Open Thread July 28 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 282025
 

Yesterday, I certainly didn’t mean to scare anyone, and I hope I didn’t. I pulled into my driveway at 4:30, but it was after 5:30 by the time I got the “home safe” post up. And a huge part of that was temperamental computers – three of them. I think it was about the fifth time trying to start it that was the charm for the desktop, and that didn’t happen until I was getting my dinner out of the crockpot. In the meantime I tried the laptop, and I got in in about five minutes, but could not open my Opera browser. I got it open with a workaround, but then it wouldn’t go to any of my speed dial sites. Finally I went to the 8.1 desktop, and managed to get it posted. I grant that some of the delay was for my personal comfort – It was 95°F outside, and I was wearing a heavy sweater (not heavy enough to keep me warm for the visit, though – it seemed unusually cold in the visitation room where it’s always colds, and Virgil thought so too.) But if my main desktop had started right up, I would have been able to post first and cool off afterwards. I suspect it was a random outage. (I certainly hope so.) Anyway the cribbage was good, and we got an update on the dog (he’s wonderful.) Late in the day, another inmate came in to use a tablet (they may use tablets for video phone calls to family/friends if the contact has a camera and mike – I don’t, and I don’t think Virgil could possibly learn to use the tablet, so I’m not planning on getting either) and Virgil said “He’s in my area. I think he’s a [jerk.] He does a lot of pissing and moaning.” and I said, “And you don’t?” and he laughed with a big smile on his face. A lovely, sunny smile. Of course that’s a big reason I fell for him in the first place, and also that we have been together so long – he can genuinely laugh at himself and enjoy it.

Heather Cox Richardson also saw the (full) South Park opener, but she discusses a lot more than that here.

Meidas Touch videos are too long for me – but here’s an article of theirs with just pictures – of Scottish protest signs.

In honor of World Tiger day, World Wildlife Fund is making four wallpaper-sized photos available for desktop or phone free. They had a contest, and the baby won it of course, but they have decided to release all four finalists. In case any cat people missed this, I wanted to share it.

How many times have you heard “Follow the money”? Joyce Vance explains exactly how real investigators accomplish that. Most of us don’t have the appropriate access to do it effectively. Senator Wyden (D-OR) does. Oregon leading again.

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Open Thread July 23 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 232025
 

Yesterday, Virgil did call, and I broke the news to him about Joe’s death. He took it well. As I said, it was not unexpected. Today is his birthday, so I also told him Happy Birthday early. I also have a card on the way to him – it has attitude, but it is perfect for him since he so often tells me I am the best thing that ever happened to him. It says “Happy Birthday from the best decision you ever made.” I’m sure it will give him a smile.

Robert Reich puts the use of non-government individuals to influence power into the context which now exists, and addresses how that is different from the lobbying system we had all become so accustomed to, and how much more it is like the reign of the “Sun King.”

This article is from Malcolm Nance’s Substack “Special Intelligence.” If you aren’t familiar with Malcolm Nance, it’s time you were, so I am also linking to the Wikipedia article on him. The dude knows what he speaks and/or writes about. And even though what he writes about here is next to impossible to take seriously, it’s still important. MAGA and/or QAnon people have taken action in the past about propositions which were too ridiculous to take seriously, and people have been endangered and hurt, even killed, by those actions.

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Open Thread July 13 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Politics
Jul 132025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Manon Lescaut” by Daniel Auber – something which I did not even know existed. I knew about “Manon” by Jules Massenet, and “Manon Lescaut” by Giacomo Puccini – which are going to be the next two operas in the radio series. All are from the same opera house in Turin, Italy, which decided to present all three in one season for comparison. You may remember I said about “The Queen of Spades” that the opera, the operetta, and the te original novella are three very different stories. Well, that’s pretty much true of Manon as well, except it’s four different stories, all three operas being adapted from the same novel. The one plot point they all have in common is that they all end with Manon being deported to Louisiana and dying there from poverty. If this strikes you as somewhat too politically appropriate, the WFMY group may have had that in mind, but the Teatre Regio probably didnt, and all three operas were recorded last October – and therefore likely scheduled some time in 2022, or even earlier. The Auber version, with a libretto by Eugene Scribe cleaned up the heroine’s morals somewhat. The other two didn’t but differ in other ways. (If you have any energy to spare, you might want to look up Eugene Scribe some time. The list of playwrights he influenced all over the western world is striking. You may never have heard of him, but you have seen plays or movies by writers he influenced.) Daniel Auber’s father and grandfather both had royal appointments, but when he was about 10, the French Revolution started and he had to find something else to make a living. What had been his hobby became his profession. So, there’s politics all over this opera. It does have spoken dialogue – the plot was not lofty enough for the Paris Opera, so it premiered at the Opera Comique, and was the first opera there with a tragic ending, preceding Bizet’s “Carmen” and probably paving the way for it – although Bizet’s librettist did not clean up the heroine’s morals, so it was still a scandal when it came along. Anyway, next week Massenet, and the following week Puccini, same story only different. The one by Auber for this week has delightful music including “bel canto.” The other two are newer, but both are also very listenable (neither of them cleaned up Manon’s morals, because by that time, Carmen had come along.) Off to see Virgil now – will check in upon return as always.

