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As Tannhäuser’s lovely, rolling overture is unveiled, the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion becomes visible, as if being revealed in a cinematic fade in. The set is bathed in ethereal scarlet and blue lights designed by Connecticut’s Marcus Doshi, as about six dancers cavort onstage in what composer and librettist Richard Wagner described as “the whirlings of a fearsomely voluptuous dance.” A bacchanalian orgy is taking place, with nymphs performing Kama Sutra-like positions and moves choreographed by Canadian Aszure Barton. In Opera 101 author Fred Plotkin notes “some modern productions have included nude dancers” in Tannhäuser’s stunning curtain lifter, but although nudity has appeared in other LA Opera offerings, alas, this less adventurous show’s sexy sprites are appareled in flimsy androgynous outfits.

The Pentagon’s offer of “condolence money” to the relatives of the ten people (seven of them children) who were killed in the final U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan — originally declared righteous and necessary — bears a troubling connection to the government’s ongoing efforts to get its hands on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and punish him for exposing the inconvenient truth of war.

You know, the “classified” stuff — like Apache helicopter crewmen laughing after they killed a bunch of men on a street in Baghdad in 2007 (“Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards”) and then smirked some more after killing the ones who started picking up the bodies, in the process also injuring several children who were in the van they just blasted. This is not stuff the American public needs to know about!

In the wake of WMD-liar Curveball’s videotaped confession, Colin Powell is demanding to know why nobody warned him about Curveball’s unreliability. The trouble is, they did.

I’ve just read through three of the most boring but potentially most important documents around. One is the War Powers Resolution of 1973 which you can print on 6 pages and is what’s referred to as existing law even though it’s violated as routinely as air is breathed. Another is a war powers reform bill that has been introduced in the Senate and seems very likely to go nowhere (it’s 47 pages), and the third is a war powers reform bill in the House (73 pages) that seems virtually certain to go nowhere.

We have to set aside a couple of major concerns, beyond the unlikelihood of Congressional “leadership” allowing such bills to pass, before taking these things seriously.

It’s too easy, right? Too simple — shoving Christopher Columbus off the historical honor roll, pulling down his statues, yanking his “day” away from him and renaming it in honor of the people he murdered, kidnapped, turned into property?

Or is Indigenous Peoples Day seen by the world as simply a starting point, a launching of the transpatriarchal change in collective humanity we so desperately need but do not understand? I certainly put myself in that category: clueless. I both oppose and participate in environmental devastation, consuming my share of fossil fuels, plastic, etc., etc., even as I join those demanding change and pushing back against political-corporate interests. Yeah, Indigenous Peoples Day, that should do it . . . even as the Amazon burns, the tar-sands oil flows, militarism rules and moneyed interests continue getting what they want.

A recent article and a recent book have raised this familiar topic anew for me. The article is a super uninformed dud of a hatchet job on Michael Ratner by Samuel Moyn, who accuses Ratner of supporting war by trying to reform and humanize rather than end it. The critique is terribly weak because Ratner tried to prevent wars, end wars, AND reform wars. Ratner was at every antiwar event. Ratner was at every panel on the need to impeach Bush and Cheney for the wars as well as for the torture. I’d never even heard of Samuel Moyn until he wrote this now widely debunked article. I’m glad he wants to end war and hope he can be a better ally in that struggle.

It’s bad enough that mainstream news outlets routinely call the Pentagon budget a “defense” budget. But the fact that progressives in Congress and even many antiwar activists also do the same is an indication of how deeply the mindsets of the nation’s warfare state are embedded in the political culture of the United States.

The misleading first name of the Defense Department doesn’t justify using “defense” as an adjective for its budget. On the contrary, the ubiquitous use of phrases like “defense budget” and “defense spending” -- virtually always written with a lower-case “d” -- reinforces the false notion that equates the USA’s humongous military operations with defense.

“Unanswered Questions” looks at the events of 9/11 from the perspective of 9/11 families. The author follows the journey of the well known “Jersey Girls” as well as many groups or organizations that grew out of the frustration experienced by the families. Although I began to doubt the official story of 9/11 early on, I had not heard of the Family Steering Committee, Families of September 11, 9/11 Families for a Secure America, 9/11 Families to Bankrupt terrorism, Coalition of 9/11 families, Fix the Fund, Give Your Voice, LMDC Families Advisory Council, Skyscraper Safety Campaign, Tuesdays Children and several more. Intertwined with the experiences of the families is mention of the loved ones lost. Where were they on that morning, how did they die that morning? What was the final communication with family?

According to author Ray McGinnis, only 11% of the questions posted to the 9/11 commission were answered. Entire chapters are devoted to questions posed but not answered of NORAD, the FBI, Mayor Giuliani, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, the Port Authority, Donald Rumsfeld, as well as the FAA, CIA, Security and Exchange Commission.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- After China's recent cryptocurrency crackdown,
impoverished Laos is now allowing Bitcoin mining, fueled by abundant
hydroelectric power from the Mekong River and shrugging off U.S.
warnings of disastrous environmental problems.

The surprise announcement on September 9 by the Prime Minister's
Office, allowing the creation of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other
blockchain-based currencies, makes Laos the only Southeast Asian
country to officially permit and participate in it.

China had allowed Bitcoin miners to feed on its cheap electricity for
several years -- mostly in the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang,
Sichuan and Yunnan -- but shut down their systems in May, by
tightening regulations.

Worried foreign investors struggled to export expensive, delicate,
massive computers out of China while scouring the world for fresh
places to set up.

China's central bank also banned on all cryptocurrency transactions,
in an effort to control the flow of money in and out of the country.

"China has shot itself in the foot by going after its Bitcoin miners,"