Yesterday, the radio opera was Mozart’s “Idomeneo” from 1986, chosen by Joyce Di Donato because of Frederica von Stade. I have a von Stade story from many years ago which appeared in Cat Fancy magazine, submitted by a vocal coach about the first time von Stade (“Flicka”) came to learn from her. At one point the coach’s cat threw up o Flicka’s foot. The coach thought she’d lost a student forever. But Flicka just deadpanned, “I hope it wasn’t my singing,” and stayed with the coach. She is a class act in every way. It’s interesting to me (if no one else) that every time an “Artist’s Choice” is picked by someone I really like, that their choice is based on someone in a previous generation I also really, really like.
I would call this “mixed” rather than “good.” But for decades we have been thinking “doomed,” and “mixed” is definitely an improvement over that.
Now this is sportsmanship. This is how sports are supposed to work (and sadly often don’t.)
It’s always good news when someone gets to live his or her dream. And it’s always especially good when it’s a child, and particularly a child who’s experienced an illness that no one, and especially no child, should have to cope with.
Yesterday, I woke up early (for me) and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was hoping that would at least help me to get up this morning – it may have, or it may not.
From The Talking Points Memo – The Apricot Antichrist takes on the entire judicial branch. This could be funny if it weren’t so – venal.
This from The Intercept just gobsmacks me. And also makes me glad I froze my information at all three credit bureaus. I hope y’all have done the same.
Yes, this from Law & Crime is a political story. The young woman died on January 10, 2025, just 10 days before that inauguration. The justice system in Texas has done nothing, so the police in Cheshire, England are now getting involved. The story is also in The Root – each has details the other doesn’t.
Yesterday, I got my car back. It starts instantly and runs nicely – I will have to readjust the seat of course – It was the end of the work day and I didn’t want any more dark. I did make it home in civil twilight. Congress passed the SAVE Act. Andy Borowitz’s headline was “Mark Kelly Records Video Telling Bartenders They Are Allowed to Refuse Hegseth’s Orders” And I found out why the FAA put on a ten day stop on flights and then rescinded it the same night. See the cartoon
Robert Reich points out that DHS is not even close to arresting “the worst of the worst.” I would point out that this isn’t the real point – which is that NO ONE deserves the treatment they are getting, Not even anyone convicted of a violent crime. People convicted of violent crimes are still human beings – and not even an animal – not even an Australian box jellyfish – deserves this treatment either. Republicans must not be allowed to get a pass by claiming they are animals.
Not the most transformative news of the day from All Rise – but encouraging that the judge feels so strongly.
Common Dreams is hot again. I probably could have used any of the stories in their newsletter
Yesterday, I learned that the special election to replace MTG will be on March first (I’m sure this information has been available, but I missed it.) I don’t know how crowded the ballot will be – but one Democrat running in it is Shawn Harris. Also, six House Republicans joined Democrats to kill the Apricot Antichrist’s tariffs on Canada. And I see that Ohio has passed a law making ballots unacceptable if they are received after Election Day, regardless of postmark. I am so sorry. Living in Colorado, we have had this for a long time – but because of it have also sent ballots out (almost ridiculously) early, and filled election materials with warnings about the rule, including what to do if it is Election Day and you forgot (drop boxes mostly.)As a result, it has not been an issue here. But in a state which has always accepted ballots by postmark and is now making this change when we are already in an election year, it’s sure to cause damage. My heart goes out to you.
Core Civic is the private prison company formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America. Colorado hires them for two prison, one in Crowley County and one in Bent County. Virgil has spent time in both, but mostly in Bent County. I don’t remember much about Crowley, but I can tell you that the one in Bent County is well run – because the Department of Corrections takes supervision seriously. Of course, no prison is fun, and the rules are rigid, and some appear ridiculous unless one remembers that every one of those regulations was put in place because someone F’ed Around, causing everyone to Find Out. There were no worms, mold, or maggots in the food, which came from Aramark, another company which has a poor reputation mostly based on prisons in the South and other red states. They also catered USAA when I worked there, and I have no complaints about the cafeteria then and there. But Dilley is not supervised by any state – it is supervised by DHS – and I’d bet the staff there are about as good as ICE and CPB agents – or, in other words, terrible.
