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Monday, April 8, 2024

I don't have much time to work with this week. Writing this on Friday, I expect that the links below will be spotty. I also doubt that I'll have many records in the next Music Week, although that can run if I have any at all.

But I do want to make one point here, which is something I've been thinking about for a while now.

I've come to conclude that many of us made a fundamental error in the immediate aftermath of October 7 in blaming Hamas (or more generally, Palestinians) for the outbreak of violence. Even those of us who immediately feared that Israel would strike back with a massive escalation somehow felt like we had to credit Hamas with agency and moral responsibility -- if not for the retaliation, at least for their own acts. But what choice did they have? What else could they have done?

But there is an alternate view, which is that violent resistance is an inevitable consequence of systematic marginalization, where nonviolent remedies are excluded, and order is violently enforced. How can we expect anyone to suffer oppression without fighting back? So why don't we recognize blowback as intrinsic to the context, and therefore effectively the responsibility of the oppressor? I don't doubt that Israelis were terrified on October 7. They were, after all, looking at a mirror of their own violence.

It's pretty obvious why Israel's leaders wanted to genocide. The Zionist movement was born in a world that was racist, nationalist, and imperialist -- traits that Zionists embraced, hoping to forge them into a defensive shield, which worked just as well as a cudgel to impose their will on others. What distinguishes them from Nazis is that they're less driven to enslave or exterminate enemy races, but that mostly means they see no use for others. In theory, they'd be satisfied just to drive the others out -- as they did with the Nakba -- but in practice their horizons expand as the settlements grow.

The question isn't: why genocide? That's been baked in from the beginning. The question is why they didn't do it before, and why they think they can get away with it now. The "why not" is bound to be speculative, and I don't want to delve very deep here, but I can imagine trying to sort it out on two axes, one for the people, the other for the cutting-edge political leaders. For the people, the scale runs from respect for one's humanity, and dehumanizing others. Most Israelis used to take pride in their high morality, but war and militarism broke that down (with ultra-orthodoxy and capitalism also taking a toll). As for the leaders, the scale is based on power: the desire to push the envelope of possibility, balanced off by the need to maintain good will with allies.

Ben Gurion was a master at both: a guy who took as much as he could (even overreaching in 1956 and having to retreat), and was always plotting ahead to take even more (as his followers did in 1967, meeting less resistance from Johnson). Begin pushed even further, although he too had to retreat from Lebanon under Carter before he found a more compliant Reagan. Netanyahu is another one who constantly tested the limits of American allowance, only to find that Trump and Biden were pushovers, offering no resistance at all. Genocide only became possible as Palestinians came to be viewed by most Israelis as subhuman, while Netanyahu found his power to be unlimited by American sensitivity.

So, while Israel has always been at risk of turning genocidal, what's really changed is America, turning from the "good neighbor" FDR promised to Eisenhower's "leader of the free world" to Reagan's capitalist scam artists to Bush's "global war on terror" to the Trump-Biden cha-cha. I chalk this up to several things. The drift to the right made Americans meaner and politicians more cynical and corrupt. The neocons came to dominate foreign policy, with their cult for power that could be rapidly and arbitrarily deployed anywhere -- as Israel did in their small region, Bush would around the globe. The counter-intifada in Israel and the US wars on terror drove both countries further into the grip of dehumanizing militarism, opening up an opportunity for Netanyahu to forge a right-wing alliance with America, while AIPAC held Democrats like Obama and Biden in check. Trump automatically rubber-stamped anything Netanyahu wanted, and Biden had no will power to do anything but.

By the time October 7 came around, Americans couldn't so much as articulate a national interest in peace and social justice. But there was also one specific thing that kept Americans from seeing genocide as such: we had totally bought into the idea that Hamas, as exemplary terrorists, were intrinsically evil, could never be negotiated with, and therefore all you could do to stop them is to kill as many as you can. It wasn't a novel idea. America has a sordid history of assassination plots until the mid-1970s, when the Church Committee exposed that history and forced reforms. But Israel's own assassination programs expanded continuously from the 1980s on, and American neocons envied Israel's prowess. Under Bush, "high value targets" became currency, and Obama not only followed suit, he upped the game -- most notably bagging Osama Bin Laden.

There's a Todd Snider line: "In America, we like our bad guys dead." That's an understatement. Dead has become the only way we can imagine their stories ending. We long ago gave up on the notion that enemies can be rehabilitated. In large part, this reflects a loss of faith in justice, replaced by sheer power, the belief that we are right because we have the might to force them to tow the line. That was the attitude that Europe took to the South in the 19th century. That was the attitude Germany and Japan made World War with.

That attitude was discredited -- Germany and Japan were allowed to recover as free and peaceful nations; Africa and Asia decolonized; the capitalist world integrated, first with a stable divide from the communists, then by further engagement. There were problems. The US was magnanimous to defeated Germany and Japan, but in turning against the Soviet Union, and in assuming security responsibility for the former European colonies, and in maintaining capitalist hegemony over them, Americans lost their faith in democracy and justice, and embraced power for its own sake. And when that failed, they turned vindictive toward Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and elsewhere.

The Israelis were adept students of power. They learned directly from the British colonial system, with its divide-and-conquer politics, and its use of collective punishment. They worked with the British to defeat the Palestinian revolt of 1937-39, and against the British in 1947-48. They drew lessons from the Nazis. They learned to play games with the world powers, especially with the US. Trita Parsi's book, Treacherous Alliance, is a case study of how they played Iran off for leverage elsewhere, especially with the US. The neocons, with their Israel envy, were especially easy to play.

So when October 7 happened, all the necessary prejudices and reflexive operators were aligned. Hamas were the perfect villains: they had their roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, which qualified them as Islamists, close enough to the Salafis and Deobandis who Americans had branded as terrorists even before 9/11; they had become rivals with the secular PLO within the Occupied Territories, especially after Israel facilitated Arafat's return under the Oslo Accords -- a rivalry which led them to become more militant against Israel, which Israel intensified by assassinating their leaders; when they finally did decide to run for elections, they won but the results were disallowed, leading to them seizing power in Gaza, which Israel then blockaded, "put on a diet," and "mowed the grass" in a series of punishing sieges and incursions; along the way, Hamas managed to get a small amount of aid from Iran, so found themselves branded as an Iranian proxy, like Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen -- Israel knew that any hint of Iranian influence would drive the Americans crazy.

Not only was Hamas the perfect enemy, Israel and the United States had come to believe that terrorists were irrational and fanatical, that they could never be negotiated with, and that the only way to deal with them was by systematically killing off their cadres and especially their leaders until they were reduced to utter insignificance. The phrase Israelis used was that their goal was to make Palestinians realize that they were "an utterly defeated people." When I first heard that phrase, a picture came to mind, of the last days of the American Indian campaigns, when the last Sioux and Apache surrendered to be kept as helpless dependents on wasteland reservations.

On its founding, Israel kept a British legal system that was designed to subjugate native populations, to surveil them, and to arbitrarily arrest and punish anyone they suspected of disloyalty. They discriminated legally against natives, limiting their economic prospects, curtailing their freedom, and punishing them harshly, including collective punishments -- a system which instilled fear of each against the other, where every disobedient act became an excuse for harsher and more sweeping mistreatment.

After Hamas took control of Gaza, those punishments were often delivered by aircraft, wielding 2,000-pound bombs that could flatten whole buildings. Hamas responded with small, imprecise rockets, of no military significance but symbolic of defiance, a way of saying we can still reach beyond your walls. Israel always responded with more shelling and bombing, a dynamic that repeatedly escalated until the horror started to turn world opinion against Israel. Having made their point, Israel could then ease off, until the next opportunity or provocation sent them on the warpath again.

The October 7 "attack" -- at the time, I characterized it, quite accurately I still think, as a jail break followed by a brief crime spree. In short order, Israel killed most of the "attackers," and resealed the border. The scale, in terms of the numbers of Israelis killed or captured was much larger than anything Palestinians had previously managed, and the speed was even more striking, but the overall effect was mostly symbolic, and the threat of more violence coming from Gaza dissipated almost immediately. Israel had no real need to counterattack. They could have easily negotiated a prisoner swap -- Israel had many times more Palestinians in jail than Hamas took as hostages, and had almost unlimited power to add to their numbers. But Israel's leaders didn't want peace. They wanted to reduce Palestinians to "an utterly defeated people." And since there was no way to do that other than to kill most of them and drive the rest into exile -- basically a rerun of the Nakba, only more intense, because having learned that lesson, Palestinians would cling even more tenaciously to their homeland.

That's why the immediate reaction of Israel's leaders was to declare their intent to commit genocide. The problem with that idea was that since the Holocaust, any degree of genocide had become universally abhorrent. To proceed, Israel had to keep the war going, and to keep it going, they had to keep their ideal enemy alive, long enough to do major devastation, making Gaza unlivable for anywhere near the 2.3 million people who managed to live through decades of hardships there, with starvation playing a major role in decimating the population.

In order to commit genocide, Israel had to supplement its killing machinery with a major propaganda offensive, because they remembered that what finally stopped their major wars of 1948-49, 1956, 1967, and 1973, and their periodic assaults on Lebanon and Gaza, was public opinion, especially in America. But Netanyahu knew how to push America's buttons. He declared that the only thing Israel could do to protect itself -- the one thing Israel had to do in order to keep this mini-Holocaust from ever happening again -- was to literally kill everyone in Hamas.

And Americans fell for that line, completely. They believed that Hamas were intractably evil terrorists, and they knew that terrorists cannot be appeased or even negotiated with. And they trusted that Israelis knew what they were doing and how best to do it, so all they really had to do was to provide support and diplomatic cover, giving Israel the time and tools to do the job as best they saw fit. And sure, there would be some collateral damage, because Hamas uses civilians as human shields -- it never really occurring to Americans that those super-smart, super-moral Israelis can't actually tell the difference between Hamas and civilians even if they wanted to, which most certainly they do not. And if anything does look bad, Israel can always come up with a cover story good enough for Americans to believe. After all, Americans have a lot of practice believing their own atrocity cover up stories.

The hostage situation turned out to be really useful for keeping the spectre of Hamas alive. There is no real way for Americans to evaluate how much armed defense Hamas is still capable of in Gaza -- their capability to attack beyond the walls was depleted instantly as they shot their wad on October 7 -- so the only reliable "proof of existence" of Hamas is when their allies show up for meetings in Qatar and Cairo. And there's no chance of agreement, as the only terms Israel is offering is give up all the hostages, surrender, and die. But by showing up, they affirm that Hamas still exists, and by refusing to surrender, they remind the Americans that the only way this can end is by killing them all.

And while that charade is going on, Israel continues to kill indiscriminately, to destroy everything, to starve, to render Gaza unlivable. And they will continue to do so, until enough of us recognize their real plan is genocide, and we shame them into stopping. We are making progress in that direction, as we can see as Biden starts to waver in his less and less enthusiastic support, but we still have a long ways to go.

The key to making more progress will be to break down several of the myths Israel has spun. In particular, we have to abandon the belief that we can solve all our problems by killing everyone who disagrees with us. Second, we need to understand that killing or otherwise harming people only causes further resentment and resistance. People drunk on power tend to ignore this, but it's really not a difficult or novel idea: as Rabbi Hillel put it, "That which is hateful unto you, do not do to your neighbor."

Moreover, we need to understand that negotiated agreement between responsible parties is much preferable to the diktat of a single party, no matter how powerful that party is. It's not clear to me that Israel needs to negotiate an agreement with Hamas, because it's not clear to me that Hamas is the real and trusted agent of the people of Palestine or Gaza, but some group needs to emerge as the responsible party, and the more solid their footing, the better partner they can be.

Israel, like the British before them, has always insisted on picking its favored Palestinian representatives, while making them look foolish, corrupt, and/or ineffective. Arafat may only have been the latter, but by not allowing him to accomplish anything, Israel opened up the void that Hamas tried to fill. But Hamas has only had the power it was able to seize by force, and even then was severely limited by what Israel would allow, in a perverse symbiotic relationship that we could spend a lot of time on -- Israel has often found Hamas to be very useful, so their current view that Hamas has to be exterminated seems more like a line to be fed to the Americans, who tend to take good vs. evil ever so literally.

Initial count: 217 links, 12,552 words.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss: Probably the best of the day-by-day reports, but once again they took the weekend off. Too bad Israel didn't.

  • [04-01] Day 178: Israel withdraws from al-Shifa Hospital, leaving evidence of a massacre in its wake: "Dozens of bodies are still being recovered from the rubble of a destroyed and burnt al-Shifa Hospital, following a two-week Israeli raid and siege on the hospital." After missing over the weekend, this invaluable series returns.

  • [04-02] Day 179: Israel kills 7 international aid workers in central Gaza, passes law banning Al Jazeera: "The World Central Kitchen called the attack that killed seven of its aid workers 'unforgivable' as Israeli forces killed 71 people across the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Israeli government voted to approve a bill banning Al Jazeera."

  • [04-03] Day 180: Israel calls killing of WCK workers 'mistake,' UN reports at least 195 aid workers killed since October 7: "Israeli media says the World Central Kitchen aid team was intentionally targeted with three missiles, as an UN expert says the strike shows Israel aims to force aid organizations out of Gaza."

  • [04-04] Day 181: Child deaths in Gaza on the rise, hostage negotiations 'stuck': "WHO chief Ghebreyesus said he was 'appalled' at the destruction of al-Shifa Hospital. Meanwhile, pressure on Netanyahu increases domestically to strike a hostage deal with Hamas as the UN Human Rights Council considers an arms embargo against Israel."

  • [04-05] Day 182: Israel says it will 'temporarily' allow aid into Gaza: "Following international outcry at the targeting of World Central Kitchen aid workers, Israel said that it would 'temporarily' allow aid into Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli forces raided the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and killed a Palestinian man in Tulkarem."

• Al Jazeera:

  • [04-06] List of key events, day 183.

  • [04-07] List of key events, day 184.

  • [04-04] Israel's Gantz challenges Netanyahu with call for election amid Gaza war. It's been suggested that this is a response to American criticism of Netanyahu, but he's only asking for an election in September, so there isn't much urgency behind his demand.

  • Simon Speakman Cordall: [04-07] Israel may have started a forever war in Gaza.

  • Andrew Mitrovica: [04-07] Israel's message: 'Don't feed the Palestinians': "The killing of the seven aid workers in Gaza is a direct consequence of Israel's brutal 'rules of engagement.'"

• Yuval Abraham: [04-03] 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing spree in Gaza: "The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties."

• Linah Alsaafin: [04-03] Israel's brutality is increasing -- and so is its denialism: "The atrocities at Al-Shifa Hospital are clear, but Israeli politicians say not a single civilian was killed. It's just one of several outlandish claims Israel has made recently."

• Eric Alterman: [04-02] Banning Al Jazeera moves Israel one step closer to dictatorship.

• Tareq Baconi: [04-01] The two-state solution is an unjust, impossible fantasy. This is accurate as far as it goes:

  Repeating the two-state solution mantra has allowed policymakers to avoid confronting the reality that partition is unattainable in the case of Israel and Palestine, and illegitimate as an arrangement originally imposed on Palestinians without their consent in 1947. And fundamentally, the concept of the two-state solution has evolved to become a central pillar of sustaining Palestinian subjugation and Israeli impunity. The idea of two states as a pathway to justice has in and of itself normalized the daily violence meted out against Palestinians by Israel's regime of apartheid.

  The key thing you need to understand here is that Israel has never offered the only thing that makes two states possible, which is complete independence. Given this, we should admit that Israel has never made an honest two-state offer. Moreover, Israel has always managed to scuttle third-party two-state solutions, and that's happened often enough that no one should credit them as serious possibilities.

  Also:

  A single state from the river to the sea might appear unrealistic or fantastical or a recipe for further bloodshed. But it is the only state that exists in the real world -- not in the fantasies of policymakers. The question, then, is: How can it be transformed into one that is just?

  Back in 1947, when the UK gave up on its mandate in Palestine, the logical solution would have been to allow a democratic government to be formed, with constitutional safeguards to protect minorities. Whether such a state would be fair and just is a counterfactual we can only speculate on. The population at the time was divided about 2-to-1 Muslims over Jews, with a small Christian minority. The Jews wanted to rule, and being outnumbered lobbied for partition, so they could establish a state and military, for defense and expansion if the opportunity arose. Muslims and Christians were disorganized -- deliberately by the British, especially while suppressing the 1937-39 revolt -- so it's unclear what they wanted (anything from liberal social democracy to theocracy was possible, but Jews had reason to be wary, given that the revolt was largely triggered by opposition to their immigration, and that nominal leader -- initially appointed by the British -- Hajj Amin al-Husseini had taken refuge in Nazi Germany after the revolt failed).

  British colonial rule was built on divide-and-conquer politics, reinforced by savage collective punishment, and that fed into a fondness for partition strategies, which had already proven to be disastrous in Ireland and in India. Britain also retained a large degree of control in the nominally independent Arab monarchies of Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq, which in theory attacked Israel on its declaration of independence in 1948, but actually moved to deny Palestinians sovereignty in their allotted partition (reduced in size by Israeli military gains, and increased in population by fleeing refugees).

  Even if one doubts that a Palestinian majority in 1947 would have established a fair and just single state, especially one that would have allowed for further Jewish immigration from a still-ravaged Europe, why not pursue such a solution now? The Israeli position is that such an idea is a "non-starter," as it would mark the end of the Zionist dream of a safe haven for Jews from everywhere. The assumption seems to be that if power ever shifted from Jews to Arabs -- which is neither inevitable nor impossible given current demographics and trends -- that the Arabs would treat the Jews as badly as the Jews have treated the Arabs since 1948. I doubt that would happen, but to allay such fears, there are ways to design safeguards while still allowing a vast expansion of personal freedom for Palestinians. The biggest problem is that Israelis, especially those in the settler movement, are accustomed to living with state support for their hatred and violence, and they will resist any change.

  Hence, it is imperative to convince Israelis that profound change is the only way to recover their bearings as respectable people. That task is at least as difficult as convincing George Wallace's Alabama to accept civil rights, and as difficult as convincing Oklahoma to stop stealing Indian lands. Neither of those cases worked out as well as one hoped, but at least we realized that continued unfair and unjust treatment would only perpetuate hostilities that would ultimately hurt everyone.

• Ramzy Baroud: [04-08] Irremediable defeat: On Israel's other unwinnable war: "Historically, wars unite Israelis. Not anymore."

  The problems continue to pile up, and Netanyahu, the master politician of former times, is now only hanging by the thread of keeping the war going for as long as possible to defer his mounting crises for as long as possible.

  Yet, an indefinite war is not an option, either. The Israeli economy, according to recent data by the country's Central Bureau of Statistics, has shrunk by over 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023. It is likely to continue its free fall in the coming period.

  Moreover, the army is struggling, fighting an unwinnable war without realistic goals. The only major source for new recruits can be obtained from ultra-Orthodox Jews, who have been spared the battlefield to study in yeshivas, instead.

  70 percent of all Israelis, including many in Netanyahu's own party, want the Haredi to join the army. On March 28, the Supreme Court ordered a suspension of state subsidies allocated to these ultra-Orthodox communities.

  If that is to happen, the crisis will deepen on multiple fronts. If the Haredi lose their privileges, Netanyahu's government is likely to collapse; if they maintain them, the other government, the post Oct-7 war council, is likely to collapse as well.

  In 1967, Israel conquered the near world -- larger professional armies with tanks and aircraft -- in six days. Now, with at least ten times the firepower, they've spent six months demolishing housing and hospitals, just to root out a few thousand Hamas lightly-armed "militants," and have little to show for it but shame and disgrace.

• Nora Berman: [03-29] 'The most moral army in the world' is posing with Palestinian women's underwear in Gaza.

• Connor Echols: [04-02] US, Israeli attacks on UNRWA push agency toward collapse.

• Or Kashti: [03-24] Oct. 7 Hamas attack is tearing apart Israeli human rights group B'Tselem: B'Tselem is a very important Israeli non-profit which has done vital work in documenting the atrocities committed by Israelis against Palestinians since its founding in 1989. They were quick to call for a ceasefire after Oct. 7, but this was complicated by internal divisions over how much blame to direct at Hamas, and whether to echo propaganda points which were used to justify Israel's genocidal counter-attack. I'm having trouble following this piece, but noted that the divide led to the resignation of Eyal Hareuveni, who I know mostly as a jazz critic. This also led me to:

  • Amira Hass: [03-14] Israel's security service warns B'Tselem researcher not to 'make trouble' for the army.

• Joshua Keating:

  • [04-05] How the war in Gaza has gone differently than expected -- and how it hasn't.

  • [04-03] Israel just raised the risk of a regional war: "And US troops may suffer the consequences."

• Takeshi Kumon: [03-20] Israeli startups hope to export battle-tested AI military tech: I got this link from a Naomi Klein tweet, who added: "not mere disaster capitalism -- genocide capitalism."

• Gideon Levy: [04-07] In six months in Gaza, Israel's worst-ever war achieved nothing but death and destruction.

• Alice Markham-Cantor: [04-02] 'The drones are shooting at anything that moves' in Gaza; "Facing famine, civilians search desperately for food under the threat of Israeli bombs."

• Jack Mirkinson: [04-04] The ghoulish ostentatiousness of Israel's latest war crimes: "It's as if Israel is flaunting its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians."

  The past few days of Israel's war on Gaza have been hard to bear. In quick succession, the world watched Israel withdraw from the Al-Shifa hospital complex, revealing stomach-churning scenes of death and destruction; bomb Iran's embassy in Syria, which could escalate the conflict across the Middle East; and kill seven humanitarian aid workers with World Central Kitchen (WCK) in what even some US officials said appeared to be intentional air strikes. . . .

  The assault on Gaza has been horrific from the start. But it is hard to shake the feeling that the near-total leeway Israel has been granted by the United States and its allies has gone to its head. Bulldozing bodies in plain sight. Bombing diplomatic facilities. Targeting aid workers from the most Washington-friendly relief organization. There is a ghoulish, ostentatious quality to these actions. It's as if Israel is showing off, flaunting its ability to cross every known line of international humanitarian law and get away with it.

• James North:

  • [03-23] Mainstream media finally reports on Gaza famine but won't admit Israel is deliberately responsible.

  • [04-01] The 'NYTimes' is ignoring Israel's crackdown in the West Bank.

  • [04-04] Netanyahu killed a top Iranian general in Syria to provoke a regional conflict -- and the US media is hiding its true motivation.

• Rick Perlstein: [02-21] The neglected history of the state of Israel: "The Revisionist faction of Zionism that ended up triumphing adhered to literal fascist doctrines and traditions."

• Mitchell Plitnick: [04-05] Netanyahu's endgame and the Israeli far-right's regional ambitions: "The events of recent days suggest we may be seeing the Israeli endgame take shape. Netanyahu's far right government's goals are not limited to Gaza: it wants to take over all of Palestine and start a war with Hezbollah and Iran as well." I wouldn't call this an "endgame," as I doubt that the far-right wants the games to end. They thrive on violence and hatred, and want to keep it going.

• Will Porter: [04-08] Israel lets AI decide who dies in Gaza.

• Vijay Prashad: [04-05] How Israel weaponizes water: "Even before Israel's most recent attack on Gaza, 97 percent of the water in the sole coastal aquifer of Gaza was already unsafe for human consumption."

• Dave Reed: [04-05] Engineering social collapse in Palestine: "Despite its claim that the goal of the war in Gaza is the elimination of Hamas, Israel's actions reveal its true intention: the collapse of Palestinian society."

• Mouin Rabbani: All shook up: Regional dynamics of the Gaza War: This is a chapter from the first significant book to come out about the Gaza war since October 7, Deluge: Gaza and Israel From Crisis to Cataclysm, edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner (OR Books).

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [04-03] Hostage talks break down: Israel rejects Hamas demand for return to northern Gaza: "US fails to break deadlock, Israel refuses to compromise."

  • [04-03] How Israel's war on Gaza could determine the US elections.

  • [04-04] Iraqi militia drone strikes Israeli navy base, Israel destroys Iranian counsulate in Syria: "Damascus strike kills senior IRG commander and several subordinates."

  • [04-05] Biden reads Netanyahu riot act: Demands immediate ceasefire.

  • [04-05] IDF sacks, reprimands senior officers after "investigation" of humanitarian aid attack: "World Central Kitchen inquiry offers token attempt at damage control."

• Norman Solomon: [04-03] When an escalation in war isn't newsworthy to the New York Times: "Why is the Times ignoring the latest huge transfer of 2,000-pound bombs from the US to Israel?"

• Jeffrey St Clair: [04-05] Incident on the Al-Rashid Coastal Road: "In the anodyne language of military slaughter, it's called a 'triple tap' -- three successive strikes to make sure you've eliminated your target -- the target in this case being the occupants of three vehicles of the World Central Kitchen."

• Noga Tarnopolsky: [04-07] Israelis are hostages of Netanyahu: "With the prime minister still refusing to resign, every day feels like October 7."

• Amanda Taub: [04-02] Israel bombed an Iranian embassy complex. Is that allowed? Well, when you ask the New York Times, you're liable to get: "Israel can likely argue that its actions did not violate international law's protections for diplomatic missions, experts say."

• Ishaan Tharoor:

  • [04-03] Israel's 'unintentional' strike on aid workers stirs global outrage.

  • [04-05] Israel offers a glimpse into the terrifying world of military AI.

• Peter Wade: [04-07] José Andrés: Israel is conducting a 'war against humanity itself': "'The [World Central Kitchen] convoy was deliberately attacked, it was obvious . . . This was targeted,' the humanitarian chef said of the killing of seven aid workers in Gaza."

• Brett Wilkins:

  • [04-02] 'A declaration of war' against Iran: "Seven people including Iranian diplomats and a Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps senior commander were killed in Israel's airstrike Monday on Tehran's consulate in Damascus."

  • [04-04] Biden's push for $18 billion in warplane sale to Israel.

  • [04-05] Israeli doctor blows whistle on war crimes: A report from "inside a notorious detention center where hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are temporarily held is sounding the alarm about torture and horrific conditions."

• Robert Wright: [04-05] How the US media encourages Bibi's dangerous brinksmanship.

• Oren Ziv: [04-05] Israeli teen jailed for refusing draft: 'I'm willing to pay a price for my principles': Ben Arad.

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Mohammad Jehad Ahmad: [04-04] Zionists have tried to silence me through doxing and intimidation. "A Palestinian teacher describes being targeted by Zionist groups with doxing and public harassment. He urges the New York City Chancellor of Education to take action before it turns violent."

• José Andrés: [04-03] Let people eat.

• Michael Arria:

  • [04-04] The Shift: Biden says he's 'outraged' over killing of aid workers . . . and moves to send Israel more weapons.

  • [04-04] Biden calls for 'immediate ceasefire' during phone call with Netanyahu.

  • [04-05] Israeli capitulation exposes the lie behind Biden's Gaza policy: "For months the Biden administration has insisted there's little it can do to impact Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. The events of the last 24 hours have shown that this is a lie."

• Samer Badawi: [04-02] Even without a UN veto, Gaza remains hostage to American power: "The downplaying of the Security Council's ceasefire resolution shows why the world can no longer look to Washington as the arbiter of a rules-based order."

• Mayar Darawsha: [04-03] Judge Aharon Barak is repeating Israeli propaganda at the ICJ: Israel was able to appoint Barak as an "ad-hoc judge" on the ICJ, but he's "less like a judge and more like a mouthpiece for official Israeli propaganda."

• Lawrence Davidson: [04-04] Sick cultures: When belief systems turn pathological: Comparative examples, from the US and Israel.

• David French: [04-07] Israel is making the same mistake America made in Iraq: Americans may be impressed by this argument, but Israelis won't be:

  Think of those words: "renewed insurgency." That means Israel was doing exactly what we did for much of the Iraq war -- fighting again over ground we had presumably already seized. And the sad reality of those terrible battles reminded me of a seemingly counterintuitive truth: In the fight against terrorists, providing humanitarian aid isn't just a moral imperative; it's a military necessity.

  The terrible civilian toll and looming famine in Gaza are a human tragedy that should grieve us all; they are also directly relevant to the outcome of the war. A modern army like Israel's can absolutely defeat Hamas in a direct confrontation, regardless of whether it provides aid to civilians. But as we've learned in our own wars abroad, it cannot preserve its victory unless it meets Gazans' most basic needs.

  Israel has an answer to complaints like this: you don't have to win hearts & minds if you simply kill everyone. The Americans never considered that option in Iraq. Bush even fantasized that he was liberating people, and that they'd respond by thanking him. Netanyahu doesn't imagine that for a moment. He knows deep in his bones that Palestinians will never forgive him. He knows they'll remember him as long as Israelis remember Masada. So what if every martyr he kills produces another one. That's just more Palestinians he needs to kill. As long as the net kill ratio is positive, he's good.

• Kelly Garrity: [04-08] Elizabeth Warren says she believes Israel's war in Gaza will legally be considered genocide.

• Melvin Goodman: [04-05] Meet the newest apologist for Israel: Rear Admiral John Kirby: Spokesman for Biden's National Security Council.

• Mel Gurtov: [04-06] US complicity in Israel genocide takes another step.

• David Hearst: [04 -07] For the defenders of Israel's war on Gaza, the game is up: "Staunch allies calling themselves friends of Israel are beginning to realise they are also friends of the murderers of western aid workers, friends of genocide and friends of fascism."

• Chris Hedges: [04-02] A genocide foretold: "The genocide in Gaza is the final stage of a process begun by Israel decades ago."

• Hebh Jamal: [04-07] Germany is becoming a police state when it comes to Palestine activism.

• Jonathan Ofir: [04-06] We Israelis are the biggest Holocaust deniers: "The Jewish state learned that it can commit its own Holocaust in Gaza and deny that it exists."

• Ilan Pappé: [02-01] It is dark before the dawn, but Israeli settler colonialism is at an end: A talk given to Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) on their annual Genocide Memorial Day, by one of the premier historians of Israel/Palestine. Also from the same issue:

  • Richard Haley: [02-01] How to make a genocide and how to resist it: Notes "three pillars of Israel's genocide": "the imputation of anti-semitism to critics of Israel, the invention of an Israeli right to self-defence that goes beyond its rights under the UN Charter, and the criminalisation of armed Palestinian resistance."

  • Ramón Grosfoguel: [02-01] Gaza: The Warsaw Ghetto of the 21st century.

  • Sandew Hira: [02-01] The rise of the extreme right in the 20th and 21st century.

• James Ray: [04-07] No, Senator Schumer, Netanyahu isn't the problem: "The problem isn't just with Benjamin Netanyahu. It is with Zionist settler colonialism." But it's been Netanyahu's meal ticket all along, so he's an obvious symbol.

• Alex Skopic: [04-04] Israel's propaganda machine is filling the internet with misinformation: "A sophisticated network of websites is spreading pro-Israel posts and suppressing content that 'harms Israel's image.'"

• Bret Stephens: [03-12] Israel has no choice but to fight on: He's totally in the bag for Netanyahu, so much so he thinks he can set up a mock argument and expound on his position as brilliantly as Socrates. You'll be hard-pressed to find a premise that makes sense, but his deductions are even more far-fetched. "So what do you suggest the Biden administration do? Help Israel win the war decisively so that Israelis and Palestinians can someday win the peace." It's hard to stop quoting this nonsense. Every line makes my blood boil, less from disbelief that anyone could be this cruel and stupid than from amazement that anyone could be so oblivious in their arrogance.

• Enzo Traverso: [04-06] The Gaza massacre is undermining the culture of democracy.

• Kathleen Wallace: [04-05] The death of plausible deniability: An ethnic cleansing in real time.

• Philip Weiss: [04-07] Weekly Briefing; The sudden urgency of isolating a pariah state. Many good points here, including his rejection of "three lies the establishment is now telling about Palestine to justify not isolating Israel:

  1. "If Netanyahu were gone Israel would behave differently." This is "patently false."
  2. "We have to get back to preserving the path to a two-state solution." He realizes this will never happen without radical change in Israel, and counters: "We have to get to human dignity and equal rights, no matter the political boundaries."
  3. "The Hamas atrocities of October 7 are unique and a cause for war." Not so: "they were inevitable as the slave revolts of the 1830s in the U.S. They will happen again so long as Jewish supremacy is the law for Palestinians."

America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:

• Edward Hunt: [04-08] An illegal war with Houthis isn't stopping the Red Sea crisis: "US attacks in Yemen are dangerous and unnecessary. Any real solution starts in Gaza."

• William Leogrande: [04-02] Watching US Cuba policy in the theater of the absurd.

• Christopher Mott: [04-08] Bibi's push for a long war undermines Israel's best friend -- America.

• Vincent Ortiz: [04-06] US sanctions on Iran are devastating and ineffective. Not the words I would use, for while partly true they misread the political dynamics on both sides. US sanctions actually reinforce the most regressive factions in Iran. If the idea was to weaken them and to encourage more accommodating factions, sure, they're ineffective. But if the idea is to promote hostility that would bind neighbors, like Saudi Arabia and Israel, more closely to the US and its arms industries, then they're working splendidly. How "devastating" the sanctions are to ordinary Iranians is less clear. They can be, especially for small countries that depend on imports (like Gaza), but large, self-contained economies (like Russia and Iran) can hobble along indefinitely, while credibly blaming the US (as opposed to their own incompetence) for shortages.

• Trita Parsi: [04-08] Iran says it won't strike Israel if US gets Gaza ceasefire.

• Paul R Pillar: [04-05] Is Israel's plan to draw the US into a war with Iran?

• Nick Turse:

  • [04-04] The new junta in Niger tells the United States to pack up its war and go home.

  • Pentagon ignores law calling for report on how it trained so many African coup leaders.

  • Squeezed by African coups, Biden cozies up tot he world's worst dictator.

• Adam Weinstein/Trita Parsi: [04-04] Biden's inaction on Gaza puts US troops at risk.

Election notes: There were presidential primaries on April 2, all won as expected by Biden and Trump: Connecticut: Trump 77.9%, Biden 84.9%; New York: Trump 82.1%, Biden 91.5%; Rhode Island: Trump 84.5%, Biden 82.6%; Wisconsin: Trump 79.2%, Biden 88.6%; also Delaware has no vote totals, but gave all delegates to Trump and Biden. The next primary will be in Pennsylvania on April 23.

• David Dayen: [03-25] The machine crumbles: "Andy Kim has not only pulled off a major upset. He may have transformed the political culture of an entire state." New Jersey.

• Ryan Lizza: [04-06] Abortion might be a winning issue -- even in Florida.

• Jessica Piper: [04-08] Super PACs keep testing the limits of campaign finance law.

• Marilyn W Thompson: [04-04] Congressional maps challenged as discriminatory will remain in place for 2024 elections.

• Bret Wilkins: [04-05] Dark money-backed No Labels drops third-party presidential bid despite raising millions: "One observer quipped that No Labels was calling it quits "to spend more time with their lobbyists."

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Jonathan Allen/Matt Dixon/Garrett Haake: [04-07] Trump tells billionaires he'll keep their taxes low at $50 million fundraising gala.

• Isaac Arnsdorf: [04-04] How Steve Bannon guided the MAGA movement's rebound from Jan. 6. Excerpt from the book, Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement's Ground War to End Democracy. Another review:

  • Jacob Heilbrunn: [04-07] How Trump survived January 6.

• Zack Beauchamp: [04-06] The right-wing scammers who paved the way for Trump: "A new book shows how conservative grift started long before branded bibles and $400 sneakers." Interview with Joe Conason, whose book (not identified in the article, not out until July 9) is The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism. Needless to say, any book that starts with Joe McCarthy and leads to Donald Trump has a lot of Roy Cohn in the middle.

• Luke Broadwater/Alan Feuer: [04-04] GOP Congressman's wild claim: RBI entrapped Jan. 6 rioters: Clay Higgins (R-LA).

• Mark A Caputo: [04-02] Trump won't commit on Florida abortion vote: "Sunshine state voters will decide whether abortion belongs in the state constitution. But one Florida Man won't weigh in on the 'A-word.'"

• Jonathan Chait: [04-04] Trump indifferent to Palestinian death, but moved by images of building damage: "Another deranged interview."

• Kyle Chayka: [04-03] Trump's social-media Potemkin village: "After an IPO last week, Truth Social is confronting the gaping incongruity between its valuation and the paltry reality of its product."

• Ryan Cooper:

  • [04-01] Will voters hear about Donald Trump's deranged health care agenda? "A second Trump term means tens of millions of people losing insurance and chaos in hospitals."

  • [04-04] The pious one, Donald Trump: "The least likely embodiment of Christian virtues in American life is practically runnintg as an evangelical minister." I find it interesting when people who don't particularly believe in Christianity come around to defend the decency of the religion's fundamental tenets from the embarrassing depredations of the loudest Christians:

    Indeed, in one of my favorite verses, Jesus says not only do you go to Hell if you do not care for the hungry or sick, welcome the stranger, and visit people in prison. He further says that if you do those things for "the least of these brothers and sisters of mine" you are doing them to Jesus Himself. It's a profoundly egalitarian sentiment -- not only does God instruct Christians to help the worst-off in society, He identifies Himself with the worst-off.

    After all, this was Nietzsche's whole problem with Christianity. In his view, it replaced the aristocratic "master morality" celebrating power and domination with an egalitarian "slave morality" in which it is wrong to oppress the weak.

• David Corn:

  • [03-21] It's a good time to start worrying about Christian nationalism.

  • [04-03] Donald Trump and the United States of Amnesia.

• Igor Derysh:

  • [04-02] Expert flags details on "king of subprime car loans" who helped Trump post bond: "Don Hankey is believed to be a shareholder in bank that gave Trump $225 million in loans."

  • [04-04] Gagged Trump "playing with fire" in Truth Social posts targeting judge's daughter: Or so say "legal scholars."

• Chauncey DeVega: [04-02] "Perfectly predictable": Dr John Gartner on why "a malignant narcissist like Trump" sells Bibles: Gartner says, "It fits perfectly into both his personality disorder's hypomanic grandiosity and its paranoid sense of grievance." Gartner is one of several interviewed for this review of Trump/Republicans' efforts to politicize Easter.

• Maureen Dowd:

  • [03-30] Donald Trump, blasphemous Bible thumper.

  • [04-06] Donald Trump's insatiable bloodlust.

• Abdallah Fayyad: [04-04] Trump has set up a perfect avenue for potential corruption: "With Truth Social going public, big investors could easily buy influence in a second Trump term."

• Susan B Glasser: [04-04] Donald Trump's amnesia advantage: "The 2024 race comes down to just how much America has lost its collective mind about its disastrous former President." I don't quite buy this argument. No doubt, the people who expected Trump to be awful saw plenty to confirm their fears. But, at least in the short term, how many of the people who basically supported Trump were really disappointed? The economy was increasingly inequal, but pretty solid until the pandemic hit, and the Democrats bailed him out then, shoring up businesses and protecting workers. But if you survived Covid -- and those who didn't aren't in the equation any more -- you came out of it about as well as you went in. Trump didn't just into new wars, and he significantly withdrew from Afghanistan (while leaving Biden to be blamed for the defeat he negotiated). Pollution and climate are issues with longer-term impact, so unless you were aware at the time, you're probably unaware still. Unless you pay close attention, for most people there's little practical difference regardless of who's president, so it makes sense that lots of people will base their vote on charisma, style, and affinity -- with Trump, qualities you either love or hate.

• Jeet Heer: [04-08] His billionaire buddies' bribery bails out Trump, again and again: "The problem isn't that the former president is broke but that he's for sale."

• Brian Karem: [04-04] Trump's revenge against Julian Assange broke the media: "How Trump's petty vindictiveness makes the media worse." I don't doubt that the prosecution of Assange was meant to scare media outlets away from exposing secrets, or that Trump is vindictive -- Obama started on Assange, but Mike Pompeo was always his most rabid inquisitor, and Pompeo's influence grew under Trump -- but the media broke on several fracture lines, and the one Trump was most directly responsible for was in capturing media attention for his outrageous showboating, while decrying as "fake news" anything that displeased him, and thereby making news out of "fake news."

• Robert Kuttner: [04-02] How Republicans screw workers: "Efforts by Obama and Biden to enforce labor laws have been systematically undermined by right-wing courts and legislators. This should be a prime election theme."

• Amanda Marcotte:

  • [04-01] Why the GOP is doubling down on misogyny in 2024.

  • [04-02] Fake right-wing panic about "trans" Easter is part of Trump's push for Christian nationalism: "Phony claims that Democrats 'mock your faith' are a cynical excuse to strip Americans of religious freedom."

  • [04-05] MAGA leaders are conditioning Republicans to back birth control bans: "Charlie Kirk says the pill causes 'angry, bitter young ladies' who vote for Democrats to get 'free stuff.'"

• Kelly McClure:

  • [04-03] Trump in legal battle with Trump Media co-founders over back-and-forth regarding company shares.

  • [04-05] Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks earthquake and eclipse are a warning from God.

  • [04-07] Trump positions himself as a "modern day Nelson Mandela" in Truth Social rant: Doesn't he have to spend a couple decades in jail before he can compare himself? And doesn't he have to have done so for some kind of principle beyond his pathetic self?

• Dana Milbank: [04-05] Trump swindles his followers again.

• Anna North: [04-08] Trump may sound moderate on abortion. The groups setting his agenda definitely aren't.

• Heather Digby Parton: [04-05] Marjorie Taylor Greene is out for Republican blood: "House Speaker Mike Johnson may have to be saved by Democrats after MTG is done with him."

• Ben Protess/Matthew Haag: [04-04] New York Attorney General questions Trump's $175 million bond deal: "Letitia James said in court papers that the California company providing the guarantee was not qualified to do such deals in New York."

• Rebecca Solnit: [04-02] The Republican party has become a full-fledged anti-sex movement.

• Michael Tomasky: [04-01] The Trump double standard: He's the least persecuted pol in America: "Anyone else who did all the Things Trump has done, or stands accused of having done[*], the wheels of justice, legal and political, would have moved more swiftly." [*] Why this disclaimer? "Innocent until proven guilty" is a legal principle we should respect, but what he actually did is a matter of well-established historical record. There is uncertainty about when and how he will be punished (if at all), but at least regarding what he's been charged with, the facts are pretty clear.

• Fareed Zakaria: [04-05] How Trump fills a void in an increasingly secular America.

