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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Dec282018

The Commentariat -- Dec. 29, 2018

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Republicans are ending the 115th Congress in an all-too-familiar spot: standing on the sidelines while President Trump picks a fight they wanted to avoid as he ignores what they consider major conservative accomplishments. On back-to-back days last week, Trump hosted large bipartisan gatherings that were meant to be valedictory, year-end statements of success with an $867 billion farm bill and a sweeping overhaul of federal prison laws. For a Congress that struggled to find significant legislation with sweeping Democratic and Republican support, these bills provided a road map for how things might work in the next two years of divided government. Instead, Trump used each ceremony as an opportunity to denounce Democrats for opposing his multibillion-dollar demands for U.S. taxpayer money to fund a southern border wall, launching Washington into its third partial shutdown this year.... Neither GOP leader [-- McConnell or Ryan --] has tried to back up Trump with the sort of news conference or partisan vote that demonstrates commitment to the cause -- which has been the usual course of action for the president's Capitol Hill allies in the periodic shutdowns of the past 25 years.... It's an embarrassing end to a two-year run for McConnell and Ryan."

Carmin Chappell of CNBC: "... Donald Trump has cancelled his New Year's plans and will stay in Washington, D.C., as the government shutdown continues, incoming acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said in an interview with 'Fox & Friends' on Friday." Mrs. McC: I have a feeling there's more to this story than acting Mick is telling, & it's more significant than "Trump can't squeeze into last year's tux, decides to skip NYE festivities." ...

... Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday threatened to 'close the Southern Border entirely' if Democrats do not agree to provide money to 'finish' building a wall on the Mexican border." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone: "Though Trump's decision to shut down the government may keep him in Washington for the holidays, it won't keep taxpayers from footing a heavy portion of the bill for Mar-a-Lago's New Year's Eve party. As was noted by Quartz this week, government spending data shows that the Secret Service paid Grimes Events & Party Tents Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida, $54,020 on December 19th for 'TENT RENTAL FOR MAL.' An employee of the company confirmed to Quartz that it is providing tents for the annual for-profit bash at Trump's 'Winter White House' in Palm Beach." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Jake Johnson of Common Dreams: "With his baseless claim that 'many' federal workers support the government shutdown quickly falling apart in the face of objections from public employees themselves..., Donald Trump suddenly shifted ground in a tweet Thursday morning, declaring -- also without any evidence -- that 'most of the people not getting paid are Democrats.'... 'At best, it looks like Trump is willing to keep the shutdown going because he believes it won't hurt the people who vote for him,' Rafi Schwartz of Splinter News wrote. 'At worst, it looks like the president of the United States -- who unambiguously declared that he would 100 percent own this shutdown -- is admitting that he's deliberately punishing "most of the people not getting paid" purely as an act of political retribution.' Trump's tweet came as federal workers who are already living paycheck to paycheck took to social media to share how the government shutdown has impacted them and their families, particularly during the holiday season." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Joel Shannon of USA Today: "The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has offered federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown a guide for negotiating with creditors, landlords and mortgage companies while their income is cut off. The Thursday tweet notes that workers should consult with a 'personal attorney' for advice but offers templates for how one might seek financial assistance for various financial obligations. Among the suggested strategies: A furloughed employee might offer to trade maintenance services such as painting or carpentry work in exchange for a reduction in rent." Mrs. McC: So these federal workers, more than half of whom are required to work without pay, should make ends meet by singing for their suppers? Or calling their personal attorneys? I wonder how many TSA bag checkers & federal jail guards have "personal attorneys." But, hey, according to Donald Trump, these guys are as happy as Santa's elves because they support his shutdown & border wall/fence/whatever. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Vanessa Romo of NPR: "As hope for a last-minute resolution to the political standoff that has triggered the government shutdown all but evaporates, Smithsonian officials announced Thursday that all of its museums, as well as the National Zoo, will be shuttered on Jan. 2 unless a deal is reached." Mrs. McC: You know, the shutdown could even cut down on Trump Hotel profits. Too bad. Seriously, the shutdown is a big hit on the District's economy, not to mention businesses around the country that depend on traffic generated by nearby federal government attractions. (Also linked yesterday.)

