Glenn Kirschner – Jack Smith informs Donald Trump HE IS A TARGET of the grand jury’s Jan. 6 insurrection investigation
The Lincoln Project – Trump’s TPUSA Speech in 91 Seconds
Thom Hartmann – Is Nationalizing Big Oil The Only Way To Stop Climate Change?
Liberal Redneck – Hollywood and the Summer of the Strike
Tiny Kittens Have Been Inseparable Since They Were Born
Beau – Let’s talk about bad headlines, Russia, and Ukraine….
Yesterday, I got an email from John Pavlovitz – not that that’s unusual, and some of y’all get them too. But for those who don’t, I wanted to share some words from this one. He is featuring aome new merchandise specifically for Pride Month – including just about anything you can put a message on – and the messages are well said. “God is Non-Binary.” “LGBTQ Christian isn’t an Oxymoron. Hateful Christian is.” “We Say Gay.” More power to him! i also got a package with a bunch of AAA batteries, which I needed. My little (but powerful) flashlights all take three AAA batteries, and I have at least one in every room. And I was down to my last two batteries – which is the same as being completely out when you need three. And those flashlights are not just for power failures. My home was built in 1956, and in any building that age, every piece of furniture placed against a wall will lean in slightly – not enough to be dangerous, but enough for small items like beads and knitting needles to roll or slide off… and then roll or bounce into dark corners. I have a number of “grabber” tools to retrieve them with, but first I have to see them. And yesterday was also the first day of that cringey time of year when, for a month anf a half, Donald Trump** and i are the same age. At least it will be over soon.
Cartoon – 16 0616Cartoon.jpg
Short Takes –
The Daily Beast – Former Fox Executive: Is It Time for the FCC to Take a Close Look at Rupert Murdoch’s Licenses?
Quote – I was a Fox executive from 1990 to 1997 helping to build Fox Broadcasting Company, the long sought fourth free-over-the-air commercial TV network…. In addition to Fox Broadcasting, Fox owns cable channels including Fox News Channel and 28 local broadcast TV stations. The Federal Communications Commission has almost no regulatory authority over cable channels like Fox News but heavily regulates local broadcast stations that use public airwaves. Section 308 (b) of the Communications Act requires the FCC to assess the character qualifications of parties licensed to broadcast on the public airwaves. The FCC considers conduct at the broadcast station and elsewhere. The FCC has revoked broadcast licenses based on character issues.
Click through for story. Now, if somene were to start a petition to the FCC on this, that would be a petition I could get behind.
Letters from an American – June 13, 2023
Quote – [Fox News Channel] has been hemorrhaging viewers since it fired Tucker Carlson, a threat to its bottom line that might have been behind its chyron tonight attacking Biden by claiming “WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED.” In statements similar to the one from FNC, right-wing pundits spent the day flooding Twitter and other social media with furious insistence that Trump is being unfairly prosecuted, followed by attacks on former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and with allegations that there are tapes of President Biden accepting bribes—allegations that Biden openly laughed at this evening.
Click through for more (As always, click “Continue reading” on the pop-up). Yes, I’m beating up on Fox today. I’m aware that others exist, such as OAN and Sinclair, but Fox is still the most prominent.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Interview w/comedian Buddy Winston (part 2): writing for Jay Leno & appearing on … Bill O’Reilly?
The Lincoln Project – Brand Unsafe
Robert Reich – The First Step to Fixing the Electoral College
Parody Project – The Normalization Song
Mama Dog Who Lost Her Puppies Was Heartbroken Until She Got Kittens
Beau – Let’s talk about the Durham report….
Yesterday, The radio opera was Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Of course everyone knows the legend of Don Juan, the great seducer, and that the story has many variations, including laughs in some (Mozart called it a “drama giocoso,”and yes, that’s “joke” in the “giocoso.” It’s one of the operas studied in “Music Appreciation” classes, and it’s frequently performed, and I really thought I knew it until a week or two ago the broadcast had a “Singers’ Round Table” – a feature in which singers discuss how they appraoch their roles, how they prepare, what the latest director has come up with, and the like. Two of the singers were two of the sopranos in this broadcast, and one of them caught my attention by saying (of course I paraphrase) “It’s not just that Giovann’s a bad man – its that he ruins everything. He comes into a room and cjaos comes with him.” Prior to this, I had not thought of Don Giovanni as a Republican. Now that it’s been pointed out, I definitely see it. Seeing Giovanni as a Republican gave me an additional new insight – at the end when he defies the Commendatore’s ghost, he’s often portrayed as “Well, he’s awful, but atleast he’s brave.” No, he’s not. To be bravr, one needs to overcome fear, and the only thing he’s afraid of is looking weak, which he thinks he would if he admits he’s wrong or even just not perfect. So he caves in to that fear and just doubles down. And incidentally enters the “find out” stage of FAFO. Incidentally, I learned of a new job in the world of opera. In addition to the Director, most operas require a chorus director, and many require a fight director. But this is the first I have heard of an “intimacy director.” I wonder what the qualifications are. Well, I’m off to see Virgil. I’ll report my safe return as soon as I can.
Cartoon – 21 Alexander Nevsky
Short Takes –
Crooks & Liars – George Santos’ Comms Director Roots For His Expulsion, Resigns
Quote – She resigned by email, writing “Unfortunately, you never took one point of professional advice given.”… “With respect for my colleagues, the people of New York, and most importantly, myself, I am honored to tender my resignation,” Woomer said in her resignation email.
Click through for story. Oddly, she doesn’r seem to have said anything about not getting paid. But I doubt she did. At least not in full.
