Dear brothers and sisters of Ireland, your ambassador to the United States Anne Anderson spoke at the University of Virginia Tuesday afternoon.

After consulting one of your fine citizens named Barry Sweeney, I asked her this: “Since the U.S. government assures the Irish government that all U.S. military aircraft being refueled at Shannon are not on military operations and are not carrying weapons or munitions, and since the Irish government insists on this in order to comply with Ireland’s traditional policy of neutrality, why does the Irish department of transportation almost daily approve civilian aircraft on contract to the U.S. military to carry armed U.S. troops on military operations, weapons, and munitions through Shannon Airport in clear breach of international laws on neutrality?”

Ambassador Anderson replied that the U.S. government at the “highest levels” had informed Ireland that it was in compliance with the law, and Ireland accepted that.

Marine Le Pen is the latest fascist to be called a “Right Wing Populist” by the corporate media.

There is no such thing. 

Let’s be clear: Populists are leftists. We support human rights, social democracy, peace and ecological sanity.

“Populists of the Right” are fascists. Their goal has a clear definition, as put forward by the term’s originator, Benito Mussolini: “Corporate control of the state.” 

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When they take power, they become National Socialists, using the government to enrich the corporations and the rich, rather than Democratic Socialists, or social democrats, using the state to serve the people.

It never fails to amaze me how what we see on stage or screen often reflects what’s going on in the real world, aka “out there in TVLand.” For instance, I previously pointed out how LA Opera’s January/ February production of Mozart’s 18th century The Abduction from the Seraglio, largely set in Turkey, mirrored today’s ongoing debate over Islamic extremism versus so-called “moderate Muslims.” Now, hard on the heels of Bill O’Reilly’s (long overdue) ouster from Fox News, Giacomo Puccini’s 1900 opera Tosca is being performed on the boards of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through May 13.