Global

Jericho does not belong to the Palestinians alone. It belongs to the whole of humanity. 

 For Israel, however, the recognition by UNESCO of Jericho as a “World Heritage Site in Palestine” complicates its mission of erasing Palestine, physically and figuratively, from existence. 

 The decision was described by Israel’s foreign ministry as a “cynical” ploy by the Palestinians to politicize UNESCO.

If the right gets its way, maybe in a decade or two, the United States will be free of its slave-owning past.

All gone – gone with the wind. It’s just not taught anymore. Yeah, we had a civil war – about “states’ rights” – and then we moved on: We conquered the West, saved the world first from the Nazis, then from the commies, and remain the greatest country ever. Hurray for capitalism! Any questions?

Act I of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1787 Don Giovanni (the opera is sung in Italian; in Spanish the character is known as “Don Juan”), LA Opera’s radiant season opener, is a sublime experience that made me feel glad to be alive, with some of the very best music ever composed for opera. Set in mid-17th century Seville, the story is about the legendary seducer, Don Giovanni (lustily played by tall, well-proportioned North Carolina baritone Lucas Meachem), who cuts a sensual swath across Europe.

Indeed, the number of Don Giovanni’s sexual “conquests” surpasses 1,800, which his much put-upon servant Leporello (the scene-stealing California bass-baritone Craig Colclough) lists in the funny “Catalogue Song,” wherein he sings the names of the countless women his “master” has bedded to the deserted Donna Elvira (New York mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard), after she has confronted her onetime lover. The lovers’ many names are cleverly projected on English scenic designer Es Devlin’s moving set.