Patrick Keefe of the New Yorker has a long profile of Mark Burnett, "the TV producer [who with 'The Apprentice,'] mythologized Trump -- then a floundering D-lister — as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency.... His chief legacy is to have cast a serially bankrupt carnival barker in the role of a man who might plausibly become the leader of the free world." Mrs. McC: I didn't read it.

Shannon Pettypiece & Bill Faries of Bloomberg News: "Donald Trump hasn't ordered the Pentagon to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, a White House spokesman said, contradicting reports last week that he's directed the military to pull 7,000 soldiers out of a conflict he's long criticized.... The statement came more than a week after a U.S. defense official, who asked not to be identified discussing the troop plans, said the Pentagon will withdraw 7,000 of about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. That decision was widely reported in media outlets, including by Bloomberg News. But the U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, said Sunday he hadn't received any orders to change troop levels in the country, according to Voice of America -- a statement the NSC appeared to belatedly confirm on Friday."

The Fruits of His Carelessness. Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Syria's most powerful Kurdish militia has called on President Bashar al-Assad's government to send forces to protect it against an attack by Turkey, the first sign of shifting political alliances in eastern Syria since President Trump announced that he would withdraw American troops.... The call by the Syrian Kurdish militia was notable in that a United States ally was calling on an enemy of the United States to protect it against another American ally.... For the most part, the other powers in Syria's multisided war have avoided attacking the area for fear of provoking the United States. But Mr. Trump’s surprise announcement last week that he would pull American troops out of Syria cleared the way for a possible scramble by those competing forces to take advantage of the resulting vacuum." Mrs. McC: You can bet Jim Mattis & other advisors told Trump something like this would happen. (Also linked yesterday.)

... MEANWHILE, Back in the USSA: ...

... Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration announced on Friday a plan designed to make it easier for coal-fired power plants, after nearly a decade of restrictions, to release into the atmosphere more mercury and other pollutants linked to developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses. The limits on mercury, set in 2011, were the first federal standards to restrict some of the most hazardous pollutants emitted by coal plants and were considered one of former President Barack Obama's signature environmental achievements. Since then, scientists have said, mercury pollution from power plants has declined more than 80 percent nationwide. President Trump's new proposal does not repeal the regulation, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, but it would lay the groundwork for doing so by weakening a key legal justification for the measure. The long-term impact would be significant: It would weaken the ability of the E.P.A. to impose new regulations in the future by adjusting the way the agency measures the benefits of curbing pollutants, giving less weight to the potential health gains." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is the Fuck Everybody Administration. As Melanie might ask, "They really don't care; do you?"

The Rich Get Richer & the Poor Get Poorer. Bryce Covert, in the New Republic, explains Trump's favorite new federal scam: "opportunity zones." BTW, governors, both Democratic & Republican, are contributing to the scam. The losers? Local communities (especially ones that are actually poor), and you, the unlucky taxpayer. The winners? Big business (like say, Amazon, owned by multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos), real estate developers (like say, Jared Kushner) & hedge funds (like say, Anthony Scaramucci).

Nicholas Schmidle of the New Yorker on "how Patrick Shanahan, the new acting Secretary of Defense, won over the White House." Here's the nub of it: "... with Mattis often away, Shanahan would attend Cabinet meetings in his place. His strong business sense, and his lack of hardened foreign-policy views, endeared him to those at the White House. 'Because he doesn't understand national security, and doesn't have the moral and ethical constraints that Mattis has, he's made no enemies,' [a] former senior defense official said. 'He hasn't taken a position on anything.'"

