the radio opera was “La Fille du Regiment” by Donizetti – the opera which includes Luciano pavarotti’s signature aria – the one with nine high Cs. Lawrence Brownlee did one of the best renditions I have ever heard, and received a worthy ovation. I don’t know whether it was a standing one, but it lasted long enough for him to give an encore (which we sadly didn’t hear in this recording.) Hard to believe that an agent he spoke with before he was famous told him he had no future in opera for two reasons: he was short and he was black. Well, he still is both and opera audiences appear to have no issue with either. But I digress. Sandra Oh played the role once played b Ruth Bader Ginsburg ((Brownlee was in that production also.) Ah, well. Happier times. Off to see Virgil now and will of course check in upon return.
Yesterday, I got all the printer software installed, only to find that the black ink cartridge isn’t working. My fault, I fear – I pulled something loose while removing the tape, and assumed it would just stay in place. So today I need a trip to Staples. Fortunately, it’s a pretty straightforward and not too long trip. Again, sorrythis is late.
There’s no reason Andy can’t do straight news when the actual facts are this amusing. Maybe I should have saved it for Sunday, but I prefer to avoid politic completely on Sundays if possible.
Archived from the Independent, which has a photo of the note. See what you think. It doesn’t look to me like the writing of an adult. Most peopl’s writing either leans to the right or to the left pretty consistently. This note leans every which way (which is not the only reason it’s almost illegible.)
Common Dreams addresses Tennessee’s very rushed redistricting (inspired by the Callais decision.)
Yesterday, Malcolm Nance’s (along with Jacob Kaarsbo and Wajeeh Lion) made it pretty clear that Europe is working seriously to make lemonade from the lemons we are throwing at them. And that includes the UK at one end – Brexit be damned – and Ukraine at the other. And more power to them! In fact, Mark Carney of Canada made a speech for their negotiations which included the opinion tat the international rule of law is not dead, but will be led by Europe in the the future. Also, I spent over three hours setting up the printer/scanner I got to replace my all-in-one which died. I got to the point when I was supposed to insert the disc, and discovered I had somehow unplugged the computer. To get to the outlet, one must crawl under the desk. So Trinette is coming by to help me with that this evening.
For this article I only have one word – hope. Not that we don’t still have to be vigilant about getting free and fair elections in November – but this is still promising IMO.
This from The Conversation could explain a lot. Although I remind all that correlation is not the same as causation.
from Vicky Ward Investigates. Well, this explains why Melania did that speech out of nowhere to distance herself from Epstein. And a few other things.At the time, I didn’t really care why she did it – but now tht I know, I do care – if only a little..
Yesterday, the radio opera was Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” I can’t do a better summary than Wikipedia does: “a dandy rejects a young country girl, she successfully grows into a worldly woman, he tries to seduce her but it is too late.” Set during the reign of Catherine the Great (1762–1796 – and she appears briefly in a silent role in some productions – though not in this one), based on a verse novel by Pushkin, it displays (intentionally or not?) issues of the status of women. The opening duet, between Tatiana’s mother and her maid, includes one of the saddest lines ever written: “Heaven sends us habit in place of happiness.” Although Tatiana gets the upper hand by the time the opera ends. I had planned to see Virgil today, but I missed a deadline I didn’t know existed (it’s fairly new, and it was in a form letter I don’t normally read because I know what is says – or thought I did.) Fortunately he phoned last night so I could tell him before he panicked. He took it well. So I’ll be rearranging my schedule.
Archived from The Guardian. This issue – who should hold historical and pre-historical treasures – has been a hot button topic longer than I have been alive – and it still is. I am on Mamdami’s side myself. It isn’t just the Kohinoor diamond that the UK is still sitting on – It also still holds the Elgin Marbles. I do realize that Athens is subject to earthquakes, but I also feel that those statues must mean more to people who are actually Greek than they ever could to me, regardless of my education.
This video is very short, but it’s on loop, so you won’t miss any of it.
From PBS, referred by Dose of Democracy. Considering how many reactionary bishops we have, this is just a step – but a step in the right direction.
Today, in addition to being May Day, is also Law Day in the US.
