I've loved the song for years. It was a favorite of mine as a child. And, oh *Brigadoon*, one of those pie-in-the-sky stories that Hollywood was so good at weaving ...
Rowshan I was fortunate to see Brigadoon and Finian’s Rainbow on Broadway in 1947. I found both magical. Brigadoon’ s songs included Almost Like Being in Love. From FR, I also still humming (my voice sounds like a Maine fog horn) When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love I Love the Girl I’m Near and How Are Things in Glocca Mora? I was more inspired by the Broadway renditions than the movie versions. Lerner & Lowe, Harburg, Rogers & Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein and so many others—they wrote songs with great music and lyrics, compared with today’s mish mash.
The choir departments in my high schools (I had two: mid high grades 9-10 and senior high grades 11-12) did a full blown musical every year. I was involved in a small degree to "Oliver" and "The Music Man" as a freshman and a sophomore. My junior year, they did Godspell, and the cast they had for that was simply amazing.* My senior year they did "Little Mary Sunshine"; I was involved in neither of those due to conflicting jazz band performances. I still sing songs from Oliver and The Music Man...
* The cast of Godspell had some of the most amazing musical talent I have seen in any school. Sadly, of that cast, almost half have died before the age of 65, including the woman who played "Oliver" as a 9th grader. Almost every one of those cast members was involved in music or the arts as an adult, ranging from education to performance.
At our 40th reunion, I reconnected with 4 of the cast members from that show. All but one of them have passed in the last few years, and the 5th is fighting some serious health issues. Chatting with her the other day, she said it was one of the 3 best things she was ever involved with.
"The Music Man," "South Pacific," "The Sound of Music," left indelible impressions on my high school alumnae and me. But "Hillbilly Weddin'"...hopefully not so much!
I totally agree about the songs -- I have never seen Brigadoon on stage, but I am an aficionado of musicals and love all the composers and song writers you mentioned, plus the more modern ones. If I lived in NY, I would sleep on Broadway ... 😉
Rowshan You would relish Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook—100 years of music. I have just re-listened to it three times. Great music, linked to African American and Jewish immigrant beginnings. Lots of hummable music with focus on great composers and lyricists. It’s tough to find on Amazonbut I persevered and just ordered another copy for a curmudgeonly friend of my vintage.
Rowshan When you get the Feinstein DVD don’t overlook the Special Feature of Feinstein’s ‘commentary.’ While it is somewhat repetitive with the basic feature, it includes some fascinating insights into the personalities of these musical stars.
Pro-Trump ‘propaganda’ channel One America News Network to lose its biggest TV distributor
Satellite provider DirecTV said it would not renew its contract with OANN, potentially slashing the conspiracy-driven news outlet’s revenue by 90 per cent]
America's biggest satellite television provider has said it will cut the pro-Trump news channel One America News Network (OANN) from its service, dealing a severe blow to one of the former president's most stalwart cheerleaders.
DirecTV, a distributor with about 15 million subscribers that is 70 per cent owned by the US telecoms giant AT&T, announced on Friday that it would not renew its contract with OANN when the current one expires. following “a routine internal review”.
The decision could spell financial ruin for OANN, which gets about 90 per cent of its revenue from DirecTV according to court papers. One lawyer for OANN said in 2020 that Herring Networks "would go out of business tomorrow" if dropped by DirecTV.
I’d be okay if they went back to just being about “Entertainment “. I didn’t watch it then either . It wasn’t anymore entertaining than it is now . But it wasn’t dangerous to the Pop. either.
It’s been dangerous since first day on the air. O’Reilly’s “fair and balanced” crap lured in people who thought they meant it. He’s gone but they still are anything but. Watched best friends become strangers from literal 24/7 Fox. The propaganda has metastasized into our biggest threat.
I first became aware of Fox "news" when I was a graveyard patrol deputy in the early 1990's. I listened to Art Bell at night (don't judge me) when I wasn't in the mood for what the classical music station was playing. I had come in service for an overtime shift at 7:00 p.m. and flipped the radio over to 1120 KPNW am (off of the country music channel the patrol car radio was on) and remember clearly driving e/b on Hwy 58 hearing "Fair and balanced: we report, you decide" and thinking to myself that it sounded reasonable. Until they got to the actual broadcast of that "news". It was all anti-Clinton vitriol.
😢 My sister and brother-in-law are trapped in that whirlpool and won’t even acknowledge there are other points of view, much less fact based info they have been told is not credible. Heartbreaking for a lot of families
Rupert Murdoch has deliberately divided us and tried to destroy any semblance of cooperation. He is beyond evil, but nobody mentions his contribution to our woes except those of us who are awake to his menace (the libtards, as it were)
I call the “Loyalty” department at Xfinity/Comcast at least once a month to register my disgust for them carrying Fox News. They don’t care. I am always specific about the racism and dangerous lies spread by Fox, hoping that at least the customer service rep with whom I am speaking might think twice if he or she is a Fox devotee.
Now, you are going to get all the old guys upset, the ones sitting around watching Fox and Friends in the morning solely because of the fairly frequent flashes of leg courtesy of the fake blonde in the middle. Where will they get so much leg on TV?
I guess the Dominion voting machine lawsuits, which are proceeding fairly well, are likely to cost Direct TV more money in payouts than OAN was bringing in.
Because, for SURE, if OAN was still bringing in the money, this would not have happened.
I am guessing the cost/benefit ratio was too high to continue OAN.
Lots of us dropped AT&T as a phone service provider last year because of their financial support to many in Congress who support the Big Lie, along with including OAN among the networks they carry. Add to that the lawsuits from Dominiion, and their bottom line has shrunk a great deal - I hope. Couldn’t happen to a nicer corporation!
Another way to advocate that I found on the Lincoln Project podcast is Check My Ads A group that finds the original people who market ads to higher marketer of ads that get into publications and represent corporations. The corporations don’t always know this is happening and generally pull their ads once advised that they are controversial and right wing. She has templates about how to write to the appropriate people to facilitate this.
This is true but it's been out "there" a long while. As for the Lincoln Project, they have 2 goals. One is to make up for all the revenue they lost when their party abandoned them, the other one I'm not quite sure yet. After all they are PR gurus who can ply their trade left and right.
Never lose sight these are the people who fueled the Bush/Cheney Tea Party movement that morphed into the MAGA movement. I've never read one word of contrition from any of them but have read of their misuse of contributions.
Times have changed. The enemy of your enemy is not automatically your friend.
AT&T knew exactly what was going on with OAN and had expressed interest in competition to FoxNews. Just like Lincoln Project they are not copping to their very bad decision.
I see what you mean you’re not sure if a leopard can change the spots. However I do think that the fact that we are facing an autocracy speaks to my faith that they have truly stepped up.. Republicans always played sneaky so they did too but now they are posting some of their really well done ads that are vicious and I think helped defeat Trump. I have no problem going for the jugular which is what we need against people like Mitch McConnell and the radical republican autocrats
Well reasoned logical observances certainly enrich critical thinking guidance to refining concept understandings...thank you for sharing your cogent opinion.
