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Charles T. Downey

@ionarts.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.3K following 1.9K posts

Associate Editor and Lead Critic, Washington Classical Review; Founder of Ionarts; Ph.D. in Historical Musicology; Classical Music Fiend; Opera Addict; Baroqueux agréable and Public Musicologist (all views expressed are my own, not those of my employers)

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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 2h
Bird watchers of Bluesky - did I just see a merlin in NE Washington?
A large bird with striped black and white feather patterns and  yellow talons perches on a fence
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 4h
Latest from Andrew Lindemann Malone on WCR - Trio Azura displays strength and subtlety in outstanding DC debut with Young Concert Artists. Photo: Shervin Lainez washingtonclassicalreview.com/2026/09/30/t...
A violinist, a pianist, and a cellist in purple perform as a piano trio on a darkened stage. Photo: Shervin Lainez
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 6h
White rabbit
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Dr Ian McCormick @wokestudies.bsky.social · 8h
"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you." -- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre. NEWS: "China turns to classic English novel to teach teens about romance." #novels #literature #feminism #gender edition.cnn.com/2026/09/16/s...
edition.cnn.com
Love is in the Eyre: China turns to classic English novel to teach teens about romance | CNN
When teenagers went back to school in China earlier this month, one book on their new mandatory reading list stood out: the 19th century English novel “Jane Eyre.”
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 13h
This is monstrous - the United States must end the death penalty
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Semafor @semafor.com · 19h
Meanwhile, China is attracting more visitors with its visa-free entry policies, and Japan’s weak currency is drawing in a record number of tourists. Read more: www.semafor.com/article/09/2...
semafor.com
Decline in tourism hits US economy
Overseas visitors to the US are on track to drop by almost two million year-on-year.
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 21h
🇺🇸
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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 21h
The flashback at the beginning of a dystopian film
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Ryan Enos @ryanenos.bsky.social · 21h
It should alarm us that the civilian head of the military gathers together troops to give them a political speech in which he calls the free press treasonous. He should be removed from office for doing so.
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geri katz @gerikatz.bsky.social · 20h
Might as well light the Constitution on fire at this point.
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I give up. I’m moving into a cave.
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Pat Thompson @pattho.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I made this (no Photoshop let alone AI back then) as part of a protest at the University of Minnesota around 1990. A top cop in the campus police went on record w the Minnesota Daily saying if women were raped after drinking, they were responsible.
Parody of a Monopoly card. Orange background. Chance: The woman you raped was drunk - Get out of jail free. Illustration of Monopoly man in striped suit being kicked in the butt.
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 22h
The art of aphorism is de--
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Maybe It Will Happen Today @today-maybe.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
A block of loopy, swashy hand drawn lettering. Colored in an orange to purple gradient with a deep black 3D effect and some grungy decay and color filtering added. It reads, of course, ‘Maybe it’ll happen today’
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Derf Backderf @derfbackderf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The current huge story about the gang rape at Cornell University, a crime originally brushed off and covered up by the administration, is SOLELY the product of the student paper, the Cornell Daily Sun, which doggedly pursued the story. Not the NYT or CNN. An independent student paper. #Cornell
cornellsun.com
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR | Cornell Won’t Listen, We Will
The Sun's Editor-in-Chief Sophia Dasser '28 calls on the Cornell community to share its reactions to the Chi Phi lawsuit and the University's response, on the record, for a permanent public archive.
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Becky @mrsbrown24.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
These are the faces and names of these Cornell students that raped that young woman for seven hours
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Helen @helenmaryme.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
These privileged frat bros gang raped a girl and invited others to join in for SEVEN HOURS. The story was buried, only two were expelled, and we are only hearing about it now because the victim is suing. Cornell, the police, and the system protected them. The Cornell Seven:
Pictures and names of the seven Cornell students accused of sexually abusing a woman for seven hours.
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Don't go against Papa Leone
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Mammary mia
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Wonkette @wonkettemedia.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We Found The Voter Fraud — It Was In The Moms For Liberty All Along www.wonkette.com/p/we-found-t... By Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social
wonkette.com
We Found The Voter Fraud — It Was In The Moms For Liberty All Along
Former Republican mayoral candidate Gaea Powell found guilty on eight counts related to voter fraud.
