;)
October 28, 2022
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, was hospitalized after he was assaulted by someone who broke into the couple's residence in San Francisco early on Friday morning, a spokesman for Ms. Pelosi said. 'Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi,' Drew Hammill, the spokesman, said in a statement on Friday. 'The assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation.' Mr. Hammill said Mr. Pelosi, 82, was expected to make a full recovery. Ms. Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., with her protective detail at the time of the break-in, the Capitol Police said in a statement." ~~~
~~~ CNN is liveupdating developments here: "Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to a statement from Speaker Pelosi's spokesperson. He is expected to make a full recovery, it said.... Paul Pelosi was able to call 911 at the start of the attack at his home in San Francisco, according to a law enforcement source and another source familiar with the matter. Pelosi managed to keep the line open and the dispatcher could hear a conversation in the background, according to the law enforcement source. Pelosi was talking in code, that source said, providing enough detail so that the operator overhearing it could understand that something was wrong. At the same time Pelosi seemed to be trying not to make it obvious to the intruder that he had an open line, the source said. The dispatcher could hear Pelosi speaking about what was going on and dispatched police to check on the house, the source said....
"The man who allegedly attacked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband early Friday posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid-19 vaccines, the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack.... Last year, David DePape posted links on his Facebook page to multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen. Other posts included transphobic images and linked to websites claiming Covid-19 vaccines were deadly.... Two days after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing George Floyd, DePape wrote that the trial was 'a modern lynching,' falsely indicating that Floyd died of a drug overdose. He also posted content about the 'Great Reset' -- the sprawling conspiracy theory that global elites are using coronavirus to usher in a new world order in which they gain more power and oppress the masses.... [The s]uspect [is] ... to be booked on charges including attempted homicide, assault and elder abuse[.]... The man ... tried to tie ... up [Paul Pelosi] 'until Nancy got home,' according to two sources.... When the police arrived at the residence, the attacker said he was 'waiting for Nancy.'" ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is live-updating developments here.
~~~ Marie: MSNBC is reporting that the assailant, who attacked Mr. Pelosi with a hammer, was searching for Speaker Pelosi. He was shouting, "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?" which is reminiscent of the January 6 insurrections calls for "Nancy! Nancy!" If true, the call for the speaker makes the San Francisco attack a federal crime.
Emma Brown & Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "A week after the 2020 election, as Donald Trump raged over what he claimed was rampant fraud, officials in a rural county in southern Georgia [Coffee County] received a disturbing report from the employee who ran their elections. New voting machines in use across the state could 'very easily' be manipulated to flip votes from one candidate to another, she claimed at a meeting of the county elections board, and ballots could be scanned and counted more than once.... The elections board meeting -- a gathering of eight people in an unremarkable building 200 miles from Atlanta -- set off an extraordinary sequence of events that plunged the GOP enclave into the middle of a multistate effort by prominent Trump allies to gain access to voting machines in search of purported evidence that the election was rigged.... In at least seven ... counties in four states, including Coffee, local officials acting without a court order or subpoena allegedly gave outsiders access to the machines or their data.... Experts say the events in Coffee County are a potent example of the rising threat posed by insiders who undermine election security in the name of protecting it." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It takes only a couple of dots to connect Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton to David DePape, the man who (allegedly) attacked Paul Pelosi:
Misty Hamptom—•—Donald Trump—•—David DePape
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of the Justice Department's most experienced national security prosecutors has joined the team overseeing the intensifying investigation of classified documents at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and private club, people familiar with the matter said. National security law experts interviewed by The Washington Post say prosecutors appear to have amassed evidence in the case that would meet some of the criteria for bringing charges against the former president -- an unprecedented action that they said likely would only happen if the Justice Department believes it has an extremely strong case. David Raskin,who served for many years as a senior federal prosecutor in New York City, and more recently has worked as a prosecutor in Kansas City, Mo., has been quietly assisting in the investigation into Trump and his aides...."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben Casselman of the New York Times: "The U.S. economy grew slowly over the summer, adding to fears of a looming recession -- but also keeping alive the hope that one might be avoided. