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In the immediate aftermath of the January drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, the person who explained President Donald Trumps military strategy to the public was not Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary who has never held a press briefing; nor was it any other member of Trumps communications team. It was Pete Hegseth, a Fox & Friends Weekend host who has become not only one of Trumps most slavish cheerleaders but also an influential adviser to the president.

Hegseth is an alum of Princeton, Bear Stearns, and Guantnamo Bay, where his National Guard unit was briefly posted in the 2000s. He first made a name for himself as head of the conservative nonprofit Vets for Freedom, which advocated for increasing troop deployments to the Middle East. After a failed Senate bid in 2012 (he lost the Republican primary to a Tea Party candidate), he took the reins at Concerned Veterans for America, an AstroTurf group awash in Koch money.

Until recently, his career as a supporting character on Fox was undistinguished, perhaps with the exception of an unfortunate incident in which he accidentally threw an ax at a member of the West Point marching band while filming a segment. But Trumps election pushed him into the limelight: By last spring, the president had already burned through his traditional foreign policy advisers (Tillerson, McMaster, Mattis) and alienated his more bellicose ones (Bannon, Bolton); the remaining staff on the National Security Council were demoralized, their ranks thinned in successive purges.

Hegseth had no official position in the administrationhe was once rumored to be a potential Veterans Affairs secretary, but veterans groups objected, and the post ultimately went to Robert Wilkiebut even from his perch in New York, he was able to exert influence on Trumps military decisions. Hegseth successfully urged the president to intervene on behalf of Edward Gallagher, the Navy SEAL accused of stabbing a sedated teenage prisoner to death. Then, in November, Hegseth usurped the Pentagons top brass when he reportedly convinced Trump to pardon Mathew Golsteyn, who ambushed an unarmed man suspected of being in the Taliban, and Clint Lorance, who ordered his soldiers to fire on unarmed Afghan civilians.

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Trumps War Whisperer - The New Republic

Photo:Paul Katcher/Flickr

Aztec Two-Step 2.0 at City Vineyard - City VineyardFebruary 07, 2020 - New York

Originating from a chance meeting at a Boston folk club open mic night in 1971, Rex Fowler & Neal Shulman burst on the scene as Aztec Two-Step in '72 with their self-titled debut album on Elektra Records.

The St. Olaf Choir - Stern Auditorium / Perelman StageFebruary 07, 2020 - New York

For more than a century, the St. Olaf Choir has performed for millions around the world. During its 2020 Tour, the choir celebrates two milestones: the 100th anniversary of its first tour to the East Coast and the 30th anniversary of conductor Anton Armstrong.

Festival Chamber Music Concert Series - Weill Recital HallFebruary 07, 2020 - New York

Festival Chamber Music Concert Series

Chinese New Year Spectacular VI Featuring Cong Bi, Quan Chen, Deni Bonet, and More - Zankel Hall at Carnegie HallFebruary 07, 2020 - New York

The Sixth Annual Chinese New Year Spectacular concert at Carnegie Hall will ring in the Year of the Rat with special performances and celebrate the diverse melting-pot that is New York City. The performance will feature new artists including Pianist Cong Bi and Kunqu Performers Jiehua Shi, Min Cheng and Qinglin Cai, as well as featuring returning headliners including Soprano Quan Chen, and American violinist Deni Bonet.

Lucky Cheng's Drag Cabaret Presents: Disco Fever - Stage 48February 07, 2020 - New York

Dinner, Drinks, Drag Queens, and Disco!Doors and Bar open at 6:30 PM7 PM Drag Dinner seating. Drag Show hosted by Paulina, Princess of Power and featuring a three course prix fixe menu created by Celebrity Executive Chef, Saul Montiel.Celebrate a Birthday, Bachelorette, Girls Night Out, RuPaul's Drag Race Fan, or entertain out of town guests!Music by DJ Loki Jojo!Please visit our website for more information.Ticket button will take you to our online reservations page. Guest check will be presented at the end of the Dinner Show. We do not charge a deposit for reservations.

