Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jonathan Chait: The More Republicans Lose, the Harder They Work to Rig the Game (NY Mag)
Even by the standards of a Republican-run state, Wisconsin's legislature is gerrymandered so ruthlessly that the 2018 elections, in which voters supported Democrats by a 54-to-46-percent margin in the State Assembly, nonetheless delivered Republicans 64 percent of the seats. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, asked about the gerrymander, argued that it was perfectly fair.
Matthew Yglesias: Democrats need some 2020 Senate candidates(Vox)
If Trump remains this unpopular (obviously a big if), there are lots of candidates who'd stand a good chance of beating him. But to govern the country, Democrats will need a Senate majority. The party will need quality candidates who run ahead of the national political fundamentals. Responsible party leaders should be doing everything in their power to recruit quality politicians like Bullock and O'Rourke to those races.
Paul Waldman: The latest filings show that nobody can save Trump now (Washington Post)
But at this point it doesn't matter. It's far too late. Trump's former aides have cooperated, they've conducted their interviews with the special counsel, they're being sentenced, the documents have been reviewed, the connections have been traced, and the full picture is soon to be revealed. This scandal can't be hidden away. Republicans in Congress can't save Trump, his attorney general can't save him, and no amount of desperate tweets can save him. Accountability is on its way, and it's arriving very soon.
Andrew Tobias: Leadership For A Blue Dot
I don't believe in presenting both sides on issues that have only one reasonable side. I am not going to say, "here's why smoking may not be harmful to your health" or "here's why the climate crisis may be a hoax perpetrated by the scientific community" or "here's why we should reduce the estate tax on billionheirs" or "here's why voter suppression is a good thing," or "here's why states should not accept Medicaid expansion" or "here's why Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin may be more trustworthy than Robert Mueller and the Intelligence Community" or "here's why it may be true that more people turned out on the mall to cheer Trump's Inauguration than turned out for Obama." Just not gonna do it.
Joe Bob Briggs: Which Part of This Performance Art Space Is the Actual Hotel Room? (Taki's Magazine)
Do you ever walk into a hotel room in a strange city and get the feeling you've been invited to a sleepover at a 1960s-style love-in staged at the Museum of Modern Art?
Finnish Photographer Proves Fairy Forests Are Real In Finland (Bored Panda)
Many people think of Finland as the land of cold weather and darkness. However, Ossi Saarinen (previously here and here), a Finnish photographer, believes that the country is much more than just that, and he shows another surprisingly enchanting side of his motherland.
Editorial: The Guardian view on Donald Trump: the net closes (The Guardian)
Contempt and indignation, however deserved, won't end the presidency of Donald Trump. What's needed is the operation of the law. That may be coming closer.
Stephen Metcalf: Warhol's Bleak Prophecy (The Atlantic)
What a new retrospective reveals about the artist, and about our swerve away from humanism.
Alexandra Petri: A ranking of 100 - yes, 100 - Christmas songs (Washington Post)
1. "Good King Wenceslas." This is a GREAT song. I never tire of hearing about the only semi-impressive good deeds of this medieval monarch. He made the sod slightly warm! Hooray! Good for you, King Wenceslas! All the rhymes work! Every word is satisfying to sing! WENCESLAS! ON THE FEAST OF STEPHEN! DEEP AND CRISP AND EVEN! What a rollicking, hearty song. WENCESLAS! All songs should be like this. I wish we sang this song year-round.
"You Bring Me Back" (Wordpress)
Written & performed by George J. Raymond.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
More "Baby"
Hi Marty -
Thought you & your readers would appreciate this link:
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• While touring in America, Emma Calvé arrived in Pittsburgh very tired because of all the singing she had done. Mr. Salignac, with whom she was scheduled to sing that night, was also very tired, and both he and Ms. Calvé felt that they would be unable to give good performances that night. However, before the first act, Ms. Calvé looked at the members of the audience and saw many coal miners with sooty faces. She spoke to Mr. Salignac, and they agreed that despite being exhausted, they would not hold back, but instead would endeavor to give the coal miners, many of whom were probably hearing grand opera for the first time, a magnificent performance. After the opera, Ms. Calvé discovered that many of the coal miners were originally from her own country. They presented her with an enormous wreath and kissed her so many times that her face became as sooty as theirs.
• After Schuyler Chapin became general manager of the New York Metropolitan Opera, he acquired the problems that all opera managers acquire. On the very first Saturday morning of his very first season as general manager, he was faced with three problems. First, Mirella Freni let him know that she would not honor her contract because of "your Internal Revenue Service." Second, Tito Gobbi cancelled as Iago because of illness. Third, conductor Erich Leinsdorf demanded another Die Walkure Wotan. Faced with all these problems within the space of 20 minutes, Mr. Chapin closed his door, walked over to his window, and asked himself, "You wanted this job?"