IMO, this one is a keeper. Those of us who are not misogynistic have a strong tendency to believe that misogyny is so absurd that there can’t possibly be a majority of Americans who are misogynists. Wrong. This is a wakeup reminder. And we are NOT HELPING when we nominate exceptionally qualified women for the most powerful posts in the government at the national level. We are merely losing power.
Commercial aviation is not something I know very much about. I’m one of the most infrequent flyers alive. But even I know this is important and disturbing, even though I can’t say why. Axios does a lot of alerts like this and then develops the story. It had already been archived, but I did it again in case there were developments, but that was yesterday late afternoon, so it may not be the latest. If anyone wants to archive it again and see whether there is newer information, here’s the link to Axios, and here’s the link to Archive. (The order has already been rescinded. Heaven knows what they were thinking.)
Yesterday, I watched the Jim Acosta Show on Substack. That’s right, the fascists weren’t able to end Jim Acosta as effectively as they thought they had. Joyce Vance, Glenn Kirschner, and Michael Fanone were on it too. But I’m sharing because at the end of the show he played a clip from RTÉ (Ireland’s equivalent of out NPR) interviewing an Irishman who had been detained at one of the Saffron Sauron’s concentration camps ( think it was Dilley, TX, actually.) Yes, an Irishman. The Irish are pretty uniformly white, so it must have been the brogue – or possibly an opinion. Of course there’s a lot in it besides that. The concentration camp section starts at 41.06, and the actual interview with Seamus Culleton (spelling from CC) starts at 42:49 (and has CC) and lasts less than 3 minutes (and then Jim editorializes a little.)
There’s nothing new here from Steve Schmidt – except in the sense that “everything old is new again.” But then, “everything old is new again” is exactly why history is important. Steve will be very happy if y’all share this with anyone who might learn something from it.
Kudos to Pro Publica for managing to get this story out of a concentration camp when such camps arenot even allowing Congresscritters in to conduct oversight as required by law. (If Mina Rosenberg finds a target on her back, I will not be surprised.)
I suppose we can chalk this up to another reason that Rethuglicans detest science and scientists. But it’s very revealing.
If you watch Colbert regularly, you can skip this. Ian Mckellen plays Thomas More on immigration, by Shakespeare, but unperformed during his lifetime. Talk about something old that’s new – not “new again” – just new.
Yesterday, I heard from my mechanic. The down side of having found a mechanic I (it’s actually a repair shop with several mechanics, but I can trust the shop) is that they are always busy. They are also not the cheapest in town, but they are fair and honest. In the “fast, good, and cheap” (where you can never get all three, but you can good get two), when it comes to my car, I want good above all else. Anyway, they’ve been in touch but have not diagnosed yet. So I pushed my appointment back a week. Fortunately it’s not urgent.
Some people are celebrating Black History month – and I’m proud to say my local radio station is one of them (I guess I should say some of them – it’d every local announcer in their scheduled pre-recorded spots, most of them in their non-themed spots, and some of the syndicated programs – including the Met Saturday operas. Last Sunday I didn’t mention that the opera recording played that day was chosen by Lawrence Brownlee, a Black bel canto tenor (who once had the honor of escorting Ruth Bader Ginsberg to the curtain call after she played a speaking part in an opera presented in DC. But I digress.) Kathleen Battle, a Black soprano, was also in last week’s opera, but Larry picked it for the tenor, Alfredo Kraus, a Spanish tenor who had inspired him, even before he found out they shared a birthday – Kraus in 1927 and Brownlee in 1972, another coincidence. This article is not happy like that, but it is a necessary part of Black history because it actually happened. And the regime is doing its best to steal Black history from all of us, not just from Black people.
