{"id":59738,"date":"2026-07-20T05:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=59738"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:54:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T22:54:40","slug":"open-thread-july-20-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2026\/07\/20\/open-thread-july-20-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread July 20 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, after watching I Puritani, I ordered a DVD of Lorin Maazel’s opera “1984,” which arrived Saturday. Maazel was best known as a conductor, but he alo played the violin and composed.\u00a0 He (and\/or his stage manager and director) was certainly able to pull together a stellar cast – Simon Keenlyside, Richard Margison, Diana Damrau, Lawrence Brownlee, and more. Jeremy Irons (in absentia – he taped it) was the voice on the telescreen. The only less familiar name there is Richard Margison -I’m aware of him because he is agenuine heldentenor<\/em> who doesn’t look terribly heroic – which makes him perfect for O’Brien. (He’d also be a stunning Peter Grimes, though I can’t find a record of his having sung it.) He’s better known in Canada, his home country, than here. It’s on two DVDs, so I may not watch both in the same day. We’ll see.<\/p>\n

I have to throw in that someone referred yo Mitch McConnel as “Schr\u00f6dinger’s Senator.”<\/p>\n

I have a question for y’all. I’m catching up on pet video so I may have a couple of months worth again. As you know, many rescues are of abandoned animals, one I just picked up is if an animal who was “abandoned” because ICE deported his family. Should I put a hanky alert on it (and on similar ones)?<\/p>\n

Well, this is close to home<\/a> for me. There used to be a theory – or a superstition – that events come in threes. I hope that works for this. We could all use a little break. I also hope this victim recovers fully. “Lower body” is pretty vague – and I’m visualizing things lik a broken hip, a broken pelvis, even a broken femur.<\/p>\n

I envy anyone who has time or energy for hiking in the woods<\/a>, or even dealing with a yard. But you may know and care about someone who does. And precaution are always easier than remedies.<\/p>\n

Archived from The Guardian<\/a>. When I read the allegation, I thought, “Oh, he probably donated money to help the starving in Gaza.” Bingo.<\/p>\n