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, returned to growth in the third quarter after two consecutive quarterly contractions, according to government data released on Thursday. But consumer spending slowed as inflation ate away at households' buying power, and the sharp rise in interest rates led to the steepest contraction in the housing sector since the first months of the pandemic. The report underscored the delicate balance facing the Federal Reserve as it tries to rein in the fastest inflation in four decades." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A Tennessee man was sentenced on Thursday to seven and a half years in prison for dragging a police officer protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, into an angry pro-Trump crowd that brutally assaulted the officer. The man, Albuquerque Cosper Head, pleaded guilty in March to assaulting the officer, Michael Fanone, who has emerged as an outspoken advocate for the officers who were subjected to the mob violence on Jan. 6. The sentence was one of the most severe penalties handed down so far in the Justice Department's investigation of the Capitol attack. As part of his plea, Mr. Head, a 43-year-old construction worker, admitted that during the violence outside the Capitol, he grabbed Mr. Fanone around the neck and told the crowd around him, 'I got one!' Mr. Head then forcibly hauled Mr. Fanone down the Capitol steps and into the mob, where he was beaten, kicked and attacked with a stun gun. Some in the crowd tried to strip Mr. Fanone of his service weapon as one rioter threatened to kill him with his own gun." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "The House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol is wrapping up its review of more than a million pages of Secret Service documents and plans to bring in top agents and officials from the agency to testify in the coming weeks, multiple sources tell CNN. The widening list, which sources say includes about a half dozen witnesses, indicates the committee is still pursuing answers from the agency on a number of fronts, including what it knew about threats ahead of the attack, what ... Donald Trump knew about armed protestors heading to the Capitol, and how it responded to testimony about Trump's altercation with his security detail that day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Who We Saw While Hanging at the Courthouse. Kaitlin Collins, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's legal defense team and prosecutors handling the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation met at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, Thursday morning in a secret dispute related to the unprecedented investigation. CNN spotted the lawyers -- including James Trusty, Evan Corcoran and Lindsey Halligan for Trump, and prosecutor Julie Edelstein and several others from the Justice Department who are known to be on the case -- heading into a sealed proceeding before Chief Judge Beryl Howell at the federal courthouse on Thursday. Their appearance in Washington is notable because this legal team typically appears in court in Florida or New York on the documents investigation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A full federal appeals court denied on Thursday ... Donald J. Trump's attempt to block Congress from gaining access to his tax returns, leaving in place a three-judge panel's ruling that a federal law gives a House committee chairman broad authority to request them despite Mr. Trump's status as a former president.... Mr. Trump's legal team ... is very likely to appeal to the Supreme Court." A CNN report is here.
Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: "Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a friend of ... Donald J. Trump standing trial on charges of acting as an undisclosed foreign agent, has sought to portray himself as ... a businessman managing big egos, upstart young leaders and political neophytes jockeying for influence in the Trump campaign and in the Middle East. On Thursday, federal prosecutors tried to undermine that image woven over nearly four days of testimony. What Mr. Barrack had presented to the jury as mediation, behind-the-scenes management of 'palace intrigue' or mere 'puffery' were reframed, during the government's cross-examination, as underhanded, opportunistic and deceptive. Mr. Barrack, 75, is accused of working for the United Arab Emirates without informing the attorney general. Prosecutors say that, at the direction of the Emiratis, Mr. Barrack used his access to Mr. Trump to expand the Persian Gulf nation's influence in the United States, and in turn passed sensitive information about the Trump administration to Emirati officials."
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna [Romney] McDaniel on Thursday mocked the speaking abilities of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate who is recovering from a stroke, and President Biden, who grew up with a stutter." MB: I am curious to know why Romney-McD didn't mock the speaking ability of the president* -- who doesn't admit to any speech disability as do Fetterman & Biden -- who spoke of the "oranges of the [Mueller] investigation" or his remarks about "Thighland." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kate Conger & Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "On Thursday night, [Elon] Musk closed his $44 billion deal to buy the social media service [Twitter].... He also began cleaning house, with at least four top Twitter executives -- including the chief executive and chief financial officer -- getting fired on Thursday. Mr. Musk had arrived at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday and met with engineers and ad executives. The closing of the deal, which followed months of drama and legal challenges as Mr. Musk changed his mind about buying the company, sets Twitter on an uncertain course." An ABC News report is here.