I've been reading Tricia Romano's oral history of The Village Voice, The Freaks Came Out to Write, and ran into a section on Wayne Barrett, who started reporting on Trump in the 1970s, and published the first serious book on Trump in 1992. The discussion there is worth quoting at some length (pp. 522-524):

TOM ROBBINS: Wayne appreciated the fact that Trump could be a serious player, given his willingness to play the race card, which was clear from his debut speech that he was gonna go after illegal immigrants and Mexicans. As long as you're going to outwardly play the race card in the Republican primary, you can actually command a lot. And Wayne understood that. He was surprised as the rest of us the way that Trump just mowed down the rest of the opposition and that nobody could stand up to him.

WILLIAM BASTONE: He knew that Trump was appealing to something that was going to have traction with people and that wasn't just a passing thing. I said, "Wayne, don't you think people see through this and they understand that he's really just a con man and a huckster and a racist?" The stuff goes back, at that point, almost thirty years with his father and avoiding renting apartments to Black families in Brooklyn.

And he was like, "No, that's gonna be a plus for him, for the people that he's going to end up attracting." I was like, "You're crazy, Wayne. You're crazy."

There was talk that he may have used racially charged or racist remarks when he was doing The Apprentice. And I said, "So Wayne, if it ever came out that Trump used those words or used the N-word?" And Wayne said, "That would be good for him." He was totally right. And then nine months later, he's talking about shooting people on Fifth Avenue. Trump understood that "there's really nothing I can do [wrong] because these people hate the people I hate, and we're all gonna be together."

TOM ROBBINS: When I was at the Observer, I had a column in there called Wise Guys. And at that point, Trump was talking about running for president. This was 1987, that was thirty years before he actually ran, almost. He was focused on this from the very beginning. And none of us took him seriously. . . .

As someone who worked with the tabloid press for a long time, the people who invented Trump were all those tabloid gossip reporters who dined out from all of his items over the years and who reported them right up until the time he ran for president. This is one of the great unrecognized crimes of the press. We in the tabloid press created Trump; it wasn't Wayne. Wayne was going after him.

JONATHAN Z. LARSEN: This is the media's Frankenstein's monster. Trump would call, using a fake name, saying, "I'm the PR guy for Donald Trump. I really shouldn't be telling you this, but he's about to get divorced, and he's got three women he's looking at. There's Marla Maples. There's so-and-so." Very often the people that he was speaking to recognized his voice. They loved it. It was free copy.

Barrett really did have some incredibly good information on Trump, how he built Trump Tower. The head of the concrete union was mobbed up. There was this crazy woman who bought the apartment just underneath Donald Trump's because she was sleeping with the concrete guy, and she wanted to install a pool. It's astonishing, the stuff he got. It's a national treasure now that we have Wayne Barrett's reporting. As soon as Trump became president, everybody was picking through all of Wayne's files.

The ellipsis covers a section on Barrett's Trump book, and stopped before a section on Barrett's horror watching the 2016 returns. By then Barrett was terminably ill, and he died just before Trump's inauguration. I remember reading about Trump in the Voice back in the 1970s, so I was aware of him as a major scumbag, but I took no special interest in him otherwise. Anything I did notice simply added to my initial impression.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Aaron Blake: [04-05] Gaza increasingly threatens Democrats' Trump-era unity.

• Ben Burgis: [04-04] Democratic voters are furious about US support of Israel.

• Rachel M Cohen: [04-01] You can't afford to buy a house. Biden knows that.

• Page S Gardner/Stanley B Greenberg: [03-15] They don't want Trump OR Biden. Here's how they still can elect Biden. "Our new survey of these voters shows the president can still win their support."

• Robert Kuttner: [04-04] Liberals need to be radicals: "The agenda for Biden's next term must go deeper to restore the American dream." The substance here is fine, but why resort to clichés? The "American dream" was never more than a dream. One can argue that we should dream again, and work to realize those dreams for everyone. Back in the 1960s, the first real political book I bought was an anthology called The New Radicals, edited by Paul Jacobs and Saul Landau, and I immediately saw the appeal of the word "radical" for those who seek deep roots of social problems, but nowadays the word is mostly used as a synonym for "extremist." But perhaps more importantly, I've cooled on the desirability for deep solutions (revolutions) and come to appreciate more superficial reforms. I would refashioned the title to say that "liberals need to be leftists," because the liberal dream of freedom can only be universalized through solidarity with others, and is of little value if limited to self-isolating individuals.

• Tim Miller: [04-05] Joe Biden is not a "genocidal maniac": "And it's not just wrong but reckless and irresponsible to say he is." I agree with the title, but I disagree with the subhed. Genocide wasn't his idea, nor is it something he craves maniacally. But he is complicit in genocide, and not just passively so. He has said things that have encouraged Israel, and he has done things that have materially supported genocide. He has shielded them in the UN, with "allies," and in the media. I've thought a lot about morality lately, and I've come to think that it (and therefore immorality) can only be considered among people who have the freedom to decide on their own what to say and do. Many people are severely limited in their autonomy, but as president of the United States, Biden does have a lot of leeway, and should be judged accordingly.

  I realize that one might argue that morality is subordinate to politics -- that sometimes actual political considerations convince one to do things that normally regard as immoral (like going to war against Nazi Germany, or nuking Hiroshima) -- but the fundamentals remain the same: is the politician free to choose? One might argue that Biden's initial blind support for Israel was purely reflexive -- lessons he had learned over fifty years in AIPAC-dominated Washington, a reflex shared by nearly every other politician so conditioned -- but even so, as president Biden had access to information and a lot of leeway to act, and therefore should be held responsible for his political, as well as moral, decisions.

  Miller goes on to upbraid people for saying "Genocide Joe." He makes fair points, but hey, given the conditions, that's going to happen. Most of us have very little power to influence someone like Biden -- compared to big-time donors, colleagues, and pundits, all of whom are still pretty limited -- so trying to shame him with a colorful nickname is one of the few things one can try. In a similar vein, we used to taunt: "Hey, hey, LBJ; how many kids did you kill today?" And sure, LBJ was more directly responsible for the slaughter in Vietnam than Biden is in Gaza, but both earned the blame. Biden, at least, still has a chance to change course. If he fails, he, and he alone, sealed his fate.

• Elena Schneider/Jeff Coltin: [03-29] Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted Biden's glitzy New York fundraiser: "The event padded Biden's cash advantage, but laid bare one of his biggest weaknesses." The Biden campaign's response seems to be to try to exclude potential protesters:

  • Lisa Lerer/Reid J Epstein/Katie Glueck: [04-07] How Gaza protesters are challenging Democratic leaders: "From President Biden to the mayors of small cities, Democrats have been trailed by demonstrators who are complicating the party's ability to campaign in an election year." By the way, better term here than in the Politico piece: you don't have to be "pro-Palestinian" to be appalled by genocide. You can even be consciously pro-Israel, someone who cares so much for Israel that your most fervent desire is to spare them the shame of the path Netanyahu et al. have set out on.

• Washington Monthly: [04-07] Trump vs. Biden: Who got more done? The print edition has a series of "accomplishment index" articles comparing the records of the two presidents. You can probably guess the results, especially if you don't count corruption and vandalism, the main drivers of the Trump administration, as accomplishments:

  • Paul Glastris: Introduction: Who got more done?.

  • Bill Scher: Legislation.

  • Jacob Heilbrunn: Foreign policy: This is by far the most problematic area, because while Trump did real damage -- especially by wrecking openings Obama (Kerry?) had negotiated to Iran and Cuba -- Biden overshot what were supposed to be corrections "strengthening the international liberal order" but turned into provoking a war with Russia over Ukraine and not deterring Israel's genocide in Gaza.

  • Caroline Fredrickson: Courts.

  • Garphill Julien: Trade.

  • Rob Wolfe: Regulation.

  • Brigid Schulte: Work & family.

  • Will Norris: Antitrust?

  • Marc Novicoff: Immigration?

  • Merrill Goozner: Health care.

  • Suzanne Gordon/Steve Early: Veterans.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Rachel M Cohen: [04-02] The astonishing radicalism of Florida's new ban on abortion.

• Mike Lofgren: [04-06] Merrick Garland, Donald Trump and the fall of France: "Garland's plodding, cautious investigation undermined itself from the start -- and played into Trump's hands."

• Ian Millhiser: [04-03] Why Republican federal judges are fighting among themselves: "Simmering tensions between traditionalist Republican judges and MAGA judges are starting to boil over."

Climate and environment:

• Judson Jones: [04-04] 'Alarming' ocean temperatures suggest this hurricane season will be a daunting one.

• Soumya Karlamangla: [04-03] How California's fire season might shape up this year.

Economic matters:

• Nora de la Cour: [04-06] Blaming low wages on bad schooling is a neoliberal myth.

• Paul Krugman: [04-04] Why some billionaires will back Trump.

• Karina Montoya: [04-05] The exploitative origins of Amazon: "Since the very beginning, the internet giant has grown by stealing ideas, squelching competition, and cheating on its taxes."

• Helen Santoro: [04-05] Generic drugmakers want to keep medicine prices high.

Ukraine War:

• Blaise Malley: [04-05] Diplomacy Watch: Ukrainian officers confront grim realities.

• Isaac Arnsdorf/Josh Dawsey/Michael Birnbaum: [04-07] Inside Donald Trump's secret, long-shot plan to end the war in Ukraine: "Foreign policy experts and some Republicans warned that pressuring Ukraine to cede land would reward Putin." And that's worse than continuing indefinitely a war with no chance of significant change? A war with enormous, mounting costs? A war where any breakthrough on either side threatens catastrophic escalation? I hate saying this, but this makes Trump sound like he has potential as a serious, sober statesman. His affinity for Putin may even make him a more credible negotiator.

• Dave DeCamp: [04-07] Ukrainian drone hits Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

• Isabelle Khurshudyan: [04-06] With no way out of a worsening war, Zelensky's options look bad or worse.

• Denis Leven: [04-09] Russia's migrants and ethnic minorities shiver at new Putin terror crackdown.

• Ray McGovern: [02-19] Throwing good money after bad in Ukraine.

• Brad Pierce: [03-13] The CIA admits its long-time presence in Ukraine. This dates back to the 2014 Maidan Revolution, which triggered the secession movements in Crimea and Donbas, bringing Russia into conflict with Ukraine.

Around the world:

• Francesca de Benedetti: [04-07] Europe's mood of war is whitewashing the far right.

• Ellen Ioanes: [04-04] Good news: Democracy won in Senegal. Here's why it matters.

• Widlore Mérancourt/Amanda Coletta: [04-05] When Haiti's gangs shop for guns, the United States is their store.

• Mark Lewis Taylor: [04-07] How Israel facilitated the Guatemalan genocide: This is an old story, going back to the 1980s, when Israel was especially eager to curry favor with the US by doing its dirty work (cf. "Iran-Contra"). Israel has since become a one-stop shopping center for authoritarian regimes eager to surveil and police their own people. Azerbaijan got Israel's help for their recent expulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

• Haris Zargar: [04-04] India elections: Vying for a third term, Modi is intensifying voter polarisation.

The bridge:

• William Neff/Aaron Steckelberg/Justin Jouvenal/Leslie Shapiro: [04-05] Inside the massive three-step cleanup of Baltimore's Key Bridge.

Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter: I played the album (twice), and will present my thoughts in the next Music Week. I figured I was pretty much done with it before I started collecting these, but thought it might be interesting to note them:

• Tressie McMillan Cottom: [04-04] Beyoncé asks, and answers, a crucial question in her latest album.

• Constance Grady: [04-07] The Western visuals of Beyoncé Cowboy Carter, decoded.

• Garrison Hayes: [03-29] Beyoncé just covered the Beatles in the most authentic way: By honoring black history.

• Julianne Escobedo Shepherd: [04-01] Cowboy Carter: Review, 8.4.

• Doreen St Félix: [04-01] Beyoncé won't burn down the barn with "Cowboy Carter".

Other stories:

Hannah Goldfield: [04-08] In the kitchen with the grand dame of Jewish cooking: Gnoshing with Joan Nathan.

Luke Goldstein: [04-02] The in-flight magazine for corporate jets: "The Economist has channeled the concerns of elites for decades. It sees the Biden administration as a threat."

Stephen Holmes: [04-04] Radical mismatch: A review of Samuel Moyn: Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times.

David Cay Johnston: [04-05] Antitax nation: Review of Michael J Graetz: The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America, explaining "how clever marketing duped America into shoveling more tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations."

Sarah Jones:

• [04-05] Is the earthquake a sign of the End Times?

• [04-05] The biggest abortion vote since Dobbs: "Florida could undo bans signed by Ron DeSantis and become a safe haven for millions."

Natalie Korach/Ross A Lincoln: [04-05] Meta blocks Kansas Reflector and MSNBC columnist over op-ed criticizing Facebook: "The company says Friday afternoon that the blocks, which falsely labeled the links as spam, were due to 'a security error.'" A Wichita columnist also wrote on this:

• Dion Lefler: [04-05] Sorry, but I don't buy Facebook's explanation for deleting the Kansas Reflector.

Orlando Mayorquin/Amanda Holpuch: [04-07] Southwest plane makes emergency landing after Boeing engine cover falls off. And just when I thought I'd get through a week with no Boeing stories. Then I noticed I had two more waiting:

• Frances Madeson: [03-23] Washington University students vote to divest from Boeing amid Gaza genocide. Includes a reference to "the school's storied past of war resistance."

• Jeff Wise: [04-02] The Boeing nosedive; "A once-venerable company turned its soul over to shareholders and courted disaster."

Rick Perlstein: [04-03] Joe Lieberman not only backed Bush's war; he also helped make Bush president: "A remembrance of this most feckless of Democrats."

Nathan J Robinson: And other recent pieces from his zine, Current Affairs:

• [03-28] My date with destiny: "Reviewing major issues in the Israel-Palestine conflict." Starts with an anecdote about a "massive argument -- with a popular streamer named Destiny," then gets down to business with extensively documented sections on the following:

  • Starvation in Gaza: Is it happening and who is responsible?
  • Is there a genocide?
  • Is there apartheid in Palestine?
  • Zionism, 1948, and the obstacles to peace

  I'm getting to this piece very late in my cycle -- well after writing my introductory screed and several other lengthy comments -- otherwise I'd feature it up top, at least as one of the best historical background pieces I've seen recently. Along the way, he mentions the following:

• [2023-10-16] The current Israel-Palestine crisis was entirely avoidable: Interview with Jerome Slater, author of Mythologies Without End: The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020, conducted right after the October 7 revolt.

• [04-02] What Trump understand about war: "Donald Trump's militarism is even worse than Biden's. But he's keeping relatively quiet on Israel-Palestine, probably because he knows the public doesn't like war." This is fundamentally right, but I'm finding a lot of details to quibble with. [Something to do later.] But the point I'd most want to stress is that while Trump sounds more militarist -- he gropes the flag, wanted to stage Moscow-style tank-and-missile parades, wants to be seen as a tough guy -- his political skill is to identify "messes," blame them on Democrats, and claim that nothing like that would dare happen under his watch (because, you know, he's such a tough guy). And wars are always messes, so they're easy targets for Trump.

• [04-08] Why we need limits on extreme wealth: Interview with Ingrid Robeyns, author of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth.

• [2023-06-14] We must banish 'bootstraps' mythology from American life: Interview with Alissa Quart, around the time her book Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves From the American Dream came out in hardcover, but note that it's coming out in paperback on April 9.

• Rob Larson: [01-30] Let's test the 'intelligence' of tech billionaires.

• Alberto C Medina: [04-05] The case for Puerto Rican independence.

• Lily Sanchez: [03-20] Against incrementalism.

• Alex Skopic: [03-25] Ye and the problem of fascist art: "The rapper's embrace of Nazi ideology is strange and awful, but it can teach us a lot about how far-right politics spread."

• K Wilson: [04-05] Why the right constantly panics over societal 'decadence': From Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West through a number of recent references, including Nick Fuentes and Jordan Peterson (and Alexander Dugin, who fears a similar decline, but in his case, caused by the West).

Jeffrey St Clair: [04-04] The day John Sinclair died: "The poet, musician, writer, pot liberator, raconteur, Tigers fan, jazzbo, political radical, producer of MC5, founder of the White Panthers and occasional CounterPunch, John Sinclair died this week at 82."

Michael Stavola: [04-03] Wichitan involved in deadly swatting arrested after reportedly doing donuts in Old Town: This story, where Wichita Police murdered Andrew Finch, keeps getting sicker. The trigger man not only got off, he's since been promoted, even after the city agreed to pay $5 million to the victim's family, while they managed to pin blame on three other pranksters. There's plenty of blame to go around. Not even mentioned here is the gun lobby and their Republican stooges who did so much to create an atmosphere where dozens of trigger-happy cops are dispatched to deal with an anonymous complaint, totally convinced that everyone they encounter is at likely to be armed and shoot as they are.

Carl Wilson: [03-25] Sweeping up kernels from Pop Con 2024. Includes links to key presentations by Robert Christgau, Michaelangelo Matos, Glenn McDonald, De Angela L Duff, Alfred Soto, and Ned Raggett.

I scribbled this down from a Nathan J Robinson tweet: "very interesting discussion of how, during World War I, attrocities attributed to German soldiers were used to whip people into a frenzy and create an image of a monstrous, inhuman enemy -- atrocities that later turned out to be dubious/exaggerated, well after the fighting stopped." That was followed by a scan from an unidentified book:

. . . stated that the Germans had systematically murdered, outraged, and violated innocent men, women, and children in Belgium. "Murder, lust, and pillage," the report said, "prevailed over many parts of Belgium on a scale unparalleled in any war between civilised nations during the last three centuries." The report gave titillating details of how German officers and men had publicly raped twenty Belgian girls in the market place at Liège, how eight German soldiers had bayoneted a two-year-old child, and how another had sliced off a peasant girl's breasts in Malilnes. Bryce's signature added considerable weight to the report, and it was not until after the war that several unsatisfactory aspects of the Bryce committee's activities emerged. The committee had not personally interviewed a single witness. The report was based on 1,200 depositions, mostly from Belgian refugees, taken by twenty-two barristers in Britain. None of the witnesses were placed on oath, their names were omitted (to prevent reprisals against their relatives), and hearsay evidence was accepted at full value. Most disturbing of all was the fact that, although the depositions should have been filed at the Home Office, they had mysteriously disappeared, and no trace of them has been found to this day. Finally, a Belgian commission of enquiry in 1922, when passions had cooled, failed markedly to corroborate a single major allegation in the Bryce report. By then, of course, the report had served its purpose. Its success in arousing hatred and condemnation of Germany makes it one of the most successful propaganda pieces of the war.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024

April archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 42079 [42039] rated (+40), 39 [31] unrated (+8).

Speaking of Which published late Sunday night, with a few additions today. Lots of serious stuff there -- a claim I hardly feel like making for this post. However, I resolved quite some time ago to take notes on what I managed to listen to, and to share them for whoever cares.

I didn't realize until mid-week that last Music Week was the last of the month. I've updated the March Streamnotes file accordingly. When I went to index it, I found I hadn't goten to February either. Nasty, tedious job, but done now. It did solve one nagging issue of an album I thought I had reviewed but didn't record in the database.

I week-plus ago, I tweeted advance notice of an A-list album (Roby Glod's No ToXiC), figuring I might make a practice of doing that, at least for cases where the whole album can be sampled on Bandcamp. But I couldn't do much like that this week, aside from my preferred slice of the Pauline Anna Strom box, Plot Zero. I should recheck to be sure, but when I went to look, several of this week's picks aren't on Bandcamp, and most that are only have partial tracks available (in some cases, noted in the reviews, that haven't been released yet).

This post was ready to go Monday evening, but I wanted to go back and touch up Speaking of Which before posting them both. I didn't get that done, and was too exhausted by bed time. I never got started on Tuesday, either, so everything has to go up pretty much as it was. Unlikely I will get much of anything done later in the week, either, so next week's posts will be minimal, if they happen at all.

New records reviewed this week:

1010benja: Ten Total (2024, Three Six Zero): Rapper-singer Benjamin Lyman, based in Kansas City, first album after an EP, finds a groove and sensibility as original as the early mixtapes of Weeknd and Frank Ocean. A- [sp]

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson: Les Jardins Mystiques Vol. 1 (2023, Brainfeeder, 3CD): Los Angeles-based composer, violinist, has several previous albums (back to 2007), this one a monster (even without the promised future volume[s]), running 3.5 hours (also available on 4-LP), no recording dates given but "14 years in the making . . . with contributions from 50+ friends," including a fair number I recognize. Too big and possibly too luxe for me, but makes for consistently engaging background. The few critics who mention it at all rate it very highly. B+(***) [sp]

Jim Baker/Steve Hunt/Jakob Heinemann: Horizon Scanners (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): Pianist, one of few operating in Chicago's vibrant avant-jazz scene, couple dozen albums since his 1997 debut, more side-credits, trio here with drums and bass, Baker also playing ARP-2600. B+(**) [sp]

Peter Brötzmann/Paal Nilssen-Love: Chicken Shit Bingo (2015 [2024], Trost): Posthumous archive dig but not too deep, a set from Zuiderpershuis in Antwerp, with Brötzmann opting for relatively soft horns (tarogato, bb clarinet, contra-alto clarinet), Nilssen-Love with a lot of experience in sax/drums duos. B+(*) [bc]

Christie Dashiell: Journey in Black (2023, self-released): Jazz singer-songwriter, first album, seven originals, two covers, with Marquis Hill (trumpet), Allyn Johnson (keyboards), Shedrick Mitchell (organ), Romeir Mendez (bass), and Carroll Vaughn Dashiel III (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Empress Of: For Your Consideration (2024, Major Arcana/Giant Music): Pop singer-songwriter Lorely Rodriguez, from Los Angeles, parents from Honduras, Berklee grad, fourth album since 2015. B+(**) [sp]

Julieta Eugenio: Stay (2023 [2024], Cristalyn): Tenor saxophonist, from Italy, based in New York, 2022 debut album was one of the year's best. Mostly trio with Matt Dwonszyk (bass) and Jonathan Barber (drums), adding Leo Genovese (Fender Rhodes) on two tracks. Doesn't try to blow you away here, but is steady, assured, and consistently engaging -- not a formula yet, not so easy to normalize. A- [cd]

Four Tet: Three (2024, Text): Longtime alias for English DJ Kieran Hebden, a dozen-plus albums since 1999, plus a few jazzier items under his own name (with the late drummer, Steve Reid). Beats up front, then relaxes a bit. As nice as anything he's done in at least a decade. B+(***) [sp]

Kim Gordon: The Collective (2024, Matador): Sonic Youth's better half, second post-divorce solo album. With beats supposed to be derived from trap (albeit plated with a surface of industrial klang), frayed vocals that could be called rap (but are probably too cryptic). Sonically, it's as distinct as anything her former group rolled out, perhaps more so. Youth? Not really. I have some doubts, but it does quite an impression. A- [sp]

Guillermo Gregorio: Two Trios (2018-20 [2023], ESP-Disk): Clarinet player from Argentina, where he first recorded in 1963, moved to Vienna, then to Chicago, where he resumed in the 1990s, and finally to New York. First trio here was recorded at Edgefest in Ann Arbor, with Carrie Biolo (vibes) and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello). Second was at Downtown Music Gallery in New York, with Iván Barenboim (contralto clarinet) and Nicholas Jozwiak (cello). B+(***) [cd]

Guillermo Gregorio/Damon Smith/Jerome Bryerton: The Cold Arrow (2022 [2023], Balance Point Acoustics): Clarinets, bass, and percussion ("Paiste Bronze Series gongs & selected metal & cymbals, no drums used"). B+(**) [sp]

Mercer Hassy Orchestra: Duke's Place (2022-23 [2024], Mercer Hassy): Japanese big band, leader "was born as Masahide Hashimoto in Sapporo, Japan," home base for this exceptionally racous and rather raunchy Ellington tribute band. He is credited as arranger, also for drum programming and guitar. Several vocals, lots of excitement. Group has two previous albums, one in this vein (Sir Duke), the other more varied (Don't Stop the Carnival). Hassy has a non-Orchestra album with strings and traditional Japanese instruments, but also Alan Pasqua and Peter Erskine. This one slops off here and there, but is too much fun not so share. A- [cd] [04-15)

Jlin: Akoma (2024, Planet Mu): Electronica producer Jerrilynn Patton, from Gary, Indiana, fourth (or third) album. Beats, which is all that matters. B+(***) [sp]

Julien Knowles: As Many, as One (2023 [2024], Biophilia): Trumpet player, based in Los Angeles, first album, a postbop quintet -- alto sax, piano, bass, drums, no one I recognize, plus strings on three tracks -- as ambitious as claimed but returns are marginal for 70:27. B+(*) [cd] [04-26]

Anysia Kym: Truest (2024, 10k, EP): Brooklyn-based "producer," third album, sings along with her hip-hop beats and shadings, some guest rap (MIKE), not much press. Nine songs, 22:48. B+(*) [sp]

Ellie Lee: Escape (2024, self-released): Korean pianist, original first name Seunghyung, studied at Berklee and in New Jersey, counts Joanne Brackeen and Bill Charlap among her tutors, first album, originals (one an arrangement of Benny Golson), shows remarkable poise, helped considerably by saxophonist Steven Wilson. With Steve LaSpina (bass) and Jongkuk Kim (drums). B+(***) [05-24]

Adrianne Lenker: Bright Future (2024, 4AD): Singer-songwriter, best known as leader of Big Thief, has several solo albums, two before Big Thief, three since. Very basic, guitar and voice, harmonies adding resonance, the songs standing on their own, and faring well. B+(***) [sp]

Kali Malone: All Life Long (2024, Ideologic Organ): American composer, from Denver, based in Stockholm, sixth album since 2017, started with electronics plays pipe organ here, with a choir (Macadem Ensemble) and brass quintet (Anima Brass). Very solemn. B+(*) [sp]

The Messthetics/James Brandon Lewis: The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (2024, Impulse!): Bassist (Joe Lally) and drummer (Brandan Canty) from Fugazi, plus jazz guitarist Anthony Pirog, formed this post-rock power trio for two 2018-19 albums, return here with the reigning heavyweight tenor sax champ riffing over heavier-than-usual beats. He's supreme, as usual, but Pirog doesn't really rise to the occasion -- unlike, the Ex guitarists in Lean Left, to pick a somewhat comparable example. B+(***) [sp]

Travis Reuter: Quintet Music (2022 [2024], self-released): Guitarist, born in Seattle, has a previous album from 2012, a variety of side credits since, lists his quintet on the cover as you should recognize the names: Mark Shim (tenor sax), Peter Schlamb (vibraphone), Harish Raghavan (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums). Slippery, often fractured, rhythm is interesting. B+(***) [cd] [04-19]

Schoolboy Q: Blue Lips (2024, Interscope): Los Angeles rapper Matthew Hanley, sixth album since 2011, this after a five-year break. Sharp beats, ends on a catchy note, but I didn't get much more. B+(*) [sp]

Altin Sencalar: Discover the Present (2024, Posi-Tone): Trombonist, first album, nonet has most of the label's regulars on board, including Diego Rivera, Michael Dease, Art Hirahara, and Rudy Royston. B+(*) [sp]

Matthew Shipp Trio: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (2023 [2024], ESP-Disk): Pianist, has been major since c. 1990, both on his own records and accompanying saxophonists, notably David S. Ware and Ivo Perelman. Went through an avant-jazztronica that I was so taken by I wound up writing a consumer guide to his work (plus a lot more by William Parker) and a Rolling Stone guide entry. Since then, he's refocused on trio and solo albums, exhaustively it can seem. This is his sixth trio album with Michael Bisio (bass) and Newman Taylor Baker (drums), following many more with various others (starting with Parker and Whit Dickey, then Bisio and Dickey). I've heard pretty much all of them, and still I have no idea what the "new concepts" are here. This is, however, a superb sample of what he's been doing for many years now. A- [cd] [04-05]

Jacob Shulman: High Firmament (2024, Endectomorph Music): Tenor saxophonist, also plays clarinets, based in Los Angeles, has a previous album from 2021, and an earlier opera (Role Playing Game), which at least exists on Bandcamp. Also a second new album, Ferment Below, which showed up with this one, an advance looking like a double album, but they are treated as separate digitally, and I don't see any evidence of them existing otherwise. Both albums have piano (Hayoung Lyou), bass (Walter Stinson), and drums (Kayvon Gordon). Fancy postbop, more interesting to read about ("thousands of years of conjecture and agony have led us to conclude that our world diverges from Euclidean geometry in unresolvable ways" -- you can't just observe that?) -- than to listen to. B [cdr]

Jacob Shulman: Ferment Below (2024, Endectomorph Music): Annoyed me even more than the first one, until it inexplicably got better. Maybe I relaxed once I ditched the Pythagoras and realized that the review, like the record, would eventually end. But then it turned back into opera. B [cdr]

Ronny Smith: Struttin' (2024, Pacific Coast Jazz): Guitarist, "melodic and soulful," writes funky originals, covers Wes Montgomery, also credited "keys, bass, programming," second song adds vocals to sound like a Chic outtake (but just that one), elsewhere there's a nice bit of sax. B+(*) [cd] [04-19]

Mary Timony: Untame the Tiger (2024, Merge): Singer-songwriter from DC, been through several indie bands (Helium, Wild Flag, Ex Hex, Hammered Hulls) as well as several solo albums (one called Ex Hex before the group). B [sp]

Erik Truffaz: Clap! (2023, Blue Note): Trumpet player, born in Switzerland, close to twenty albums since 1997. B+(*) [sp]

Julia Vari Feat. Negroni's Trio: Somos (2024, Alternative Representa): Mexican-American standards singer, couple previous albums (but none on Discogs), backed by Puerto Rican pianist José Negroni, who has at least four Trio albums with Josh Allen (bass) and Nomar Negroni (drums, José's son). Seven songs, 35:19, the sort of singer and trio I rarely give a second thought to, but everything here delights me -- the torchy opener in Spanish, seguing into "Nature Boy," "Song for My Father" with lyrics in Portuguese, and especially the bits of French in "C'est si bon," a language I know just well enough to feel the phrase without having to translate it. A- [cd]

Fay Victor: Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (2023 [2024], Tao Forms, 2CD): Jazz singer, born in Brooklyn but moved around a lot, with Trinidad and Zambia figuring in her childhood, Long Island for her teens, with Japan and Amsterdam major pivots in her career. She's probably sick of the Betty Carter comparisons, but after this album it's Carter who should be honored. I've been a huge fan of Nichols since I first heard his Blue Note trios in a 1975 2-LP (The Third World, but still have no idea how she managed to arrange those compositions into these pieces (adding her lyrics, or often just scat), except to note that Nichols' legacy has long inspired other geniuses (Misha Mengelberg, Steve Lacy, and Roswell Rudd leap to mind). (By the way, I'm only now noticing that the original LPs were in two volumes as The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, following on The Amazing Bud Powell, The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, etc.; for CDs, look for The Complete Blue Note Recordings, originally on Mosaic but reissued by Blue Note in 1997, and also look out for his Bethlehem album, Love, Gloom, Cash, Love. A good place to start for Nicols projects in Regeneration (1983), with all three names I dropped above, but they've each done more, as have many others.) Group here is superb, with Michaël Attias (alto/baritone sax), Anthony Coleman (piano), Ratzo Harris (bass), and Tom Rainey (drums). (Like Carter, she really knows how to work a band.) A [cd] [04-05]

Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood (2024, Anti-): Singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, out of Alabama (Bandcamp puts her in Kansas City), formerly of P.S. Eliot, also of Plains, sixth Waxahatchee album since 2012, currently 4 on AOTY's "highest rated albums of 2024" (86/26, more reviews than anyone above; fewer than two other top-ten albums I don't particularly like). If I'm being evasive here, it's probably because while the songs sound good enough, I'm not connecting with them. Pehaps one to revisit later? B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Sven-Åke Johansson und Alexander von Schlippenbach: Über Ursache und Wirkung der Meinungsverschiedenheiten Beim Turmbau zu Babel (1994 [2024], Trost): Swedish free jazz drummer, has played in duos with the German pianist at least since 1976, their relationship going back further in Globe Unity Orchestra. This was billed as a "Musikdrama in einem Akt," with Shelley Hirsch joining Johansson (who plays accordion) for vocals, and a small group that includes piano, drums (Paul Lovens), reeds (Dietmar Diesner and Wolfgang Fuchs), and cello (Tristan Honsinger). I can't speak to the libretto, but the music is a riot. B+(**) [bc]

Microstoria: Init Ding + _Snd (1995-96 [2024], Thrill Jockey, 2CD): Electronica duo of Markus Popp (Oval) and Jan St. Werner (Mouse on Mars), recorded six albums 1995-2002, the first two reissued here. Not exactly ambient, but not much to distinguish itself either. B+(*) [sp]

Old music:

Guillermo Gregorio: Faktura (1999-2000 [2002], Hat Now): Clarinet player from Argentina, then based in Chicago, fairly minimal pieces, some trio with Carrie Biolo (vibes/marimba) and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), other guest spots including Jim Baker (piano), Jeff Parker (guitar), Kyle Bruckmann (oboe), Jeb Bishop (trombone), and François Houle (clarinet), with two "concrete sound" interludes crediting engineer Lou Mallozzi. B+(**) [sp]

Pauline Anna Strom: Trans-Millenia Consort (1982, Ether Ship): Electronic music composer (1946-2020), synthesizers and taped sounds, first album (of seven through 1988, was a "Reiki master, spiritual counselor, and healer," so her music was part and parcel of all that. This and two more albums were boxed up for 2023's Echoes, Spaces, Lines, which is on Bandcamp but Spotify only has the albums broken out, so we'll take them one-by-one. Constructs a universe of peace and beauty, with few distractions. B+(***) [sp]

Pauline Anna Strom: Plot Zero (1982-83 [1983], Trans-Millenia Consort): Further developing her sense of keyboard rhythm, also spacey flights, with one unseemly crescendo detracting from the soothing bliss. A- [sp]

Pauline Anna Strom: Spectre (1982-83 [1984], Trans-Millenia Consort): More of the same, seeming a bit less wondrous, as tends to happen. B+(**) [sp]

Pauline Anna Strom: Echoes, Spaces, Lines (1982-83 [2023], RVNG Intl, 4CD): This compiles her first three albums -- see above: Trans-Millenia Consort, Plot Zero, and Spectre -- and adds two cuts (6:30) at the end, the extra CD probably due to the reshuffling to also box the same music on 4-LP. I gave the second album a slight edge over the others, but it's possible that the variations add up to something more than the parts. (Also that the packaging helps, although I haven't seen it. Note that the individual album remasters are available separately, at least on Bandcamp.) B+(***) [sp/bc]

Julia Vari: Adoro (2015, Alternativa Representa): Mexican-American, not much on her but reportedly sings in eight languages and plays piano, even less on this album -- just the release date, a note that it's her second, and that there is a 4-song EP of the same name, but this has 10 songs, 45:09. Mostly Spanish (presumably, at least nothing I recognize), some excellent piano, a bit of nice sax. B+(**) [sp]

Julia Vari: Lumea: Canciones del Mundo en Jazz (2013, Alternativa Representa): This does seem to be her first album. Credits would be helpful, but I can't find any -- other than to note one standard in English, and at least one Jobim, but most must be in Spanish. More notes: "multilingual singer-songwriter and pianist"; "both albums soared to the top of the jazz-blues charts in Latin America"; "divides her time between Miami and Mexico City"; "BMI songwriter"; "performs as a Headliner on luxury cruise lines." B+(*) [sp]

Julia Vari: Bygone Nights (2018, Alternativa Representa, EP): Four songs, 12:37, title song an original in English, followed by two songs in Spanish I can trace back to others ("Achupé," "Te Veo"), and a Latin twist on old Yiddish, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen." B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Chet Baker & Jack Sheldon: In Perfect Harmony: The Lost Album (1972, Jazz Detective) [04-20]
• John Basile: Heatin' Up (StringTime Jazz) [04-01]
• Nicola Caminiti: Vivid Tales of a Blurry Self-Portrait (self-released) [05-10]
• The Core: Roots (Moserobie) [04-12]
• Arnaud Dolmen/Leonardo Montana; LéNo (Quai Son) [03-29]
• Dave Douglas: Gifts (Greenleaf Music) [04-12]
• Yelena Eckemoff: Romance of the Moon (L&H Production) [05-10]
• Eric Frazier: That Place (EFP Productions) [03-29]
• Jazz at the Ballroom: Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared (Jazz at the Ballroom) [05-03]
• Maria João & Carlos Bica Quartet: Close to You (JACC)
• Yusef Lateef: Atlantis Lullaby: The Concert From Avignon (1972, Elemental Music, 2CD) [04-26]
• Shawn Maxwell: J Town Suite (Cora Street) [05-01]
• Modney: Ascending Primes (Pyroclastic) [05-18]
• Mike Monford: The Cloth I'm Cut From (self-released) [05-04]
• Mute: After You've Gone (Endectomorph Music) * [05-13]
• The Michael O'Neill Sextet: Synergy: With Tony Lindsay (Jazzmo) [04-19]
• Sun Ra: At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Jazz Detective, 2CD) [04-20]
• Art Tatum: Jewels in the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance, 3CD) [04-20]
• Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors (1995, Elemental Music, 2CD): [04-20]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, March 31, 2024

This is another week where I ran out of time before I ran out of things I needed to look up. Further updates are possible, although as I'm writing this, I'm pretty exhausted, so I'm tempted to call it done.

Initial count is actually pretty substantial: 183 links, 9,891 words. Updated count [04-02]: 196 links, 11,509 words.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [03-25] Day 171: 'Horrific' eyewitness accounts continue to emerge from Israel's siege on Gaza's hospitals: "Eyewitness accounts continue to emerge from Gaza's hospitals, including rape, torture, mass executions, and soldiers crushing Palestinian bodies with tanks. Hamas says Israel's systematic attack on hospitals is central to its 'war of extermination.'"

  • [03-26] Day 172: Israel continues raids on Gaza hospitals following UNSC ceasefire resolution: "The UN Security Council finally passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with the U.S. abstaining from a vote. Netanyahu, however, has vowed to continue the war, with Israeli forces currently attacking two major hospitals in Gaza."

  • [03-27] Day 173: Israel continues attacking Gaza's hospitals, kills 7 people in Lebanon: "Following the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza hospitals, killing 76 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, Israel killed 7 Lebanese people during cross-border fighting."

  • [03-28] Day 174: Israel announces it has killed 200 Palestinians in its siege of al-Shifa Hospital: "The Israeli army announced it has killed 200 Palestinians in al-Shifa Hospital and its vicinity since its second raid on the hospital started 11 days ago. Meanwhile, Israeli media says the military is preparing for the invasion of Rafah."

  • [03-29] Day 175: ICJ orders Israel to stop famine in Gaza as Israel continues to raid hospitals: "The International Court of Justice imposed new provisional measures in South Africa's case against Israel for its genocide in Gaza, ordering Israel to ensure the entry of food and other supplies in order to stop the spreading famine."

  • [04-01] Day 178: Israel withdraws from al-Shifa Hospital, leaving evidence of a massacre in its wake: "Dozens of bodies are still being recovered from the rubble of a destroyed and burnt al-Shifa Hospital, following a two-week Israeli raid and siege on the hospital." After missing over the weekend, this invaluable series returns.

• AlJazeera: For quite some time I've been leading off with the daily logs published by Mondoweiss, but they didn't appear on Saturday and Sunday, so let these fill in. You can search for other possible daily updates, which Google suggests includes: Palestine Chronicle, Haaretz, IMEMC, Al Mayadeen, Palestine Chronicle, Times of Israel, Roya News, TASS, Jerusalem Post, Al-Manar TV Lebanon, UNRWA. Other news organizations that provide live updates include: AlJazeera, CNN, Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times, ABC, I24News, CNBC, Middle East Monitor.

  • [03-30] Day 176: List of key events: "Israeli attacks kill dozens of Palestinians including 15 people at a sport centre where war-displaced people were sheltering."

  • [03-31] Day 177: List of key events: "Gaza's Media Office says Israel has committed 'a new massacre' by bombing inside the walls of a hospital in Deir el-Balah."

• Kaamil Ahmed/Damien Gayle/Aseel Mousa: [03-29] 'Ecocide in Gaza': does scale of environmental destruction amount to a war crime?: "Satellite analysis revealed to the Guardian shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory's trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts say Israel's onslaught on Gaza's ecosystems has made the area unlivable." Let's say this loud: This is one of the most significant pieces of reporting yet on the war. War crime? Sure, but specifically this is compelling proof of intent, as well as fact, of genocide. The purpose of ecocide is to kill, perhaps less directly than bombs but more systematically, more completely. And driving people away? Sure, Israel will settle for that, especially as they're making it impossible for people who flee to return.

  Before this war, I must admit that I pictured Gaza as this chunk of desert totally covered by urban sprawl: you know, Manhattan's population in an area only slightly larger. Ever since the Nakba swept a couple hundred thousand Palestinians into refugee camps there, Gaza has had to import food. But any food they struggled to produce locally helped, especially as the population grew, and as Israel, as they liked to boast, "put Gaza on a diet." So small farms helped, and greenhouses even more. Israel has gone way out of their way to destroy food sources, much as they've destroyed utilities, hospitals, housing. While the news focuses on the top line deaths figure -- well over 30,000 but still, I'm sure, quite seriously undercounted -- Israel has shifted focus to long-term devastation.

• Ammiel Alcalay: [03-26] Israel's lethal charade hides its real goals in plain sight: "Forget Israel's stated goals about destroying Hamas. Its real, undeclared goal has always been to make Gaza uninhabitable and destroy as many traces of Palestinian life as possible."

• Nada Almadhoun: [03-26] A volunteer doctor in Gaza faces her patients' traumas along with her own: "I am in my final year in medical school and have seen hundreds of critical cases as a volunteer doctor during Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. The traumas I have seen in my patients are no different from those I have experienced myself."

• Zack Beauchamp: [03-29] The crisis that could bring down Benjamin Netantyahu, explained: "Netanyahu has till Sunday evening to present a fix to Israel's controversial conscription law. If he fails, his government likely fails with him." Genocide isn't controversial, but this [drafting yeshiva students] is? Actually, special status for ultra-orthodox Jews has been a fault line in Israeli politics ever since 1948 -- arguably Ben-Gurion's biggest mistake was bringing them into his government. But the stakes over conscription has grown over time, and are especially acute in times of high mobilization, like now.