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Blessed Michaelmas to all the Michaels, Gabriels, and Raphaels out there
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This feels like a stupid move in the midst of a war?
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I could do this if I am organized 🤔
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Pathetic
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The Washington Sun Metro @washsunmetro.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
More than 1.9 million customers across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties are being advised to limit their water use. www.washingtonsun.com/metro/essenti…
washingtonsun.com
1.9M Montgomery and Prince George’s County Residents Are Told to Sharply Limit Water Use
If power to a filtration plant isn’t restored quickly, a boil water advisory may have to be issued.
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 29/09/2026
After 65 years as an actor, Brian Cox has no shortage of thespian wisdom to impart. The outspoken actor returns to the stage in “The Score,” which explores art's survival under despotism, resonating with current global events. wapo.st/4d4c3I8
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Apt lineup on my timeline tonight
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Maybe It Will Happen Today @today-maybe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A digital recreation of a panel from the 1960s Hungarian comic strip Jucika by Pál Pusztai. In the image (drawn with black outlines and limited color that is also charmingly, wildly out of register) we see the main character, Jucika, a brunette woman with a short, kicky haircut wearing a striped, green, knee-length, sleeveless dress. She is dancing with a delighted-looking man in a military uniform who is holding one of her hands while in the other she's carrying a red portable radio by its little handle. She's grinning back over her shoulder to the left to see an attractive woman – red hair in curly bangs and a pony tail and wearing a different sort of green dress – who is dancing to the music from the radio with a different delighted-looking man in a brown suit. Everyone is having a great time. Below the drawing is all lower case script lettering with a brown drop that reads 'talán ma fog megtörténni', which my Hungarian-speaking friend Matilda assures me translates to 'Maybe it will happend today'
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Mediaite @mediaite.com · 28/09/2026
‘That’s The Deal, Pal’: A New Book Claims Joe Biden Strong-Armed Netanyahu To Prevent All-Out War With Iran
dlvr.it
‘That’s The Deal, Pal’: A New Book Claims Joe Biden Strong-Armed Netanyahu To Prevent All-Out War With Iran
Joe Biden got tough with Benjamin Netanyahu in the days after the Oct. 7 terror attacks, and may have averted all-out war with Iran at the time. The post ‘That’s The Deal, Pal’: A New Book Claims Joe Biden Strong-Armed Netanyahu To Prevent All-Out War With Iran first appeared on Mediaite.
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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
FULL BOOKS! Or, as we once called them, BOOKS.
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In a normal administration counterintelligence agents at the FBI would be investigating this photo. In this administration, the FBI director is in the photo.
Michael Weiss: Why, that’s Ali Abdelaziz is on the far left. Manages a lot of Russian, Belarusian and Chechen MMA fighters including Khamzat Chimaev, who is close to Kadyrov. Abdelaziz was an FBI informant until the Bureau dropped him because they suspected he was a double agent. Looks like Ka$h (far right) has forgiven and forgotten. These MAGA weddings are Mos Eisley cantinas for counterintelligence.
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Celeste Headlee @celesteheadlee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'd much rather make America educated and informed again.
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I guess I'll have to shop elsewhere
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Isn't it nice when there's something we can ALL agree on? #ReleaseTheUnredactedEPSTEIN-Files
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Ariel Quartet's debut at the Phillips Collection this afternoon, playing the Dohnányi first piano quartet with Orion Weiss, was one of my Critic's Picks - I was not disappointed
Music stands hold a string quartet's music at the front of an art museum's music room
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Christopher Hale @christopherjhale.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass with an estimated 800,000 people in Paris on Saturday, after spending the morning with migrants, the poor, and adults newly entering the Catholic Church. “For Christians,” he added, “the poor are not a sociological category, but the very ‘flesh’ of Christ.”
thelettersfromleo.com
Drawing 800,000 in Paris, Pope Leo XIV Calls on the Church to “Make Room” for Migrants and the Poor
“No one is so poor as to have nothing to give.” Before Mass, the pope sat with migrants and told catechists to respect each person’s pace. Six altar servers with Down syndrome served his Mass.
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 26/09/2026
Once again I find myself needing to write that the AI did not ‘go rogue’. It did what it was programmed to do by extremely negligent men, men who are responsible for their actions.
