The Commentariat -- December 25, 2016
President & Michelle Obama celebrated Hanukkah early this year (it began at sundown December 24):
Early last week, contributor NJC shared this video with us:
... Alexandra Rosenmann of AlterNet: "Karim Sulayman is a an Arab-American tenor and activist from Chicago. Ten days after Donald Trump was elected president, Sulayman teamed up with filmmaker Meredith Kaufman Younger for a different kind of trust test. Blindfolded outside Trump International Hotel in New York City, Sulayman held a handwritten poster board sign. It read:
Hello, my name is Karim and I am Arab-American. Like many people who are black, brown, women, LGBTQIA, Latinix, Muslim, Jewish, immigrants and Other, I am very scared. We are anxious and uneasy in our own country and it's difficult to see what lies ahead for us. But, I have hope that I am safe with you. Together, we can build a community of caring, rather than one of fear. You can trust me to care for you no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you are from. Will you embrace me as willingly as I embrace you? Will you shake my hand and/or hug me and/or take a photo with me and post it as a sign that I am safe here with you? I trust you.
CW: Here is Sulayman working his regular job:
Hearing Monteverdi's simple tune here reminded me of his more complex Vespers, or Magnificat. It turns out Sulayman has performed Monteverdi's Magnificat, too:
... The text of the Magnifcat comes from the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55) and is spoken by Mary:
- My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
- For he hath regarded: the lowliness of his handmaiden.
- For behold, from henceforth: all generations shall call me blessed.
- For he that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is his Name.
- And his mercy is on them that fear him: throughout all generations.
- He hath shewed strength with his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
- He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek.
- He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.
- He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel: as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.
This is, of course, a Jewish poem, which the author of the Gospel borrowed from the Old Testament Song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and other earlier Jewish writings. What strikes me about the Magnificat is its repudiation of All Things Confederate: The God of Israel glorifies women, most particularly the "lowliest" women; he exalts the meek; he feeds the hungry. God despises the proud, the powerful, the rich -- the Trumps. Much of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is a political reaction to oppression, a revolutionary manifesto against systemic corruption and abuse of power. This is the true core of our Judeo-Christian heritage, a core that the hypocrites who "sound their trumpets before them" have lost or rejected.
Donald Trump may invoke a phony culture war and insist that we all say "Merry Christmas," but the religion he pretends to defend in fact casts him as an agent of evil. The true keepers of the Judeo-Christian tradition are the humble, the poor and the powerless. They are the Drifters, who had to pay to record "White Christmas" (see below), the needy women who seek health care at Planned Parenthood clinics, the Arab-American who stands blindfolded in the street.
*****
Here's a Christmas miracle. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" can be made to sound even worse than the original:
... Thanks, Obama!
Meanwhile, here in Florida ...,
... An earlier recording:
*****
CW: Even as I am enjoying the sounds of gunshots fired in celebration the birth of the Baby Jesus (I'm not kidding -- apparently it's a cultural thing), reporters are otherwise occupied, obliging me to compile a review of the news. It will be short, which does not mean I have been shot during the festivities.
Megan Twohey, et al., of the New York Times: "With extensive entanglements around the world, many packaged in a network of licensing agreements and limited liability companies, the Trump Organization poses a raft of potential conflicts of interest for a president-elect who has long exerted such control over his company that, as he told The New York Times in a recent interview, he is the one who signs the checks.... Mr. Trump -- owner of all but the smallest sliver of the privately held company -- has said that, while the law does not require it, he is formulating plans to remove himself and his older daughter, Ivanka, from the company's operations. (Ms. Trump's husband, Jared Kushner, is likely to have a role in the White House.)... People involved in the planning have said that Mr. Trump intends to keep a stake in the business. But in recent weeks, amid rising pressure, Mr. Trump and his advisers have been intensely debating further measures." -- CW
Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump claimed Saturday that NBC News 'purposely' misquoted his call for an expansion of the U.S. nuclear program earlier this week, despite reports to the contrary. Trump on Thursday said the United States 'must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.' Saturday he accused NBC of intentionally leaving out the latter, more measure portion of his statements. '.@NBCNews purposely left out this part of my nuclear qoute: "until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." Dishonest!' the president-elect tweeted Saturday afternoon.... NBC News' initial report covering Trump's comments on nuclear expansion, however, cited his comments in full. And the Thursday broadcast of NBC's 'Nightly News with Lester Holt' displayed his comments in their entirety." -- CW
Eric Schlosser, in the New Yorker: "Today, the odds of a nuclear war being started by mistake are low — and yet the risk is growing, as the United States and Russia drift toward a new cold war." Schlosser details one chilling account after another of what already did happen during the Cold War. -- CW
Yastreblyansky Explains TrumpSpeak to Very Serious People: "People need to start understanding that what Trump says ... is to be taken neither literally nor seriously; you should assume that whatever he says is meant not to convey a denotative meaning but a picture of how he'd like to be regarded; he's trying to give you his impression of what a Real Leader looks and sounds like, and as with Sid Caesar's bogus German, the meaning, if there is any, is just for laughs.... He's pure emotion, and his emotions succeed each other pretty swiftly. Policy in the Trump administration, to the extent he himself has any influence on it, is going to be arbitrary." -- CW
Rich Schapiro of the New York Daily News: "Donald Trump's inner circle was thrown into turmoil Saturday when his newly-named White House communications director resigned after a transition team staffer posted cryptic tweets suggesting he's a philanderer. Jason Miller announced that he won't be joining the Trump administration just two days after he was tapped to lead the White House communications team. Miller said in a statement that he wanted to spend more time with his family.... AJ Delgado, a senior advisor in Trump's transition team, posted several tweets hinting that Miller was at the center of a sex scandal.... Delgado later deleted her Twitter account." ...
