Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Bohème,” quite possibly the most popular opera ever composed. Of course, that comes with disadvantages – an opera lover of my age has probably heard/seen it over a hundred times (particularly since it was the first opera I ever owned a complete recording of … 55 years ago.) But it still charms. Almost every line and every note tug at the heartstrings, because every character is sympathetic in one way or another, and every character has at least one moment in which you see (and/or hear) their pain. And, after that, I put away my grocery delivery. What a comedoen!
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Robert Reich – The curse of financial entrepreneurship
Quote – A direct line runs from public anger over the bailout of Wall Street to the Occupy movement and the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, on the left; and to the Tea Party movement and the election of Donald Trump, on the right…. [I]n early 2016 in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa… I heard references to the bailout of Wall Street as proof that the economy was “rigged” against ordinary Americans, and that America needed a president who would champion average working people.
Click through for more, including the podcast, if you would rather listen than read. If he mentions that part of the problem is that product entrepreneurs, when successful, become paper entrepreneurs, I missed it.
Good News Network – IKEA Buys Land Damaged by Hurricane in Florida to Plant Forests
Quote – If Ingka can keep the forests healthy and alive, in 40 years they will pull carbon out of the air equal to a certain percentage of the carbon placed into the atmosphere by IKEA’s operations, while providing valuable habitat to vulnerable species like the red-cockaded woodpecker, gopher tortoise, pine snakes, and dusky gopher frogs.
Click through for details and a couple of other tidbits (if you read between the paragraphs). I grant this is somewhat self-serving, but it beats the heck out of no good news at all.
The New Yorker – Is Ginni Thomas a Threat to the Supreme Court?
Quote – “Virginia Thomas has direct access to Thomas’s clerks,” [Artemus] Ward said. Clarence Thomas is now the Court’s senior member, having served for thirty years, and Ward estimates that there are “something like a hundred and twenty people on that Listserv [of his current and former clerks].” In Ward’s view, they comprise “an élite right-wing commando movement.” Justice Thomas, he says, doesn’t post on the Listserv, but his wife “is advocating for things directly.” Ward added, “It’s unprecedented. I have never seen a Justice’s wife as involved.”
Click through for full story. Jane Mayer is an actual investigative reporter, so this information should be solid.
Food For Thought: (by Robert Reich)
