Yesterday, I got an email from Trinette in which she mentioned medicine. I called, and it turned out she had caught a cold from one of her sons. Today was the third day of it and she was feeling better (and sounded pretty good, fingers crossed.) Of course I urged her to take care of herself.
This just may be one of the most optimistic posts that The F* News has ever posted. And of course he is right. Jury nullification happens, and it’s not always the best resolution to a case, but when it is, it is. Just look at the three grand jury nullifications in a row on the same case that Judge Boxwine just endured.
On Sunday’s parody music video, I remarked that I guessed AI was actually good for something. If you didn’t believe me then, you may believe it after reading (or even just skimming) this article from The Root. The only one it missed was Rush Limbaugh.
Yesterday, POGO released information on a new investigation showing that officials of the current regime are aligned with (and profiting financially from their alignment with) the tech bro manosphere – surprising, I suppose, absolutely no one. If anyone is surprised, it’s probably because when they think of tech, they think STEM, which does require intelligence – but forget they there are different kinds of intelligence (or different ways of perceiving the universe other then through intelligence – the jury is still out on which is more accurate), and it is clearly possible to be highly competent, even expert, in a limited specialty while not understanding the first thing about the real world.
Robert Reich quotes in full an essay from the Daily Yonder regarding how real people are coping with the regime and the uncertainty.
This letter from Heather Cox Richardson is a few days old (sorry) and I doubt if any on our readers needs it to know how we got here. But as a blow-by-blow account, I’ve not seen a better one. Should you ever need to explain this, you’ll be better prepare with this in your intellectual armory.
Yesterday, I got my usual weekly email from RBG’s son Jim, the record producer, about the week’s featured release. Among other things, it includes a new or newish piece which contains a musical reflection on what “home” means. This reminded me of Robert Frost’s famous quote “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in,” which seems timely in the context of the regime’s lust for deportation. It has always bothered me because it seems so cold. And it is cold. But I don’t think it was what Frost believed. He was using it in a character study of a very cold person (possibly a MAGAt long before his time.) Although today’s MAGAts are even colder – they won’t take you in, home or not. It comes from “The Death of the Hired Man.” I think Frost’s belief was closer to what the character’s wife answers – “I should have called it Something you somehow haven’t to deserve.” Also yesterday, the House Ethics Committee has had it with Republican crap and has instead sued the Epstein Estate (Axios).
You can, and maybe have, found this information elsewhere (Among others, Wonkette cites Mother Jones). But personally I find that their style makes one feel it as real, rather than just another news story. You may disagree.
Allow me to introduce this from the Contrarian, and why I’m posting it. When I had more free time than I do these days, I used to watch history videos from reliable sources from time to time. It’s “been a minute,” so I can’t now remember whether I got this information from two different videos or the same one, but here’s some information I learned about Russia and Ukraine. Back in the day when the Vikings pretty much owned the waterways, one of the places they raided was Russia. You probably have a mental image from British history and maybe other areas of people living in the invaded territory being killed off or at least fighting the invaders for their lives. Whatever territories that may have happened in, Russia apparently was not one of them – or at least not for long. The Russian people decided that the Vikings were highly organized and maybe even smart, so they invited the Vikings to stay and become their government. And enough did that for a goodly time (I can’t say how long since I didn’t follow it up – at the time I didn’t know how relevant it would be) the ruling class in Russia was composed of Vikings. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians were Cossacks (that’s still in their national anthem.) Cossacks were mercenary soldiers who worked for anyone who could and would pay them. But their agreements with these monarchs always included a clause that they were guaranteed self government. And I assume that means they never took an oath of fealty to any of them. And no, I don’t actually think that’s genetic – certainly not 100% or people like RFK Jr and Stephen Miller and Paul Gosar, whose families strongly reject their ideas, would all have to be adopted or illegitimate, and there’s no evidence for that at all. But if there is such a thing as national character, both nations have one which is eerily consistent with their centuries-old history.
This from The F* News is kind of connected to my introductory rant about what home means. You have probably seen the news, and I don’t suppose it takes much of either imagination or decent human feelings to see what is going on here. I believe Senator Van Hollen met in person again with Abrego Garcia over the weekend. The Uganda thing was not announced until Monday morning. Ketanji Brown Jackson brought up Calvinball in connection with the Court recently – but the regime is definitely playing it too.
Yesterday, going to see Virgil was easy and being with him did raise my spirits. Coming home, on the other hand – it was perfectly clear skies and sun until I got on the Interstate – and from there it was rain and/or hail all the way. Several people (probably with more sense than I have) pulled over to wait it out. Those of us who persevered – none of us was going faster than 60 in the 75 zone, and some of us slower. There were actually very few scary moments, and I got home safely well before 5:00 pm.