Joyce Vance in a Slate opinion piece: "Last week we learned that Trump's acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker -- the man Trump bypassed Senate-confirmed officials like the deputy attorney general and solicitor general to put in place -- will not only ignore career ethics officials at DOJ who believe he should recuse from the Mueller investigation, but also had discussions with Trump about Michael Cohen's ongoing prosecution in the Southern District of New York.... The president told Whitaker he was angry with SDNY prosecutors and 'pressed Whitaker on why more wasn't being done to control' the prosecutors, who he suggested were 'going rogue,' according to CNN.... News that Trump's apparent pick for the job, Bill Barr, sent an unsolicited 20-page memo to DOJ clearing the president of obstruction of justice -- which also made its way to the White House -- is deeply troubling.... No matter what Barr's intentions, the appearance of impropriety -- of ingratiating himself with a president whose desire to install a wingman as attorney general -- means that the public perception will always equate Barr, if confirmed, with Trump's desire to hold himself above the law.... Recusal is not a sufficient remedy for a faulty choice for attorney general at this critical juncture. Congress has the responsibility to deny confirmation to an attorney general who is not suited for the job."

Isn't This Special? Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head a U.S. delegation to Brazil seeking to foster closer ties with the far-right incoming president, Jair Bolsonaro, and discuss ways to counter the Venezuelan government." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kate Riga of TPM: "Douglas Letter, a 40-year veteran at the Department of Justice who left this spring, is now re-entering government life as general counsel for the House of Representatives, incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Friday. When Letter left in March, he was restrained in his criticism of the administration, but hinted at the dysfunction that has come to dominate the DOJ under ... Donald Trump. 'One obviously has to be concerned about the Justice Department and the future of the Justice Department,' he said then per NPR. He first joined the department in 1978 and is considered a bastion of institutional knowledge."

Election 2018

Maine. Jamie Ehrlich of CNN: "Gov. Paul LePage [R-Nuts] certified the election results for Maine's 2nd Congressional District after a recount and legal battle dragged out the final result in the race for almost two months, cementing a Democratic victory. But, LePage ... made one last jab at the drawn-out process when certifying the election, writing the words 'stolen election' next to his signature.... November's congressional election in Maine marked the first time in US history the ranked-choice voting system determined the outcome of a congressional race." Mrs. McC: I doubt LePage would be governor if ranked-choice had been in effect during the elections in which he was a candidate. In fact, his elections over two strong opponents is what spurred many Mainers to approve ranked-choice voting. ...

North Carolina. What a Mess! Alan Blinder & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A disputed congressional seat in North Carolina could remain vacant for months after incoming Democratic House leaders in Washington on Friday declared they would not seat the apparent Republican winner because of unresolved allegations of election fraud in that race. Even before Democrats made that fresh vow on Friday afternoon, the chaotic fight for the Ninth District's House seat had already plunged into deeper turmoil: North Carolina's state elections board dissolved at noon on Friday under a court order, two weeks before it was to hold a public hearing to consider evidence of the fraud allegations." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ...

... Bruce Henderson, et al., of the Charlotte Observer: "A surprise court order triggered a last-minute move Friday by Gov. Roy Cooper to continue the state election board's probe of fraud allegations in the 9th District congressional race, even as Charlotte Republican Mark Harris demanded to be named its winner. With legal issues far from resolved, the skirmish could delay by weeks the final outcome of Harris' race with Democrat Dan McCready, who on election night appeared to have lost by 905 votes. Also Friday, the incoming House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, said the House won't seat Harris on Jan. 3 because of the allegations, The Washington Post reported.... Cooper announced he will name an elections board to serve until Jan. 31, when a new law takes effect restructuring North Carolina's elections and ethics boards."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (12)

Please read over on the side-bar, the NYT's "The Kernel of Human (or Rodent) kindness. It's graphics are adorable and its message is spot on. Since rodents share our DNA these experiments are significant.

Note: Since 2001, 800,000 refugees have come to the U.S. through the vetting process and not a single one has turned into a terrorist and killed an American here." –-Chris George of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services.

I have been reading about migrant workers and learned that 80% of farm workers are undocumented Mexicans that come from the poorest regions in Mexico, who speak no or very little Spanish, much less English. Most have been working the fields for over a decade, have established families here but now live in terror of "la migra"–-ICE–- who could wrench them from this life in a nano second.