• Arturo Toscanini had a policy of allowing no encores, as he felt they interfered with the flow of the operas he conducted. Unfortunately, on the very last night of the 1902-1903 season, the La Scala audience insisted on the encore of a favorite aria from A Masked Ball. Toscanini tried several times to continue, but he was unable. Finally, he ran from the podium in disgust and an assistant conductor finished the opera.
• Sir Rudolph Bing once said that opera singers do not fit easily into blue jeans. Soprano Rita Hunter once visited Disneyland, where she attempted to get through a turnstile leading out of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Unfortunately, she got stuck. The day was hot, and as she and her family were waiting for a turnstile mechanic to arrive to help her, her daughter bought her an ice cream cone, then bought her another one. As Ms. Hunter was eating the second ice cream cone, she heard a Disney employee tell her daughter, "Jesus, sweetheart, don't feed her any more or we'll never get her out."
• At the end of the Second World War, Galiano Masini was performing as Cavaradossi in Toscaat the Teatro Verdi. Unfortunately, he struggled vocally for the first two acts, and the audience loudly and persistently criticized him. However, Mr. Masini performed a marvelous "E' lucevan le stelle" in the final act, and the audience reversed itself and shouted for an encore. Mr. Masini strode to the footlights, glared at the audience, then told them (presumably in Italian), "Up yours!"
• A rehearsal of The Bartered Bride in Covent Garden with Sir Thomas Beecham went badly, with the maestro making remarks more cutting than the singers deserved. Fortunately, Austrian tenor Richard Tauber came to the rescue of the singers by saying, "I'm sorry, Sir Thomas, but we've been singing it wrong for so many years in Prague and Vienna that you can't expect us to get it right in only one rehearsal."
• On June 2, 1937, Herr Simon Rosenheck, a fan of English tenor Alfred Piccaver, became overly enthusiastic at a performance of Tosca at the Vienna State Opera and called out loudly, "Bravo!" and "Long live Piccaver!" For this offense, he was arrested and charged a fine. Mr. Piccaver himself paid the fine for him.
• While sailing in the ship Parakoola, opera soprano Marjorie Lawrence practiced singing Elektra. Unfortunately, the sailors were not used to hearing opera. When Ms. Lawrence practiced Elektrafor the first time, the sailors came running to her cabin to see what was wrong with her.
• Jimmy Dorsey was a fabulous musician but not very good at communicating orally. On Bing Crosby's radio show, Mr. Dorsey once introduced an overweight opera star in this way: "And now we bring you that great opera steer …."
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD took the day off.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast and on the cool side.
To Be Bulldozed
Butterfly Sanctuary
Swathes of a 100-acre butterfly sanctuary along the Rio Grande in Texas are to be bulldozed to make way for Donald Trump's US-Mexico border wall, putting endangered species at risk of extinction, experts have warned.
Marianna Wright, the sanctuary's executive director, said 70 per cent of the land belonging to the centre will end up on the other side of the border wall.
The wall could be up to three-stories tall, with 18-foot steel beams rising from a concrete base. Construction through the refuge could start in February, according to the San-Antonio Express News.
The Trump administration is bypassing 28 federal laws, which exist mostly to protect the environment, in order to build the section of border wall through the Rio Grande Valley.
The centre has already taken the government to court after contract workers with chainsaws arrived unannounced on its property in July 2017. Without the consent of the centre they began clearing out protected habitat where the border wall is planned.
Butterfly Sanctuary
CBS Sells
Television City
CBS sold its venerable Television City production facility, one of Hollywood's most storied production studios, in a deal the company says will give it more flexibility to invest in content for digital audiences.
CBS said Monday it signed a definitive agreement to sell the sound stages and studios that have hosted programs ranging from "All in the Family" to "The Late Late Show with James Corden" for more than half a century to Los Angeles real estate developer Hackman Capital Partners for $750 million. Under terms of the agreement, As part of Hackman Capital will also have the rights to use the Television City trademark in connection with its operations on the property.
CBS programs housed at the site, which include "Late Late Show," "The Price is Right" "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful" will continue to be produced on the studio campus for "at least the next five years," the company said. CBS will also retain office space for CBS Studios International's U.S. headquarters and other company departments currently housed on the site. Television City has in recent months hosted productions including HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" and ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."
CBS also owns the 40-acre CBS Studios Center in Studio City, Calif, which it said will remain the company's primary production facility. That campus is home to the broadcast network, CBS Television Studios and CBS Television Stations KCBS and KCAL.
Television City
'Family Guy' Remembers
Carrie Fisher
Family Guy struck a surprisingly emotional chord on Sunday, opening with Peter making a speech at Angela's funeral - a eulogy which doubled as a tribute to Angela's voice actress, the late Carrie Fisher.
Borrowing from some of television's timeless theme songs, Peter said, "Who could turn the world on with her smile? Angela. Who could take a nothing day and suddenly make it seem worthwhile? Angela. So no one told you life was gonna be this way. [Four claps.] Angela. Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. Angela. [Sanford and Son theme song.] Angela."