Ripe - Webster HallFebruary 07, 2020 - New York

Ripe

Open Mic Featuring Guest Host & the Sugar Bar All Star Band - Ashford & Simpson's Sugar BarThrough February 07, 2020 - New York

Open Mic Featuring Guest Host & the Sugar Bar All Star Band

Winners' Recital of Crescendo International Competition - Weill Recital HallFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Winners' Recital of Crescendo International Competition

Winners' Recital of Crescendo International Competition - Weill Recital HallFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Winners' Recital of Crescendo International Competition

Winners' Recital of Crescendo International Competition - Weill Recital HallFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Winners' Recital of Crescendo International Competition

Curtis Symphony Orchestra - Stern Auditorium / Perelman StageFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Beethoven's masterful "Emperor" Concerto is a monument of musical architecture, driven forward with beautiful flourishes and cascades. Curtis piano faculty Jonathan Biss is the soloist, joined by conductor Osmo Vnsk.

Lucky Cheng's Drag Cabaret, Restaurant & Bar Presents: Vivacious - Stage 48February 08, 2020 - New York

Please join us on Saturday, February 8th when NYC Nightlife Legend and star of RuPaul's Drag Race, Vivacious is our special guest performer!Doors and Bar open at 6:30 PM7 PM Drag Dinner seating featuring a three course prix fixe menu created by Celebrity Executive Chef, Saul Montiel.Celebrate a Birthday, Bachelorette, Girls Night Out, RuPaul's Drag Race Fan, or entertain out of town guests!Please visit our website for more information.Ticket button will take you to our online reservations page. Guest check will be presented at the end of the Dinner Show. We do not charge a deposit for reservations.

Ripe - Webster HallFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Ripe

Very Young People's Concert: Philharmonic Families: 'Strings' Queens - Jamaica Center for Arts & LearningFebruary 08, 2020 - Jamaica

Ticket information will be available at a later date.

The Mother of Us All - The Charles Engelhard Court, The Metropolitan Museum of ArtFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Ticket information will be available at a later date.

Mozart, Haydn, and Nina C. Young - David Geffen HallFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Mozart's solemn "Great" Mass a worthy heir to Bach's B-minor Mass and forebear of Beethoven's Missa solemnis inspires with high-wire singing and the transcendent Et incarnatus est. The Philharmonic's own Carter Brey reveals the intensity and incandescence of Haydn's First Cello Concerto.

Mozart, Haydn, and Nina C. Young - David Geffen HallFebruary 08, 2020 - New York

Mozart's solemn "Great" Mass a worthy heir to Bach's B-minor Mass and forebear of Beethoven's Missa solemnis inspires with high-wire singing and the transcendent Et incarnatus est. The Philharmonic's own Carter Brey reveals the intensity and incandescence of Haydn's First Cello Concerto. Nina C. Young's commissioned work kicks off Project 19.

Aztec Two-Step 2.0 at City Vineyard - City VineyardFebruary 09, 2020 - New York

Originating from a chance meeting at a Boston folk club open mic night in 1971, Rex Fowler & Neal Shulman burst on the scene as Aztec Two-Step in '72 with their self-titled debut album on Elektra Records.

Mahler & Bernstein - Kleinhans Music HallFebruary 09, 2020 - Buffalo

Celebrate two of the greatest masters of composition: Mahler, with his "Adagio"the only movement completed from his final Symphony No. 10, and Leonard Bernstein with his inspiring Chichester Psalms. A spirited Klezmer Concerto, written and performed by American concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, Noah Bendix-Balgley, rounds out the program with an expressive nod to the Jewish tradition. JoAnn Falletta conducts.Come one hour before the concerts to hear directly from the artists in "Musically Speaking," hosted by JoAnn Falletta.JoAnn Falletta, conductorNoah Bendix-Balgley, violinNOAH BENDIX-BALGLEY Fidl-Fantazye: A Klezmer ConcertoMAHLER Symphony No. 10 (1st mvmt) "Adagio"BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms

15th Annual Harmony for Hope Concert - mulcahy's pub and concert hallFebruary 09, 2020 - Wantagh

15th Annual Harmony for Hope Concert

Forte International Music Competition - Weill Recital HallFebruary 09, 2020 - New York

Forte International Music Competition is an annual event open to instrumentalists and vocalists ages 4-35. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the competition, which consists of several rounds that take place in December, culminating with the final round at Carnegie Hall.

