Ola. I always like posting videos of Broadway musicals performed in different countries around the world. This one is a scene and song from Man of La Mancha done in 1974 by the original cast in Chile. Or rather, El Hombre de la Mancha. The show starred Jose Maria Langlais, with Alicia Quiroga as Aldonza/Dulcinea, and Herman Gallardo as Don Quixote's manservant, Sancho Panza. I've song some clips from the show in the past. This one is the song, "I Like Him," which features Quiroga and Gallardo. The scene leading up to it is Sancho Panza delivering a missive from his master to be sung to the scullery maid Aldonzo, who Quixote in his madness sees as the virtuous maiden 'Dulcinea.' She repeatedly ridicules Sancho, until finally asking him, "Why do you follow this man??" Why stay with him??? He's totally stumped -- and finally the only answer he realizes is the truth is that, as he sings, "I like him. I really like him." If you want to jump right to the song, it starts around the 4:15 mark.
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This is a follow-up on my piece yesterday about the pipe bombs sent to Democrat officials, the news media, and public figures who have been critical of Trump. The number of people is now up to 12. Not to worry, though. I'll keep this reasonably short -- because it shouldn't be too difficult to grasp.
For all the conservative apologists who refuse to blame Trump on him inciting far-right conservative Republican supporters by trying to conflate the current news with "bad manners" throughout politics -- never mind that Trump not only began it all and has continued it relentlessly for 2-1/2 years while others have been put in a position recently to fight back and defend themselves: there is actually a huge difference between yelling at public officials when they eat in a restaurant and sending someone a pipe bomb. Perhaps the difference isn't clear to conservative apologists, so I'll explain. Yelling at someone in a restaurant forces a person to find another restaurant to eat in or dine at home. Getting a pipe bomb in your mail box risks it exploding and killing whoever opens it and is in the vicinity, whether the intended target or an unrelated innocent victim. I didn't think this would require an explanation, it seems pretty basic to human existence, but sometimes some people need to be walked through the obvious. It's also worth noting that as much as the conservative apologists want to dismiss this difference and the reality that pipe bombs are terrorist attacks, some of the conservative apologists even laughing about it, that all this is no big deal -- it's important to keep in mind that SO FAR none of these pipe bombs have exploded. Terrible as the story is right now, the story suddenly becomes an overwhelmingly horrifying one if just a single bomb goes off and kills someone, whether the intended public figure or someone unrelated, blowing them apart. There is something else I didn't think would require an explanation, but it seems to. So, to be clear, there is no moral equivalence. The former act of yelling isn't a more benign version of the latter. Taking the time and effort to learn how to make a pipe bomb, put one (or 12) together, and then send it takes a totally different mind-set than yelling at someone to vent, it takes an incitement to want to physically harm fellow humans, to make the effort to kill people and terrorize others. By the way, I suspect it would also be a much bigger deal to the conservative apologists if one of the pipe bombs had been sent to a Republican, to themselves, or to "Fox News." Much bigger. Much. And not something especially to quip about. So, to summarize: The end result of yelling at public officials in a restaurant is that, at its very worst, it can be rude and inconvenient. Sending a pipe bomb to public officials is an act of terrorism that can kill human beings. There. That was easy. Not that conservative apologists want to acknowledge it publicly to the far-right conservative Republican supporters, mind you. But I think most other people are sane and get it. One last thing. I've called the people who Trump has been inciting with violence "far-right conservative Republican supporters" rather than just "his base" -- because they're not merely "his" base, they're the base of the entire Republican Party. I've been seeing some terrific theater during this Chicago visit. (The elves taking care of the homestead are jealous...) Today, I went to an enjoyable, richly produced and funny and touching, though somewhat-slight play in its American premiere from London’s Old Globe, Nell Gwynn, about one of the first actresses on the British stage, who went from (probably) prostitute to famed actress to mistress of King Charles. It’s at one of my favorite theaters here, the Shakespeare Theater – the lobby is gorgeous -- not in an ostentatious way but beautifully designed with clean, but textured lines and lots of wood and brass, and the inside is designed so that the stage looks like the Globe. A small troupe of musicians sat in the boxes in the back. This is one of the things that impresses me about Chicago theater – not only does the public support so many companies, like the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Timeline, Apple Tree, Northlight, the Writers Theater and more, but most of them have wonderful theaters, not just “spaces” to put on plays.
Also, the day before I saw an enjoyable world premiere play at that Writers Theatre in Glencoe, which is another theater I love. It’s the one I’ve mentioned that began life in the back of a bookstore, but expanded to a 115-seat theater in the Women’s Club…and a couple years ago completed a wonderful new structure with two theaters, both quite intimate – this one I was at the other day seats only 90 people and was a wonderful venue. The play was Witch, a very funny drama that’s a sort of Faustian story between an up-and-coming emissary of the Devil and a woman who the town people think is a witch. (“They think I cast a spell on them, but all I did was ask someone to move her bucket.”) And a second plot about the lord of a castle, his son and a poor man with aspirations that interweaves with the main story. By the way, I knew that they get the main theater critics in Chicago to drive out her in the suburbs to review their productions, as well as the New York Times (even when they were in the bookstore) and Wall Street Journal on occasion. And I knew (as I've written) that Jessie Mueller performed here before going to Broadway to win a Tony in Beautiful. (I saw her here in She Loves Me.) But I just discovered that Carrie Coons did a Tom Stoppard play there in 2011 before she got a Tony nomination for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and starred in the mini-series of Fargo (for its third season) and the recent The Sinner, as well as other things. And then there was also the pretty good play,Curve of Departure, that I wrote about here the other day that starred Mike Nussbaum. I've long been impressed by the quality -- and support -- of theater here. And this trip has just confirmed it all the more. Yesterday, pipe bombs were sent to Hilary and Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, CNN, Eric Holder, and George Soros, as well as there being mailed attacks on Rep. Maxine Waters and the Los Angeles Times. Today another was sent to Robert DeNiro. There have been eight such attacks. That we know about, thus far.