It was actually Saturday I read about this. There’s no longer any effort, it appears, to disguise the malice as anything decent at all. It’s just revenge and retaliation – in this case retaliation for truthfully making public that the regime makes mistakes.
From The Intercept. I really do not know what to say.
ProPublica‘s investigations do turn up the least expected and often the least publicized things – with one thing in common – injustice.
Well, this from The F* News – which you may not see elsewhere (possibly The Guardian, but not in U.S. MSM) won’t surprise anyone here – but it should be shouted from the rooftops.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Werther,” by Jules Massenet, based on the (epistolary) novel by Goethe (who wrote it at age 24, which, coincidentally, was the same age at which Bruce Springsteen wrote “Born to Run.” (Massenet was in his 40’s when he wrote the opera,, and it took him two years to complete it. Composing operas is a lot harder than it looks.) It occurred to me that entitled straight young men haven’ changed all that much in the last few hundred years – the biggest change would be in the last fifty years – now, instead of self harm, they take it out on the object of their “affections.” And, yes, that is an unfair generalization, and not all of them are violent at all. But they surely tend to be whiny. Werther’s whine, the aria “Pourquoi me réveiller?” is heartbreakingly beautiful. Although the words and the music are very different, it has a strong similarity in tone and feel to Lensky’s aria “Kuda, kuda vï udalilis” in Eugene Onegin (usually just called “Lensky’s aria” here), also sung by a tenor about to die. And darn it, now I am reminded of Jerry Hadley. I don’t know when he recorded a CD with conductor Paul Geminiani of Great American Songbook songs every one of which is similarly whiny to Werther’s and Lenski’s, but I do own it, and have played it once and am in no hurry to do so again because Jerry shot himself in 2007. I could wish that life had not imitated art in this case. Sorry to be sharing such a downer today. I’m off now to see Virgil, which should cheer me up, and I’ll of course check in upon return.
Those of us who are melanin-deficient could learn a thing or two from this. From the Root.
Speaking as a person who lives in a more or less chronic drought area, I found this impressive.
“Friends” – guess there are things AI is good for.
Yesterday, I noted that Wonkette is stoked that Mallory McMorrow is running to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate – to the point that the owner/editrix is holding a fund raiser for her on September 21st. It will be at her home, but can also be attended via Zoom. Well, I’m stoked too, and not just because I appreciate alliteration. McMorrow’s voice is fierce, and we need fierce voices in the Senate (and in the House.)
This is a Substack post by Dr. Shannon Fleck, who is (since April) the Executive Director of Faithful America. It points out that gerrymandering wasn’t enough for Texas – they had to get their sticky fingers into women’s health care as well, and tie their meddling to faith. I think this pretty well has gone under the radar, so I’m glad they had a link for us (they usually don’t.)
Yes, I know this from Wonkette is from Thursday. But it goes well with the other article. And the analysis may help explain why Evan calls his side project “The Moral High Ground.” I believe that “uncompromising” is incompatible with morality for humans (God or the universe or Karma may be able to stick to it, but the point is that they are supposed to be omniscient, whereas our human brains are not built to contain enough knowledge to never compromise.)
Yesterday, I noticed that, although one might think that when I’m moving slowly, time moves slowly, it’s actually just the opposite. I am moving slowly – but the days are flying by with much not accomplished. Sigh.
Another multipurpose article, this one from Amanda Marcotte. But if you want to read just the first section, I’ll be fine with that.
I assume everyone’s heard at least the bare bones of this travesty. But the bare bones cannot give one the feel of what is happening here. This article from the 19th, on the other hand, does.
Yesterday, I was looking through Heather Cox Richardson’s emails to see whether she had anything to say about Susan Collins now having two credible opponents, one each Democrat and Republican, in view of Maine’s ranked-choice voting system, since she lives there. Instead, I found a video of her narrating “A Lincoln Portrait” with the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra. Of all the versions of A Lincoln Portrait, my favorite has always been the one with James Earl Jones (no disrespect to Henry Fonda). But this version is my new favorite. So I downloaded it. Not that it’s hard to fid, but if anyone’s interested , it’s here.
We probably all are terrified of the rise of AI – but I’m not sure how many of us could explain if pressed exactly what we fear in sufficient detail to get the point across. Robert Reich can, and can even make it very simple.
We hear about mergers all the time. But it appears MSNBC is working to e-merge from NBC. If they can manage by doing this to keep their best people of all origins and genders and maybe even re-hire some), it may be one of the the best things they have ever done. We shall see.
One more substitution. Be sure you are sitting down when you watch.