Elite International Music Competition Student Recital - Weill Recital HallFebruary 09, 2020 - New York

Elite International Music Competition Student Recital

Sir Bryn Terfel, Bass-Baritone Natalia Katyukova, Piano - Stern Auditorium / Perelman StageFebruary 09, 2020 - New York

Whether he is singing a dramatic aria or exploring the nuances of a song, Sir Bryn Terfel "can roarwith pain, with pleasure, with fierce indignation, filling the hall with full, strong tone, [and] can also coo and purr at an extreme pianissimo, making a sound that stays audible only because there is so much in it to feel, as well as to hear" (The New York Times).

Desi Saturdays - Stage 48Through February 09, 2020 - New York

Each & Every Saturday Night, come experience the Glamour & Glitz of Bollywood as you Mix, Mingle and Dance at New York City's Hottest Saturday Night DesiParty @ Stage48.Desi Saturdays is one high society DesiParty. Wow factor everywhere. Beautiful people, beautiful venue, beautiful ambiance, and did we mention beautiful people? High energy, amazing music and a packed house are just some of the traits of what you would expect at this weekly Bollywood party.This event is the talk of the town amongst young socialites. It's so exclusive it only takes place on Saturday Nights, and don't even try to dress down, because it is almost impossible to get in, but more importantly you would feel so out of place. So don your best, and you may just be lucky enough to party out on Saturdays Nights at Stage48!!

Kaye/Gemma After-Party With Bright Light Bright Light Dj Set - The Sultan RoomThrough February 09, 2020 - Brooklyn

Bright Light Bright Light is an artist and DJ from Wales based in NYC. As an artist he has worked with Elton John, Scissor Sisters and Erasure, toured with Cher and taken his album 'Choreography' into the Billboard & UK Top 20. As a DJ he runs Time Out Recommended 'Romy & Michele's Saturday Afternoon Tea Party' at Club Cumming mixing disco, pop, r&b and movie soundtracks.

Doha Saturdays at Doha Nightclub Free Guestlist - 2/08/2020 - Doha NightclubThrough February 09, 2020 - New York

Get on the free guestlist for Doha Saturdays at Doha Nightclub New York on Saturday 3/28/2020!Use the free Discotech App to sign up for guestlist, buy tickets, or book table service at Doha Nightclub + other clubs in New York.

360 Reality Audio At Sony Square NYC - Sony Square NYCThrough March 31, 2020 - New York

Sony Square NYC invites you to immerse yourself in music from some of your favorite artists through 360 Reality Audio technology. Step inside Sony Square NYCs custom built 360 Reality Audio studio and listen to your favorite tracks like youve never heard them before. Immerse yourself in music from some of your favorite artists like Khalid, Camila Cabello, Travis Scott, O.A.R, Chloe x Halle and more.

Want free advice on what to see and do in NYC? Join our Facebook group Everything to Do NYC, a place for people to ask questions and get tips on how to make the most of the city.

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Random Live Music in New York City This Weekend - February 7-February 9 - City Guide NY

An impeached president who is up for re-election will this week deliver a State of the Union address to the most divided union in living memory.

But why are we so divided? Were not fighting a hugely unpopular war on the scale of Vietnam. Were not in a deep economic crisis like the Great Depression. Yes, we disagree about guns, gays, abortion and immigration, but weve disagreed about them for decades. Why are we so divided now?

Part of the answer is Trump himself. The Great Divider knows how to pit native-born Americans against immigrants, the working class against the poor, whites against blacks and Latinos, evangelicals against secularists, keeping almost everyone stirred up by vilifying, disparaging, denouncing, defaming and accusing others of the worst. Trump thrives off disruption and division.

But that begs the question of why we have been so ready to be divided by Trump. The answer derives in large part from what has happened to wealth and power.

