Music For New Year's Eve 2022 And The New Year 2023

Instead of "Auld Lang Syne" (the typical musical fare for this time of year), a round-up of events in 2022, or a list of New Year's resolutions, enjoy this selection:

 
Happy New Year! May 2023 be kind to us all.

Pay Attention!

Photo credit

Please investigate for yourself by following all links below.

Excerpt (teaser):

The FBI paid Twitter $3.5 million to censor conservatives.

The FBI pressured Twitter to give them information that would legally require warrants, though they did not have warrants.

Leading up to the 2020 election, the FBI would eventually hold weekly meetings with Twitter and tell them whose tweets to squelch and which accounts they wanted to be suspended. Almost all were those of conservatives.

The FBI knew the Hunter Biden laptop story was real, they knew it was coming out — weeks before the 2020 election — and they told Big Tech to expect a “Russian disinformation” drop and squelch the story. That means the FBI corrupted the election to help Joe “totally showered with his daughter, Ashley” Biden.

There are so many former FBI employees at Twitter that they have their own Slack channel.  

And... 

...Twitter wasn’t the only Big Tech firm hip-deep in spooks.  The feds had their fingers in Verizon, Reddit, Facebook, Microsoft, and, for some reason, Pinterest....

The rest is here at Why You Need to Start Paying Attention to the "Twitter Files."  Please read all embedded hot links before commenting!

Government corruption galore!

Related reading: Trans-admiral Rachel Levine wants MORE Big Tech censorship to guard against gender-related ‘misinfo'.

Musical Interlude For Christmas Day — And Beyond

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

If you love excellent choral music, cue up the video below and play this 1991 recording as you enjoy Christmas Day and the remainder of this Holy Season. If you have a Smart TV with a sound bar, as Warren and I do, even better!

The Choral Arts Society of Washington has been a choir of the top order, both nationally and internationally, since 1965.  Members of the choir are not paid!  If approved by a grueling audition (fewer than one in four pass the test), these "amateur" musicians sing because they so love music.

(Personal note: I had the privilege of being in the alto section of the Choral Arts Society of Washington from its founding under the baton of Maestro Norman Scribner, until the spring of 1968, when I resigned so that I could prepare to go to college.  I'll be ever grateful to Maestro Scribner on taking a chance on a child of thirteen to be join a choir of adult singers.  Oh, the training I received!)

00:00 JOY TO THE WORLD for brass 00:57 OF THE FATHER'S LOVE BEGOTTEN 04:11 JAUCHZET, FROHLOCKET! | Bach 12:20 TOMORROW SHALL BE MY DANCING DAY | Rutter 15:23 I SAW THREE SHIPS | Vaughn Williams 16:54 THE HOLLY AND THE IVY | Rutter 19:48 FANTASIA ON ‘GREENSLEEVES’ | Vaughn Williams 24:32 IN DULCI JUBILO for organ | Bach 25:46 NOEL NOUVELET 29:12 BOGORODITSE DEVO, RADUYSA | Rachmaninoff 32:14 WELCOME, ALL WONDERS | Dirksen 39:13 VOLTE | Praetorius 39:58 INTONATION for organ | Gabrieli/IN DULCI JUBILO | Scheidt 44:41 O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL | Willcocks 48:11 DECK THE HALLS | Shaw-Parker 49:21 MARY HAD A BABY | Dawson 52:35 CANDLELIGHT CAROL | Rutter 56:51 STILLE NACHT | Gruber 59:44 ZITHER CAROL | Sargent 1:01:32 BRING A TORCH | Shaw-Parker 1:03:01 WILLIE, TAKE YOUR LITTLE DRUM | Hall 1:04:37 CANTIQUE DE NOEL | Adams 1:08:55 SHEDRYK 1:10:06 A MERRY CHRISTMAS | Warrell 1:11:30 HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING | Willocks

Warren's A Christmas Visitor: A Christmas Tradition Here At This Blog

Posted by Warren

(Originally posted on "Longrange" for Christmas 2004)

4:00 am 12/24/04

There was a knock on my front door which startled me awake. My dogs were barking which required my dire threats to quieten them as I answered the door.