Wonkette – Of Course The ‘Homeless Vets Displaced For Immigrants’ Story Is A Hoax
Quote – At no point did any of these people take a moment to ask themselves, “Why would anyone do something that would obviously garner so much bad publicity by kicking unhoused veterans out of those specific hotels when there are obviously many, many other hotels and motels throughout New York state?” Clearly, not one of them considered the wise words of the great American jurist Judge Judith Sheindlin here — “If it doesn’t make sense, it’s usually not true.” It did not make sense. And it wasn’t true, which was quickly discovered after the hotels in question were asked about it. The whole thing was a hoax cooked up by Sharon Toney-Finch, whose only excuse now is that she thought it would help the imaginary veterans who were kicked out of their imaginary hotel rooms in order to be cruelly displaced by imaginary immigrants.
Click through. I’d seen this a couple of places and decided to share it from Wonkette, which gives it the sarcasm it deserves.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Judge sets court date to school defendant Trump on protective order to guard against Trump’s threats
PoliticsGirl – This Mother’s Day
The Lincoln Project – Rick Reacts: CNN Town Hall
Ring of Fire – Eric Trump Threatens To Sue Rachel Maddow For Exposing His Disgusting Connections
Cat Needs A Family Who Will Understand His Obsession With…Cheese
Beau – Let’s talk about trusted news sources and media literacy….
Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Aïda.” It was commissioned by the Egyptian government of the time to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. IIRC, it was a bit on the late side, but it was a hit anyway (which suggests that Egyptians of the day didn’t know their history much more accurately than we know ours today.) I got to thinking about how tastes can change over time. A hundred years ago, Gounod’s “Faust” was so popular, and therefore performed so often, that one critic nicknamed the Met “Das Faustspielhaus” – a pun on Wagner’s “Festspielhaus” at Bayreuth (a story in its own right). Both Aïda and Boheme existed (1874 and 1895 respectively), but they weren’t all that popular. Fifty years ago, the three most performed operas at the Met were Aïda, Boheme, and Carmen, in that order. The ABCs of opera. Today, Boheme is the most performed, followed by Aïda, and there may not be a clear third. This is not a bad thing. If tastes didn’t change, new operas would not have a chance of success. But I digress. Aïda is a love trianglein which all three apexes are doomed. Aïda is a POW from the last war between Egypt and Ethiopia, and has been given to Amneris, the Pharaoh’s daughter as a slave. Both are (secretly) in love with Radames, a general in the Egyptian army. Egypt receives intelligence that Ethiopia is planning to attack them, and decides to hit Ethiopia back first.Radames is chosen to command the attack. Egypt wins and Radames brings home prisoners, including Aïda’s father. There is a huge triumphal scene, notorious for the number and variety of animals on stage, inclidng a march which is so famous and so often played on its own that you have probably heard it. The Pharaoh rewards Radames for his success by giving him Amneris’s hand in marriage (not exactly what he was hoping for.) Radames and Aïda consider running away to escape this fate, but her father shows up at their meeting place before Radames does, and puts the screws to her to get Radames to tell her the Egyptian battle plan. Unwillingly, she does so, and at that moment Amneris and the High Priest show up and condemn Radames as a traitor. There’s an off stage trial, Radames does not defend himself and is condemned to be locked into a tomb (and asphyxiated.) Aïda sneaks into the tomb first and they die together while Amneris prays for peace for her soul. Aïda’s music in the final scene is written in such a way that musicologists have suggested it demonstrates she has been waiting for him in the tomb long enough to already be noticeably low on oxygen, and I think they are on to something. Totally unrelated: I bombed the Conversation’s quiz this week – only 4 correct out of eight. Told you I couldn’t keep it up. 🙂
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
The Brighter Side – Breakthrough antibody kills all known variants of SARS-CoV-2
Quote – Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital have made a significant breakthrough with the development of a new antibody. This antibody, during laboratory examinations, effectively neutralized all presently recognized variants of SARS-CoV-2, which includes all known variants of Omicron.
Click through for some medical detail. However, this is not a journal, so it’s pretty well simplified.
Crooks & Liars – Shocker: NYT Headline Admits Biden Didn’t Do Anything Wrong
Quote – And in a rare turn of events, the NY Times ran this story with a completely unambiguous headline: “House Republican Report Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by President Biden.” Man bites dog! It’s a low bar, but I’ll take it.
Click through for a bit more. This is good news, but it’s still sad when an accurate headline is itself newsworthy for its accuracy alone.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump posts provable lies; prosecutors should seek gag order
The Lincoln Project – Trusted
Thom Hartmann – Presidents Who Were Traitors – You Won’t Believe Number Three (Note from JD – you will too believe #3. All of them. And you won’t ne surprised by any of them.)
Ring of Fire – Kevin McCarthy Made Secret Deal With Tucker Carlson To Become House Speaker
Watch This Dog’s Face Completely Transform
Beau – Let’s talk about Texas, training, and too much…. (Righteous rant. Hanky alert.)
Glenn Kirschner’s recap for April would have sppeared today. I was able to find a substitute.
Talking Feds with Harry Litman – BRAND NEW Trump Criminal Probes are Beginning ACROSS the Country
Sen. Whitehouse Delivers Opening Statement at Judiciary Cmte Hearing on Supreme Court Ethics Reform+
MSNBC – Democrats have a ‘legislative secret agent’ to fight GOP on debt ceiling crisis
Farron Balanced – Fox Feared Release Of Disgusting Tucker Carlson Texts So They Fired Him
Parody Project – A DAY IN THE LIFE (of a Swindler)
Tiny Shivering Kitten Gets Huge And Floofy
Beau – Let’s talk about understanding term polling….