Michelle Boorstein & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "Longtime watchdogs of antisemitism say there is nothing new about the kinds of derogatory comments about Jews that the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West..., Donald Trump, sundry far-right political candidates and others have made in recent weeks. But what has struck some experts is how blatant the comments about Jews are at a time when incidents of harassment, vandalism and violence against them have been at their highest levels since at least the 1970s. Recent data already showed that a majority of American Jews fear violence against them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sarah Shaffi of the Guardian: "An article by John Steinbeck about American democracy, written 70 years ago, will be published in English for the first time this week. The piece, titled How About McCarthyism? was originally published in 1954 in French in Le Figaro Littéraire, although Steinbeck wrote it in English. The piece is being published in English in the Strand Magazine, a US-based print magazine that publishes short fiction, articles and interviews. The piece, said Andrew Gulli, managing editor, suggests that American democracy has always and will in the future face threats from within, but in the end will emerge stronger."
November Election
Michigan House. Thomas Beaumont of the AP: "Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed and plans to campaign for Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the first time ... [Cheney, has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat. Cheney, of Wyoming, announced her support for the two-term House member from Holly, Michigan, in a statement by the Slotkin campaign that notes she plans to headline a campaign event with Slotkin in the Lansing-area district next Tuesday. Slotkin is competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan's 7th Congressional District. Their race is considered a toss-up by both sides and one of the Republicans' chief targets in their campaign to win the House majority on Nov. 8."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~ ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "President Biden criticized Vladimir Putin for nuclear brinkmanship Thursday, hours after the Russian leader downplayed the chance that the Kremlin would use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. 'If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it? Why does he talk about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon?' Biden said during a cable news interview.... The United States and allies slammed Russia for wasting the time of the U.N. Security Council and spreading conspiracies for again raising its accusation that the U.S. has 'military biological programs' in Ukraine.... Russia would target 'quasi-civilian infrastructure' in space if Moscow believes it served military purposes, said Konstantin Vorontsov, a Russian official at the United Nations on Wednesday.... More than 70,000 people have been evacuated from the occupied southern city of Kherson and the surrounding area, a Moscow-backed regional official said in a TV interview Thursday, ahead of an advance by Ukrainian troops." Marc Santora of the New York Times: "With Ukrainian forces bearing down on the occupied port city of Kherson this week, the Kremlin's puppet rulers dispatched a team to an 18th-century stone cathedral on a special mission -- to steal the bones of Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin. The memory of the 18th-century conqueror is vivid for those in the Kremlin bent on restoring the Russian imperium. It was Potemkin who persuaded his lover, Catherine the Great, to annex Crimea in 1783. The founder of Kherson and Odesa, he sought the creation of a 'New Russia,' a dominion that stretched across what is now southern Ukraine along the Black Sea. When President Vladimir V. Putin invaded Ukraine in February with the goal of restoring part of a long-lost empire, he invoked Potemkin's vision.... The destruction of the cities that Potemkin helped build, [historian Simon Montefiore] said, has cast Putin in the role of destroying those earlier triumphs." Way, Way Beyond Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "Mars has a lot of craters. Now it has two new ones -- gouged by rocks that slammed into the planet late last year.... But what has scientists buzzing -- to the point that NASA scheduled a news conference Thursday to highlight the discovery, detailed in two papers published in the journal Science -- is that the crater-making impacts were documented by two NASA spacecraft, an orbiter and a lander." News Lede New York Times: "Jerry Lee Lewis, the hard-driving rockabilly artist whose pounding boogie-woogie piano and bluesy, country-influenced vocals helped define the sound of rock 'n' roll on hits like 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' and 'Great Balls of Fire,' and whose incendiary performing style expressed the essence of rock rebellion, died on Friday at his home in DeSoto County, Miss., south of Memphis. He was 87."
Netherlands. Christine Chung of the New York Times: "A climate protester glued his head to 'Girl With a Pearl Earring,' the famous painting by Johannes Vermeer that was on exhibit at a museum in The Hague on Thursday, the latest in a series of actions by activists that have targeted world-renowned paintings in recent months as the protesters have sought to draw attention to climate change. The stunts have recently included hurling mashed potatoes at a painting by Claude Monet and splattering soup on a painting by Vincent van Gogh." Fortunately, the Vermeer was protected by glass, which is unusual for an oil painting. MB: These so-called climate protesters make me sick. I hope they have to go to jail for a significant period of time, after which they have to spend the rest of their lives paying monetary damages. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (23)
Here's a comment Akhilleus made early this morning before I began working on today's page:
By Akhilleus
I’m so fucking sick of reading all these pearl clutching MSM “experts” wringing their hands about how “painful” it was watching Fetterman in that debate. First, a debate is in no way the best, or even a good barometer for how Fetterman could fare as a senator. From all reports he’s perfectly sound mentally. It can take time to recover from a stroke. He won’t be debating a slick media pro when he’s in the Senate. You know what’s really painful? The thought of a dog-killing, snake oil hawking hack rubber stamping white supremacist authoritarianism.