• Sheera Frenkel: [03-27] Israel deploys expansive facial recognition program in Gaza. They've been doing this in the West Bank for some time. Israel is also developing an export business for surveillance technology, handy for authoritarian regimes everywhere. Some earlier reports on this:

  • Kashmir Hill: [2022-04-07] Facial recognition goes to war: This report focuses more on Russia and Ukraine.

  • Adam Satariano/Paul Mozur: [2023-05-01] Facial recognition powers 'automated apartheid' in Israel: "The Israeli government is using computer vision to monitor Palestinian travel across checkpoints."

• Tareq S Hajjaj: [03-25] The story of Yazan Kafarneh, the boy who starved to death in Gaza.

• Ghada Hania: [03-30] 'No, dear. I will never leave Gaza.'

• Ellen Ioanes/Nicole Narea: [03-25] Gaza's risk of famine is accelerating faster than anything we've seen in this century: "Everyone in Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger. It's entirely preventable." In case you're wondering where he ever got such idea, Israel negotiated the exile of PLO members from Beirut, putting them on ships, most heading to Tunisia. Before that, British ships transferred large number of Palestinians from Jaffa to Beirut. So that's one thing the pier could be used for -- if the US can line up anywhere to deposit the refugees.

• Chris Hedges: [03-18] Israel's Trojan Horse: "The 'temporary pier' being built on the Mediterranean coast of Gaza is not there to alleviate the famine, but to herd Palestinians onto ships and into permanent exile."

• Ameer Makhoul: [03-25] While eyes are on Rafah, Israel is cementing control of northern Gaza: "Israel is building infrastructure to carve up Gaza, prevent the return of displaced Palestinians, and change the geographical and demographic facts on the ground."

• Orly Noy: [03-23] Hebrew University's faculty of repressive science: "The suspension of Palestinian professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian empties all meaning from the university's proclaimed values of pluralism and equality."

• Jonathan Ofir: [03-26] Another Israeli soldier admits to implementing the 'Hannibal Directive' on October 7: "Captain Bar Zonshein recounts firing tank shells on vehicles carrying Israeli civilians on October 7. 'I decide that this is the right decision, that it's better to stop the abduction and that they not be taken,' he told Israeli media outlets."

• Meron Rapoport: [03-29] Why do Israelis feel so threatened by a ceasefire? "Halting the Gaza war means recognizing that Israel's military goals were unrealistic -- and that it cannot escape a political process with the Palestinians."

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Gilbert Achcar: [03-30] The US administration's hypocrisy and Israel's cockiness.

• Michael Arria: [03-28] The Shift: 'What the hell is the point of the UN or the UN Security Council?': "On Monday the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. didn't veto it but don't count on policy changes."

• Perry Bacon Jr: [03-26] These progressives were right about Gaza. Now it could cost them their seats. That's because AIPAC is pouring millions of dollars into primaries against them. The ploy has worked often enough that most Democrats are wary of ever crossing Israel, even though most voters have long supported a ceasefire.

• James Carden/Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: [03-28] Is it a mystery? Where Trump stands on Israel-Gaza war: "His past record and 'finish it up' comments today suggest a hard line, though he leaves just a sliver of ambiguity."

• Aida Chavez: [03-27] Don't believe the hype -- Biden's Israel policy hasn't changed.

• Juan Cole:

  • [03-26] As Israel defies UNSC demand for Gaza ceasefire, UN human rights body slams ongoing "genocide".

  • [03-27] Naked hypocrisy: The US once cited UNSC resolutions to invade Iraq, now calls Gaza ceasefire demand "non-binding".

  • [03-31] GOP Congressman calls for Gaza genocide: "It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima: Get it over quick": Tim Walberg (R-MI).

• Julia Conley: [03-27] State Dept. official quits in protest of Biden's Gaza policy: "Trying to advocate for human rights just became impossible," Annelle Sheline says. More:

  • Annelle Sheline: [03-27] Why I'm resigning from the State Department.

• Sarah Dadouch: [03-28] Jordan's government struggles to contain unrest as Gaza protests grow.

• Matt Duss: [03-27] The obstacle Chuck Schumer left out of his big Israel speech: AIPAC.

• Richard Falk: [02-25] In Gaza, the west is enabling the most transparent genocide in human history: Most historical genocides have been well hidden from public scrutiny, leaving one to wonder whether timely exposure might have changed their course. While Israel has done much to cloud Gaza from clear view, ranging from killing journalists and shutting down Internet in Gaza to flooding the West with propaganda ranging from ordinary spin to outrageous lies, the broad shape of Israel's attack and the genocidal intent of its leaders has been clearly reported (at least for anyone who cared to look). Nonetheless: "Liberal democracies failed not only by their refusal to make active efforts to prevent genocide, but more brazenly by openly facilitating continuation of the genocidal onslaught."

• John Hudson: [03-29] US signs off on more bombs, warplanes for Israel: "Despite a widening rift with the Israeli government, the Biden administration continues to authorize the transfer of 2,000-pound bombs and other weapons." So, "Genocide Joe" it still is.

• Caitlin Johnstone: [03-29] Israel supporters true colors: Discredit, censor, control the narrative: "That's why Israel supporters push so hard to de-platform and censor and to get TikTok shut down: all they care about is controlling the public narrative."

• Tariq Kenney-Shawa: [03-14] Israeli Partisans' use of disinformation.

• Branko Marcetic: [03-29] Biden is undermining the UN to protect Israel's war.

• Qassam Muaddi: [03-29] Security Council ceasefire resolution brings 'little hope' to Gaza as Israeli genocide rages on.

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: [03-25] The US must stop facilitating mass killing in Gaza.

• John Peeler: [03-29] Gaza: A century's tragedy plays out: "Biden has thus far not chosen to use the leverage he has as Israel's principal source of arms and finance. So Netanyahu continues to ignore the US misgivings."

• Bryan Pietsch: [03-27] Most Americans oppose Israel's war in Gaza, poll finds.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [03-29] How Netanyahu will use the UN ceasefire resolution to prolong Gaza's genocide: "The question for the Biden administration was how to find a way to make a public statement to give the illusion of real action to rein Israel in while actually changing nothing on the ground. This resolution does that."

• William I Robinson: [03-23] Israel has formed a task force to carry out covert campaigns at US universities: "A major Israeli news site says Israel's foreign affairs and diaspora affairs ministries are behind the operation."

• Kenneth Roth: [03-26] Israel's attempt to destroy UNRWA is part of its starvation strategy in Gaza.

• Atef Said: [03-31] Egypt has betrayed Palestinians in their time of greatest need: "The Egyptian government has expressed rhetorical support for Palestinians but is complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza."

• Abdullah Shihipar/Brandon Marshall/Jacqueline Gold: [03-27] We study America's biggest public health crisis. This is why we speak out against the Gaza genocide.

• Norman Solomon: [03-28] Hollywood's backlash to Jonathan Glazer's Oscar speech only proves his point.

• Mary Turfah: [03-31] Atrocity propaganda vs. the testimony of atrocity: "Since October 7, Zionists have wielded atrocity propaganda to justify genocide, while Palestinians have shared testimony of the atrocities they have witnessed. The difference is not just in the truth of these stories, but also their function."

• Philip Weiss:

  • [03-28] The Israel lobby is fractured, and so at last is the Jewish community: "The Palestinian genocide is providing a moment of reckoning for the Jewish community."

  • [03-31] Weekly Briefing: Biden 'quietly' gives massive bombs to Israel -- even as establishment voices say, Stop the Genocide. Weiss cites a long list of authorities who have denounced or at least are shying away from the genocide, even scraping the bottom of the barrel:

    Joe Rogan called it "genocide" and a "holocaust" this week. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Israel was going too far. Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg, trying to run from his own past, ran a piece saying, "U.S. Support for Israel's War Has Become Indefensible."

    Weiss concludes: "So the genocide is havign consequences, even in the cowardly seat of empire."

America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:

• Ben Armbruster: [03-28] Why no one should take this hawkish think tank seriously: Mark Dubowitz, CEO of Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).

• Tom Engelhardt:

  • [03-24] A slow-motion World War III? "Imperial decline (up close and personal) in the age of climate change."

  • [03-31] Chalmers Johnson, Ending the Empire. Reprints a long and important essay from 2007, but so long after the author's death, I'd rather attribute this to the author of the new introduction. Johnson's essays and books have held up remarkably well over the years: Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (2000; revised 2004); The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (2004); and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (2007). His essays made sufficient impact on me that when I collected my Bush-era blog posts, I titled them The Last Days of the American Empire: 2000-2009.

• Julia Gledhill/William D Hartung: [03-26] Spending unlimited: The Pentagon's budget follies come at a high price. The Pentagon's latest budget is $895 billion, which doesn't count, well, lots of related and consequent costs.

• Jim Lobe: [03-26] Pro-Israel org reels in big fish: A former CENTCOM commander: Frank McKenzie, now officially employed by the "Likud-aligned" Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).

• Steven Simon: [03-19] Tom Friedman's strange case for a US military presence in Syria: "The NYT columnist is still peddling the old 'we're fighting them there so we don't have to here' chestnut."

Election notes:

• Nicole Narea: [03-26] Should we care about RFK Jr. and his new running mate? "The Kennedy conspiracy theorist, his VP pick Nicole Shanahan, and their potential to upend the 2024 presidential election, explained." Related:

  • Alex Shephard: Why Democrats shouldn't worry about RFK Jr.: "Kennedy's choice of running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is the strongest evidence yet that his campaign is desperate and unserious."

  • Nia Prater: [03-28] What we know about RFK Jr.'s VP candidate, Nicole Shanahan. Mother a Chinese immigrant, grew up poor, majored in Asian Studies, then got a law degree and founded a tech company. Married into a lot of money, divorced four years later, keeping enough to hold considerable swap over RFK Jr., who didn't exactly earn his way either. Donated to Pete Buttigieg in 2020, marking her has a Democrat (but not much of one).

  • Brittany Gibson: [03-28] RFK Jr's vice presidential pick calls IVF 'one of the biggest lies being told about women's health'. After Alabama, this doesn't strike me as a very savvy introductory political ploy. For more on how IVF is playing politically:

    Madison Fernandez/Ursula Perano/Ally Mutnick: [03-27] What the IVF fight means for the battle for control of Congress.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Zack Beauchamp: [03-28] How MAGA broke the media.

• Jonathan Chait: [03-30] Republican billionaires no longer upset about insurrection: "The absurd rationalizations of Trump's oligarchs."

• Chas Danner: [03-30] Trump is into kidnapped Biden shibari: Refers to "a truck tailgate meme about kidnapping President Joe Biden, tying him up with rope, and tossing him in the back of a pickup." Trump seems to approve.

• Igor Derysh:

  • [03-26] NY judge shows he's "all business" after imposing gag order on Trump.

  • [03-27] Trump goes after judge's daughter one day after being hit with gag order.

• Tim Dickinson: [03-25] 'Bloodbath,' 'vermin,' 'dictator' for a day: A guide to Trump's fascist rhetoric.

• Liza Featherstone: Donald Trump's crusade against electric vehicles is getting racist.

• Francesca Fiorentini: [03-29] Handmaids of the patriarchy: "Republicans offer a lesson in how not to win women back to their party."

• Shane Goldmacher/Maggie Haberman: [03-26] Trump isn't reaching out to Haley and her voters. Will it matter? Link to this article was more explicit, quoting Steve Bannon: "Screw Nikki Haley -- we don't need her endorsement." But as the article notes, many Republicans who once grumbled about Trump wound up "bending the knee."

• Sarah Jones: [03-29] The time Trump wished everyone a 'Happy Good Friday': "Trump doesn't have to be pious. He doesn't have to understand what holy days mean to his supposed co-religionists. He just has to infuriate their enemies -- and he's good at that."

• Robert Kuttner: [03-27] The corrupt trifecta of Yass, Trump, and Netanyahu: "Yass's payoffs to Trump are part of his efforts to destroy democracy in the US and Israel, while helping China."

• Adam Lashinsky: [03-25] Trump's new stock deal is just another pig in a poke:

  I don't give investment advice. But I assure you that a company with $3.4 million in revenue and $49 million in losses over the past nine months is not worth $5 billion. Buy into shares of any company with those numbers and you are certain to be taken for a sucker.

  That Donald Trump will be the one doing the bamboozling means that investors in his public media company might as well be making a political donation to his campaign or contributing to a Trump legal defense fund instead.

• Julianne Malveaux: [03-31] Those ridiculous retiring Republicans: Four Republican Reps have resigned this year -- Kevin McCarthy (CA), Bill Johnson (OH), Ken Buck (CO), and Mike Gallagher (WS) -- unable to cope with a party that eats its own.

• Andrew Marantz: [03-27] Why we can't stop arguing about whether Trump is a fascist: Review of a new book on the question, Did It Happen Here? Perspectives on Fascism and America, edited by Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins. Without having read the book, I can probably rattle off a dozen arguments for and against, but to matter, you not only have to have some historical background but also an interest in certain possible political dynamics and outcomes -- which makes it a question those on the left are both inclined to ask and answer affirmatively: from where we stand, knowing what we know, Trump and his movement are indeed very fascist, at least inasmuch as they hate us and wish to see us destroyed, as have all fascists before them. However, that's mostly useful just to us, to whom labeling someone a fascist suffices as a sophisticated and damning critique. Others' mileage may vary, depending on what other questions they are concerned with, and how Trump aligns or differs from his fascist forebears. One such question is does knowing whether Trump is a fascist help you to oppose him? It probably does within the left, but not so much with others.

• Amanda Marcotte: [03-26] Trump loves to play the victim -- NY appeals court bailout shows he's the most coddled person alive: "There appears to be no end of breaks for a spoiled rich boy who has never done a decent thing in his 77 years."

• Dana Milbank: [03-29] Trump can't remember much. He hopes you won't be able to, either. Too bad Trump's opponent doesn't seem to have the recall and articulation to remind people.

• Ruth Murai: [03-30] Donald Trump stoops to lowest low yet with violent post of Biden: "Let's call it what it is: stochastic terrorism."

• Timothy Noah: Trump's unbearable temptation to dump his Truth Social stock: "Would he really screw over MAGA investors to cover his gargantuan legal debts? Don't bet against it."

• Rick Perlstein: [03-27] The Swamp; or, inside the mind of Donald Trump: "His orations about migrants are a pastiche of others' golden oldies. Exhibit A: the lie that migrants are sent from prisons and mental institutions."

• Catherine Rampell:

  • [03-25] Two myths about Trump's civil fraud trial: So, after a judge cut down and postponed the full bond requirement that every other defendant has had to live with, Trump "shall live to grift another day." The myths?

    First, that Trump's white-collar cases are "victimless" and therefore not worth enforcement. And second, that every lawsuit and charge against him plays into his persecution narrative, thereby strengthening him as a presidential candidate.

    Both criticisms are off-base, at least in a society that values rule of law.

  • [03-29] The internet was supposed to make humanity smarter. It's failing. I wasn't sure where to file this, but a quick look at her examples of internet stupidity led me to the simplest conclusion, which is under her other article on Trump. But I'm tempted to argue that the problem is less the internet than who "we" are. I personally haven't the faintest sense that the internet has made me dumber. I use it to fact check myself dozens of times each week, which I couldn't have done before it. This very column is ample evidence of the internet's ability to make extraordinary amount of information widely available. I couldn't do what I do without it. Indeed, I couldn't know what I know. There are problems, of course. The internet is an accelerator of all kinds of information, right and wrong, good and bad, or just plain frivolous. It's also a great diffuser, scattering information so widely that few people have common references. (Unlike when I was growing up, and everyone knew Edward Murrow, and a few of us even knew I.F. Stone.) Of course, those properties sound more neutral than they are. The internet can be viewed as a market, which has been severely skewed to favor private interests over public ones. That's something we need to work on.

• Eugene Robinson: [03-28] Trump's Bible grift is going to backfire: I think his reasoning -- "some of them might actually read it" is way off base. I mean, who actually reads the Bible? I never did. I'm not sure I knew anyone who did. I remember being shocked when I found out it was included in the list of the "Great Books" curriculum: the very idea that you could just sit down or curl up and read it through, like Plato's Republic and Dante's Inferno. All we ever did was hunt for quotes -- preferably short ones -- that we could use as an authority, because that's what everyone used the Bible for. And even if your quote-hunting goes long and deep, it's not like you're open to discovery; it's usually just confirmation bias. So no, I don't think there's any reason to think that people fool enough to buy a Bible from Trump are going to wise up. The best I'm hoping for is that they become embarrassed at having fallen for such an obvious con.

  • Chauncey DeVega: [03[31] The "martyrdom" of Donald J Trump: "It's all slapstick comedy: Posing as a Christ-like figure is so outlandish and absurd."

  • Amanda Marcotte: [03-28] Trump Bibles make a mockery of Christianity -- and that's exactly why MAGA will eat them up.

  • Michael Tomasky: Trump's Bible stunt isn't brilliant. It's insanely desperate. You have this guy who's most attractive brand is that he's so insanely rich that, walking on air above the dismal swamp, he can't be bought, yet he can't resist truly petty scams to profit off his name -- not just the Bibles and the sneakers, but also things that aren't even things, like NFTs. It's really rather shocking that he has no one who can recognize when he's about to embarrass himself so, but he's worked very hard to only keep total flatterers on hand, insulated by shields that deny any credibility to the outside world. He's really deep in "Emperor's New Clothes" territory.

• Jennifer Rubin:

  • [03-20] We ignore Trump's defects at our peril: An obvious point, but not just the defects -- the whole package is profoundly disturbing. I included this column for the title, but it's mostly a q&a, starting with one about the Schumer speech calling for new elections in Israel, which she answers with a real howler: "The United States and Israel generally avoid influencing each other's domestic politics, so this was quite a shock to some." Ever hear of Sheldon Adelson? Granted, it's mostly Israel interfering with America -- maybe AIPAC has American figureheads, but they always march to the orders of whoever's in power in Israel -- but I can think of examples, even if they're mostly more subtle than Schumer.

  • [03-24] Other than Trump, virtually no one was doing better four years ago. By the way, this is a bullshit metric. It was pushed hard by Reagan in 1984, knowing that America had been mired in a Fed-induced recession in 1980, but was then rebounding as interest rates dropped. Carter wasn't blameless for the recession -- he had, after all, appointed Volcker -- and Reagan did goose the recovery with his budget-busting tax cuts and military spending, but that's overly simplistic. Same today, although the depths of the 2020 recession were so severe that Biden couldn't help but look good in comparison. That, as Rubin notes, some people can't see that is a problem, potentially a big one if amnesia and delusion lead to a second Trump term. So yeah, Democrats need to remind us of Trump's massive failures, and real things accomplished under Biden (even though many of them, like infrastructure, haven't had much impact yet).

    But we should be aware of two flaws in the argument: one is that it takes a long time to fully understand the impact of a presidency; the other is that one's personal effect is often misleading. Personally, I did great during the Reagan years, but maybe being 30-38 had something to do with that? But we now know that the most significant political change was the uncoupling of wages and productivity increases -- something that was made possible by a major shift of leverage from labor to business -- which more than any other factor (including tax cuts and growing trade deficits) massively increased inequality. I didn't fully understand that at the time, but I did detect that something had gone terribly wrong, when I would quip that America's only growth industry was fraud. While I could point to a number of examples at the time, it took longer to realize that Bill Clinton was one of them -- a point that many Democrats still haven't wised up to. But even today, some people can't even see the fraud Trump peddles.

• Margaret Sullivan:

  • [03-27] Trump got some good financial news this week. But there's a dark side: "One reason he is so desperate to be elected again is that he sees the presidency as a marvelous opportunity to line his own pockets."

  • [02-26] Can NBC News recover from its damaging decision to hire Ronna McDaniel? As the dust settles:

    • Sarah Jones: [03-28] NBC forgot what journalism is for: "Ronna McDaniel is about to make bank."

    • Rich Logis: [03-27] NBC's Ronna blunder: A failed attempt to appeal to MAGA voters -- except they hate her too.

    • Martin Pengelly: [03-27] Trump mocks ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel for being fired by NBC. Other right-wing commentators focused more on the gift of her firing, both for her lawyers ("Ronna is going to sue everyone who defamed her, for breach of contract, for intentional infliction of mental distress. They are going to sue for the destruction of her business opportunities that come from being on TV") and other Republican flaks ("her firing has handed her party a potent campaign issue").

    • Eugene Robinson: [03-25] The RNC's Ronna McCaniel is not ready for her NBC close-up.

• Sophia Tesfaye: [03-31] Trump unloads on Republican "cowards and weaklings" in Easter Sunday meltdown.

• Katrina vanden Heuvel: [02-27] If Trump wins, he'll be a vessel for the most regressive figures in US politics: "A Trump presidency would usher in dark consortium dedicated to stripping millions of Americans of our freedoms."

• Amy B Wang/Marianne LeVine: [03-27] Trump has sold $60 bibles, $399 sneakers and more since leaving office.

• George F Will: [03-29] These two GOP Senate candidates exemplify today's political squalor: Kari Lake (AZ) and Bernie Moreno (OH). This is a tough read, and I'm not sure it's all that rewarding -- e.g., he refers to Moreno's opponent, Sherrod Brown, as "a progressive reliably wrong -- and indistinguishable from Trump," as he tries to find the most extremely right-wing vantage point possible from which to attack Republicans like Trump who aren't pure enough. But at least from that perspective, Will doesn't imagine pro-business Democrats to be "radical communists."

  For what it's worth, I regard Will as the most despicable of all the Washington Post columnists -- a group that once included Charles Krauthammer and still gives space to Marc Thiessen -- his interest in baseball has always been genuine and occasionally thoughtful. I'm not up for this at the moment, but if you're so inclined: You can't get thrown out for thinking, so take a swing at George Will's baseball quiz. (I might have once, but question 2 offers as an option a player I've never heard of: Adam Dunn, who it turns out hit 462 home runs, but clearly isn't the answer. Despite that bit of ignorance, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten that question right. I suspect I could figure out most of the combinations, but most of the rest are too obscure even for me in my prime.)

• Amanda Yen: [03-31] Trump just won't stop attacking hush-money judge's daughter: "It's the fourth time he's gone after Judge Juan Merchan's daughter in the past week."

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Eugene Daniels/Alexander Ward/Jonathan Lemire: [03-26] Harris finds herself, often, a half step further than Biden on Israel: "The administration says there's no daylight between her and the president's Israel stances." This suggests that she's saying what they agreed they need to say, while Biden slips up and reverts to his customary obeisance.

• Igor Derysh: [03-27] Democrat wins Alabama special election in red district after campaigning on abortion rights and IVF: Marilyn Lands, who won Alabama House District 10.

• Jonathan Guyer: [03-28] How Biden boxed himself in on Gaza: "The president draws on 50 years of unflagging support for Israel, and not even a humanitarian crisis can dislodge him from that viewpoint."

• Tom Hastings: [03-31] How Biden is wrecking everything: A little tongue-in-cheek. "Contrast that to how Trump saved America."

• Toluse Olorunnipa: [03-29] At glitzy Biden fundraiser, three presidents unite to blast Trump: And to be blasted by protesters, at an event the "Biden campaign says brought in more than $26 million."

  • Joey Garrison/Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy: [03-29] Gaza protesters dim the glitz and glamour of Biden's Obama-Clinton fundraiser in NYC.

  • Eric Levitz: [03-29] Why Biden's fundraising dominance could save his campaign: "Also, why it might not."

  • Shawn McCreesh: [03-29] Will Biden's star-studded, triple-president Radio City unity blowout bring his party together? Flanking the Old Democrat with two New Democrats may make it rain, but no, it's not a look that will help him with disaffected Democrats, either on the left or the unmonied right. Author advises "just please ignore the protester," but focuses on Trump's counterprogramming, commemorated in a New York Post front page: "Trump attends wake for killed hero NYPD cop . . . as 3 Dem presidents shut down city for glitzy $25M fundraiser."

• Andrew Prokop: [03-28] Is Biden on track for defeat? The debate, explained. I think this is mostly bullshit. Both sides still have a long time to make what should be fairly simple cases, and any jockeying along the way isn't likely to matter much. The ultimate question will be which candidate do you want to put out to pasture and be done with the most. Biden's big advantage is that even if he wins, his second term will mostly be invisible, with not much happening (other than the odd disaster). On the other hand, if Trump wins, he's going to be in your face every fucking day -- and figure on disasters being much more frequent and severe, because Republicans don't believe in prevention, or in fixing things afterwards.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Ryan Cooper: [03-27] One more way the Supreme Court has legalized corruption: "Disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez is pretending to 'run' for re-election because that allows him to tap his campaign account for legal defense."

• Kevin T Dugan: [03-28] Sam Bankman-Fried's final trip to court: Found guilty, sentenced to 25 years. More:

  • Whizzy Kim: [03-28] Sam Bankman-Fried's trial pulled back the curtain on crypto.

  • Nicole Narea: [03-28] How Sam Bankman-Fried's sentence stacks up against the century's biggest fraudsters.

• Luke Goldstein: [03-27] A bump in the road for Apple: "The Department of Justice monopolization lawsuit against Apple highlights Big Tech's efforts to dominate the automotive business."

• Ellie Qinlan Houghtaling: Conservative judges sound alarm: Trump will sherd our justice system.

• Kelly McClure: [03-27] Ex-Trump lawyer John Eastman faces disbarment for his part in the 2020 election mess.

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [03-25] The Supreme Court will weigh in on the January 6 insurrection. What could possibly go wrong?

  • [03-26] Even the Supreme Court seems sick of its abortion pills case: "The lawsuit challenging mifepristone should have never been heard by any court."

Climate and environment:

• Nick Dearden: [03-28] The global laws that help corporations block climate change.

• Jennifer Hassan: [03-30] Fears of environmental disaster rise as ship sinks after Houthi attack.

• Umair Irfan: [03-29] Why fossil fuel producers are oddly optimistic in the climate change era: "Coal, oil, and natural gas producers have found their vision for a low-carbon world."

• Jeff Jones/Eleanor Stein: [03-25] The single most important thing President Biden can do for the climate is enforce an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

• Kylie Mohr: [03-28] Yes, even most temperate landscapes in the US can and will burn: "Wildfire risk is increasing everywhere, especially in the East and South."

• Edgar Sandoval/Colbi Edmonds/Emma Goldberg: [03-31] Travelers stranded by highway collapse begin to leave Big Sur: "About 2,000 motorists, mostly tourists, were stuck in the area on Saturday night after a section of Highway 1 fell into the ocean."

• Mitch Smith/Catrin Einhorn: [03-29] Iowa fertilizer spill kills nearly all fish across 60-mile stretch of rivers: Pic shows the Nishnabotna, but it flows into the Missouri, which flows into the Mississippi, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico, which in turn feeds the Gulf Stream, so, you know, dilution helps, but this isn't done yet.

Economic matters:

• Dean Baker: Sorry for the bits, here and elsewhere, where sentences tend to tumble down hills as each clause reveals a premise that you should know but probably don't, hence requiring another and another. I know that proper form is to start from the premises and build your way up, but that's a lot of work, often winding up with many more points than the one you wanted to make. I do that a lot, but two examples here are especially egregious: each could be turned into a substantial essay (but who wants to read, much less write, one of those?).

  • [03-26] Relitigating the pandemic: School closings and vaccine sharing. There's been a constant refrain about how school closings have irrevocably stunted the intellectual growth of children. Baker mostly checks their math, rather than taking on the bigger issue of whether the nose-to-the-grindstone cult that took over policy control under the guise of "No Child Left Behind" (which, sure, wasn't all that different from the "rote learning" that dominated the first century of mass education, and like all test-driven regimes was all about leaving children behind, at least once their basic indoctrination has been accomplished -- the whole point of mass education in the first point [see Michael B Katz: The Irony of Early School Reform]).

    At some point, I should write more about education, including how hard I find it to reconcile my political belief in universal free education with my grim view of what we might call our actually-existing system. For now, I'll just point out that Astra Taylor's brilliant section on curiosity in her book The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart. Fifty-some years ago, I tried to figure out why my own educational experience had been so disastrous, which led me through books like those by Katz (op. cit.), Paul Goodman (Compulsory Mis-Education and the Community of Scholars), Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed), and Charles Weingarten and Neal Postman's Teaching as a Subversive Activity.

    Baker then goes on to talk about America's peculiar system for developing vaccines against Covid-19, which was to focus on the most expensive, most technically sophisticated, and (to a handful of private investors) most profitable system possible, making it unlikely that the world could share the benefits. It is some kind of irony that America ultimately suffered more from the pandemic than any other "developed" nation -- other aspects of our highly politicized profit-driven health care system saw to that, but it was by design that in every segment the poor would suffer worst, in health, and indeed in education.

  • [03-27] There ain't no libertarians, just politicians who want to give all the money to the rich. Responding to the Wallace-Wells column on Argentina's new president, Javier Milei -- you may recall that before he was elected, I predicted he'd quickly become the worst president anywhere in the world; let's just say he's still on that trajectory, although he's been slowed down a bit by the gravity of reality, so he's not yet as bad as he would be if he had more power (a phenomenon I trust you observed close enough with Donald Trump):

    • David Wallace-Wells: [03-27] Javier Milei is a new prophet of apocalyptic capitalism.

    Baker explains:

    The piece talked about how Milei calls himself as an anarchist, with the government just doing basic functions, like defending the country and running the criminal justice system. Otherwise, Milei would eliminate any role for government, if he had his choice.

    It is humorous to hear politicians make declarations like this. As a practical matter, almost all of these self-described anarchists would have a very large role for the government. What they want to do is to write the rules in ways that sends income upwards and then just pretend it is the natural order of things.

    The "natural order of things" is what conservatives are all about, as long as they're the ones on top of the totem pole. The more common word used for Milei is libertarian, which is how people on top like to think of themselves as being free (they turn conservative when they look down, and realize that their freedom depends on repressing, even enslaving, others). Michael Lind was onto something when he said that libertarianism had actually been tested historically; we tend to forget that, because the term at the time was feudalism. Charles Koch is the great American libertarian -- I know more about his fantasy world than most, because I used to typset books for him during his Murray Rothbard period -- and no one more exemplifies a feudal lord.

    Baker goes on to reiterate his usual shtick starting with patents, continuing on to a pitch for his book, Rigged (free online, and worth the time).

  • [03-28] Profits are still rising, why is the Fed worried about wage growth?

  • [03-29] Social Security retirement age has already been raised to 67.

  • [03-31] Do we need to have a Cold War with China?: Responds to a Paul Krugman column -- Bidenomics is making China angry. That's okay. -- that I didn't see much point of including on its own. Much more detail here worth reading, but here's the end:

    The basic point here is that we should care a lot about our relations with China. That doesn't mean we should structure our economy to make its leaders happy. We need to implement policies that support the prosperity and well-being of people in the United States. But we also need to try to find ways to cooperate with China in areas where it is mutually beneficial, and we certainly should not be looking for ways to put a finger in their eye.

• Ryan Cooper: [02-07] Why were inflation hawks wrong? "Economists like Larry Summers predicted that bringing inflation down would require a large increase in unemployment. It didn't."

• Inequality.org: [03-24] Total US billionaire wealth is up 88 percent over four years.

• David Moscrop: [03-29] Welcome to a brave new world of price gouging: "Sellers have always had access to more information than buyers, and 'dynamic pricing,' which harnesses the power of algorithms and big data, is supercharging this asymmetry."

• Alex Moss/Timi Iwayemi: [03-29] Senators' latest attempt to enrich Big Pharma must not prevail: "Patents are meant to encourage actual innovation, not monster corporate profits." Given how little bearing patents have on actual innovation, you'd think that argument would have dropped by the wayside, but the profits are so big those who seek them will say anything.

• Kenny Stancil: [03-27] Jerome Powell's fingerprints are on the next banking crisis: "Not only did Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's post-2016 regulatory rollbacks and supervisory blunders contribute significantly to the 2023 banking crisis, his current opposition to stronger capital requirements is setting the stage for the next crisis."

• Yanis Varoufakis: [03-28] "Debt is to capitalism what Hell is to Christianity": Interview by David Broder with the Greek economist, who has a new film series where he explains "how elites used the financial crisis to terrorize Europe's populations into submission."

• Connor Echols: [03-29] Diplomacy Watch: NATO, Russia inch closer to confrontation.

• David Ignatius:

  • [03-29] Zelensky: 'We are trying to find some way not to retreat'. Even with the most sympathetic interviewer in the world, he's starting to sound pathetic. For another example of Ignatius trying to champion a loser, see:

  • [03-19] Liz Cheney still plays to make a difference in the election. Sorry for the disrespect -- I do have some, for Zelensky and Cheney (though maybe not for Ignatius), but I couldn't resist the line. Both have maneuvered themselves into positions that appear principled but are untenable, with their options limited on both ends. Zelensky's matters much more. When he was elected, he had to make a choice, either to try to lead a reduced but still substantial nation into Europe and peace, or fight to regain territories that had always opposed the European pivot. He chose the latter, and failed: the chances of him winning any substantial amount of territory back are very slim, while the costs of continuing the war are daunting (even if the US and Europe can continue to support him, which is becoming less certain). But if he's willing to cut his losses, the deal to end the war is distasteful but pretty straightforward. And so is the entry of the Ukraine that he still controls into Europe. Of course, doing so will disappoint the war party (especially Ignatius, and count Cheney in there, too). As for Cheney, I don't see any options. She has no popular support to maneuver, and no real moral authority either.

• Robert Kagan: [03-28] Trump's anti-Ukraine view dates to the 1930s. America rejected it then. Will we now? The dean of neocon warmongers tries to pull a fast one on you. While there is some similarity between Trump's MAGA minions and Nazi sympathizers of the late 1930s -- still not as obvious as the direct line between Fred and Donald Trump -- the much derided "isolationists" of the pre-WWII period spanned the whole political spectrum, as they were rooted in the traditional American distrust of standing armies and foreign entanglements, along with hardly-isolationist ideas like the Monroe Doctrine and the Open Door Policy.

  Such views weren't rejected: even Roosevelt respected them until Japan and Germany declared war, forcing the US to join WWII. As the war turned, some highly-placed Americans saw the opportunity (or in some cases the necessity) of extending military and economic power around the globe, especially seeing as how Europe would no longer be able to dominate Africa and Asia, especially with communists, who had taken the lead in fighting the Axis powers, spearheading national liberation movements.

  The elites who promoted American hegemony had first to win the political argument at home. They did this by branding those who had rejected Wilson's League of Nations as "isolationists," the implication being that their opposition was responsible for World War's return, and by stirring up a "red scare," which played the partition of Europe, the revolution in China, and the Korean War into a colossal Cold War struggle, while also helping right-wingers at home demolish the labor movement, and turning American foreign policy into a perpetual warmaking machine. Kagan, like his father and his wife, is a major cog in that machine, as should be obvious here.

• Joshua Keating: [03-28] Therer's a shadow fleet sneaking Russian oil around the world. It's an ecological disaster waiting to happen. "The world's next big maritime catastrophe could involve sanctions-dodging rustbuckets." Not something the Ukraine hawks will ever think to worry about, but sounds to me like another good reason to settle real soon now.

• Blaise Malley: [03-25] Would House approve 'loaning' rather than giving Ukraine aid?: "There's a new plan afoot to do just that, even if Kyiv cannot repay it."

• Jeffrey Sachs: [03-25] Crude rhetoric can lead us to war: "The US, Russia, and China must engage in serious diplomacy now. Name calling and personal insults do nothing for the peace effort. They only bring us closer to war."

Putin and Bush shared a common bond, and a temporary alliance, in the early 2000s, as both were struck by "terror attacks" from Islamic groups, blowback to their nations' long historical efforts to dominate and/or exploit Muslims (which for Russia goes back to wars against Turks and Mongols, extending to Russia's conquest of the Caucusus and Central Asia, their Great Game with the UK, later replaced by the US; for Americans it's mostly been driven by oil and Israel since WWII, although the legacy of the Crusades still pops up here and there). In recent years, Russia's "war on terror" has taken a back seat to its war in Ukraine, but the problem flared up again when gunmen killed 143 concert-goers at Moscow's Crocus City Hall.

We shouldn't be surprised that when a historically imperialist ruler takes a nationalist turn, as Putin did in going to war to reassert Russian hegemony over Ukraine, that its other minority subjects should get nervous, defensive, and as is so much the fashion these days, preëmptively strike out.

The attack was claimed by ISIS-K, and Russia has since arrested four Tajiks in connection with the crime. One should not forget that in the 1980s, the US was very keen not only on arming mujahideen to fight in Afghanistan against Russia but on extending the Islamist revolt deep into the Soviet Union (Tajikistan).

• Francesca Ebel: [03-27] As death toll in Moscow attack rises to 143, migrants face fury and raids.

• Richard Foltz: [03-26] Why Russia fears the emergence of Tajik terrorists.

• Sarah Harmouch/Amira Jadoon: [03-25] How Moscow terror attack fits ISIL-K strategy to widen agenda against perceived enemies.

• Ellen Ioanes: [03-28] ISIS-K, the group linked to Moscow's terror attack, explained.

• Ishaan Tharoor: [03-27] Putin sees Kyiv in Moscow terrorist attack. But ISIS is its own story. I'm reminded here of something in the afterword to Gilles Kepel's Jihad: The Trial of Political Islam -- a book that appeared in English in 2003, but had been written and published in French, I think before 9/11 -- about how political Islam (including Al-Qaeda) was in serious decline after 2000, and 9/11 was initially a desperate ploy for attention and relevance (what American footballers call a "hail Mary pass").

  By the way, the first thing I did after 9/11 -- I was visiting friends in Brooklyn on that date, and one was actually killed in WTC, so it hit pretty close to home -- was to go to a bookstore and scrounge around for something relevant to read that would give me some historical context. The book that I found that came closest (but not very close) to satisfying my urge was Barbara Crossette's The Great Hill Stations of Asia, probably due to my intuition that the terror attacks were deeply rooted in the imperialist (and racist) past, but that specific story was too far in the past to be of much help. The book I really wanted to find was Kepel's, which told me everything I needed to know. So yeah, I find it plausible that ISIS-K wanted to kick Russia just to remind them that they have unfinished business. I don't doubt that Hamas wanted to kick Israel in the same way -- also reminding Saudi Arabia who they were about to get in bed with. Terrorists aren't very good at calibrating those kicks, so sometimes they get more reaction than they really wanted. But do they really care? Overreaction is often the worst possible thing an offended power can do, as 9/11 and 10/7 have so painfully demonstrated.

Around the world:

• Caroline Houck: [03-29] A very bad year for press freedom: Playing up the year-and-counting detention of Evan Gershkovich in Russia, but there are other examples, including many journalists killed by Israel not just recently but "over the last two decades." On Gershkovich, see:

  • Ellen Ioanes: [03-29] Why Russia has kept a Wall Street Journal reporter in jail for a year -- and counting.

• Vijay Prashad: [03-26] Europe sleepwalks through its own dilemmas: With the episodic rise of the right in America, where each fitful advance has tattered and in some cases shredded not just the social welfare state but our entire sense of democracy, solidarity, cohesion, and commonwealth, lots of Americans have come to admire Europe, where social democracy for the most part remains intact. On the other hand, what we see in European politics, at least for those of us who see anything at all, is often bewildering and unnerving. Don't these people realize how fortunate they have been? Yet in many areas, as Prashad notes here, they seem to be blind and dumb, just following whatever the direction is coming from Washington and Davos, despite repeated failures.

• David Smilde: [03-22] Candidate registration is becoming a purge of Maduro's opposition.

The bridge:

• Li Zhou/Ellen Ioanes/Izzie Ramirez: [03-28] The Baltimore bridge collapse and its potential consequences, explained.

• Chas Danner: [03-31] How to understand the Baltimore bridge collapse.

• David Dayen: [03-26] The ever-present threat of supply shocks: "The Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy in Baltimore is a reminder that sudden changes to how we move goods around the world can happen anytime."

• Gabrielle Gurley: [03-28] The long road back for the port of Baltimore.

• Bob Hennelly: [03-29] Behind the Baltimore bridge collapse is a familiar story of a corporation cutting corners.

• Caroline Houck: [03-27] The Baltimore bridge collapse is only the latest -- and least -- of global shipping's problems: "From drought in the Panama Canal to the Houthis in the Suez to pirates off Somalia, we're all paying the price."

• Robert Kuttner: [03-29] Bridge to the bottom: Global deregulation of shipping.

• The Lever: [03-26] Feds recently hit cargo giant in Baltimore disaster for silencing whistleblowers: "Regulators cited Maersk for its 'illegal policy' blocking employees from reporting safety concerns to the Coast Guard."

• Kelly McClure: [03-27] Right-wingers blame the Baltimore bridge collapse on everything short of the Mothman.

• Greg Sargent: MAGA's ugly, hateful response to bridge horror is about to get worse: Pic: Marjorie Taylor Greene.

• Tatyana Tandanpolie: [03-27] "Cannon is a bad judge": Legal experts say Trump taking advantage of judge's "rookie problem".

Boeing:

• Frances Madeson: [03-23] Washington University students vote to divest from Boeing amid Gaza genocide: "Reviving a legacy of campus war resistance, the adopted resolution demands the university demilitarize and democratize."

• Matt Stieb: CEO Dave Calhoun leaps from Boeing, saved by golden parachute.

• Maureen Tkacik: [03-28] Suicide mission: "What Boeing did to all the guys who remember how to build a plane."

Other stories:

Joshua Frank: [03-28] As the rich speed off in their Teslas: Of life and lithium.

Sam Levin: [03-27] Joe Lieberman, former US senator and vice-presidential nominee, dies at 82. More on Lieberman:

• Jeet Heer: [03-28] Joe Lieberman and the venality of elite bipartisanship.

• Branko Marcetic: [03-28] The extent of Lieberman's evildoing was truly remarkable.

Gideon Lewis-Kraus: [03-25] You say you want a revolution. Do you know what you mean by that? Reviews two books: Fareed Zakaria: Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present; and Nathan Perl-Rosenthal: The Age of Revolutions: And the Generations Who Made It, which is more focused on the years 1760-1825.

Jeffrey St Clair: [03-29] Roaming Charges: Nowhere men: Remembering Joe Lieberman, then onto the bridge and other disasters.

Mari Uyehara: [03-25] The many faces of Viet Thanh Nguyen: "The Vietnamese American writer's leap to the mainstream comes at a moment that demands his anti-colonialist perspective."