Maybe you have heard of our weather and the unusually cold temperatures and large amount of snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours. I live just south of Interstate 64 in Southern Indiana and you may have seen the news about the closed Interstate and stranded motorists on the national news.

A man in his early fifties, about my own age, stood at the door. He was wearing tennis shoes, jeans, a field jacket and sock hat. His glasses were frosted and his pale white hands and reddened knuckles gave witness that he wore no gloves.

He told me he was lost and asked for directions to a certain address. I told him that he missed his mark by a mile and a half and asked him where his car was. He said he was walking.

I invited him in and sat a chair for him by the warm air from the furnace vent. He was shivering uncontrollably and a faint whiff of alcohol was on his breath. I asked if I could fix him something to eat but he refused and accepted a hot cup of coffee.

My wife talked to him as he warmed himself and I could hear him speaking as I prepared his fresh coffee.

My son heard his voice and came into the living room to sit and listen, and to watch, just in case.

His story unfolded.

He was homeless veteran, he had been sleeping in a box, under a bridge over the Ohio river, several miles to the West. He had decided that it was too cold and he might freeze to death if he didn't find safe shelter with more than a cardboard box to keep him warm. About midnight, he had left his meager possessions and headed for his sisters home, a mile or so from my own home. He had walked past in the blowing snow and the dark but continued walking. He was lost, confused and probably somewhat drunk. Hypothermia can add confusion to even the sober mind.

As he spoke, I realized that he had mental problems as do many of the homeless.

There are places that provide refuge for the indigent, I'm sure he knew, but they don't accept anyone who is intoxicated, which I'm also sure he knew.

He drank his coffee then asked me if I would drive him to his sisters home. He then offered me two dollars. Of course I refused the money but offered to take him where he wanted to go.

I intended to take measures to see after him and he seemed anxious to leave.

As I drove, he told me that his sister was out of town but he had permission to use her house in an emergency. I was worried that he was just lying for reasons of his own but I was determined to see the thing through, even if I had to call the police to ensure his well-being through this cold weather.

As we drove up to the house, there was a porch light on and smoke coming from the chimney vent. Even so, it was apparent that there was no one home, the snow around the house was undisturbed.

I asked him if he was sure he could get in, he said, "Yes, she (his sister) told me where the key is." He reached out his hand, as if for a hand shake, and when I offered mine, pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it saying, "God bless you".

I was profoundly embarrassed but stayed long enough to see him dig around in the snow and find a key, unlock the door and wave goodbye.

I drove home, my thoughts disturbed, by the events that had taken place.

My wife was relieved as I returned and I started preparing food (very early,) for Christmas Eve. As I cut up fruit for salad and prepared the turkey for baking, my son came up behind me, hugged me and kissing my head, said, "Dad, you did a good thing."

Again, I was embarrassed, not by my son's hug and kiss but by his praise.

It was the right thing to do.

My son told me that he tries to help the homeless ones that hang around his place of employment. We spoke of how little we can actually do for them and I was proud of my son for being a good man and doing the right thing.

As I continued to prepare food for Christmas Eve, my thoughts drifted to a couple seeking shelter in Bethlehem and the birth of the Lamb of the New Covenant, and I felt God's Peace.

May God's Peace and blessings be with you all!
Merry Christmas.

Warren

Post Note:

First, please watch "Mary, Did You Know?" as performed by the Pentatonix, an a capella group. I hope that you love it as much as I do:

====

Eighteen years ago, I first posted this true story -yes it actually happened- and I am always asked to brush the cobwebs off and re-post it for Christmas. The post note is changed to reflect my feelings and events.

"Mary, Did You Know?" by the Pentatonix, is my favorite Christmas Carol. If you haven't heard this version before or if you would like to hear it again, I urge you to put on your headphones or good speakers and have a listen. 