Didn’t know about ATT’s evil deed when I ditched them a year ago, but will never forget the tea party hatred and W/Dickie. The L people know how to fight so go to it, I say. Joe B still thinks Mitch, Joe M are his friends. Those days are gone forever. He needs to get that if nothing else. Attributed to W “you can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” And they have…
Hi Mariann Kathleen. Some of us dove into the Check My Ads site and had difficulty finding the templates for follow through. Since money talks, we think you found a gem. To put our heads together, please email: heathersherd@gmail.com
Sleep tight Heather! We adore you! I’m in Santa Cruz where there’s no snow and ice, but we did just have a tsunami! Hope we all survive the coming election year! I will do anything! Drive people in Georgia to the voting booth? Whatever it takes!!!! We used to be a haven of liberal love, but now that MF Trump/anti everything true and good is here and everywhere…..
The videos of the tsunami were great. Growing up in Santa Cruz, tsunamis were part of life. 1964, Woo Hoo! The MFn T-Rumper equivalents were there in other White Supremacist forms long ago. Scotts Valley Baptist Church was the Epicenter, as well as the (names deleted) John Birchers. They turned out enmass to try to close down the Hip Pocket Book Store. That is the world UCSC moved into in 1965. Quite the conflict. Trump brought them back out from under the rocks. We all fell asleep in our Liberal smugness, having actually thought we had made progress. They were only under the floor boards waiting. And now we are surprised.
Trump didn’t bring them out. Obama did. He broke that glass ceiling by becoming President and then there was that realization of potential of diversity . Here’s a what ‘if ‘? A white Trans male married to a Black Trans female with Bia-racial children.Let’s say for sake of argument that they are more than qualified for the job of President and First Lady. We see them as Dr King Dreamed. People of Integrity and Good Character. Highly Intelligent, well spoken and a history of excellence in leadership. I personally see those that are Racist/ Supremest absolutely Exploding in anger that they would go flying around the room backwards.Or what about a Latino Woman ? Once Obama won our so called Equality and Diversity came to a screeching halt. TFG and his ‘Think Tanks ‘ knew all they needed to know and understand about that. They still are not over it and absolutely fear it.Having a Blackman and Woman in our White House was the first time I recall Ppl saying” He’s not my President “. They are never going to get over it.So TFG had nothing to offer them but to build on their hate, stir it up, feed it to them in overflow plates of it any chance he got. And he still is whoever is his latest target(s). He is the personification of “ If you can’t Dazzle them with Brilliance. Then Baffle them with BS ! “. And the good news is over 65% of our Pop. doesn’t approve of that. No, I am not surprised by what he did and where it got us to.
You are so 1000% right. Obama was why the coalition of evil (Nazi lovers, zygote warriors, Pharisees, greedy bastards, states’s rights fanatics, gun nuts, Republican power hungry pols, immigrant haters, and those impressed with celebrity) could all join hands and show the usurpers the door, by whatever means. The hate was palpable where I am. Christian love and golden rule evaporated, seemingly overnight. But like was said, it was just hiding almost in plain sight. They ALL glommed onto chump like he was a lifeboat in a raging storm.
We call the local News ch’s here, The Crime Report Hour. Negative Attention gets more Attention than Positive does. Think- A 4 yr old throwing a Temper Tantrum in a Grocery store and how much attention they get compared to what the Good kid gets ? There was supposed to be a Rally last night in AZ. The candidates will speak about progress and make false promises. He on the other hand sticks to the Script. Couldn’t pay me to go hear that crap !
WOW! I remain confounded why any woman would freely chose to be a republican. Perhaps the cleverly deceived one issue minions you categorized would surrender their soul in exchange for their ability to vent their bigotry in a socially "Respectable" way among friends, Eh!?
I have maintained that Obama's election was the "green light" for the racists to come out and play again. In my world, to a man, they denied that racism was the motivation for their vitriol until tRump's election. Then it became more blatant, although their denials ring hollow next to their words.
To be more exact, it wasn’t Obama but us (the libs who voted him into office) that brought out the violent extremists. Just last night Alicia Menendez (MSNBC) interviewed Shannon Watts from Moms Demand Action and Clint Watts (former FBI) on the relationship of the extreme right/gun violence/ misogyny/racism. As if electing Obama into the White House wasn’t enough, the thought of a strong, smart, caring woman like HRC being POTUS was enough to put millions of white men right out of their gourd. In the interview they were discussing this work: https://everytownresearch.org/report/misogyny-extremism-and-gun-violence/
There are many hairs to split. My point was that we "Libs" thought our superior knowledge, action and morals had created a change that would move out nation forward. The violent opposition went into hiding and we forgot about them. Oops...
My comment wasn’t in reply to you. I know a whole lot of “libs”, but none that ever thought any such thing that you suggest. The research I posted is quite interesting, though I doubt it will imbue you or anyone else with “superior knowledge”. But on the other hand it does require a little curiosity to want to read it.
I thought we were making progress on environment, wildlife and civil rights. I thought repubs had learned their lesson. I thought America had stepped out of the past. I was as wrong as wrong can be. As wrong as the writers of this blurb.
Murdoch Mysteries, Season 13, episode 11. Setting -Toronto, ca1910
Murdoch mini speech at the end. “The future is unknown, But indicators abound as to what it might become. Wireless communication portends the instantaneous dissemination of knowledge from all parts of the world. Knowledge will end prejudice, demagogues will no longer flourish, lies and misinformation will disappear. The matters and crises that shake us all will be dealt with intelligently and plausibly. All of humanity will be able to embrace their better selves. At the end of the 20th century and beyond, truth and knowledge will prevail.” Well, when I heard that, I was gob smacked. Somebody else had been as idealistic as I had been as a young pup. Or at least, had entertained the idea of a better world.
Listen Jeri, All I can say is I hope so. However, wireless could, as you say, be the insant dissemination of knowledge. But, I am sorry to say, spurious, unverified INFORMATION is all we can count on, so far. Knowledge requires hard work and focus. It will never be handed to you. You should follow Heather Cox Richardson. She makes that very clear. I hope you understand.
My point was, we were wrong. They are in control and we must stay focussed and bust our butts to save our Nation. Heather is very clear about this also.
Yes. Obama was the cause of the "Oh my God! There's a ........in the White House." Trump gave them permission to scream and assault people about it and for that, they love him. But, as I said previously, they have been there all along, forever. We chose to ignore them, as Hillary did, in our liberal smugness.
We may believe we are "better" than "them", but don't forget, they are very well armed and we are not.