I know everyone is going to love this story, because if there’s anything we have in common besides being passionate about democracy, is being passionate about animal welfare. And I think I’m being pretty good at sticking to good news and apolitical humor for Sundays to give us a break. But if you can use more of a break, consider getting “The Smile” newsletter daily. The subscribe button is on this page.

Also referred by The Smile but either paywalled or ad-blocker-walled. From archive it’s all there.

Rocky Mountain Mike is back for a short one

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Open Thread July 7 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 072025
 

Yesterday, Trinette came by. Unless she’s out of town, she comes by on the Sunsays when I don’t visit Virgil and helps me with anything I need that is too strenuous for me. And we chat. It’s both stimulating and relaxing for me and she also enjoys it. She inspired me to put a sign up on the storm door saying “Coution: Retired person inside. Knows everything and has plenty of time to talk about it.” Yeah, someyimes it’s like that. But the keeps coming and keeps staying to hear stuff, so it can’t be all that painful.

This is a simple joke but also an allegory for something far more complex. And I recommend reading the comments too – they have some potential refinements, most of which would make an even more accurate allegory. Sigh.

The May Day Movement, which has organized prior nationwide protests, has two more events being set up. The first is for July 17 – I have mentioned it, but I don’t think I knew till now it’s being called a “Good Trouble Event” and will focus on John Lewis’s memory. The second is for September 1; it’s still in the planning stages but they are already looking for signups for it also. Yes, the two sites linked have different names, but working together is so much a part of this resistance movement, I believe all are connected.

Steve Schmidt notes that there are still decent people here, and, maybe even more necessary, people elsewhere who are aware of us.

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Open Thread July 6 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jul 062025
 

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.

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Open Thread June 22 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 222025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” which, like “The Queen of Spades” is based on a tale by Pushkin (if memory serves, this one was originally a poem, but I won’t swear to it.) The title character is a jerk, but he does get his comeuppance. Everyone loves the letter scene, which is certainly beautiful, but what stands out to me is Lenski’s aria, which is beautiful and heart wrenching, and immediately after it he gets killed in a duel. Ironically – or maybe just evidence that duels really were that ordinary – Pushkin himself died in a duel. Republicans would probably love to bring them back.

This from Newsweek was passed to me by readthesmile.com on Tuesday. I saved it for today. It’s only one company, but it’s a start – and in Idaho at that.

Granted that this from the BBC is not news – it’s more like history – but it’s good, and it’s good to know. (BTW, the BBC is now on Substack.)

I’ve been getting (and signing) petitions from this PAC. You may have been too, but just in case you haven’t and didn’t know about it, here’s some attention it’s getting.

Not what I expected to post today, but even before looking for parodies, I tripped over this at Democratic Underground If you were wishing for some Schadenfreude, here it is.

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Open Thread May 11 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 112025
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Puccini’s “Turandot” in an archived broadcast studded with stars from my youth. I always subconsciously expect it to be longer than it is, and I think that may be because the casting for it, especially the principal soprano, require singers capable of singing Wagner, whose operas are notoriously long. Anyway, it received rave reviews at the time, and rightly so.

From Democratic Underground. Video in Italian with English titles. No telling how much, if any, impact it will have. But he’s not wasting time.

This from goodgoodgood – well, you’ll see. As much time and energy as we have all probably sped worrying about 3D “printed” guns, this reallt is a ray of sunshine.

John D Cundle

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Open Thread April 24 2025

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 242025
 

Yesterday, The Mango Moron accused Volodymyr Zelensky of “sabotaging [the] U.S. peace plan for Ukraine” because of course he did. And a disagreement between Elon Musk and Scott Bessent “erupted into [a] West Wing shouting match.”

There’s a reason why Dan Froomkin calls his Substack “Press Watch” – because it’s all about, not just truth, but how truth should be presented. In other words – it should be read by journalists so that we don’t have to read it. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening. This article is a case in point.

I’ve never been a “first let’s kill all the lawyers” person. I do appreciate the jokes, and I may just tell one (with a slight twist) – but the lawyers we see on YouTube such as Glenn Kirschner, Michael Popok, and Harry Litman are honest and dedicated defenders of how the rule of law is needed to – and needs to – define and maintain democracy. This from Harry Litman I’m going to call a full disclosure post. (And may I suggest that the signers are in general also lawyers who can be trusted.) OK, joke. A man goes into a curio shop (in a place like Galveston, Atlantic City, or San Francisco – you’ll see why) and is fascinated by a brass rat. The owner advises him the rat has mysterious properties and warns him the price is non-refundable. He buys it anyway and leaves and continues walking around the city. Soon he notices he is being followed by rats, and that the number is increasing. As he continues walking the number of rats continues to grow, and he starts to run. The rats also start running, and there continue to be more and more of them. He speeds up and runs to the beach. When he gets there, he throws the brass rat as far out into the ocean as he can. All the rates follow it and drown. He then returns tot he curio shop, where the owner says, “I told you no refunds.” The man says, “I don’t want a refund. I want to know if you have any brass Trump** voters.”

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