Maybe below you could tell me your favorite Carol.
This year, I'm spending Christmas with my new bride, AOW, in our new home. It has been a year of many happy changes.

Christmas Eve, we shall celebrate with one of my brothers and my son and daughter-in-law.

Once again, and to all my friends -and you know who you are!-
Merry Christmas!
Warren

Merry Christmas to all who stop by this site. Be blest!

Spot-On Satire

Senator Rand Paul's Christmas 2022 satire:

🎄 I wrote and performed my own scary version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas 🎄 Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/IHI0uNyW0N

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 20, 2022

Weep for our republic, which is being driven into the ground by the federal-government big spenders ("public servants"). Both parties are guilty of political malpractice!

Christmas Music Interlude

One of my personal favorites, this version arranged for female voices, harp, and cello: 

More selections from Kinga Elżbieta Vnuk HERE.

On Hiatus

COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.

 

Donald Trump is the expression of the id, animated by libidinal whims, repressed desires, and resentments; the liberal establishment was the moralizing superego, directing commands toward appropriate conduct and policing discourse. 

Upon losing control of the id, the compulsion to fact-check and bellow “This is not normal!” into the post-truth abyss turned liberals, Rensin proclaims, into “the blathering superego at the end of history.” (Altexploit - The New Lexicon of Hate)

Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5

Stalin and the Soviet regime hailed Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 as a heroic celebration of the USSR.  In reality, it damned the cruel communist regime that crushed the human soul and murdered millions. 

He said: “The rejoicing is forced, created under threat. It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick, saying ‘Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing’, and you rise up, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, ‘Our business is rejoicing.’ Stalin liked it because he thought Shostakovich was glorifying him, not realizing the composer’s true intent! (How Shostakovich Survived to Protest Stalin’s Anti-Semitism)

If you're like me and you don't automatically "get" classical music, here is a read-ahead to orient you to the historical context and what each of the four movements are about: Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5

There is also a two-minute YouTube video that captures the time quite nicely:  Shostakovich's 5th Symphony

I have enjoyed a live performance of this symphony, and it is indeed emotion and moving. I hope you enjoy and appreciate it.

 

In This House, We Believe

Silverfiddle Rant!

In this progressive house, We Believe...

All immigrants should be given shelter... somewhere else

Declaring our city a sanctuary city is virtuous, just don't ask us to actually provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants

Black Lives Matter!  Except for the Black Lives burned out of their businesses and neighborhoods by larping privileged white kids and Marxists of Color protesting police violence against black people by destroying black neighborhoods and businesses.

Doctor Fauci is Science

Working people who never attended college should bail out those who did

Gender is a white male construct!

My Body My Choice!!! (Unless you are a little baby body gestating in the womb)

"The Science" is "settled"

Logic is racist

"Fact Checkers" "Debunk" "Disinformation," and "Misinformation" 

Crayons are real food

Beria's America

Silverfiddle Rant!

I would like to ask everyone to please stay on topic.  It's unfortunate the comment threads have turned into a place for personal rants and hobby horses.

Today we compare the cases of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.  I know, the press has already "debunked" and "fact checked" everything, but please hear me out, and then tell us what you think.

Which action puts our nation's secrets in more jeopardy of being stolen by our adversaries?

1) Taking classified paper documents and locking them in a private home?

or

2) Flagrantly air-gapping classified information from secure systems to unclassified ones, and routinely transmitting classified information over unsecure e-mail, and storing communications including Confidential, Secret and Top Secret information on an unprotected server connected to the internet, where US government secrets are literally exposed to any hacker anywhere in the world?

Here are the facts from the FBI investigation of Hillary and her staff:

"From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received." 

"Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; 36 chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information, which is the lowest level of classification ..."  (RCP - Adriana Cohen)

Her only defense is that Comey called the sloppy and lazy practices of her and her staff "extremely careless" but not criminal.  An opinion that JustUs Minister Loretta Lynch eagerly gobbled up to push the whole affair down the memory hole and allow Hillary to proceed to her coronation.

