Yesterday, the radio opera was yet one more comedy – “L’Elisir d’Amore” by Donizetti. I’m not sure when or where they have set it, but, from the look of the steam engine, it might be 19th century America, in country which wold not then have been flyover country, but would have been country where the train didn’t stop unless someone rang the bell for it to do so. I’ve seen it once befrore done in that period, and it’s a good fit – the country lad tenor becomes a cowboy, the Italian recruiting Sergeant becomes a Civil War recruiting sergrand, and – the shake oil salesman stays a snake oil salesman. And the heroine, the hard-to-get farm owner, becomes a hard-to-get ranch owner. The names given to the three male principals are clues to their personalities – I’ll only mention Nemorino, which means “kittle nobody.” His big aria is “Una furtiva lagrima” (a tear she tries to hide) is done a lot in concerts and recitals, and in times when encores are allowed, it gets encored a lot (the first tie Caruso did it at he Met it was encored 3 times in one performance. It was encored in this performanc, but only once.) Despite missteps and misunderstandings, it all ends happily – including for the snake oil salesman, who sells a lot mor of his “elixir” on the strength of Nemorino’s success. This is the last opera from China (this year) – next week the Met broadcast season starts. I’m assuming my local station will carry it, but in case it doesn’t, WFMT will. Tomorrow, I see Virgil.
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Short Takes –
truthout – Evangelical Lobbying Threatens Supreme Court’s Independence
Quote – It is likely not a coincidence that both decisions served the conservative evangelical agenda and both were leaked by people with advance knowledge of the results. Although the right-wing members of the court had probably already made up their minds in these two cases, the leaks were apparently designed to strengthen their resolve. The operation was called the “Ministry of Emboldenment,” Jodi Kantor and Jo Becker reported in their explosive November 19 New York Times article, quoting whistleblower Rev. Rob Schenck who used to run Faith and Action. Its goal was to “embolden the justices” to write “unapologetically conservative dissents.”
Click through for details. It is a no-brainer that any kind of lobbying involving gifts and/or favors is wrong. (Although it’s certainly difficult to draw a solid line. When you or I sign a petition to someone in government, we are lobbying. How far up the ladder is it legitimate to go?) But lobbying the Courts – by anyone – wherever the line is, that is definitely past it.
PolitiZoom – It’s Official, Trump’s Got A Babysitter. ‘Official Will Be Present With Him At All Times’ After Fuentes Fiasco
Quote – [W]e have since learned that Fuentes and Milo Yiannopoulos were there to embarrass Trump. He did it to himself. Trump can’t afford any more screw ups like this. There is no other candidate for any high office, let alone president, who doesn’t know who s/he’s sitting down to dinner with publicly and what the ramifications of a wrong move could be. This isn’t the old days, with Trump as the iconoclast. He’s the icon now, supposedly. The MAGA icon at least…. Trump needs to tread the straight and narrow now, and that’s not his style. He has no discipline. This is going to be torture for him, having to do things by the book. Frankly, I’m wondering if he’ll stay in the race.
Click through – Of course the point of this story is that Trump** is and always will be a behavioral toddler. But I was also interested to learn the identity of “The Third Man” (apologies to Graham Greene and Harry Lime.) I was beginning to think it must have been Milo after I saw a photo of him, Ye, and Nick on a private jet together, but now I’m sure. Oh, and, in an update, Trump** is denyng this.
Democratic Underground (CousinIT) – Tribe: Why Raskin’s role in leading Jan.6 efforts to wrap up recommendations is a BFD
Quote – The best news in a long time is that Jamie Raskin was recently named chair of a Jan. 6 subcommittee in charge of “wrapping up outstanding issues and recommending possible criminal and civil charges, while the full panel finalizes the report. I say that because, ever since Rep. Raskin was my student back in the day in constitutional law, and in all my work with him in the years since, he has demonstrated a uniquely deep and historically rich understanding of the democratic and egalitarian aspirations underlying the best features of our complex and compromised constitutional structure and has exhibited an uncanny ability to translate those features into practical realities that people can appreciate and get behind.
Click through for more and sources. This is quoted from Lawrence Tribe. Generally, teachers are very aware of, and very accurate on, the capaiities of their students.
Food For Thought