... CW: Other news organizations that have reported on Miller's resignation have not cited the Delgado allegations.
'Tis the Season. Today in Holiday Recriminations:
Bloomberg News in the Washington Post: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and his Republican lieutenants want to hit fellow lawmakers with fines and potential ethics violations if they engage in live-streaming or other disruptions on the House floor. The move is a belated response to this summer's 25-hour sit-in by Democrats protesting Republican inaction on gun-control legislation. Under the proposed new rules package, which was seen by Bloomberg News, members could face a $500 fine through deductions to their paychecks for a first offense of using electronic photography or audio or visual recording, as well as for broadcasting from the chamber's floor. A $2,500 fine would be leveled for the next such offense and each subsequent violation." -- CW
Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: "Israel summoned to Jerusalem on Sunday, Christmas Day, ambassadors representing countries that voted in favor of a U.N. Security Council resolution that harshly criticizes Israeli settlement activity, calling them an obstacle to peace. Ambassadors of four of the five permanent Security Council members -- the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia -- as well as nonpermanent members with diplomatic relations with Israel -- Egypt, Japan, New Zealand, Uruguay, Ukraine and Spain — were issued a sharp reprimand by Israeli Foreign Ministry officials.... The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, was not summoned to Jerusalem because the United States did not vote in favor of the resolution, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said." -- CW
... By Contrast.... Joanna Walters of the Guardian: "From smaller local organizations to household names such as Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, nonprofit organizations across the US reported fundraising tallies many magnitudes higher than in previous years as they approached their end-of-year donation drives.... Progressive causes in the US saw a spike in donations immediately after the election on 8 November from voters dismayed, outraged or even frightened by the outcome. In the weeks since, this wave of strategic giving has compounded." -- CW
Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "... in one of the coldest parts of the coldest state, there is an only-in-Alaska pollution story: At about minus 20 Fahrenheit -- a fairly regular occurrence here in winter -- smoke that goes up comes right back down, to linger at ground level and, therefore, lung level. The average from 2013 to 2015 for dangerous small-particle pollution, called PM 2.5, which can be deeply inhaled into the lungs, was by far the highest in the nation in North Pole, just southeast of Fairbanks, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency." ...
... CW: Contrast Alaska with Burlington, Vermont, a sustainable-energy city (see yesterday's Commentariat), to see the difference between confederate & liberal government -- it's a difference of life and death.
Katie Thomas & Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "The American Kidney Fund is one of the largest charities in the country, with an annual budget of over $250 million. Its marquee program helps pay insurance premiums for thousands of people who need dialysis, a lifesaving and expensive treatment for kidney failure.... Under an agreement with the federal government, the Kidney Fund must distribute the aid based on a patient's financial need. But the charity has resisted giving aid to patients at clinics that do not donate money to the fund, an investigation by The New York Times has found.... The agreement governing the relationship between the group and the companies forbids choosing patients based on their clinic.... The findings also add to a list of concerns about the group's relationship with the dialysis industry." -- CW
News Lede
New York Times: "All 92 people on board a Russian military aircraft, including members of a famed military choir bound for Syria to entertain Russian forces there, are believed to have died when their plane crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday after takeoff, the authorities said." -- CW
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Reader Comments (7)
Warning; In case you watch the Sulayman billboard video, be sure
to have kleenex handy. It's a beautiful thing.
@Forest––yes it is and I needed that tissue.
@Marie: Proof positive that the world does not stand still on Christmas Day–-also shows you were not shot during the baby Jesus celebratory shootings, so thanks for the news that continues even while holiday cheer goes unabated. We even got news that the English Queen isn't going to attend church services because of a bad cold.
I got a kick out of Yastreblyansky Explains TrumpSpeak to Very Serious People. When I was teaching I used to speak fake Italian in a bellicose tone whenever one of the darlings got out of line. It stopped them cold and when they asked what it was I uttered, I'd say loudly––"You don't want to know!" So along with fake Italian and fake German (Sid's best) we gots a guy at the helm whose renderings are just as bogus, he's just pretending–-giving us an impression of what a Real Leader looks and sounds like––pure emotion–-it's all just for laughs. Ugh! the West Wing winging it day after day will be such an anomaly heads are gonna spin out of control and perhaps even out the door. But hey! It's Christmas Day so let's put all these negatives away. And sing! Loudly and with feeling.
I think that headline writers should change how they write their words, to account for the Trumpspeak that will be part of our news cycle for the next few years. For example:
Old way: "Trump announces need to enhance U.S. nuke capacity."
New way: "Trump tweets some words about U.S. nukes."
The "Old Way" implies that there is some meaning behind DiJiT's word production. The new accurately just says he produced some words. The story itself can expand on whether or not those words have any meaning. Usually, not.
Thank you for the beautiful videos with Karim Sulayman. He shows us that without eyes and without speech, we can still communicate heart to heart.
Best present. Ever.
Re. Magnificat text: William Faulkner proposed an alternate origin of Christianity as a political rather than religious movement, at which the Romans, realizing how dangerous it was, propagandized it into a religion. "A Fable" is a little dense but worth the effort.
Merry everything and deep thanks to Marie and all.
@PD: "It's all for laughs"
Yeah and I'm laughing all the way to the bunker. Haven't felt the need to keep it stocked up for almost 8 years now.
Put down your overflowing Trumpster dumpster and listen to this lovely little Northern Irish girl (with ADHD and autism) sing Leonard Cohen's classic as it was meant to be sung!
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/banter/trending/watch-i-feel-loved-irish-schoolgirl-who-has-wowed-music-fans-around-the-world-with-hallelujah-cover-35311781.html