Birtherism again

When idiots started questioning Kamala Harris's birthright to U.S. citizenship, I had one immediate response. I used it as a comment on a couple of Facebook posts that mentioned the subject.

Days later I was kicking myself, saying I should have sent it as a letter to the newspaper. But the next day, the Los Angeles Times had an op-ed about the topic, and that gave me a chance to send them my letter after all. They printed it today:

I hope the new birtherism has the same result as the 2008 version: The Democrat is elected.

Prompted improvisation

This idea came to me in bed in the middle of the night, at least half asleep.

One composer writes a very short piece for a small ensemble. Several other composers write short works (for any or all of the same ensemble) in response. None of the composers are named until the final performance.

In my initial thought, the first piece is played just before intermission and the others respond during intermission, and their responses constitute the second half of the concert. (This is why I named it all "prompted improvisation".)

Upon later reflection, that seems impossible, so I revised it to "prompted composition" with the second set of composers given more time (24 hours? one week?) to respond. And I thought it could be named "Question and Responses".

Maybe I'll suggest this to the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series.

If I Were King

• Repeal the 2nd Amendment
• Universal basic income
• Wealth tax
• Carbon tax
• Term limits for judicial appointments
• Drastically increase the inheritance tax
• Eliminate the cap on earnings subject to Social Security withholding
• Cut at least 8 hours from the standard work week
• Make D.C. a state
• Change "advise and consent" to a time-limited majority-vote veto
• Make Election Day a holiday
• Use ranked-choice voting
• Abolish the Electoral College
• Tax all churches (See here and here and here)
• Small tax on each stock market transaction
• Eliminate vice laws
• Bring back the Fairness Doctrine
• Drastically reduce corporate welfare
• Cut back the Defense Department, especially foreign bases
• Eliminate the filibuster
• Eliminate twice-a-year clock changes