Career friendlies at the State Department also investigated and concluded that Hillary and her staff meant no harm, they just innocently spilled classified information hundreds of times, destroyed evidence and wiped a hard drive.  Anyone could have made those mistakes...

Hillary got a sweeheart deal from the syndicate because she's a made man.  FBI investigators allowed Clinton bagman Cheryl Mills and other co-conspirators to sit in on the "interviews," and they immunized the low level IT technician who did the dirty work. Whatever happened to the FBI squeezing lower lever people and making them squeal, and working their way up the chain to the Big Guy?

Our government and the press operate on a flagrant double-standard.  I don't understand why everyone does not see it, or how anyone can defend it.

What say you?

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

From the days of unforgettable television-show themes, enjoy "Park Avenue Beat," the Theme to Perry Mason (1957-1966), composed by the prolific radio, television, and film composer Fred Steiner (1923-2011): 

About the above piece:

The [Perry Mason] theme music is one of the most recognizable in television. Composer Fred Steiner set out to write a theme that would project the two primary aspects of Mason's character—sophistication and toughness. "The piece he came up with, titled "Park Avenue Beat," pulsed with the power of the big city and the swagger of a beefy hero played to perfection by actor Raymond Burr," wrote the Los Angeles Times. Described by Steiner as "a piece of symphonic rhythm and blues," the Perry Mason theme heard at the opening and end credits became the composer's best-known work.

Get it Off Your Chest 9/16/22

 

Open Comments 

Comments from trolls and rants against administrators will still be deleted.

 By Warren     

A Fascist by any other Name...

Silverfiddle Rant!

"It is astonishing to watch Dems and their allies in media corporations posture as opponents of "fascism" - while their main goal is to *unite state and corporate power* to censor their critics and degrade the internet into an increasingly repressive weapon of information control."   - Glenn Greenwald

Remembering 9/11

 

When you went to Google on 11 Sep 2022, this is what you got.  Normally, Google marks a noteworthy occasion by incorporating the theme of the date in its clickable Google logo, with the embedded link taking you to a search with results about that historic day.  

This year, Google simply put an American flag with a black ribbon over it.  It was not clickable, but did render a tool tip message when you hovered the cursor over it.

I found that oddly fitting.  What are we remembering?

Never Forget

Twenty-one years ago today. 

New York City:

Photo by Dr. Emil Chynn

Many more photos of Ground Zero HERE.

The Pentagon:

Photo from the Department of Defense

What did America learn that day?

What did the world learn that day?

Has the West learned the right lessons?

Have we moved on so far that we have forgotten those attacks?

History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes (attributed to Mark Twain).

Please take a few moments to reflect on the terrorist attacks of 9/11: to honor those who lost their lives and to remember the many more who lost their beloveds:

Get it Off Your Chest 9/9/22

 

Open Comments 

Comments from trolls and rants against administrators will still be deleted.

 By Warren     

Conservatives are Happier than Liberals

Silverfiddle Rant!

For decades now, study after study has shown conservatives report more happiness than liberals.

There is one single study flying gnat-like in the face of facts, insisting cons are in reality no happier than libs.

"The portrait of conservatives that emerges is different from the view that conservatives are generally fearful, low in self-esteem, and rationalize away social inequality. Conservatives are more satisfied with their lives, in general... report better mental health and fewer mental and emotional problems (all after controlling for age, sex, income, and education), and view social justice in ways that are consistent with binding moral foundations, such as by emphasizing personal agency and equity. Liberals have become less happy over the last several decades, but this decline is associated with increasingly secular attitudes and actions." (Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?)

 
What say you?

What Now, Europe?

Silverfiddle Rant!

We hammered a few domestic politics topics hard yesterday, but left the topic of Europe and Ukraine largely unaddressed. Russia's invasion of Ukraine grinds on, Ukraine's harvest is piling up because Russia controls their access to the Baltic, and energy prices are not coming down.  In fact, they have increased almost ten-fold for some European nations.