In the fall of 2015, I visited Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri and North Carolina, for a research project on the changing nature of work. I spoke with many of the people I had met 20 years before when I was secretary of labor, as well as with some of their grown children.

What I heard surprised me. Twenty years before, many said theyd been working hard and were frustrated they werent doing better. Now they were angry angry at their employers, the government, Wall Street.

Something very big happened, and it wasnt due to Sanders magnetism or Trumps likeability

Many had lost jobs, savings, or homes in the Great Recession following the financial crisis of 2008, or knew others who had. Most were back in jobs but the jobs paid no more than they had two decades before, in terms of purchasing power.

I heard the term rigged system so often I began asking people what they meant. They spoke about flat wages, shrinking benefits, growing job insecurity. They talked about the bailout of Wall Street, political payoffs, insider deals, soaring CEO pay, and crony capitalism.

These complaints came from people who identified themselves as Republicans, Democrats and independents. A few had joined the Tea Party. A few had briefly been involved in the Occupy movement.

With the 2016 political primaries looming, I asked which candidates they found most attractive. At the time, the leaders of the Democratic party favored Hillary Clinton and Republican leaders favored Jeb Bush. Yet no one I spoke with mentioned Clinton or Bush.

They talked instead about Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. When I asked why, they said Sanders or Trump would shake things up or make the system work again or stop the corruption or end the rigging.

In the following year, Sanders a 74-year-old Jew from Vermont who described himself as a democratic socialist and wasnt even a Democrat until the primaries came within a whisker of beating Clinton in Iowa, routed her in New Hampshire, and ended up with 46% of the pledged delegates from Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Trump a 69-year-old egomaniacal billionaire reality-TV star who had never held elective office or had anything to do with the Republican party and who lied compulsively about everything won the primaries and went on to beat Clinton, one of the most experienced and well-connected politicians in modern America (although he didnt win the popular vote, and had some help from the Kremlin).

Something very big had happened, and it wasnt due to Sanders magnetism or Trumps likeability. It was a rebellion against the establishment. That rebellion is still going on, although much of the establishment still denies it. They prefer to attribute Trumps rise solely to racism.

Racism did play a part. But to understand why racism had such a strong impact in 2016, especially on the voting of whites without college degrees, its important to see what drove it. After all, racism in America dates back long before the founding of the Republic, and even modern American politicians have had few compunctions about using racism to boost their standing.

What gave Trumps racism as well as his hateful xenophobia, misogyny and jingoism particular virulence was his capacity to channel the intensifying anger of the white working class into it. It is hardly the first time in history that a demagogue has used scapegoats to deflect public attention from the real causes of distress.

Aided by Fox News and an army of rightwing outlets, Trump convinced many blue-collar workers feeling ignored by Washington that he was their champion. Clinton did not convince them that she was. Her decades of public service ended up being a negative, not a positive. She was indubitably part of the establishment, the epitome of decades of policies that left these blue-collar workers in the dust. (Its notable that during the primaries, Sanders did far better than Clinton with blue-collar voters.)

Trump galvanized millions of blue-collar voters in communities that faced a tidal wave of factory closings

Trump galvanized millions of blue-collar voters living in communities that never recovered from the tidal wave of factory closings. He promised to bring back jobs, revive manufacturing and get tough on trade and immigration.

We cant continue to allow China to rape our country, and thats what theyre doing, he said at one rally. In five, 10 years from now, youre going to have a workers party. A party of people that havent had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry.

Speaking at a factory in Pennsylvania in June 2016, he decried politicians and financiers who had betrayed Americans by taking away from the people their means of making a living and supporting their families.

Democrats had occupied the White House for 16 of the 24 years before Trumps election, and in that time scored some important victories for working families: the Affordable Care Act, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit and the Family and Medical Leave Act, for example. I take pride in being part of a Democratic administration during that time.

But Democrats did nothing to change the vicious cycle of wealth and power that had rigged the economy for the benefit of those at the top and undermined the working class. As Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg concluded after the 2016 election, Democrats dont have a white working-class problem. They have a working class problem which progressives have been reluctant to address honestly or boldly.