I've cited this article before, but my wife reminded me of it yesterday and went on to read me several chunks. The article is by Pankaj Mishra: The Shoah after Gaza. It's worth reading in whole, but for now let me just pull a couple paragraphs out from the middle:

One of the great dangers today is the hardening of the colour line into a new Maginot Line. For most people outside the West, whose primordial experience of European civilisation was to be brutally colonised by its representatives, the Shoah did not appear as an unprecedented atrocity. Recovering from the ravages of imperialism in their own countries, most non-Western people were in no position to appreciate the magnitude of the horror the radical twin of that imperialism inflicted on Jews in Europe. So when Israel's leaders compare Hamas to Nazis, and Israeli diplomats wear yellow stars at the UN, their audience is almost exclusively Western. Most of the world doesn't carry the burden of Christian European guilt over the Shoah, and does not regard the creation of Israel as a moral necessity to absolve the sins of 20th-century Europeans. For more than seven decades now, the argument among the 'darker peoples' has remained the same: why should Palestinians be dispossessed and punished for crimes in which only Europeans were complicit? And they can only recoil with disgust from the implicit claim that Israel has the right to slaughter 13,000 children not only as a matter of self-defence but because it is a state born out of the Shoah.

In 2006, Tony Judt was already warning that 'the Holocaust can no longer be instrumentalised to excuse Israel's behaviour' because a growing number of people 'simply cannot understand how the horrors of the last European war can be invoked to license or condone unacceptable behaviour in another time and place'. Israel's 'long-cultivated persecution mania -- "everyone's out to get us" -- no longer elicits sympathy', he warned, and prophecies of universal antisemitism risk 'becoming a self-fulfilling assertion': 'Israel's reckless behaviour and insistent identification of all criticism with antisemitism is now the leading source of anti-Jewish sentiment in Western Europe and much of Asia.' Israel's most devout friends today are inflaming this situation. As the Israeli journalist and documentary maker Yuval Abraham put it, the 'appalling misuse' of the accusation of antisemitism by Germans empties it of meaning and 'thus endangers Jews all over the world'. Biden keeps making the treacherous argument that the safety of the Jewish population worldwide depends on Israel. As the New York Times columnist Ezra Klein put it recently, 'I'm a Jewish person. Do I feel safer? Do I feel like there's less antisemitism in the world right now because of what is happening there, or does it seem to me that there's a huge upsurge of antisemitism, and that even Jews in places that are not Israel are vulnerable to what happens in Israel?'

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, March 25, 2024

March archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 42039 [42007] rated (+32), 31 [28] unrated (+3).

Speaking of Which ran over again. I posted what I had late Sunday night (227 links, 9825 words; the former possibly a record, the latter well above usual but less than 10883 for the week of March 3. (Updated tally: 259 links, 11559 words, so may very well be the biggest one ever.)

I got this started early Monday afternoon, but probably won't post until late, not so much because I expect this to take much as because I'd rather spend the time cleaning up Speaking of Which. I'm under no delusions that what I say here will make any difference to the world, but times like these need witnesses. And that is the one thing I can still offer.

Not a lot of albums this week -- played a lot of old stuff again -- but I'm fairly pleased with the finds this week, including some jazz artists not previously on my radar (Espen Berg, Roby Glod, Nicole McCabe) and a couple old-timers who returned to form with their best releases in years (Kahil El'Zabar, Charles Lloyd). I'll also note that results flipped expectations for two much-hyped reissues (Joe Henderson, Alice Coltrane).

Very little non-jazz this week, especially if you count Queen Esther as jazz (which you should for her better releases below, but not for the still-recommended Gild the Black Lily). Tierra Whack came from Robert Christgau's latest Consumer Guide. I should replay the records he liked better than I did -- Yard Act, Les Amazones d'Afrique, the Guy Davis I reviewed shortly after it came out in 2021. Most other records I have similar grades for (the three I mentioned I'm just one or two notches down on), leaving unheard the Queen compilation and a Thomas Anderson album that isn't streamable yet. By the way, Christgau skipped over Anderson's recent odds & sods set, The Debris Field (Lo-Fi Flotsam and Ragged Recriminations, 2000-2021), which I gave an A- to in my review.

Unpacking below does not include Monday's haul, which looks to be substantial. Most promising among the new releases is Dave Douglas with James Brandon Lewis, but note also a new album with Kevin Sun as Mute. Plus a lot of vault discoveries: Chet Baker/Jack Sheldon, Yusef Lateef, Sun Ra, Art Tatum, Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy, in addition to the Sonny Rollins already uwrapped.

New records reviewed this week:

Espen Berg: Water Fabric (2023, Odin): Norwegian pianist, dozen or so albums since 2007. Cover shows "featuring": Hayden Powell (trumpet), Harpreet Bansal (violin), Ellie Mäkelä (viola), Joakim Munker (cello), Per Oddvar Johansen (drums). I'm not often a big fan of strings, but here they take themes that start enchanting and raise them to something magnificent. A- [sp]

Espen Berg: The Hamar Concert (2022 [2023], NXN): Solo piano, recorded at Kulturhus in Hamar, Norway. B+(**) [sp]

Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Open Me, a Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (2023 [2024], Spiritmuse): Chicago percussionist and vocalist (perhaps a bit too much), celebrates fifty years of mostly working within this ensemble, lately a trio with Corey Wilkes (trumpet) and Alex Harding (baritone sax), supplemented here by James Sanders (violin/viola) and Ishmael Ali (cello). A potent mix here, especially on the funk classic "Compared to What" -- vocal is perfect there. A- [sp]

Roby Glod/Christian Ramond/Klaus Kugel: No ToXiC (2022 [2024], Nemu): German trio -- alto/soprano sax, bass, drums -- reportedly have been playing together twenty years but discography is thin; Glod and Kugel have an album together from 2013; Glod has side credits back to 1992. One Connie Crothers piece, the rest joint improv credits. The sort of free sax tour de force I always love. A- [cd]

Julian Lage: Speak to Me (2024, Blue Note): Guitarist, debut 2009 on EmArcy, after stints with Palmetto and Mack Avenue landed on another major in 2021. This one leans a bit more rock, produced by Joe Henry, with Levon Henry (sax), Patrick Warren (keyboards), Joege Roeder (bass), and Dave King (drums). Except when it doesn't, and I lose all interest. Then, well, there's some piano that sounds like Kris Davis, and I'm interested again. B+(*) [sp]

Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly of Shadows: Heartland Radio (2023 [2024], SoundSpore): French alto saxophonist, also plays flute, several albums, this group a big band (third album, group named for the first) with vocals on two tracks. Some nice passages but generally too many classical moves for my taste, and I don't think the vocals help. B [cd]

David Leon: Bird's Eye (2022 [2024], Pyroclastic): Cuban-American alto saxophonist, based in Brooklyn, has a couple previous albums, also plays soprano sax, alto flute, and piccolo. Trio with DoYeon Kim (gayagum, voice) and Lesley Mok (percussion). Rather sparse and scattered, with some very interesting stretches, and some that don't do much (or worse, like the voice). B+(**) [sp]

Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (2024, Blue Note, 2CD): Tenor saxophonist, released this album on his 86th birthday (any reason Blue Note can't give you recording dates?), was sort of a crossover star in the late 1960s, solidified his career when he moved to ECM in 1989, remaining pre-eminent within his move to Blue Note in 2013. Also plays some alto here, as well as bass and alto flute. Backed by Jason Moran (piano), Larry Grenadier (bass), and Brian Blade (drums), a sprawling 15 songs (90:25). Longer than I'd like as a straight-through stream, but the CD/LP versions would break that up into manageable chunks, and it would be hard to pick among them. He's in fine form throughout, and the band (especially Moran) are superb. A- [sp]

Nicole McCabe: Live at Jamboree (2023 [2024], Fresh Sound New Talent): Alto saxophonist, from Los Angeles, Introducing debut from 2020, second album here. She recorded this in Barcelona, with Iannis Obiols (impressive on piano), Logan Kane (bass), and Ramon Prats (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Moor Mother: The Great Bailout (2024, Anti-): Camae Ayewa, from Philadelphia, poet first, then musician, spoken word under this alias initially suggested hip-hop, but several side projects moved into jazz, most notably the group Irreversible Entanglements, and she's always had an activist angle. Numerous guest features here, hard to follow (but seems very Anglo-themed), music murkily industrial. B+(*) [sp]

Willie Morris: Conversation Starter (2022 [2023], Posi-Tone): Tenor saxophonist, from St. Louis, Discogs page adds a III to his name. First album, quintet with Patrick Cornelius (alto sax/alto flute), Jon Davis (piano), Adi Meyerson (bass), and E.J. Strickland (drums), playing eight originals, two covers, one of those from Joe Henderson. B+(**) [sp]

Willie Morris: Attentive Listening (2023 [2024], Posi-Tone): Second album, similar lineup, with Patrick Cornelius (alto sax/alto flute) and Jon Davis (piano) returning, plus label regulars Boris Kozlov (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums). Another solid mainstream record. B+(*) [sp]

Kjetil Mulelid: Agoja (2022 [2024], Odin): Norwegian pianist, several albums, also electric piano and synth, quartet with pedal steel plus bass and drums, but most tracks have a scatter of guests, including violin, vibes, and/or some famous horn players. Still stays within atmospheric bounds. B+(**) [sp]

Queen Esther: Things Are Looking Up (2024, EL): Bio is evasive beyond raised in Atlanta and "embedded" in Charleston, Discogs says "vocalist, songwriter, lyricist, producer, musician, actor, performance artist, TED Speaker and playwright," credits her with 7 albums (but not yet this one), also six groups (Hoosegow, JC Hopkins Biggish Band, The 52nd Street Blues Project, The Harlem Experiment, The Memp0his Blood Jugband Singers, Yallopin' Hounds). Last I heard was the banjo-fied roots album Gild the Black Lily (an A-), so I was surprised and taken aback by the jazz diva styling here, before the fine print revealed a Billie Holiday project, with the few original songs credited to Lenny Molotov. Replay required, and worth it. Promised later this year: "the alt-Americana album Blackbirding." A- [cd] [04-09]

Queen Esther: Rona (2023, EL): I missed this one, only a bit more than an EP (8 songs, 29:18), in her country mode, often with ukulele and/or strings. Mostly originals, but note that the first cover is "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- Queen, but just one voice, just a bit of guitar, but long at 6:39. B+(*) [sp]

Ron Rieder: Latin Jazz Sessions (2023 [2024], self-released): Composer, seems to be his first album, inside pic shows him at piano but album credits Alain Mallet (piano), one of nine musicians listed on cover, including impressive tenor sax from Mike Tucker, flute from Fernando Brandão, and lots of rhythm. B+(***) [cd]

Viktoria Tolstoy: Stealing Moments (2023 [2024], ACT): Swedish jazz singer, great-great-granddaughter of the famous Russian writer, dozen-plus albums since 1994, sings in English, song credits to others but I don't recognize them as standards (mostly Ida Sand and Anna Alerstedt). B+(*) [sp]

A Tonic for the Troops: Realm of Opportunities (2022 [2023], Odin): Norwegian quartet led (at least all songs composed) by Ellen Brekken (bass), with Magnus Bakken (tenor sax), Espen Berg (piano), and Magnus Sefniassen Eide (drums), second group album, Brekken's side credits mostly with Hedvig Mollestad. B+(**) [sp]

Tierra Whack: World Wide Whack (2024, Interscope): Rapper from Philadelphia, her own name (after trying Dizzle Dizz), famous for her 13-songs-in-13-minutes mixtape Whack World (2018), followed by a trio of EPs in 2021, and now this debut studio album (15 tracks, 37:47). Same shtick here, short bits with a tasty hook but scant adornment, moving easily from set to set, like in her video. A- [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Alice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971 [2024], Impulse!): Pianist and harpist, formerly Alice McLeod, of Detroit, her mother a choir singer, others in the family had musical careers, while she had a trio and played with others (Terry Pollard, Terry Gibbs; possibly her first husband, singer Kenny Hagood). She married John Coltrane in 1965, joined his quartet in 1966 (replacing McCoy Tyner), and had three children with him (most famous is Ravi Coltrane), but he died in 1967. In 1968, she released her own album, A Monastic Trio, and followed it with six more, also on Impulse!, through 1973, continuing on other labels through 1978, a few more later on. This live concert, part of which was previously released in 2018 as Live at Carnegie Hall, 1971, happened about the same time as what was perhaps her best known album, Journey in Satchidananda appeared. Title song leads off here (15:02), followed by three more pieces, centered on the 28:09 "Africa." She did much to develop the spiritual side of her husband's legacy, and if you follow the reviews, you may detect its center of gravity shifting from him to her: she was, after all, the one who lived the life. But compared to most recent reissues, this concert most securely links her back to his music, most obviously through bassists Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee, and saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp. But her harp is developing (though it is her piano that brings "Africa" to its climax), and she adds harmonium (Kumar Kramer) and tamboura (Tulsi Reynolds), along with two drummers (Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis). I've listened to most of her albums, but this is the first one that really moved me. A- [sp]

Joe Henderson: Power to the People (1969 [2024], Craft): Tenor saxophonist (1937-2001), his early records for Blue Note (1963-67) helped define that label's golden age, his move to Milestone (1968-77) much less storied (although Milestone Profiles found enough for an A-). Pitchfork calls this "an essential document of a transitional moment in which everything in jazz seemed up for grabs." It was a time of intense political ferment, whence the title, but for jazz musicians, it was more stress as labels dwindled and died. With names on the cover: Herbie Hancock (piano/electric), Jack De Johnette (drums), Ron Carter (bass/electric), Mike Lawrence (trumpet on two tracks). The band helps, but the only real point is the saxophone, which wakes you up with a few strong solos, including a monster to end. B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Espen Berg Trio: Bølge (2017 [2018], Odin): Norwegian pianist, albums since 2007, this the second of four trio albums with Bárður Reinert Poulsen (bass) and Simon Olderskog Albertsen (drums). Opens with a Sting cover, then on to nine Berg originals. Strong album, good rhythmic sense. B+(***) [sp]

Espen Berg Trio: Fjære (2021 [2022], Odin): Same piano-bass-drums trio, but three more names in fine print on cover: Mathias Eick (trumpet, 2 tracks), Silje Nørgard (vocal, 1 track, the Paul Simon song, "I'd Do It for Your Love"), Hanna Paulsberg (tenor sax, 1 track). B+(**) [sp]

The Herb Geller Quartet: I'll Be Back (1996 [1998], Hep): Plays alto and sopranino sax here, with Ed Harris (guitar), Thomas Biller (bass), and Heinrich Köbberling (drums), on four originals and six standards (including a Jobim). B+(**) [r]

The Herb Geller Quartet: You're Looking at Me (1997 [1998], Fresh Sound): Alto and soprano sax, featuring Jan Lundgren (piano), with Dave Carpenter (bass) and Joe LaBarbera (drums), on ten standards followed by four tracks Geller wrote for a musical about Josephine Baker. B+(***) [r]

Herb Geller and Brian Kellock: Hollywood Portraits (1999 [2000], Hep): Duets, alto/soprano sax and piano, Kellock is Scottish, did some very good duets with Tommy Smith shortly after this one. Geller composed twenty pieces here, each named for a famous actress, most 1930s through 1950s. B+(***) [r]

Herb Geller With Don Friedman: At the Movies (2007, Hep): Alto/soprano sax and piano, also with Martin Wind (bass), Hans Braber (drums), and Martien Oster (guitar on four tracks, of 13). Standards, back cover names some but not all of the movies. B+(**) [r]

Nicole McCabe: Introducing Nicole McCabe (2020, Minaret): Alto saxophonist, not much biography I can find, but studied in Portland and at USC, is based in Los Angeles, teaches there, released this debut with George Colligan (piano, terrific), Jon Lakey (bass), and Alan Jones (drums), plus Charlie Porter (trumpet, a plus on three tracks). Very strong performance, with a nice touch on the rare slow bits. A- [sp]

Nicole McCabe: Landscapes (2022, Fresh Sound New Talent): Second album, alto saxophonist continue to impress, this time with piano-bass-drums I've never heard of, an equally obscure vocalist adding scat I barely noticed to one track, forgotten by the next. B+(***) [sp]

Queen Esther: Talkin' Fishbowl Blues (2004, EL): First album, although a duo with guitarist Elliott Sharp as Hoosegow came out in 1996. Produced by Jack Spratt, tagged as "Black Americana," with a dark cover of "Stand By Your Man." B+(**) [sp]

Queen Esther: What Is Love? (2010, EL): Jazz ensemble this time, piano trio plus four horns (Patience Higgins on tenor sax, plus trumpet, trombone, and French horn), with JC Hopkins producing and writing most of the songs. The occasional standard makes it easier to appreciate the precise nuance the singer is capable of. B+(***) [sp]

Queen Esther: The Other Side (2014, EL): This one, with nine originals, two covers of Paul Pena (q.v.), one each from Charlie Rich and Bryan & Wilda Creswell, is filed under country rock. Band is mostly guitar, including pedal and lap steel, but note that the fiddle player (just two tracks) is Charles Burnham. B+(**) [sp]

Limited Sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

Nicole McCabe: Improvisations (2022, Minaret, EP): Solo alto sax with pedals, for something of a bagpipe effect. Four tracks, 20:46. [1/4 tracks, 5:01/20:46] - [bc]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Owen Broder: Hodges: Front and Center, Vol. Two (Outside In Music) [04-12]
• Benji Kaplan: Untold Stories (self-released) [05-01]
• João Madeira/Margarida Mestre: Voz Debaixo (4DaRecord) [02-17]
• Ivo Perelman Quartet: Water Music (RogueArt) * [04-00]
• PNY Quintet: Over the Wall (RogueArt) * [03-00)
• Ernesto Rodrigues/Bruno Parinha/João Madeira: Into the Wood (Creative Sources) [01-09]
• Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance, 3CD) [04-20]
• Dave Schumacher & Cubeye: Smoke in the Sky (Cellar) [04-19]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

I was struck by this meme: "If Israelis stop fighting there will be peace. If Palestinians stop fighting there will be no more Palestinians." The first line is certainly true. This latest war has been so devastating that it's hard to imagine any fight left -- at least of the sort that would strike out at Israelis beyond their wall. The other obvious point is that there's no risk in trying. If Hamas does attack again, Israel can always strike back, and that reaction will be better understood than the systematic, genocidal war Israel is waging.

The second is less obvious, depending on what you mean by "stop fighting." Hamas has never had the capability of fighting Israel like Israel fights Gaza. Hamas has no air force, no navy, no submarines, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no anti-aircraft or anti-missile defenses, no drones. Their rockets are small and unguided, and have never produced more than accidental damage. Aside from the Oct. 7 jailbreak, the only way an Israeli gets hurt is by entering Gaza, and even then the ratio of Palestinian-to-Israeli casualties is 50-to-1 or more. That's not much of a fight.

However, the second line could be rewritten in terms that both sides will agree with, if not agree on: "Palestinians will [only] stop fighting when there are no more Palestinians." An army may sensibly surrender to a more imposing power, but this will only happen if one has hope of surviving and eventually recovering from surrender. Germany and Japan surrendered to the US to end WWII, but only because they believed that they would be given a chance to return to running their own lives. (See John Dower's Embracing Defeat for more on how Japan dealt with this. Japan is a better example than Germany, because its government was still intact when it surrendered, whereas Germany's was in tatters after Hitler's suicide.) A number of American Indian tribes surrendered with similar hopes, even though the US had given them little reason for such hope.

But Israel's current demands for ceasefire terms, following the genocidal threats of Israel's leaders, and the genocidal methodology they've practiced in this war, offer little or no hope to any Palestinian that surrender is anything but suicide. Israelis demand absolute servility, but know that they'll never get everyone to submit, that there will always be resistance of some sort, and as such their security will always be at risk. This presents them with an existential dilemma, to which there are only three solutions: equal rights, separation, or annihilation.

They have long refused to consider equal rights. (Lots of reasons we needn't consider here, like racism and demography.) They've considered separation, at least within certain bounds, but it's naturally a formula for war, so they've insisted on being the dominant power, both by building up a huge military advantage and by preventing Palestinians from ever developing their own popular leadership. But the solution they've always craved was annihilation. The problem there has been finding a time when they could get away with it. Oct. 7 was the excuse they were waiting for, dramatic enough that few of their allies grasped immediately how they had goaded Hamas into action.

Even so, Israel has always had a numbers problem. America was able to reduce its native population to levels where they became politically and economically irrelevant, after which annihilation no longer mattered, and some reconciliation was possible. But for Israel, there were always too many Palestinians, too close by, too economically developed and culturally sophisticated. For just these reasons, colonizers eventually gave up on Algeria and South Africa, but only after extraordinary brutality. Israel is the last to believe they're strong enough to beat down any and all resistance. And that's really because they have few if any scruples against killing every last Palestinian.

And don't for a moment think that Palestinians don't understand this. They've lived through it for decades, and while often beaten down, often severely, they've survived to resist again. They'll survive this, too, and will continue to resist, as peacefully as Israel will allow, or as violently as they can muster.

Looking further down my twitter feed:

From Rami Jarrah: Picture of an adult Palestinian male seated on a couch, surrounded 14 children (a couple into their teens). Text: "Nobody in this photo is alive. Israel's right to self defence."

From Kayla Bennett: Chart image. Text: "One of the most horrifying graphics ever." I looked for an article including the chart, and came up with:

• Ron Milo/Lior Greenspoon/Eyal Krieger: [2023-02-27] The weight of responsibility: Biomass of livestock dwarfs that of wild mammals.

• Nick Routley: [2023-04-28] Visualizing the biomass of all the world's mammals: Different graphs, but essentially the same data.

From Ryan Heuser: A link to the website for The New York War Crimes, reporting on propaganda published by The New York Times (motto: "All the Consent That's Fit to Manufacture"). I haven't figured out yet where the illustrations come from.

From Yousef Munayer retweeted Heuser, adding: "A new poll found that even though some 30,000 more Palestinians have been killed than Israelis since October, half of Americans didn't know which side has lost more lives. This has a lot to do with it."

From Etan Nechin retweeted Chris Olley: "[Pennsylvania]'s richest person Jeff Yass is buying Truth Social for $3 Billion so Trump can pay off his $450 Million judgment in return for Trump doing a 180 on his Tiktok and China stance to preserve Yass's $30 Billion-with-a-B stake in Tiktok. We call this oligarchy' when it's elsewhere." Nechin adds: "Notably, Jeff Yass was the main financier of Kohelet Forum, the shadowy organization behind Israel's attempted judicial coup that was championed by the settler far right. These oligarchs care little for democracy, only market interests." The Wikipedia page for Yass is here, which documents all this and more.

From Daniel Denvir: "Truth Social has roughly twice the monthly app users as my niche left-wing intellectual podcast has monthly downloads. The Dig's own healthy but rather modest financial situation suggests to me that this company is not worth nearly $6 billion."

From Paul Krugman: "So, did the ACA bend the cost curve? Call it coincidence, but excess cost growth -- health spending growing faster than GDP -- basically ended when it passed." See chart:

I'm reminded that Switzerland long had the world's second most expensive health care system, with costs increasing in tandem with US costs, until they adopted a universal non-profit insurance scheme. While this was still much more expensive than systems in UK, Germany, and France, it halted the increase, while US costs continue to rise. ACA hasn't worked as well as Switzerland's system -- by design, it isn't universal, and still allows (and sometimes encourages) profit-seeking -- but it was a step in the right direction.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [03-18] Day 164: Israeli army storms al-Shifa again, aid reaches Jabalia for first time in months: "Over a million people in Gaza face 'imminent' famine as UNRWA aid trucks arrive in northern Gaza for the first time in months. Meanwhile, the Israeli army's Chief of Staff says 'a long way to go' until Israel's military objectives are achieved."

  • [03-19] Day 165: Israeli attacks escalate on Rafah, al-Shifa Hospital invasion enters second day: "After a night of heavy bombardment the PA warns Israel's Rafah offensive has begun. Meanwhile, the invasion of al-Shifa hospital continues; all communication with medical staff trapped inside the hospital has been silent since Monday evening."

  • [03-20] Day 166: Israel kills Gaza officials handling food delivery to the north; Canada votes to halt arms sales to Israel: "Hamas slams Israel for 'spreading chaos' after an Israeli airstrike killed two local police officers in charge of securing and delivering food to north Gaza. In the West Bank, Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians."

  • [03-21] Day 167: Israel has killed over 100 aid workers in Gaza in the last week: "Israel has killed over 100 aid workers in Gaza over the past week as its military siege of al-Shifa Hospital continues. Meanwhile, the Netanyahu government continues planning for an invasion of Rafah."

  • [03-22] Day 168: US advances UN Security Counsil ceasefire resolution as al-Shifa Hospital siege enters fifth day: "The siege of al-Shifa Hospital enters its fifth day as the Israeli army threatens to blow up the hospital, while the U.S.'s proposed UNSC resolution uses nebulous language that does not call for an "immediate" ceasefire.

  • [03-23] Day 169: Israel kills 7 aid-seekers in northern Gaza, 4 children in Rafah as siege of al-Shifa Hospital enters sixth day: "Israel continued its airstrikes on Rafah, killing four children, while in northern Gaza Israel turned back food aid for the second time in a week and killed at least 7 Palestinian aid-seekers near the Kuwaiti roundabout."

  • [03-24] Day 170: Israel assaults al-Shifa, Nasser, and al-Amal hospitals in one day: "Israeli forces ordered Palestinians inside al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis to leave 'naked,' while survivors of the al-Shifa Hospital raid witnessed numerous atrocities committed by the Israeli army. In Jerusalem, Israeli settlers stormed al-Aqsa."

• Sabreen Akhter: [03-21] When children are present in a genocide.

• Faress Arafat: [03-23] Gaza's children are enduring overwhelming trauma: "A Palestinian nurse from the al-Shifa Hospital recalls his experience tending to the children wounded and killed in the war."

• Mohamad Bazzi: [03-21] The Gaza famine is human-made. And the US is complicit in this catastrophe.

• Cate Brown: [03-22] Israel announces largest West Bank land seizure since 1993 during Blinken visit.

• Eliza Griswold: [03-21] The children who lost limbs in Gaza: "More than a thousand children who were injured in the war are now amputees. What do their futures hold?"

• Isaac Chotiner: [03-21] The brutal conditions facing Palestinian prisoners: "Since the attacks of October 7th, Israel has held thousands of people from Gaza and the West Bank in detention camps and prisons." Interview with Tal Steiner, whose Public Committee Against Torture in Israel tries to monitor such things.

• Stephanie Guilloud: [03-20] There is nothing we can do about Israel other than everything: "The war on Gaza is being used to advance fascism and white supremacy in the U.S. It is also opening people's eyes to global systems that require genocide to continue. To stand with Palestine is to transform those systems and build a different world."

• Middle East Monitor: [03-13] Satellite images show 35% of Gaza's buildings destroyed.

• Mondoweiss: [03-18] The real reason Israel stormed al-Shifa Hospital yet again: "Israel's latest attack on al-Shifa Hospital and the successful delivery of food aid to northern Gaza are connected. Here's how."

• Yumna Patel: [03-22] Israel's plans to replace its Palestinian labor force could spell disaster for the Palestinian economy.

• Meron Rapoport: [03-20] The Israeli public is dispirited. So why is the right euphoric?

• Jeremy Scahill: "Man-made hell on Earth": A Canadian doctor on his medical mission to Gaza: "Palestinian doctors 'are working on a daily basis on the most horrific, explosive trauma that you've ever seen. They're doing sometimes 14, 15 amputations, mostly on children, per day, and they've been doing it for six months now."

• Amna Shabana: [03-20] 'All of them are gone except me': "My friend Reem Hamadaqa barely survived an attack on her home in Khan Younis that killed her parents and most of her family. What do you tell a friend who has lost nearly everything?"

• Richard Silverstein: [03-23] Amalek directive approves murders of Hamas leaders' families: "Israel targeting Hamas leadership for elimination along with all family members." The "Amalek directive" refers back to an earlier [2023-10-25] post: Israeli security cabinet orders murders of senior Hamas leaders and families: "Ministers tasked IDF and Shin Bet with mass assassinations, invoking a Biblical verse commanding extermination of Amalek."

• Maureen Tkacik: [03-20] What really happened on October 7? "And why, wonders a new Al Jazeera documentary, did the media go to such lengths to concoct gruesome X-rated versions of an attack that was harrowing enough to begin with?" Pull quote: "Hamas had some rockets, but did it really have the weaponry capable of mounting this level of destruction? Western journalists have reported that Hamas was fully responsible." Who did? Well:

  By November, the IDF conceded that it had, actually, deployed Apache helicopters and tanks to the Nova music festival that "may" have killed "some" of the Nova festival concertgoers, in accordance with something called the Hannibal Directive, a doctrine named for a Carthaginian general who poisoned himself rather than be questioned by his Roman captors, whereby the Israeli army is ordered to fire upon its own troops to prevent the enemy from taking those troops hostage. Around noon on October 7, according to Israeli newspapers cited in the documentary, the IDF may have invoked a version of the Hannibal directive, expanded to include Israeli civilians, and in accordance began blindly opening fire with rockets and helicopter gunships on any person or vehicle seen moving across the border with Gaza. In particular, the documentary visits Kibbutz Be'eri, which looks a bit like present-day Gaza in parts, with a munitions expert who demonstrates strong evidence that some of the houses had been hit with IDF tank fire. It was Israeli troops, not Hamas "murderers," according to one resident, who killed 12 longtime residents there.

  Also on the Al Jazeera documentary:

  • Peter Oborne: [03-22] Al Jazeera tells the 7 October story that British media will not.

• Alex de Waal: [03-21] We are about to witness in Gaza the most intense famine since the second world war: "Even when the numbers of people needlessly dying dwindle, the scars of famine will endure."

• Vivian Yee/Iyad Abuheweila/Abu Bakr Bashir/Ameera Harouda: [03-23] Gaza's shadow death toll: Bodies buried beneath the rubble.

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Michael Arria:

  • [03-20] Canadian foreign minister says country will stop arms sales to Israel.

  • [03-21] The Shift: Schumer's speech.

  • [03-22] Ceasefire resolutions are building organizing power throughout the US: "More than 100 ceasefire resolutions have passed throughout the United States. They might seem merely symbolic, but activists say they will have a lasting impact." I can add that according to friends who have been working on this, the effort in Wichita, KS, is just one vote short of passing.

  • [03-23] US cuts UNRWA funding as famine looms for Gaza: This was included in the bill to avoid shutting down the government.

• Ramzy Baroud: [03-22] Cognitive dissonance: Perplexed US foreign policy is prolonging Gaza genocide: "Perplexed" works on two levels here: they can't figure out how to do things, because they're stuck in a lot of dysfunctional ideas (like deterrence, sanctions, their great "indispensable nation" conceit); but they also can't figure out what they want to do, partly because Israel doesn't allow them any sensible options.

• Daniel Boguslaw: Biden decries civilian deaths in Gaza as Pentagon fails with its own safeguards.

• Peter Beinart: [03-22] The great rupture in American Jewish life.

• Jonathan Chait: [03-21] Schumer is a better friend to Israel than Netanyahu's allies: "Israelis have a right to know the dangers of Netanyahu's one-statism."

• Stan and Priti Gulati Cox: [03-19] Blocking the aid trucks, letting the tanks roll.

• Thomas L Friedman: [03-19] What Schumer and Biden got right about Netanyahu: Like them, Friedman's been so securely on the party bus for so long that he feels entitled to weigh on on Israeli politics, if only to pretend that something can be redeemed out of their descent into genocide. Mostly, that means another attempt to rescue the "two-state" mirage.

  As I've noted elsewhere, "two-state" is a card that Israel shows on occasion when it seems convenient, but always withdraws, because they're unwilling to allow anything like an independent state of Palestinians. Or maybe they've just found it unnecessary, as long as no one seriously twists their arms -- Americans have nominally supported "two-state" since 1967, but never required more than a bit of lip-service. They have at various points suggested they'd agree to "two-state": they supported the 1937 and 1947 partition plans, they agreed to UN resolutions in 1967 and 1973 which they never followed up on, they agreed with Egypt in 1979 to "autonomy" (a vague term with no timetable), they agreed to Oslo (with various delays for "confidence building" that never happened, at least to their satisfaction); all the while building more settlements designed to establish "facts on the ground" making it impossible to return land to any Palestinian state.

  Friedman's six points here just show how maleable his mind is to Israeli thinking. For instance, "Hamas's attack was designed to halt Israel from becoming more embedded than ever in the Arab world thanks to the Abraham Accords and the budding normalization process with Saudi Arabia." So, the real reason a thousand Hamas fighters undertook a suicide mission was to spoil Jared Kushner's kickback scam? Gaza had been blockaded and was being choked to near-death, especially since 2005, but Israelis can only imagine their own existence at stake.

  Mention "one-state," with its obvious implication of everyone under that state enjoying equal rights, and Israelis will reject the very idea as a "non-starter" -- as an idea they're unwilling to even entertain, even though every real democracy takes pains to protect minority individual rights from majoritarian abuse.

• Liz Goodwin/Abigail Hauslohner/Yasmeen Abutaleb/Leigh Ann Caldwell: [03-20] Republicans hug Netanyahu tighter as Democratic tensions with Israel war strategy boil: "The Israeli PM criticized Schumer's comments calling for a new election as 'outrageous' in GOP-only meeting." The meeting itself says volumes about those present: how arrogant and careless Netanyahu is about entering into American party politics, and how arrogant and careless Republicans are in usurping Biden's foreign policy prerogatives. But my first reaction was simply, "birds of a feather flock together" -- be they fascists, or merely criminal-minded.

• Michael Hirsh: [03-22] From 'I love you' to 'asshole': How Joe gave up on Bibi.

• Elie Quinlan Houghtaling: In harrowing speech, AOC warns the US is aiding "genocide" in Gaza.

• Gabriela Kaplan: [03-24] 'Not in my name': How a new generation is divesting from Israeli apartheid.

• Fred Kaplan: [03-18] What Trump really means when he says he would end the war in Gaza "quickly". Why write the article when you know the answer is "nothing"? Trump spent his first term in thrall to his advisers and donors/investors, and got nothing to show for it (aside from his son-in-law pocketing $2B for his Abraham Accords scam). Ok, one stroke of genius was scheduling the Afghanistan withdrawal to occur on Biden's watch, as that was the exact point his approval rates sunk under 50%. But that suggests Trump was smart enough to lose 2020 on purpose, so Biden would get blamed for all of the messes Trump left -- Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Gaza are the loudest ones to date, but many more are still simmering -- so he could rise again and claim a second term on his own far more extremist terms. The main foreign policy change to expect from Trump 2.0 is that he will provide a much more credible test of Nixon's "madman theory."

• Tariq Kenney-Shawa: [03-22] Don't be fooled by Antony Blinken's crocodile tears: "The secretary of state is very good at projecting empathy about the horror in Gaza. But his actions speak much louder than his words."

• Amed Khan: Organizing aid to Gaza led me to a harsh truth: Biden is on board for ethnic cleansing: "I helped with airlifts in Afghanistan, aid to the Ukrainian front, and building roads in Rwanda. None of it prepared me for the challenges of Gaza.

• David Klion: Hit dogs holler: What the backlash against Jonathan Glazer says about Israel's defenders.

• Mary Lawlor: [03-21] There is no moral argument that justifies the sale of weapons to Israel: "Israel has shown it will use these arms indiscriminately against Palestinians."

• Branko Marcetic: [03-23] Israel's meddling in US politics is aggressive and unceasing.

• Joseph Massad: [03-20] In the West, Israel never reinitiates violence, it only 'retaliates': Or so says Western media, especially the New York Times.

• Jeff Melnick: [02-27] A 'Black-Jewish alliance' in the US? Israel-Gaza war shows it's more myth than special relationship.

• James North: [03-23] Mainstream media finally reports on Gaza famine but won't admit Israel is deliberately responsible.

• Trita Parsi: [03-22] Why US ceasefire proposal failed at UNSC: "Russia and China vetoed language which did represent a shift for Biden -- but the devil is in the details."

• Mitchell Plitnick: [03-23] Chuck Schumer's speech widens rifts over Israel in Congress: "Democrats are fracturing over support for Israel, because their constituents don't support it. The long-term result might be the end of the bipartisan consensus on Israel."

• Ted Rall: [03-20] Israel: Hermit kingdom: "Why is Israel rapidly sliding into pariah status now?"

• Michael Sappir: The spiraling absurdity of Germany's pro-Israel fanaticism.

• Karim Sariahmed: [03-19] Doctors justify genocide in a prestigious journal: "The Journal of the American Medical Association published four letters rife with racist anti-Palestinian tropes. The prestigious platform created the appearance of intellectualism and expertise, but it's all just racism with a ribbon on it."

• Norman Solomon: [03-24] How Israel hides its atrocities in Gaza: "Apologists for Israel's mass murder in Gaza fall back on 'antisemitism' claims."

• Prem Thakker: US doubles down on defunding UNRWA -- despite flimsy allegations.

• Philip Weiss: [03-24] Weekly Briefing: Zionism will never be viewed the same after the Gaza genocide: "Jeffrey Goldberg used to brag of his Israeli military service but this week was forced to withdraw from a speaking event after students asked how a former IDF prison guard could speak on democracy. Zionism has lost its hallowed perch in U.S. society."

America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:

• Sam Biddle: Tech official pushing TikTok ban could reap windfall from US-China cold war.

• Connor Echols: [03-21] 'Not defendable': Top enlisted brass blast conditions for soldiers: "The 'quality of life' for military and their families has become a persistent problem, and its feeding into the recruitment crisis."

• Jonathan Freedland: [03-22] In defying Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu is exposing the limits of US power.

• Daniel Larison: [03-22] Hawks pushing for 'axis of evil' reunion tour: "Lumping US adversaries into a single-headed monster is a paranoid delusion used as to fuel militarism."

• Alfred McCoy: [03-12] The American Empire in (ultimate? crisis: "The decline and fall of it all?" Sections, predictably, include: "Creeping disaster in Ukraine"; "Crisis in Gaza"; and "Trouble in the Taiwan Straits."

• Andrew O'Hehir: [03-04] America in 2024: Blind, blundering Colossus on a downward slide: "If the Biden-Trump rerun wasn't embarrassing enough, US support for Israel has alienated the entire world."

• Ishaan Tharoor: Washington Post's "Worldview" columnist. These pieces could be scattered about, but fit together:

  • [03-19] Israel's war on Hamas brings famine to Gaza: "What makes this calamity all the more stunning is that it's entirely the product of human decisions." Catherine Russell says, "we haven't seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world." He also notes that "Israeli officials, chiefly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appear unmoved by the state of affairs." Like it's exactly what they wanted.

  • [03-20] How the war in Ukraine has split the Czechs and Slovaks.

  • [03-22] Mexico rejects Texas's 'draconian' migrant law.

  • [03-25] The US and Israel have a 'major credibility problem': Let's quote some of this, about US Assistant Secretary of State Bill Russo:

    According to NPR, Russo said in his March 13 call that Israel -- and the United States, as Israel's security guarantor and close ally -- face a "major credibility problem" because of the war, the astonishing Palestinian death toll (now more than 32,000 people), the man-made famine gripping ravaged areas of the Gaza Strip, and growing global frustration with Israel's insistence on prolonging the war to fully eradicate militant group Hamas.

    "The Israelis seemed oblivious to the fact that they are facing major, possibly generational damage to their reputation not just in the region but elsewhere in the world," the memo saida. "We are concerned that the Israelis are missing the forest for the trees and are making a major strategic error in writing off their reputation damage."

• Alex Thurston: [03-21] Why the Nigerien junta wants to kick US troops out: "While Washington's policy has been rudderless since last year's coup, an American exit might not be a bad thing." Also:

• Nick Turse: US-trained Niger junta kicks out US troops, drone base.

Election notes: After Super Tuesday, this is turning into a category with not much happening, or at least not much people are bothering to write against. March 19 saw presidential primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio. Biden's been winning the Democratic side by a bit over 80%, which isn't great for an incumbent, but also isn't disastrous. Trump wins as easily, but rarely hits 80% -- also not great considering no one is actively running against him. (In Arizona, the figures were 89.3% Biden, 78.8% Trump; in Florida, 81.2% Trump; in Illinois, 91.5% Biden, 80.6% Trump; in Kansas 83.8% Biden, 75.5% Trump; in Ohio, 87.1% Biden, 79.2% Trump; in Louisiana, 86.1% Biden, 89.8% Trump. Missouri had a caucus, where Trump got 100% of 924 votes.

• Paul Krugman: [03-21] What's the matter with Ohio?

• Nia Prater: [03-22] The Republican Party is too embarrassing for George Santos: So he's going to run as an independent in Nick LaLota's (R-NY) House district. Most people run as independents because they think they are, but the big advantage for Santos is that he can keep his campaign finance scam going all the way to November, instead of getting wiped out in the primary. So pretty much the same reason Bob Menendez is running as an independent to keep his Senate seat in New Jersey.

Trump, and other Republicans: Salon picks up some substantial pieces, but they also do a lot of stuff that basically amounts to Trump trolling. I usually skip past them, but this week they especially spoke to me, so quite a few got crammed in here this week. I can also give you some author indexes, in case you want to dig deeper (just scanning the titles is often a hoot):

• Igor Derysh: managing editor
• Chauncey DeVega: senior politics writer
• Brian Karem
• Amanda Marcotte: senior politics writer, author of Troll Nation: How the Right Became Trump-Worshipping Mosters Set on Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself.
• Kelly McClure: nights & weekends editor
• Dean Obeidallah: broadcaster, mostly interviews
• Heather Digby Parton: columnist
• Norman Solomon: author of War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine
• Kirk Swearingen
• Tatyana Tandanpolie: Trump crime beat reporter
• Lucian K Truscott IV

This week's links on all things Republican (the Trumpier the better, but the real evil lies in the billionaire-funded think tanks):

• Avram Anderson/Shealeigh Voitl: [03-22] Heritage Foundation's blueprint for regression: "Project 2025 targets vulnerable communities, politicizes independent institutions, and quashes dissent."

• Gregg Barak: [03-23] It's time to ignore Trump's trials: Criminal accountability is now a distraction: "Please wake up sleeping America." It's a rather messy argument, but until judgment came, the civil trials seemed like a circus sideshow, but now he's scrambling for money. Barak himself has a book coming out soon, which news will quickly render obsolete: Indicting the 45th President: Boss Trump, the GOP, and What We Can Do About the Threat to American Democracy.