"Cause of..." implies that it was all Obama's fault because he's a black man. Rather say "Obama was the trigger..." that brought about the increasing, overt, and extreme expressed hatred of "the other". Trump, as you say, simply ramped it up but it was there long, hiding in plain sight, long before Obama was elected.
There is no one that knows they were hiding in plain site better than I. I have lived in FL. 62 yrs. They never thought he would really win. You see not all Republicans are Racist and not all Liberals, Dem’s or Independents are anti Racism . There was a time in our History’s story that Democrats were every bit as Racist in the South. Who were they that slaughtered the American Indians ? I have Voted Republican, Dem, and Independent. But I’m still not and never have been Racist. Wasn’t brought up that way. They were shocked because they didn’t understand how many Ppl were like me. Pretty much sick and tired of the status quo. But for sure if the Repubs would do more than Stand Up just to Block Up we could get somewhere.
Obama had more battles to fight than ever hit the press. In rural Tx, they called him a skunk, half black, half white, and good for nothing. The vitriol was astonishing, even with my Repub friends who I never thought were racist. And in Congress, I won’t even go there….
Racism is 600+ yrs old.Spaniards brought the 1 st ships in the 1500’s to Texas, New Mexico .If Ppl didn’t know about it before TFG they had to have been Generational Cave Dwellers.
I know it is and was but semantics are important. There are too many RWNJ, and I believe others, who argue that Obama is the "cause" of many of today's problems. Also, I should modify my own comment that his election "brought about" - no, it brought out....
I think often of the post (that I have tried to forget) from the guy who shot his beloved dog, to make sure that he would be able to shoot a person when the time came. True evil, and armed…
They are out there. Lots of them. And they believe their time is NOW. If we do not prevail in the 2022 elections, it is over. I am retired on a fixed income. Every cent I can spare, and then some goes to viable candidates who will keep us afloat. I hope you and all your friends are doing the same.
I am reading Heather's book "To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party". It's most important points, if I may state my opinion, is that we have always romanticized our nation and politics of earlier times. There have been many great leaders who fought successfully for the common man/woman. But mostly there have been politicians of self interest seeking the most power and money for themselves and men of great wealth, privilege and industry. Lincoln's best advocacy for equality and the working Americans lasted less than 10 years. His example was followed in smaller to larger degrees by later Republicans but jettisoned when money and power were at risk, or if another party was getting into the lead, and sometimes picking up the best Lincoln Republican ideas. Teddy Roosevelt, a lion for workers, up to a point, back slid all the way when Woodrow Wilson, a Virginian southern Democrat became President who advanced our modern government with what we think of as the Democratic Party today. Many of his progressive ideas originated much earlier with Republicans and Teddy Roosevelt. But progressive ideas in the hands of Democrats generated obstruction from the many of the very Republicans who held them in their own politics a few administrations earlier.
The most noticeable power and difference at any time in our history has been the citizenry. What will we demand and fight for? A JP Morgan and Trump? Or unions and granges, better living and working conditions, and the right to vote? In other words a "square deal"? TR lost sight of his "square deal" when Wilson became President just as so many Republicans lost sight of the environment, public health, voting rights, women's rights, etc as decades brought us Trump.
The real question is not whether Biden is doing a "good job" keeping our democracy together? Or if Trump will be President again and turn us into Russia? It's what are WE going to do? Will the Confederate voters or the Union voters win starting now, in the media, in the streets, petitioning elected officials, getting voters involved and voting.
I would add that her book highlights the origins of the "movement conservatives" who slowly gained power within the Republican Party (after 1940) bleating tropes about black people and communism. Movement conservatives lost when George Wallace ran, but, won when Richard Nixon ran.
Then, movement conservatism (the continous denigration of anything that might help average Americans and not help big money and big corporations) found its true hero in Ronald Reagan.
Reagan converted both Republicans and Democrats into movement conservatives in 1980; into the believers in the "Chicago Welfare Queen with umpteen addresses collecting umpteen checks". Of course, this was a lie amplification. It worked!!!
Now, we are dealing with the aftershocks of Reagan and corporate America destroying the middle class (union busting, offshoring, outsourcing and Hedge fund destruction of small manufacturing and..........)
But, amazingly, the Republican movement conservatives have managed to convince the very victims of Reagan's policies to vote against their best interest and vote FOR Republicans (this is a near quote by HCR wrote someplace but I don't remember where).
Her book made me feel even more disgusted that I was fooled as a 20 year old, into voting against Jimmy Carter (our last good President), and for Reagan.
Haven't finished her book. But blacks and socialism were used as a club by Republicans who supported big business against Lincoln Republicans who advocated active government in support of equality, education and opportunity for the common man started within ten years of Lincoln's death. Much of what movement conservatives advocate were seen again and again from big business Republicans since the early days of the party. They have long been used by big business owners with and against which ever party offers progressive policies. Republicans, as well as Democrats, at different times during their history have made blacks, immigrants, socialism, bolshevism and communism the enemy.
There's a major article on the front page of The Washington Post today on Members of Congress who were slave owners. In our early days we were an agrarian nation and one of shop keepers, then came the Gilded Age and human problems associated with industry. While I don't condone slavery, I must ask the question: who among us in history could leave home for periods of time without a dependable labor force back home? But human slavery was not the proper solution for a nation built on the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the United States Constitution. Becoming politically active seems a worthy direction. I'm grateful every morning for Professor Heather's clear analysis and solutions to pressing problems. Why won't Congress and the POTUS listen? Why won't we engage? Where should we give emphasis? Civic education in public schools seems to have lost its way.
Except America is not a nation built on the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution. Those words were just intended for Jefferson and his peers, white men with property who wanted to be out from under Britain’s thumb pressing down on their business interests. We, as semi-educated citizens have been taught a romanticized, whitewashed version of history. I have learned more American history since 2009 when I moved back to NC, the state in which I grew up. The history I have learned is deeply disturbing, disgusting, and disappointing. The list of atrocities is endless. America was settled by people out to make a buck and get rich quick. They had patrons and investors they had to pay back. We are still hearing the same song, just different verses.
“…deeply disturbing, disgusting, and disappointing.” Jenn, I had decided against commenting at this late hour, but your post was so compelling that I had no choice. Perhaps that should be our slogan, our “war cry”.
The circumstances we face in 2022 had their genesis in 1619, if not earlier. We have been lulled to sleep by the crooning of those invidious merchants of fear, envy, and mythological human disparity.
Eleanor, their were thousands of farms in the north that functioned perfectly well without slavery.
Same down south, thousands of white people ran farms in the south often without slavery. Poor white farmers very often just had their family.
It was the major plantations that required slavery.
This is one of the major reasons why the North won the Civil War. After Gettysburg, poor white farmers without slaves, who had lived to see such horror on the battlefield, simply began walking back home.
They no longer felt the call to defend plantation slavery.
MikeS - her rhetorical question was "... who among us in history could leave home for periods of time without a dependable labor force back home?"