And Trump's first response -- as president of the United States, who swore an oath to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution -- was to say absolutely nothing on his own, but simply to quote, to "re-tweet" his subordinate, Vice-President Mike Pence and than just add "I agree wholeheartedly!" That was the best he could offer -- three words repeating someone else -- for inciting terrorists to send bombs to Democratic politicians and the news media, who he himself had pathetically attacked as "enemies." He not only is irresponsibly fascist, he's a small-handed coward. And make no mistake, these are terrorist attacks. And they were fascist, in support of Trump who only the other day lauded a Republican congressman for having physically attacked a reporter, and violence against one's opposition is one of the core foundations of fascism. But let's take a step back and look at that "tweet" that Mike Pence had sent which Trump quoted and "wholeheartedly agreed" with it. In it, Pence tweeted that he "condemns" the "attempted attacks". This doesn't even come anywhere close to being good enough. Pence's boss has incited ALL these fascist acts of terrorism, and Pence has been silent through it. When he accepts responsibility and doesn't merely "condemn" others, then maybe we can start talking. But it's even worse. Because -- hold on there. "Attempted attacks"??!! Attempted? NO, these were actual, real attacks. They SENT the pipe bombs. They didn't just attempt to, but it fizzled out and the bombs didn't get in the mail. The pipe bombs were sent. Why on earth would a leader sworn to protect his country downplay these terrorist ATTACKS?? That they didn't succeed doesn't make them less fascist. And his Boss incited them. But this being Trump, it of course gets even far worse. That's because today, the so-called president sent out another tweet and...and...and actually blame media for causing themselves to be attacked. He "tweeted" -- “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” Trump tweeted. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!” Trump incites fascist terrorist bombers in the U.S. He ACTUALLY puts us all at risk. And let's be very clear about this. These aren't just pipe bombs being sent, these are terrorist attacks. And not a single word about that from Trump. Instead, he blames the media. And this on the same day of the story that he's using an unsecured phone that the Chinese and Russians listen to! Where they determine who he's talking to put pressure on or try to compromise, and can pick up any high security or secret information he passes along -- which we know he does, since we know he did so in the Oval Office when bragging to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister. He ACTUALLY puts us all at risk. To be very clear about all of this -- Trump ACTUALLY puts us ALL at risk. And "ALL" means just that, "ALL," since we have no idea what retaliation could come from this by some crazed nut attacking anyone on the other side of the aisle. And this is just Trump Basics. We haven't even gotten into being compromised by Russia and conspiring with them. DONALD J. TRUMP -- very specifically, very clearly -- ACTUALLY puts us ALL at risk. In 1960, Lionel Bart wrote the music and lyrics for his first show, Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be. (He'd written a musical previously, Lock Up Your Daughters, based on a novel by Henry Fielding, but only provided the lyrics to the joyful score.) The show about the low-life world of London was very small, but very successful, running for two years, with 886 performances. I'm not enamored with the score, but it has a wonderful title song. There's no footage of the original production that I can find, but a London revival was done in 2014 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, and the two stars performed that title song on a morning show. Here 'tis -- After the planned brutal murder and dismemberment by Saudi Arabia of Jamal Khashoggi -- a journalist for the Washington Post, a permanent resident of the United States, and father of two children who are American citizens -- the response of Trump was that it was the most botched cover-up in history.
No, not anger at killing and dismembering a journalist for an American newspaper, a permanent resident of the United States, and the father of two American children. Not outrage at a cruel act of brutality against a human being. But scorn for a country that did a lousy job covering it up. I believe the word that one is looking for is "disgusting." That's only because "shameful" and "pathetic" don't seem to due it justice. "Sick" might do, as well. And adding to the Trump response is that the official U.S. response is sanctions -- which sounds mediocre at best, but oh-so much worse when you realize that it's sanctions against providing visas to the 21 low-level Saudis directly involved with the killings and dismemberment...and worse than even that when you realize that these 21 low-level Saudis will likely be arrested and spends years, if not decades, if not the rest of their lives in a Saudi prison. For starters, cancelling the "$100 billion" supposed-deal with Saudi Arabia might be a good place to start. And contrary to what Trump is trying to pawn off to the public (besides the reality of the still-uncertain "deal") is that, no, Saudi Arabia cannot just go to China or some other countries to complete the deal. That's because they specifically need the U.S. parts to work with the U.S.-made aircraft and weaponry. They need the U.S. for this deal far more than the U.S. needs it. And it would cause them great problems. Which is the point of of penalizing a country that acted so reprehensibly against a permanent resident of the United States. And yes, it was a terrible cover-up. But then that was clear from the first day, when Trump supported their attempt an an explanation. And even more clear later, when Trump said their explanation was "credible." So, again, yes, the cover-up was terrible. So terrible that even Trump couldn't keep justifying it. Fun Fact: the crime was much, much, much, much, much worse. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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