But ohhh, let’s not talk about that, because Oz, a slick TV guy can look snappy and smarmy in a debate. Absolutely, let’s send that fucking guy to Congress.
Those MSM assholes are scaring voters into ignoring the only real candidate and pulling the lever for Trump’s monkey. The guy who sez politicians should decide a woman’s healthcare plans.
@Akhilleus: Couldn't agree more. Of course it would have been nice if Fetterman had run circles around the Gizzard of Oz, which apparently he did not do. But basing fitness for office on a debate in which one of the participants is hampered by a recent severe illness is a little more stupid than hiring employees based on their job interview performance, which is predictive of nothing (unless, I suppose, the job opening is for an interview coach).
I do think the Fetterman campaign made a mistake in accepting the format of the debate, which was apparently centered on giving snappy 30-second answers. I have not had a stroke, but I don't think I can give a snappy 30-second answer to any substantive question. I can just hear a moderator's "Time's up!" button sounding while I am still muddling through my "Well, it depends" opening. And I have no doubt I'd be a better senator than Oz.
Marie,
The transition from TV mook to governing personality has increased since the Orange Monster brought his “You’re fired” bullshit to town. Now we have this graduate of the Oprah school of snappy answers in 30 seconds running in PA, a state he knows nothing about, and the truly dangerous kook, former Fox TV thing, Kari Lake, in Arizona, who, even though she hasn’t won a single election is being touted by some “experts” as a future president, based solely on her extremism coupled with that TeeVee ability to spit out sound bites at the drop of the Constitution.
I’ve worked with TV personalities. Many of them very good at their job, which is…being on TV, and being able to read a prompter, skills that are perfect for…being on TV, but which have zero to do with the skill sets needed to develop good public policy and govern in creative and ethical ways in accordance with the law.
I can just picture if Madison or Jefferson were in a debate with some slick snake oil salesman and took too long making a point, Ronna McDaniels would be making fun of them and we’d have had Jubilation T Cornpone as one of our early presidents.
These days, it’s all about the packaging. This is how we get a parlous simulacrum like MTG, in her bright red exploding wrapping paper sitting in Congress making violent pronouncements and setting the tone for other traitor wannabes.
Who are these idiots defacing great works of art? Do they really think such criminal stunts will bring people around to a better understanding of climate change? No. They’ll just give climate change deniers new ammunition for saying “Jesus, those climate change people are all screwballs”. Gluing your head to a Vermeer masterpiece?!? How about we remove all but the head and rename the art work “Girl with a pearl earring next to severed head”?
But here’s a tip for those idiots. Go glue yourself to some Jeff Koons crap. That way, you won’t be damaging anything good.
Looking forward to reading that recovered John Steinbeck essay on democracy. It apparently offers some hope for the future of that embattled political philosophy, something I am in sore need of these days.
As the years go by and the “To be Read” pile grows by the week, I’ve thought twice, and sometimes thrice, about re-reading old favorites. Back in my twenties and thirties I thought nothing of going back to certain novels on an almost yearly basis (I once read “Age of Innocence” and “Portrait of a Lady” five years in a row).
But as time marches on, my re-reading choices have, perforce, been subjected to serious internal debates. Nonetheless, last year I re-read Steinbeck’s “The Moon is Down”, still a rousing paean to those standing up to violent fascists (the kind now running for many electoral positions in this country). It was even better than I remembered. Last year I also went back to “War and Peace”, a new translation of course, and IT was better also than my recollection.
So now I’m thinking maybe “East of Eden”. Haven’t cracked it since high school. It was pretty mind blowing then, but if Steinbeck could muster a hopeful ending out of that mad sea of wild personalities, ambitions, desires, and corruption, I’m guessing this newly resurrected essay might, in the face of all the democracy haters currently scurrying about the nation ready to chop it up like crazed Carrie Nations with their little Trump autographed hatchets, offer a much needed bromide. Fetch it hence!
When I read this one, I thought immediately of that old saw about the mule and the 2 x 4, and I could help but say it.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/28/opinion/climate-change-bret-stephens.html
"Guess it took the proverbial 2 x 4 required to get the mule's attention to alert Mr. Stephens' to our melting planet, which in a minor human way, not planetary one, may be the sadder of the two stories here:
His story and that of the entire race of humans clinging desperately to a rapidly changing planet.
