Politics Plus

Last night’s opera was “The Ghosts of Versailles” by John Corigliano. It’s based on “The Guilty Mother” which is the third Beaumarchais play about Figaro, the erstwhile barber of Seville. But llike pretty much everything Corigliano does it’s all mixed up with other things. It’s set in Versaille, where the ghosts of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Beaumarchais himself, and a bunch of scruffy-looking courtiers (all of whom are bored out of their skulls) are to be amused by a new opera (play within a play.) At first it goes well, but then Figaro balks, and Beumarchais has to show him scenes of Antoinette’s kangaroo court trial to convince him she was wronged and deserves to be saved. It’s not as hard to follow as it sounds, even though I am leaving out major plot points. It has a stunning cast, including Renee Fleing, Marilyn Horne, and Teresa Stratas as Marie Antoinette, which is perfect casting -no one ever in opera has been able to convey “fragile” as well as Stratas does. Also yesterday was a Theater of War Zoom production. I didn’t stay for the discussion, but I did want to see the actors.

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Wednesday late night update – indictments have been issued namig the Trump Cprporation andAllenWeisselberg, but will remain sealed untill this afternoon.  So it will be tomorrow before I will post details.  You can probably find some details sooner.

Short Takes –

Wonkette – 17-Year-Old Caught In Deadly Crossfire Between Arkansas Sheriff’s Deputy, Jug Of Antifreeze
Quote – Brittain was an aspiring NASCAR driver from McRae, Arkansas. He’d worked at Hundley Construction for the past few years. His boss, Scott Hundley, described Brittain as a dedicated, hard worker. Brittain had spoken with Hundley the night before he was killed. He explained he was having trouble with his truck but would make every effort to arrive at work on time.
Click through for the rest of what is known, which is not much. Wonkette is (obviously) back from vacation. Seems like they cut it short, but then, they were trying to vacation in Washington state.

AP – GOP donor funds South Dakota National Guard troops in Texas
Quote – Johnson said he approached Noem about making a donation after hearing about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border barrier push. He figured Texas “has plenty of money” so he decided to help Noem, who governs a state with a significantly smaller budget. He also said he had no plans to donate to other states to send law enforcement officers to the border. Johnson added that he would have preferred to stay anonymous but that Noem’s office told him they had to at least disclose his name. He declined to say how much he was giving. “America gave a lot of money to get that border wall done,” Johnson said. “It takes private individuals now.”
Click through for more. Beau addressed this (see video thread) and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry. He is almost incoherent – especially for him.

19th – ‘There is rarely, if ever, justice’: Advocates and survivors seethe after Cosby is freed
Quote – Christian F. Nunes, president of National Organization for Women, said agreements like these can be made in sexual assault cases without consideration for the humanity of those of have suffered. She added that the issue is bigger than Cosby and speaks to the additional steps that need to be taken to better protect all survivors: women, LGBTQ+ people and men.
Click through for full article.

Food for Thought

This is a petition to all state Secretaries of State to respect the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. Besides the petiton itself, there is an explanation of what this implies and why it is important (although that last part is pretty clear.) I honestly don’t know, not being a lawyer, how such action by Secretaries of State would hold up in court. But I don’t see any serious negatives down the road from bringing this up – nor from applying it to other federal elected officials. Probably everyone who reads here has at least one Representative or Senator to whom it might profitably be applied. If you agree, don’t just sign, but also share.

Last night’s opera, “Doctor Atomic,” was about the making and the first testing of the atomic bomb. You may say, “Well that sounds like a weird choice of subject,” and I won’t disagree. But it works. And it even manages to show respect to the indigenous Americans in and around the area of Los Alamos. The character of Pasqualita, the Oppenheimers’ housekeeper and nanny, is given an absolutely gorgeous aria representing Native American prayer and respect for the land. Meredith Arwady, a true contralto (they are not all that common), made her Met debut in this role in this production. Though serious, the opera is not without humor. For one thing, Edward Teller is present as quite irreverent (probably accurately), and for another, the character of General Groves is given lines from the actual general’s journal expressing his discomfort with the weight control program he was involuntarily placed on.  And, of course, just about everyone’s favoriet line – “With respect, sir, anyone with two good eyes could havefound Los Alamos just by following the trail of beer cans from Santa Fe.”

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Fox News Host Celebrates FL Building Collapse As ‘Shining Moment’ For DeSantis
Quote – “Another thing I gathered from watching these press conferences is the leadership of Ron DeSantis,” she said. “We’ve seen him be a leader so many times, time and time again. This is also another shining moment for him. And I can’t sing his praises high enough.”
Click through if you can stand to. I haven’t addressed this in part because structural engineers were discouraging speculation about the cause(s). But this is so Republican!

Raw Story – Right Wing Watch reinstated after YouTube experiences massive backlash – Well, this came rapidly.
Quote – “We are glad that by reinstating our account, YouTube recognizes our position that there is a world of difference between reporting on offensive activities and committing them,” said PFAW in a statement on their website.
Click through for more.I am saving both links (YouTubr and Vimeo) – for now, the newest ones are on Vimeo only.

PolitiZoom – WATCH: MAGAs Left Trump’s Ohio Rally In Droves Because He Wasn’t ‘Radical’ Enough For Them
Quote – This could be some kind of a turning point, the MAGAs deciding that Trump just isn’t crazy enough for them anymore. Trump’s going to have to go waterskiing and jump a shark, literally. The phrase, “jumping the shark” “is an idiom used to describe the moment of a misguided attempt at generating new publicity for something once, but no longer, widely popular; the attempt serves instead to highlight the irrelevance of what it intends to promote,” according to Wikipedia.
Click through for more (and I also have a pdf – PolitiZoom doesn’t seem to like all browsers, so if you can’t get through, let me know and I’ll send it). Maybe we were wrong to snicker; maybe we should have panicked (or at least gone into alert.) Because if he isn’t radical enough for them, there are others who are.

Food for Thought