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 27/09/2026
"America had wiped out measles. Now babies are infected at birth. Congenital measles has rarely been seen in the U.S. That’s changing as vaccination declines and more pregnant women become infected." www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
nbcnews.com
America had wiped out measles. Now babies are infected at birth.
Congenital measles has rarely been seen in the U.S. That’s changing as vaccination declines and more pregnant women become infected.
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 27/09/2026
Pope Leo XIV blasted the legalization of medically assisted death as immoral "false compassion," as he doubled down on Catholic teaching about life during a visit Sunday to Lourdes, the French Catholic shrine associated with miraculous cures of the sick. to.pbs.org/4d4kuTJ
to.pbs.org
Pope blasts assisted dying as 'false compassion' at French shrine known for miraculous cures
On his third day in France, Leo again waded into the end-of-life debate that has erupted in countries around the world. It roiled French politics for years before resulting recently in legislation allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive leth...
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Maybe It Will Happen Today @today-maybe.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
A digital illustration done in a black and white woodcut style similar to Totentanz images by Holbein and others. A skeleton wearing a jester-type cowl with two floppy horns with bells on the ends, and another garment around his shoulders and boots all decorated with bells. He his high stepping and playing some kind of flute. Black lines radiate out from behind him and a banner wraps around at his hips with the words ‘maybe it will happen today’ on it.
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
About Last Night: NSO begins forced political exile with “celebration” program at Strathmore. Photo: Scott Suchman washingtonclassicalreview.com/2026/09/27/n...
A tall man dressed in black (Gianandrea Noseda) waves a baton on a podium in front of the musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra, playing their instruments and wearing formalwear. Photo by Scott Suchman
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 26/09/2026
A group of former Kennedy Center employees allege in a letter to Congress that officials were long aware of serious structural issues that they cited as new problems after the abrupt decision to close the performing arts venue this month. to.pbs.org/3Vc8utf
to.pbs.org
Kennedy Center put off planned repairs despite known structural issues, former employees allege
The center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matt Floca, did not treat the roofing issues as priorities and in April halted a funded plan to address them, according to the letter Thurs...
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Maybe It Will Happen Today @today-maybe.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
A digital illustration/homage to the great Tony Millionaire character Drinky Crow. A blue-black cartoon bird with a yellow beak and large X-ed out eyes. He has a brown jug in his beak and is chugging away, dook dook dook… Scratchy messy lettering around him reads ‘maybe it will happen today’.
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Briony Neilson @brionyneilson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"Francis Lance, 5 years old, 41 inches high. Sells regularly on Grand Avenue. He jumps on and off moving cars at risk of life" – photographed in St Louis in 1910 by Lewis Hine, who was born on this day (26 September) in Wisconsin in 1874. His photos helped bring about child labour reform in the US 🗃️
b&w photo of a small child standing on the edge of a tram holding newspapers under his arm and smiling broadly at the photographer
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post malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
just a quick reminder that this fuckhead was the proximate trigger for thousands of National Guardsmen being deployed to DC
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Eleanor Morton @eleanormorton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Myth busting about Scotland's 'need' for data centres feat. angry moorhen (Follow us on insta at stopaidatacentres.scot)
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Luke Ontario @coolhand.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
tbh this makes me sad I mean go you, kid, I just hope it’s your call
theguardian.com
Specialist coaches and hours of practice a day: the making of China’s six-year-old Rubik’s Cube prodigy
Mother of Lian Yunzhi says world record a ‘dream come true’ for child who now gets autograph requests from fellow students
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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Mark Swed retires www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
A 30-year love letter to L.A. with a final revelation
How an ancient church in a small German town and a new concert hall in DTLA bookend my 30 years as classical music critic of the L.A. Times.
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Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
How many years have I been telling you to keep your eye on Iowa? I know what I’m seeing on the ground and what I’ve been seeing for a couple of years… LFG!
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Mediaite @mediaite.com · 24/09/2026
Nevada Says Every Single Voter DHS Flagged as a Noncitizen Is Actually a U.S. Citizen
dlvr.it
Nevada Says Every Single Voter DHS Flagged as a Noncitizen Is Actually a U.S. Citizen
Nevada election officials say all 185 voters whom DHS identified as confirmed noncitizens are actually U.S. citizens, according to The New York Times. The post Nevada Says Every Single Voter DHS Flagged as a Noncitizen Is Actually a U.S. Citizen first appeared on Mediaite.
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