Blogger buddy Geeez wrote a great post yesterday featuring comments from her stepchildren living in Germany.  It is an eyewitness report:  Real news from MUNICH

Vlad has finally pinched off Europe's gas pipe.  

What now? Putin knows European 'powers' are weak sisters.  This may be his gambit to end his bumbling Ukraine invasion.  Europe is stocked up, but they will still have to impose severe restrictions and rationing on homes and businesses. 

Our heating bills here in the US will bite hard, and look for worldwide riots and food shortages in poorer countries as Ukraine's war-shrunken harvest cannot export through Russian controlled ports.

Western nations will make it through, but this may be our own winter of discontent, and to what end? I don't see Europeans and Americans coming out the other side of this a happier people.

What say you?

Happy Labor Day!

Silverfiddle Rant!

I figured I'd give people a forum to sound off, in case anyone gets bored.  Me? I'm ready to go back to work.  In this over-crowded state, if you want to do anything on the weekend, you have to fight the traffic and the crowds.  Holiday weekends are even worse.

Anyway, here are some topics of discussion:

After the President's 'V for Vendetta' speech, he issued a clarification:

"I don't consider any Trump supporter a threat to the country."

Glad he cleared that up! What's going on?  

~~~~~~~~~

The Infotainment Media Complex proudly participated in a  conspiracy to 'save' an election for Democrats, cheers on censorship, and has been fanning the flames of civil war for years.  Now this:

Red wave crashing? GOP momentum slips as fall sprint begins.

It's always been an iron law that polling before Labor Day is unreliable and predictive of nothing.  Reporting 'the news,' or propaganda?

~~~~~~~~~

Vlad has finally pinched off Europe's gas pipe.  

What now? Putin knows European 'powers' are weak sisters.  This may be his gambit to end his bumbling Ukraine invasion.  Europe is stocked up, but they will still have to impose severe restrictions and rationing on homes and businesses. 

Our heating bills here in the US will bite hard, and look for worldwide riots and food shortages in poorer countries as Ukraine's war-shrunken harvest cannot export through Russian controlled ports.

What say you?

Musical Interlude

(For politics, please scroll down)

This Labor Day Weekend, enjoy String Quartet No. 12 'American' by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), also known for his Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World": 

 

[about the above piece, which is, in effect an homage to American music, particularly Negro spirituals and folk songs]

Noise, Fear, AI/ML

Silverfiddle Rant!

So much to talk about, so little time...

Why did President Trump take and stash all those documents?

What is the absolute worst Russia could do to Europe?  What do we as Americans have to fear from Russia?

Is Europe worth defending with American blood and treasure?

Has the US Federal Government become a horrible uncontrollable machine that depersonalizes us and endangers our liberties, but that we paradoxically cannot survive without?

When President Obama federalized student loans in 2010 as part of interlocking legislation with Obama Care, he said this:

"By cutting out the middleman, we'll save American taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years," the president said. "That's real money -- real savings that we'll reinvest to help improve the quality of higher education and make it more affordable."

It's 12 years later. Can anyone use federal budget figures to demonstrate this savings?

Can anyone point to any politician's promise of "savings" that actually happened?

Bonus Question: Who wrote the following?  (no prizes, Yahoogle search makes finding the author way too easy):

"In any technologically advanced society the individual's fate MUST depend on decisions that he personally cannot influence to any great extent. A technological society cannot be broken down into small, autonomous communities, because production depends on the cooperation of very large numbers of people and machines. Such a society MUST be highly organized..."

What say you?

Government-Sponsored Pain

Silverfiddle Rant!

Inflations is not letting up, and we have a global energy crisis.

Frightening economic conditions are crushing ordinary Americans.

All this brought to us by the "leaders" and "experts" who... 

...thought it would be neato to consolidate a majority of the world's critical manufacturing in a communist nation determined to avenge historical humiliations, overpower its main enemy (The United States) and dominate the world.  Yes, educated people saw this even back in the 1980's when Papa Bush was admonishing us to not isolate China.