The fact is that Democrats have lost support with all working-class voters across the electorate.

In the first two years of the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Yet both Clinton and Obama advocated free trade agreements without providing millions of blue-collar workers who consequently lost their jobs any means of getting new ones that paid at least as well. Clinton pushed for Nafta and for China joining the World Trade Organization, and Obama sought to restore the confidence of Wall Street instead of completely overhauling the banking system.

Both stood by as corporations hammered trade unions, the backbone of the white working class. They failed to reform labor laws to allow workers to form unions with a simple up-or-down majority vote, or even to impose meaningful penalties on companies that violated labor protections. Clinton deregulated Wall Street before the crash; Obama allowed the Street to water down attempts to re-regulate it after the crash. Obama protected Wall Street from the consequences of its gambling addiction through a giant taxpayer-funded bailout, but allowed millions of underwater homeowners to drown.

Both Clinton and Obama turned their backs on campaign finance reform. In 2008, Obama was the first presidential nominee since Richard Nixon to reject public financing in his primary and general election campaigns, and he never followed up on his re-election promise to pursue a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United vs FEC, the 2010 supreme court opinion opening wider the floodgates to big money in politics.

Although Clinton and Obama faced increasingly hostile Republican congresses, they could have rallied the working class and built a coalition to grab back power from the emerging oligarchy. Yet they chose not to. Why?

My answer is not just hypothetical, because I directly witnessed much of it: it was because Clinton, Obama and many congressional Democrats sought the votes of the suburban swing voter so-called soccer moms in the 1990s and affluent politically independent professionals in the 2000s who supposedly determine electoral outcomes, and turned their backs on the working class. They also drank from the same campaign funding trough as the Republicans big corporations, Wall Street and the very wealthy.

A direct line connects the four-decade stagnation of wages with the bailout of Wall Street, the rise of the Tea Party (and, briefly, Occupy), and the successes of Sanders and Trump in 2016. As Eduardo Porter of the New York Times notes, since 2000 Republican presidential candidates have steadily gained strength in Americas poorer counties while Democrats have lost ground. In 2016, Trump won 58% of the vote in the counties with the poorest 10% of the population. His share was 31% in the richest.

By 2016, Americans understood full well that wealth and power had moved to the top. Big money had rigged our politics. This was the premise of Sanderss 2016 campaign. It was also central to Trumps appeal Im so rich I cant be bought off although once elected he delivered everything big money wanted.

The most powerful force in American politics today continues to be anti-establishment fury at a rigged system. There is no longer a left or right. Theres no longer a moderate center. Theres either Trumps authoritarian populism or democratic small d populism.

Democrats cannot defeat authoritarian populism without an agenda of radical democratic reform, an anti-establishment movement. Trump has harnessed the frustrations of at least 40% of America. Although hes been a Trojan Horse for big corporations and the rich, giving them all theyve wanted in tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks, the working class continues to believe hes on their side.

Democrats must stand squarely on the side of democracy against oligarchy. They must form a unified coalition of people of all races, genders, sexualities and classes, and band together to unrig the system.

Trump is not the cause of our divided nation. He is the symptom of a rigged system that was already dividing us. Its not enough to defeat him. We must reform the system that got us here in the first place, to ensure that no future politician will ever again imitate Trumps authoritarian demagoguery.

Read more here:
Why Democrats share the blame for the rise of Donald Trump - The Guardian

Join us for tea," reads a placard held by a woman at Delhis Shaheen Bagh. Its an invitation to the prime minister to come and talk to the protesting women, to hear their concerns. Tea here connotes dialogue, not accusation, conversation, not a fight. Tea and food have always been womens allies, in good times and bad. Teas power lies in its ordinariness, and if nothing else, tea offers sustenance to those fighting the good fight.

Tea has often figured in political history. Theres the Boston Tea Party of 1773, that pivotal event leading to the American war of independence. The Sons of Liberty, fighting against the British, chose to have their say by boarding the ships docked in Bostons harbour and dumping the entire load of tea into the sea. The economic loss was severethree shiploads of teabut nobody was hurt, no damage done to the ships, and nothing else was taken or stolen. In fact, after dumping the tea, the rebels swept the decks, made sure everything was in order, and left.

