opposite way – this article is free “for a limited time.” So I “printed” it (by which I mean I converted it to a pdf file which I can easily email if anyone gets here too late for the free time. I almost never print on paper any more.) Possibly sounding like a broken record, I do think it’s a mistake to talk of this in terms of left and right. Left and right represent economic theories. This is a matter of authoritarian as opposed to egalitarian (yes, after a couple of hours with multiple thesauruses I finally came up with what I believe is the best word to use unstead of “Libertarian,” which has been poisoned by the so-called Libertarian party.) It’s natural to assume that leftism goes with egalitarianism because both require at least some compassion, and because with an economic theory with the principle that everyone should have enough money, it’s reasonable to pair that with the idea that everyone should have enough power. And vice versa. But human beings are not always consistent, and the author here is addressing leftist authoritarians.
Wonkette (on Substack) – What If Crowdfunding Is *Not* A Great Healthcare System?
Quote – Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton is very sick and in the hospital with what is being referred to as “a rare form of pneumonia.” That’s very sad, as is the fact that she does not have health insurance and thus cannot afford her stay in the ICU. They started a crowdfund for her, which has since blown past its $50,000 goal all the way to over $375,000. This included one $50,000 donation from Linda McIngvale, wife of Gallery Furniture magnate Jim McIngvale…. Now, when I first heard that Retton didn’t have health insurance and her family was raising money on GoFundMe to pay for her medical treatment, I immediately assumed it was some kind of very tragic Erin Moran/Brett Butler situation and that despite her former fame, she couldn’t even afford health insurance…. “How very American!” thought I, until I looked into it and saw that she is, in fact, likely still very rich, lives in a very fancy 9,000 square foot mansion, and very likely just kind of chose not to have health insurance.
Click through for article. I think we all know that crowdfunding does not a great healthcare system make – particularly when the crowdfunding is abused, which I am not saying this is, but it would be hard not to notice that it looks like it. I think we also all know that a Democratic supermajority in both the House and the Senate would be needed to effectively put in a health care ayatem which would be great.
Food For Thought
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