The problem that has been arising is the lack of these kinds of workers. More Mexicans have been leaving the U.S. and new arrivals aren't coming. We hear from Trump and his minions that immigrants steal jobs from Americans by undercutting their wages. In 2010 during the recession, the UFW set up a website offering citizens and legal residents agricultural jobs anywhere in the country through state employment services. Here's what they got:

1: Website got four million hits
2: Only 12,000 filled out employment forms
3: Out of the above number only 12 showed up for work
4: Not one of the 12 lasted longer than a day.
5: According to a Los Angeles Times report, Silverado, a farm labor contractor in Napa valley claims that HE HAS NEVER had a white American born person take an entry-level gig, even after the company increased wages.

So––perhaps the Family Von Trump & past friends of the family–- thems that are on their way to jail–– could be set out in those fertile fields and spend their days picking our lettuce, fruits and veggies. Sounds good to me!

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

I note that, with the Syria pullout and the shutdown, trump has successfully eradicated Michael Flynn from the news cycle.

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

Last night PBS News has this report with graphic video showing the dire effects of the worst humanitarian suffering:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/fighting-starvation-and-disease-yield-grim-crisis-in-yemen

And in this country we hear that $54,020 of our taxes are going for Tent Rental????? There is something so sick about hundreds of children dying in Yemen from lack of food and water and we shell out thousands for some fucking TENT RENTAl?

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@PD Pepe: It's Trump, so it's worse than that. We paid for the tent rental in conjunction with a for-profit event Trump is holding at MAL New Year's Eve. And, if he keeps is promise, he won't even be there (though I heard Melanie has left for MAL, so I suppose she'll show up). According to the linked report, the Secret Service made another $41K expenditure for rental of generators & light towers, though it wasn't 100% clear these were for the for-profit event (I'm guessing they were).

I have no idea how previous first families spent their New Year's Eves, but it sure as hell wasn't standing at the front door collecting $1,000-a-head tickets to join them.

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterMrs. Bea McCrabbie

@ Marie: Again the word for this is "Unprecedented." Such fun to see how a mob boss charlatan operates when he becomes president. Lesson learned? I hope so, but the odds are not good.

P.S. Apropos of the migrant worker's situation here is a solution some growers are looking into and some are actually implementing: ROBOTS!
https://www.intorobotics.com/fruit-harvesting-robots/

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Sen. Jeff Flake's retirement speech "global commitment to democracy seems now to be on shaky ground." Mealy-mouthed to the end, little kewpie doll. What I wish he had said, or would say outside the rules of the Senate's decorum: We're not acting like decent people, much less like we want to think Americans are, are we? We, and include yourselves and whomever you'd like in that group, played dirty. We went to the dark side. We broke bad. We have guilty knowledge of crimes against our country, violations of our sworn oaths, before God and each other, fellow citizens and the world. In horror and fear I thought I could steer some people and policy decisions the right way, but over time, it's like a little wicked switch has turned on in politics, media, maybe our entire culture. I can't fix any of it with my skills and that makes me an impediment to the chances we have to repair America, to make it what we say it is.
To not be the worst hypocrites ever. I have become cynical because I'm inadequate to this work. I hope the strengths of the new women in Congress, the addition of voices of people we've ignored since our founding as a Nation, will save us. Regret is not strong enough. I'm sorry I've been such a fucking failure and enabler, and I'm counting on white privilege and a sweet pension and whatever paying gig pays the best from here on out to let me out of your sight.

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is Just" that his justice cannot sleep forever."
Thomas Jefferson

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterFleeting Expletive

@Fleeting Expletive: I don't think Flakey-boy will be hiring you as his speechwriter in whatever endeavor he embarks upon now. But I, for one, thought that was a damned good speech you wrote.

December 29, 2018 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Fleeting Expletive,

"Inadequate to this work" and "[I'm] a fucking failure and enabler, and ...counting on white privilege" should be tattooed on the necks of all R's in congress (and at least a couple of Democrats).

I spotted one story in which the likes of Orrin Hatch were bleating about how bad things have gotten. Oh, really, Orrin? Isn't this a little like an arsonist complaining that too many houses on his block have burned down, and--wah-wah--what can be done about it?

This is way beyond the "I'm shocked, shocked that gambling is going on here..." trope. This is more "I'm shocked, shocked that voters have not gone along with our decades' long scam and are now voting us out of office. It's just not fair. Oh yeah, and Democrats are to blame for everything."