But the fight in which tea took centre stage was the feminist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Women had few liberties but the one they were fighting for was equal voting rights. How would they fight, however, if they were not even allowed to go out for a meal, unchaperoned by a man?!

Enterprising women opened spare rooms in their houses as tea rooms, serving tea and food. These spaces were inherently feminine and therefore considered safe for women. Women came in droves, and tearooms became the centre of the womens suffragette movement. The Historic England website says, In early 20th century Britain, tearooms were a magnet for women seeking emancipation, and tea was a class leveller uniting women across the social spectrum."

The same fight was taking place in the US. Pink teas" may sound frivolous but were serious political gatherings. In Boston, prominent socialite and suffragist Alva Vanderbilt Belmont built a Chinese tea house on her lawns, where she would organize suffrage teas". In California, Equality Tea was the suffragettes brand, available in English Breakfast, Ceylon, Gunpowder Green, Hyson and Oolong. In Los Angeles, Mrs R.L. Craig marketed the Votes-for-Women tea to raise money for the cause. The fight was won for unconditional voting rights, in 1920 in the US and 1928 in the UK.

Tea has since entered art galleries as a symbol of dissent, as seen in the work of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. His A Ton Of Tea is a ton of puer (Chinese fermented tea) compressed into a large cube, while Teahouse is made of compressed puer set on a lawn of loose tea. By taking something so ubiquitous as tea, and inherently Chinese, he has set out to make a political statement. It has been part of advertising campaigns, as seen in India in 2008, when a popular brand of Indian tea ran a campaign calling on people to cast their vote responsibly.

When called upon, tea has often played the catalystthat everyday drink that has wielded the power of a wake-up call.

TEA READS

The Trouble With Tea by Jane T. Merritt and Heroines Of Tea by Peter G.W. Keen

Tea Nanny is a weekly series steeped in the world of tea. Aravinda Anantharaman is a Bengaluru-based tea blogger and writer who reports on the tea industry.

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Brewing mutiny in a cup of tea - Livemint

A TEA-GUZZLING tiger whose hilarious antics have been delighting youngsters for decades will be causing chaos in County Durham this spring.

Direct from the West End, the Olivier Award nominated smash hit show The Tiger Who Came to Tea is touring the UK once again in 2020 following more than ten years on stage.

It is set to entertain children and adults alike at the Gala Theatre in Durham City on Saturday, February 29, at 1.30pm and 3.30pm and on Sunday, March 1, at 10.30am and 1.30pm.

The play is based on Judith Kerrs much-loved childrens book of the same name, which was first published in 1968 and has sold more than five million copies.

The book, which started out as a bedtime story Kerr made up for her own children, tells the tale of Sophie and her mum, who are just settling down for their tea when the doorbell rings. Much to their surprise the unexpected visitor is a big stripy tiger who proceeds to eat and drink everything in the house.

A TV adaptation was broadcast on Channel 4 at Christmas and those keen for more teatime mayhem will not want to miss the stage show.

Packed full of magic, sing-a-long songs and clumsy chaos, it promises to surprise and delight children and the young at heart.

But the fun does not stop there. Sophie and her stripy friend will be back in Durham in the summer as the subject of an exhibition at the Gala Gallery. From Wednesday, July 1 to Saturday, August 29, the gallery will host Judith Kerr: The Tiger Who Came to Tea a Seven Stories, The National Centre for Childrens Books touring exhibition.

Featuring the authors facsimile artwork, notes and sketches, visitors will be transported into Sophies kitchen where all the magic takes place.

Robin Byers, the Gala Theatres manager, said: The Tiger Who Came to Tea has been a bedtime story staple for countless children and their parents over the years.

Its a wonderful story and the stage adaptation retains all the magic and mischief, plus plenty of surprises too.

Tickets are available now priced at 12.50. Family tickets for two adults and two children cost 46.

See more here:
Theatre hosts tea party with a much-loved tiger - The Northern Echo