How many of the thousands of white people with small farms they worked themselves - without slaves - could have left for periods of time, be it to serve in legislatures or simply to travel for pleasure? Those are two different issues. And, as Eleanor goes on to point out, they also were very different times. Yet it still is mostly those with independent, or at least high-end, incomes who are able to stand for election to a full-time legislative seat.
And direct pressure from individuals. Don’t underestimate the collective power of each and every one of us doing small things like making a phone call, writing an email, sending a postcard, boycotting a company, marching in protest, driving someone to the polls, etc.
As reported in Salon, “In recent months, calls from critics for AT&T and DirecTV to sever their arrangements with OAN reached a fever pitch.”
Thanks for the reminder Lena. It is easy to become discouraged wondering how my little postcard or call could possibly make a difference. It can. It does. Push on.
Lena I am copying and posting your comments with this article if that's okay with you! So illuminating and encouraging. WE, The People, All of Us This Time, DO have POWER!!
This photo is soothing and reminds me a great deal of Andrew Wyeth. What a nice surprise! Thank you for all you do and please do take good care of yourself. You are our ballast in a different kind of storm.
HCR is fully entitled to time off ... but America is not. The New York Times confirms today that "With the door slammed shut this week on federal legislation to create new protections for access to voting, Democrats face an electoral landscape in which they will need to spend heavily to register and mobilize voters." Well, it's about time they recognized what I have been saying for months, that whether or not voting reforms pass, they still must concentrate on mobilizng voters, especially women and persons of color, for the elections less than ten months away.
Without a record breaking turnout of those who will vote for the Democratic candidate, the current Congress and administration will be the last hurrah for the Democratic Party.
You got the message, and unfortunately, too many local Democratic parties haven't and are wrapped up local issues, which count but which detract from the big picture.
Jack, I read, and posted here, Stacy Abrams' article recently about how to mobilize to get out the vote. What happens then if Republican state legislatures overturn the vote of the people, and electoral counts are subverted ? Looking for an answer.......
Answer rests with the DOJ ... and if the Federalist Society-trained SCOTUS sides with the States rather than the DOJ (and the majority of the American people), we will no longer be a true democracy. We will have become something else, exactly what I do not know.
The spare and muted season of winter had a beauty I always appreciated when I lived in the North; I linger over the winter images of Peter or Buddy when Heather takes a well deserved pause in posting. Not that there were plenty of days as winter lingered too long that I groused for a little bit of spring to show her face when March and April finally came up in the calendar queue. 😊🌱 It has been a very challenging winter season already for so many, with the brutal cold, inundating storms, and unrelenting psychic battering that is being endured. Be safe and take care, Heather and family, and as well, this community who cherishes history and democracy, and is nurturing the spark for better days ahead. 🕊 🌤
I entered Peter Ralston's gallery - beautiful work. Heather please take care to get your rest. This crazy world of ours will keep turning without our come-to-be-loved history lessons but we need your knowledge. That isn't necessarily the best reason to care for yourself but it is so true and it's also true that you the teacher is just as needed. Winter can be brutal but in my 70 years it's always set the stage for spring. Stay well friend.
In the words of Honey in “Notting Hill” (on meeting Anna Scott) “I genuinely believe, and I’ve believed for some time now, that we could be best of friends.” How we all feel.
Sleep well dear Heather! I am so thankful for your voice of facts and history during this difficult time in our history! I love the photos you post of your friend Peter. This one is a a beauty and I appreciate it for the innate beauty of where you live, but also for the artistic viewpoint, which I see as a fellow artist!
Ohio Supreme Court Strikes Down Republican Gerrymander of Map
The congressional map would have given Republicans an advantage of 12 seats to three in elections for the House of Representatives.
The Ohio Supreme Court struck down a congressional map skewed to favor Republicans on Friday, ruling that it was the equivalent of a dealer stacking the deck, and sent it back to state lawmakers to try again.
The map would have given Republicans an advantage of 12 seats to three in elections for the House of Representatives, even though the G.O.P. has lately won only about 55 percent of the statewide popular vote.
“This is not what Ohio voters wanted or expected,’’ the court said of the map.
This is such great news. I have a great love for Ohio especially of Cleveland Clinic. I’d move there from Denver if the politics were better. Maybe now!
It's just a first step, Governor DeWine is still behind the tainted map that was struck down by the court. Republican's still have majority power in my state.
Let’s sing a song to dear, dear Heather
“ Can’t we two go walkin’ together out beyond the valley of trees?
Out where they is a hillside of heather curseyin’ gently in the breeze
That’s what I’d like to do, see the heather with you
The mist of May is in the gloamin’, and all the hills are holden’ still
So take my hand and lets go roaming through the heather on the hill
The morning dew is blinking yonder, there’s a lazy music in the rill
And all I want to do is wander through the heather on the hill
There may be other days as rich and rare
There may be other springs as full and fare
But they won’t be the same, they’ll come and go
For this I know;
That when the mist is in the gloamin’
And all the clouds are holdin’ still
If you’re not there I won’t go roaming through the heather on the hill
The heather on the hill.
(Brigadoon-1947)
I've loved the song for years. It was a favorite of mine as a child. And, oh *Brigadoon*, one of those pie-in-the-sky stories that Hollywood was so good at weaving ...
Rowshan I was fortunate to see Brigadoon and Finian’s Rainbow on Broadway in 1947. I found both magical. Brigadoon’ s songs included Almost Like Being in Love. From FR, I also still humming (my voice sounds like a Maine fog horn) When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love I Love the Girl I’m Near and How Are Things in Glocca Mora? I was more inspired by the Broadway renditions than the movie versions. Lerner & Lowe, Harburg, Rogers & Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein and so many others—they wrote songs with great music and lyrics, compared with today’s mish mash.
The choir departments in my high schools (I had two: mid high grades 9-10 and senior high grades 11-12) did a full blown musical every year. I was involved in a small degree to "Oliver" and "The Music Man" as a freshman and a sophomore. My junior year, they did Godspell, and the cast they had for that was simply amazing.* My senior year they did "Little Mary Sunshine"; I was involved in neither of those due to conflicting jazz band performances. I still sing songs from Oliver and The Music Man...
* The cast of Godspell had some of the most amazing musical talent I have seen in any school. Sadly, of that cast, almost half have died before the age of 65, including the woman who played "Oliver" as a 9th grader. Almost every one of those cast members was involved in music or the arts as an adult, ranging from education to performance.
Ally I play a CD of Godspell in my car. I saw the original production twice in Boston and then twice in New York. It was remarkable then and now.
At our 40th reunion, I reconnected with 4 of the cast members from that show. All but one of them have passed in the last few years, and the 5th is fighting some serious health issues. Chatting with her the other day, she said it was one of the 3 best things she was ever involved with.
"The Music Man," "South Pacific," "The Sound of Music," left indelible impressions on my high school alumnae and me. But "Hillbilly Weddin'"...hopefully not so much!