• Jonathan Chait: [03-23] The paramilitary candidate: "Trump has made justice for insurrectionists the center of his campaign."

• Jeremy Childs: [03-24] Eric Trump says lenders he hit for half-billion dollars in father's bond scramble 'were laughing'.

• Nick Corasaniti/Maya King/Alexandra Berzon: [03-18] The GOP flamethrower with a right-wing vision for North Carolina: "Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, has a long history of inflammatory statements. He has also called for weaving conservative religious beliefs into the fabric of government."

• Oliver Darcy: [03-22] NBC hires former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, who has demonized the press and refused to acknowledge Biden was fairly elected. As Norman Ornstein tweeted: "At $300,000. Far more than experts, and honest analysts. What an utter disgrace." Not the only blowback:

  • Drew Harwell: [03-24] Former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel faces sharp criticism after NBC hiring.

  • Jack McCordick: [03-24] Ronna McDaniel won't be appearing on MSNBC: "Intense internal backlash has followed NBC News' hiring of the former RNC chair as political analyst." So "cancel culture" got her? I could see that she might be worth it if she totally turned on Trump, and offered the sort of insider dish that proved it. But she isn't credible until she turns, nor is doing so for big bucks helping much. And if she doesn't turn, NBC is just offering her a golden parachute to continue her work as a Republican propagandist.

  • Philip Bump: [03-25] Ronna McDaniel quickly demonstrates that her view isn't worth the cost.

• Igor Derysh:

  • [03-13] "Make the RNC white again": Minority outreach cut, Trump election lawyer installed in MAGA takeover.

  • [03-19] Trump melts down on Truth Social as lawyers admit he can't get bond.

  • [03-21] Legal analyst flags massive Trump Tower debt as AG Letitia James threatens to seize his properties.

  • [03-22] Cash-strapped Trump diverts donations from RNC to pay mounting legal bills after angry denials.

  • [03-22] Trump cashes in on Truth Social "meme stock" -- but can't use the money to pay $454 million penalty.

• Chauncey DeVega:

  • [03-21] Lost in the malignant normality of the Trumpocene: "Normalizing MAGA abuse only further entraps us."

  • [03-22] Trump's love letters to MAGA: Campaign emails forge a cult bond: "Trump campaign emails have become quite phallic and psychosexual."

• Kevin T Dugan: [03-21] How screwed is Trump? "Unless he can find a way out of paying Tish James, he will go bust on Monday."

• Abdallah Fayyad: [03-19] Trump is suddenly in need of a lot of cash. That's everyone's problem. Why on earth is that? The US judicial system isn't famed for treating convicts with the sort of kid gloves Trump feels he's entitled to. Is this supposed to be some variation on the joke: "if you owe thousands, that's your problem; if you owe millions, that's the bank's problem"? Whatever happened to "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime"? I might grant that the system, in general, is biased against defendants, and tends toward overly harsh judgments. But why should Trump, a guy who seems incapable of remorse, and who has never shown any sympathy for anyone else, be the exception? If anything, he's a flagrant example of what the justice system is designed to protect us against.

• Henry A Giroux: [03-17] Brecht's warning about the serpent's egg: Everyday Fascism: "In a world shaped increasingly by emerging authoritarianism, it has become increasingly difficult to remember what a purposeful and substantive democracy looks like."

• Rae Hodge: [01-29] The Trump White House was hopped up on Air Force "go pills" because of course it was.

• Elie Honig: [03-22] What are the odds Trump goes on trial before the election?

• Brian Karem: [03-21] We have met the enemy and he is us: "Trump is just a symptom. The absurdity is everywhere." Links to:

  • Howie Klein: [03-15] The press is pathologizing the normal in the case of Biden . . . and normalizing the pathological in the case of Trump.

  • Jonathan V Last: [03-15] What if Americans *can't* understand the Trump crazy? "Our brains are hardwired to normalize extraordinary inputs when they become ordinary." [stopped by paywall, but he's also quoted by Klein]

• Ed Kilgore:

  • [03-21] Why would Trump back a 15-week national abortion ban now?

  • [03-21] Republicans abandon their strategic silence on the Israel-Hamas war: "It's pretty clear Republicans and their beloved Bibi are now engaged in a mutual escalation of partisan rhetoric."

  • [03-21] Trump defenders dismiss all his legal problems as 'lawfare'.

  • [03-22] Under threat from Marjorie Taylor Greene, GOP speaker faces fateful choice: She's upset that Mike Johnson allowed the House to pass a bipartisan appropriations bill instead of shutting down the government, and worried that Johnson may let Ukraine aid come up for a vote. On the other hand, Democrats may want the Ukraine bill enough to save Johnson's speakership (which they didn't do for Kevin McCarthy). PS:

    • Igor Derysh: Gaetz opposes MTG motion to oust speaker.

    • Chris Lehman: [03-22] Marjorie Taylor Greene's vacant motion.

    • Jim Newell: Congrats to Marjorie Taylor Greene on a perfectly executed stunt.

• Clare Malone: [03-25] The face of Donald Trump's deceptively savvy media strategy: "The former President and his spokesman, Steven Cheung, like to hurl insults at their political rivals, but behind the scenes the campaign has maintained a cozy relationship with much of the mainstream press." Evidently, he's the one responsible for lines like "[DeSantis] shuffled his feet and gingerly walked across the debate set like a 10 year old girl who had just raided her mom's closet and discovered heels for the first time" and "it's clear to see that Haley's campaign is just one giant grift to either build her name ID for life after politics or to audition for a cable news contributor contract."

• Amanda Marcotte:

  • [03-19] Trump's call for a "bloodbath" was literal -- let's not waste time pretending it was ambiguous.

  • [03-20] White evangelicals embrace raunchy photos -- yet they hate sex as much as ever.

  • [03-22] Trump's criminal cases are his campaign.

• Lisa Mascaro/Mary Clare Jalonick/Jill Colvin: [03-19] Trump is making the Jan. 6 attack a cornerstone of his bid for the White House.

• David Masciotra: [03-16] Ignorance and democracy: Capitalism's long war against higher education: "My alma mater, and dozens of other colleges, are ditching the liberal arts. That's a good way to kill off democracy." Sounds like a pretty broad indictment, but first two words in article are "Donald Trump," and a pull quote cites advanced degree holders Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz. When I see names of some Harvard grads -- KS Attorney General Kris Kobach is one, and as far as I can tell he's never written a law that's been upheld as constitutional -- I'm reminded of the Randy Newman lyric: "Good old boys from LSU, went in dumb, came out dumb too."

  This led me to a couple older articles:

  • [02-03] Remember the rules, liberals: Only the right gets to mock America: "Chase CEO Jamie Dimon offers words of wisdom from Davis: Be nicer to MAGA 'deplorables,' bow down before Trump."

  • [2021-07-11] Could genocide really happen here? Leading scholar says America is on "high alert": Interview with Alexander Laban Hinton, who wrote It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US.

  • [2021-05-09] Now we're supposed to think Reagan, Bush and the Cheneys are cool? They got us here.

• Andrea Mazzarino: [03-21] A dictatorship on day one? If America were a Trumpian autocracy.

• Kelly McClure: [03-22] Trump refers to AG Letitia James as having an "ugly mouth" and "low IQ" in Truth Social rant.

• Harold Meyerson: [03-21] Republicans say it aloud: They want to raise the retirement age: "The vast majority of House GOPniks tell Americans that if they want Social Security, they need top work longer."

• Stephanie Mencimer: [03-25] From laddie mag model to RNC co-chair: Lara Trump, nepo-spouse.

• Dean Obeidallah: [03-22] "He'll never leave": Why Trump's dynasty, built on corruption and violence, won't end with him: Interview with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.

• Heather Digby Parton:

  • [03-13] Trump's new "Honest Don" nickname can't distract from his obvious decline. Is anyone else calling him that? Has anyone ever heard it and not laughed?

  • [03-16] Follow the money, and you'll find Donald Trump in deep trouble.

  • [03-20] Trump is dangerously desperate for a bailout: "The return of Paul Manafort shows that the Trump campaign is willing to trade security for some funds."

  • [03-22] Martyrs to the MAGA cause: Trump follows Hitler's steps with glorification of Jan. 6: "He may not have actually read that book of Hitler speeches but he didn't need to. Trump's a natural."

• Christian Paz: [03-21] 3 theories for why Donald Trump's popularity is rising: None are very convincing:

  1. Trump is benefiting from economic nostalgia
  2. Trump is recovering from a remarkably low moment
  3. Trump is benefiting from a quieter campaign, muted coverage, and a tuned-out public

  You might as well say it's because many people are forgetful, gullible, ill-tempered and flat-out stupid, because that's what Trump's campaign -- which, by the way, has not been very quiet or muted, no matter how many have tried to tune it out -- caters to. I think this also reflects two problems that Biden has: he represents the status quo, which in the end will probably save him, but for now it's mostly marked by increasing inequality and precarity, even through relatively decent economic stats; also, Biden's still in the phase where he's mostly campaigning for the donors -- and he's raising more money, even before you deduct the fines and legal costs Trump is racking up. That focus will shift with the DNC in August, when they start spending their war chest on actually wooing voters they've thus far taken for granted.

• Sam Russek: The mattress tycoon funding the far right in Texas: Jim McIngvale.

• Greg Sargent: Trump's latest rage-rant reveals a major political weakness.

• Deirdre Shesgreen: [03-18] 'Gross misjudgment': Experts say Trump's decision to disband pandemic team hindered coronavirus response.

• Matt Stieb:

  • [03-22] Trump is about to get $3 billion richer thanks to Truth Social. Or maybe not, given that nobody thinks the company is actually worth anything like its valuation.

  • [03-22] The Republican House majority will soon be down to just one seat. Mike Gallagher (R-WS) has resigned. Like the recently resigned Ken Buck (R-CO), Gallagher broke ranks and voted against impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas.

• Kirk Swearingen: [03-24] Who brought the crime, the drugs and the rape? It was him: "Trump's infamous 2015 speech claimed immigrants were 'bringing crime' and were 'rapists.' Talk about projection."

• Prem Thakker: House Republicans want to ban universal free school lunches.

• Lucian K Truscott IV: [03-19] Trump blows the MAGA whistle -- and his signal is heard loud and clear.

• Andra Watkins:

  [03-19] Decoding Project 2025's Christian nationalist language: "Evangelicalese allows Trump's MAGA supporters to hide their extreme positions in plain sight." Note: She also has a Substack called How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life. Previously wrote:

  • [03-01] Project 2025 is more than a playbook for Trumpism, it's the Christian Nationalist manifesto: "The right intends to force every American to live their definition of a good life through government edict."

• Li Zhou: [03-20] How the threat of a government shutdown became normalized.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Perry Bacon Jr: [03-19] Voters of color are shifting right. Are Democrats doomed?

• Hannah Story Brown: [03-25] Tim Ryan's natural gas advocacy makes a mockery of public service: Ex-Representative (D-OH), ran for Senate and lost, now "leveraging his prior career for a group backed by fossil fuel and petrochemical players." Why do you suppose he couldn't convince voters he'd serve them better than a Republican?

• Gail C Christopher: [03-22] Stop ageism: A call for action: "It's one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice, and it needs to come to an end in society and this presidential campaign." Really, you think this is going to work? Or even help? Believe me, I know it happens, often in cases where it is inappropriate, but unlike many prejudices, there is also something substantive at root here, and finding the right combination of respect and care and understanding in each distinct case is going to take some work, and not just a bumper sticker slogan.

• Ryan Cooper: [03-11] Democrats need a party publication: "The New York Times is not going to get Biden's campaign message before voters." Pull quote: "There is a giant right-wing propaganda apparatus blasting Republican messaging into tens of millions of homes every day, which Democrats do not have." Also: "You could do quite a lot of journalism for a tiny, tiny fraction of what the Democrats are going to spend on the 2024 campaign." I figured the line about the New York Times was some kind of joke, but here's the unfunny part:

  A recent speech from New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger makes clear that he -- perhaps unsurprisingly for a scion of multigenerational inherited wealth -- is proud of his paper's ludicrously anti-Biden slant and virulent transphobia, and will keep doing it. If it's up to him, this campaign will center around Biden's age, while Trump's numerous extreme scandals and outright criminality -- as well as his own advanced age and dissolving brain -- will be carefully downplayed. If I were Biden and the Democrats, who implicitly elevate the Times as their counterpoint to Fox, I'd be looking to change that, and quick.

• James Downie: [03-23] House Republicans just gave Biden the biggest possible gift: "When it comes to Social Security and Medicare, Republicans just can't help themselves." I could have filed this under Republicans, but didn't want this piece to get lost among this week's Trump scuzziness. Trump is a problem, but he's merely cosmetic compared to the deep Republican mindset, which remains set on destroying the institutions that at least minimally protect us from the most predatory practices of capitalism, supposedly in favor of an entrepreneurial utopia. I was pointed to this piece by an Astra Taylor tweet (link just vanished), possibly because the piece itself cites her The Age of Insecurity.

• Robert Kuttner:

  • [03-18] Man of steel: "President Biden's blockage of the proposed purchase of US Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel is unprecedented and magnificently pro-union."

  • [03-22] The promise of Biden's second term: "And the exemplary effects of his green jobs creation programs in his first term."

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Jamelle Bouie: [03-22] The Supreme Court is playing a dangerous game: "The Supreme Court is making a bet, in other words, that it is truly unaccountable." Also, note: "There is no way to look past the fact that five of the six members of the conservative majority on the Roberts court were nominated by presidents who entered office without the winds of a popular majority." The sixth was nominated by a president who lost next time (as did Trump).

• Akela Lacy:

  • Prosecute a cop? You'll face removal from office: "Reform-minded district attorneys like Minnesota's Mary Moriatry are facing backlash for prosecuting police shootings and misconduct."

  • GOP megadonor's PAC fires off first ads in Summer Lee's Democratic primary: This is more about Israel, but it's yet another example of how rich right-wingers use their money to make the world a more miserable place. Who? Well, Jeff Yass, already mentioned elsewhere.

• Dahlia Lithwick/Mark Joseph Stern: The Supreme Court just gave Texas a green light to harass every Latino person in the state.

• Harry Litman: [03-20] Aileen Cannon's handling of Trump's classified records case just went from bad to horrible.

  • Here's why Judge Aileen Cannon's law clerks seem to have suddenly quit.

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [03-18] Bret Kavanaugh rides to the Biden administration's defense in a big First Amendment case: "The Supreme Court's center right appears increasingly frustrated with the judiciary's far right."

  • [03-20] The Supreme Court's confusing new border decision, explained: "It is hard to believe that Justice Amy Coney Barrett actually agrees with her own opinion."

  • [03-21] The Supreme Court's abortion pills case, explained: "The stakes in the Supreme Court's mifepristone case go way beyond abortion."

• Nicole Narea: [03-21] Apple is facing a new antitrust lawsuit that could dethrone the iPhone: Last Apple product I owned was the Apple II. I soon soured not on the product so much as the company's profit-raking business strategy, something they've only honed further during the intervening forty-some years. Sure, that's exactly what big companies do, but only to the extent we let them get away with it. More:

  • John Herrman: [03-22] The government finally comes for Apple.

• Li Zhou: [03-20] How a Mississippi case of police brutality emphasizes the need for more accountability: "Six former police officers tortured two Black men. They're getting sentenced this week." As the article notes, "police misconduct is a systemic problem -- and there needs to be much more accountability." This was an especially egregious case.

Climate and environment:

• Stephen Lezak: [03-22] Scientists just gave humanity an overdue reality check. The world will be better for it. This follows on [03-20] Geologists make it official: we're not in an 'anthropocene' epoch. For geologists, it's a fairly technical question, and given the ways geologists think about time, I'm not surprised that they don't see need for another division. The Holocene only starts with the retreat of the Wisconsin Ice Age -- the fifth major glacial advance of the Pleistocene, itself an arguably premature designation. (The factors that drove ice ages during the period have are presumably still in place -- certainly the continents haven't moved much, nor has the earth orbit changed, or solar output -- but the atmosphere has been altered enough to make renascent glaciation very unlikely.) Humans started leaving their mark on the Earth's surface as the Holocene started some 11,700 years ago, so the whole epoch could have been named the Anthropocene. Perhaps that seemed presumptuous when first named, and maybe even now, but using 1952 as an convenient dividing line is simply arbitrary.

  • Dominique Browning: [03-23] Let's call our present moment on Earth what it is: Obscene.

• Delaney Nolan: The EPA is backing down from environmental justice cases nationwide.

• Cassady Rosenblum: [03-23] Blocking Burning Man and vandalizing Van Gogh: Climate activists are done playing nice: This is indicative of what happens with those in power deny, dissemble, and ultimately fail at problems that have become overwhelmingly obvious. Those in power should see protests -- orderly of course, but also disruptive and destructive -- as symptoms of underlying issues that require their attention.

  But most often, they think they can get away with suppressing protests, which by aggravating the protesters while ignoring the problems only makes future protests more desperate, and dangerous. As noted here, "something desperate and defiant is stirring in the climate movement." Signs of escalating tactics are as easily measured as the increasing ppm of greenhouse gases. The tipping points of catastrophic inflections are harder to guess, but their odds are approaching inevitable, as we have observed stressed humans do many times before, in many comparable situations.

• David Wallace-Wells: [03-20] When we see the climate more clearly, what will we do? There is not a satellite designed to locate methane leeks.

Business/economic matters:

• Dylan Baddour: [03-19] Gulf Coast petrochemical buildout draws billions in tax breaks for polluters.

• Dean Baker:

  • [03-20] Senators push the Increase Inflation Act (A.K.A. "The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act"): Note that this is the sort of thing that qualifies as "bipartisan legislation."

    This is the sort of nonsense that we can expect to see in large quantities if PERA becomes law. It is 180 degrees at odds from what we should be encouraging businesses to do. We want them to develop better ways to do things and produce better products, not more creative ways to game the patent system. PERA will be a great bonanza for patent lawyers, but really bad news for just about everyone else.

  • [03-23] Ross Douthat rants incoherently on Trump's bloodbath.

  • [03-23] AI, budget deficits, and the aging crisis.

• Matthew Cunningham-Cook: [03-21] The PBM-insurer mafia comes for community pharmacies: "UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna's PBMs are using their market share and pull in Washington to drive one of the key levers to manage health caree costs -- independent pharmacies -- out of business."

• David Dayen:

  • [03-18] Landmark settlement breaks up the real estate cartel: "The collusive arrangement among real estate agents that led to Americans paying extortionate commissions is likely over."

  • [03-19] Google and Apple discuss an exclusive deal -- again: "The two tech giants are talking about licensing Google's AI technology for the iPhone. This is precisely the kind of deal that landed Google in court over its search engine."

• Sarah Jones: [03-21] The hunger strike to end 24-hours shifts.

Ukraine War:

• Blaise Malley: [03-22] Diplomacy Watch: Middle powers offer unique 'congrats' to Putin: "Leaders in Turkey, India, use post-election phone calls to offer support in future negotiations."

• New York Times: [03-23] Death toll rises to 133 in Moscow concert hall attack: US sources were quick to blame this on ISIS, and to deny Ukrainian involvement (although Zelensky couldn't resist a "told you so").

  PS:

  • Joshua Keating: [03-23] The battle for blame over a deadly terror attack in Moscow.

  • Max Boot: [03-23] Putin fixates on imaginary foes while terrorists attack Moscow. As do American pundits, who never miss an opportunity to spin against Putin.

  • Anatol Lieven: [03-25] Moscow attack proves Russia -- and US -- have lost sight of priorities: "We both have the same enemies but spend most of the time ignoring that fact." He thinks he's talking about ISIS-K, which indeed is plausibly opposed to both regimes with their long and cruel "great game" history in Afghanistan, but the real shared enemy is the arrogance that led them to think they could impose their power on foreign lands, and then fought back against every hint of revolt.

  • Serge Schmemann: [03-23] For Putin, even a terrorist attack is a chance to spread misinformation.

  • Washington Post: [03-23] Abolishing liberty did not bring Russian security.

  • Joshua Yaffa: [03-24] How will Putin respond to the terrorist attack in Moscow?

• Simon Jenkins: [03-22] Putin is a dictator and a tyrant, but other forces also sustain him -- and the west needs to understand them: "Kneejerk criticism of regimes in Russia, China or India may make us feel better, but there's no evidence it is making the world a safer place."

• Joshua Keating: [03-22] Why the Pentagon wants to build thousands of easily replaceable, AI-enabled drones: "Ukraine's drone innovations have changed how the US is planning for a war with China."

• Jack Hunter: [03-20] Lindsey Graham wants to force more Ukrainian men into the draft: "The war-hawking senator said 'we need more people in the line.' But 'we' doesn't mean 'he.'"

• Pjotr Sauer: [03-22] Over 1m Ukrainians without power after major Russian assault on energy system: "Kyiv says the country's largest dam and hydroelectric plant were hit as Moscow unleashed 88 missiles and 63 drones." For more, see their Ukraine war briefing, which also reminds us of the peril facing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant."

• Ted Snider: [03-20] How many Westerners are fighting in Ukraine? "There may be more foreign boots on the ground -- troops and mercenaries -- than you think."

• Simon Tisdall: [03-16] How will the Ukraine war end? Only when Vladimir Putin is toppled. This extremely stupid piece was written while Russia's election was happening, which we now know gave Putin six more years with 87% of the vote. He raises the usual alarms about "white flags" and "capitulation," castigates Putin as a "messianic mass murderer," and conjures up a new domino theory, assuming that any sign of weakness would only encourage Russia to attack and swallow more territories. Still, there's little reason to believe that Putin could do those things if he wanted to, which is far from certain. The war is stalemated, but neither side can afford to give up, nor is likely to (and clearly, Russia is no more likely to than the US, where Putin's patsy is leading in the polls -- but still 10 months away from becoming president). And despite all his bluster, even Tisdall admits that a "middle way" -- basically a Korea-type ceasefire where "near-term priorities need to shift from attempting to liberate more territory to defending and repairing the more than 80% of the country still under [Ukraine's] control." I'd submit that an even better deal would be possible -- maybe not on territory, but you'd get more security by allowing economic ties to return to normalcy. One should recall that the parts of Ukraine that Russia was able to seize, especially in 2014 but also extras in 2022, were mostly ethnic Russian, and acted as a pro-Russian bloc inside Ukraine. Giving them up makes the rest of Ukraine more pro-western, which is what the US/EU wanted in the first place. I'd call that a win -- and one which Putin wouldn't have to think of as a loss.

• Robert Wright: [03-22] Special cold war freak-out issue: "China and Russia and Cuba -- oh my!" First section is on TikTok, if you're interested, but I want to point you to the second, on how the Wall Street Journal (Yaroslav Trofimov) tries to twist around things that Putin says to suggest negotiating with him is impossible. Further down there's a section on the "Havana Syndrome" freak out, plus his concerns over AI -- which is more the subject of his [03-15] Meta's dangerously carefree AI chief. I'm rather skeptical of his alarm over Open Source in AI -- my position has always been that the real threat is the business model, and Open Source usually tempers that sort of problem (but doesn't preclude it, as Google has amply demonstrated). I'm an admirer but unpaid subscriber, so I haven't listened to his podcasts, but What does Putin want? could be helpful, especially to the aforementioned WSJ reporter.

Around the world:

• Connor Echols: [03-20] US 'prepared to deploy troops to Haiti if necessary. If Biden goes along with this, I dare say it would be political suicide. For Trump, as for most US presidents going back to Thomas Jefferson, Haiti is the quintessential "shithole country." Right-thinking Americans would bristle at the idea of doing anything to help there. Realistic Americans would realize that the US military is not capable of helping, and that its entrance would make matters worse. The left should be pushing back against Biden's warmaking on all fronts. And nobody wants another costly quagmire.

• Sam Knight: [03-25] What have fourteen years of Conservative rule done to Britain? "Living standards have fallen. The country is exhausted by constant drama. But the UK can't move on from the Tories without facing up tot he damage that has occurred."

• Robert Kuttner: [03-13] WTO, RIP: "The annual World Trade Organization meeting came to an ignominious end last week with no 'progress' on major issues. That is a form of progress."

• Emily Tamkin: Slovakia's presidential election is a warning to America: "What to see what the United States would look like under a reelected Trump?"

Other stories:

Laura Bult: [03-21] Why it's so hard for Americans to retire: "There's a reason so many of us don't have enough retirement savings." Video piece, but links to Teresa Ghilarducci's book, Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy. Probably good, but Astra Taylor covers the key point in her The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart.

Stephanie Burt: Lucy Sante and the solitude and solidarity of transitioning: "In her new memoir, I Heard Her Call My Name, Sante dissects her past in order to understand her future."

David Dayen: [01-29] America is not a democracy. Long piece from the print magazine. Seems like I should have noticed it before. Too much to get into just now.

Sarah Jones: The exvangelicals searching for political change. Self-evident neologism is from the book reviewed herein, The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, by Sarah McCammon. Related here:

• Carlene Bauer: [03-12] She trusted God and science. They both failed her. Review of Devout: A Memoir of Doubt, by Anna Gazmarian, "an author who grew up in the evangelical church recounts her struggle to find spiritual and psychological well-being after a mental health challenge."

Rich Juzwiak: [03-12] A biography of a feminist porn pioneer bares all: "In Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution, the historian Jane Kamensky presents a raw personal -- and cultural -- history." Another review:

• Margaret Talbot: [03-16] How Candida Royalle set out to reinvent porn.

Keren Landman: [03-20] Abortion influences everything: "By inhibiting drug development, economic growth, and military recruitment, as well as driving doctors away from the places they're needed most, bans almost certainly harm you -- yes, you."

• Rachel M Cohen: [03-20] Why abortion in the US is on the rise: "There were more abortions in 2023 than in any year since 2011."

• Jodi Enda: The terrifying global reach of the American anti-abortion movement: "Conservatives have not limited their attack on reproductive rights to the United States. They've been busy imposing their will on other countries, too -- with disastrous consequences for millions of poor women."

• Mary Harris: Homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant people. Abortion bans are making things worse.

• David D Kirkpatrick: [10-02] The next targets for the group that overturned Roe: "Alliance Defending Freedom has won fifteen Supreme Court cases. Now it wants religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws -- and is going after trans rights."

• Ian Ward: [03-25] The group behind Dobbs does not want to talk about what comes next: Interview with Kristen Waggoner of ADF ("Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian legal fund that led the successful legal campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade."

• Mary Ziegler: [03-24] The endgame in the battle over abortion: "The arc of the fetal personhood movement signals where Republicans may be headed."

Katie Moore: [03-17] When Kansas police kill people, the public often can't see bodycam footage. Here's why.

Marcus J Moore: [03-21] The visions of Alice Coltrane: "In the years after her husband John's death, the harpist discovered a sound all her own, a jazz rooted in acts of spirit and will." I'll say something about this in Music Week. Meanwhile:

• Hank Shteamer: [03-23] The Carnegie Hall Concert.

Rick Perlstein: [03-20] 'Stay strapped or get clapped': "How the media misses the story of companies seeking profit by keeping traumatized veterans armed and enraged."

Andrew Prokop: [03-21] The political battle over Laken Riley's murder, explained: Riley was a 22-year-old student in Georgia who was murdered, allegedly by an "illegal immigrant," an event seized upon by right-wing agitators, like the guy who tweeted: "If only people went to the streets to demand change in the name of Laken Riley, like they did for George Floyd." Article provides more details. While the murders as isolated events were equivalent, the policy considerations are very different, starting with responsibility for enabling the killers, and regarding the more general context.

One not even mentioned here is the effect of the sanctions and isolation policy toward Venezuela -- mostly but not exclusively Trump's work -- and how that has driven many, including Riley's alleged killer, to migrate to the US. Prokop: "But reality is also more complicated than Trump's promises that he'll fix everything by getting tougher once he's president."

Brian Resnick: [03-22] The total solar eclipse is returning to the United States -- better than before: "This will be the last total solar eclipse over the contiguous United States for 21 years." I find myself with zero interest in looking up, much less traveling to do so, but family and friends in Arkansas are lobbying for visitors, and I know some people who are going. April 8 is the date.

Dylan Scott: [03-22] Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis is part of a frightening global trend: "More and more young people are getting cancer." I have zero interest in her, or in any of "those ridiculous people" (John Oliver's apt turn of phrase), and so I've ignored dozens of pieces on them recently, but there's something more going on here. Every category of cancer they used is more common among ages 14-49 than it was in 1990. My wife swears it's environmental, and while I can think of statistical variations, I'm inclined to agree.

Jeffrey St Clair: [03-22] Roaming Charges: L'état sans merci. "Willie Pye is dead and Georgia is back in the execution business." This introduces a long section on what passes for justice in America. Much more, of course. For more on Pye, see:

• Liliana Segura: After four years without an execution, Georgia prepares to kill Willie Pye.

Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins: [03-20] The problematic past, present, and future of inequality studies: Interview with Branko Milanovic, whose lates book is Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War.

Dodai Stewart: [03-16] You're not being gaslit, says a new book. (Or are you?) Review of Kate Abramson: On Gaslighting. Demands precision of a phenomenon that is deliberately imprecise ("all kinds of interactions -- lying, guilt-tripping, manipulation"; "a multi-dimensional horror show"). Cites Harry G Frankfurt's On Bullshit (2005) as a "spiritual forebear."

Astra Taylor/Leah Hunt-Hendrix: [03-21] The one idea that could save American democracy: Tied to the authors' new book, Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea. Also:

• Amy Fleming: [03-23] 'Organising is the best kind of antidepressant': Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix on solidarity: An interview.

By the way, I just found a link to audio for Astra Taylor: [2023-11-17] The Age of Insecurity: 2023 CBC Massey Lectures, with five hour-long lectures corresponding to the book I just read, and recommend as highly as possible -- I'd go so far as to say that she's the smartest person writing on the left these days. I was pointed to the lectures by a daanis tweet: "I finally listened to @astradisastra Massey Lectures on my way to Boston, just mainlined them one after another straight into my brain, and added her language about precarity and insecurity into my own remarks about surviving together by becoming kin."

Maureen Tkacik: [03-11] 'Return what you stole and be a man with dignity': "Doctors didn't think it was possible to loathe the world's biggest health care profiter any more. Then came the hack that set half their bookkeeping systems on fire." About the ransomware outage at Change Healthcare, which is owned by UnitedHealth ("the nation's fifth-largest company").

Bryan Walsh: [03-22] Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani has been caught up in a gambling controversy. He won't be the last. One of the biggest changes in my lifetime has been the changed attitude toward gambling, which in my mother's day was a degenerative sin indulged by lowlifes, much to the profit of mobsters. Today the mobsters have turned into Republican billionaires -- hard to say whether that's a step up or down ethically -- and their rackets have moved out into the open. For a long time, the shame of the Black Sox kept the lid on sports gambling, but that's been totally blown open in the recent years. I hate it, which doesn't mean I want to try to ban it, but those involved are no better than criminals, and should be reminded of it as often as possible.

• Matt Stieb: [03-21] The Ohtani interpreter gambling scandal is big trouble for MLB.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

March archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 42007 [41974] rated (+33), 28 [27] unrated (+1).

Just a day late, although it feels like longer, and feels like it should have been longer still. I did manage to wrap up a small essay that's been hanging over my head for weeks -- or at least I'm hoping, as a final sign off would be nice. This pushed Speaking of Which back a day, which I didn't mind.

While I've occasionally threatened to kill it, the process of scanning my news sources, plucking out what strikes me as important and/or interesting, and occasionally commenting -- sometimes taking off on a tangent of personal/philosophical interest, sometimes just to heckle -- has been giving me a strange sense of comfort in what are clearly discomforting times.

Besides, this week the writing project I most seriously considered killing was Music Week. As to why, you're free to dig into the notebook, but what you'll find there is rather sketchily one-sided, with very little of what I really think, let alone why. Nor is there more than a hint of how much pain and anger I've felt this week. In my experience, such emotions do no good, although for better or worse -- sure, mostly the latter -- they are a big part of who I am, and how I came to be this way.

You also can simply ignore most of that paragraph, and just accept what I have to say in this one. Music Week changed this week, and may be changed for good, although I rather doubt it. Midweek I stopped reviewing new music, so everything in this week's "New records" section was done by Wednesday last. I don't plan on resuming any time soon, although that's no guarantee I won't have a few next week, and the odds of at least some appearing increase over time. In particular, it's inevitable that at some point I'll return to my promo queue, and when I do play something, I'll probably write it up in my logs, because, well, that's what I do.

Indeed, I started on that this week. After several days of playing my kind of comfort food, I decided I wanted to hear some Art Pepper. But instead of pulling out an old favorite -- of which there are dozens, including any random disc in The Complete Galaxy Recordings -- I remembered a 7-CD box that came out last year, that I thought I could stream. I put it off, mostly due to the length, but I figured I had time now, and was looking to fill it up. Unfortunately, while the title is listed (The Complete Maiden Voyage Recordings, what's actually available is a 4-CD release from 2017, which I couldn't find a label for. But I did find an Unreleased Art volume I hadn't heard, and that got me looking around. And as I did play them, I wound up doing what I always do.

I trust there are no surprises in the "Old music" section this week. Four A/A- records are ones I previously had graded that high in other forms. Getz's Nobody Else but Me is an old standby from one of the primo shelves, and I was surprised I only had it listed at B+, so an upgrade was clearly in order. The Jaki Byard is a bootleg that Allen Lowe raved about. I found it when I was trying to clear up some tabs, and decided I might as well play it, and write it up.

I moved from Getz to Geller by proximity. He's long fascinated me, so seemed worth the dive. Playing him now as I write, so next Music Week will at least have him. His late period seems to produce consistently fine but less than spectacular records.

Indexing February still delayed, as is damn near everything else in my life.

By the way, Kansas's first presidential primary in ages was today. We braved a line of absolutely no one to vote for Marianne Williamson in the Democratic primary. I gave up my Independent status in 2008 to caucus for Obama (against Clinton), and again in 2016 for Sanders (again, against Clinton), both of whom won big in Kansas. Williamson didn't win: current returns (91.9% in) give her 3.4% to Biden's 83.9%, with 10.2% "none of the names shown." Still, anyone who wants to create a Department of Peace gets my vote over Biden's war machine.

Trump is leading Haley 75.3% to 16.1%, with 5.2% for "none of the names shown." Trump had lost the 2016 caucus to Cruz.

PS: Oops! Was thinking about this most of the week, then slipped my mind when I initially posted. Meant to mention that the rated count ticked over another thousand mark this week, now over 42,000.

New records reviewed this week:

Lynne Arriale Trio: Being Human (2023 [2024], Challenge): Pianist, originally from Milwaukee, 17th album going back to 1994, mostly trios, this one with Alon Near (bass) and Lukasz Zyta (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Blue Moods: Swing & Soul (2023 [2024], Posi-Tone): Second album, "celebrating Duke Pearson," for label regulars Diego Rivera (tenor sax), Art Hirahara (piano), Boris Kozlov (bass), and Vinnie Sperrazza (drums), with Jon Davis taking over piano on two tracks. Very upbeat, joyous even. B+(***) [sp]

Gerald Cannon: Live at Dizzy's Club: The Music of Elvin & McCoy (2023 [2024], Woodneck): Bassist, mainstream, several albums under his name since 2000, more side-credits back to 1989, including 75th Birthday Celebration with Elvin Jones, a couple with McCoy Tyner, and most of the stars he lined up for this set of two Jones pieces, five Tyners, and one original: Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Sherman Irby (alto sax), Joe Lovano (tenor sax), Steve Turre (trombone), Dave Kikoski (piano), Lenny White (drums). B+(***) [sp]

The Chick Corea Elektric Band: The Future Is Now (2016-18 [2023], Candid, 2CD): Fusion group, originally formed in 1986, active for a decade after that, with a similar Elektric Band II appearing for a 1993 album, and an outlier album in 2004. This was collected from five concerts, August 2016 to May 2018. Lineup: Corea (piano/keyboards), Frank Gambale (guitar), John Patitucci (bass), Dave Weckl (drums), Erik Marienthal (sax) -- all in the band as of 1987. B+(*) [sp]

Patrick Cornelius: Book of Secrets (2022 [2023], Posi-Tone): Alto saxophonist, from San Antonio, based in New York, ten or so albums since 2006. Also plays soprano, alto flute, and clarinet here (on two tracks with Diego Rivera guesting on tenor sax). Backed by Art Hirahara (piano), Peter Slavov (bass), Vinnie Sperrazza (drums), and Behn Gillece (vibes). B+(**) [sp]

Stephan Crump: Slow Water (2023 [2024], Papillon Sounds): American bassist, debut 1997, many albums since, as well as sidework (especially with Vijay Iyer). [Major failing that he does not yet have a Wikipedia page.] Chamber jazz move, thick with slowly moving strings, occasional flashes of brass. Refers to a recent book by Erica Gies: Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge. B+(***) [cd] [05-03]

Art Hirahara: Echo Canyon (2023, Posi-Tone): Pianist, based in New York, side credits back to 1995, but emerged as a leader in 2011 and, especially with this trio of Boris Kozlov (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) has become his label's default rhythm section. B+(**) [sp]

Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven (2024, Epitaph): Post-punk band from Philadelphia, Missy Dabice the singer, fourth album since 2014, harder than I care for, but do mix it up a bit. B+(**) [sp]

Pissed Jeans: Half Divorced (2024, Sub Pop): Another post-punk band with some critical acclaim. Sixth album since 2005. B+(*) [sp]

Diego Rivera: With Just a Word (2022 [2024], Posi-Tone): Tenor saxophonist, Mexican-American family, born in Ann Arbor, director of jazz studies at Texas (Austin), sixth album as leader since 2013, plus side projects like Blue Moods. Latin-tinged mainstream quintet here with Pete Rodriguez (trumpet), Art Hirahara (piano), Luques Curtis (bass), and Rudy Royston (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Jeremy Rose & the Earshift Orchestra: Discordia (2023 [2024], Earshift Music): Composer, plays soprano sax and bass clarinet, leading a conventional 17-piece big band and drummer Chloe Kim. Theme: "the paradoxes of our information era" and "the dangerous implications of misinformation," exacerbated by AI. B+(***) [cd]

Bill Ryder-Jones: Iechyd Da (2024, Domino): English singer-songwriter, co-founded the Coral, seventh album since going solo in 2011, first one I've checked out, mostly because it's currently [03-12] the top-rated 2024 album at AOTY (88/16 reviews, but mostly from UK sources). He's not much good as a singer, but is touchingly vulnerable, and gets help from lush orchestrations and a kiddie choir, which somehow turns in miracles. Nearest similar example I can think of someone I wound up liking despite hardly liking anything about him is Sufjan Stevens. Ryder-Jones seems even more improbable. A- [sp]

Nadine Shah: Filthy Underneath (2024, EMI North): British singer-songwriter, from Whitburn, lives in Newcastle, father Pakistani, fifth album since 2013. B+(*) [sp]

Sheer Mag: Playing Favorites (2024, Third Man): Postpunk band from Philadelphia, Tina Halladay the singer, third album, after EPs in 2015-16 and albums in 2017 and 2019. B+(**) [sp]

Rafael Toral: Spectral Evolution (2024, Moikai): Portuguese guitarist, mostly works in electronics, quite a few albums since 1994, some (like Space Quartet) more obviously connected to jazz. This is solo, starts with guitar which is soon heavily overlaid. B+(*) [sp]

Hein Westergaard/Katt Hernandez/Raymond Strid: The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn (2022 [2024], Gotta Let It Out): Guitar-violin-drums trio from Sweden. A little sketchy. B+(**) [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

None

Old music:

Jaki Byard: Live in Chicago 1992 (1992, Jazz³+): Pianist (1922-99), started with Charlie Mariano in 1950, later with Maynard Ferguson and Charles Mingus, his own albums from 1960 on. This is solo, from Chicago Jazz Festival, 45:58, doesn't seem to have a proper release so is some kind of bootleg. At one point he manages to blow some sax while playing along. B+(**) [yt]

Herb Geller: European Rebirth: 1962 Paris Sessions (1962 [2022], Fresh Sound): Alto saxophonist (1928-2013), from Los Angeles, recorded some fine albums 1954-58, but after his wife Lorraine died of an asthma attack in 1958, he left the US, played bossa nova in Brazil, then on to Europe, only really getting back into recording around 1984. Fifteen tracks from various Paris sessions, plus two bonus tracks from festivals. B+(***) [sp]

Herb Geller: Plays the Al Cohn Songbook (1994 [1996], Hep): The alto saxophonist plays twelve songs Cohn wrote, plus one original and one standard. With Tom Ranier (piano, tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), John Leitham (bass), and Paul Kreibich (drums), plus a couple of vocals by Ruth Price. B+(**) [r]

Herb Geller: To Benny & Johnny, With Love From Herb Geller (2001 [2002], Hep): Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges, two of the alto saxophonist's heroes and models as he started his own career -- Charlie Parker is often cited as a third, but at this late date, he seems to be more in the mood for easy swing. With Hod O'Brien (piano), Chuck Berghofer (bass), and Paul Kreibich (drums). B+(**) [r]

Herb Geller: Plays the Arthur Schwartz Songbook (2005, Hep): Fourteen songs plus a medley, all co-credits with lyricists irrelevant here (Howard Dietz, Frank Loesser, Leo Robin, E.Y. Harburg). Alto or soprano sax, backed with piano (John Pearce), bass (Len Skeat), and drums (Bobby Worth). B+(**) [r]

Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd: Jazz Samba (1962, Verve): The first of a series of immensely popular albums that reflected and contributed to what was then called "the bossa nova craze." I know this music from a later 4-CD compilation: The Girl From Ipanema: The Bossa Nova Years (1989, following a 5-LP edition in 1984). Getz was well established, having started as a bebopper, deftly maneuvering through the "West Coast Cool Jazz" scene, and grasping other opportunities -- his 1961 album Focus was the first "sax with strings" album where the strings were every bit as interesting as the sax. He had developed as a fine ballad player -- and would continue to grow up to his final act, 1991's duos with Kenny Barron, People Time. Byrd takes the lead here in laying out the rhythms, which Getz rides so gracefully. Getz followed this with a big band album, a minor misstep, then recruited Luiz Bonfa for Encore, Laurinda Almeida, then João Gilberto for the best album of the series, which made the latter's wife, singer Astrud Gilberto, a star. A- [sp]

