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[ by Charles Cameron — this post models the transition from nuclear threat to celestial peace — a transition our poor minds surely, sorely need ]
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I’m very fond of sacred choral music, and the Orthodox sacred choral music of Russia can be beautiful indeed. Some of that beauty can be heard in this performance in the Cathedral of St. Isaac in St Petersburg, which drew a standing ovation and sustained applause just a week ago:

The Eparchy, or ecclesiastical authority, however, “eventually” expressed displeasure with the event. One might wonder why?

Radio Free Europe’s report provides the answer:

The song’s first verse describes a nuclear submarine with “a dozen little bombs of 100 megatons each” crossing the Atlantic.

“I call to the targeting officer,” the lyric goes, “‘Take aim, Petrov, at Washington!'”

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While we can still draw breath, you at least deserve a taste of Russian chant of the kind targeted at the heart of God:

[ by Charles Cameron — I share with Michael Cohen the problem of papers in boxes in storage — &c ]
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Background text:

Quote:

Dom Donilon: North Korea of course is the combination of a cult and kind of a mob operation ..
Rachel 2/28/2019: Would it be an act of bravery, or an act of high-wire walking, to prosecute Trump?

This post is a catchall for the stray bits of chyron, header, quote, metaphor etc left over from previous, more focused posts.

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Rachel Maddow:

Header:

Quote:

Rachel: When you are talking about allegations of criminal behavior by a sitting president, allegations are sort of on parallel paths — not exactly parallel, I think they might intersect somewhere down the road ..

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strong>Headers:

Two Atlantic headers with gambling metaphors for current affairs, North Korea version:

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And a Vanity Fair Hive header:

As someone whose life library and papers are currently in a couple of hundred boxes in storage, I could hardly fail to offer you this paragraph from Emily Jane Fox‘s reporting on Cohen‘s testimony under the title above:

About nine boxes were there waiting for him. The first contained a bunch of junk. The second did, too. “Oh my god,” he said when he opened the third. He’d hit the mother lode. In the third box were three years of Trump’s financial statements, from 2011 through 2013, which Cohen pointed to on Wednesday as evidence that the president had purposefully inflated and deflated his personal assets when it suited him—to secure bank loans or land a higher spot on the Forbes 400 list, for instance, or to lower his tax liability. There were also countless personal notes from Trump, scrawled across newspaper clippings, printed articles, and torn-out pages from glossy magazines. One note, written in Sharpie across an unflattering article, urged Cohen to call a reporter and threaten him with a lawsuit; another, on a story prominently featuring Cohen, read simply, “Michael, enjoy this while it lasts.”

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This has been a bit of a rag-tag collection, so let me close with a moment of extraordinary strength: Elijah Cummings’ closing remarks at the conclusion of Michael Cohen’s testimony yesterday:

[ by Charles Cameron — that same history-making day of congressional testimony from michael cohen— part 2 of 2 ]
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Hardball:

Chyrons:

Steve Kornacki: .. dramatic split-screen when we return

Quotes:

Steve Kornacki: The unbelievable political theater from one Republican on the committee defending the president ..
Noah Rothman: I think in a lot of ways he’s trying to ingrate himself with the anti-Trump left, and he’s been singing the sermons of the Resistance to the hilt ..
42 Tulsi Gabbard: Kim saw what happened in Libya, he saw how we promised Libya’s dictator Gaddafi that if he gave up his nuclear weapons program, that we would not over that throw him. Well, he gave up those weapons, he gavee up that program and we blew him away. And so Kim’s not going to make this mistake..
Jackie Speier: I think we’re getting closer and closer to being able to put all those puzzle pieces together and have a pretty profound picture to show the American people ..

All In, Chris Hayes:

Chyrons:

Quotes:

14 Chris H: It’s a Chinese finger-art type of situation
Cohen: You don’t know him. I do. I sat next to this man for ten years and I watched his back ..
Rick Wilson: It’s the “my black friend” theory, it was cringe-inducing ..
It’s high school drama class ..
Danielle Moodie-Mills: The proximity to power and money — it’s an incredible aphrodisiac, and that’s what we saw today, that’s what Michael Cohen said, don’t be like me ..
Rick Wilson: You know who doesn’t give a damn about high school drama? Southern District of New York, Robert Mueller. The facts that Cohen’s revealing today today are going to be remembered, and known and litigated long after this playtime is over ..
[ 56 visual split screen ]
he doesn’t give you questions, he doesn’t give you orders, he speaks in a code ..
Hayes 58: he doesn’t tell you something,

Rachel Maddow:

Quote:

This is a feast-day for the news gods ..

And that’s it for yesterday, the 27th February, 2019