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They Are Allowed to Refuse Hegseth’s Orders” And I found out why the FAA put on a ten day stop on flights and then rescinded it the same night.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, the radio opera was not a single opera, but a compilation of arias, duets, choruses, and overtures from various operas by George Frederick Handel which have been performed at the Met, to honor the 300th anniversary of his opera “Rodelinda.” Compilation episodes like this are always bittersweet – one gets to hear some of the greatest singers of all time – many of whom are retired or even dead – which can lead to grieving their loss all over again. Handel was not Bach, but he was a contemporary of Bach, so there are similarities of style. If you are wondering why a German-born composer transplanted to England wrote so many Italian operas (and oratorios), it’s because at that time in history Italian operas were all the rage in Europe and especially in England – until “The Beggar’s Opera” premiered and made them virtually obsolete overnight. This of course cramped Handel’s style – but eventually he got his revenge with “Messiah.” He didn’t write it to get revenge, and was surprised it became such a success, but it certainly did. Yesterday’s program stuck with opera written as opera, not oratorios, not even oratorios which have subsequently been successfully fully staged. Of course the music was beautiful. I’m not sure Handel could have written anything ugly if he had tried with both hands for a week. Clever, yes, but not ugly. The classic example of his tone painting is from “Messiah” – the chorus “All we like sheep (have gone astray)” – the syllable “stray” seriously goes astray, all over the staff, for several measures. Also, the meme today is a quote shared by Robert Reich last week. Since he appears to have started signing off unrelated columns with “You look great,” I wanted y’all to know why, in case I use one with that signoff. Well, off to see Virgil now. Will check in upon return.
Referred by The Smile, this story may not fully qualify s good news yet, since it’s still in the “promising” stage as opposed to “confirmed.” But if confirmed, it will be huge good news.
Well, The Root was, at least for me, correct about this story. Maybe at least in part because I’ve been there (except for the broken ribs.) If you’re expecting a Heimlich story – it’s much bigger than that.
From CBS news referred by The Smile. Nice of Bari Weiss to allow it to be published /s. Seriously, I’m not autistic nor am aware of ever having known someone who was (though I did have a co-worker with Tourette’s for a while – didn’t bother me) but I do have enough empathy to be deeply impressed by this story.
Yesterday, the radio opera was an “opera-ballet” from the 18th century by Jean Philippe Rameau called “Les Fêtes d’Hébé.” The series has a more dignified translation, but I just call it “Hebe’s Parties.” Hebe, the goddess of youth, finds the gods “insincere” (which I assume is code for “too old” – sounds like the DNC) and comes to earth to seek more fun among humans. The three acts are unrelated episodes, though each symbolizes a different “lyric art”, and comprises both singing and dancing. Rameau had quite the sense of humor and was also apparently not afraid of anyone – one of his operas which Virgil and I saw in Santa Fe (yeah, it’s been a minute) is called “Platée” and features a female swamp creature who thinks she is a femme fatale, so when Jupiter, looking to set up an elaborate joke to take Juno’s mind off of his infidelities, proposes to her, she is sucked in, and the joke works – Juno, who comes to the “wedding” to catch him, sees the “bride” and cracks up laughing. The reason I share this as an example of Rameau’s fearlessness is that he wrote it for a royal wedding, in which the actual bride, though highly aristocratic, was known for her lack of good looks. And he got away with it. Today’s feature is not daring, it’s just for fun, and was staged by the Opera Comique because the conductor, a Baroque specialist, wanted to conduct it to celebrate his 80th birthday. (Conductors do tend to live long and prosper – one theory as to why is that the upper body exercise, although not terribly strenuous, is sufficient to strengthen the heart. Of course it doesn’t work for everyone. But it does for many.) Anyway, the music was lovely. There is a 59-second clip on YouTube which shows snippets of a variety of scenes while playing just the main theme which shows up in the prologue and every act.
This story is unsourced other than the DU member who posted it – but it is good news and I think we can all agree with the point made at the end.
This is exciting to me. I suspect it may not replace implants, because hearing loss at older ages may not be genetic (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t genetic in my mother abd grandmother, because I don’t have it, and for bothe of them the onset was at 10 years minimum younger than I am.) But for eople as young as those in this story it could well be genetic, and I would expect gene therapy to be a lot less invasive than implants.
Glenn Kirschner – Mark Meadows: NC voter fraud; contempt of Congress; treasonous text messages. Is he above the law?
Tim Ryan – Last Speech to Congress ( Steve Schmidt)
Ojeda Live – Marjorie Sinks to a NEW LOW (WRT the Fourteenth, Section 3 does not address how it is to be determined that someone has engaged in insurrection. At the time the amendment was ratified, it was obvious – it was participation in the Confederate Army. I do get it that Congress, and also Secretaries of State, to want something like a Court verdict before expelling anyone, or striking anyone off the ballot. I don’t like it, but I do get it.)
Liberal Redneck – On the Absence of Empathy
Couple Rescues Baby Sparrow And Turns Their Living Room Into A Habitat
While last Tuesday’s gut-wrenching testimony of trauma, terrorism, treason and tears by Police Officers Gonell, Fanone, Hodges and Dunn might not be enough to change the minds of many in the GQP – it did a great deal to restore my faith in humanity.