As the eulogy turned in a slightly more somber direction, it became clear that Peter was no longer just talking about his employer. "That was Angela - fearless, spontaneous, honest about herself just as much as she was about the world around her," he continued. "She had grace, courage and an unmated zest for life. She may be gone, but her voice will live on in DVD and Hulu Plus and tiny droid-projected messages. I may have lost a boss, but heaven has gained a princess."
The tribute also revealed how Angela's character passed away: "Angela died doing what she loved - swimming less than 20 minutes after she had eaten," Peter said, adding, "That's a real thing, kids. Listen to your mothers."
Fisher, who died of a heart attack in Dec. 2016, provided the voice of Angela in 25 episodes of Family Guy. The character made her first appearance back in 2005. The show first paid tribute to its fallen princess by dedicating its winter premiere to her in Jan. 2017.
Carrie Fisher
Coming Back In 2019
Court TV
E.W. Scripps Company announced Monday that the cable channel known for its gavel-to-gavel coverage of court cases is being rebooted more than 10 years after it was adjourned.
Scripps said it has bought the brand assets, including its logo and 100,000 hours of old shows, from CNN owner Turner Broadcasting for an undisclosed sum.
When it launches in May 2019, Court TV will feature "in-depth legal reporting and expert analysis of the nation's most important and compelling trials," according to a release. It will be based in Atlanta.
Court TV will air 24 hours a day and seven days a week on some cable systems and be available for free over the air and on digital subchannels in several dozen cities. Katz Networks is distributing the channel and said it has secured agreements with Tribune, Scripps and Univision group owners.
Court TV has hired people familiar with the original network. Former Court TV and HLN anchor Vinnie Politan will serve as lead anchor. John Alleva and Scott Tufts, both of whom produced court coverage for Court TV and CNN, are joining as vice presidents and managing editors.
Court TV
Mocked by Merriam-Webster
'Smocking Gun'
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Inadequate) slammed Democrats and special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation in a tweet Monday morning, stating there was no "smocking" gun. It didn't take long for the error-made twice in a single post-to catch the attention of Merriam-Webster dictionary.
"Democrats can't find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey's testimony. No Smocking Gun...No Collusion,' @FoxNews," Trump tweeted. "That's because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution."
The president meant to write "smoking" in a repeat of his frequent claim that there is no smoking gun, or conclusive evidence of a crime, to be found in Mueller's investigation of possible collusion between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government, as well as alleged campaign finance violations. Because "smocking" is a word-just not the one Trump intended-a spellchecker would not catch it.
Merriam-Webster did not mention Trump in its response but sent a tweet with the definition of "smocking" that was clearly directed at the president.
"Today in Spellcheck Can't Save You: 'Smocking' is a type of embroidery made of many small folds sewn into place," the dictionary tweeted.
'Smocking Gun'
Tops Print As News Source
Social Media
Social media has overtaken print newspapers as a news source for Americans, researchers said Monday, highlighting the growing importance of services such as Facebook and Twitter as well as the troubled state of legacy news organizations.
The Pew Research Center report found 20 percent of US adults say they often get news via social media, compared with 16 percent from newspapers.
In 2016, newspapers were more important that social networks and in 2017 the percentages were roughly even for both sources, according to Pew surveys.
Despite the rise of social media, television remains the most important source for news, cited by 49 percent of American adults, Pew said.
The researchers found sharp differences among age segments in accessing the news, with younger adults far more likely to rely on social media and older consumers favoring television and print.
Social Media
Prefer City Slickers
Female Frogs
Anyone who has tried to whisper sweet nothings into their lover's ear while standing on a noisy street corner can understand the plight of the túngara frog. A tiny amphibian about the size of a U.S. quarter, the male Physalaemus pustulosus has had to make its call more complex to woo mates when they move from the forest to the city. Now, researchers have found that female túngara frogs from both the country and the city prefer these mouthy city slickers.
Biologists have long studied túngara frog courtship, demonstrating that visual signals and calls by themselves are unattractive to females but together are a winning combination, and that a female's decision to mate depends on the context. Now, researchers have recorded the calls of male frogs living in cities, small towns, and forests across Panama. As they played the calls back, they counted the females, frog-eating bats, and frog-biting insects lured in by each call. Then they transplanted forest-dwelling frogs to the city and city dwellers to the forest to see how females there reacted to their calls. Finally, in the lab, they tested female preference for each call.
Males living in cities and towns called more frequently and had more complex calls-with louder "chucks" interspersed in the whine-than forest frogs, the team reports today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. When they were moved into the country, they simplified their calls; but when their country cousins were brought to the big city, they couldn't make the switch, and kept singing simply. When the researchers played back the calls to females, the females preferred more complex calls, even if the female herself was from the country, they reported.
Thus, the city frogs not only upped their game, but they were also able to adjust to being in the country again. Because the more complex calls attract more predators and pests, it's likely that country frogs never added the loud "chucks" to their repertoire, the researchers note. But given that urban areas have fewer bats and insects, the city frogs suffer no penalty for jazzing up their love songs.
Female Frogs
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