So, yeah, Confederates and Trump have swampified congress--and Washington in general--to such an extent that they make the Okefenokee look like the Bonneville salt flats. But on the way out the door, people like Jeff Flake wonder how it all happened. "Gee, what went wrong?" Yeah, Jeffy, Adolf Eichmann wondered the same thing. "Well, shit. I was only following orders. Nothing to get worked up about..."

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

And I wanna know how in the hell anyone can suggest that Fatty, using taxpayer money to support his for-profit venture at Marred a Lago is NOT corruption, pure and simple. Do we really have to foot the bill for Fatty and his corrupt pals, who see his ascendancy as an opportunity for them to start running the show at places like the VA, while they hobnob on New Years Even and plot the pickpocketing of American taxpayers?

It's like forcing condemned prisoners to pay for the rope they'll be hanged with and digging the holes they'll be buried in.

It's pure Trump. But it should not be the American Way, which it's becoming.

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Fatty claiming that federal employees either working without pay or just sitting home without pay are all happy as Larry and wish him all the best with his wall sounds terribly like a Dickens villain reassuring some Victorian social betterment group that the denizens of his work house, forced to labor for no pay and little food were all thrilled to be there and never tired of singing his praises.

This afternoon I spent a wonderful couple of hours listening to the Metropolitan Opera's broadcast of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" (in an exuberant English translation). The forces of evil, under the command of the Queen of the Night, face off against those who see light, love, mercy, kindness, and truth as the greatest virtues. One cannot listen to such an encounter without transposing the forces for darkness for those of Trump, Ryan, McConnell, Flynn, Kushner, Cohen, Hatch, Gohmert, Bannon, Sessions, Devos, Zinke, Walker, and the rest of the democracy and decency hating gnomes.

Just listen to the The Queen of the Night's aria
and picture Fatty in his tighty-whities on the toilet ranting against the powers of light trying to derail him. The term in opera for her stentorian tirade against those who would deny her ultimate power is a "rage aria", a perfect analog to Fatty's rage tweeting (without the high F and the technical fireworks).

Mozart was expert at insinuating ravaging emotion in music, such as in Osmin's aria from "Die Entführung". Listen to that low F. Wow! (And for you Mozart purists, I know, I know, the great Ezio Pinza is singing this in Italian, not the original German. But then again he even sang Russian operas in Italian(!). I have a recording of him performing the title character in Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" in which the entire cast sings in Russian while Pinza gives out with "Ho il poter supremo" which either means he's just been named tsar of all the Russias or he's ordering a large pizza.)

But Mozart offers something of which we cannot be sure of in the real world, that the bad guys get theirs in the end (the Queen of the Night evaporates, or something equally weird, and Osmin gets left. Even Don Giovanni is dragged to hell by the statue of the Commendatore, a guy he whacked after bonking his daughter). Would that we could be sure of such a guaranteed ruination for the Orange Monster. But we can't.

Now if only we had a Pamina or Tamino (or a Sarastro) in sight, I'd be much less forlorn.

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Ak:
He will be taken down. For sure. Screaming, dying, suffering.
Mozart showed it. Everybody knows it. The fire beckons. Let the terrible Rechnung (bill) come due.
Fuck him. Let him die.
Don't think. Let all thought go.
When he's dead, figuratively or otherwise, we can regroup and renew.
Hm. That's me, thinking about Tee-rump.
Happy new year.

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria

Mrs. Bea and AK, thank you. He's not my senator, I've got the same kind of Collins-like mouse, Lankford. And I'd like to send that same letter to him, with few modifications other than his ineffectual presence in the Senate will continue for a while. I have no idea whether he's popular among his home folk or not. I used to call his office, back during the Kavenaugh outrage, but his staff put my number on automatic voicemail instead of live person. I used to enjoy talking to them, politely of course. In the course of time, his office sent me a 5 page single-spaced letter extolling Kav's heroic career while failing to mention judicial temperament at all. Same old hogwash. So I've been composing a written reply that I want to be perfect and I've gone through several drafts but it's not quite right yet.

Now I'm listening to Mozart. Thank you for that.

December 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterFleeting Expletive
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