Yesterday, I saw Virgil, and as usual, we played cribbage. On the way there, it was bright and sunny, but on the way back I ran into some rain and had to remove my sunglasses. But, obviously, I got home safely anyway, though of course tired out. I’m going to take my night meds, play at a game for a while, listen to the Broadway show that’s on Sundays from 8 to 9 pm, and then call it a night..
From the F* News. I was briefly tempted to include this for Sunday, but only the lead article is actually good – and – it’s not actually news to anyone who has ever been or worked with a Federal civil servant. I don’t claim they are perfect, but I do claim adherence to their oaths by administrators.
If you ever thought that those of us who described the current Republican Party as a death cult were exaggerating, this article from Wonkette may change your mind. honestly, I don’t know what else you’d call it.
Yesterday, Elon Musk apparently resigned as a “temporary government employee” or whatever the “official” title was. But that doesn’t mean “DOGE” is gone. His hand-picked lackeys are still around, as loyal to him as MAGA is to Trump**(*). We aren’t going to escape that easily. Also , Andy Borowitz came out with a jest that I wish (and I expect we all do) was real. Finally, after reading the CPR newsletter, and deciding no one else was about to do it, I put up a petition on Care2. You don’t have to be in Colorado to sign it. The other side is sending from all over.
One of my core principles is that, if someone does something wrong due to a condition in which you played a part in creating, intentionally or not, knowingly or not, you don’t get to punish them for it. It’s acceptable to take non-punitive steps to alleviate the condition, but that’s it. If necessary to protect the community, it is permissible to apply restraint, but it cannot be punitive. And you must accept your own accountability. This applies to big and small issues equally. There used to be a commercial about a mother helping with her daughter’s wedding, and the daughter acting somewhere between disappointed and disgusted because mom had frequent urination. I used to think “you little brat, she has frequent urination now in large part because she brought you into the world. If you have children and make it to her age, you’ll have frequent urination too, and it’ll be too late to make it up to her.” But that’s really nothing compared to this story – which incenses me as a veteran.
If you have seen this elsewhere, I apologize for making you look at it again. I mean, not that we didn’t know that GOP lies and cruelty go together like syphilis and gonorrhea, but this expands the definition of judicial murder into new territory. What we need now in this country, and in particular anyone in this country who has both a heart and a brain, is more righteous outrage. (And of course more people like Anna Stout.)
Yesterday, Andy Borowitz questioned Jake Tapper’s cognitive ability, since he wrote a book about the cognitive decline of a President-but it was the wrong President. Also, I streamed the National Memorial Day Concert which I had not caught on Sunday, It was still up (and may still be – if it is, anyone can watch it. My “Passport” is up to date, but I didn’t need to sign in to see it. Also, Joe Mantegna does not have a life-threatening medical condition – is not even bedridden – he just has an inner ear issue such that his doctor won’t let him fly and he would have had to fly to get to DC timely.)
From The Intercept. Kind of makes me even more glad that I am old. And that I am in a financial position such that, although I meet my financial obligations, I don’t have a lot left over so I’m less attractive as a target.
From the 19th. Not news. Instead, a deep dive into police killings, the men they killed, and their mothers whose lives were changed forever. Lest we forget.
I honestly don’t know what to think about this. He is such a liar – but even if this is a real breakthrough, he is so cognitively impaired that it’s not terribly likely that he’s able to hang on to it. And of course he still is who he is. Wonkette discusses.
Yesterday, as I was starting to check email, my radio station played a piece by Chopin, and when it was over and the DJ back announced it, she said “Frederic Chopin,” but what I thought I heard was “President Chopin.” There’s nothing wrong with her pronunciation, nor with my hearing – but apparently my brain is over-fixated. Sigh. Also yesterday – I don’t know whether this will actually work for anyone else, but I kind of got slapped in the face by my white privilege. One of the websites at which I found a birthday card last year was having a sale, and I had so much difficulty then, I thought I’d look now for birthday cards for Trinette’s two sons. We’re talking about young black men, in their twenties, whom I would probably recognize if I saw them on the street but we’re not close the way I am to their mother. So I did a search there for “birthday card black man.” I got a result of 106 pages and managed to get through 17 or 18 of those pages, despite constantly second guessing myself – “that’s gorgeous, but I don’t know whether they care much about history or African heritage – will it look like I’m talking down?” or “that’s funny, but will it look like I’m laughing at them instead of with them?” I finally managed to find 10 cards, although one is for Virgil (it says “Happy Birthday from the best decision you ever made” – he will know I’m laughing with him because he tells me that – a lot) to get a quantity discount on top of the sale prices. But it took a lot of time and a lot of self-examination. Also yesterday – ironically on Memorial Day, Korean War veteran and long time (but now retired) Congressman Charlie Rangel (in his day known as “the lion of Lenox Avenue”) died at age 94. May he rest in power.
Since yesterday was a holiday, I thought The Week Ahead from Joyce Vance would be appropriate for today. And there’s a lot of it to digest.
Robert Reich has pretty much seen it all. If he says something is “truly horrifying,” it must actually be so – at least. Possibly worse.
I guess Roberts hasn’t learned anything yet. I’m still hoping he’s capable – the other Republicans, with the exception of Barrett (surprising though that may be, it seems to be true) are incapable of learning anything.