... doubled down on stupid by panicking in the face of the global covid pandemic.  Leaders and experts fomented hysteria, forcing the shutdown of schools and the main engines of the global economy, despite knowledge that the elderly and those in poor health (unlikely to be in school or the workplace) made up over 90% of deaths.

As if that weren't enough, the geniuses in the bowels of our federal government decided now was a great time to foment a hot war between Ukraine and Russia.  As a result, continued gas flow through the Nordstream pipeline is in doubt, Germany is burning coal again, and Europe is worried about making it through the winter with enough energy to heat homes and power the economy.

Yeah, we need a "Great Reset," but not the kind the rich and powerful have in mind...

Trump's Original Sin...

The rest of the above title: Forget Russiagate, TRUMP CREATED THE COVID VACCINE, Yeah, That's The Ticket.

Worth a few moments of your time:

Well, at least now, perhaps the truth about the dangers of the COVID vaccines will be allowed to come out.  All the law suits that will be flying around will be an outcome, of course.  Get ready for the storm.

Meanwhile, we have this: Silenced healthcare workers speak out publicly for the first time: Here's what silenced healthcare workers from all over the world want you to know and why they aren't able to speak out directly.  Grim read!

Musical Interlude: One Year Ago Today

(For politics, please scroll down)

I was in the midst of the final days of packing up the last family homestead in preparation for an early-September move when Warren and I decided to  get married.

 Warren and I had been planning to go to the justice of the peace. 

 But no! 

 At my cousins' insistence, the farewell party for me became a perfect garden wedding for Warren and me. 

 All I had to do that day was show up with my hair washed and my nice shoes, and step into the wedding dress. Somehow, in the midst of all the packing, Warren and I found time to go shopping for a suit and shirt for him. Everything else for our wedding was taken care of by my cousins, two of whom walked me down the path and gave me away.

Not a dry eye anywhere in the assembly or at the altar when Warren and I took our vows!

PS: One of the aforementioned cousins was in my first wedding as a flower girl—way back in 1972. The second time around, her eight-year-old granddaughter was our flower girl.

.

The very first song that Warren and I ever danced to:

Get it Off Your Chest 8/26/22

 

Open Comments 

Comments from trolls and rants against administrators will still be deleted.

 By Warren     

Thank God for the First Amendment

Silverfiddle Rant!

Much of society is now a hooting nuthouse full of unhinged inmates trampling logic and common sense, and indifferent or even hostile to traditional religious beliefs. This is where the Christian admonition kicks in: Be in the world but not of the world.

The culture war is over - Conservative Christians lost

Traditional western jurisprudence has much of its roots in Biblical morality, but voters, elected representatives, and judges are rejecting those moral foundations, and the change has been rapid.

In 1986, the Supreme Court cited Blackstone to uphold Georgia's anti-sodomy law that outlawed homosexual sex. (Bowers v. Hardwick).  In 1991, the Supreme Court declared anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional.  (Lawrence v. Texas).  Gay marriage followed in 2015. (Obergefell v Hodges) 

Blackstone's compendium of western law explicates a nuanced approach to abortion, as does Jewish teachings.  People who want an absolute abolition of the practice must first acknowledge that they hold an extreme and minority position. I don't mean that as a pejorative.  True Christianity is uncompromising and not for the faint of heart. 

Coercion or Persuasion?

Religious right Republicans could win the House, Senate and White House and launch a farrago of revanchist federal laws including prohibitions on abortions and gay marriage, etc, but they would trigger their own version of one person, one vote, one time.  Voters would throw them out and banish them for a generation while the newly-elected would re-enshrine those rights.  Cramming laws down the throats of people who don't want them is a form of dictatorship.

Politics aside, imagine the torrent of ramifications flowing from such laws, and the impact on society. 

We are living in a neo-pagan age, and Christians are now in the realm of moral persuasion. The Lord's work will not be done in our legislatures and court houses, so roll up your sleeves, hoist high the First Amendment banner, and get to work.