Conservatism by its nature is more comfortable with the old, and when knowledge of how the world works tends to increase over time it is natural--tho' no less sad and dangerous-- that conservatism and denialism are often fellow travelers.
Don't know where the Times ought to send Mr. Stephens next, but there has to be a place he can visit that will open his eyes to the immense harm that is being done to our teetering democracy by the billions of dollars in dark money contributed by extremely wealthy individuals and corporations to support anti-democratic candidates and causes.....All allowed by a Supreme Court that can't tell the difference between money and speech and all lapped up by the Republican Right, pretty much all that remains of that once proud Party.
Mr. Stephens does not appear to be aware that because of that flood, our democracy is fast melting, too.
Look forward to his report on his next trip. Hope it's soon."
Failed to mention the obvious to the Times.
Application of a 2 x 4 would be cheaper.
Once again I thank Akhilleus––-this time giving him the full Greek–-for his illuminating rant and his movable feasts of literature. I, too, find rereading these classics illuminating––-it's like digesting them with new eyes. I find this sameness in films once viewed years ago, now seen again with much more profundity. That young girl who read "Gone with the Wind" in three days, absolutely captivated,
would not, could not, find it anywhere near that sentiment if she opened it today.
And I have only one thing to say today: what the hell kind of name is Albuguergue Cosper Head?
Breaking news: Paul Pelosi, Nancy's husband was attacked by an intruder with a hammer. I'm sure we'll have the details shortly.
I often joke (but it's not really funny) that when I get senile, I'll only
need one book and one dvd.
I won't remember reading that book last week or watching that
movie last night.
Aunt Pittypat makes funny about suicides in SF and NY when Jim Jordan takes up the gavel.
https://news.yahoo.com/lindsey-graham-says-gonna-people-215255461.html
He's a gigglemonger, he is.
@Patrick: And when Lindsey isn't joshing about suicide, he's literally pointing to his new token Black friend:
Ja'han Jones of MSNBC: "Pointing his finger at [Herschel] Walker, Graham told [Sean] Hannity that Walker 'changes the entire narrative' that the GOP is a party of racists. '[W]hat happens when the Republican Party elects and nominates Herschel Walker, an African American, Black Heisman Trophy winner, right? Olympian. It destroys the whole narrative,' he claimed. In other words: 'Look at what having this Black man around will do for us!'... At another point, Graham claimed Democrats are 'scared to death of Herschel walker because if Herschel Walker becomes a Republican, maybe every other young child in America of color might want to be a Republican.'"
Marie: And how do you think Lizzie's senate-buddy Sen. Tim Scott feels about that, as if Herschel is the totem of of black R's??
@Patrick: Sorry, but Tim is so last year. He doesn't have a Heisman on the mantel. He doesn't have a Junior Police Badge in his pocket. He isn't ripped (as far as I know). He's not pals with Trump. A Son of the Confederacy can afford to have only one Black Friend at a time.
The Immortal Beethoven plus the golden age of television provides Friday comic relief:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-1SBZJIrgg
[It is to laugh]
The black commenters on MSNBC were insulted, even on behalf of token black guy (Walker) set up to win in GA. He was a shelf sitter, a placeholder so the GQP could spout unnecessaries like Aunt Pittipat did. He is oblivious enough to not realize they are using him. I still maintain that he remembers nothing about his past life...he only knows the rote crap provided to him about abortion. It is so low to do that to someone. Ronna is a stupid you-know-what-- she can't help herself. She is probably used also-- in her capacity of "running" the RNC.
Re the Fetterman debate: he was never going to be a brilliant public speaker, even pre-stroke. But his heart is in the right place, and he won every county of PA in the primary. The format was totally stupid-- I believe I said as much previously, and Oz was a firehose of bland memorized crap. Still no reason to elect him. He is a glib know-nothing like Lake, both graduates of teeveeland. His remark about pols being in the hospital offices of women and their doctors was a slip of the tongue/brain that he really believes. Our lege believes it too.
It appears the attacker of Mr. Pelosi was shouting for Nancy, just like the barbarians of Jan6-- no surprise. This is what Rupert Murdoch has wrought. Without Fox, maybe fewer people would have been indoctrinated. Maybe.
@NJC: A classic. I believe I saw this live in real time. Caesar & Fabray were great physical comedians, and I hope whoever came up with this concept got the rest of the day off.