Today is Kyiv Day – the (this year the 1543rd) anniversary of the founding of Kyiv. Happy Kyiv Day to all who celebrate. Here’s a link to the picture at left, and a little back story. (Also, UNITED24 is raffling off 24 sweatshirts with a Kyiv monogram – to enter, they ask a contribution of $24 by May 31. I couldn’t find it on their website, but will gladly forward the email on request.)
Yesterday, the radio opera was a new opera by John Adams (“Nixon in China,” “Doctor Atomic”) which for once is not set in modern history: “Antony and Cleopatra” – based on Shakespeare. (One thing hasn’t changed – Gerald Finley is still one of his favorite baritones.) The opera was staged in the 1930-s, more or less, and had some references to fascism. At least one review – the one I found – wasn’t crazy about it, but I found it very listenable Having learned to like Adams’s other compositions has made me comfortable with his style..
This is pretty cool. Anyone who wants to repurpose Alcatraz should read this first.
This good news from Amazon Watch is qualified – but it is good news for now. And we don’t often hear good news from Amazon Watch. (I wonder if the new Pope’s election had any influence.)
The original of this parody is from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” made for TV and originally starring Julie Andrews (later remade with Lesley Ann Warren.) The fairy godmother sings it : “Impossible.”
Yesterday, I got an email from Faithful America that SCOTUS deadlocked on the OK charter school case so the lower court ruling that giving the charter school government dollars in unconstitutional will stand. For now. (I’m not sure whether this is the same case where there were four recusals so they didn’t have a quorum, or whether that was a different case. Sorry, I’m finding it difficult to keep track.)
Jen Rubin of The Contrarian has been travelling in Europe, and is sharing some historical insight from there, specifically from Spain.
This from Wonkette may be relatively minor, compared to, say, the deaths that will result from gutting Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP. However it pisses me off (all racism does), and goes along with the next post.
Press Watch has what might be good news if it only went far enough. I suppose it’s a start.
Also going back to last week, in an email from the Vote Common Good PAC there was this: “Early results from our in-depth survey research on religious voters are starting to come in, and they are startling in the best possible way. For the first time, we’re asking the kinds of questions most polls skip — not just what religion someone checks on a form, but how their spiritual identity shapes how they show up in the world…and in the voting booth. I can’t share the details just yet — the study is still in progress — but I can tell you this: what we’re seeing is going to change how Democrats think about religious voters. It’s going to change how we train candidates, how we talk to persuadable voters, and how we win.” This makes me very interested in seeing the results of the survey. I have always felt there was more going on between people and religion – any religion – than met anyone’s eye, and certainly any politician’s eye. Jonathan Haidt’s work speaks to that, but not IMO fully, and in any case he’s not very well known. (I also think that “religion” is the wrong word for belief systems. The “lig” in “religion” is the same “lig” that is in “obligation,” and a belief system or a world view should be something more. But that’s neither here nor there.
I think I must address Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis, which was characterized as “an aggressive form of prostate cancer which has metastasized to the bone.” Obviously this is a very serious diagnosis. It may not be a death sentence. This post from Democratic Underground (passed on from Threads) makes that point. Others who have written about their own experience with the same diagnosis report a wide range of outcomes. Some of those are in the comments at the same article. I don’t think I need to be a doctor to believe that a person’s general health outside particular diagnosis is a factor in how the body deals with any ailment. I’ve seen several places that hormone therapy is a possible alternative to chemo, and at least one added particularly with this diagnosis. I think we can have some confidence that Joe and his medical team will make the best possible choice. That said, nothing is certain. *Incidentally, Jacques Trudeau sent a message of support in English and French.)
Talking Points Memo addresses certain abuses of power which we all knew were coming, but at least are not targeting the poorest and most vulnerable among us. Which does not make them any less disgusting.
This is from Wonkette from Friday. I apologize for taking so long – but there’s nothing that really can be done about this story – I doubt whether overturning Dobbs would even prevent a repeat – you’ll see why. And we’ve already been fighting racism and misogyny for uncountable years but this happened anyway – I should say “is happening.”
And this, by Heather Cox Richardson, is from Thursday. It is the history of the Magna Carta. And it is ironic* that I can post it the day after I went on a rant about what royal life is really like – because it has been and still is a huge influence on why monarchies in Europe today are Constitutional Monarchies. Now we ned to ensure that the Kumquat Kleptocrat does not get his hands on our contemporary copy. (*See – irony is not dead.)
Yesterday, the radio opera was Richard Strauss’s “Salome” which is not based directly on the Biblical story, but on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name. Richard was no relation to the Johanns – his father was a French horn player. His life was a bit later than the waltz royal family, and I don’t know whether he was influenced by Freud, but it’s a good bet that Wilde was – the libretto and score reek of it. If that sounds depressing, yes, it could be, but I have always found it helpful when feeling down – it gives me the feeling that, yes, I’m down, but I’m not that down, and it helps me snap out (and, if I’m not down, the music, although even today it sounds very avant-garde, is beautiful in its way.) This production is part of the “Live in HD” and thus has been recorded and was shown in theaters around the world. I doubt I’ll seek it out – I don’t feel that it needed quite as much visual dysfunction as they added to it – I think it’s better stripped down – but that didn’t impair hearing it on the radio. Off to visit Virgil now – I’ll check in upon return.
This is not news, but it is a pretty good anecdote, and not a shaggy dog story – it has a punch line.
Not to imply anyone’s death (well maybe a few) is good news. On the other hand, the life of a good person is worth recognizing, even celebrating, especially when we have so few just now in the right positions. Harry Litman eulogizes David Souter.
