Yesterday, President Biden sent his budget to Congress – a trifling $7.3 trillion. I wouldn’t count on Congres, particularly the House, to act constructively. Also, I learned VP Harris will visit Colorado today. No, I won’t be there, but I expect to get a report from CPR today or tomorrow. And I found a link to the one-woman show about Ann Coulter. It was made in 2020, and will be available through 2026. It runs abou an hour and 53 minutes. If you have never seen it, you may want to – and if you have seen it, you may want to see it again.
Off topic, but, if you havent, please check out the open thread for March 9 – there’s news about Carrie (not, sadly good).
I don’t doubt this would make a lot of people angry – if they would see it – which they probably won’t. “Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu’il a été proprement fait” – Balzac – usually quoted in English as “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.”
If you ever read “The 19th Magazine”, or if you saw this article in their newsletter, you instantly knew I would use it. Women’s History, Black History, even music history, all in one piece – of course I would.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.” If you ever hear someone claim that opera has far-fetched, hard to believe, plots, this may be the one they are thinking of. It starts with the heroine planning to elope, since her father disapproves of her suitor. The suitor is a bit late, and, unfortunately, the father bursts into her room before they have left. He threatens the suitor, who responds by attempting to prove he is not an enemy by disarming. But the gun goes off (in the script he drops or throws it to the floor, which sets it off; this production is less clear about what happens.) And the unintended bullet kills her father, who, as he dies, curses his daughter. I used to say “And from there it just gets more unlikely.” Today I wouldn’t claim it gets less likely – however, it certainly doesn’t get any more likely either. The opera is not performed all that often, not because it isn’t popular (it is), but because the soprano part is at least as difficult as anything in opera, even Wagner’s operas, and Leontyne Prices just don’t turn up every day. There are excerpts from it which are frequently recorded separately – arias for the soprano and the tenor, a male chorus with soprano obligato, a duet with the tenor and the baritone – all of which are in different ways heartbreakingly beautiful.
Just a little exercise in “compare and conatrast” here:
“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today…. History is watching. If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe is at risk. The free world will be at risk, emboldening others to what they wish to do us harm.” [President Joseph Biden, State of the Union Address, March 7, 2024]
“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.” [president Abraham Lincoln – Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862]
I did not watch or listen to the Republican response (can you blame me?), and, although some of this article has been “translated,” shall we say, it’s probably all we need to know about it.
Well, this is bad news for anyone with allergies who has ambitions of traveling into space! But I’m sure glad they found it out this way and not in use.
Yesterday, after looking into and at the State of the Union address, it was impressed upon me that someone – some journalist – some newspaper or website – should each year find out and make public all the guests invited by the legislators (and anyone else who is allowed an invite.) Legislators speak through their guests, sometimes well and sometimes not so well. But I’d like the opportunity to hear what they are all saying. Just two examples – one legislator invited the first person born through IVF in the US. My Senator Bennet invited the head of Ukrainians of Colorado. CPR News has learned and published the identities of the guests (if any) of all members of the Colorado delegation except two who had not decided. And that’s helpful. But I’d like to see more. Also yesterday, I heard from Barry Burton that Carrie has broken her leg and is in the hospital – there’s a steel bar on her femor now and a cast and a full leg brace over it. And she is not getting anywhere near the care I was getting. If anyone would like to call her, shoot me an email and I’ll send you her cell number. It’s not terribly new, but it has changed since she moved to Alabama. And in any case, thoughts and prayers will be appreciated
If you remember the Biblical story of the widow’s mite – you will have no trouble recognizing the similarity. I hope, wherever he is, that TC can see it or otherwise learn about it. (Hanky alert)
This is a referral from Wonkette. It does explain why I was going to be grieving over the Cakifornia Senate primary no matter what. I did know – because an email from Katie informed me – that losers of the primary would not be able to return to Congress. So, yes, we have lost Katie and we have lost Barbara Lee also. Of course it’s not impossible for her to run again in two years. But as a single mom who never took a penny of rich people’s money, it might be prohibitively difficult for her.