I totally agree about the songs -- I have never seen Brigadoon on stage, but I am an aficionado of musicals and love all the composers and song writers you mentioned, plus the more modern ones. If I lived in NY, I would sleep on Broadway ... 😉
Rowshan You would relish Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook—100 years of music. I have just re-listened to it three times. Great music, linked to African American and Jewish immigrant beginnings. Lots of hummable music with focus on great composers and lyricists. It’s tough to find on Amazonbut I persevered and just ordered another copy for a curmudgeonly friend of my vintage.
Thanks so much for this tip, Keith! I'll look for it now.
Rowshan When you get the Feinstein DVD don’t overlook the Special Feature of Feinstein’s ‘commentary.’ While it is somewhat repetitive with the basic feature, it includes some fascinating insights into the personalities of these musical stars.
I hope you get to see it on stage some day, if you haven't already.
Lovely - and now I know what a rill is.
Never knew, there is a lovely rill within a stone's throw of where I sit, and I'd been calling it an ephemeral stream. Now I know.
I had to look up 'rill' - Lovely!
Here’s the full-on schmaltz version by Andy Williams!
https://youtu.be/xdaayg-xUtA
What a beautiful song, arrangement - and Andy’s breathtaking vocal performance!
[From the "Chalk One Up for Democracy" department
Pro-Trump ‘propaganda’ channel One America News Network to lose its biggest TV distributor
Satellite provider DirecTV said it would not renew its contract with OANN, potentially slashing the conspiracy-driven news outlet’s revenue by 90 per cent]
America's biggest satellite television provider has said it will cut the pro-Trump news channel One America News Network (OANN) from its service, dealing a severe blow to one of the former president's most stalwart cheerleaders.
DirecTV, a distributor with about 15 million subscribers that is 70 per cent owned by the US telecoms giant AT&T, announced on Friday that it would not renew its contract with OANN when the current one expires. following “a routine internal review”.
The decision could spell financial ruin for OANN, which gets about 90 per cent of its revenue from DirecTV according to court papers. One lawyer for OANN said in 2020 that Herring Networks "would go out of business tomorrow" if dropped by DirecTV.
More: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/directv-oann-drop-trump-conspiracy-b1993925.html
Now for Fox.
I’d be okay if they went back to just being about “Entertainment “. I didn’t watch it then either . It wasn’t anymore entertaining than it is now . But it wasn’t dangerous to the Pop. either.
It’s been dangerous since first day on the air. O’Reilly’s “fair and balanced” crap lured in people who thought they meant it. He’s gone but they still are anything but. Watched best friends become strangers from literal 24/7 Fox. The propaganda has metastasized into our biggest threat.
Ratings are everything ! Even if it gets Ppl killed.
I first became aware of Fox "news" when I was a graveyard patrol deputy in the early 1990's. I listened to Art Bell at night (don't judge me) when I wasn't in the mood for what the classical music station was playing. I had come in service for an overtime shift at 7:00 p.m. and flipped the radio over to 1120 KPNW am (off of the country music channel the patrol car radio was on) and remember clearly driving e/b on Hwy 58 hearing "Fair and balanced: we report, you decide" and thinking to myself that it sounded reasonable. Until they got to the actual broadcast of that "news". It was all anti-Clinton vitriol.
😢 My sister and brother-in-law are trapped in that whirlpool and won’t even acknowledge there are other points of view, much less fact based info they have been told is not credible. Heartbreaking for a lot of families
Rupert Murdoch has deliberately divided us and tried to destroy any semblance of cooperation. He is beyond evil, but nobody mentions his contribution to our woes except those of us who are awake to his menace (the libtards, as it were)
I call the “Loyalty” department at Xfinity/Comcast at least once a month to register my disgust for them carrying Fox News. They don’t care. I am always specific about the racism and dangerous lies spread by Fox, hoping that at least the customer service rep with whom I am speaking might think twice if he or she is a Fox devotee.
Now, you are going to get all the old guys upset, the ones sitting around watching Fox and Friends in the morning solely because of the fairly frequent flashes of leg courtesy of the fake blonde in the middle. Where will they get so much leg on TV?
The millions of times a day they are showing Razor Commercials. 😂!
🤔🤪🤪🤪
Lovely New Years present. ATT still vile for their funding such trash.
What delicious news! Thank you Christopher!
I guess the Dominion voting machine lawsuits, which are proceeding fairly well, are likely to cost Direct TV more money in payouts than OAN was bringing in.
Because, for SURE, if OAN was still bringing in the money, this would not have happened.
I am guessing the cost/benefit ratio was too high to continue OAN.
Lots of us dropped AT&T as a phone service provider last year because of their financial support to many in Congress who support the Big Lie, along with including OAN among the networks they carry. Add to that the lawsuits from Dominiion, and their bottom line has shrunk a great deal - I hope. Couldn’t happen to a nicer corporation!
👍
Another way to advocate that I found on the Lincoln Project podcast is Check My Ads A group that finds the original people who market ads to higher marketer of ads that get into publications and represent corporations. The corporations don’t always know this is happening and generally pull their ads once advised that they are controversial and right wing. She has templates about how to write to the appropriate people to facilitate this.
Go to checkmyads/jan6
This is true but it's been out "there" a long while. As for the Lincoln Project, they have 2 goals. One is to make up for all the revenue they lost when their party abandoned them, the other one I'm not quite sure yet. After all they are PR gurus who can ply their trade left and right.
Never lose sight these are the people who fueled the Bush/Cheney Tea Party movement that morphed into the MAGA movement. I've never read one word of contrition from any of them but have read of their misuse of contributions.
Times have changed. The enemy of your enemy is not automatically your friend.
AT&T knew exactly what was going on with OAN and had expressed interest in competition to FoxNews. Just like Lincoln Project they are not copping to their very bad decision.
This is my opinion, your mileage may vary.
I see what you mean you’re not sure if a leopard can change the spots. However I do think that the fact that we are facing an autocracy speaks to my faith that they have truly stepped up.. Republicans always played sneaky so they did too but now they are posting some of their really well done ads that are vicious and I think helped defeat Trump. I have no problem going for the jugular which is what we need against people like Mitch McConnell and the radical republican autocrats
Well reasoned logical observances certainly enrich critical thinking guidance to refining concept understandings...thank you for sharing your cogent opinion.
Didn’t know about ATT’s evil deed when I ditched them a year ago, but will never forget the tea party hatred and W/Dickie. The L people know how to fight so go to it, I say. Joe B still thinks Mitch, Joe M are his friends. Those days are gone forever. He needs to get that if nothing else. Attributed to W “you can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” And they have…
Hi Mariann Kathleen. Some of us dove into the Check My Ads site and had difficulty finding the templates for follow through. Since money talks, we think you found a gem. To put our heads together, please email: heathersherd@gmail.com
Thanks!