Consequently, I believe it’s worthwhile to extend that good feeling with today’s offering.
[Editor’s Note: You might want to keep a tissue close by.]
A video taken by someone with the handle “McLiez” and posted on Facebook has been viewed over a million times and shared over 170,000 times – and deservedly so!
It’s just a minute-long clip taken of cars stuck in traffic. But a driver in one of the cars (believed to be in the Philippines) captured the most heart-warming video of a small boy holding a cloth that he most likely uses to clean car windows to earn some money. He approaches a stopped car with another small boy in the back. The child in the car rolls down his window and starts chatting with the boy. He then gives the child in the street a small toy he has so he could play with it, and the small boy is clearly delighted!
As the boys play with each other, the one in the car then gives him a large dirt-digging excavator toy to play with. When the child in the street later tries to return the toys, the boy in the car refuses to take them back.
Not sure what to do, but wanting to show his gratitude, the boy in the street goes to get a bag of snacks that he shares with the boy in the car. As the traffic starts moving again, the two boys wave to each other.
[NOTE: This link to a Facebook posting is NOT the original Facebook posting by McLiez, but one from the “India Times”. I’ve never belonged to Facebook and I’m not sure if the original is even available anymore. But I thought I should give Facebook some type of credit for posting it.]
In the same spirit I thought it’d be worthwhile to share a “Bonus” video of the kindness of one child shown to another, when a little boy comes to the aid of a clearly distraught autistic child on the first day of school.
I doubt children this age know what “compassion” or “empathy” even means. But more importantly, they know how to show it and share it with their fellow human beings.
You probably noticed that I left out the word “Fun” from my usual intro. It wasn’t a typo – it was purposeful. But that’s not because this is a sad tale. In fact, it’s a story about Joe Biden that most of you are familiar with. But I wanted to flesh it out a bit by sharing a couple of items you might have missed.
Perhaps the two most frequent words used to describe Vice-President Joe Biden are “decent” and “empathy”. Not only are they well-deserved appellations, but those two words are totally foreign to Trump.
Most, if not all, of us are familiar with the backstory of the tragedies that Joe Biden has endured with exemplary grace and dignity. He lived through the unimaginable tragedy of losing his first wife and 13-month-old-daughter, Naomi, in a car crash in 1972, just a few months after being elected to the U.S. Senate. His sons Beau and Hunter, 3 and 2 at the time, were in the back seat, seriously injured and hospitalized for days. Sen. Joe Biden had just turned 30.
From that tragedy, Biden nurtured his innate ability to connect with other people and show compassion for their thoughts, emotions and feelings. It was Pres. Obama who said while endorsing Biden’s run: “When Joe talks to families who’ve lost a hero, we hear another parent of an American veteran; a kindred spirit; somebody whose faith has endured the hardest loss there is.”
It was that ability so clearly demonstrated in this candid talk in 2012 to military families and friends who had lost a loved one, speaking openly of the anger, questions of faith and wounds that really don’t ever fully heal.
That speech made me realize what kind of man Joe Biden is. While long, the entire talk is worth watching, partly because you see him struggle to put into words his thoughts and emotions.
For me, the most moving, yet comforting, moment occurs at about the 16:10 mark:
“There will come a day, I promise you and your parents, as well, when the thought of your son or daughter or your husband or wife brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen. My prayer for you is that day will come sooner or later…. But the only thing I have more experience than you in is this: I’m telling you it will come.”
As most of us have come to learn, Biden endured hardships while growing up from a serious stutter affliction. It’s one of the reasons he gives his phone number to any child he encounters who stutters (a tribulation that affects 70 million people worldwide), telling them they belong to the same club.
You might recently remember one such child, Brayden Harrington, that Joe first met on a rope line:
You also might well remember seeing Brayden give Biden a must-watch endorsement at the DNC Convention.
But I really want to share a recent video of Brayden showing the impact Biden’s empathy has had on him while giving Joe a “pep talk”. The kid is amazing!
To close, I want to share a very brief video from two years ago of Biden meeting and comforting Parkland families who lost loved one in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting. It was recently re-posted by the videographer because he wants to be sure that Biden is elected, and rightfully believes his empathy is one of his strongest assets.
The clip ends with Biden shaking hands with Debra Hixon, who explains she’s the widow of Chris Hixon, the heroic coach who died trying to save students in the shooting.
But after this exchange while Biden is walking away, Hixon’s son, Corey – a special-needs boy, runs after him for a hug. And Joe Biden’s reaction is just what we’d expect from a man with such boundless empathy.
While he wasn’t my first or second choice, I can honestly said we can be proud and are blessed to have him as our candidate …
I'm one of those who frets that the election will be much closer than the polls indicate. That in a world where non-voters are never targeted by Dems, huge turnout could contain multitudes. So I'm dropping some old footage of Joe Biden here: pic.twitter.com/74UROClgbh
Steve Schmidt)