Opinion

The ultimate argument to save our species can be made by a single symphony. The tortured genius who wrote it had been going stone-cold deaf for nigh on two decades.

It could’ve been no other way.

Beethoven’s 250th birthday (December 16th) has sparked a global eruption of shock and awe.

Amidst the ghastly demise of our deranged Caligula, the adulation for Ludwig edges into outright worship.

And rightly so. Each of Beethoven’s nine symphonies is a major masterpiece. His concertos, sonatas, overtures, rondos, quartets, and more are nearly all uniquely immense.

The fugues he wrote at the end of his life are complex, demanding, indecipherable … either centuries ahead of their time, or channeled — Jimi Hendrix style — from some other planet.

A humanist to his core, Beethoven thrilled to the original ideals of the French Revolution. He dedicated his Earth-shattering third symphony to Napoleon as their bearer, but angrily renamed it after Bonaparte declared himself “Emperor.” Beethoven’s one opera (Fidelio) is an ode to feminist empowerment that exalts a daring woman who defeats a brutal tyrant.

Vermont’s only prison for women is, by all accounts, a ghastly place. The facility was never intended to be a prison. The facility was never intended to house women. Built as a men’s detention center in the 1970s, the facility is inadequate to provide what any reasonable person would consider adequate health and safety conditions for as many as 160 incarcerated women.

The Vermont women’s prison, formally known as the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (CRCF) in South Burlington, came into being in August 2011 as a political effort to reduce the state budget pushed by then Governor Peter Shumlin, a military-industrial Democrat who also supported basing the nuclear-capable F-35 in Winooski. Shumlin pushed both projects with grand promises of benefits that have yet to be fulfilled.

It is essential that Democrats control the Senate. For that to happen Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff must win both the seats in the U.S. Senate in the run-off in Georgia on January 5, 2021. 

If Mitch McConnell remains as Majority Leader of the Senate, it will be impossible for the Biden administration to rescind many of the draconian laws passed during Trump’s administration and to pass progressive legislation. 

If both Warnock and Ossoff win the Georgia seats, Vice President Harris, who will be President of the Senate, will break ties.  Charles Schumer will be Majority Leader and Democrats will chair all of the Senate committees.  

When I was a student revolutionary, I attended a debate between a communist and liberal in Manhattan circa 1972. When the latter complained that workers didn’t strike in the socialist states one of the reds in the audience shouted out that this was because “The workers own them!”

In Dear Comrades! seasoned Soviet/Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky poses the question: What does happen when the workers go out on strike in a (purportedly) workers’ state? Russia’s official entry for 2020’s Best International Feature Film Academy Award is based on an actual labor action in June 1962 by the industrial proletariat at the city of Novocherkassk, back in the USSR.

The notion that the COVID-19 pandemic was ‘the great equalizer’ should be dead and buried by now. If anything, the lethal disease is another terrible reminder of the deep divisions and inequalities in our societies. That said, the treatment of the disease should not be a repeat of the same shameful scenario.

For an entire year, wealthy celebrities and government officials have been reminding us that “we are in this together”, that “we are on the same boat”, with the likes of US singer, Madonna, speaking from her mansion while submerged in a “milky bath sprinkled with rose petals,” telling us that the pandemic has proved to be the “great equalizer”. 

Many families and workplaces are celebrating holiday gatherings through videoconference as COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders continue—including finding ways to share festive dinners, or passing the time drinking with friends online.

As suggested by the MuseumHack blog, many companies will be hosting virtual Christmas parties online reimbursing employees for a meal of their choosing, or sending credits for services like GrubHub, or DoorDash that provide delivery of takeaway meals, or more synchronized meals from HelloFresh, BlueApron, or Cratejoy.

Also, we could see more companies like Hire Space, based in the United Kingdom, which offer packaged experiences including a digital platform with themed break out rooms that guests can move in and out of complete with pre-ordered meals, drinks and deserts.

But many families may prefer videoconferencing with home cooked meals. With less family members eating together in one home, each meal prepared will likely be less extravagant than traditional meals.

“One major difference between GOP and Dems is that [Republicans] leverage their right flank to gain policy concessions and generate enthusiasm, while Dems lock their left flank in the basement [because] they think that will make Republicans be nicer to them.’”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nailed it once again, tweeting her frustration and despair a few days ago when the Democrats yielded to the Republican Party as the pandemic relief package was being negotiated. This has been the essence of the party’s attitude for virtually half a century, aided by the mainstream media and everything else that embraces words like “centrist” and “moderate” and “bipartisan.”

In other words: Stand for nothing!

Following Donald Trump’s triumph in the 2016 election, Ohio writer Jef Benedetti asked a disturbing but not impossible question: What if the two major political parties were colluding to keep power at the top while keeping the rest of the country divided? What if the divisive Trump administration was intentionally manufactured?

Benedetti captures all of this in a political thriller called The Exercise. You might want to read the non-fiction book Disloyal by Michael Cohen at the same time.

The story is set in Philadelphia, with intrigue, sex, murder, and power struggles aplenty. Part of The Exercise outlines how the two major parties select highly emotional so-called “wedge issues” to control the voting masses.

When the book was released a few years back, Benedetti stated: “The press in general is the only reliable conduit of information about our government for the citizenry and others living in the U.S. Benedetti points out that it is no coincidence “a story like The Exercise therefore could have had only one hero: a reporter.”

How is it that the New York Times reported that, “In the moment before Casey Goodson Jr. was shot dead by a sheriff’s deputy at the entrance of his home, his lifelong neighbor heard a man shouting, as if he were arguing, and then a burst of gunfire.”

“The neighbor, Andrew Weeks, rushed to a window and saw three men outside, at least one holding a rifle. He called the police, unaware that the three men — all in plain clothes — were law enforcement officers.” “Before long, the block was lined with emergency vehicles, and Mr. Goodson was carried out on a stretcher, fatally wounded from several gunshot wounds.” I have never heard any of this from our local media.

Ben and Jerry's were "inspired by Colin Kaepernick’s bold activism for racial justice" and made a new flavor: “Colin Kaepernick’s Change The Whirled Non-Dairy frozen dessert.” It’s made with sunflower butter, fudge chips, graham cracker swirls and chocolate cookies – and is 100% certified vegan, in honor of Colin Kaepernick’s committed veganism.

All his proceeds from the flavor will go directly to Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp (KYRC), an organization he founded “to empower Black and Brown youth and elevate the voices of the next generation of racial justice leaders.” The “Know Your Rights Camp hosts free camps across America and internationally, engaging Black and Brown youth around social justice issues through education and self-empowerment.” According to the Ben & Jerry’s website, “The idea for Know Your Rights Camp came five years ago after Kaepernick saw footage of the murder of Mario Woods by San Francisco police officers, yet another young Black man lynched by the police. He wanted to help young Black and Brown people not only survive encounters with police but thrive, grow, and find their power.