Stan Getz With Al Haig: Preservation (1948-51 [1967], Prestige): A compilation of Getz's earliest 78s, all with Haig on piano, his name below the title but set off from the others: Kai Winding, Jimmy Raney, Tommy Potter, Gene Ramey, Roy Haynes, Stan Levey, Blossom Dearie and Jr. Parker. Title, from a song here, reflects the influence of Lester Young, especially the light tone. A dozen songs, three vocals of varying interest -- I'd rather hear more of Getz, but I'm not going to complain about Haig's solos. B+(**) [sp]

Art Pepper & Warne Marsh: Unreleased Art: Volume 9: At Donte's, April 26, 1974 (1974 [2016], Widow's Taste, 3CD): Alto saxophonist, spent most of the years 1954-65 in prison, produced some brilliant albums when he was briefly free, especially the run from Modern Art (1957) to Smack Up (1960), but he has little to show for the period from 1965 until 1975, when he recorded Living Legend, kicking off a staggering series of albums and live performances up to his death, at 56, in 1982. In 2007, his widow, Laurie Pepper, started releasing old tapes, with ten (often multi-CD) volumes through 2018. This is the only one I missed, unusual both in that it's from just before his big comeback, and also that it pairs him with another leader, tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh. They were backed by Mark Levine (piano), John Heard (bass), and Lew Malin (drums). Some terrific playing here, especially toward the end. Harder to get a real handle on Marsh here. Pepper makes the point that they hadn't seen, much less played with, each other in 17 years. B+(***) [r]

Art Pepper: Surf Ride (1952-53 [1957], Savoy): Possibly his first LP, compiled from three dates, two with three tracks, the last with six. Different groups on each, with Russ Freeman, Hampton Hawes, and Claude Williamson the pianists, and Jack Montrose (tenor sax) added on the backstretch. Exceptionally lively, ten originals plus a Lester Young and "The Way You Look Tonight," with Montrose joining the race when he could. Not quite everything Pepper recorded for Savoy, so any compilation -- one I've long recommended is Straight Life: The Savoy Sessions (1984) -- is likely to be redundant. [NB: The 2-CD The Complete Surf Ride, which appeared in Japan in 1987, has four more songs and 25 extra takes, inline, so it's likely to be too redundant.] A- [sp]

Art Pepper Quintet: Live at Donte's 1968 (1968 [2004], Fresh Sound, 2CD): Digging around, I found this rare item from Pepper's missing decade (1965-75), recorded in North Hollywood, with Joe Romano (tenor sax), Frank Strazzeri (piano), Chuck Berghofer (bass), and Nick Ceroli (drums). Only six songs, but four of them top 19:37, and the others 13:35 and 10:07 ("incomplete"). Basically the formula he would use for the rest of his life, at least after losing the extra sax. B+(***) [r]

Art Pepper/Warne Marsh: Art Pepper With Warne Marsh (1956 [1986], Contemporary/OJC): This is where they met previously, both West Coast saxophonists, alto and tenor, Pepper a scrappy be-bopper out of the Stan Kenton band, Marsh a serious protégé of the more idiosyncratic Lennie Tristano (as was Lee Konitz, who often played with Marsh). With Ronnie Ball (piano), Ben Tucker (bass), and Gary Frommer (drums), the CD adding extra takes of three (of seven) pieces. Everyone here has a feather-light touch, so that even "Stompin' at the Savoy" seems to float. [NB: Some of this was released as The Way It Was! in 1972.] A- [r]

Art Pepper: No Limit (1977 [1978], Contemporary): Studio album, quartet with George Cables (piano), Tony Dumas (bass), and Carl Burnett (drums), covers "Ballad of the Sad Young Men," plus three originals: two for his wife, the last a mambo. The latter adds a second horn, a tenor sax, dubbed in by Pepper, and quite wonderful. A- [sp]

Art Pepper: Saturday Night at the Village Vanguard (1977 [1992], Contemporary/OJC): After being blown away with the Thursday and Friday Night sets, I sprang for the whole 9-CD The Complete Village Vanguard Sessions box, and never looked back. But three tracks here were released on vinyl in 1977, and a fourth added (52:00 total) for the 1992 CD. This was his all-star group, with George Cables (piano), George Mraz (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums). Two standards, two original I've heard many times and never tire of. A- [r]

Art Pepper: More for Les: At the Village Vanguard, Volume Four (1977 [1992], Contemporary/OJC): As the box proved, there was a lot more great music after extracting the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Night LPs, so they cobbled a fourth volume together in 1985, and expanded it some for the CD. In the intro, Pepper gushes that he's never before appeared with players of this caliber (George Cables, George Mraz, Elvin Jones), which is not quite true (see Meets the Rhythm Section), but he plays like it is, because they play like they are. Title song is an original. The standards are equally his: I've heard him play them many times, rarely (if ever) better than here. A [sp]

Sonny Redd/Art Pepper: Two Altos (1952-57 [1992], Savoy): Pepper you know. The other alto saxophonist here is Sylvester Kyner Jr. (1932-81), from Detroit, started with Barry Harris, mostly played in hard bop groups, got his debut (sort of) here, recorded five albums 1959-62 (dropping the extra d, so just Sonny Red), only one more after that. This was slapped together from four sessions, different personnel for each (drummer Larry Bunker is on two). No alto duets either: Pepper leads on four tracks, Redd on the other two. Nice enough. Front cover puts Pepper first, but spine has Redd, and he needs the credits more. This came out on LP in 1959 on Regent, as Redd's career was taking off, and Pepper was headed back to the slammer. B+(*) [sp]

Sonny Red: Out of the Blue (1959-60 [1996], Blue Note): Alto saxophonist, formerly Redd, first and only album for Blue Note, originally eight tracks with Wynton Kelly, six from 1959 with Sam Jones and Roy Brooks, plus two from 1960 with Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, the CD tacking on five more from the latter session. A very solid outing, not least for the bonus tracks. B+(***) [sp]

Limited Sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

Stephan Crump/Steve Lehman: Kaleidoscope and Collage (2011, Intakt): Bass and alto sax duo, both with previous connections to Vijay Iyer, although none that I see with each other. [1/2 tracks, 16:40/39:02] - [r]

Grade (or other) changes:

Stan Getz: Nobody Else but Me (1964 [1994], Verve): At the time, Getz's samba albums were selling so well they didn't bother releasing this quartet session, which aside from the infusion of Gary Burton's vibes sounds much in line with his early bebop efforts. Mostly standards, starting with a memorable "Summertime," but also including two Burton originals. With Gene Cherico (bass) and Joe Hunt (drums). [was: B+] A- [cd]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Martin Budde: Back Burner (Origin) [03-22]
• Four + Six: Four + Six (Jazz Hang) [03-29]
• Romy Glod/Christian Ramond/Klaus Kugel: No Toxic (Nemu) [01-02]
• Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott's (1964, Gearbox)
• Jazz Ensemble of Memphis: Playing in the Yard (Memphis International) [04-05]
• Last Day Quintet: Falling to Earth (Origin) [03-22]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Well, another week, with a few minor variations, but mostly the same old stories:

• Israel is continuing its genocidal war on Gaza, with well over 30,000 direct kills, the destruction of most housing and infrastructure, and the imposition of mass starvation. This war is likely to escalate significantly next week, as Netanyahu has vowed to invade Rafah, which has until now been a relatively safe haven for over one million refugees from northern parts of the Gaza strip. Israel is also orchestrating increased violence in the occupied West Bank and along the Lebanon border, which risks drawing the US into the conflict (as has already happened in the Red Sea).

• The United States remains supportive of and complicit in Israeli genocide, although we're beginning to see signs that the Biden administration is uncomfortable with such extremism. Public opinion favor an immediate cease-fire, which Israel and its fan club have been working frantically to dispel and deny.

• Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine continues to be stalemated, with increasingly desperate and dangerous drone attacks. Putin is up for reelection this weekend, and is expected to win easily, against token opposition that also supports Russia's war, so any hopes for regime change there are very slim. On the other hand, the war is becoming increasingly unpopular in the US, where thus far Biden has been unable to pass his latest arms aid request. The only way out of this destructive and debilitating war is to open negotiations, where the obvious solution is some formalization of the status quo, but thus far Biden and Zelensky have refused to consider the need.

• Biden's has secured the Democratic nomination for a second term, but he remains deeply unpopular, due to gross Republican slanders, his own peculiar personal weaknesses, and legitimate worry over wars he has shown little concern and/or competency at ending.

• Meanwhile, Trump has secured the Republican nomination, but is mostly distracted by the numerous civil and criminal cases he has blundered into. He's lost two civil cases, bringing fines of over $500 million, but he has thus far managed to postpone trial in the four criminal cases, and he had several minor victories on that front last week. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is remaking itself in his image, defending crime and corruption, spreading hate, and aspiring to dictatorship. (At some point, I should go into more depth on how, while the Democrats remain pretty inept at defending democracy, the Republicans have gone way out of their way to impress on us what the destruction of democracy has in store for us.)

Due to various factors I don't want to go into, I got a late start on this, and lost essentially all of Saturday, so I expect the final Sunday wrap-up to be even more haphazard than usual.

Sorry I didn't mention this earlier, but we were saddened to hear of the recent death of Jim Lynch. He was one of the Wichita area's most steadfast peace supporters, and he will be missed.

Except, of course, that I didn't manage to wrap up on Sunday, so this picks up an extra day -- not thoroughly researched, but I am including some Monday pieces.

Initial count: 183 links, 9,145 words.

Top story threads:

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [03-11] Day 157: As Ramadan begins, Israel obstructs Palestinian entry to al-Aqsa Mosque: "Israel is preparing itself and its prisons for the arrest of thousands of Palestinians, Netanyahu says. Meanwhile, Israel has already begun obstructing access to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, attacking worshipers on the first night of Ramadan."

  • [03-12] Day 158: Israel airstrikes continue to pummel Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan: "Israeli forces bombed Gaza on the first day of Ramadan, killing two fishermen. Israel's fortified highway has reached the Mediterranean coast, effectively splitting Gaza in two. Meanwhile, hundreds of settlers stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound."

  • [03-13] Day 159: Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah: "Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel "will finish the job in Rafah" despite growing international concern over an invasion, including from the U.S. Meanwhile, Israeli forces kill 5 Palestinians in the West Bank in the last 24 hours, including 3 children."

  • [03-14] Day 160: Israel kills 7 Palestinians waiting for aid, attacks UN distribution center: "Israel's Knesset approved a $19.4 billion budget increase to fund the ongoing Israeli genocide, while the Biden administration has indicated that it will greenlight the targeting of 'high-value Hamas targets in and underneath Rafah.'"

  • [03-15] Day 161: Hamas proposes new prisoner exchange deal, Netanyahu's office calls it 'unrealistic': "Thousands of Palestinian worshippers have been denied access to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for Ramadan's first Friday prayers, while Israeli forces have committed another massacre against Palestinian aid-seekers in Gaza City."

  • [03-16] Day 162: Israel kills 36 Palestinians in strike on Gaza home as Netanyahu approves Rafah invasion: "An Israeli strike on a home in Nuseirat refugee camp kills 36 people as massacres continue across Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel approves plans for Rafah ground invasion despite warnings it will be 'catastrophic' for over 1.4 million Palestinians."

  • [03-17] Day 163: Top EU official says Israel failed to prove its accusations against UNRWA: "Netanyahu has vowed to invade Rafah despite the international red line. Meanwhile, the U.S. has sanctioned two illegal settler outposts in the West Bank for the first time."

  • [03-18] Day 164: Israeli army storms al-Shifa again, aid reaches Jabalia for first time in months: "Over a million people in Gaza face 'imminent' famine as UNRWA aid trucks arrive in northern Gaza for the first time in months. Meanwhile, the Israeli army's Chief of Staff says 'a long way to go' until Israel's military objectives are achieved."

• AlJazeera: [03-18] Famine expected in Gaza between now and May: What to know? "A UN-backed report says the entire Gaza population is experiencing a food shortage as Israel is accused of provoking famine."

• Ruwaida Kamal Amer/Ibtisam Mahdi: [03-14] With no safety in Rafah, Palestinians are fleeing back to Gaza's decimated center.

• Hédi Attia: [03-11] Gaza & the legacy of Netanyahu's 'war on terror': "What happened on Oct. 7 represents the collapse of an erroneous doctrine the Israeli leader has consistently promoted throughout his career." One thing I clearly remember from watching TV on Sept. 11, 2001, as the World Trade Center was burning and collapsing, was Netanyahu's shit-eating grin as he was boasting about how good the attacks were for Israel, because now Americans will finally know what terrorism feels like. (Shimon Peres took the same line, perhaps a bit more soberly, as did John Major, who pointed out that Britain has more experience than anyone with "chickens coming home to roost" -- not his words, but most famously from Malcolm X.) Most people reacted to 9/11 and 10/7 with shock and horror. Netanyahu saw them as confirmation of his life's work, and a signal to move on to his Final Solution.

• Samer Badawi: [03-16] 'Armchair humanitarianism': The problem with Gaza's maritime aid corridor.

• Simon Speakman Cordall/Veronica Pedrosa: [03-13] Not just the UNRWA report; Countless accounts of Israeli torture in Gaza.

• Tareq S Hajjaj: [03-13] Palestinians in Gaza face famine during Ramadan.

• Shereen Hindawi-Wyatt: [03-14] What Israeli soldiers' display of Palestinian women's lingerie reveals about the Zionist psyche.

• Najia Houssari: [03-16] Israel accused of 'scorched earth' tactics in southern Lebanon.

• David Kattenburg: [03-11] UN expert: Israel is engineering famine in Gaza: Cites UN Special Rapporteur Michael Fakhri, who says: "We've never seen a civilian population made to go hungry so completely and so quickly." Also: "It's not just denying humanitarian aid. It's not just shooting at civilians trying to get humanitarian aid; It's not just bombarding convoys of humanitarian trucks, even though those humanitarian trucks are coordinating with them. They're destroying the food system." Chris Gunness adds: "This is not a natural disaster. This is a political choice which our governments are taking, and people of conscience all around the world need to tell their governments, tell their elected representatives, that they do not want to be complicit in genocide and starvation."

• Rami G Khouri: [03-18] Watching the watchdogs: Piers, airdrops, and mediagenic spectacles in Gaza.

• Elisha Ben Kimon: [03-11] IDF Gaza Division commander reprimanded for blowing up Gaza university: Brigadier General Barak Hiram.

• Middle East Monitor: [03-18] Israeli settlers vandalise UNRWA's Jerusalem headquarters, threaten staff.

• Mahmoud Mushtaha: [03-16] 'We scream, starve, and die alone': Life in the ruins of Shuja'iya: "Israel's month-long invasion of the Gaza City neighborhood left behind a trail of devastation. Still under siege, its Palestinian residents are risking death to get their hands on a bag of flour."

• Adam Rasgon/Vivian Yee/Gaya Gupta/David Segal: [03-17] 'We're not a banana republic,' Netanyahu says, rejecting criticism from US: Sounds like he's working on his post-political, post-prison career, in stand-up.

• Shira Rubin/Yasmeen Abutaleb: [03-14] Israel faces crisis of its own making as chaos and hunger engulf Gaza.

• Ronen Tal: [03-17] 'Israeli settlers can now do whatever they please. They want to drive off those who live there': "Eella Dunayevsky, an Israeli activist in the West Bank for decades, has lost hope that the conflict can be solved. Her new book details countless incidents of harassment and violence in the South Hebron Hills."

• David Zenlea: [03-09] This Israeli minister wants a full-on religious war. His proposals for Ramadan risked starting one. "Itamar Ben-Gvir has been sidelined for now. But his fulminations still deserve our undivided attention."

Israel vs. Biden: Israelis like to talk about the "multi-front war" they're besieged with, but for all the talk of Iranian proxies, they rarely point out that their main struggle since Oct. 7 has been with world opinion, especially as it became obvious that they had both the intent and means to commit genocide. For a long time, Biden and virtually the entire American political establishment were completely subservient to Israeli dictates, but that seems to be shifting slightly -- maybe those taunts of "Genocide Joe" are registering? -- so much so that Israel can add the US to its array of threats. Not a done deal, but increasingly a subject of discussion.

• Daniel Boguslaw: FBI warns Gaza War will stoke domestic radicalization "for years to come".

• Connor Echols: [03-13] Bombs, guns, treasure: What Israel wants, the US gives.

• Liz Goodwin: [03-14] Schumer calls for 'new election' in Israel in scathing speech on Netanyahu: I'd be among the first to point out that's none of his business, just as it's none of Netanyahu's business to weigh in on American elections -- as he's done both personally and through donors like the Abelsons and lobbying groups like AIPAC. On the other hand, if Schumer wanted to cut off military aid and diplomatic support for genocide, that would clearly be his right. More on Schumer:

  • Jonathan Chait: [03-16] Why Chuck Schumer's Israel speech marks a turning point: "He tried to escape the cycle of violence and hate between one-staters of the left and right." That's a very peculiar turn of phrase -- one designed to depict "two-staters" as innocent peace-seekers who have been pushed aside by extremists, each intent on dominating the other. But the very idea of "two states" was a British colonial construct, designed initially to divide-and-rule (as the British did everywhere they gained power), and when they inevitably failed, to foment civil wars in their wake. (Ireland and India/Pakistan are the other prime examples, although there are many others.) The "two-state solution" isn't some long deferred dream. It is the generator and actual state of the conflict. Sure, it doesn't look like the "two states" of American propaganda -- a fantasy Israelis sometimes give lip-service to but more often subvert -- due to the extreme asymmetry of power between the highly efficient and brutal Israeli state and the emaciated chaos of Palestinian leadership (to which the PA is mere window dressing, as was much earlier the British-appointed "Mufti of Jerusalem"). The only left solution is a state built on equal rights of all who live there.

    Borders may be abitrary, and one could designate one, two, or N states in the region, with various ethnic mixes, but for the left, and for peace and justice, each must offer equal rights to its inhabitants. It is true that some on the left were willing to entertain the two-state prospect, but that was only because we realized that Israel is dead set against equal rights, and saw their security requiring that most Palestinians be excluded. We expected that a Palestinian majority, left to its own devices, would organize a state of equal rights democratically. Meanwhile, an Israel more secure in its Jewish majority might moderate, as indeed Israel had done before the 1967 war, the revival of military rule, the settler movement, the debasement and destruction of the Labor Party, and the extreme right-wing drive of the Netanyahu regimes.

    That the actually-existing Zionist state has become an embarrassment to someone as devoted to Israel as Schumer may indeed be a turning point. But heaping scorn on "left one-staters" while trying to revive the "two-state solution," with its implied "separate but equal" air on top of vast differences in power, is less a step forward than a desperate attempt to salvage the past.

  • EJ Dionne Jr: [03-16] Schumer said out loud what many of Israel's friends are thinking.

  • Murtaza Hussain: Outrage at Chuck Schumer's speech: The pro-Israel right wants to eat its cake too.

  • Fred Kaplan: [03-14] Why Chuck Schumer's break with Netanyahu seems like a turning point in the US relationship with Israel.

  • Halie Soifer: [03-15] Schumer spoke for the majority of American Jews: "Only 31% of American Jewish voters have a favorable view of the Israeli prime minister."

• Caitlin Johnstone: [03-15] If Israel wants to be an 'independent nation,' let it be: "Israel knows it's fully dependent on the US and cannot sustain its nonstop violence without the backing of the US war machine."

• Fred Kaplan: [03-15] There's a cease-fire deal on the table. Hamas is the one rejecting it. Israel doesn't need to negotiate with Hamas for a cease-fire. They can do that by themselves. You say that wouldn't get the hostages back? Someone else -- say whoever wants to run food and supplies into Gaza? -- can deal with that. The hostages are relatively useless just to swap for other hostages. Their real value to Hamas is to the extent they inhibit Israel from the final, absolute destruction of Gaza and everyone stuck there. Admittedly, that hasn't worked out so well, but trading them for time only helps if the international community uses that time to get Israel to give up on their Final Solution. Meanwhile, what Israel likes about negotiating with Hamas is they never have to agree to anything, because the one thing Hamas wants is off the table. And because Israel is very skilled at shifting blame to Hamas. They even have Kaplan fooled. I mean, consider this:

  Netanyahu has rejected these conditions as "delusional." On this point, he is right. A complete withdrawal of troops and a committed end to the war would leave Israel without the means to enforce the release of hostages. It would also allow Hamas to rebuild its military and resume attacking Israel, whether with rocket fire or another attempted incursion.

  But isn't the point of negotiation to get both sides to do what they committed. Why does Israel need a residual force to "enforce the release of hostages"? If Hamas failed to honor its side of the deal, Israel could always attack again. Can't we admit that would be a sufficiently credible Plan B? And how the hell is Hamas going "to rebuild its military and resume attacking Israel"? They never had a real military, and Gaza never had the resources and tech to build serious arms, and what little they did have has been almost completely demolished. I could see Hamas worrying that Israel could use truce time to bulk up so they could hit Gaza even harder, but the opposite isn't even projection; it's just plain ridiculous.

• Joshua Keating: [03-14] How Biden could dial up the pressure on Israel -- if he really wanted to.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [03-15] It isn't Netanyahu who is acting against the will of his people, it's Biden.

• Richard Silverstein:

  • [03-03] Biden in Distress: The Gaza albatross.

  • [03-13] Why US humanitarian aid plan is a sham.

  • [03-18] Gaza in Chains: Netanyahu's "day-after" plan.

• Adam Taylor/Shira Rubin: [03-14] Biden administration imposes first sanctions on West Bank settler outposts.

• Kelley Beaucar Vlahos:

  • [03-13] Mission creep: Will pier become a beachhead for US in Gaza?

  • [03-17] Alarming lack of detail in military's Gaza aid project.

• Philip Weiss: [03-17] Weekly Briefing: Now everyone hates Israel: "The unbelievable onslaught on a captive people in Gaza has at last cracked the conscience of the American Jewish community and sent American Zionists into complete crisis." Picture of Schumer, followed by Jonathan Glazer at the Oscars.

Israel vs. world opinion:

• Michael Arria: [03-14] The Shift: Jonathan Glazer smeared by pro-Israel voices over Oscar speech: The director of the film The Zone of Interest said this during his acceptance speech after winning the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film:

  All our choices we made to reflect and confront us in the present. Not to say 'look what they did then' -- rather, 'look what we do now.' Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present.

  Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza -- all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?

  Also:

  • Juan Cole: [03-12] QZionism hits peak conspiracy theory with smears of Oscar-winning Jonathan Glazer.

  • PJ Grisar: [03-11] No, Jonathan Glazer did not 'refuse his Jewishness'.

  • Aja Romano: [03-11] No, the director of Zone of Interest did not disavow his Jewish identity at the Oscars: "Everybody is misquoting Jonathan Glazer's speech."

  • Naomi Klein: [03-14] The Zone of Interest is about the danger of ignoring atrocities -- including in Gaza. Starts with the speech, but also a very insightful review of the film, one that got much more out of it than I did at the time. I may have been slow because it offered very little of the drama one normally expects. Mostly just the set, juxtaposed against the other sets, never fully explained (because, I guess, you are expected to know).

• Khalil Barhoum: [03-09] The real reason 'from the river to the sea' has garnered so much condemnation: "The false labeling of Palestinian liberation slogans like 'from the river to the sea' as calls for the elimination of Jews reveals an Israeli anxiety over its dispossession of the Palestinians from their land."

• Daniel Beaumont: [03-15] Smoke and mirrors: How Israeli agitprop lies become fact.

• Jonathan Cook:

  • [03-07] How the 'fight against antisemitism' became a shield for Israel's genocide.

  • [03-15] Torture, executions, babies left to die, sexual abuse . . . These are Israel's crimes.

• Feminist Solidarity Network for Palestine: [03-11] Here's what Pramila Patten's UN report on Oct 7 sexual violence actually said: "The UN report on sexual violence on October 7 has found no evidence of systematic rape by Hamas or any other Palestinian group, despite widespread media reporting to the contrary. But there are deeper problems with the report's credibility."

• Luke Goldstein: [03-14] AIPAC talking points revealed: "Documents show that the powerful lobby is spreading its influence on Capitol Hill by calling for unconditional military aid to Israel and hyping up threats from Iran."

• David Hearst: [03-14] All signs point to a strategic defeat for Israel.

• Kathy Kelly: [03-15] When starvation is a weapon, the harvest is shame.

• Tariq Kenney-Shawa: [03-14] Israel Partisans' use of disinformation.

• Jonathan Ofir: [03-12] Human rights groups sue Denmark for weapons export to Israel.

• Roy Peled: [03-08] Judith Butler is intentionally giving Hamas' terror legitimacy: "In recent comments, the American Jewish gender theorist labeled the Oct. 7 attack as 'armed resistance.'" This is where I entered a cluster of related articles:

  • Mira Fox: [03-05] No, Judith Butler did not say they support Hamas: "The renowned theorist may be radical on gender, but not on Hamas."

  • Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: [03-04] The left must stop apologizing for Hamas: "Since Oct. 7, the left has been increasingly supportive of Hamas's actions, despite its oppression of Palestinians."

  There's an element of talking past each other here, and especially of assuming X implies Y when it quite possibly doesn't. "Armed resistance" is not in inaccurate description of what Hamas is doing in Gaza. Especially when they're firing back at invading IDF soldiers, one could even say that they're engaged in "self defense" (to borrow a term that Israelis claim as exclusively theirs). The left has some history of celebrating "armed resistance," but that's mostly from times and places where no better option presented itself. But the struggle for equal rights (which is the very definition of what the left is about) has a natural preference for democracy, nudged on by occasional nonviolent civil resistance -- a realization that has been encouraged by occasional success, but also by the insight that some acts of violence are self-damaging and self-defeating.

  Oct. 7 is certainly an example of this. I think it's safe to say that most people who supported equal rights for Palestinians have condemned the Oct. 7 attackers, most often as immoral but also as bad political strategy. Why Hamas chose to launch that particular attack can be explained in various ways -- and please don't jump to the conclusion, which seems to be ordained in the Hasbara Handbook, that explaining = justifying = supporting = celebrating. The most likely is that Hamas felt that no other option was open, perhaps by long observation of other Palestinians pleading and protesting non-violently, only to find Israelis more recalcitrant than ever. Or one might argue that Hamas aren't a left group at all, but like the Zionists are dominating and reducing their enemies, and as such are enamored with violence, like the right-wing fascists of yore. Or you could imagine a conspiracy, where Hamas and Netanyahu have some kind of bizarre symbiotic relationship, where each uses the other as a wedge against their near enemies. (Even without an actual conspiracy, that does describe much of the dynamic.)

  Still, there is another way of looking at "armed resistance," which is that it is the inevitable result of armed occupation, oppression, and repression -- something which Israel is uniquely responsible for. And because it's inevitable, it doesn't matter who is doing it, nor does it do any good to chastise them. The only way to end resistance is to end the occupation that causes it. So while we shouldn't celebrate armed resistance, we also shouldn't flinch from recognizing it as such, because we have to in order to clearly see the force it is resisting.

• Andrew Perez/Nikki McCann Ramirez: [03-14] Israel lobby pushes lie that people are not starving in Gaza.

• Reuters: [03-17] UE's Von Der Leyen says Gaza facing famine, ceasefire needed rapidly.

America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire:

• William Astore: [03-17] Cutting the Pentagon down to size.

• Andy Corbley: [03-18] In Navalny and Guaido, Washington saw u seful pawns, not political paragons.

• Steve Hendrix/Susannah George/Missy Ryan: [03-17] As Gaza war rages, US military footprint expands across Middle East.

• Loveday Morris: [03-14] US-Hungary relationship reaches new low, with public rebukes and snubs.

• Eve Ottenberg: [03-15] The evil of a permanent war economy.

• Kevin Schwartz: [03-12] The enduring problem with proxies: "The US can't always keep its own foreign fighters on point. It's the same with the Houthis, who are flexing agency outside Iranian consent."

Election notes:

• Robert Wright: [03-13] The real problem with the Trump-Biden choice.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• Maggie Astor:

  • [03-11] Trump's Biden mockery upsets people who stutter: 'we've heard this before'.

  • [03-17] Trump doubles down on migrants 'poisoning' the country.

  • [03-18] Trump defends his warning of a 'blood bath for the country'.

• Aaron Blake:

  • [03-16] The magnitude of Pence refusing to endorse Trump.

  • [03-18] 'Bloodbath' aside, Trump's violent rhetoric is unambiguous: "Trump has already warned of 'riots,' 'violence in the streets' and 'death & destruction' if he's wronged. All of that context is vital."

• Jamelle Bouie: [03-16] Kellyanne Conway has some weak advice for her party.

• Chris Cameron: [03-18] Trump says Jews who support Democrats 'hate Israel' and 'their religion'.

• Zak Cheney-Rice: [03-09] The normalization of Trump's alleged crimes: "His legal strategy is both buying him time and erasing the accusations against him." Noted last week, but worth noting again.

• Chas Danner: [03-17] Why did Trump warn of postelection 'bloodbath' if he loses?

• Chauncey DeVega: [03-15] Trump sneakers and the MAGA uniform: Merchandising fascism to the mainstream. This led me to a couple more pieces worth mentioning here:

  • Vanessa Friedman: [02-19] Those $399 gold Trump sneakers are about a lot more than shoes: "What is Trump really selling when he is selling footwear?"

  • Ed Kilgore: [03-17] The GOP's claim that we were better off in 2020 is so weird: "It takes a special kind of amnesia or insensitivity to look back fondly at the year COVID-19 struck and the economy imploded."

  • Chris Lehmann: [03-11] The MAGA aesthetic is beginning to rot: "The stable of imagery associated with the far-right insurgency no longer seems as fresh as it did when Trump first donned his red cap."

• Igor Derysh: [03-13] Departure "blindsides" Boebert and GOP: Ken Buck (R-CO) already decided not to run for reelection in 2024, which may be attributed to not wanting to face primary flak after transgressing against Trump and his cadres -- even though, until recently, Buck had been firmly perched on the far-right wing of the party. But his decision last week to resign his seat and force an interrim election shows his pique with a more obvious target: Boebert, who facing an uphill campaign in her own district, which she just barely won in 2022, decided to switch to Buck's more heavily Republican district for 2024. Close reading suggests it's not quite a knockout blow, but makes her campaign a good deal more awkward.

• Tim Dickinson: [03-14] Trump campaign ads are monetizing pro-Nazi content on Rumble.

• Angelo Fichera: [03-16] Examining Trump's alternate reality pitch: "The war in Ukraine. Hamas's attack on Israel. Inflation. The former president has insisted that none would have occurred if he had remained in office after 2020."

• Jessica M Goldstein: The right-wing war on abortion has nothing to do with babies: "This is a battle over body autonomy." I can't imagine who thinks that's a winning political slogan, or what the rationale is. Same for "bans off our bodies," per the signs in the pic, although that at least suggests that the war on abortion has something in common with rape. The war -- and I think you have to grant that it's being waged like one, with babies (both symbolically and literally) as pawns and hostages, with callous indifference to casualties (or sometimes giddy delight), and with a vast fog of propaganda -- is really just an assault on freedom, and not just on women. Just look at everything else the people waging this war are also working on.

• Rebecca Gordon: [03-14] Trump showed us who he is the first time around: "Trump 2.0 would be even worse."

• Ed Kilgore:

  • [03-12] Anti-abortion activists have Republicans in a vise.

  • [03-14] Republicans have more than a 'brand problem' on abortion.

• Eric Levitz: [03-12] Trump just opened the door to Social Security cuts. Take him seriously.

• Eric Lipton/Maggie Haberman/Jonathan Swan: [03-17] Kushner deal in Serbia follows earlier interest by Trump.

• Alexander Nazaryan: [03-14] Trump's cabinet of horrors: "Team Trump is doing something this time around that it didn't think to do in 2016: It's planning. And wait until you see what those plans include." Author wrote a 2019 book on Trump's first-term cabinet, The Best People: Trump's Cabinet and the Siege on Washington, but looks like he figured he could get an early jump on the sequel.

• Toni Aguilar Rosenthal: [03-15] Ken Paxton, America First Legal, and premonitions of Project 2025: "Texas today is what America will look like if Trump wins. It's not pretty."

• Jim Rutenberg/Steven Lee Myers: [03-17] How Trump's allies are winning the war over disinformation: "Their claims of censorship have successfully stymied the effort to filter election lies online."

• Greg Sargent:

  • Trump's angry rant about Biden's speech showcases MAGA's ugliest scam.

  • Trump is the big loser as the GOP's impeachment farce implodes: "The case against Trump is based on things that actually happened, while the case against Biden is based largely on inventions."

• Matt Stieb: [03-18] Trump says he can't find a $464 million bond. Now what? "Trump's lawyers want some leniency from the appeals court as Attorney General Letitia James gears up to possibly seize assets as early as next week."

  • Catherine Rampell: [03-18] Trump can't find anyone to spot him $464 million. Would you?

• Lucian K Truscott IV: [03-12] The pure emptiness of Katie Britt.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Perry Bacon Jr: [03-15] Biden is learning that being progressive is good policy -- and good politics.

• Rachel M Cohen: [03-15] Why abortion politics might not carry Democrats again in 2024. It's not like abortion is the only issue Democrats have to run on. Nor is it an issue you can run away from, so make it work.

• David Dayen: [03-05] The intra-Democratic battles kick off in California: "Millionaire self-funders, dirty-trick tactics, pro-Israel and crypto money everywhere. The ideological sparring within the party takes a back seat to campaign shenanigans."

• Ed Kilgore: [03-15] Trump vs Biden polls: No State of the Union bounce for Joe: It's not like any significant number of people approached the speech with an open mind. The only really important thing he had to do was to convince Democrats that he wasn't a dead man walking, and he did a fairly good job of that.

• Blaise Malley: [03-14] How Biden's 'A-team' squandered its foreign policy opportunity: "A lot has changed since the end of Alex Ward's The Internationalists[: The Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump]. Not much of it is good for the administration."

• Nicole Narea: [03-13] Biden isn't advertising America's record oil boom: "Biden is not 'waging war' on American energy. He's boosting it."

• Andrew Prokop: [03-12] Robert Hur's report exaggerated Biden's memory issues: "The ex-special counsel testified Tuesday, but a transcript of his interview with the president undercut his claims."

• Jeremy Childs: [03-13] Bernie Sanders to push 32-hour work week bill. In other words:

  • Bernie Sanders: [03-15] The 32-hour work week is not a radical idea.

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Kim Bellware: [03-14] Father of Oxford shooter found guilty of involuntary manslaughter: James Crumbley, whose son killed four students with guns and ammo provided by his parents. The mother, Jennifer Crumbley, was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter in an earlier trial.

• Ben Brasch: [03-14] Police fatally shoot autistic 15-year-old who charged with garden tool, video shows.

• Margaret Carlson: [03-16] Take a load off Fani: "A judge's ridiculous probe of Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis ends with a split decision and another Trump legal delay."

• Ryan Cooper: [03-05] The corrupt Supreme Court bails out Trump once more: Another comment on the Colorado 14th Amendment case.

• Elie Honig: [03-15] The failure of DOJ's special counsel system. And he barely mentions Kenneth Starr, who's still the obvious prime suspect.

• Sarah Jones: [03-15] The Christian right's imaginary nation: Filed here because it starts with the lawsuit to ban mifepristone, but the topic is much broader.

• Ruth Marcus: [03-18] Outlawing abortion is just the start for some conservative judges.

• Ian Millhiser:

  • [03-12] Republicans will no longer get to handpick their judges when they sue Biden: "The federal judiciary's new rules target 'judge shopping.' That's terrible news for Matthew Kacsmaryk and other partisan judges." Also for:

    • Ryan Cooper: [03-15] Judge shopping ended -- by judges themselves: "Feral (and federal) district court judges attempted to seize control of national policy one too many times."

    • Natalie Jonas: [03-15] Mitch McConnell fumes after courts crack down on Republican "judge-shopping".

    • Dahlia Lithwick/Mark Joseph Stern: John Roberts just dropped the hammer on rogue, lawless Trump judges.

  • [03-12] The Supreme Court may let Texas get away with a totally unconstitutional deportation law.

  • [03-15] The Supreme Court's puzzling decision to allow the government to ban drag shows, explained: "This is a serious blow to the First Amendment and a victory for a notoriously anti-LGBTQ judge."

  • [03-18] Brett Kavanaugh rides to the Biden administration's defense in a big First Amendment case: "The Supreme Court's center right appears increasingly frustrated with the judiciary's far right."

• Adam Rawnsley/Asawin Suebsaeng: [03-05] The Supreme Court is tilting 2024 in Trump's favor, one decision at a time.

• Mark Joseph Stern: Even the Supreme Court's conservatives are fed up with the garbage coming out of the 5th circuit.

• Matt Stieb: [03-14] Not only will Bob Menendez refuse to quit, he might run as an independent: Filed here because he's a criminal, and his claim as a Democrat is long gone. But clearly he understand the graft advantages of running for office, and he's no doubt studying Trump on how to use a pending election to snag up the wheels of justice.

Climate and environment:

• Rebecca Burns: [03-12] Against the wind: "Climate science deniers, right-wing think tanks, and fossil fuel shills are plotting to foil the renewable-energy revolution."

• Keren Landman: [03-13] 4 big questions about measles, answered.

• Aaron Regunberg/David Arkush: The case for prosecuting fossil fuel companies for homicide: "They knew what would happen. They kept selling fossil fuels and misleading the public anyway." The title overreaches, probably just to get your attention, as I doubt anyone wants to blur the definition of homicide that much. As a practical matter, the case against gun companies is much more substantial, with many fewer mitigating factors, and look how far that's gotten. But prosecuting them for something? There may well be a case for that.

• Brian Resnick: [03-13] Are we breaking the Atlantic Ocean? "The climate change scenario that could chill parts of the world, explained."

• Dylan Scott: [03-14] The tropical disease that's suddenly everywhere: Dengue fever.

Economic matters:

• Dean Baker: [03-16] Correcting the Washington Post's 11 charts that are supposed to tell us how the economy changed since covid: The piece is:

  • Rachel Lerman/Abha Bhattarai: [03-16] 11 charts that show how covid changed the US economy.

• Oshan Jarow: [03-11] A utopian strand of economic thought is making a surprising comeback: "It was once normal for economists to imagine a world with less work. What happened?" Actual scarcity, and hypothetical post-scarcity. By the way, the section here on the psychology of starvation has immediate relevance to Gaza, reminding us that the effects of starvation don't vanish with your first decent meal.

• Nicole Narea: [03-12] Biden's vs. Trump's economy, in 8 charts: "The gaps between perception of the economy and the reality, explained." The most striking chart to me is the one on credit card debt, which took a big drop during the pandemic, but has more than recovered past the already alarming 2017-2020 rise.

• Leif Weatherby: [03-10] Think capitalism is terrible? This economist says it's already dead. Review of Yanis Varoufakis: Techno Feudalism: What Killed Capitalism.

War in Ukraine, an election in Russia:

• Connor Echols: [03-15] Diplomacy Watch: The pope is (mostly) right about Ukraine: "It does Kyiv no favors to pretend that this war is going well."

• Medea Benjamin/Nicholas JS Davies: [03-13] After Nuland, the chances for peace in Ukraine.

• Giorgio Cafiero: [03-18] If Kyiv fell, would Moldova have been next? I'd caution that "domino theories" are usually false alarms, but the continued existence of a separatist Transnistria, like Abkhazia and South Ossetia (formerly parts of Georgia), as well as similar fragments of Yugoslavia, will remain as potential trouble spots that can blow up into major wars -- like Donbas. I blame the US and Russia both for for failing to try to find workable compromises, and maybe also less interested parties (like Turkey and the EU) that risk being sucked into disasters.

• Robyn Dixon: [03-14] Why does Putin always win? What to know about Russia's pseudo election.

• Marc Martorell Junyent: [03-18] A chat with the devil beats a lifetime in hell: "In a new book, Pierre Hazan gives an insider's account of the importance of peace talks." The book is: Negotiating with the Devil: Inside the World of Armed Conflict Mediation. The book deals with many examples beyond Ukraine.

• Branko Marcetic: [03-15] Does Putin want to end the war? We should test him: "Ukraine war maximalists are portraying diplomacy as futile, pointing to a cherry picked quote from a recent interview with the Russian president."

• Ishaan Tharoor: [03-18] Russia's farce election sums up a grim moment in global democracy.

• Anton Troianovski/Nanna Heitmann: [03-17] With new six-year term, Putin cements hold on Russian leadership. Looks like he won, the term extending to 2030, with 87% of the vote. "Western governments were quick to condemn the election as undemocratic."

Around the world:

• Chu Guofei: [03-15] The global south and the hyper-imperialist global north. Interview with Vijay Prashad.

• Ellen Ioanes: [03-13] Haiti's prime minister is out. Here's how it got so bad. "How gang violence pushed out Ariel Henry -- and what allowed it to fester."

  • Brian Concannon: [03-08] US should let Haiti reclaim its democracy: "Haitians have a history of coming together to resolve crises -- Washington's meddling is just getting in the way."

  • Brian Osgood: [03-14] What is the history of foreign interventions in Haiti? "Questions swirl about whether a multinational task force will help -- or harm."

Boeing:

• Marin Cogan: [03-15] How to think about Boeing's recent safety issues: "Flying is still extremely safe. But Boeing's safety issues are real."

• Maureen Tkacik: [03-09] The strange death of a Boeing whistleblower

• Li Zhou: [03-13] The shocking Boeing 737 Max incident, briefly explained.

TikTok: A bill to force, under threat of being banned, the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the company has passed the House, with substantial bipartisan support. Despite the many links here, I have no personal interest in the issue, although I do worry about gratuitous China-bashing, and I'm not a big fan of any social media companies or their business models.

• Jonathan Chait: [03-14] Explain to me why China has to control TikTok: "If it's just a great app, why can't somebody else run it?" Explain to me why China can't? That they might tilt the scales on political discourse shouldn't be a problem if political information is freely accessible elsewhere -- unless the point is specifically to suppress anything that might offer a specifically Chinese perspective on the news? And it's not as if companies owned by Americans, Brits, Israelis, or Rupert Murdoch don't tilt their own platforms to further their own national or personal interests. I'm not a fan of foreign capital coming to America and buying up real estate and companies and so forth, but then I'm not often a fan of the Americans who sell out their country, often to take their profits to buy up someone else's, then lobby for foreign policies that put the sanctity of their property ahead of peace and cooperation. I also doubt this would be happening unless there are financiers waiting in the wings to make a killing on the sale, as well as the arms lobbyists, who jump on any opportunity to increase tension with China, Russia, or anyone else who can be sold as some kind of threat.