Had not heard of this
Thoughts and prayers…
Too funny.
Breakin' my heart here. Poor baby.... /s
GREAT NEWS...HAPPY NEW YEAR INDEED!!!
Sleep tight Heather! We adore you! I’m in Santa Cruz where there’s no snow and ice, but we did just have a tsunami! Hope we all survive the coming election year! I will do anything! Drive people in Georgia to the voting booth? Whatever it takes!!!! We used to be a haven of liberal love, but now that MF Trump/anti everything true and good is here and everywhere…..
The videos of the tsunami were great. Growing up in Santa Cruz, tsunamis were part of life. 1964, Woo Hoo! The MFn T-Rumper equivalents were there in other White Supremacist forms long ago. Scotts Valley Baptist Church was the Epicenter, as well as the (names deleted) John Birchers. They turned out enmass to try to close down the Hip Pocket Book Store. That is the world UCSC moved into in 1965. Quite the conflict. Trump brought them back out from under the rocks. We all fell asleep in our Liberal smugness, having actually thought we had made progress. They were only under the floor boards waiting. And now we are surprised.
Trump didn’t bring them out. Obama did. He broke that glass ceiling by becoming President and then there was that realization of potential of diversity . Here’s a what ‘if ‘? A white Trans male married to a Black Trans female with Bia-racial children.Let’s say for sake of argument that they are more than qualified for the job of President and First Lady. We see them as Dr King Dreamed. People of Integrity and Good Character. Highly Intelligent, well spoken and a history of excellence in leadership. I personally see those that are Racist/ Supremest absolutely Exploding in anger that they would go flying around the room backwards.Or what about a Latino Woman ? Once Obama won our so called Equality and Diversity came to a screeching halt. TFG and his ‘Think Tanks ‘ knew all they needed to know and understand about that. They still are not over it and absolutely fear it.Having a Blackman and Woman in our White House was the first time I recall Ppl saying” He’s not my President “. They are never going to get over it.So TFG had nothing to offer them but to build on their hate, stir it up, feed it to them in overflow plates of it any chance he got. And he still is whoever is his latest target(s). He is the personification of “ If you can’t Dazzle them with Brilliance. Then Baffle them with BS ! “. And the good news is over 65% of our Pop. doesn’t approve of that. No, I am not surprised by what he did and where it got us to.
You are so 1000% right. Obama was why the coalition of evil (Nazi lovers, zygote warriors, Pharisees, greedy bastards, states’s rights fanatics, gun nuts, Republican power hungry pols, immigrant haters, and those impressed with celebrity) could all join hands and show the usurpers the door, by whatever means. The hate was palpable where I am. Christian love and golden rule evaporated, seemingly overnight. But like was said, it was just hiding almost in plain sight. They ALL glommed onto chump like he was a lifeboat in a raging storm.
AND then, as if that weren’t the worst, next came a WOMAN who wanted to be president!
We call the local News ch’s here, The Crime Report Hour. Negative Attention gets more Attention than Positive does. Think- A 4 yr old throwing a Temper Tantrum in a Grocery store and how much attention they get compared to what the Good kid gets ? There was supposed to be a Rally last night in AZ. The candidates will speak about progress and make false promises. He on the other hand sticks to the Script. Couldn’t pay me to go hear that crap !
WOW! I remain confounded why any woman would freely chose to be a republican. Perhaps the cleverly deceived one issue minions you categorized would surrender their soul in exchange for their ability to vent their bigotry in a socially "Respectable" way among friends, Eh!?
I have maintained that Obama's election was the "green light" for the racists to come out and play again. In my world, to a man, they denied that racism was the motivation for their vitriol until tRump's election. Then it became more blatant, although their denials ring hollow next to their words.
To be more exact, it wasn’t Obama but us (the libs who voted him into office) that brought out the violent extremists. Just last night Alicia Menendez (MSNBC) interviewed Shannon Watts from Moms Demand Action and Clint Watts (former FBI) on the relationship of the extreme right/gun violence/ misogyny/racism. As if electing Obama into the White House wasn’t enough, the thought of a strong, smart, caring woman like HRC being POTUS was enough to put millions of white men right out of their gourd. In the interview they were discussing this work: https://everytownresearch.org/report/misogyny-extremism-and-gun-violence/
There are many hairs to split. My point was that we "Libs" thought our superior knowledge, action and morals had created a change that would move out nation forward. The violent opposition went into hiding and we forgot about them. Oops...
My comment wasn’t in reply to you. I know a whole lot of “libs”, but none that ever thought any such thing that you suggest. The research I posted is quite interesting, though I doubt it will imbue you or anyone else with “superior knowledge”. But on the other hand it does require a little curiosity to want to read it.
I thought we were making progress on environment, wildlife and civil rights. I thought repubs had learned their lesson. I thought America had stepped out of the past. I was as wrong as wrong can be. As wrong as the writers of this blurb.
Murdoch Mysteries, Season 13, episode 11. Setting -Toronto, ca1910
Murdoch mini speech at the end. “The future is unknown, But indicators abound as to what it might become. Wireless communication portends the instantaneous dissemination of knowledge from all parts of the world. Knowledge will end prejudice, demagogues will no longer flourish, lies and misinformation will disappear. The matters and crises that shake us all will be dealt with intelligently and plausibly. All of humanity will be able to embrace their better selves. At the end of the 20th century and beyond, truth and knowledge will prevail.” Well, when I heard that, I was gob smacked. Somebody else had been as idealistic as I had been as a young pup. Or at least, had entertained the idea of a better world.
Listen Jeri, All I can say is I hope so. However, wireless could, as you say, be the insant dissemination of knowledge. But, I am sorry to say, spurious, unverified INFORMATION is all we can count on, so far. Knowledge requires hard work and focus. It will never be handed to you. You should follow Heather Cox Richardson. She makes that very clear. I hope you understand.
My point was, we were wrong. They are in control and we must stay focussed and bust our butts to save our Nation. Heather is very clear about this also.
And in a Venn diagram most of them would fall right into this circle as well: https://mobile.twitter.com/dprobbob/status/1482385543950262272
Yes. Obama was the cause of the "Oh my God! There's a ........in the White House." Trump gave them permission to scream and assault people about it and for that, they love him. But, as I said previously, they have been there all along, forever. We chose to ignore them, as Hillary did, in our liberal smugness.
We may believe we are "better" than "them", but don't forget, they are very well armed and we are not.
"Cause of..." implies that it was all Obama's fault because he's a black man. Rather say "Obama was the trigger..." that brought about the increasing, overt, and extreme expressed hatred of "the other". Trump, as you say, simply ramped it up but it was there long, hiding in plain sight, long before Obama was elected.