The Beethoven piece is absolutely brilliant. Loved the yes/no shtick, and as with all great stories, bits, poems, songs, routines, one has to wonder, after such a beautiful set up how it will all turn out. As usual Sid and Nanette (and their writers, among whom they likely numbered) didn’t disappoint. Great bit.
The other day I caught part of Beethoven’s string quartet No. 1, Op. 18, which he explicitly based on the tomb scene from “Romeo and Juliet”. One of his biographers (I forget who now) once wrote that Beethoven always had some kind of narrative or storyline in his head when composing, kind of his inner voice at work. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he had something like this scenario in mind when writing that movement.
Great stuff. Whew. Needed a good laugh today. Thanks, NJC.
I just read in maybe Vanity Fair on my phone on a return trip from the airport (don't worry, husband driving-- I broke my fibula Sept 20 and have not driven since then--) that John Eastman, thanks to the slow-walking of indictments and arrests for the biggest guns, has been active with His Orange Fatness in planning strategy IN CASE A DEMOCRAT WINS ANYTHING on November 8. They aren't shy. They are right now planning to protest every possible win by Dems. I imagine they also know how to change votes and wreck machines, and anyhow, they will announce their "wins" regardless of the truth. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Thank you, NJC! That was totally mind-blowing and lovely!
@Akhilleus: I doubt there's much scholarly work to back me up, but I have always felt that the 5th symphony is about "heroic" imperial war, & I suppose Beethoven approved of such wars, at least as long as his team was the victor. Even the more pastoral phrases make me think of soldiers resting and/or admiring the rolling fields they have conquered before gathering themselves into formation to move forward, extending their conquests.
The fact that he wrote the 5th -- over an extended period of time -- during which the European wars dominated the continent backs up my theory, if nothing else does.
What I find so brilliant about the Caesar-Fabray bit is that they were able to bring the grand design of the symphony down to an illustration of an ordinary domestic quarrel.
Marie,
You are correct as to the heroic nature of the Fifth, but it’s likely, given Beethoven’s well known humanistic leanings, that he was calling up the heroic struggle of humanity, rather than the bombast of war.
It’s true that he was politically aware and espoused serious republican sentiments as a young man. He was much taken with Napoleon in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and so hoped that he could bring some order to the chaos of that period and permanently establish a new way of being in the world that was more democratic and less reliant on monarchical social structures that he named his third symphony “Bonaparte”.
But the bloom was off that rose pretty dang quick. Upon hearing that Napoleon had crowned himself emperor, Beethoven furiously scratched out his name and instead dubbed it the “Eroica”.
But the grand spin of Beethoven as a fierce anti-authoritarian democrat loses some of its luster once you drill down a bit. As a working musician, he quickly realized that “the People” weren’t gonna pay the bills. Not like archdukes and royal patrons. In the end, Ludwig was a composer before all else, political interests notwithstanding.
Thus isn’t to say that he became a slave to the established order of things. He was still the curmudgeonly, rule breaking, pain-in-the-ass iconoclast (he starts that monster opening of the Fifth with a rest!).
Despite his humanist tendencies, he was not much of a people guy, which makes your connection of this music with a bickering couple so funny. This is the sort of thing you might expect from Mozart, who kicks off his opera “Marriage of Figaro” with a couple measuring out space in a room for their wedding bed (“Cinque...dieci...venti...”). Not really Beethoven’s speed. Which makes that bit all the funnier.
Hooray!
Bored billionaire and anti-“woke” super narcissist, Elon Musk, buys Twitter just in time to put a finger on the Midterm scales! Bringing back Trump, white supremacists, Nazis, antisemites and other vermin cuz all’a them gots freedom of speech too, right? Not just “woke” pansies.
But really, not enough people recognize how much everyone owes to Musk. He doesn’t get the love every boy oughta get. So buy a social media platform and invite back all the haters cuz that’ll show ‘em who’s boss.
There’s a new sheriff in town! And if you don’t believe it, he’ll flash that new toy plastic badge his good buddy Ye just sent him. Death con 3, bitches!
Oh, but don’t worry, Elon promises “diverse points of view”. Musky speak for anything goes. And just in time to let the dogs out on those mean ol’ Democrats in the midterm elections.
Here’s to fucking with things just cuz you can. The bored billionaire’s badassery goal.
Making rich-as-shit-ity great again.