Is it ever the wrong time for something inspiring? Renee Good was a poet, and I found and linked to her prize-winning poem. To the best of our knowledge Alex Pretti was not a poet, but this poem clearly alludes to him and was meant to honor him, and it definitely inspired Joyce Vance. And me. If it doesn’t inspire you, no worries – just pass it by.
Apparently we were wrong to scoff at the theory that the world is run by a vast ring of pedophiles – although we were correct that it isn’t a ring of Democrats. It is a ring of oligarchs, and it’s not based on politics – but it is true that oligarchs overwhelmingly tend Republican, since the Republican ideology (“trickle down”) feeds their net worth.
Common Dreams was really hot on Monday. The newsletter had six stories, and all were on the “Wow” side. After eliminating all the ones which pretty much provided evidence for something we already knew, I chose this one. We knew Massie was working with Khanna – but I for one never expected Massie to go to these lengths. And he’s not only a Republican, but a Republican from Kentucky – McConnell’s state.
If you are old enough to remember Joe McCarthy, you can skip this video. But I do want to point out (again) that the problem with Russia has never been communism or socialism, which are not forms of government, but economic theories (Russia has not even pretended to use either since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.) The problem with the Soviet Union was Authoritarianism – which is a form of government.) I will keep pushing this distinction until I no longer need to, or until I die, whichever comes first (and frankly I expect the latter.)
Yesterday, the drive to Pueblo was pretty easy – sunshine, some cloud cover when needed most, no snow or water on the roads. We played cribbage of course, and had a wild variety of hands. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more three-of-a-kinds in a single session, and Virgil had a hand with four fives (but not, alas, a Jack.) Going home was a different story. I couldn’t get the car started despite help from several guards, and ended up having to go back into the lobby to call my roadside assistance insurance company. I did get a tow truck and driver who was able to both take me home and tow the car to the garage I’ve trusted literally for decades. but it was quite dark when I came home (exhausted). I won’t have an estimate until today, and am pretty sure I’ll have to postpone my appointment tomorrow for lab work. I didn’t do that last night because I didn’t have a clue for how long I’d better postpone it.
I’m sharing both Joyce Vance’s “Sunday Morning Wrap-Up” and her “The Week Ahead,” both of which I received Sunday It’s a lot of information, but it’s coherent and graspable.
This is the third opinion piece I have referenced on the topic of possible presidential election interference. This one is by Robert Reich – it’s hard to argue with Robert Reich. I do think there might be states, or even just countire, in which he could get away with his violent plans. But thereare also a lot of states protected by Democratic Secretaries of State, most if not all of whom are members of DASS and are already planning for his potential assaults.
To the left is King Owlbert, an Alaskan Pygmy Owl who arrived at the rescue center with a drooping wing – hence the strip of red which is supporting it while he heals. He would fit in your hand. There are multiple species of very small owls up around the Arctic Circle, a\such as the Northern Pygmy Owl. But this little man is obviously Superb. Yesterday, the radio opera was Massenet’s “Werther.” It was based on “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” a novel written by Goethe when he was 24. It was first published in 1772, and there were incels then too. However, it was more difficult then to blame women, since they really didn’t have the power to choose whom they married, and at least some of them killed themselves instead of just whining. I’m not saying that was better, just that it happened, as it does in this opera. And it gives Massenet the opening for a really bang-up aria for the tenor – and, yes, it’s a whine, but today’s incels would get more sympathy if they whined like it. OK, off to see Virgil, will check in upon return.
It had not occurred to me that this was a possibility. I hope that other states will follow.
I’m not a dog person – I’ve known a couple I have liked, but I’m basically a cat person. But I am also a person who understands that dog people feel about their dogs the way I feel about my cats. I’ve had cats missing for periods up to a week and then show up. I’ve had cats missing that never showed up. I get the heartbreak. And I get the relief and the joy too.
You kind of have to scroll down here before you can see all the donated art. I consider it good news that so many contributed, and IMO the quality is high.
