{"id":46279,"date":"2021-12-19T06:39:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-19T14:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=46279"},"modified":"2021-12-18T15:40:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T23:40:47","slug":"open-thread-for-december-19-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2021\/12\/19\/open-thread-for-december-19-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread for December 19, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, the opera was Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” in English, in an abridged version so kids are able to sit through it. The costumes and puppets (yes, puppets) were designed by Julie Taymor, who is probably most famous for having designed the live stage version of “The Lion King.” If you see pictures of the production,<\/a> you don’t even have to know what’s going on to realize how appealing it would be to kids of all ages just visually. Sort of like Maurice Sendak on acid. The singer\/actor playing the birdcatcher really got into the spirit, producing in addition to his lines a dizzying array of bird calls – including Woody Woodpecker’s laugh (I think we’re all old enough to remember that, though some kids might have wondered what was so funny to their parents… or grandparents.)<\/p>\n

Cartoon – 19 1219Cartoon.jpg<\/p>\n

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Short Takes<\/p>\n

Axios – Capitol rioter who threw fire extinguisher at police gets more than 5 years in prison<\/a>
\nQuote – “It has to be made clear … trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers is going to be met with certain punishment,” said [U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan]. “There are going to be consequences. I\u2019m not making an example of you. I\u2019m sentencing you for the conduct you did.”
\nClick through for a little more.<\/a> I have seen a claim (in at least one place that should know better) that it was a “hydrant” he threw. It wasn’t There is a difference.<\/p>\n

Crooks and Liars – Chauvin Pleads Guilty To Federal Civil Rights Charge<\/a>
\nQuote – [R]eporter Julia Jena\u00e9… tweeted: “#DerekChauvin agrees to the plea details just read in open court. Max sentence of 300 months = 25 yrs. He\u2019s already serving 22.5 year sentence for 2nd degree murder. These would run simultaneous, fed case adds 2.5 years. He faced life in prison but for the plea agreement”
\nClick through for details.<\/a> That puts him behind bars until he is seventy. There may be some life left in hom, but no police department is going to hire a 70-year-old.<\/p>\n

The New Yorker – A Person of the Year: Jamie Raskin<\/a> [hanky alert]
\nQuote – This bloody assault, which threatened constitutional democracy and the nation\u2019s democratically elected leaders, came just one day after the burial of Thomas Bloom Raskin, the congressman\u2019s beloved twenty-five-year-old son. At the Capitol, Raskin told me, he could still hear the sounds of the day before: the prayers of mourning, the clods of dirt shovelled onto the casket. Meanwhile, maniacs shouting deranged slogans and threats were storming down the hallways of Congress in search of enemies.
\nClick through for story.<\/a> If paywalled out, let me know and I will send a PDF. Rep. Raskin has been going through what I canonly describe as trial by fire … and he is passing the test. Not without pain.<\/p>\n

Food For Thought:
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Yesterday, the opera was Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” in English, in an abridged version so kids are able to sit through it. The costumes and puppets (yes, puppets) were designed by Julie Taymor, who is probably most famous for having designed the live stage version of “The Lion King.” If you see pictures of the […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":43905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[3704,4268,4115,3748],"class_list":["post-46279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","tag-cartoon","tag-insurrection","tag-justice","tag-racism","category-35-id","category-3-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}