• David French: [03-17] What Trump's TikTok flip-flop tells America: "On yet another confrontation between American national security and an authoritarian foreign adversary, Biden sides with American interests and Trump aligns with our foe." French somehow imagines that complaint, along with his Reagan conservative cred, will get him invited to parties in DC. But that Trump seems able to get away with such apostasy testifies to how low the credibility of the Blob has sunk.

• Minho Kim: [03-17] Khanna explains opposition to TikTok bill while Senators signal openness: Ro Khanna [D-CA] was one of 50 Democrats ("mostly from the progressive wing") and 15 Republicans who voted against the House bill.

• Ken Klippenstein: [03-16] TikTok threat is purely hypothetical, US intelligence admits.

• Taylor Lorenz: [03-16] The TikTok debate featured many disputed claims. Here are 7 of them.

• Arwa Mahdawi: [03-16] Are progressive politics the real reason why US lawmakers are spooked by Tiktok? "Some users think the app has become a hub for progressive activism."

• Nicole Narea: [03-14] TikTok could avoid a ban with a sale. Finding a buyer won't be easy. "Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is among those lining up to buy TikTok if Congress enacts a law that forces its Chinese owner to sell."

• AW Ohlheiser: [03-14] Banning TikTok would be both ineffective and harmful.

• Nathan J Robinson: [03-14] The plan to ban TikTok is outright xenophobia.

• Michael Tracey: [03-15] The frenzy to ban TikTok is another National Security State scam.

Other stories:

Andrea Long Chu: [03-11] Freedom of sex: The moral case for letting trans kids change their bodies. I'm in no mood to wade into this issue, but note the article, which makes an honest and serious point, and backs it up with considerable evidence and thought. Also note the response:

• Jonathan Chait: [03-16] Freedom of sex: A liberal response. Oh great, another epithet: TARL (trans-agnostic reactionary liberal), which Chait seizes on, probably because he's the very model of a "reactionary liberal" -- a term he's encountered in many other contexts, and not undeservedly (need we mention Iraq again?).

TJ Coles: [03-08] The new atheism at 20: How an intellectual movement exploited rationalism to promote war: The Sam Harris book, The End of Faith, came out in 2004, soon to be grouped with Daniel Dennett (Breaking the Spell), Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), and Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great). While critical of all religions, they held a particular animus for Islam, at a time when doing so was most useful for promoting the American and Israeli wars on terror. Coles has a whole book on them: The New Atheism Hoax: Exposing the Politics of Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens. Coles is a British psychologist with a lot of recent books attacking media domination by special interests; e.g.:

• President Trump, Inc.: How Big Business and Neoliberalism Empower Populism and the Far-Right (2017)
• Real Fake News: Techniques of Propaganda and Deception-Based Mind Control, From Ancient Babylon to Internet Algorithms (2018)
• Manufacturing Terrorism: When Governments Use Fear to Justify Foreign Wars and Control Society (2019)
• Privatized Planet: Free Trade as a Weapon Against Democracy, Healthcare and the Environment (2019)
• The War on You (2020)
• We'll Tell You What to Think: Wikipedia, Propaganda and the Making of Liberal Consensus (2021)
• Biofascism: The Tech-Pharma Complex and the End of Democracy (2022)
• Militarizing Cancel Culture: How Censorship and Deplatforming Became a Weapon of the US Empire (2023)

Matt Kennard: [03-16] Last days of Julilan Assange in the United States: "The WikiLeaks publisher may soon be on the way to the US to face trial for revealing war crimes. What he would face there is terrifying beyond words."

• Kathleen McClellan/Jesselyn Radack: [03-16] Our government's quiet war on press freedom: "It happened under Trump -- and under Obama: The US is using bad law to crack down on investigative journalism."

Rick Perlstein: [03-13] Social distortion: "On the fourth anniversary of the pandemic, a look at how America pulled apart as the rest of the world pulled together." Reviews Eric Klinenberg: 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year That Changed Everything.

Scott Remer: [03-15] Pessimism of the intellect, pessimism of the will: Title is an obvious play on Gramsci, who even facing death in prison preferred "optimism of the will." But no mention of Gramsci here. The subject is self-proclaimed progressivism, keyed to this quote from Robert LaFollette: "the Progressive Movement is the only political medium in our country today which can provide government in the interests of all classes of the people. We are unalterably opposed to any class government, whether it be the existing dictatorship of the plutocracy or the dictatorship of the proletariat." (Presumably that was from 1924, when the Soviet Union was newly established.) That leads to this:

All this should sound familiar. It describes bien-pensant liberals of the Obama-Clinton-Biden persuasion to a tee: their aestheticization of politics, their fetishization of entrepreneurialism and expertise; their studied avoidance of polarization, partisanship, and partiality; their distaste for class conflict; their elevation of technocracy and science as beacons of reason; their belief in the pretense that politics can be reduced to interest-group bargaining and consensus seeking; their desire to keep the labor movement at a distance; their continued fealty to American exceptionalism even when looking to European models would be exceptionally edifying; and their general attitude of deference towards big business. Neoliberals' demography -- disproportionately white, upper middle class, professional, and college-educated -- also parallels the original Progressives.

I like bien-pensant here, as it's open to translations ranging from "right-thinking" to "lackadaisically blissful," each a facet of the general mental construct. The easiest way to understand politics in America is to recognize that there are two classes: donors and voters. Voters decide who wins, but only after donors decide who can run -- which they can do because it takes lots of money to run, and they're the ones with that kind of money. Republicans have a big advantage in this system: they offer businesses pretty much everything they want, and ask little of them beyond acceding to their singular fetishes (mostly guns and religion).

Democrats have a much tougher problem: voters would flock to them because Republicans cause them harm, but the only Democrats who can run are those backed by donors, who severely limit what Democrats can do for their voters. The Clinton-Obama types tried to square this circle by appealing to more liberal-minded business segments, especially high-growth sectors like tech, finance and entertainment. They were fairly successful at raising money, and they won several elections, but ultimately failed to make much headway with the problems they campaigned on fixing.

At present, both parties have backed themselves into corners where they are bound to fail. With ever-increasing inequality, the donor class is ever more estranged from the voting public. Normally, you would expect that when the pendulum swings too far left or right, it would swing back toward the middle, but the nature of capitalism is such that donors can never be satisfied, so will always push for more and more. But the policies they want only exacerbate the problems that most people feel, sooner or later leading to disastrous breakdowns (for Republicans) or severe dissolution (for Democrats, who while incapable of fixing things are at least more adept at delaying and/or mitigating their disasters).

Nathan J Robinson:

• [03-12] Overwhelmed by feelings of complicity and paralysis: "In a world filled with horrors, where our actions feel useless, it can be hard to muster the energy to press on." This paragraph hit close to home:

  As Americans see tens of thousands of Palestinians die, we know that our own government is responsible, through providing the weapons and blocking UN action to stop the war. But how can we actually affect government policy? Later this year, there will be an election, but the choices in that election will be between the intolerable status quo (Joe Biden) and a likely even more rabidly pro-Israel president (Donald Trump). I don't know how it felt to oppose the Vietnam war in 1967-68, but I suspect it must have felt similarly frustrating, with the Democratic incumbent responsible for the war and any Republican likely to escalate it further.

  I do remember 1967-68, which spans the period from when my next door neighbor came home from Vietnam in a box to the government's first efforts to send me to the same fate. I knew people who went quite literally crazy back then. (Fortunately, I was already crazy then, and the Army decided they'd be better off without me.) So one thing I learned was to be fairly tolerant of people I don't agree with. Nearly everything is out of our control, so the only real task most of us face is just coping with it.

  Also the section on critiquing political books ("I have never felt more ineffectual than at this moment"). Here's a bit:

  Today, our public discourse seems to have gone off the rails entirely, and this sometimes makes me question what my approach should be as a political writer. Look, for example, though the top-selling political commentary books. No.1 at the moment is a book by Abigail Shrier, whose terrible polemic about trans kids I reviewed a while back. This one is about how we're ruining children by coddling them and is a broadside against mainstream psychology. I suspect its claims are just as dubious as those in the last book. Should I bother to go through and refute them? Will anybody care if I do?

  What else do we have in the political commentary section? More stuff about how the left is crazy, from Jesse Watters, Christopher Rufo, Douglas Murray, Coleman Hughes, Alex Jones, Candace Owens, Ted Cruz, etc. Books about how there's a war on Christian America, a war on the West, and a battle to "cancel" the American mind. Most of the bestsellers are right-wing, and the ones that are liberal are mostly just attacks on Trump.

  That list is generated by sales, so it's likely changed a bit since Robinson linked to it. One new add is Alan Dershowitz: War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism. Aside from Jonathan Karl's Tired of Winning, the top-rated Trump book is also by Dershowitz, but defending him. The only remotely liberal (never mind left) book is Heather Cox Richardson's Democracy Awakening, where she is astonishingly naïve and blasé about the real effects of Biden's foreign policy.

• [03-08] Why we need "degrowth": Interview with Kohei Saito, author of Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto.

• [03-01] Why factory farming is a moral atrocity: Interview with Lewis Bollard, of Open Philanthrophy's farm animal program.

• [02-26] It's time to break up with capitalism: Interview with Malaika Jabali, author of It's Not You, It's Capitalism: Why It's Time to Break Up and How to Move On, "reviewed here by Matt McManus."

• [02-02] Astra Taylor on what 'security' really means: I'm pretty sure I've linked to this before, but I've nearly finished reading the book -- which, not for the first time, is very good, especially the section on education and curiosity -- so could use a review.

Aja Romano:

• [03-13] The unanswered questions surounding the tragic death of Nex Benedict: "A trans teen is dead. The state he lived in made his life as hard as possible."

• [03-14] Is JK Rowling transphobic? Let's let her speak for herself. I looked for a similar article on her views of Israel -- I was under the impression that she was a very militant supporter of Israel -- but couldn't find a comparable accounting. Curiously, I did find this, which is really just another way of framing her as anti-trans:

  • Mira Fox: [03-13] It wasn't just the goblins -- is JK Rowling doing Holocaust denial now?

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, March 11, 2024

March archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 41974 [41938] rated (+36), 27 [21] unrated (+6).

Another substantial Speaking of Which yesterday, plus some late additions today, bringing it up to 206 links, 9408 words. Otherwise, I have nothing much to show for the week, and I'm feeling as drained and hapless as I can recall, perhaps ever. Lots of tasks and projects piling up, unattended. At least I feel fairly well informed, and like I'm making sense when I drop into whatever topics come my way. Reflexes, and a substantial backlog of references I can still call up.

Meanwhile, I listened to the following bunch of records. I spent a lot more time with the R&B comp, eventually replaying all of it, which was enough for the promotion. Good tip from the redoubtable Clifford Ocheltree, so thanks again. The Hawkwind album tip came from a follower who goes by Cloudland Blue Quartet, who featured it in a #13at13 list. I didn't spend enough time on it -- certainly nothing like I would have had I encountered it at 13 (or 21, which I was when it came out; I certainly didn't have 13 albums at that age, and none to brag about). It seems like I must have heard more from them at the time than I have in the database, but not enough to really register (except as noted).

Three relatively mainstream jazz albums in the A-list this week. I feel a bit bad about not finding less obvious choices, but sometimes it breaks that way. The Potter album isn't actually in the 36 count, but I moved it in to wrap it up here. None scored high enough to be strong top-ten candidates at EOY (11, 13, 14 at the moment, or 6, 8, 9 among jazz), but they are likely to finish high in EOY polls.

Hurray for the Riff Raff is another pick with pretty broad support (86 on 21 reviews at AOTY; making it the year's highest-ranked album so far with that many reviews). It's taken over the number 2 slot in my 2024 list.

As for Old Music, the Gebru album I most recommend is still Éthiopiques 21: Ethiopia Song (1963-70 [2006], Buda Musique), attributed more precisely to Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, but any of the recent Emahoy/Mississippi compilations could do the trick. For solo piano, I usually prefer something upbeat (Earl Hines), fanciful (Art Tatum), and/or abrasive (Cecil Taylor), but all rules seem to have exceptions, and this is definitely one.

PS: [03-19] I have it on good authority that my Laura Jane Grace review, below, is "archaically transphobic." I understand their arguments, and will consider them in the future. But I will let this review stand. I've spent considerable time considering how I might respond, but after one rash attempt, I doubt that further discussion will do anyone any good.

New records reviewed this week:

Albare: Beyond Belief (2023 [2024], AM): Guitarist Albert Dadon, born in Morocco, grew up in Israel and France, moved to Australia in 1983 and made a fortune in business. Albums start in 1992. B+(*) [cd]

Bob Anderson: Live! (2023 [2024], Jazz Hang): Standards crooner, also described as an impressionist, career dates back to 1973, "has performed in more Las Vegas show rooms than just about anyone." Wikipedia has a bio but doesn't list any albums. Discogs has him as "(18)," with two two albums and three singles, none dated. These recordings were "taken from live performances in New York City, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Hollywood, Boston, and the like," also undated. Not a great ballad singer, but on the right song he does a pretty decent Sinatra. B+(*) [cd] [03-29]

Jonas Cambien: Jonas Cambien's Maca Conu (2023 [2024], Clean Feed): Belgian pianist, based in Oslo, leads a quartet with Signe Emmeluth (alto/tenor sax), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), and Andreas Wildhagen (drums), plus guest Guuro Kvåle (trombone) on two tracks. B+(***) [sp]

Ian Carey & Wood Metal Plastic: Strange Arts (2019 [2024], Slow & Steady): Bay Area trumpet player, seventh album, leads a "new chamber jazz septet with strings." B+(**) [cd] [03-22]

Giuseppe Doronzo/Andy Moor/Frank Rosaly: Futuro Ancestrale (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): Baritone saxophonist, from Italy, has a couple previous albums, also credited with Iranian bagpipe here, in a trio with electric guitar -- English, but has long played in the Dutch punk band, the Ex -- and drums (from Chicago). B+(**) [sp]

Fire!: Testament (2022 [2024], Rune Grammofon): Trio of Mats Gustafsson (baritone sax), Johan Berthling (bass), and Andreas Werlin (drums), formed 2009, eighth album, plus another seven as the expanded Fire! Orchestra. B+(***) [sp]

Glitter Wizard: Kiss the Boot (2023, Kitten Robot, EP): Glam rock group from San Francisco, four albums 2011-19, adds this six song, 18:30 EP. Includes a cover of "Sufragette City," not that they need to be so explicit about their niche. B [sp]

Laura Jane Grace: Hole in My Head (2024, Polyvinyl): Originally Thomas Gabel, singer-guitarist leader in punk group Against Me!, third solo album, a short one (11 songs, 25:28). Still sounds male, so you can just bracket the trans angle. Songs open up a bit towards folk, partly to expound on politics, e.g.: "out in the country is where fascists roam." B+(***) [sp]

Dave Harrington/Max Jaffe/Patrick Shiroishi: Speak, Moment (2021 [2024], AKP): Los Angeles-based trio: guitar, drums, sax, with some electronics and extra percussion. B+(**) [sp]

Keyon Harrold: Foreverland (2023 [2024], Concord): Mainstream trumpet player, debut 2009, many credits but only a few albums since. Major effort here, with variable lineups, and a sticker noting special guests Common, Robert Glasper, PJ Morton, and Laura Mvula. B+(**) [sp]

Brittany Howard: What Now (2024, Island): Former Alabama Shakes leader, second solo album, always winds up confusing me, although this one kept my interest piqued longer than most. B+(**) [sp]

Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive (2024, Nonesuch): Band but mostly folkie singer-songwriter Alyndra Segarra, from the Bronx via New Orleans, shows no obvious links to either but rather seems totally assimilated into declassé Americana. Ninth studio album. Always seemed like someone I should like more than I did, but this album is the breakthrough, and not just in likability. I'm not good enough at words to recall much of the brilliance I heard, beyond the "Buffalo" lament and the "Ogallala" reference, but they come with great ease. A- [sp]

Idles: Tangk (2024, Partisan): British rock band, from Bristol, fifth album since 2017, formally post-punk, have a lot of critical and popular support. Sounds good, but ended before anything really registered. B+(**) [sp]

Vijay Iyer: Compassion (2022 [2024], ECM): Pianist, from upstate New York, parents Tamil, studied physics before deciding on music, many albums since 1995, has won virtually everything. Trio with Linda May Han Oh (bass) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums). Starts slow, develops into something I never quite grasp -- one is tempted to use "dazzling," but that belongs more to the drummer. B+(***) [sp]

The Last Dinner Party: Prelude to Ecstasy (2024, Island): British rock group, five women, Abigail Morris the lead singer, debut album frequently described as art rock and/or baroque pop. B+(*) [sp]

Little Simz: Drop 7 (2024, Forever Living Originals, EP): British rapper-singer Simbi Ajikawo, first mixtape 2010, four albums and a dozen EPs, including seven Drop titles, this one with seven titles, 14:52. B+(**) [sp]

Mike McGinnis + 9: Outing: Road Trip II (2023 [2024], Sunnyside): Clarinet player, albums since 2001, including his prior Road Trip from 2012. Tentet again, with three saxes, three brass (trumpet/trombone/French horn), Jacob Sacks on piano, bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Emile Parisien/Roberto Negro: Les Métanuits (2023, ACT): French soprano saxophonist, debut was a quintet in 2000, duo with the Italian pianist, one year older but albums only since 2015. "Inspired by György Ligeti's String Quartet No. 1." B+(**) [sp]

Emile Parisien Quartet: Let Them Cook (2024, ACT): French saxophonist (mostly soprano, but doesn't say, and sounds more like alto to me), debut was a quintet in 2000, info on this one is still very sketchy, but more names on cover: Julien Loutelier (drums), Ivan Gélugne (bass), Julien Touéry (piano). B+(***) [sp]

Chris Potter/Brad Mehldau/John Patitucci/Brian Blade: Eagle's Point (2024, Edition): The tenor saxophonist's album, his pieces, but all four surnames on the cover, fellow stars at piano, bass, and drums. Potter also plays soprano sax and bass clarinet. When he gets going, he can be quite astonishing. Mehldau is equally impressive, when he gets his opportunities, as here. A- [sp]

Joel Ross: Nublues (2023 [2024], Blue Note): Vibraphonist, fourth album since 2019, all on Blue Note, which instantly made him some kind of star. No doubt he is, as is his label mate and guest here, Immanuel Wilkins (alto sax). A- [sp]

Scheen Jazzorkester & Cortex: Frameworks: Music by Thomas Johansson (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): Norwegian large group, ninth album since 2013, teamed up with a quartet that's been active since 2011, both long associated with the trumpet player who composed these five pieces. B+(***) [sp]

Patrick Shiroishi: I Was Too Young to Hear Silence (2020 [2023], American Dreams): Japanese-American alto saxophonist, has produced a lot of records since 2014, mostly improv duos and trios, this a solo, starting in a deep listening vein, struggling to build something much more imposing (while maintaining that eery resonance). B+(***) [sp]

The Smile: Wall of Eyes (2024, XL): Band with ex-Radiohead leaders Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, plus Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. Second album. Slow and plainly pretty, not the sort of thing I find appealing. B [sp]

Vera Sola: Peacemarker (2024, Spectraphonic/City Slang): Singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, parents famous actors, from which her alias provides some distance, started as a poet, second album, first was DIY but at least has a co-producer here, Kenneth Pattengale. B+(**) [sp]

John Surman: Words Unspoken (2022 [2024], ECM): British saxophonist (the whole family, but just soprano, baritone, and bass clarinet here), avant-garde into the 1970s but settled into ECM's ambient chill by 1979 and has been secure ever since. With Rob Luft (guitar), Rob Waring (vibes), and Thomas Strønen (drums). This one is exceptionally engaging. A- [sp]

Michael Thomas: The Illusion of Choice (2023 [2024], Criss Cross): Alto saxophonist, based in New York, three previous albums going back to 2011, not to be confused with trumpeter of same name (or any others: he's "(25)" at Discogs). Mainstream quartet with Manuel Valera (piano), Matt Brewer (bass), and Obed Calvaire (drums), playing eight originals plus "It Could Happen to You." B+(***) [sp]

Akiko Tsugura: Beyond Nostalgia (2023 [2024], SteepleChase): Japanese organ player, moved to New York in 2001 ten or more albums since 2004, this one with Joe Magnarelli (trumpet), Jerry Welcon (tenor sax), Byron Landham (drums), and Ed Cherry (guitar). B+(**) [sp]

The Umbrellas: Fairweather Friend (2024, Tough Love): San Francisco-based jangle pop band, second album. B+(*) [sp]

Yard Act: Where's My Utopia? (2024, Island): British group, from Leeds, second album, James Smith's vocals are most often spoken, with bits of skits cut up and scattered. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Emahoy Tsegue Maryam Guebru: Souvenirs (1977-85 [2024], Mississippi): Ethiopian pianist (1923-2023), described as a nun, "Emahoy" being a religious honorific. Recorded her first album in 1963, until recently was known mostly for her Éthiopiques 21 compilation of solo piano. This collects eight pieces (36:11), solo piano with vocals as soothing as the music. B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru: Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru (1963-70 [2016], Mississippi): Solo piano from the Ethiopian nun's early albums (although the last three cuts, sourced from a 1996 Best Of, could be later). Seems like simple patterns, but lives up to the hype: "some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear." A- [sp]

Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru: Jerusalem (1972-2012 [2023], Mississippi): More solo piano (with a bit of vocal), three tracks from a 1972 album called The Hymn of Jerusalem: The Jordan River Song, six more from a much later album, by which time she had emigrated to Israel. Some biographical notes: she was of "a wealthy Amhara family," from Gondar, and learned music in a boarding school in Switzerland, from age six. She returned to Ethiopia in 1933, and became a "civil servant and singer to Emperor Haile Selassie." She became a nun when she was 21, and "spent a decade living in a hilltop monastery in Ethiopia." After that, she returned to playing music, and released her first album in 1967, in Germany. She emigrated to Israel in 1984, after Selassie fell, and "settled in an Ethiopian Orthodox convent in Jerusalem." B+(***) [sp]

Gigi W Material: Mesgana Ethiopia (2009 [2010], M.O.D. Technologies): Ethiopian singer Ejigayehu Shibabaw, recorded a couple albums 1997-98, then hooked up with Bill Laswell for a series of albums from Gigi in 2001 to this live album, but nothing since. (They were married for some period, but I haven't found dates.) Material was a band Laswell started in 1979, breaking up in 1985 but Laswell continued using the name for various projects through 1999, reviving it here. B+(**) [sp]

Hawkwind: Doremi Fasol Latido (1972, United Artists): British space-rock band, debut 1970, still extant (Dave Brock is the only original member left, and was probably always the main guy; Nik Turner left in 1976, and Huw Lloyd-Langton left in 1971 but returned for 1979-88), this their third album, with two otherwise notable musicians present: guitarist Lemmy Kilmister (later of Motorhead), and vocalist Robert Calvert (whose 1975 solo Lucky Leif and the Longships, produced by Eno, was a personal favorite, and who I credited most for the one Hawkwind album I did really love, 1977's Quark, Strangeness and Charm). Seems too dated to turn into a major research project at this point, but between the post-Pink Floyd and proto-Motorhead, familiar soundposts abound. B+(***) [sp]

Grade (or other) changes:

The R&B No. 1s of the '50s (1950-59 [2013], Acrobat, 6CD): I still haven't filed this set, which made it a convenient option, especially to start each day. Mostly that's meant disc 6, where the novelties not in Rhino's canonical The R&B Box are exceptionally catchy -- especially the Lloyd Price hits ("Personality," "I Wanna Get Married") that I already loved before I turned ten. But revisiting discs 1-3 clinched the deal. [was: A-] A [cd]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Neal Alger: Old Souls (Calligram) [03-01]
• Sam Anning: Earthen (Earshift Music) [04-05]
• Alex Beltran: Rift (Calligram) [03-01]
• Julieta Eugenio: Stay (self-released) [03-29]
• Julien Knowles: As Many, as One (Biophilia) [04-26]
• Travis Reuter: Quintet Music (self-released) [04-19]
• Claudio Scolari Project: Intermission (Principal) [03-25]
• Dan Weiss: Even Odds (Cygnus) [03-29]
• Hein Westergaard/Katt Hernandez/Raymond Strid: The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn (Gotta Let It Out) [02-25]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Once again, started early in the week, spent most of my time here, didn't get to everything I usually cover. Late Sunday night, figured I should go ahead and kick this out. Monday updates possible.

Initial count: 181 links, 7,582 words. Updated count [03-11]: 207 links, 9,444 words.

Top story threads:

Not sure where to put this, so how about here?

• Jacob Bogage: [03-08] Government shutdown averted as Senate passes $459 billion funding bill: In other words, Republicans once again waited until the last possible moment, then decided not to pull the trigger in their Russian roulette game over the budget. It seems be an unwritten rule that in electing Mike Johnson as Speaker, the extreme-right gets support for everything except shutting down the government.

Israel:

• Mondoweiss:

  • [03-04] Day 150: Israel is 'engineering famine' in Gaza. "Amnesty International says Israel is 'engineering famine' in Gaza. Organization head Agnes Callamard adds, 'all states that cut UNRWA funding, sold weapons and supported Israel bear responsibility too.'"

  • [03-05] Day 151: Israel 'campaigns' to end UNRWA in Gaza Strip: "UNRWA's chief says dismantling the agency is 'short-sighted' and will 'sow the seeds of hatred, resentment, and future conflict.' Israeli forces fire at Palestinians seeking aid and food in Gaza City and detain others in southern Gaza."

  • [03-06] Day 152: Prospect of breakthrough in ceasefire talks remains thin: "Canada will resume funding to UNRWA and pay a pledge of $25m due in April. In Gaza, another Palestinian child dies of thirst and hunger in the north, bringing the number of children to die from malnutrition to 18."

  • [03-07] Day 153: Over 2 dozen Palestinian captives have 'died' in Israeli detention camps: "At least 20 Palestinians have died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, health officials say. Meanwhile, new reports from Israeli media say 27 Palestinian captives who were being held in Israeli 'makeshift cages' have died."

  • [03-08] Day 154: Biden's maritime aid corridor to Gaza slammed as 'unrealistic': "Human rights experts say the Biden administration's proposed maritime corridor is a much less effective solution to addressing the dire needs of Gaza's besieged and starving population than a ceasefire and pressuring Israel to open land crossings."

  • [03-09] Day 155: Deadly aid drop and obstacles to a maritime corridor expose farcical humanitarian response to Gaza famine: "At least eighteen children have died in Gaza from malnutrition, while deaths by starvation have risen to 23. Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced that Biden's proposed floating pier would take two months and 1000 US troops to build.

  • [03-10] Day 156: Israel deploys 15,000 troops in West Bank as Ramadan starts: "Ceasefire talks falter as Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson says Israel is using 'deception and evasion.' Israel deploys thousands of troops in the West Bank and Jerusalem ahead of plans to restrict access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan."

• Shane Bauer: [02-26] The Israeli settlers attacking their Palestinian neighbors: "With the world's focus on Gaza, settlers have used wartime chaos as cover for violence and dispossession."

• Giorgio Cafiero: [03-05] Why Egypt can't and won't open the floodgates from Gaza.

• Emma Farge: [03-07] Israel destroying Gaza's food system in 'starvation' tactic.

• Noa Galili: [03-10] Strangled by Israel for decades, Gaza's future must begin with free movement.

• Imad Abu Hawash: A new surge of settler outposts is terrorizing Palestinians off their land.

• Ibrahim Husseini: [03-08] Palestinians expect Israeli crackdown on worship at al-Aqsa during Ramadan.

• Ellen Ioanes: [03-07] What the UN report on October 7 sexual violence does -- and doesn't -- say.

• Eyal Lurie-Pardes: Journalism out, hasbara in: How Israeli news joined the Gaza war effort.

• Khalid Mohammed: Desperate to escape Gaza carnage, Palestinians are forced to pay exorbitant fees to enter Egypt.

• Aseel Mousa: [03-08] As Ramadan approaches, Rafah braces for an Israeli ground invasion.

• Jonathan Ofir: [03-06] 'We are the masters of the house': Israeli channels air snuff videos featuring systematic torture of Palestinians.

• Yumna Patel: [03-05] Palestinian PM's resignation nothing more than 'cosmetic shake up,' analysts say.

• Reuters: [03-09] Israeli settlements expand by record amount, UN rights chief says.

• Jeffrey St Clair: [03-02] Gaza Diary: Burning all illusions.

• Times of Israel: [03-08] Five Palestinians killed in Gaza after aid airdrop malfunctions.

• Nick Turse: Who could have predicted the US war in Somalia would fail? The Pentagon.

Israel vs. world opinion: Note that Biden's relief scheme for Gaza, announced in his State of the Union address, has been moved into its own sandbox, farther down, next to other Biden/SOTU pieces.

• Kyle Anzalone: [03-07] South Africa urges ICJ for emergency order as famine looms over Gaza.

• James Bamford: [03-06] Time is running out to stop the carnage in Gaza: "Given the toll from bombing and starvation, Gaza will soon become the world's largest unmarked grave." Actually, time ran out sometime in the first week after Oct. 7, when most Americans -- even many on the left who had become critical of Israeli apartheid -- were too busy competing in their denunciations of Hamas to notice how the Netanyahu government was clearly intent to commit genocide. At this point, the carnage is undeniable -- perhaps the only question is when the majority of the killing will shift (or has shifted) from arms to environmental factors (including starvation), because the latter are relatively hard to count (or are even more likely to be undercounted). Of course, stopping the killing is urgent, no matter how many days we fail.

• Greer Fay Cashman: [03-07] President Herzog faces calls for arrest on upcoming Netherlands visit.

• Jonathan Cook: [03-07] How the 'fight against antisemitism' became a shield for Israel's genocide.

• Richard Falk: [02-25] In Gaza, the west is enabling the most transparent genocide in human history.

• Noah Feldman: [03-05] How Oct. 7 is forcing Jews to reckon with Israel. Excerpt from his new book, To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People.

• Daniel Finn: [03-07] Slaughter in Gaza has discredited Britain's political class.

• Fred Kaplan: [03-06] Four things that will have to happen for the Israel-Hamas war to end: I have a lot of respect for Kaplan as an analyst of such matters, but the minimal solution he's created is impossible. His four things?

  1. The Hamas leadership has to surrender or go into exile. ("Qatar will have to crack down on Hamas, or perhaps provide its military leaders refuge in exchange for their departure from Gaza.")
  2. "Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other Sunni powers in the region will have to help rebuild Gaza and foster new, more moderate political leaders."
  3. "Israel will at least have to say that it favors the creation of a Palestinian state and to take at least a small movement in that direction." Why anyone should believe Israel in this isn't explained.
  4. "The United States will have to serve as some sort of guarantor to all of this -- and not only for Israel."

  In other words, every nation in the region has to bend to Israel's stubborn insistence that they have to maintain control over every inch of Gaza, even though they've made it clear they'd prefer for everyone living there to depart or die. In any such scenario, it is inevitable that resistance will resurface to again threaten Israel's security, no matter how many layers of proxies are inserted, and no matter how systematically Israel culls its "militants." Short of a major sea change in Israeli opinion -- which is a prospect impossible to take seriously, at least in the short term -- there is only one real solution possible, which is for Israel to disown Gaza. Israel can continue to maintain its borders, its Iron Walls and Iron Domes, and can threaten massive retaliation if anyone on the Gaza side of the border attacks them. (This can even include nuclear, if that's the kind of people they are.) But Israel no longer gets any say in how the people of Gaza live. From that point, Israel is out of the picture, and Gaza has no reason to risk self-destruction by making symbolic gestures.

  That still leaves Gaza with a big problem -- just not an Israel problem. That is because Israel has rendered Gaza uninhabitable, at least for the two million people still stuck there. Those people need massive aid, and even so many of them probably need to move elsewhere, at least temporarily. Without Israel to fight, Hamas instantly becomes useless. They will release their hostages, and disband. Some may go into exile. The rest may join in rebuilding, ultimately organized under a local democracy, which would have no desire let alone capability to threaten Israel. This is actually very simple, as long as outside powers don't try to corrupt the process by recruiting local cronies (a big problem in the region, with the US, its Sunni allies, Iran, its Shiite friends, Turkey, and possibly others serial offenders).

  Sure, this would leave Israel with a residual Palestinian problem elsewhere: both with its second- and lesser-class citizens and wards, and with its still numerous external refugees. But that problem has not yet turned genocidal (although it's getting close, and is clearly possible as long as Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are part of Israel's ruling coalition). But there is time to work on that, especially once Israel is freed from the burden and horror of genocide in Gaza. There are lots of ideas that could work as solutions, but they all ultimately to accepting that everyone, regardless of where they live, should enjoy equal rights and opportunities. That will be a tough pill for many Israelis to swallow, but is the only one that will ultimately free them from the internecine struggle Israelis and Palestinians have been stuck with for most of a century. There's scant evidence that most Israelis want that kind of security, so people elsewhere will need to continue with BDS-like strategies of persuasion. But failure to make progress will just expose Israelis to revolts like they experienced on Oct. 7, and Palestinians to the immiseration and gloom they've suffered so often over many decades decades.

• Colbert I King: [03-08] The United States cannot afford to be complicit in Gaza's tragedy: True or not, isn't it a bit late to think of this?

• Nicholas Kristof: [03-19] 'People are hoping that Israel nukes us so we get rid of this pain': Texts with a Gazan acquaintance named Esa Alshannat, not Hamas, but after Israeli soldiers left an area, found "dead, rotten and half eaten by wild dogs." Kristof explains: "Roughly 1 percent of Gaza's people today are Hamas fighters. To understand what the other 99 percent are enduring, as the United States supplies weapons for this war and vetoes cease-fire resolutions at the United Nations, think of Alshannat and multiply him by two million."

• Debbie Nathan:

  • [03-03] How Israel quietly crushed early American Jewish dissent on Palestine: Review of Geoffrey Levin: Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978, "delves into American Jewish McCarthyism from the 1950s through the late 1970s."

  • Wolf Blitzer cut his teeth doing journalism for AIPAC-linked propaganda outlets.

• Vivian Nereim: [03-10] As Israel's ties to Arab countries fray, a stained lifeline remains: The United Arab Emirates is still on speaking terms with Israel, but doesn't have much to show for their solicitude.

• Ilan Pappé: [02-01] It is dark before the dawn, but Israeli settler colonialism is at an end.

• Mitchell Plitnick: [03-07] Replacing Netanyahu with Gantz won't fix the problem.

• Rebecca Lee Sanchez: [03-06] Gaza's miracle of the manna: Aid and the American God complex.

• Philip Weiss:

  [03-07] Zionism and Jewish identity: "American Zionists are not deluded about Zionism. They know exactly what Israel is, and they are actively supporting blatant supremacy, racism, and apartheid. But that is changing, because Zionism is finally being challenged in the left/liberal press."

  • [03-10] Weekly Briefing: Israeli genocide is 'embarrassing' Biden, at last.

• Brett Wilkins: [03-06] AIPAC's dark money arm unleashes $100 million: "Amid the Netanyahu government's assault on Gaza and intensifying repression in the West Bank, AIPAC is showing zero tolerance for even the mildest criticism of Israel during the 2024 US elections."

America's increasingly desperate and pathetic empire: I started this section to separate out stories on how the US was expanding its operations in the Middle East, ostensibly to deter regional adversaries from attacking Israel while Israel was busy with its genocide in Gaza. At the time, it seemed like Israel was actively trying to promote a broader war, partly to provide a distraction from its own focus (much as WWII served to shield the Holocaust), and partly to give the Americans something else to focus on. Israel tried selling this as a "seven-front war" -- a line that Thomas Friedman readily swallowed, quickly recovering from his initial shock at Israel's overreaction in Gaza -- but with neither Iran nor the US relishing what Israel imagined to be the main event, thus far only the Houthis in Yemen took the bait (where US/UK reprisals aren't much of a change from what the Saudis had been doing, with US help, for years). So this section has gradually been taken over by more general articles on America's imperial posture (with carve outs for the still-raging wars in Israel/Gaza and Ukraine/Russia.

• Ramzy Baroud:

  • [03-04] To defend Israel's actions, the US is destroying the int'l legal system it once constructed: I'm not sure that the US ever supported any sort of international justice system. The post-WWII trials in Japan and Germany were rigged to impose "victor's justice." The UN started as a victors' club, with Germany and Japan excluded, and the Security Council was designed so small states couldn't gang up on the powers. And when Soviet vetoes precluded using the UN as a cold war tool, the US invented various "coalitions of the willing" to rubber-stamp policy. The US never recognized independent initiatives like the ICJ, although the US supports using the ICJ where it's convenient, like against Russia in Ukraine. The only "rules-based order" the US supports is its own, and even there its blind support for Israel arbitrary and capricious -- subject to no rules at all, only the whims of Netanyahu.

  • [03-08] On solidarity and Kushner's shame: How Gaza defeated US strategem, again.

• Mac William Bishop: [02-23] American idiots kill the American century: "After decades of foreign-policy bungling and strategic defeats, the US has never seemed weaker -- and dictators around the world know it."

• Christopher Caldwell: [03-09] This prophetic academic now foresees the West's defeat: On French historian/political essayist Emmanuel Todd, who claims to have been the first to predict the demise of the Soviet Union (see his The Final Fall: An Essay on the Decomposition of the Soviet Sphere, from 1976), has a new book called La Défaite de l'Occident. Caldwell, who has a book called The Age of Entitlement, seems to be an unconventional conservative, so even when he has seeming insights it's hard to trust them. Even harder to get a read on Todd. (The NYTimes' insistence on "Mr." at every turn has never been more annoying.) But their skepticism of Biden et al. on Ukraine/Russia is certainly warranted. By the way, here are some old Caldwell pieces:

  • [2023-02-07] Russia and Ukraine have incentives to negotiate. The US has other plans.

  • [2022-05-31] The war in Ukraine may be impossible to stop. And the US deserves much of the blame.

• Brian Concannon: [03-08] US should let Haiti reclaim its democracy.

• Gregory Elich: [03-08] How Madeleine Albright got the war the US wanted: NATO goes on the warpath, initially in Yugoslavia, then . . . "the opportunity to expand Western domination over other nations."

• Tom Engelhardt: [03-05] A big-time war on terror: Living on the wrong world: "A planetary cease fire is desperately needed."

• Connor Freeman: [03-07] Biden's unpopular wars reap mass death and nuclear brinkmanship.

• Marc Martorell Junyent: [03-07] Tempest in a teapot: British illusions and American hegemony from Iraq to Yemen. Review of Tom Stevenson's book, Someone Else's Empire: British Illusions and American Hegemony.

• Joshua Keating: [03-09] The Houthis have the world's attention -- and they won't give it up: "What do Yemen's suddenly world-famous rebels really want, and what will make them stop?" One lesson here is that deterrence only works if it threatens a radical break from the status quo. The Saudis, with American support, have been bombing the Houthis for more than a decade now, causing great hardship for the Yemeni people, but hardly moving the needle on Houthi political power. So how much worse would it get if they picked a fight with Israel's proxy navy? Moreover, by standing up to Israel and its unwitting allies, they gain street cred and a claim to the moral high ground. For similar reasons, sanctions are more likely to threaten nations that aren't used to them. Once you're under sanctions, which with the US tends to be a life sentence, what difference does a few more make? It's too late for mere threats to change the behavior of Yemen, Iran, North Korea, and/or Russia -- though maybe not to affect powers whose misbehaviors have thus far escaped American sanctions, like Israel and Saudi Arabia. But for the rest, to effect change, you need to do something positive, to give them some motivation and opportunity to change. In many cases, that shouldn't even be hard. Just try to do the right thing. Respect the independence of others. Look for mutual benefits, like in trade. Help them help their own people. And stop defending genocide.

• Nan Levinson: [03-07] The enticements of war (and peace).

• Blaise Malley: [03-06] Opportunity calls as Cold War warriors exit the stage: "Will Mitch McConnell's replacement represent the old or new guard in his party's foreign policy?"

• Paul R Pillar: [03-06] Why Netanyahu is laughing all the way to the bank: "David Petraeus said recently that US leverage on Israel to do the right thing in Gaza is 'overestimated' -- that's just not true."

• Robert Wright: [03-08] The real problem with the Trump-Biden choice: This piece is far-reaching enough I could have slotted it anywhere, but it has the most bearing here: the problem is how much Trump and Biden have in common, especially where it comes to foreign affairs: "America First" may seem like a different approach from Biden's, but the latter is just a slightly more generous and less intemperate variation, as both start from the assumption that America is and must be the leader, and everyone else needs to follow in line. Trump thinks he can demand the other pay tribute; Biden possibly knows better, but his pursuit of arms deals makes me wonder. Wright cites a piece by Adam Tooze I can't afford or find, quoting it only up to the all-important "but" after which the Trump-Biden gap narrows. While I'm sure Tooze has interesting things to say, Wright's efforts to steer foreign policy thinking away from the zero-sum confrontations of the Metternich-to-Kissinger era are the points to consider.

• Fareed Zakaria: [03-08] Amid the horror in Gaza, it's easy to miss that the Middle East has changed.

Election notes: Sixteen states and territories voted for president on Super Tuesday, mostly confirming what we already knew. Biden won everywhere (except American Samoa), even over "uncommitted" (which mostly got a push from those most seriously upset over his support for Israeli genocide). Trump won everywhere -- except in Vermont, narrowly to Nikki Haley, who nonetheless shuttered her campaign (but hasn't yet endorsed Trump). Dean Phillips dropped out of the Democratic race after getting 8% in his home state of Minnesota and 9% in Oklahoma. He endorsed Biden. I'm not very happy with any of the news summaries I've seen, but here are a few to skim through: 538; AP; Ballotpedia; CBS News; CNBC; CNN; Guardian; NBC News; New York Times; Politico; USA Today; Washington Post. One quote I noticed (from CNN) was from a "reluctant Democrat" in Arizona: "It's hard to vote for someone with multiple felony charges; and it's also very hard to vote for someone that is pro-genocide."

• Michael C Bender: [03-06] How Trump's crushing primary triumph masked quiet weaknesses: "Even though he easily defeated Nikki Haley, the primary results suggested that he still has long-term problems with suburban voters, moderates, and independents."

• Aaron Blake: [03-08] The Texas GOP purge and other below-the-radar Super Tuesday nuggets.