Yesterday, Joyce Vance made a Substack video with Norm Eisen and April Ryan from The Contrarian, and the subject of James Comey’s new indictment came up. I know almost everyone is still upset with him on account of the 2016 election and “her emails.” But the more time goes by, the less I believe that that remark had anything to do with Hillary’s loss. I think pure misogyny was more than enough to sink her. But I digress. April, who had worked at the FBI when Comey was its Director, said something about him that I didn’t know and you probably don’t either. She said he would take every new hire to the MLK Memorial, and show them the FBI files on Dr. King, and say “This is what overreach looks like.”
From The Conversation. The Panamanian company Congress just authorized to mine the Boundary Waters for copper sulfite may be the most egregious example of this. It doesn’y just pollute the water. It also poisons the air.
As Liza Donnelly points out, Heather Cox Richardson nailed the difference between the two speeches. And Liza goes a bit farther by linking to videos. (This from Borowitz is just a footnote.)
There’s been noise about Rep Chuck Edwards (R-NC) being under ethics investigation, but nothing about why. Unless this is it. Not that this sounds like something Republican would care about. I guess we’ll wait and see.
Yesterday, Malcolm Nance changed the name of his daily Substack Video (also on YouTube after it ends) from the “US-Iran Warcast” to the “Global Crisiscast.” For good and sufficient reasons. If you have a tolerance for facing worst case scenarios – and the consequences of stupidity and also a tolerance for Malcolm’s style (which includes dark humor), I seriously recommend it. This link will not take you directly to it, because the specific address changes daily, but it will take you ro Malcolm’s Substack home page and the crisiscast should be at or very near the top.
This is from Americans of Conscience. All of my experience with running elections was prior to 2016, but when I was doing that work, even under Republican Secretaries of State, the Colorado state government had a strong attitude of inclusion. (Not all the others I worked with did (in precinct work, workers must comprise equal numbers of Ds and R)s, but the state did, and the County Clerks did.) I did realize that was not the case everywhere. But the extent of the differences may not be as widely known. Plus, these are just two examples – there are at least 49 more.
From The Intercept. I realize there are a lot of things in this world which can hurt other people – or which can hurt oneself if one tries to work with them without good sound understanding of how they work, or to push their limits. Stoves. Cars and trucks. Construction Equipment. Large animals. Large bodies of water. Knives. Stupid people. None of these things are evil in themselves, but people get hurt by them every day. Of them, AI most resembles large animals and stupid people. If the incidents of AI talking people into suicide have not sufficiently convinced you to use it with great caution, if at all, consider this article.
This from Rights and Insights is not new information, but it’s from a different perspective than most. It points out something no one else is saying – that the practices this regime wants to eliminate from elections in order to “make them safer” are exactly the safeguards which allow elections to be free and fair.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Sonnambula” by Vincenzo Bellini. It’s classified as an opera semiseria, and yes, that means “halfway serious.” The serious part is the information on sleepwalking, which most people at the time it was written had never heard of, Aside from that, it’s basically a rom com. Bellini was known as “The Swan of Catania,” and was – and is today – afmired for his graceful melodies, which were characteristic of the “bel canto” period, but his really did stand above others.. He died at age 33, and a quotation from the libretto of “La Sonnambula” is engraved on his tombstone – a couple of lines about not expecing a flower would have withered so soon. I was having issues getting into my inbox, which have slowed me down, so please be patient with me until I can get back in. I now uaw Substack so much Ihave lots of places to look, but I’ll still miss some news. Today seems to be a predominantly feline day – even the composer of yestersay’s opera is from Catania.
Archived from 11alive, wherever that is -referred by The Smile. Isn’t Boone gotgeous?
Yesterday, I ran across this video. It’s probably not one you want to watch all the way through at once, but one to maybe save (or save the URL) and watch one idiot at a time. When you are feeling dumb, I guarantee it will make you feel smarter. Incidentally, Norton (one of the later numbers) died in 1888 and I wasn’t born till 1945, but he was still a legend when I was growing up. I don’t think anyone in San Francisco believed a word he said – I think he was just a nice guy and they decided to humor him.
The Saffron Sauron is not the first US President to disagree with NATO – but he is the worst (so far). We and NATO have survived the others – so far.
This from Bloomberg is the first of two articles I have chosen on John Roberts and what he has done to us. It focuses on the Shadow Docket. If you can’t get in, here is the archived version.
This from Lever News, also about Roberts, addresses how someone who was fearful of “activist judges” became one of the worst. Again, here is the archived link.