There is no one that knows they were hiding in plain site better than I. I have lived in FL. 62 yrs. They never thought he would really win. You see not all Republicans are Racist and not all Liberals, Dem’s or Independents are anti Racism . There was a time in our History’s story that Democrats were every bit as Racist in the South. Who were they that slaughtered the American Indians ? I have Voted Republican, Dem, and Independent. But I’m still not and never have been Racist. Wasn’t brought up that way. They were shocked because they didn’t understand how many Ppl were like me. Pretty much sick and tired of the status quo. But for sure if the Repubs would do more than Stand Up just to Block Up we could get somewhere.
Obama had more battles to fight than ever hit the press. In rural Tx, they called him a skunk, half black, half white, and good for nothing. The vitriol was astonishing, even with my Repub friends who I never thought were racist. And in Congress, I won’t even go there….
I think that was what I was getting at.
Racism is 600+ yrs old.Spaniards brought the 1 st ships in the 1500’s to Texas, New Mexico .If Ppl didn’t know about it before TFG they had to have been Generational Cave Dwellers.
I know it is and was but semantics are important. There are too many RWNJ, and I believe others, who argue that Obama is the "cause" of many of today's problems. Also, I should modify my own comment that his election "brought about" - no, it brought out....
Who says We aren’t Armed ?
OK. WELL armed. We are Brady, right?
I think often of the post (that I have tried to forget) from the guy who shot his beloved dog, to make sure that he would be able to shoot a person when the time came. True evil, and armed…
They are out there. Lots of them. And they believe their time is NOW. If we do not prevail in the 2022 elections, it is over. I am retired on a fixed income. Every cent I can spare, and then some goes to viable candidates who will keep us afloat. I hope you and all your friends are doing the same.
I Am all that, old, Retired and care giver. Just added 2 more donations today. No friends left, sad to say.
Gosh I loved it when they were under the rocks!
Aye. Too easy to loose sight till they come knocking
I am reading Heather's book "To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party". It's most important points, if I may state my opinion, is that we have always romanticized our nation and politics of earlier times. There have been many great leaders who fought successfully for the common man/woman. But mostly there have been politicians of self interest seeking the most power and money for themselves and men of great wealth, privilege and industry. Lincoln's best advocacy for equality and the working Americans lasted less than 10 years. His example was followed in smaller to larger degrees by later Republicans but jettisoned when money and power were at risk, or if another party was getting into the lead, and sometimes picking up the best Lincoln Republican ideas. Teddy Roosevelt, a lion for workers, up to a point, back slid all the way when Woodrow Wilson, a Virginian southern Democrat became President who advanced our modern government with what we think of as the Democratic Party today. Many of his progressive ideas originated much earlier with Republicans and Teddy Roosevelt. But progressive ideas in the hands of Democrats generated obstruction from the many of the very Republicans who held them in their own politics a few administrations earlier.
The most noticeable power and difference at any time in our history has been the citizenry. What will we demand and fight for? A JP Morgan and Trump? Or unions and granges, better living and working conditions, and the right to vote? In other words a "square deal"? TR lost sight of his "square deal" when Wilson became President just as so many Republicans lost sight of the environment, public health, voting rights, women's rights, etc as decades brought us Trump.
The real question is not whether Biden is doing a "good job" keeping our democracy together? Or if Trump will be President again and turn us into Russia? It's what are WE going to do? Will the Confederate voters or the Union voters win starting now, in the media, in the streets, petitioning elected officials, getting voters involved and voting.
David,
I would add that her book highlights the origins of the "movement conservatives" who slowly gained power within the Republican Party (after 1940) bleating tropes about black people and communism. Movement conservatives lost when George Wallace ran, but, won when Richard Nixon ran.
Then, movement conservatism (the continous denigration of anything that might help average Americans and not help big money and big corporations) found its true hero in Ronald Reagan.
Reagan converted both Republicans and Democrats into movement conservatives in 1980; into the believers in the "Chicago Welfare Queen with umpteen addresses collecting umpteen checks". Of course, this was a lie amplification. It worked!!!
Now, we are dealing with the aftershocks of Reagan and corporate America destroying the middle class (union busting, offshoring, outsourcing and Hedge fund destruction of small manufacturing and..........)
But, amazingly, the Republican movement conservatives have managed to convince the very victims of Reagan's policies to vote against their best interest and vote FOR Republicans (this is a near quote by HCR wrote someplace but I don't remember where).
Her book made me feel even more disgusted that I was fooled as a 20 year old, into voting against Jimmy Carter (our last good President), and for Reagan.
Haven't finished her book. But blacks and socialism were used as a club by Republicans who supported big business against Lincoln Republicans who advocated active government in support of equality, education and opportunity for the common man started within ten years of Lincoln's death. Much of what movement conservatives advocate were seen again and again from big business Republicans since the early days of the party. They have long been used by big business owners with and against which ever party offers progressive policies. Republicans, as well as Democrats, at different times during their history have made blacks, immigrants, socialism, bolshevism and communism the enemy.
Republicans who supported big business against Lincoln Republicans .....
otherwise known in her book and writings here as "movement conservatives".
There's a major article on the front page of The Washington Post today on Members of Congress who were slave owners. In our early days we were an agrarian nation and one of shop keepers, then came the Gilded Age and human problems associated with industry. While I don't condone slavery, I must ask the question: who among us in history could leave home for periods of time without a dependable labor force back home? But human slavery was not the proper solution for a nation built on the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the United States Constitution. Becoming politically active seems a worthy direction. I'm grateful every morning for Professor Heather's clear analysis and solutions to pressing problems. Why won't Congress and the POTUS listen? Why won't we engage? Where should we give emphasis? Civic education in public schools seems to have lost its way.
Except America is not a nation built on the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution. Those words were just intended for Jefferson and his peers, white men with property who wanted to be out from under Britain’s thumb pressing down on their business interests. We, as semi-educated citizens have been taught a romanticized, whitewashed version of history. I have learned more American history since 2009 when I moved back to NC, the state in which I grew up. The history I have learned is deeply disturbing, disgusting, and disappointing. The list of atrocities is endless. America was settled by people out to make a buck and get rich quick. They had patrons and investors they had to pay back. We are still hearing the same song, just different verses.
“…deeply disturbing, disgusting, and disappointing.” Jenn, I had decided against commenting at this late hour, but your post was so compelling that I had no choice. Perhaps that should be our slogan, our “war cry”.
The circumstances we face in 2022 had their genesis in 1619, if not earlier. We have been lulled to sleep by the crooning of those invidious merchants of fear, envy, and mythological human disparity.
Let us remember that the two major foundations of the United State of America are COLONIALISM and SLAVERY.
With attempted genocide as part of colonialism...
Eleanor, their were thousands of farms in the north that functioned perfectly well without slavery.
Same down south, thousands of white people ran farms in the south often without slavery. Poor white farmers very often just had their family.
It was the major plantations that required slavery.
This is one of the major reasons why the North won the Civil War. After Gettysburg, poor white farmers without slaves, who had lived to see such horror on the battlefield, simply began walking back home.