Yes, this is a BFD. And just think where it might be able to go from here. I’m thinking college football, since those players are in just as much danger from concussion as the pros – if not more, since they are younger and more fragile.
Yesterday, I learned that Ruby Johnson, a Denver granmother of color, just my age, was awarded $3.76 million, by a jury, in damages after a SWAT team invaded her home in error while she was in the shower. Now if only we can get some compensation for the woman of color in Houston who was evicted from the home she has owned and lived in for fifty years. But I’ll take whatever good news I can get. Also yesterday, at the SOTU, Joe took a page from Harry Truman’s book – He didn’t give ’em hell. He just told the truth and they thought it was hell.
I know we are all frustrated with the mainstream media. And particularly with the New York Times, which has been around for so long, and has declined so badly in such a comparatively short time, that it’s depressing. And it’s scary. Even if we are not ourselves deceived by the slants, others are and many of those who are have guns and short tempers. The Times was on the mind of two writers this week – Lucian Truscott at Salon, and Robert Hubbell on Substack.
Joyce Vance may also be a chicken farmer and a knitter in her spare time, but above all, she is a fine and experienced trial lawyer and a legal analyst. Here are her thoughts on motions and such which are happening prior to the criminal trial in Manhattan.
Yesterday, the exterminator came. After looking around inside and out, he called his office and discussed the progress, and the bottom line is we are going to try a two-month interval instead of two weeks. Yes, that’s good news, although it won’t make much, if any, financial difference – when the visits are close together, each one costs less. (And they are quite reasonable anyway.) Also, I learned that I had chosen the winning photo for next year’s calendar’s cover photo for the Natonal Parks Conservation Association. Earlier this month, I had done the same for the Nature Conservancy. I never pick winners in situations like this … and now twice in a row. But I think I know why – and it’a not a question of taste. Both groups offered three photos, of which two were purely scenic and the third included a critter (one was an adult squeaking silkmoth and the other was 3 bear cubs). With odds like that, the majority is always going to pick the critter over the still lifes. Rocks, water features, and trees just aren’t cuddly.
This is from Monday from Mary Trump. She promised updates after consulting with experts, and was hoping to provide at least some of those yesterday. It shold be possible to get to the updates from this link if she has written it yet. If it’s confusing, search for “The Good In Us”.
I’m pretty sure there’s at least one person who reads her who also watches Seth Meyers faithfully. If it’s not you, you can still catch up on Monday night’s show here.
Yesterday, my ballot for the Presidential primary arrived. The election is March 5th. I’ve been avoiding going out the front door since my hospital stay, and even more so, avoiding the porch steps (the last time I ventured on them wasthe day I came home, and that was one way only.) But with that much time, and Trinette coming Sunday, I’m sure I can wait tll then. I know for whom I am voting, and it’s only one block to fill in, and if she takes it out the same day it comes in, it should get there in time easily.
This is a crash course in foreign affairs. If that makes it sound difficult – it isn’t. And it explains a lot about how we got to this point. And it’s available for free to anyne, so you can share (you might want to mention scrolling a little for “continue reading.”)
Yesterday, Trinette came over again, to run the car, bring in mail, and take out recyclables (I didn’t have enough trash to make that worth while.) She says “Hi back, especially to Nameless.
This is late news, but as Susie Madrak points out, you wouldn’t know it, from the coverage it didn’t get. And it’s game-changing – if only it can gain traction.
Yesterday, I posted Steve Schmidt’s opinion on Robert Hur before I had seen Robert Reich’s, or, for that matter, VP Harris’s. Both pointed and worth seeing.
Because today is what it is, I am using a Superb Owl pic in lieu of the usual logo.
The SPLC’s report on the attitudes of young Americans toward guns and gun safety, compiled with assistance from the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and the Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) is complete, and can be found here. The study examined “young people’s access to guns, experiences with gun violence, feelings of safety and mental wellbeing, as well as their views on male supremacy, racial resentment and the Second Amendment.”
