vol. 2 issue 28

Greetings,

We’re getting outta Dodge for a few days, so I won’t be sending my usual Friday email. I could schedule this for tomorrow, but every hour is a new day in this new world of military madness, so I figure I’ll stay ahead of the curve and just send it now.

Before I explain the silly but serious video posted above, just a note to follow up on what I posted last night: those mercenaries I theorized have been employed by POTUS and his band of thugs to beat up and harm peaceful protestors? They exist. Here’s a frightening piece from the Washington Post that was reported just before midnight last night: they are federal prison riot police, and they are flooding the streets in DC.

Why? Why would any American leader with so many options at his disposal need to bring in riot police who are accustomed to fighting with hardened criminals, not working with peaceful protestors? Why hire snide assholes, as is clear from the way the mercenaries responded when asked for credentials by several people? Why hide these mens’ identities? We know why. A move to form a dictatorship is afoot.

At this point, the only ones in Washington voicing support or staying silent, which is the same as voicing support, for POTUS are the usual suspects who have always sought to consolidate power for themselves, not represent us. Even “the base” is falling away. More on that next week now that some readers have clued me in on what the Evangelical ethos is that keeps so many of the 94 million of them in this country committed to this derangement we now have in the White House…

In the meantime, one of my readers on Facebook, a “recovering” Evangelical Christian, pointed me in the direction of a highly informative podcast I can recommend: Straight White Jesus. I have found the episodes about the rise of Christian Nationalism to be especially informative. The podcast is hosted by two former Evangelicals who are now professors of religion. They have great guests and can ask the kinds of questions only insiders could know to ask. There are Christians, and then there are Christian Nationalists…and that is who POTUS is playing for.

Given that POTUS and his weirdsmobile band of brothers are playing out their death cult fantasies to fewer Americans who approve of it, I wonder what kind of horrible event they will perpetrate next. I expect things will get far worse before they get better, given who deluded the man’s reaction always — always — is when he feels cornered or contradicted. Like how last night he rewrote history to say he fired former chief-of-staff James Mattis after Mattis published his scathing THIS MAN IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER letter to the nation. To lie, cheat, harm, and steal is reflexive for this president and his danger posse.

So, let’s talk about music. And opera. And beauty. And baseball. And democracy. And sanity. And the way these things are connected and can elevate and heal us. That’s what the video is above: a conversation between me in my role as a classical music critic in conversation with IN Series Opera director, Timothy Nelson, who is one of the world’s most innovative (actually, in my experience, next to Peter Sellars, Tim is the most innovative) opera directors. Even if he has his face buried in his coffee cup, lol.

Thank you as always for being a supported of docu-mental. I love how enthusiastic some of you are and tell me so in emails. I also truly appreciate how often you forward this newsletter to others. Please encourage them to subscribe when you do.

Next week, I have that podcast about a mental health marketplace, and more about evangelicals. Until then, safety in all things and peace.

Whitney

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