• Nate Cohn: [03-07] Where Nikki Haley won and what it means: Inside the Beltway (61%), Home base and Mountain West cities (57%), Vermont (56%), University towns (56%), Resort towns (55%): In other words, the sorts of places that would automatically disqualify one as a Real Republican.

• Antonia Hitchens: [03-06] Watching Super Tuesday returns at Mar-a-Lago.

• Ro Khanna: [03-07] The message from Michigan couldn't be more clear: Actually, these figures (see Nichols below) are hardly enough for a bump in the road to Biden's reelection -- unlike, say, Eugene McCarthy's New Hampshire showing in 1968, where Lyndon Johnson got the message clearly enough to give up his campaign. What they do show is that the near-unanimity of Democratic politicians in support of Israel is not shared by the rank and file.

• Adam Nagourney/Shane Goldmacher: [03-09] The Biden-Trump rerun: A nation craving change gets more of the same: I bypassed this first time around, but maybe we should offer some kind of reward for the week's most inane opinion piece. Wasn't Nagourney a finalist in one of those hack journalists playoffs? (If memory serves -- why the hell can't I just google this? -- he finished runner-up to Karen Tumulty.)

• John Nichols: [03-05] Gaza is on the ballot all over America: "Inspired by Michigan's unexpectedly high 'uncommitted' vote, activists across the country are now mounting campaigns to send Biden a pro-cease-fire message." Uncommitted slate votes thus far (from NYTimes link, above): Minnesota: 18.9%; Michigan: 13.2%; North Carolina: 12.7%; Massachusetts: 9.4%; Colorado: 8.1%; Tennessee: 7.9%; Alabama: 6.0%; Iowa: 3.9%.

• Alexander Sammon:

  • [03-09] Katie Porter said her Senate primary was "rigged." Let's discuss! "Her complaint was kind of MAGA-coded. But it wasn't entirely wrong." Adam Schiff had a huge fundraising advantage over Porter, as Porter did over the worthier still Barbara Lee. This is one of the few pieces I've found that looks into where that money came from (AIPAC chipped in $5 million; a crypto-backed PAC doubled that), and how it was used, explained in more depth in the following:

  • [03-05] Democrats have turned to odd, cynical tactics to beat one another in California's Senate race. Schiff wound up spending a lot of money not trying to win Democrats over from Porter and Lee -- something that might require explaining why he supported the Iraq War (which itself partly explains why he got all that AIPAC money) -- but instead spent millions raising Republican Steve Garvey's profile. In the end, Schiff was so successful he lost first place to Garvey (on one but not both of the contests: one to finish Feinstein's term, one for the six year term that follows), but at least he got past Porter and Lee, turning the open primary into a traditional R-D contest (almost certainly D in California).

• Michael Scherer: [03-08] Inside No Labels decision to plow ahead with choosing presidential candidates: "The group announced on a call with supporters Friday plans to announce a selection process for their third-party presidential ticket on March 14 with a nomination by April." More No Labels:

  • Ed Kilgore: [03-08] No Labels green-lights 2024 bid with no candidates: "The idea of a 'unity ticket' is more popular than a bid with named candidates."

• Li Zhou: [03-06] Jason Palmer, the guy who beat Biden in American Samoa, briefly explained.

Trump, and other Republicans:

• David Atkins: [03-06] The incompetent malfeasance of today's Republican party: "They're mendacious buffoons, but their lack of political acumen makes them no less dangerous than if they knew how to shoot straight." Laugh as you may, but in much of the country, they're still kicking your ass.

• Zack Beauchamp: [03-06] The Republican primary was a joke. It tells us something deadly serious. "Trump's inevitable romp to victory revealed how strong his hold on the GOP is -- and how dangerous he remains to democracy."

• Ryan Bort: [03-08] Republicans tap election denier, Trump's daughter-in-law to run RNC: "The MAGA takeover of the Republican National Committee is complete, and the group appears poised to subsidize Trump's legal fights." Michael Whatley and Lara Trump.

• Zak Cheney-Rice: [03-09] The normalization of Trump's alleged crimes: "His legal strategy is both buying him time and erasing the accusations against him."

• Juan Cole: [03-06] Trump, Like Biden, supports Israeli Campaign against Gaza: "You've got to finish the Problem": Odd turn of phrase, isn't it? (I usually try to standardize case in headlines, but this one was so peculiar, I left it alone.) Most people try to solve problems, but "finish" could have two meanings, one suggesting that it isn't problem enough yet, so needs to be made more complete; the other interpretation, which is more like Trump, is that "Problem" means Palestinians, and "finish" means annihilation (or more vividly, if you know the original German, Vernichtung). I don't quite buy the argument that "Trump's position on Gaza is not any different from that of Joe Biden." Biden may feel powerless to object to Israel, but he's not unaware of the human cost. Trump simply doesn't care. As long as the checks don't bounce, he's good to go. More on Trump's Gaza "problem":

  • Jake Johnson: [03-07] Trump's answer on Gaza shows he's 'even worse' than Biden on Israel.

  • James Risen: On Israel, Trump is even worse than Biden.

  • Connor Echols: [03-04] Would Trump 2.0 be a hawk or a dove? "It's the advisers, stupid."

• Dan Diamond/Alex Horton: [03-07] Navy demoted Ronny Jackson after probe into White House behavior: "Trump's former physician and GOP ally is now a retired captain, not an admiral."

• Jesse Drucker: [03-09] How Trump's Justice Dept. derailed an investigation of a major company: "The industrial giant Caterpillar hired William Barr and other lawyers to defuse a federal criminal investigation of alleged tax dodges."

• Michael Gold: [03-10] Trump vilifies migrants and mocks Biden's stutter in Georgia speech.

• Jessica M Goldstein: The right-wing war on abortion has nothing to do with babies: "Coverage of the recent controversy over IVF has made a perilous omission: This is a battle over body autonomy." Related:

  • Aubrey Hirsch: [03-07] IVF is popular -- and imperiled.

• Alex Isenstadt: [03-11] Ralph Reed's army plans $62 million spending spree backing Trump: "Faith & amp; Freedom plans to spend big registering and turning out evangelicals and handing out 30 million pieces of literature at churches."

• Josh Kovensky: [03-09] Inside a secret society of prominent right-wing Christian men prepping for a 'national divorce'.

• Paul Krugman:

  • [03-04] Trump is running on dystopian fantasies.

  • [03-07] Reminder: Trump's last year in office was a national nightmare.

• Eric Levitz:

  • [03-05] Republicans' voter suppression obsession may end up helping . . . Democrats? "The GOP convinced itself it could only win with a smaller, whiter electorate. The polls show that's just not true."

  • [03-06] Republicans just passed up the chance to win a historic landslide: "If Republicans ever figure out how to nominate a normal human, Democrats could be in trouble." You might think that, but Romney and McCain, who were about as close as Republicans get to normal these days, lost to Obama, and Bush didn't fare much better, leaving office with the lowest approval rating at least since Nixon. Republican policies are moving disasters, many so obviously defective even they don't dare campaign on them. The only option, other than betraying their base(s), is to deflect and dissemble, which they do mostly by generating rage. Even that doesn't always work, but Trump was credibly crazy in 2016, and pulled off a miracle, and when he did, he raised the stakes about what winning meant. As long as he has a chance of winning -- and he does have enough polls to keep that fantasy going -- he's the horse the base wants to bet on, because he's the only one promising to fulfill their fantasies. Until he loses as bad as Landon in 1936, or at least Mondale in 1984, Republicans have little reason to recalculate.

• Daniel Lippman: [03-09] Kellyanne Conway advocating for TikTok on Capitol Hill: Trump failed to "drain the swamp," but his aides are learning to earn there.

• Alexandra Marquez: [03-10] Lindsey Graham: Biden has 'screwed the world up every way you can': I can't help but wonder how many people actually fall for this sort of vague but indiscriminate line, which has become default for most Republicans. Graham spouts more on foreign policy, where it's most clear that he wants to "screw the world up" in ways even Biden hasn't tried.

• Stephanie Mencimer: [03-08] Lara Trump is all about meritocracy: "That's why she got the top job at the RNC."

• Mary Jo Murphy: [03-07] This book about Trump voters goes for the jugular: Another review of Tom Schaller/Paul Waldman: White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. And another:

  • Nathan J Robinson: [03-04] Are rural white people the problem?

• Nicole Narea: [03-06] Mark Robinson, the North Carolina GOP nominee for governor, is off the rails even by MAGA standards: "North Carolina has seen a politician like Robinson before: Jesse Helms." More:

  • Dan Merica: [03-11] Mark Robinson on ACA: It's an effort to 'enslave everybody'

  • Steve M: [03-06] New York Times sanitizes sewer-mouthed GOP gubernatorial nominee: Mark Robinson. Many links here, including one from 2023 called North Carolina's Lt. Governor is a Facebook brawler whose posts railed against Gays, Blacks, and Jews.

• Anna North: [03-04] Fetal personhood laws, explained: "The anti-abortion legal theory that could jeopardize IVF around the country."

• Charles P Pierce: Many recent short posts, not all of which apply to this slot, but the first couple do, and easier to keep them together, with more respect for their author:

  • [03-11] The Kansas Attorney General doesn't want to replace lead pipes?

  • [03-11] I no longer believe the Republican Party will ever return to normalcy: "The MAGA-backed recall effort directed at Wisconsin's Assembly leader Robin Vos over the 2020 election is just more proof."

  • [03-09] Cheers to Rep. Barbara Lee, and her remarkably principled career: "She's managed to turn her loss in California's 'jungle primary' into a well-deserved victory lap."

  • [03-07] Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton have pulled the wool over the eyes of Texas: "Tuesday's primary results are showing the fruits of their revenge campaigns."

  • [03-05] I, Kyrsten Sinema, am too dedicated to the ideals of politics and government to remain in Congress: "because she was . . . too good at . . . compromise?"

  • [03-05] No Labels? More like no candidate . . . (sorry): "At this point the 'party' is just a vehicle for ratfcking Democrats."

  • [02-29] The US has enabled Netanyahu long enough. Actually, way too long. Like since his failure to implement the Wye River Accords, that long, at least.

• Greg Sargent: Trump's angry rant about Biden's speech showcases MAGA's ugliest scam.

• Charles Sykes: [03-05] Donald Trump, the luckiest politician who ever lived.

• Ishaan Tharoor: [03-08] Trump, Orban and the GOP's deep obsession with foreign demagogues: This column includes an interview with Jacob Heilbrunn, author of America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators. The century is just enough time to go back to Mussolini, lionized as the guy who got the trains to run on time.

• Liz Theoharis: [03-10] The great unwinding: "The failing battle for health and healthcare in these all too disunited states." Republicans are responsible for this, and need to own it: "Since March 2023, 16 million Americans have lost healthcare coverage, including four million children, as states redefine eligibility for Medicaid for the first time in three years." This is one of many areas where Democrats were able to expand the safety net to ameliorate the horrors of the Covid-19 pandemic, but as Republicans recovered from the panic, they've killed off these much needed expansions as soon as possible.

• Peter Wehner: [03-10] If there's one thing Trump is right about, it's Republicans: They'll follow him anywhere:

  Mr. Trump is a human blowtorch, prepared to burn down democracy. So is his party. When there's no bottom, there's no bottom.

  The next 34 weeks are among the more consequential in the life of this nation. Mr. Trump was a clear danger in 2016; he's much more of a danger now. The former president is more vengeful, more bitter and more unstable than he was, which is saying something. There would be fewer guardrails and more true believers in a second Trump term. He's already shown he'll overturn an election, support a violent insurrection and even allow his vice president to be hanged. There's nothing he won't do. It's up to the rest of us to keep him from doing it.

Biden's band-aid folly: Unveiled in Biden's State of the Union address, q.v., but for this week, let's give it its own section:

• Alex Horton: [03-08] How the US military will use a floating pier to deliver Gaza aid: "Construction will take up to two months and require 1,000 US troops who will remain off shore, officials say. Once complete, it will enable delivery of 2 million meals daily."

• Jonathan Cook: [03-10] Biden's pier-for-Gaza is hollow gesture.

• Kareem Fahim/Hazem Balousha: [03-08] Biden plan to build Gaza port, deliver aid by sea draws skepticism, ridicule. Sounds like they had a contest to come up with the most expensive, least efficient method possible to trickle life-sustaining aid into Gaza, without in any way inhibiting Israel's systematic slaughter.

• Miriam Berger/Sufian Taha/Heidi Levine/Loveday Morris: [03-05] The improbable US plan for a revitalized Palestinian security force: Because the US did such a great job of training the Afghan security force?

• Noga Tarnopolsky: [03-09] The Biden plan to ditch Netanyahu: "The 'come to Jesus moment' is already here, according to Israeli and US sources." I don't give this report much credit, but it stands to reason that eventually Biden will tire of Netanyahu jerking him around just so he can further embarrass both countries with what is both in intent and effect genocide. I do see ways in which Biden's initial subservience is evolving into some kind of passive-aggressive resistance. Rather than denounce Israel for making reasonable aid possible, Biden has challenged Israel to spell out what they would allow, and agreed even as these schemes are patently ridiculous. It's only a matter of time until Israel starts attacking American aid providers. For another piece:

• Zack Beauchamp: [03-08] Are Biden and the Democrats finally turning on Israel? "Biden's new plan to build a pier on the Gaza coast seems to say yes. The continued military aid to Israel says otherwise."

Biden's State of the Union speech: A section for everything else related, including official and unofficial Republican responses:

• Zack Beauchamp: [03-08] Biden's State of the Union got one big thing right: "The president dodged the 'norms trap' by going straight after Trump on democracy."

• Chas Danner:

  • [03-08] Did Biden's SOTU speech turn around his campaign? (And did Katie Britt's response backfire?)

  • [03-09] Did Katie Britt misrepresent the sex-trafficking story in her SOTU response?

• Tim Dickinson: [03-07] Fired-up Biden takes aim at his 'predecessor' in rousing SOTU.

• Moira Donegan: [03-08] Biden's State of the Union: raucous, strident and insistently optimistic: "His remarks were designed to demonstrate Biden's vitality. They succeeded."

• Susan B Glasser: [03-08] So much for "sleepy Joe": On Biden's rowdy, shouty State of the Union.

• Margaret Hartmann:

  • [03-08] Trump responds to State of the Union with Truth Social crash and Snapchat filters.

  • [03-08] Yes, Trump said 'get over it' after a school shooting.

• Sarah Jones: [03-08] When motherhood is a weapon: "Senator Katie Britt of Alabama knows her place."

• Ed Kilgore:

  • [03-07] Biden's State of the Union address: Right in Trump's face! Just an aside here: one thing I've always hated about SOTU is having to watch the VP and Speaker over the President's shoulders. Harris actually put on a fairly good show this time, which was a relief, as she usually comes out super glum. Johnson, however, was clearly miserable while trying to look invisible, and that didn't help anyone. It's rare to have speakers framed like that, and really unnecessary.

  • [03-08] Katie Britt's America sounds scary, but not as scary as Katie Britt.

• Eric Levitz: [03-07] Biden to nation: Republicans like rich people more than they like you.

• Branko Marcetic:

  • [03-08] Biden's state of the union showcased a president in denial. Note that Marcetic was one of the few to take Biden seriously enough to write a book on him going into the 2020 campaign, and it was critical: Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden. Marcetic also wrote:

  • [03-07] Support for "uncommitted" runs deep enough to threaten Biden.

• Tori Otten: One line in Biden's SOTU is about to show up in every GOP attack ad.

• Andrew Prokop: [03-08] The media's coverage of Biden's age needs a rethink.

• Nikki McCann Ramirez/Asawin Suebsaeng: [03-08] 'What the hell am I watching': Republicans torch their own SOTU rebuttal: "Alabama Sen. Katie Britt was panned after delivering the most bizarre State of the Union rebuttal in recent memory."

• Bill Scher: [03-08] The oldest president in history just gave the fiercest state of the union address in history.

Biden and/or the Democrats:

• Perry Bacon Jr: [03-07] Biden is failing at the most important task of his presidency. Bacon's definition: "Biden has failed at the most important task for a Democratic president in the 2020s: eliminating or at least drastically reducing the chances of Trump or someone who shares his radical beliefs being his successor." That may have been the job, but it's really hard to see how he could have done it. When I saw the headline, I filled in my own answer, which is that Biden simply isn't a very good communicator. But Obama was, technically at least, pretty much all you could hope for in a communicator, and who listened to him? Bill Clinton was also pretty good. But both were hobbled by a hostile media that relentlessly amplified Republican countermessaging, and by the muddle created by their own willingness to conform to conservative framing of issues -- is it any wonder that they were more successful at persuading donors than voters? Franklin Roosevelt was the great communicator among all presidents, but we no longer live in a world where nominally Republican farmers (like, say, my grandfather) would tune in to listen to him explain how banking worked, and believe a word he said.

• Jonathan Chait: [03-05] Good riddance, Kyrsten Sinema, plutocratic shill: "She killed her career by blocking bipartisan ideas that threatened the rich." The Democrat-turned-independent from Arizona finally decided not to run for a second term. Presumably she'll reap her rewards as a lobbyist, not that she's likely to have much influence over anyone. More:

  • Chris Lehman: [03-06] Kyrsten Sinema does us all a favor.

  • Jim Newell: A singularly arrogant Senator make a very appropriate exit.

• Timothy Noah: The stealth budget cuts imperiling the Biden antitrust agenda.

• Evan Osnos: [03-04] Joe Biden's last campaign: A long New Yorker profile on Biden, by just about the only writer who managed to get a biography of Biden together before the 2020 election (and just barely).

• Andrew Prokop: [03-08] The media's coverage of Biden's age needs a rethink: "There's been too much focus on trivialities."

• John E Schwarz: [03-01] Democratic presidents have better economic performances than Republican ones: This has been true for so long you'd think everyone would be acknowledging it.

• Astra Taylor/Eleni Schirmer: [03-05] The Biden administration has a chance to deliver student debt relief. It must act.

• Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [03-06] Can Joe Biden fight from behind in a rematch against Donald Trump?

Legal matters and other crimes:

• Elie Honig: [03-08] Biden's looming nightmare pardons: Ever since this "former federal and state prosecutor" started writing for Intelligencer, his pieces have sounded like stealth briefs from the Trump legal team, even if not things they would actually want to own. This one at least assumes things not yet in evidence: that Trump is actually tried and convicted and sentenced to jail time -- the power may be to pardon, but all he's asking for is commutation of prison time, not full pardons. As that's increasingly unlikely before November, the assumption may also be that Biden wins then, so has some breathing room before having to consider the issue, which would leave plenty of time for this discussion, unlike now.

• Josh Kovensky: [03-05] Feds slap 12 new counts on Bob 'Gold Bars' Menendez: Senator (D-NJ).

• Ian Millhiser: [03-10] Do Americans still have a right to privacy? "With courts coming for abortion and IVF, it's hard not to wonder what the Supreme Court will go after next."

Climate, environment, and energy:

• Kate Aronoff: Inside Big Oil's plot to keep their emissiosn confidential.

• Evan Halper: [03-07] Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power: "AI and the boom in clean-tech manufacturing are pushing America's power grid to the brink. Utilities can't keep up." I suspect there's a scam or several in here somewhere, most obviously the push for more "clean nuclear power." Also noted here:

  • Elizabeth Kolbert: [03-09] The obscene energy demands of AI: "How can the world reach net zero if it keeps inventing new ways to consume energy?"

• David Wallace-Wells:

  • [02-22] Just how many people will die from climate change?

  • [03-06] John Kerry: 'I feel deeply frustrated': An interview with Kerry, as he is stepping down from his "post as America's top climate diplomat," having achieved, well, not enough.

Ukraine War:

• Blaise Malley: [03-08] Diplomacy Watch: Chinese diplomat shuttling to Russia, and Ukraine. Turkey is also making efforts to mediate the conflict.

• Francesca Ebel/Robyn Dixon: [02-29] Putin threatens nuclear response to NATO troops if they go to Ukraine.

• Francesca Ebel/Serhiy Morgunov: [03-08] Russia's opposition and Ukraine find it impossible to unite against Putin.

• Mark Episkopos: [03-08] What will more aid to Ukraine accomplish? "There are limits to what Kyiv can do, even with an indefinite flow of Western assistance."

• Valerie Hopkins: [03-01] Thousands turn out for Navalny's funeral in Moscow.

• Daniel Larison: [03-05] Victoria Nuland never shook the mantle of ideological meddler: "Blurting out F-ck the EU' typified her blunt, interventionist style throughout three presidential administrations."

• Emily Rauhala: [03-07] Sweden finally joins NATO in expansion spurred by Putin's Ukraine war.

• Lauren Wolfe: [01-16] Putin's history lessons: Review of Yaroslav Trofimov: Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence, which is somewhat tangential to the subhed argument that Putin's rhetoric about the unity of Russia and Ukraine has laid "the rhetorical groundwork for a forever war."

• Amanda Yen: [03-11] Hungary's Viktor Orban: Trump 'won't give a penny' to Ukraine if elected. One of the stranger recent political dynamics is that as Trump digs in more as the anti-war (and especially, anti-world-war) candidate, Democrats are trying to rally support for Ukraine as necessary to spite Trump here in America. Why they think that's a winning strategy is beyond me. They could argue that unified support for Ukraine would help them negotiate a better deal to end the war, but first they need to be open to negotiating, which so far doesn't seem to be the case. America has a bad history of never negotiating reasonable exits from conflicts. Rather, in Vietnam and Afghanistan, they negotiated deals where they just slipped away, leaving their supposed allies to collapse, or in Korea, where they signed a ceasefire but refused to call it an end to the war. A reasonable deal with Russia is possible, and it could lead to further reasonable deals in the future, in the long run ending a conflict that the US has done as much or more to fuel as Putin has. Trump may pull out, but he won't negotiate a real deal, because he doesn't know how, and he doesn't care. But even the bad deals I've mentioned were better for Americans than the hopeless, pointless wars they escaped from. So even if that's all Trump is promising, many people will see it as better than Biden and the Democrats pouring endless resources into a stalemate.

Around the world:

• Nicholas Ford: [03-07] The IMF's policies are destroying Kenya, again.

• Ellen Ioanes: [03-05] Don't ignore Sudan's horrific conflict: "More than 8 million people have been displaced during the war, and more than 13,000 people have been killed."

Other stories:

Michelle Alexander: [03-08] Only revolutionary love can save us now: "Martin Luther King Jr's 1967 speech condemning the Vietnam War offers a powerful moral compass as we face the challenges of our time."

Indivar Dutta-Gupta/Korian Warren: [03-04] The war on poverty wasn't enough: "While Lyndon B Johnson's effort made some lasting impacts, the United States still has some of the highest rates of nonelderly poverty among wealthy nations." As the article notes, Johnson's programs brought big improvements, but the Vietnam War hurt him politically, and his successors lost interest: e.g., Nixon's appointment of Donald Rumsfeld to run the Office of Economic Opportunity. And while Republicans deserve much of the blame, Democrats like Daniel Moynahan and Bill Clinton were often as bad, sometimes worse.

Henry Farrell: [02-27] Dr. Pangloss's Panopticon: A very thoughtful critique of Noah Smith's "quite negative review of a recent book by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology & Prosperity. There are complex issues at dispute here, many much more interesting than those that dominate this (and all recent) posts. Dr. Pangloss (from Voltaire) stands in for techno-optimism: the idea that unfettered innovation, accelerated as it is through modern venture capitalism, promises to deliver ever-improving worlds. Panopticon (from Jeremy Bentham) is an early form of mass surveillance, a capability that technology has done much to develop recently, with AI promising a breakthrough to the bottleneck problem (the time and people you need to surveil other people).

Luke Goldstein: [02-23] Crunch time for government spying: "Congress has a few weeks left until a key spying provision sunsets. Both reformers and intelligence hawks are plotting their strategies."

Oshan Jarow: [03-08] The world's mental health is in rough shape -- and not getting any better: "Guess where the US ranks?"

Sarah Kaplan: [03-06] Are we living in an 'Age of Humans'? Geologists say no. A recent proposal for delineating a stratigraphic boundary for the Anthropocene, based on "a plume of radioactive plutonium that circled around the world" in 1952, was proposed recently and, at least for now, voted down. More:

• Sigi Samuel: [03-07] Why did geologists reject the "Anthropocene" epoch? It's not rock science. "The battle proves that time is political, any way you cut it."

Alvaro Lopez: [03-08] The making of Frantz Fanon: Review of Adam Shatz's new book, The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon. Also:

• Erik Linstrum: Frantz Fanon's conflicted vision for decolonization.

Rick Perlstein: [03-06] The spectacle of policing: "'Swatting' innocent people is the latest incarnation of the decades-long gestation of an infrastructure of fear."

Dave Phillipps: [03-06] Profound damage found in Maine gunman's brain, possibly from blasts: "A laboratory found a pattern of cell damage that has been seen in veterans exposed to weapons blasts, and said it probably played a role in symptoms the gunman displayed before the shooting." Robert Card was a grenade instructor in the Army Reserve for eight years. He went on to shoot and kill 18 people and himself. Something not yet factored into the "Costs of War" accounting. Another report:

• Annabelle Timsit/Jennifer Hassan/Joanna Slater: [03-07] Maine shooter who killed 18 had traumatic brain injury, study says.

Jeffrey St Clair: [03-08] Roaming Charges: Too obvious to be real.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

March archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 41938 [41900] rated (+38), 21 [22] unrated (-1).

I'm having a rough time getting anything done, which is my best explanation for wasting most of last week on a still-unfinished Speaking of Which -- posted well after midnight last, with a few further adds flagged today. The most important add is the link to Pankaj Mishra's The Shoah after Gaza (also on YouTube).

I've neglected pretty much everything and everyone else. My apologies to anyone expecting a response from me. As I must have noted already, I gave myself a month to write a quick, very rough draft of my long gestating political book, with the promise that if I couldn't pull it off, I'd shelve the idea once and for all, and spend my waning days reading fiction -- forty years later, I still have a bookmark 300 pages into Gravity's Rainbow, and enough recollection I'm not sure I'll have to retrace -- while slipping in the occasional old movie and dawdling with jigsaw puzzles (ok, I'm already doing the latter). I certainly wouldn't have to plow through any nonfiction that might be construed as research -- e.g., a couple items currently on the proverbial night stand: Franklin Foer's book on Biden, or Judis/Teixeira on the missing Democrats.

That month was supposed to be January, but the Jazz Critics Poll and EOY lists lapped over without me starting, so I decided I'd give it February. I still have no more than a fragment of a letter stashed away in a notebook entry, so the obvious thing to do at this point is admit failure, and be done with it. Aside from easing my mind -- the last six months have been unbearably gloomy for my politics, my prognostications turning markedly dystopian -- ditching politics might be good news for those of you more interested in my writing on music.

Two small projects that I've also neglected are: a thorough review of the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll website, which is missing some unknown quantity of historical material (hopefully Davis has it stashed away), and needs some modernization; I'm also behind on maintenance, not to mention the long-promised redesign, of the Robert Christgau website. It would also make sense to reorganize my own data along those same lines, as even now it's virtually impossible for even me to look up what I've written about any musician.

I also have neglected house projects: the most pressing of which is the imminent collapse of a chunk of ceiling in my wife's study room. I used to be pretty competent at carpentry and home improvement tasks. About all I can claim to have managed in the last month has been replacement of two light bulbs, which took me weeks (in my defense, both involved ladders and unconventional sockets).

Nothing special to say about this week's music. A copy of the year 2023 list has been frozen, but I am still adding occasional records to my tracking file, jazz and non-jazz EOY lists, and EOY aggregate, but mostly just my own belatedly graded items. But I'm not very focused on what I'm listening to, and often get stuck wondering what to play next. I can't say I've reached the point of not caring, but I'm getting there.

My most played record of the last couple weeks is The R&B No. 1s of the '50s, especially the final disc, which has left me with Lloyd Price's "I'm Gonna Get Married" as the ultimate earworm. I should probably bump the whole set up to full A. I played the last three discs while cooking on Saturday, and I'm satisfied with them. Then I started Sunday and Monday with disc 6. As this post lapsed into Tuesday, I was tempted again, but had unfinished Vijay Iyer queued up.

Found this in a Facebook comment: "I'm not sure keeping up with Tom Hull is possible. The very thought makes my synapses cry out, 'no mas, no mas.'" But from my view, they really just keep coming poco a poco. During the long delay from listing out this file to posting it -- mostly spent on the Speaking of Which intro -- I only managed to collect four more reviews for next week: two marginally A- jazz albums (Joel Ross, John Surman), and two more marginally below A- (Vijay Iyer, Emile Parisien).

New records reviewed this week:

Black Art Jazz Collective: Truth to Power (2024, HighNote): Fourth group album, 2016 debut started with six mostly prominent mainstreamers -- Wayne Escoffery (tenor sax), Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), James Burton (trombone), Xavier Davis (piano), and Johnathan Blake (drums) -- up to nine this time: still a sextet, but with Victor Gould, Rashaan Carter, and Mark Whitfield Jr. taking over at piano-bass-drums for four tracks. Rich harmonically, but still not much of interest happening here. B [sp]

The Choir Invisible [Charlotte Greve/Vinnie Sperazza/Chris Tordini]: Town of Two Faces (2022 [2024], Intakt): Brooklyn-based trio of German saxophonist Charlotte Greve, Chris Tordini (bass), and Vinnie Sperazza (drums), the group taking the title of their initial 2020 album. Greve is also credited with voice, but the real vocal here is Fay Victor's outstanding blues, "In Heaven." B+(***) [sp]

Djeli Moussa Condé: Africa Mama (2023, Accords Croises): Kora playing griot from Conakry, Guinea; at least two previous albums, more as Kondé. B+(***) [sp]

Gui Duvignau/Jacob Sacks/Nathan Ellman-Bell: Live in Red Hook (2022 [2024], Sunnyside): Bassist, fourth album since 2016, born in France, moved to Morocco as an infant, then grew up in Brazil, eventually winding up in New York, where he recorded this trio with piano and drums. B+(*) [sp]

Alon Farber Hagiga With Dave Douglas: The Magician: Live in Jerusalem (2023 [2024], Origin): Israeli saxophonist (soprano/alto), group name is Hebrew for "celebration," has used it to frame his quintet and sextet albums since 2005, up to seven here with their guest star, who brought two (of five) songs, and plays some of his hottest trumpet since he left Masada. A group this joyous deserves as better country. B+(***) [cd]

R.A.P. Ferreira & Fumitake Tamura: The First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap (2024, Ruby Yacht): Underground rapper from Chicago, initials for Rory Allen Philip, formerly did business as Milo, based in Nashville; producer has a handful of collaborations since 2014. Music very sketchy here, but finds an interesting groove. Twelve cuts, 32:16. B+(***) [sp]

David Friesen: This Light Has No Darkness (2023 [2024]], Origin): Bassist, one should add composer as that's been key to him leading fifty-some albums since 1975, and that's the focus here, with this 12-part work arranged and orchestrated by Kyle Gordon, using a 33-piece orchestra. Classically lush, way too much for my taste. B [cd]

The Fully Celebrated Orchestra: Sob Story (2023 [2024], Relative Pitch): Group led by alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs, first appeared as a trio in 1996, last heard on the terrific 2009 Drunk on the Blood of the Holy Ones, back here as a quintet, with Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet) and Ian Ayers (guitar) joining Luther Gray (drums) and original member Timo Sharko (bass). B+(**) [sp]

Vanisha Gould and Chris McCarthy: Life's a Gig (2022 [2024], Fresh Sound New Talent): Jazz singer, has a previous self-released duo album but I could see this as her debut, wrote one song plus lyrics to another, but the focus here is on seven standards, most with just McCarthy's piano accompaniment (guest viola on two: the original and "Jolene"). Given the right song, like "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," and she doesn't need more. B+(**) [sp]

Heems & Lapgan: Lafandar (2024, Veena Sounds): Rapper Himanshu Suri, formerly of Das Racist and Swet Shop Boys, third solo album (first since 2015). Lapgan is a producer with a couple recent albums, draws on Indo-Pak heritage, Lollywood dance beats, and transnational hip-hop. Beaucoup guests celebrate, and flaunt, diversity. I should dig up a lyric sheet, but the many word juxtapositions are exciting enough. A [sp]

Katy Kirby: Blue Raspberry (2024, Anti-): Folkie singer-songwriter, grew up in Texas, based in Nashville, second album. B+(**) [sp]

Lapgan: History (2023, Veena Sounds): Hip-hop producer, most likely Punjabi but no info as yet on how far removed (seems to be based in Chicago), breakthrough is with the new Heems album, which instantly validated this title. B+(*) [sp]

Lapgan: Duniya Kya Hai (2021, Veena Sounds): Earlier, beats "almost exclusively with sounds from India and Pakistan." B+(**)

Lapgan: Badmaash (2019, self-released): Digging deeper, I find his name is Gaurav Nagpal (last name reversed for Lapgan), his parents came from India (but where? samples are as likely to come from Kerala as Punjab), he was born in Queens, grew up near Chicago, and worked his way backwards into roots. B+(**) [sp]

Les Amazones d'Afrique: Musow Danse (2024, Real World): African supergroup, three brand-name Malian singers -- Mamani Keïta, Mariam Dumbia, Oumou Sangare -- plus 'French music-industry veteran" Valerie Malot. B+(***) [sp]

James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Transfiguration (2022 [2024], Intakt): Tenor saxophonist, brilliant on his 2014 major label debut, has continued to impress ever since, including landmark concept albums that won the Francis Davis Poll in 2021 and 2023. On the side, he's recorded a series of excellent working group albums for this Swiss label. Quartet with piano (Aruán Ortiz), bass (Brad Jones), and drums (Chad Taylor). A- [sp]

Cecilia Lopez & Ingrid Laubrock: Maromas (2022 [2023], Relative Pitch): Electronics musician, from Argentina, based in New York, more than a dozen releases since 2015, doesn't appear to be related to bassist Brandon Lopez, but they did a 2020 duo called LopezLopez. Duo here with the German saxophonist (soprano/tenor), also New York-based. Sketchy, but interesting. B+(**) [sp]

Corb Lund: El Viejo (2024, New West): Canadian country singer-songwriter, twelfth album since 1995. Has a good sound and good sense, but songs are a bit hit-and-miss (a tip might be that his best album so far was called Songs My Friends Wrote). B+(***) [sp]

Brady Lux: Ain't Gone So Far (2024, 6483357 DK, EP): Country singer-songwriter from Montana, reportedly "a genuine ranch hand cowboy who works his ass off every day, and at night he writes songs and saws a little fiddle when he can find the time." Sounds really western, albeit without horses. Seven songs, 23:05. B+(***) [sp]

Mali Obomsawin/Magdalena Abrego: Greatest Hits (2024, Out of Your Head): Singer-songwriter/bassist from Abenaki First Nation, started in the folk group Lula Wiles, released a jazz-powered solo debut in 2022 I liked a lot (Sweet Tooth), but title here made me wonder. Abrego is a guitarist based in Hudson, NY, with not much before this, but adds appreciable heft to the songs. Eight songs, 32:02. B+(**) [bc]

QOW Trio: The Hold Up (2024, Ubuntu Music): British trio -- Riley Stone-Longeran (tenor sax), Eddie Myer (bass), Spike Wells (drums) -- second album after an eponymous debut in 2020, basically a retro-bop band, name taken from a Dewey Redman song, Wells old enough to have played with Tubby Hayes. No complaints here if the saxophonist sounds a lot like Sonny Rollins. A- [sp]

Zach Rich: Solidarity (2021 [2024], OA2): Trombonist, originally from Wichita, teaches in Colorado, seems to be his first album. Postbop quintet with piano and guitar, bass and drums, plus string quartet, plus extra horns and voice on the second piece ("Broken Mirrors"). B+(*) [cd]

Dex Romweber: Good Thing Goin' (2023, Propeller Sound): Rockabilly/roots guitarist, singer-songwriter, surprised to hear that he died at age 56, leaving this album has his last -- ominously dedicated to his late sister and duo partner, Sara Romweber (1963-2019). A mix of originals and covers, the latter more often amusing (even if inadvertently so). B+(*) [sp]

Ignaz Schick/Oliver Steidle: Ilog3 (2021 [2023], Zarek): Germans, Schick started out as a saxophonist but credits here are "turntables, sampler, pitch shifter/looper," in a duo with the drummer ("percussion, sampler, live-electronics"). Third duo album, starting in 2015. Some splendid noise. B+(***) [bc]

Fie Schouten/Vincent Courtois/Guus Janssen: Vostok: Remote Islands (2023, Relative Pitch): A treat for Worldle devotees, improvised music "inspired by Judith Schalansky's book Atlas of Remote Islands: 50 Islands I Never Set Foot in and Never Will. Schouten plays "bass clarinet, clarinet in A, basset horn"; the others cello and keyboards, with Giuseppe Doronzo joining in on baritone sax (4 of 12 tracks). Eleven are named for islands (only a couple big enough to be Worldle answers), the other for a bird ("Inaccessible Island Rail"). B+(**) [sp]

Håkon Skogstad: 8 Concepts of Tango (2023 [2024], Øra Fonogram): Norwegian pianist, has taken tango as his art form, with previous albums called Visions of Tango and Two Hands to Tango. All original pieces here, played by a classical-sounding group of band (piano, two bandoneons, string quartet plus bass). B+(*) [cd] [03-15]

Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope (2024, Loma Vista): Portland-based rock group, now down to a duo of singer-songwriters Carrie Brownstein and Corrin Tucker, eleventh studio album since 1995. I've long respected their craft while finding one or both of the voices intensely grating. Still, repeated exposure finds me caring less than ever, although this has less than usual for me to complain about. B [sp]

Simon Spiess Quiet Tree: Euphorbia (2022 [2024], Intakt): Swiss tenor saxophonist, debut 2011, eighth album, group includes pianist Marc Méan (who wrote four pieces, same as Spiess), and drummer Jonas Ruther (writer of one piece). This sort of sneaks up on you. B+(**) [sp]

Albert Vila Trio: Reality Is Nuance (2022 [2023], Fresh Sound New Talent): Spanish guitarist, half-dozen albums since 2006, this a trio recorded in Brussels with Doug Weiss (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums). Nice, low-key feel, drummer excels. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru: Solo/Duo/Trio/Quartet (2005 [2024], JMood): Italian pianist, from Trieste, many albums since 1990, has been rifling through old tapes recently, and has come up with an exceptionally delightful one here. Recorded over two dates. This works out to five solo tracks (including two takes of "Lush Life"), plus two with drums and percussion (Enzo Carpentieri, some Balinese), three more with bass (Danilo Gallo), and finally three with tenor sax (Ettore Martin). A- [cd]

Jack Wood: The Gal That Got Away: The Best of Jack Wood, Featuring Guest Niehaud Fitzgibbon ([2024], Jazz Hang): A classic crooner, "long a favorite in Southern California." No dates given here, but "some of the Wood's finest recordings," with various groups, including Doug MacDonald and John Pisano on guitar, some sweetened by the Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra. The featured guest is an Australian singer, who takes over for two tracks, and is as adept as her host. I must admit that I still have a soft spot for the style, especially on the songs that it made timeless. B+(***) [cd] [03-29]

Old music:

Gigi: Gigi (2001, Palm Pictures): Ethiopian singer Ejigayehu Shibabaw, third album, got a boost on Chris Blackwell's label, produced by Bill Laswell, with a roster of jazz greats (Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders, Henry Threadgill, Hamid Drake, Amina Claudine Myers) mixed in with Laswell regulars and many Ethiopians. Laswell and Gigi married, following this up with a dub remix, then Zion Roots, credited to Abyssinia Infinite, with Gigi's full name as "featuring." B+(***) [sp]

Gigi: Illuminated Audio (2003, Palm Pictures): Some sort of dub remix of Gigi, omitting most of the vocals, which was the Gigi part of the album. Also cuts out the jazz solos, so you wind up with a lot of Bill Laswell ambient groove -- not much, but pleasant enough. B+(*) [sp]

Gigi: Gold & Wax (2006, Palm Pictures): Her third, and final, album for Chris Blackwell's label, again with Bill Laswell producing. A wide range of musicians -- including Nils Petter Molvaer, Bernie Worrell, Aiyb Dieng, Foday Musa Suso, Ustad Sultan Khan, and Buckethead -- integrate seamlessly with the mesmerizing vocals. A- [sp]

Barney McAll: Precious Energy (2022, Extra Celestial Arts): Australian pianist, close to twenty albums since 1995, seems to have designed this to appeal to his featured guest, alto saxophonist Gary Bartz, although the more critical collaborator may be jazz-soul outfit Haitus Kayote. This starts with a Leon Thomas/Pharoah Sanders homage, and ends with Coltrane, while touching on planets Sun Ra and Stevie Wonder. That was Bartz's golden age, but barely registers here over the zonked out vocals. B [sp]

Pajama Party: Up All Night (1989, Atlantic): Dance-pop vocal trio, released two albums, this debut and another in 1991. B+(**) [sp]

QOW Trio: QOW Trio (2020, Ubuntu Music): English sax-bass-drums trio -- Riley Stone-Lonergan, Eddie Myer, Spike Wells -- title song/group/album name from Dewey Redman, also dok one from Joe Henderson, several standards (three from Cole Porter), and two originals not far removed from their inspirations ("Pound for Prez," "Qowfirmation"). B+(***) [sp]

Stacey Q: Greatest Hits (1982-95 [1995], Thump): Dance-pop artist, Stacey Swain, opens with five resplendent remixes of singles from her 1986 solo debut, then ignores two later albums, going back to her early work in Q -- a "minimal synth/new wave" group with Jon St. James and Ross Wood, and then SSQ (supposedly emphasizing the singer's initials). B+(***) [sp]

SSQ: Playback (1983, Enigma): Stacey S[wain]'s pre-solo group, produced by guitar/synth player (and sometime vocalist) Jon St. James, both previously in the band Q, first and only album until a 2010 return. B+(**) [sp]

SSQ: Jet Town Je T'Aime (2020, Synthicide): A return to form for Stacey Swain and Jon St. James, 37 years after their first (and hitherto only) album. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Guillermo Gregorio: Two Trios (ESP-Disk) [2023-12-01]
• Mercer Hassy Orchestra: Duke's Place (Mercer Hassy) [04-15)
• Ellie Lee: Escape (self-released) [05-24]
• Matthew Shipp Trio: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk) [04-05]
• Ronny Smith: Struttin' (Pacific Coast Jazz) [04-19]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

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