They no longer felt the call to defend plantation slavery.
MikeS - her rhetorical question was "... who among us in history could leave home for periods of time without a dependable labor force back home?"
How many of the thousands of white people with small farms they worked themselves - without slaves - could have left for periods of time, be it to serve in legislatures or simply to travel for pleasure? Those are two different issues. And, as Eleanor goes on to point out, they also were very different times. Yet it still is mostly those with independent, or at least high-end, incomes who are able to stand for election to a full-time legislative seat.
One more major national crisis impacting our pocket books outa-do-it, Eh!?
Freedom IS worth fighting for. Won't succeed without maximum effort beginning TODAY, Eh!?
Thank You for This David! Exactly.
Have a restful night, Heather. Many thanks for all you do. Many thanks for sharing Peter's photo.🌷
Everyone,
Direct TV has dropped One America News, a far right promulgator of lies about the election and anything else they talk about.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/business/media/one-america-news-directv.html
"after a routine review".
And direct pressure from individuals. Don’t underestimate the collective power of each and every one of us doing small things like making a phone call, writing an email, sending a postcard, boycotting a company, marching in protest, driving someone to the polls, etc.
As reported in Salon, “In recent months, calls from critics for AT&T and DirecTV to sever their arrangements with OAN reached a fever pitch.”
https://www.salon.com/2022/01/14/directv-is-dropping-oann-the-conspiratorial-far-right-network-favored-by-trumpworld/
Thanks for the reminder Lena. It is easy to become discouraged wondering how my little postcard or call could possibly make a difference. It can. It does. Push on.
Lena I am copying and posting your comments with this article if that's okay with you! So illuminating and encouraging. WE, The People, All of Us This Time, DO have POWER!!
Woo hoo, woo hoo
choo bet!!
Speaking of pressure, I heard the cofounder of this website interviewed on The Lincoln Project podcast yesterday.
https://checkmyads.org/branded/
THANK YOU, LENA!
I love that we have this great community here! Love the commenters as much as Heather herself!
This photo is soothing and reminds me a great deal of Andrew Wyeth. What a nice surprise! Thank you for all you do and please do take good care of yourself. You are our ballast in a different kind of storm.
HCR is fully entitled to time off ... but America is not. The New York Times confirms today that "With the door slammed shut this week on federal legislation to create new protections for access to voting, Democrats face an electoral landscape in which they will need to spend heavily to register and mobilize voters." Well, it's about time they recognized what I have been saying for months, that whether or not voting reforms pass, they still must concentrate on mobilizng voters, especially women and persons of color, for the elections less than ten months away.
Call Stacey Abrams yet again. Go fund her.
Done.
And let me add, everything else must be put on the back burner!
Exactly.
Without a record breaking turnout of those who will vote for the Democratic candidate, the current Congress and administration will be the last hurrah for the Democratic Party.
You got the message, and unfortunately, too many local Democratic parties haven't and are wrapped up local issues, which count but which detract from the big picture.
Is it possible to mobilize against the suppression and subversion that is happening?
Yes it is.
Jack, I read, and posted here, Stacy Abrams' article recently about how to mobilize to get out the vote. What happens then if Republican state legislatures overturn the vote of the people, and electoral counts are subverted ? Looking for an answer.......
Answer rests with the DOJ ... and if the Federalist Society-trained SCOTUS sides with the States rather than the DOJ (and the majority of the American people), we will no longer be a true democracy. We will have become something else, exactly what I do not know.
The spare and muted season of winter had a beauty I always appreciated when I lived in the North; I linger over the winter images of Peter or Buddy when Heather takes a well deserved pause in posting. Not that there were plenty of days as winter lingered too long that I groused for a little bit of spring to show her face when March and April finally came up in the calendar queue. 😊🌱 It has been a very challenging winter season already for so many, with the brutal cold, inundating storms, and unrelenting psychic battering that is being endured. Be safe and take care, Heather and family, and as well, this community who cherishes history and democracy, and is nurturing the spark for better days ahead. 🕊 🌤
I entered Peter Ralston's gallery - beautiful work. Heather please take care to get your rest. This crazy world of ours will keep turning without our come-to-be-loved history lessons but we need your knowledge. That isn't necessarily the best reason to care for yourself but it is so true and it's also true that you the teacher is just as needed. Winter can be brutal but in my 70 years it's always set the stage for spring. Stay well friend.
I love all your personal asides as much as your newsletters. I would love to know you personally. Thank you.
In the words of Honey in “Notting Hill” (on meeting Anna Scott) “I genuinely believe, and I’ve believed for some time now, that we could be best of friends.” How we all feel.
Sleep well dear Heather! I am so thankful for your voice of facts and history during this difficult time in our history! I love the photos you post of your friend Peter. This one is a a beauty and I appreciate it for the innate beauty of where you live, but also for the artistic viewpoint, which I see as a fellow artist!
Good night and sweet dreams!
Ohio Supreme Court Strikes Down Republican Gerrymander of Map
The congressional map would have given Republicans an advantage of 12 seats to three in elections for the House of Representatives.
The Ohio Supreme Court struck down a congressional map skewed to favor Republicans on Friday, ruling that it was the equivalent of a dealer stacking the deck, and sent it back to state lawmakers to try again.
The map would have given Republicans an advantage of 12 seats to three in elections for the House of Representatives, even though the G.O.P. has lately won only about 55 percent of the statewide popular vote.
“This is not what Ohio voters wanted or expected,’’ the court said of the map.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/politics/ohio-supreme-court-congressional-maps-gerrymandering.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhkSVUaBybIRp8_qRmHmfnE2_s7hn75aTOIUSxPyulQCI-d4VuIbq1laME-xC-aQ9lINPoqTeRpi-BSJVZ8TgCurpaemZIKZSUprIb5FkUH46XwZ5Fquzn7cjv-b-5l2Ly0ux_BbWDoXKyJ13E-cwxn849idVCgxSRcxKfaQOIh29h_1KglDshwVi5AMHfRx4TgCxh5MNiCbBrZ-1N2D7kfAWeP6Ibav7EQcwxSCkbETGd85gs_7dBcONAVPMXvPkJqOZq-0fhKVDsefMr-DIYxRoPUi7xprbTPzBSKw8G1zPw2f75GbETDhn9PqLfADUpZxtKM4Q&smid=url-share
This is such great news. I have a great love for Ohio especially of Cleveland Clinic. I’d move there from Denver if the politics were better. Maybe now!
It's just a first step, Governor DeWine is still behind the tainted map that was struck down by the court. Republican's still have majority power in my state.
You won't want to be moving here for decades.
Figures. Meh
I, you, we . . . . Sweet dreams, peace, hope and love. Knit up the raveled sleeve of care.
Have a nice sleep and remember al those you help keep sane in this upside down world.